One of the many launches of the Space Shuttle Discovery (but what about a pterosaur discovery?)

On April 17, 2012, the Space Shuttle Discovery rode on a modified 747 over the nation’s capital, before coming to its final landing, to be placed in one of the Smithsonian museums. But still the Smithsonian seems to refuse to modify its position on eyewitness testimonies, worldwide, of living pterosaurs. The blog post “Don’t Get Strung Alone by the Ropen Myth” has not been modified.

Smithsonian Gets “Discovery” but Runs Away From Discovery

To be sure, the Smithsonian’s contributions to scientific knowledge may be immense, but just as none of us as individual humans are perfect, none of our institutions are perfect. I put forth my opinion here that the Smithsonian Magazine blog post “Don’t Get Strung Along by the Ropen Myth,” of August 16, 2010, by Brian Switek, was full of mistakes and missed important things regarding eyewitness reports.

Did Smithsonian Attack Man, Pterosaur, and God?

The Smithsonian, in general, seems unfriendly to the existence of a living God; that is hardly news. But what about attacking the civil and constitutional rights of a human and the existence of a living pterosaur?

The correct scientific word for “pterodactyl” is similar: “pterosaur.” Some spell it “teradactyl.” But is there such a thing as a pterodactyl expert? The subject came up recently online. The original discussion was on a cryptozoology site forum, in which attacks were not from dangerous flying creatures but from skeptics who were inflamed by the title “pterodactyl expert” being applied to a cryptozoologist in California: Jonathan Whitcomb, who writes about large bioluminescent pterosaurs that still fly overhead.

Can a Cryptozoologist be a Pterodactyl Expert?

Of course, the real issue is the credibility of the eyewitnesses whose reports have been analyzed by Whitcomb. Could sightings have been misidentifications or hoaxes? The appropriateness of the label “pterodactyl expert” is way off the mark for what we need to be asking ourselves.

What are they most afraid of, those eyewitnesses of apparent living pterosaurs? The answer may surprise you, for many of those common persons are more afraid of being crazy (or that others will think them crazy) than they are afraid of the strange flying creatures themselves, at least in Western countries like the United States. Yes, some people have reported modern living pterosaurs, the non-extinct variety, in the USA, in spite of generations of extinction teachings in American educational institutions. But strange as it may seem, most of the eyewitnesses appear to have no symptoms of anything that would require them to be put into a mental institution.

The Truth of Tall Tails

“I have been haunted for close to twenty years by what I saw in the desert. I have never told anyone due to the fact that I was afraid I would be thought nuts.”

Cats Make you Crazy

The parasite, which is excreted by cats in their feces, is called Toxoplasma gondii

We know from history, including the atrocities ordered by Hitler in Nazi Germany, that the worst governments cannot survive when freedom of speech and freedom of the press allow people to criticize their government. How does that relate to the “9-11 truther” writings that appear to implicate American government in the attacks of September 11, 2001? The very existence, the writing and printing and distribution, of 9-11 “truth” books proves that American government could not have been responsible for mass murdering of citizens.

Nazi Germany Versus 21st Century America Re. 9-11

[concerning the “truthers” of modern America] those who write that leaders of American government have covered up critical information or were even responsible for the atrocities [of 9-11] . . . Have all of those writers been convicted and beheaded? No. Their writings appear to have captivated thousands of followers and perhaps millions of sympathizers. Compare that with the two active followers of Helmuth Hubener (with Germany under Hitler), the two young men who were convicted of assisting Hubener (passing out pamphlets), for those two were sentenced: five years and ten years of prison. [17-year-old Helmuth Hubener had his head cut off, after his conviction of writing pamphlets] To the best of my knowledge, no American publisher or editor has been sent to prison [or had his or her head cut off] for complicity in publishing a book that suggests U.S. government involvement in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Widespread freedom of speech and freedom of press, evidenced by thousands of American “truthers” and millions of “9-11 truth” sympathizers, practically proves the United States government could not have orchestrated the 9-11 attacks. Hitler would not have allowed it and neither would any other dictator remotely like Hitler.

Of course, some conspiracy theorizer might suggest that all “9-11 truthers” have been involved in a deep government coverup: writing and talking freely about the corruption of government in order to convince Americans that they really do have freedom of speech and freedom of press, seeming to prove that the government could not be anything like Hitler’s Nazi reign . . . but that would be even more far fetched.

Until the middle of January, it seems that nobody would question Wikipedia’s assertion that worldwide sales of the fiction book The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, had reached 65 million. It now seems that 65 million was the total for all Coelho’s books, up until a few years ago; the total sales for The Alchemist is more like 23 million.

The Alchemist and the Cryptozoologist

In the allegorical fiction book The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, much of the story is about a shepherd boy’s travels far from his homeland; he returns to find his purpose fulfilled in his own country. In the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America, by Jonathan Whitcomb, only a little is about the author’s travel to Papua New Guinea; he returns to find a possibility that his purpose may be fulfilled in his own country.

A Popular Review of The Alchemist

Yes, much of what negative reviewers of this book have to say is true: the writing is blunt and simple, the characters lack depth and complexity . . . And yet, I have to say . . . that I found it meaningful, even profound at times. How can I say this, given my criticisms? First of all, unlike many reviewers, I did not approach this book with great expectations. No one told me that this was Shakespeare or Tolstoy . . . The characters deliver their statements without subtlety, but subtlety is more a literary virtue than a philosophical one. In fact, I essentially came to view this work as a life philosophy expressed as a fable, so I didn’t particularly mind that its messages were not buried far beneath the surface. . . . I suspect that through his simple tale, he [Coelho] is trying to provide some kind of argument against the kind of cynicism or fear that the world can sometimes instill in us, and encourage us to keep diving into that “strong current” to see where it takes us.

Thank you to the following blogs:

KnowableNews

The Bible and Modern Pterosaurs

Kindergartner to a grownup: “How much is a hundred plus a hundred plus a million plus a hundred plus a million.”

Grownup, after using his hands to keep track: “Two million, three hundred.”

Kindergartner: “How did you do that?”

Grownup: “I used my hands.”

Kindergartner: “This time, don’t use your hands. How much is a million plus a million plus a hundred plus a million plus a hundred plus a hundred?”

Grownup makes an estimate.

Kindergarner: “How did you do that?”

Grownup: “I used my head.”

Kindergartner: “This time, don’t use your head.”

This is a true story, happening at a BurgerKing, in December of 2011, in Lakewood, California.

In 2009 and 2010, in a remote area of northeast Mexico, a man examined some large tracks of what he believes is a flying creature; in 2010, he took photographs. He even suspects that they may have come from one or more living pterosaurs; at least they were fresh tracks, in at least one case being left soon after a lot of rain had fallen. In this part of Mexico, some residents have reported strange flying creatures, large ones.

Recent Pterosaur Tracks or Monster Tracks?

The impressions in the soil were one inch deep, and he could not make that deep of an impression, even after jumping on the soil nearby; it must have been a heavy animal. One of the kinds of footprints was about 18 inches by about 20 inches . . . that is a large foot.

Pterosaur Tracks in Mexico, Maybe

This area is between 7000 and 8000 feet above sea level, according to the eyewitness. Although the tracks do not show the toe-claw marks that would be expected of pterosaur footprints, it is possible for some species of modern pterosaur to leave prints without toe marks.

 

In Papua New Guinea there seems to live a strange flying creature of the night. Some call it “demon flyer,” although the native names for it are “ropen,” and “seklo-bali,” and “kor,” and “duwas,” and “indava.” Most people in developed countries, those who have heard about the nocturnal flying creature, call it “ropen,” or “pterodactyl,” or “pterosaur,” or “dinosaur bird.” There now seems to be another opinion about “demon flyer.”

Demon Flyer of Papua New Guinea

Interviews with native eyewitnesses, including the 2004 interview with Mesa Agustin, can reveal a fear that natives have of the ropen, but that does not necessarily mean that those eyewitnesses believe that the creature is an evil spirit or monster.

It seems that a more recent opinion is that the early origin of this name is not literally translated into the English “demon flyer.” It is more likely just “flyer,” for one meaning in one language, is simply a common bird, while in another language (Kovai) it means a large nocturnal flying creature that sometimes glows brightly.

Pterosaur News

. . . in southwest Greensburg, Pennsylvaniva, a karate teacher and two of his students were talking outside . . . they saw something that at first could have been mistaken for a large bird. . . . [The karate teacher said:] it caught my eye. Being that far up the “birds” body still appeared to be much larger than my 100 pound dog . . .

This past November, the news in New Zealand was on the rescue of miners. Now reports of strange flying creatures, perhaps nocturnal and living in caves, relate to some of the countryside of New Zealand.

Pterosaur in Australia and New Zealand

Across New Zealand, North Islands farmland and countryside, there have been for almost a century tales from farmers and hunters, of a horrid winged beast, with long sharp fangs lining its narrow, beak-like jaws. Its eyes gleam in the night, where it can be seen flying overhead, silhouetted in the moon. Farmers despise it because it tears chunks from their cattle in the nighttime. It is called “The Flying Slasher.”

It seems that not all pterosaurs found in Australia are fossil bones in the ground. Some of these flying creatures, the ones associated with dinosaurs and ancient extinctions, are still observed in various parts of Australia. Apparent giant pterosaurs have been reported in the west, east, south, and interior: the Outback.

Pterosaur in Australia - East Coast

“We saw it at Mt Coolum . . . I was [driving] towards the ocean . . . We heard . . . the swoosh noise . . . [we saw] a black shape coming from the trees; the next thing we saw was one wing over the windscreen. It crossed our path . . . I couldn’t see the road for a moment, just wing covering the entire windscreen. The body was over the car and it’s other wing, over the back . . . we could not see the body . . . [only] the wing: bat like leather, veins and leather stretched over a bone structure. That was dinosaur era.

Pterosaur Sightings in Australia

“I live . . . in the state of Victoria near the Dandenong Ranges about 25 klms east of Melbourne.

“I think it would have been around the late 1990′s. . . . I was standing outside about nine o’clock one night. It was full moon and very bright with a cloud bank to the south east extending to and over the Ranges. Mt. Dandenong is about 2000 feet high and the clouds were much higher . . .

“[I saw] something flying that appeared to be at the height of light planes that fly around here as Moorabbin Airport is not far away. This thing was at least as large as a light plane, say a Cesna.  It was about 5 klms away and was lazily flapping it’s wings . . . It appeared to be lit up by the moonlight and shining as if it had no feathers. . . . I could see it quite clearly. . . . for about 5 mins whence it disappeared into the cloud bank. I estimate it was flying at a height higher than Mt Dandenong.”