Why don’t we have better and recent photo or video evidence for UFOs, Bigfoot, yeti, demons, and ghosts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I first got serious about photography and bought a single-lens reflex camera (Minolta XG-M) 45 years ago in 1981. Back then to take a still photo my camera first needed to be loaded with a roll of film. Then I had to manually focus it. The camera had auto exposure, so once I set the aperture it would select the correct exposure time. After taking each picture I had to advance the film. And for video your camera needed film (or tape) and a battery.

 

The iPhone appeared on January 9, 2007 – almost two decades ago. Now many of us (~93% of the global population) are carrying around smartphones which only take a few seconds to prepare for recording either still images or video. There should be zillions of high-resolution still images and video of UFOs and other paranormal subjects. If not, then they just are tall tales.

 

An article by Heslley Machado Silva in Skeptic magazine on February 26, 2026 asks Where Have All the UFOs, Yeti, Demons, and Ghosts Gone? She says that:

 

“Over the past decades, we have witnessed a quiet yet decisive transformation in the history of human beliefs: the apparent disappearance of major paranormal phenomena that for millennia fueled mythologies, religions, folklore, and countless reports of supposed extraordinary manifestations. UFOs hovered over mountains and deserts; colossal creatures such as Bigfoot, the Yeti, or the Sasquatch roamed remote forests; spirits, apparitions, and ectoplasmic entities materialized in abandoned mansions; miracles occurred before the eyes of the devout; demonic possessions defied rational explanation. Today, all these phenomena seem to have taken permanent leave, an intriguing coincidence emerging precisely at the moment humanity begins to carry in its pockets (or better yet, in its hands) ultra-high-definition cameras capable of recording every detail of daily life, or any anomaly, with unprecedented precision.

 

…. beliefs persist and remain widespread, but the supposed phenomena that should generate clear and reproducible evidence seem increasingly absent precisely at a moment when we possess technology capable of recording them with great clarity. This shift invites a skeptical exercise: Why have paranormal and supernatural apparitions disappeared exactly when it became possible to document them unequivocally? For centuries, human testimony was the primary source of such accounts. However, scientific literature consistently demonstrates that testimony, even when sincere, constitutes extremely weak evidence: It is susceptible to perceptual illusions, cognitive biases, cultural expectations, and reconstructed (and often false) memories.

 

…. From a methodological standpoint, this persistent absence of records is consistent with analyses in the philosophy of science applied to paranormal claims: If a phenomenon supposedly interacts with the physical world, it should be detectable by physical instruments; if it never is, despite the exponential growth in instrument sensitivity, then its existence becomes an increasingly implausible hypothesis.”

 

Look at Bigfoot as an example. An Instragram post by Adam Thorn on October 20, 2022 says that:

 

“On this day 55 years ago, the famous Patterson-Gimlin film was made. This was, and still is the best video footage ever taken of a Bigfoot (nicknamed Patty).”

 

The Wikipedia page on Bigfoot refers to it as a one-minute film. Why don’t we instead have something from the past two decades – both longer and clearer?  

 

A cartoon of a UFO was adapted from one at OpenClipArt.

 

 

The toughest task I had to do as a medic in the Air Force Reserve was taking footprints of aircrew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the July 8, 2026 Pioneer Toastmasters Club meeting in Boise I was the Table Topics Master. The meeting theme chosen by our Toastmaster Brian Reublineger was The Toughest Job You Will Ever Love [from the Peace Corps, where he once had been a volunteer]. So, I prepared and used the following job-related questions:

 

What was the toughest job or project that you ever had?

 

What is your current job? What do you love or hate about it?

 

What was the best (or worst) project you ever worked on?

 

What was the best (or worst) job that you ever had?

 

At your current job, what was the best (or worst) day you ever had?

 

At your first job, what was the best (or worst) day you ever had?

 

From 1972 to 1978 I served as a medic in the Air Force Reserve. The clinic I worked at once weekend a month did flight physicals. The toughest task I ever had to do was taking footprints of aircrew. A Student Report, 88-2610, from April 1988 by Gary M. Triplett at the Air Command and Staff College titled Use of a Computer-Assisted Identification System in the Identification of the Remains of Deceased USAF Personnel said:

 

“The DOD has recognized the applicability of fingerprints, footprints, and dental comparison for the scientific identification of deceased active duty personnel for some time. In 1959, the USAF began footprinting of all aircrew members. The footprints are to be used for remains identification to supplement the fingerprints obtained from all active duty members when they enter service.

 

The footprints of USAF personnel performing flight duty recorded as a permanent part of the member’s medical record on AF FM 137, Footprint Record, are reviewed for accuracy and currency during each flight physical.”

 

Both footprints were taken on a single record card using printers ink rolled onto a glass plate. But the Air Force manual describing footprinting was vague about how to get the inking right. Luckily I found out that the United States Secret Service had a publication, a 14-page Guide to Taking Palm Prints published in 1972, with the following succinct explanation:

 

“STEP 1: PREPARATION OF INKING PLATE

 

In order to obtain clear, legible palm-prints, fingerprint ink must be spread on the inking plate in a thin, uniform coat. This can best be accomplished by placing a daub or two of ink on the plate (Figure 2). The ink can be spread evenly over the entire plate by rolling the ink roller back and forth over the plate until the desired consistency is obtained. (Figures 3 and 4.) The proper thickness of the ink may be judged by placing a slip of white paper under the inked glass plate. If the ink is of the desired thickness, the outline of the paper will be barely visible.”

 

An image of soles came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Overly enthusiastic use of ‘absolutely’ can sound like you’re saying the opposite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Absolutely’ is an intensifier. Back on February 23, 2014 I blogged about One-track minds: exactly, absolutely, always. And on June 14, 2024 I posted about how Hedges, qualifiers, and intensifiers are essentially weasel words which can be removed.

 

There is a Savage Chickens cartoon by Doug Savage on July 6, 2026 titled Absolutely, and shown above slightly colorized. It cautions that enthusiastic use of that word can seem like you mean the opposite – when Hell freezes over.  

 

 

Between the Listening and the Telling of Stories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been skimming a 2022 book about storytelling by Mark Yaconelli titled Between the Listening and the Telling: How stories can save us. Google Books has a preview through page 21. There is a 29-second video at Hearth Community on August 2, 2022 titled Storytelling is being human together with this description:

 

“Storytelling is being human together. We tell stories to savor the pleasure of living. We share stories to help one another remember who we are and what matters. We tell stories to weave our lives together. We tell stories to keep our souls intact when suffering overtakes us. This is story as medicine. This is how story can save us.”   

 

Twelve chapters and three interludes in the book are titled:

 

A Place the Soul Once Knew

Confession

The Catacombs

Coming-Out Parade

Pure Medicine

Interlude: Clara

The Hearth

Storycatcher

Undocumented Stories

Tragedy

Interlude: Shoes

The Apocalypse

Sacred Stories

Interlude: The Faun

Home

There is an excerpt on June 28, 2022 at Broadleaf Books titled The Healing Power of Stories, taken from page 15 of Chapter 2: Confession. Another excerpt on September 5, 2023 at Thriving in Ministry titled ‘Between the Listening and the Telling: How Stories Can Save Us' that comes on page 150 from Chapter 11: Sacred Stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a striking excerpt on page 93 from Chapter 7: Storycatcher says that:

 

“One night in an Irish pub, over dinner with writer Brian Doyle, I talked about my newly discovered work, drawing stories forth from people and towns and organizations. ‘You’re a seanachie,’ he declared. Seanachie, he explained, is a Gaelic word meaning ‘storycatcher.’ In traditional Irish towns, a storycatcher’s role was to unearth, gather, and share stories to strengthen and bind people to one another.

 

After Brian’s declaration, I began to claim my vocation as a storycatcher. I learned to ask questions that drew forth memories: A scared place from childhood. A memorable winter. A sacrifice. A missed opportunity. I learned to listen for patterns, for change, for the revealing heat of emotion. I read books by writers, oral historians, and professional storytellers and noted how they went about their craft. Over time I learned the warp and woof of stories, how they gather, arch, spiral, and spring forth. I learned how to root up the deepest stories from people and communities, how to catch their scent, how to ferret them out from the tangle of a person’s living.

 

I discovered that in every town the stories wait, like seeds beneath the concrete. They wait within the receptionist who sailed alone across the Black Sea, within the store manager who raised his two sisters after their mother died, within the well-dressed grandmother who spent her youth stealing horses in Saskatchewan. Lower me down into a seemingly empty, colorless place – a fast-food restaurant, a warehouse chain store, a gray office cubicle – and I will excavate a story that will break your heart, a true story that will bust your sides with laughter or unlock all that’s bound up in you, a story that will aim you like the North Star toward whatever is true and right. Give me a few hours of your time and I will mirror back a story from your life that will fill you with self-compassion. There’s no need to make anything up, no need for fiction. The truth waits to be told, but few know how to catch it. And fewer still know how to tell it.”

 

There is a 45-minute interview at Hearth Community on August 9, 2022 titled Anne Lamott Interviews Mark Yaconelli About His Newest Book.

 

Images of a fireside storyteller and lady catching a ball came from OpenClipArt.

 

 

Strong Voices is a children’s book that collects fifteen excellent American speeches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is important to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. From the Twin Falls Public Library I got a 2020 128-page children’s book with introductions by Tonya Bolden titled Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing. The full text for each speech in this anthology is preceded by a brief biography of the speaker. Those speeches are:

 

Patrick Henry ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.’ One version of his text.

 

George Washington ‘Farewell Address.’ Excerpts and text.

 

Red Jacket ‘We Never Quarrel About Religion.’ Text.

 

Sojourner Truth “I Am a Woman’s Rights.’ Text.

 

Abraham Lincoln ‘Gettysburg Address.’ Texts.

 

Theodore Roosevelt ‘Citizenship in a Republic.’ Text.

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt ‘The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself.’ Text.

 

Lou Gehrig ‘Farewell to Baseball.’ Text and video.

 

Langston Hughes ‘On the Blacklist All Our Lives.’ Audio.

 

John Fitzgerald Kennedy ‘We Choose to Go to the Moon.’ Text.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. ‘I Have a Dream.’ Excerpts.

 

Fannie Lou Hamer ‘I Question America.’ Transcript.

 

Cesar Chavez ‘Address to the Commonwealth Club of California, 1984.’ Text and audio.

 

Hillary Rodham Clinton ‘Women’s Rights Are Human Rights.’ Abridged text.

 

The Duke Cigarettes lithograph of Patrick Henry came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

A Pearls Before Swine cartoon with advice in a pie chart from life coach Rat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a Pearls Before Swine cartoon on July 1, 2026 by Stephan Pastis with the following dialogue:

 

Rat: I’m now a professional life coach, and because you’re my friend I’ve decided to help you for free.

 

Pig: Oh goodie! How?

Rat: It starts with this chart I’ve drawn up showing the percentage of your life that you act like a real dum dum.

 

Pig and Rat: looking at chart [see above]

 

Rat: Do that less.

 

Pig: Somehow your help never feels like help.

Rat: Shoot. Now it’s 99%.  

 

 

A collection from 1942 of The World’s Great Speeches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes we just run out of speech ideas, or suffer from writer’s block. At that point, we might want to get inspired by looking through a large collection of speeches. At the Internet Archive there is a pdf of a 748-page book titled The World’s Great Speeches, edited by Lewis Copeland. Contents are:

 

Part I: GREAT SPEECHES OF EARLIER TIMES

I.     Greece and Rome 

II.    The European Continent

III.   Great Britain and Ireland 

IV.   The United States 

V.    Canada 

VI.   South America, South Africa, India, and China 

 

Part II: GREAT SPEECHES OF OUR TIMES

VII.  American Industry and Government 

VIII. International Affairs 

IX.   The Second World War 

X.    National Defense

 

Part III: INFORMAL SPEECHES

XI.   Informal Speeches

 

Part IV: THE UNITED STATES AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR

XII.  The United States and the Second World War 12

 

TOPICAL INDEX

 

INDEX BY NATIONS

 

INDEX OF SPEAKERS

 

I created a cover using an image of fireworks modified from one at OpenClipArt. 

 

Why did a keynote speaker overestimate his research skills?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

`

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by John Eades at Learnloft on June 25, 2026 titled Why Most Leaders Overestimate Their Presentation Skills which opens by stating a startling ‘statistic’ that: 

“Fear is real, and there are a couple of common things people fear.

A survey revealed that people’s two biggest fears are public speaking and death.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld landed a joke about the survey when he said, ‘Most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.’

It’s funny because it’s true. Most people despise the idea of public speaking.”

John did such superficial research that he confused a joke with a 1973 survey where death actually was seventh. Both are shown above. And that misquote is a paraphrase of what Jerry said in 1993. Back on April 8, 2018 I blogged about Misquoting Jerry Seinfeld and inflating fear five times.

 

He also has a 9-minute YouTube video at The Leadership Lens on June 25, 2026 titled Most Leaders Think They’re Good Presenters. They’re Not. Both the article and video have some useful content:

 

“The Three Types of Presenters

 

Since leadership is more art than science, leaders can be introverted or extroverted. They are women and men. They are quiet and loud. However, after watching leaders across industries, most fall into one of three categories when presenting.

 

The Informer

The Informer knows their content cold. Their slides are detailed, their data is accurate, and their presentation is thorough. However, they confuse information transfer with communication. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, but it can be boring. The audience might even learn something. Their presentations are forgettable, not because they couldn’t be better or because their content is weak, but nothing makes it stick.  

 

The Rambler

The Rambler has real experience and genuine passion. When it lands, it’s magnetic. But without structure, the audience works too hard to follow. They leave inspired by the energy but unclear on the point. The Rambler’s biggest blind spot is thinking passion is enough. While it’s better than someone who doesn’t care, passion without structure is just noise with enthusiasm.

 

The Inspirer

The Inspirer knows their content and their audience. They don’t present at people, they present for them. They use story, tension, and intentional moments to connect ideas to emotions. They take chances by using authenticity to show their true self. The audience doesn’t just remember a few of the things they said – they remember how it made them feel.”

 

 

On June 18, 2026 David Murray published his 4,493th post in the Writing Boots blog he started back in 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Murray edits the magazine Vital Speeches of the Day and runs the Professional Speechwriters Association. On June 18, 2026 he published his 4,493th post in the Writing Boots blog he had started back in 2008. It is titled Writing Boots: I Can’t Live With It, and I Can’t Live Without It. (I only have 3157 posts or ~70% of his total). I enjoy reading his blog, which he posts at almost every weekday (although Fridays usually are just a linked video).

 

He says he has used this blog:

 

"as a chance to sharpen my knives.

 

to remind myself, on muggy gray Tuesdays between magazine articles and books and other public stunts, that I exist.

 

to draw crowds by starting fights.

  

to be a self-righteous prick.

 

to write gentle poems that you wouldn’t read otherwise.

 

to make reading my thoughts, your habit.

 

to get things off by chest.

 

to settle scores.

 

to preen.

 

to figure out what I think.

 

to force myself to say something, every day.

 

to make saying something every day easy and natural. (It’s easier to write every day than once a week, a daily columnist and I agree).

 

To say whatever the fuck I want.

 

To keep from complaining that I’m not allowed to say whatever the fuck I want."

 

The writer image was cropped from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

A claim about public speaking that wasn’t really in the 2023 Chapman Survey of American Fears

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Kathryn Janicek at LinkedIn Pulse on May 24, 2026 titled Your Body Is Sabotaging Your Speech Before You Say a Word. In her section titled The Part Nobody Prepares For she claimed:

 

“According to the Chapman University Survey of American Fears (2023), public speaking anxiety ranks among the most prevalent fears in American adults - above financial concerns and job loss for a significant portion of those surveyed.”

 

Why was she vague about the exact percentage and rank for the allegedly prevalent fear of public speaking? The survey has a web page with list of 97 fears ranked by percent. Public speaking was feared by 28.7% and only was ranked #53, which is not even in the upper half. There was not a question about financial concerns; Economic/financial collapse was #2 at 54.7% - far above public speaking. And there was not a question about job loss; Computers replacing people in the workforce was #47 at 31.6% and Being unemployed was #74 at 24.9%. On October 20, 2023 I blogged about how Corrupt government officials (60.1%) was the most common fear in the ninth 2023 Chapman Survey of American Fears. Public speaking was only ranked #53 (28.7%).

 

I also tried Google searching on the phrases “financial concerns” and “job loss” along with “Chapman survey” but came up empty.

 

But why didn’t she look at the most recent 2025 survey? On October 23, 2025 I blogged about how In the eleventh Chapman Survey of American Fears for 2025, public speaking was only ranked #46 of 67 fears at 33.7%.

 

 

Idaho’s Wassmuth Center for Human Rights celebrates its thirtieth anniversary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An article by Valentin Termite at the Idaho Capital Sun on June 18, 2026 is titled Believing in the goodness of people: Idaho human rights center celebrates 30-year anniversary. It links to their web page on Wassmuth Powerful Practices, which briefly are titled (and then also explained in detail):

 

Collect Joy

Design for Belonging

Listen Deeply

Stay Curious

Notice and Name Bright Spots

Align Actions with Values

 

To collect joy you should:

 

“Notice, savor, and share moments of connection, warmth, and delight as expressions of human dignity and belonging. Paying attention to what is life-giving cultivates hope and sustains commitment to building a better world for all.” 

 

And, to listen deeply you should:

 

“Offer your full presence to another person without interruption, judgment, or trying to fix. Seeking to understand feelings, perspectives, and needs affirms that every person matters.” 

 

On October 27, 2024 I blogged about A new building at Boise’s Wassmuth Center for Human Rights with quotations carved in stone.

 

The border for the thirtieth came from OpenClipArt.

 

 

Who is a pseudoexpert?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a useful article by Joffrey Fuhrer et al. in Frontiers in Psychology on November 11, 2021 titled Pseudoexpertise: A Conceptual and Theoretical Analysis. Their abstract says:

 

“Some people publicly pretend to be experts while not being ones. They are pseudoexperts, and their presence seems to be ubiquitous in the current cultural landscape. This manuscript explores the nature and mechanisms of pseudoexpertise.

 

We first provide a conceptual analysis of pseudoexperts based on prototypical cases of pseudoexpertise and recent philosophical work on the concept of expertise. This allows us to propose a definition that captures real-world cases of pseudoexpertise, distinguishes it from related but different concepts such as pseudoscience, and highlights what is wrong with pseudoexpertise.

 

Next, based on this conceptual analysis, we propose a framework for further research on pseudoexpertise, built on relevant empirical and theoretical approaches to cultural cognition. We provide exploratory answers to three questions: why is there pseudoexpertise at all; how can pseudoexperts be successful despite not being experts; and what becomes of pseudoexperts in the long run. Together, these conceptual and theoretical approaches to pseudoexpertise draw a preliminary framework from which to approach the very troubling problem posed by persons usurping the capacities and reputations of genuine experts.”

 

I have discussed one well-known pseudoexpert in a post on October 7, 2025 titled Surrounded by bad books from Thomas Erikson. In that post I mentioned that:

 

“An article edited by Lotten Kalenius from the Swedish Skeptics Association (VoF) on April 15, 2024 is titled One of Sweden’s biggest scientific bluffs which discusses the book and Thomas Erikson. It has a section titled Is Erikson an authority in behavioural science? When he was looked up: 

 

‘So, we used Ladok, the register of everyone who has studied at Swedish colleges and university, to see if we could find the courses taken by Erikson. There was no-one with his name and birthdate registered. In fact, Erikson’s professional background is in sales, first for the bank Nordea and then running his own business training salespeople. It is most likely that his only educational background is, at best, the Swedish equivalent of a high school diploma.’ 

 

Lotten noted that Erikson was named Fraudster of the Year in 2018 by VoF and also added:

 

“He has as much right as my poodle to call himself a behavioural scientist.”

 

Guests on the Coast to Coast AM late-night radio show often are pseudoexperts who discuss their poorly researched books or videos.

 

The cartoon was adapted from the March 17, 1897 issue of Puck magazine at the Library of Congress.

 

 

Polystyrene foam revealed by a demonstration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

There is an interesting article by Joe Schwarcz at the McGill Office for Science and Society on June 9, 2026 titled The Case of the Missing Coffee Cup. He describes a demonstration:

 

“It is a demonstration that never fails to draw oohs and ahhs from students. Pour a small amount of acetone into the bottom of a beaker and drop in a foamed plastic coffee cup. It instantly seems to melt into the liquid and within seconds just vanishes.

Of course, matter cannot just vanish, but it can change from one form into another. Like sugar dissolving in water, the plastic dissolves in the acetone. How can so much plastic dissolve so quickly in so little acetone? Because there is actually very little plastic in that coffee cup.

Yet that little plastic has been expanded by being filled with gas bubbles, much like blowing up a balloon. As the plastic dissolves, the air is released, and we have an apparent magical effect.”

I repeated it using a cubical sample of polystyrene foam insulation placed in a glass custard cup as shown above. When acetone was added, it became just a small puddle. That got even smaller after the acetone evaporated.

A Wikipedia page for Polystyrene has a section on Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) – commonly known as Styrofoam.