Regular BABloggers know that on Fridays I like to post something a little less serious… and people coming here because the blog is the main page are looking for a debunking. Well, today I can help both of you.
Up to a couple of years ago, I used to haunt other, less scientific boards. There are lots out there to choose from of course, but some are more, ah, entertaining than others. One was called GodLikeProductions, and could charitably be called a haven for people whose grasp on reality was tenuous. I liked to post there, because it honed my ability to cut through a lot of illogical garbage and find the main thrust of someone’s nonsense and examine it. Also, it was amazing to see just how ridiculous an idea could be and still have people slavishly follow it, despite all the evidence against it (I once argued with a guy who claimed that antimatter didn’t exist– I asked him what the "P" in PET scan stood for, and he still wouldn’t budge).
Anyway, there was a woman on GLP who went by the name Wiola, and her posts were sometimes, well, difficult to follow. But one of her basic claims was that there were lizard aliens or something like that who were disguised as humans, and she could find them by taking their picture and running it through about a zillion Photoshop filters, then "analyzing" it. We went back and forth for a while, and then finally I asked her to try it on a picture of me, and see what she found.
I was surprised when she actually did it. Here’s part of the picture:
Her conclusion? Well, I won’t spoil the surprise (though you can guess). I’ll just let you see for yourself.
I’m really just this guy, y’know? I like to watch TV, and eat ice cream, and sometimes sit down and write about how cool the Universe is. So when, exactly, did my life take such a left turn that I wound up dealing with folks like Wiola? I’ll admit, it’s sometimes interesting and even amusing to talk to people like that about the nature of reality, but it also has a serious side. I wonder: do they drive cars, own handguns, vote in national elections?
Just a little thought to keep you comfy over the weekend. As for me, I think once again I’ll go sun myself on a rock somewhere.
July 13th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Phil, you’re really a lizardman? That must have come as a bit of a surprise! How did Mrs. BA feel about that?
July 14th, 2006 at 12:07 am
So! The H-R Diagram is all a Secret Plot of the Templars!! I figured as much.
Well, another thing that Astronomers and Templars have in common, they take simple things and make them unnecessarily complicated. Example: stellar magnitudes. I mean, it may have been fine for Hipparchus, but please. We couldn’t come up with something that makes a little bit more sense now that we have telescopes and photometers all that good stuff?
So, Astronomers = Templars. QED
Oh, and the BA is a lizard-man. Obviously.
July 14th, 2006 at 12:29 am
Show us your tongue.
July 14th, 2006 at 12:48 am
Hmm. Actually, I think the truth is that you’re actually Grommet’s best friend …
Ever crave Stilton?
Have a look: http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/fla/wg.html
July 14th, 2006 at 12:59 am
Somehow I always suspected there was an Illuminati slant to the material here. Thankfully, I am not a lizard. However, I am the walrus. Coo coo ca choo.
July 14th, 2006 at 1:05 am
If I ever (God forbid) find myself in a position where I can lecture on the scientific method, one of my assignments will be to argue against the claims of a quack of their choice. It’s a fantastic way of teaching yourself to think rationally.
July 14th, 2006 at 1:41 am
Lizard? You look more like a cartoon character, a goofy one at that…
July 14th, 2006 at 2:08 am
It looks like her box only came with eight colors. Crayola makes so many more….
July 14th, 2006 at 3:57 am
Phil, you ever notice how the photoshop woowoos never take a picture of themselves and solarize it?
July 14th, 2006 at 4:43 am
it’s a shame that her traffic is going to peak because of your link…she really doesn’t need the room to validate this with counter feedback.
but i might try this technique on myself just to check…
July 14th, 2006 at 5:36 am
You know, just for fun, I did the same things she said she did in PS to the same picture. I got significantly different results.
(sorry- I can’t figure out how to make these links)
http://home.comcast.net/~cjbastro/philsuit_solar.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~cjbastro/philsuit_solar_invert.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~cjbastro/philsuit_solar_invert_desat.jpg
Seeing that she’s obviously not honest with what she did with your picture, one can only surmise that she has been less than honest with the other pictures as well.
July 14th, 2006 at 5:37 am
Excuse me while I go in that corner and laugh a lot.
July 14th, 2006 at 5:42 am
Did Wiola run a picture of herself (and parents) through her image processing? Might be an “I’m a Cylon!” moment for her.
July 14th, 2006 at 5:57 am
I knew it all along…
Phil has a live one: a woman who mangles digital images with Photoshop filters to determine if they are lizardoid aliens. Foolish earthling. Everyone knows Phil is from Zeta Reticuli. Along similar lines, I once had someone cast a detailed……
July 14th, 2006 at 6:03 am
You know, sometimes basking on a nice warm rock is among the best of the simple pleasures of life. I always enjoy the feel of hot granite against my scales, don’t you?
July 14th, 2006 at 6:16 am
Phil, that is SO cool. You should use the ‘invert’ one on your website on Fridays.
Wish I were a lizard. /jealous
July 14th, 2006 at 6:21 am
Very strange. I have plenty of lizards that hang around my house, and none look like that!
The website was a big laugh!
Think you could try your skills also at the Loose Change forum?
July 14th, 2006 at 6:23 am
Just had a closer look at the Wiola website, well sprinkle me roses with aphids! This person can not be serious?
The words “paranoid delusions” comes to mind.
Dear me!
July 14th, 2006 at 6:30 am
Finally it’s out! Whew, all these years. Now you know why Mom always liked me best.
July 14th, 2006 at 6:33 am
Well, your Photoshop-solarized visage is quite grotesque and nightmarish…but I don’t judge people by their looks.
I looked up the main part of “Wiola’s” “website”…space cadet isn’t even an accurate term. There HAS to be crystal meth involved here.
July 14th, 2006 at 6:35 am
Damn you and your lizard brethern! Don’t make me unleash David Icke on you! He’s on to your evil plan to conquor the world and fill it up with komodo dragons and chameleons.
This world is not for weirdy reptile halfbreeds like you! It’s for wrestling fans, walking invisible dogs, and fans of Montell Williams – get it right!
(By the way, don’t forget to go to my site on Thursday for the new Skeptic’s Circle
)
July 14th, 2006 at 6:36 am
Sounds like this Wiola whacko is a follower of that other well-known, anti-lizard, whacko, David Icke…
July 14th, 2006 at 6:54 am
How come you never make it to our Lizard People meetings? We’d love to have you stop by! Now that we know you’re one of us…
July 14th, 2006 at 7:08 am
Just had a look at the whole Wiola website. The scary thing about that website is her humankind(?) vs the snake people stance. I sincerely hope she hasn’t got access to anything more dangerous than crayons and soft paper.
July 14th, 2006 at 7:11 am
I dunno…she might have a point. I mean Dick Cheney is a lizard man, isn’t he? If she’s right about that, who knows what else? I’m surprised she didn’t run the tests on Condi Rice, is also very obviously a lizard. Interesting though that she doesn’t show the results of any negative lizard tests.
July 14th, 2006 at 7:43 am
“well the RUSSELLS are a BLOODLINE FAMILY….”
As opposed to other kinds of families?
What a psycho!
July 14th, 2006 at 7:46 am
I recognized Phil on the picture before I read the text – if this is an insult or a compliment, I don’t know.
July 14th, 2006 at 8:09 am
Must be nice to have those secondary natural attacks, a swim speed, and natural armor bonus. Seems you’ve done an amazing job of overcoming your Int and Cha penalties, too.
July 14th, 2006 at 8:10 am
Wiola needs lithium, and lots of it. Her website offers yet another example that LUNATICS FEEL THE NEED TO YELL EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS.
Her analysis of the soul-eating Santa Claus Devil on the moon is beyond remarkable.
July 14th, 2006 at 8:28 am
“I wonder: do they drive cars, own handguns, vote in national elections?”
Yes.
You know, there is a certain segment of the population that…. just doesn’t get it.
July 14th, 2006 at 8:34 am
I wonder if she even realizes that she just stole the plot of “Them”?
She probably wouldn’t be as good in a fistfight as Keith David, anyway.
July 14th, 2006 at 8:36 am
For a heavy dose of related psychological debilities, check out the Wikipedia article “Reptilian humanoid”. I promise it will make your eyes glaze like a Krust-y-Glop doughnut.
All of this reminds me with the Bill Hicks sketch which opens his album Arizona Bay. . . but that’s a different story.
July 14th, 2006 at 8:41 am
“Up to a couple of years ago, I used to haunt other, less scientific boards. There are lots out there to choose from of course, but some are more, ah, entertaining than others. One was called GodLikeProductions…”
As far as the GLPers are concerned, you are still posting there! I’ve seen at least a dozen posters accused of being you in sockpuppet form. All one has to do to be accused of being the BA is to know some astronomy and use logic.
July 14th, 2006 at 8:50 am
Geez, Phil, I guess you ARE a ‘kreepy as_tronomer’. Who knew?
July 14th, 2006 at 8:54 am
wow, can’t believe how crazy some people are.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Like several others posting here, I noticed that she never posts altered pictures of “non-lizard” people. I have an idea how her methodology could be (dis)proven. Get four pictures of different people. one of a known Lizard person, one of a known non-lizard person, one of a random person [who may or may not be a lizard], and one of herself. Merge all of them into one file, with a picture in each quadrant, and do her photo “magic”. However, with the stipulation that each step be performed to ALL of the file at the same time, and publish each step to the web. This would give the public the chance to view the pictures, and see how many of the same lizard “features” appears on each person. I also know several people good enough with photo software to be able to tell if she did any “tricks” to one or more pictures, but not to another.
I wonder what her reaction would be when she finds out she’s one of the enemy?
-Berlie
PS. BA, if you loose your tail, will it grow back?
July 14th, 2006 at 9:22 am
SHOW US YOUR HEMIPENES!
(Oh, c’mon, you know someone had to say that sooner or later.)
July 14th, 2006 at 9:23 am
This totally explains Phil’s vast knowledge of astronomy!
I wonder if a fun activity might be heading over to that site and arguing that there are no humans left. That the lizard aliens migrated from their home eons ago and took the form of humans because the lizard form couldn’t survive as well on earth. The only reason some can see their old form now is because of ‘psychic perception of morphic resonance fields’ generated by their souls. Those who think they are human are actually slightly mad and to be pitied.
What a fun subject…heehee.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:26 am
Good grief! I had NO idea such folks used the web. How do they get access to computers in the asylums? I’ve seen folks like Woody Allen, Spaulding Gray and Josh Kornbluth and the like who use their own lives as fodder for comedic essays. Their stuff, while it is sometimes not always funny, does both entertain and cause the listener to sympathize (if not empathize) and often relate to the very human conditions these comics describe. Aside from ridiculing this clearly sick woman, how could one feel anything other than pity?
Clearly this lady isn’t getting any help from her postings. It would seem that folks like this lady are only encouraging their mental aberrations… How sad.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:41 am
I still had lingering doubt when looking at the 1st image but boy oh boy, when I saw the inverted filtered image, wow just WOW. No doubt there!!!
She’s nuts!
July 14th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Wayne,
What do you have against a logarithmic measure based on the 2-and-a-half root of 100? Astronomers just needed a secret code to keep out the physicists.
Back when the WWW wasn’t even a gleam in Tim Berner Lee’s eye, some of us on the fledgling internet were discussing the “four sigma” phenomenon. This is the observation that, as a population gets larger, members four standard deviations from the mean start becoming likely. Of course, as membership in the internet club grows we’re getting into five and six sigma territory, but the observation remains: we’ve given a way for a billion people to express their most cherished beliefs to any of the rest of that billion. We’re talking about the chance of encountering freakiness on a one-per-planet level.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:44 am
I can almost see the headlines now …
Secret Lizard People Race Saves Earth from Doomsday Asteroid!
Wow. That’s good stuff. Quick! Someone call Yahoo! News!
:p
July 14th, 2006 at 9:57 am
Wow. One problem with the Web is that crazies like that can reach WAY more people now. Thankfully there are also islands of sanity out there, even if they are run by lizard people! I’m always amazed at how fast people can latch on to (and fanatically defend) things that are clearly nonsense.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:58 am
Whew. Looks like we have a live one here. Evil reptilian kitten eaters from another planet, unite!
July 14th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Actually, this could explain a lot about some other astronomers I know.
July 14th, 2006 at 10:13 am
I used to deal with people like her in my previous career. I still find it scary.
July 14th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Thought you would like to know… I got the exact same results she did by applying “Glowing Edges” and “Invert” … and of course by playing with parameters in those tools in order to manipulate the image in such a way as to get the result she wanted.
I can also use “Poster Edge” tool to prove you are an online comic strip…
July 14th, 2006 at 11:15 am
July 14th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Look at her bio: http://www.wiolawapress.com/bio.htm
At the end, look, she teaches to children! She passes on her schizoid paranoia to small children! Something has to be done to stop her from doin that!
July 14th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Oh, I should share the results of my photo manipulations:
July 14th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Let’s try this again… I got an error trying this last time:
July 14th, 2006 at 11:22 am
Lizard Plait:
http://www.forgingheroes.org/images/pplait.jpg
Comic Plait:
http://www.forgingheroes.org/images/pplaitComic.jpg
Sorry about the tripple post… if it doesn’t work this time, I’ll throw in the towel.
July 14th, 2006 at 11:36 am
Why does she write “HU_man” like that?
Is it like when Penn Jillette say “Bulls[clap]Hit” on his radio show?
Please someone tell me this site is a joke, are there really people like that walking freely among us?
If so, I bet these are the people you see in Australia with the bumper sticker on their car: “I fish and I vote”, whatever that means.
July 14th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Can I be a lizard to?
July 14th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Interesting memories in her bio:
…where i also took a class in advanced planetary studies with MIKE MALIN .msss.com- we did not get along!!all of us in his class had to present a paper on one of the planetary systems.. and discussion.. i chose the formation of moons and the sound and alignment of the moons of Saturn and exactly how they were placed and created..- the rest of the students loved the paper and presentation.. but MALIN gave me back my paper without a grade or even looking at me!@. that said exactly whose side he was on.. the LIZARDS!).
July 14th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
I am glad someone brought up “They Live” thats what I thought of.
Now all she needs are sun glasses that do the filters for her so she can see the lizards w/o the photo processing!
July 14th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Just a note for idlemind: the magnitude system is based on 5th root of 100, not 2.5th root …
July 14th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
To BlueIndependent,
Careful where you cast that name about. We junior lizardoids are very sensitive.
July 14th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Google “Wiolawa” and you’ll see she’s been spewing her ideas all over the “internets”. She’s even been on the BAUT forum.
Wiolawa BAUT posts
July 14th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Wiolawa BAUT posts
July 14th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Tim G, your URL returns this:
“Sorry – no matches. Please try some different terms.”
Has she been suppressed? No, doing a search myself yields a different url. I guess the search result URLs are temporary.
July 14th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
OK, first I thought she was crazy. Really crazy. Yells-obscenities-at-people-walking-by-on-the-sidewalk crazy.
Then I saw the part about Donald Rumsfeld being a snake. Totally believable. Right? Now I’m starting to get a little scared. Maybe I’M the crazy one. Now I have to go home and Photoshop the pictures of my two children to see if they have been sent by the ssssnakey overlords to spy on me.
Enjoy the weekend!
P.S. I just realized that Ann Coulter must be one of the snake people. The really amazing thing is that you don’t even have to Photoshop her picture to know that it’s true! She looks like a snake even un-retouched! Quality control must be slipping on the part of the snake people’s makeup folks.
July 14th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
Marmalade, potato, albatross.
Submarine!
July 14th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Man alive, that woman needs help.
I know mentioning her falls in the humor catagory, but she needs help in a very personal way. Not that she would accept such help–blaming it on a reptilian plot and all…
July 14th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Astronomer Rex?
Or is that As-Tronomer Rex? … asT-Rex?
Hmmmmmmm
But really, this is sad. I feel a bit guilty giggling. But it is Friday.
July 14th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
asT-Rex? King of the Astronomers? I like it:)
July 14th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Donald Rumsfeld a snake person? Cheney and Bush lizards? What an insult to honest, respectable reptiles everywhere!
July 14th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
What? Am I the only one who doesn’t see anything reptilian about the super-retouched photo? The whole idea is preposterous!
Clearly, Phil is a Cyberman.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
I for one welcome our new reptilian overlords.
July 14th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
BJ Nichols thought Wiola needs to be on lithium, no way she needs to be on something like droperidol,Haldol, or better yet thorizine. That is one serious wacked person.
One can only hope folks like that won’t vote because they are to scared.
July 15th, 2006 at 12:19 am
Wow… for a minute there I thought she might be a Scientologist too, but then I realized she ain’t that crazy.
July 15th, 2006 at 4:40 am
On the night that Ronald Reagan was first elected president, Channel 4 in the UK showed a programme entitled The All Night, All American Show (or something along those lines.) It included clips from US game shows like The Price Is Right and one, the title of which I can’t recall, where a guy has his wife & secretary having a cat fight over who he has the greatest affection for.
After every clip (that was showing some of the worst of US society) a commentator would say “Remember folks, every one you’ve just seen can vote tonight!”
The problem is that today, not only can they still vote, not only can they put their whacky ideas up on the web for everyone to see, but some of them are in the government!!
July 15th, 2006 at 6:48 am
It is too bad you can’t photoshop someone’s photo to discern insanity. As for lizard men from outer space in reality we are all pretty much lizard men since the mammal line does descend from reptiles, we are more lizard then any extraterrestrial.
She reminds me of this guy I knew in high school who had a love affair with the goddess Diana via Ouija board, interesting enough the mere mortal high school girls wouldn’t touch him.
July 15th, 2006 at 6:58 am
in addition after seeing her website she reminds me of the kids in the hall character who crushes people’s heads by viewing them from a distance, closing one eye and squeezing his fingers. She only processes pictures of people she doesn’t like.
July 15th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Chris, my co-editor and I spent the morning having some fun doing her little technique on photos. Apparently Ben Stein is, in fact, a grey, not a reptiloid.
At any rate, the step she doesn’t include there is to do a trace outline on the photo after you solarize it. She’s also doing these filterings multiple times, in order to get the kind of pictures she wants.
July 15th, 2006 at 7:49 am
Never underestimate the potential depths of human stupidity.
We’re all doomed, folks. Not from asteroids or supervolcanos, not necessarily even from global warming, but from nutters spreading insanity on the Net.
I speak as an ex-lizard (I got better!)
July 15th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Troy: don’t mistake insanity for Kids In The Hall fandom. It’s a fine, fine line.:P
July 15th, 2006 at 8:29 am
If you think the page on Phil was amusing, you should check out this other page I found over on “Godlike Productions”: http://www.wiolawapress.de/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=275
Scroll down and read the whole thing; the thread-starter is obviously setting them up, but they’re too stupid to understand it. You gotta love the comment “hello I tryed to solarize this picture
but I didn’t get the same result…. what filters do you use in adobe photoshop to get this?” Pure class.
How can people BE this gullible? Oh, right, they’re idiots. And apparently also sufferers of advanced paranoid schizophrenia. Or, well, at least some of them are. I mean, they MUST be! It’s amazing really, it’s truly like there’s NO barriers between their inner worlds and the real world outside their own minds. Truly awesome humor.
While we’re at the topic of schizophrenic humor, be sure to check this page out, as well: http://www.wiolawapress.com/hell.htm “LUCIFER-SATAN( HOUSE OF THE SNAKE)WITH HORNS..INSIDE THE UFOSHIP!” THE UFOSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 15th, 2006 at 8:32 am
Food for thought. The lizard conspiracy cannot be too widespread or the ability of Photoshop to expose the secret would have been suppressed long before Wiola coud stumble upon the secret.
Could have been an accident which permitted those filters through the system, though, in which case expect to see a patch coming soon…
July 15th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
So, what we seem to really need is a philosophy dedicated to making people sane. The SciMethod can only uncover the underlying biochemical root cause of their insanity. Getting them to accept that they are nuts and need help,,,well, that’s another matter.
Tibetan Bhudism at least makes the effort,,,a truely unique philosophy. Any Jew, Chrisitan, Moslem or other religionist can also be a Bhudist, though some of my moslem friends might disagree,,,
GAry 7
July 15th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
Snakelizard,
Indeed, that first link showed how pathetic these people are. They would be funnier if their composition skills were just slightly better.
July 15th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Pages like that are reason alone to make Microsoft Frontpage illegal to own, and operate without a license.
July 15th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
What would be easier, sending all the whacko nut-jobs offworld, or sending sane people to try to restart humanity somewhere else? (I think I’m kidding, but part of me is probably serious…)
Seriously, though, those of us in voting countries should be stirred to action by the mere knowledge that disturbed people like this can and do vote! So should the rest of us, just to offset them, if for no other reason.
July 16th, 2006 at 6:12 am
CR, I’m fair certain there are fewer sane people.
July 16th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Maybe these folks got sucked into our universe from some scifi alternate reality where such beings exist.
I promise it will make your eyes glaze like a Krust-y-Glop doughnut.
Actually, I found the Wikipedia article pretty well balanced; it wasn’t FAVORING the wackos, just explaining them and some of the myths that have existed for a long time. I thought Russell’s thought experiment(re: dinosauroids)was interesting and plausible — it just didn’t happen that way on THIS Earth. It doesn’t say it’s FACT, just somebody getting creative with possibilities.
If it weren’t for the paranoid word salad, I’d see Wiola’s Photoshop materials as just an odd form of (pretty primitive, child-like) art.
Oh, BTW, I’ve always thought dragon myths were cool… I guess I must be a lizardoid too!
July 16th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
You’re a lizard! Cool. Are you related to Diana from V?
July 17th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
jay denari, I don’t think Blake Stacey was condemning the Wiki article, I think he was freaking that people could actually believe the stuff listed in the article.
Joe The Juggler Said:
>“well the RUSSELLS are a BLOODLINE FAMILY….â€
>As opposed to other kinds of families?
The phrasing is a bit off, but “Bloodline” is being used in a specific context. It is referring to something to do with verified as part of the lizardoid cabal. I don’t know specifically, as I don’t follow the lunacy in question, but it is clear the word is meant in a specific manner and thus actually has meaning in that context, rather than being a redundancy.
July 20th, 2006 at 12:58 am
Okay…quit bad mouthing GLP, and making fun of people. Idiot.
July 21st, 2006 at 4:24 am
[...] Since the Bad Astronomer posted about Wiolawa last week, i’ve been just itching to introduce her to my cuckoo collection. [...]
July 25th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Damn Phil………WIO made that big of an impression on you or were you just that bored?
Either way I’m sure you made Bab’s day!
Ah Ho Wio!
August 30th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
So are these the same lizardoids as described in Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, or are multiple races involved?
December 12th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
[...] Get out and vote! Phil deserves to win! He is naked! He is an alien! He is a tool of the NASA conspiracy! YAAAAY! [...]
August 24th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Hmmm… remind me not to let her ever take my picture. My mission must remain secret- ooohps, I mean- man, what a nut. If I wanted to Photoshop myself with a third eye, playing soccer in molten lava with George Washington, I could, but that wouldn’t mean I DID!
Back where I’m from, playing in molten lava is a big thing, though. You earthlings just don’t seem to enjoy it as much, for some wierd reason. It keeps our scales hard.
Must report back to Vegan superiors.