Thunderbolts Project-The Electric Comet (2013)

Thunderbolts Project-The Electric Comet (2013 Aug 03)
Home page: http://www.thunderboltsproject.com/home.html
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/user19923761
Source: http://vimeo.com/71642784

Format: MPEG-4 (AVC 444Kbps/AAC 109Kbps)
Resolution: 756x426
Duration: 1h 29m

The recent YouTube take-down of this fact-based documentary has provoked a remarkable response, suggesting that a large and growing community understands very well the issues at stake.

The take-down was due to a single complaint of copyright infringement by astronomer Travis Rector at the University of Alaska. Prompted by astronomer Sean Walker, Rector filed a complaint with YouTube, in disregard for both fair use and fair play. Unwittingly, he provoked an outpouring of criticism that caused him to hide the story he'd published on his own Facebook page as criticism continued to pour in.

On matters such as this, public consciousness has come a long way in recent years. Take away the fair use principle and the same people who manage taxpayer funding within the sciences will also control the flow of information and ideas. When foundational theory is thrown into question, a publicly supported jobs program will typically resort to science by news release. Its advocates will seek to maintain an illusion, to suggest that "all is well in our science." But what if facts discovered by their own scientists challenge the cover story from start to finish? That's when the program's Inquisitors will resort to "copyright infringement" claims, seeking to deny public access to data and images gathered at taxpayer expense.

YouTube is a huge enterprise, and it's understandable that copyright and fair use issues are left almost entirely to an automated system. To move beyond the automated process may require litigation. Our own intent is to go to court if necessary. The essential contribution of fact-based criticism in the sciences REQUIRES the fair use principle, and the documentary in question is the poster child for fair use - an ideal opportunity to test well-established but often-ignored provisions of the law. (See our forthcoming report.)

In the meantime, we've now placed the documentary here, since Vimeo is the leading alternative to YouTube, particularly for communities exploring challenges to institutionalized theory:

If you have any doubt as to the objective value of this documentary, we invite you to review this factual presentation (still in its original form for critical review prior to the final edit). Please speak up for the essential principles of fair use and fair play - wherever you can reach people who care about truth first and not the preservation of cherished dogma in the sciences.

Additional Links:

http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/
http://www.holoscience.com/wp/
https://www.facebook.com/thunderboltsproject

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Uploader's note: I used http://downloadvimeo.com/ to download this - I haven't messed with the video file since.

As Carl Sagan once opined:

"The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science. We do not know beforehand where fundamental insights will arise from about our mysterious and lovely solar system. The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources."

That scientists themselves are feeling encouraged to suppress information, for whatever reason, is distasteful and wholly inconsiderate of humanity's progression into new arenas of enlightenment and understanding.

- thokling