Myers Responds!

[Robert Harris]

It is disappointing, though not surprising that Mr. Myers has to use a
surrogate to present his defense of my video, but let's take a look at his
arguments.

Keep in mind, that I simply pointed out that he reduced the distance
between JFK and Connally, in the first part of his presentation, using
what was obviously, a hastily thrown together wireframe of the limousine,
and that he switched back to an accurate rendering of the two victims
after finishing his "analysis".

Myers arguments in the order presented:

1. Harris is ignorant.

2. These same charges have been made "numerous times" by others (not
exactly surprising:-) who are therefore, also ignorant.

3. Harris relies on short attention spans to present his arguments.

4. Harris pretends to be knowledgeable.

5. Harris pretends that he can look at a two dimensional drawing and
determine a three dimensional trajectory.

6. Jack White was full of crap, so somehow, that proves Harris is the
same.

7. Harris has not presented evidence that he placed the two victims more
closely together than they were.

8. Myers claims that he used exactly the same models in both the
wireframe version of video, and the completed version.

Of course, 1-4 are typical ad hominem attacks on myself and his many
critics, as well as those poor attention deficient slobs who study my
videos.

Number 5 is totally bogus, since my argument was that he shrunk the
distance between the two men - a fact which is quite obvious, and
requires no extrapolation whatsoever. Of course, Mr. Myers knew that,
but he needed to pretend that I was acting like Jack White.

Number 6 - see above.

Number 7 - the most commonly used and fallacious argument used by
conspiracy deniers. After being confronted with evidence they cannot
refute, they simply say, "where is the evidence?".

Number 8 could only be true if he compressed the wireframes in the
horizontal dimension.

But what is really great about debates on graphics is that you don't
have to rely on the *words* of either Mr. Myers or myself. Look at the
images - pause the video, and hold a ruler up to your screen. Decide for
yourself, who is full of crap here:-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xP0mH_u_no

Myers complete response is below.

Robert Harris

"Iąve gotten more than one email in the last few days asking
about a video posted on YouTube over the weekend claiming to debunk my
computer animation work on the validity of the single bullet theory.

This latest video posting, entitled łDale Myers or Voodoo Geometry
101,˛ arrives courtesy of conspiracy advocate Robert Harris who
manages to prove how little he knows about my computer work,
photography and geometric relations, and the Kennedy assassination in
general in less than six minutes.

The crux of Mr. Harrisą argument is that yours truly (thatąs me)
falsified the geometric positions of Kennedy and Connally in order to
make it appear that the single bullet theory was valid and that the
single bullet shot traced back to Lee Harvey Oswaldąs firing position
on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. In short,
according to Mr. Harris, my computer work is a transparent lie.

Never mind that Mr. Harrisą charges have been made numerous times in
the past by equally ignorant detractors and rebutted in detail on my
own website (see, FAQ: Computer Reconstruction of the JFK
Assassination) and here in this forum (see, Con Job: Debunking the
Debunkers).

The modern day pied pipers of the YouTube generation count on the
short attention spans and general ignorance of their audience to sell
their own brand of snake-oil and promote themselves as reliable
purveyors of truth via video on the Internet.

Of course, anyone can point a webcam at their own mug a pretend to be
someone of knowledge and responsibility. Hence, the wisdom of the
ancient axiom, łYou get what you pay for.˛

In this case, those who buy Mr. Harrisą free offerings are getting a
pig in a poke.

For instance, Mr. Harris makes the foolish claim that he can measure a
two dimensional still frame of a computer rendering of the
presidential limousine and itąs occupants (as culled from the
Discovery Channel program, łBeyond the Magic Bullet˛) and determine
the angle of a three-dimensional trajectory from the sniperąs nest.

Apparently Mr. Harris never heard of (or understands) the underlying
principle of photogrammetry, which in essence shows that it is
impossible to project three dimensional lines in space onto two
dimensional photographs without taking into account the location and
angle of both known vantage points. By some wizardry unknown to human
science, Mr. Harris is able to do both.

Conspiracy guru Jack White found out the lessons of photogrammetry the
hard way when he took a beating in 1978 while trying to convince the
House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) that multiple press
photographs of Oswaldąs Mannlicher-Carcano rifle depicted multiple
rifles of differing lengths. The łproof˛ Mr. White offered of the
multiple rifle cover-up were measurements he made on two-dimensional
press photographs.

As the HSCA photograph experts called to rebut Mr. White rightly
pointed out, the former advertising photographer failed to take into
account the relationship between the camera making the photograph and
the tilt of the rifle in three dimensional space. In fact, White had
never heard of the principle of photogrammetry.

Apparently, Mr. Harris never heard of Jack Whiteąs boo-boo, because he
makes the same error. And he makes it more than once.

For instance, Mr. Harris claims that a comparison of a photograph of
the presidential limousine made early in the parade route with a
computer rendering of my limousine model shows that łMyers has jammed
the two men much more closely together than they really were.˛ Mr.
Harris claims that the distance between the back seat where the
president was seated and Governor Connallyąs jumpseat were compressed
in my computer model by ła little over fifty percent.˛

What is the evidence for the charge that I manipulated the dimensions
of the limousine to better serve the single bullet theory?

Mr. Harris offers nothing more that his own self-proclaimed expertise
at visually aligning two different photographs made from two
completely different angles in three dimensional space ­ [a] virtual
impossibility ­ along with an unsupported declarative statement:
łThere is no way JFKąs legs could have been up against the back of
Connallyąs car seat.˛

In fact, Mr. Harrisą credibility on this last point is effectively
destroyed by the existence of numerous photographs taken throughout
the motorcade (a photograph on the back dust jacket of Bill Sloanąs
JFK: Breaking the Silence to name one) which shows exactly the
opposite to be true ­ Kennedyąs knees were comparatively tight to the
back of Connallyąs jump seat.

In addition, Mr. Harrisą claim that łwhen the House Select Committee
on Assassinations depicted the victims they had to move Connally
considerably [more] to his left˛ than he appeared to be in other
photographs suggests that Mr. Harris doesnąt know that the HSCA
Photographic Panel mistakenly based Connallyąs position on a line of
sight as seen in a photograph made by Hugh Betzner and that the HSCA
analysis failed to take into account the fact that Connallyąs right
shoulder was below Betznerąs line of sight (as proven by the Altgensą
photograph) and hence Connally might have been seated further right
than the HSCA believed. My three dimensional analysis of the Zapruder
film bares this fact out.

Most importantly, Mr. Harris states, łThe next scene from [Mr. Myersą]
presentation includes an amazing sleight of hand or pixels or
whatever. Watch closely folks, as Mr. Myers tries to hide the evidence
of his deception by slipping the victims back into a proper position.˛

Here, Mr. Harris shows a clip from the Discovery program which
features my computer work in which the moment of the single bullet is
shown in wireframe and in solid form as the camera circles the
limousine and its occupants.

Mr. Harris then adds this, łOkay, notice two things here. First the
car and the background are all wireframes. Also, he still has Kennedy
and Connally close together, so that 18 degree bullet trajectory looks
pretty reasonable. But as the car rotates, notice that something
happens. The wireframes disappear and right in the middle of the
rotation, Mr. Myers switches to a totally different video. In this
video he positions President Kennedy and Governor Connally correctly.˛

What Mr. Harris doesnąt know is that the two renderings (wireframe and
solid form) depict THE SAME MODEL.

Thatąs right folks, the wireframe model that he claims has been
łjammed together˛ in order to mislead the American public and
perpetuate the cover-up, is the exact same model (and in the same
position) as the solid form model which Mr. Harris says depicts
Kennedy and Connally correctly.

For you tech junkies, the model of the single bullet moment was simply
rendered in a 360 degree rotational view multiple times with a variety
of surface settings (wireframe, solids, etc.), and then combined with
simple dissolves pulled between the various layers.

At the end of his presentation, Mr. Harris proudly boasts, łPeople
like Myers have been playing this same game for years, misconstruing
the positions of the President and Governor Connally to make it appear
that the shot was fired from the sixth floor of the depository. But
the angles from there just donąt work.˛

Of course, the only game players in this case are the conspiracy
diehards like Mr. Harris who refuse to accept the reality of what
happened in Dealey Plaza and prefer instead to prey on the young and
naďve who are more than happy to follow any video pied piper willing
to tell them whatever they want to hear about the Kennedy
assassination ­ truth be damned."

Dale K. Myers
August 18, 2008