Post by mystory on Jan 7, 2009 14:59:23 GMT -5
Quite simply, I was a Beatles fan surfing the Internet. I happened to be looking into PID, as I was intending to purchase the Batman comic No. 222 and had as yet been unable to find it offline. That's when I found the 60IF document in Google. At first, I laughed it off, but I've been involved with stranger things (including the making of a website for a psychic couple who claim to channel new music by John Lennon and George Harrison, now pretty much un-updated due to lack of interest in the website), so I decided to give it a good look.
That was when I started lurking at the original onecenter forum. I got close to a few of the original members, starting relationships that have lasted to this day, friendships and other enduring involvements (including one investment in a business of mine). For obvious reasons, I can't state their names, but a lot of them are people who appear to be hardcore PID'ers, and are merely going along with this because it's easier to go along with these "children in their silly seasons" until they tire of it than to complain and call them nuts.
I wanted to post at the onecenter forum, but I was unable to complete registration at that time and was very lucky when what is now known as the TKIN! forum first started. I immediately registered as BeatlestoBattle and took the attitude of a skeptic publicly. Privately, however, I decided to pull a practice con to gain the confidence of the admin. I told Dan Haber (alias number9) that I was a secret agent with access to the files in connection to the death and replacement of Paul McCartney--my cover was that I had to appear skeptical on the forums and poke holes in the theories. Naturally, the gullible kid bought it, and I gained an access to the inner circle of the admin that no one has had, not even Chris, googoo, or the creators of the "All the Truth" website (the latter listed in their capacity as undercover investigators, so to speak).
Eventually, however, I befriended Renee (alias Mrs. Redford -- anyone remember her?) and she convinced me to show that I did not believe them. Thus began my first spree of responding to every post on every forum, and my first time being banned.
For a week, life fell back into the eventual swing of things, but I still checked the forum daily. You all have to admit that at one point 60IF possessed a huge amount (if not all) of your attention. I could not draw away. It had an inexorable pull that I could not deny. Finally, I registered again with a new e-mail address and kept incognito for a while, remaining somewhat neutral (I don't remember the second user name, but "black" was part of it).
Then I told Renee I had managed to sneak back in. At this point, I could not deny that 60IF had a hold over me. She asked me what I could be thinking, and I told her that I certainly didn't know. It took a lot of cajoling and coaxing. I didn't really want to do it, but I was finally persuaded. Thus came my second posting spree, and my second ban, but I had not yet begun to spy, which was my original intent, in other words finding out whether or not 60IF itself was a hoax or true facts.
So I re-registered for a third time, and I am now notorious at the forums as a result of what happened under the Third and Final Fascination and Eventual Decline, as I like to call it. This one lasted longer than my other two excursions, and was allegedly to have been beneficial to me, but wound up feeling like Watergate yet again. Yes...I was the bugger they affectionately refer to by only part of his user name, Imgonnaopenmymind.
I registered for the third and final full time with a third e-mail address and immediately began setting the stage for a third "attack" that I promised myself would be permanent, before I got sucked in by this phony baloney PID business. This time, I'd have to act more slowly, maybe even provide evidence myself. It seemed the guy known as Sun King was rapidly accepting just about anything that didn't contradict 60IF (as it was at the time) too directly. Some of my evidence is still in use today, ironically, if you look at threads such as the one that lists which imitator sang which Paul song and the legendary "Botox on parade" thread. All of that was a bunch of crap, constructed out of previously posted evidence by SK and some quick thinking on my part. You're welcome, guys, lol.
That was when I was immediately cornered and forced into a form of submission. Well, actually, I wouldn't put it quite that way. A mutually beneficial arrangement was come to, that sounds better. I was confronted by one of the 60IF admin (I won't name which for their own sake), who informed me that they knew by IP comparison that I was both BeatlestoBattle and something something "black." Obviously this put me in a bit of a quandary--my number was up if this admin decided to take the information to the others. Surprisingly, they were the one to tell me it wouldn't go that way.
Instead, they'd allow me to stay on as long as I toed the party line.
During this time, I learned a lot about the inner workings of the team as I helped construct the further progress of the 60IF spin. One admin in particular, widely known and believed to be foreign, was in fact an American college student who wrote his responses to posts in English, translated them into the language of that foreign nationality via BabelFish, and then translated that back into English to provide the appropriate degree of broken English. I have no doubt that he probably still does this, or maybe he's even got a fellow student doing the posting for him. Needless to say at this point with all the NEW crazy theories emanating from the TKIN! forum, I have my doubts that it's just the one student minding the store any longer.
60IF began as part of a college thesis paper. This particular admin was going for a degree in Theology, specializing in comparative religion, and was intrigued by the thought of the Beatles as a modern-day type of quasi-religious mythology (they made great music and great strides in audio technology, but really they're quite overrated almost to the point of worship, which emphasized his point further). What made it tick? What was it that caused this? What kind of mystique surrounded the band? Among many things that he pinpointed and eliminated, he came to realize that nearly all of those same things came into play as supporting evidence for one myth in particular--Paul McCartney's death, and his replacement with a look- and sound-alike. He began to wonder if this mystique surrounding a 30 year old myth could be repeated. And 60IF was born...
...although not by his own hand, oh no. Talk to Isaac Phaire some time. The fact of the matter is, Zak (as he prefers to be called) did write the basis of it. Zak's original motive, something he actually would never post about on his website calling others' attention to his authorship, although part of it slipped out in his post on 60IF, was to create mystique about himself as a "mysterious insider" to jazz up an otherwise dull profile on Yahoo! Personals. Is everything else Zak claims to have done in editing and the world of media true? Based on my subsequent ongoing research, yes, and it's my opinion he underestimated the mystique of that. Women like men with stability, Zak! The admin behind all this found your personal ad while looking for the site with the best rendition of the PID story. Yours fit his needs, with a few adjustments added (such as the IBS, Brian Epstein being replaced [which I find rather unnecessary, personally], and other such trappings).
He slowly roped them in the way any good ringleader would, adapting his story of discovery now here, now there, to suit those he needed to rope in. One thing I'll say for him, he sure is slick. To one, he was channeling the spirit of George Harrison. To another, it was done by the power of the Holy Spirit, and anything this other was led to add could be done under the influence of the Spirit as well. If someone questions the photo comparisons, he's in engineering, so they have full legal value. If someone says, "But logically there's not much difference, it's a continuing expansion of Paul's musical skills," he's been a musician for 30 years and he can tell you otherwise. If someone paints and writes as a hobby, so does he, and if someone says the whole thing fails under their scrutiny because they're teachers and they think they're smart enough to know when they're being fooled, suddenly he's a teacher too. A man of all seasons, a jack of all trades. Everyone's playing the game, but nobody's rules are the same.
Eventually, 60IF turned into a cottage industry. This admin dropped out of college to focus on 60IF full-time, and this included shopping around a book proposal, the one called "My Dear." He asked many to write it, even though he had the basic outline himself which wasn't too bad and leads me to believe he could have done it himself if he weren't lazy to a fault. Everyone knows about this because of what LongJohn had to say about being coaxed into writing it and politely refusing, but if anyone else knew he was actually cutting checks to people to get the work done, people would have been champing at the bit to do it, believer or not. I'm here to tell you, I was offered well over $4,000 to ghost-write it. I turned it down--I like to think I'm above lying for money. But this raises more questions than answers. I like to think that he was able to spend such time on 60IF because he comes from a well-off family of some sort who are willing to indulge his whims. Otherwise, it makes no sense.
Finally, I could not carry on with this complete breach of ethics. I told that admin to take his money and shove it. He was leading on innocent people, and this wasn't even for a short-term goal anymore. This was for kicks. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if he was actually beginning to buy into the stuff he was selling. At this point, word was beginning to filter to me about what was going on in particular with Chris, googoo and number9. The Past Lives Club was taking this completely out of hand. I wanted to be out of it completely. I would have no part in this.
So I did the only thing I could do, look up Zak Phaire and inform him about the legal definition of copyright infringement. He registered at TKIN! immediately, and we saw to it that the word was put out about the site's outright theft of his material to serve their own ends. Of course, now the original "document" has been edited over and over again to suit any popular theory at any given time to the point that it barely resembles Zak's original. But he didn't leave without a check being cut. One wishes they at least gave me severance pay.
A fuller version of this bearing more details may soon appear in POD book form. It'll be worth a read, I promise you all that.
That was when I started lurking at the original onecenter forum. I got close to a few of the original members, starting relationships that have lasted to this day, friendships and other enduring involvements (including one investment in a business of mine). For obvious reasons, I can't state their names, but a lot of them are people who appear to be hardcore PID'ers, and are merely going along with this because it's easier to go along with these "children in their silly seasons" until they tire of it than to complain and call them nuts.
I wanted to post at the onecenter forum, but I was unable to complete registration at that time and was very lucky when what is now known as the TKIN! forum first started. I immediately registered as BeatlestoBattle and took the attitude of a skeptic publicly. Privately, however, I decided to pull a practice con to gain the confidence of the admin. I told Dan Haber (alias number9) that I was a secret agent with access to the files in connection to the death and replacement of Paul McCartney--my cover was that I had to appear skeptical on the forums and poke holes in the theories. Naturally, the gullible kid bought it, and I gained an access to the inner circle of the admin that no one has had, not even Chris, googoo, or the creators of the "All the Truth" website (the latter listed in their capacity as undercover investigators, so to speak).
Eventually, however, I befriended Renee (alias Mrs. Redford -- anyone remember her?) and she convinced me to show that I did not believe them. Thus began my first spree of responding to every post on every forum, and my first time being banned.
For a week, life fell back into the eventual swing of things, but I still checked the forum daily. You all have to admit that at one point 60IF possessed a huge amount (if not all) of your attention. I could not draw away. It had an inexorable pull that I could not deny. Finally, I registered again with a new e-mail address and kept incognito for a while, remaining somewhat neutral (I don't remember the second user name, but "black" was part of it).
Then I told Renee I had managed to sneak back in. At this point, I could not deny that 60IF had a hold over me. She asked me what I could be thinking, and I told her that I certainly didn't know. It took a lot of cajoling and coaxing. I didn't really want to do it, but I was finally persuaded. Thus came my second posting spree, and my second ban, but I had not yet begun to spy, which was my original intent, in other words finding out whether or not 60IF itself was a hoax or true facts.
So I re-registered for a third time, and I am now notorious at the forums as a result of what happened under the Third and Final Fascination and Eventual Decline, as I like to call it. This one lasted longer than my other two excursions, and was allegedly to have been beneficial to me, but wound up feeling like Watergate yet again. Yes...I was the bugger they affectionately refer to by only part of his user name, Imgonnaopenmymind.
I registered for the third and final full time with a third e-mail address and immediately began setting the stage for a third "attack" that I promised myself would be permanent, before I got sucked in by this phony baloney PID business. This time, I'd have to act more slowly, maybe even provide evidence myself. It seemed the guy known as Sun King was rapidly accepting just about anything that didn't contradict 60IF (as it was at the time) too directly. Some of my evidence is still in use today, ironically, if you look at threads such as the one that lists which imitator sang which Paul song and the legendary "Botox on parade" thread. All of that was a bunch of crap, constructed out of previously posted evidence by SK and some quick thinking on my part. You're welcome, guys, lol.
That was when I was immediately cornered and forced into a form of submission. Well, actually, I wouldn't put it quite that way. A mutually beneficial arrangement was come to, that sounds better. I was confronted by one of the 60IF admin (I won't name which for their own sake), who informed me that they knew by IP comparison that I was both BeatlestoBattle and something something "black." Obviously this put me in a bit of a quandary--my number was up if this admin decided to take the information to the others. Surprisingly, they were the one to tell me it wouldn't go that way.
Instead, they'd allow me to stay on as long as I toed the party line.
During this time, I learned a lot about the inner workings of the team as I helped construct the further progress of the 60IF spin. One admin in particular, widely known and believed to be foreign, was in fact an American college student who wrote his responses to posts in English, translated them into the language of that foreign nationality via BabelFish, and then translated that back into English to provide the appropriate degree of broken English. I have no doubt that he probably still does this, or maybe he's even got a fellow student doing the posting for him. Needless to say at this point with all the NEW crazy theories emanating from the TKIN! forum, I have my doubts that it's just the one student minding the store any longer.
60IF began as part of a college thesis paper. This particular admin was going for a degree in Theology, specializing in comparative religion, and was intrigued by the thought of the Beatles as a modern-day type of quasi-religious mythology (they made great music and great strides in audio technology, but really they're quite overrated almost to the point of worship, which emphasized his point further). What made it tick? What was it that caused this? What kind of mystique surrounded the band? Among many things that he pinpointed and eliminated, he came to realize that nearly all of those same things came into play as supporting evidence for one myth in particular--Paul McCartney's death, and his replacement with a look- and sound-alike. He began to wonder if this mystique surrounding a 30 year old myth could be repeated. And 60IF was born...
...although not by his own hand, oh no. Talk to Isaac Phaire some time. The fact of the matter is, Zak (as he prefers to be called) did write the basis of it. Zak's original motive, something he actually would never post about on his website calling others' attention to his authorship, although part of it slipped out in his post on 60IF, was to create mystique about himself as a "mysterious insider" to jazz up an otherwise dull profile on Yahoo! Personals. Is everything else Zak claims to have done in editing and the world of media true? Based on my subsequent ongoing research, yes, and it's my opinion he underestimated the mystique of that. Women like men with stability, Zak! The admin behind all this found your personal ad while looking for the site with the best rendition of the PID story. Yours fit his needs, with a few adjustments added (such as the IBS, Brian Epstein being replaced [which I find rather unnecessary, personally], and other such trappings).
He slowly roped them in the way any good ringleader would, adapting his story of discovery now here, now there, to suit those he needed to rope in. One thing I'll say for him, he sure is slick. To one, he was channeling the spirit of George Harrison. To another, it was done by the power of the Holy Spirit, and anything this other was led to add could be done under the influence of the Spirit as well. If someone questions the photo comparisons, he's in engineering, so they have full legal value. If someone says, "But logically there's not much difference, it's a continuing expansion of Paul's musical skills," he's been a musician for 30 years and he can tell you otherwise. If someone paints and writes as a hobby, so does he, and if someone says the whole thing fails under their scrutiny because they're teachers and they think they're smart enough to know when they're being fooled, suddenly he's a teacher too. A man of all seasons, a jack of all trades. Everyone's playing the game, but nobody's rules are the same.
Eventually, 60IF turned into a cottage industry. This admin dropped out of college to focus on 60IF full-time, and this included shopping around a book proposal, the one called "My Dear." He asked many to write it, even though he had the basic outline himself which wasn't too bad and leads me to believe he could have done it himself if he weren't lazy to a fault. Everyone knows about this because of what LongJohn had to say about being coaxed into writing it and politely refusing, but if anyone else knew he was actually cutting checks to people to get the work done, people would have been champing at the bit to do it, believer or not. I'm here to tell you, I was offered well over $4,000 to ghost-write it. I turned it down--I like to think I'm above lying for money. But this raises more questions than answers. I like to think that he was able to spend such time on 60IF because he comes from a well-off family of some sort who are willing to indulge his whims. Otherwise, it makes no sense.
Finally, I could not carry on with this complete breach of ethics. I told that admin to take his money and shove it. He was leading on innocent people, and this wasn't even for a short-term goal anymore. This was for kicks. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if he was actually beginning to buy into the stuff he was selling. At this point, word was beginning to filter to me about what was going on in particular with Chris, googoo and number9. The Past Lives Club was taking this completely out of hand. I wanted to be out of it completely. I would have no part in this.
So I did the only thing I could do, look up Zak Phaire and inform him about the legal definition of copyright infringement. He registered at TKIN! immediately, and we saw to it that the word was put out about the site's outright theft of his material to serve their own ends. Of course, now the original "document" has been edited over and over again to suit any popular theory at any given time to the point that it barely resembles Zak's original. But he didn't leave without a check being cut. One wishes they at least gave me severance pay.
A fuller version of this bearing more details may soon appear in POD book form. It'll be worth a read, I promise you all that.
;D
