Colin Berry tells us he is moving on.
Change of plan: I’m now terminating all posting on the Shroud of Turin, feeling as I do that I’ve given it my best shot, and that it’s now time to move on. However, I’m still available here to respond to questions, criticism etc as best I can (see quick link to Comments top right).
Dear Colin:
In your latest blog posting you complain about my use of a picture of a child making hand imprints with finger paint. “Yet another attempt to infantilize,” you write. No it wasn’t that at all. I use pictures the way newspaper editorial pages use cartoons. Yes, to poke fun, but also to express ideas. These two pictures next to each other metaphorically captured his notion of what you refer to as a two-stage technology. Something is applied to the body and then its is applied to the cloth where it can be developed somehow. You were working with white flour and using nitric acid and limewater as developing agents. Maybe you were onto something. Maybe it is not white flour.
I want to scream at you to lighten up. I was not suggesting that your work was infantile. Compared to every other skeptic of the shroud, you have shown more erudite imagination than any, ever. You researched more. You experimented more. You wrote more and you wrote well.
You say at times that I am pro-authenticist. I’m not. I can’t imagine trying to tell anyone that the shroud is real if I don’t believe it. I say the shroud is probably real. I say, on every page of my blog, “The Shroud of Turin may be the real burial cloth of Jesus.” Every page!
Probably! May be! Those words mean that I could be wrong. If I’m wrong I want to know it. So first of all I want to thank you as you move on to other things for trying out new avenues that may lead the truth about the shroud no matter what that truth may be. I sincerely mean that. Thank you.
You have recently advanced the idea that the medieval person who created the image was not thinking of the piece of cloth as a burial cloth but something else all together, like a stretcher. That thought will not go away. Thanks for that.
You advanced many such ideas. Those will not go away. They will be pondered by me and others in years to come. Thank you.
You have discovered many things. Those will hang it the air among everyone who properly studies the shroud. Thank you.
You have taught me a lot. That will stick with me. Thank you.
You have created an important list that skeptics, if they are to be as careful as you, must consider carefully. With your permission, I’m going to remove the word stoopid and publish it on my blog, maybe with a link in the upper right corner, because it’s a good list.
The past three of so years have been contentious at times. There have been times when I would have liked to have reached through the screen and punched you. I’m sure you felt the same way. But there are times when I would have liked to sit down and had a beer with you. We could talk about Freeman, perhaps. Here is a toast to you.
You know, Colin, you could change plans again. You could at least drop by and comment every now and then. Godspeed.
What’s happened to this site? Where are the commentators? Things have come to a sorry pass when it’s Colin this or Colin that every hour of every day.
But thanks nevertheless for the appreciative comments Dan. I’ll even excuse you that child with his technicolor handprints.
I say the key to understanding the TS imprint (yes, IMPRINT!) is in the choice of imprinting medium, the crucial aspect being its ADHESIVE properties that stick and mould linen to body anatomy, ensuring a sharp and detailed “take”. A plain flour paste or glue has to be a prime candidate.
Anyway, that’s me done where shroudology is concerned. New horizons call, like researching and writing a travelogue (a 6th trip to Greece by this hellenophile is on the cards to tackle the big one – Confusing Crete).
Bye.
PS There’s another meaning of ‘stoopid’ – at least in the UK – a playful and lighthearted alternative to stupid.
Good Afternoon Mr. Collins: You wrote, “the crucial aspect being its ADHESIVE properties that stick and mould linen to body anatomy, ensuring a sharp and detailed “take”. A plain flour paste or glue has to be a prime candidate”
Myrrh resin does exactly what you described. When it exposed to the open air it becomes sticky like glue and eventually hardens completely. It is not unlike tree sap. It does exactly what you described t it “moulds linen to body anatomy” If used in pure form it will color the linen a sepia, caramel color. There are many different grades of myrrh. When it dries it can become transparent, glossy and light reflective. But not all myrrh resin is like, this . Some grades are opaque when it dries.
When the object and cloth has myrrh applied to it, and then wrapped in it, the linen will take on the shape of that object and make a 3D replica. Very detailed. If for any reason you actually purchase some, make sure you are getting the high grade pure version, not the cheap watered down version with other oils in it. There are only 2 companies on line I could find that have pure linen made from flax, herringbone weave fabric. One is in the UK, the other in Belgium.
Myrrh resin is the substance you seek to do what you want to do. It will also be in agreement with what is written scientifically peer reviewed journals as to what the thin layer of carbs is on the Shroud. Sugars. I made a video demonstrating it. It works.
This is a bit of a down time for Shroud interest. Music videos are getting 600,000,000 million views and my myrrh and aloes Shroud image theory video has less than 1000?!
If you are not getting a lot of interest in some of your new image theories it has to do with the time of year. June and July are vacation months. People don’t want to be thinking about bloody mutilated bodies being wrapped in burial shrouds and leaving images behind.
Remember the James Bond Movie, “Never say Never Again” Good luck with your future research. Try not to be to hard on the Man in The Shroud. See you again in a few weeks.
PS: That list of reasons for thinking the TS can only be an imprint has now been extended from 10 to 15. If I (or others) can think of any more, rest assured they will be tacked onto the end as well.
Colin…hope you’re not offended by the pic Dan posted….I can remember a few months back when you posted pic after pic in response to some comments…..I laughed….hilarious!
However I think the problem you have with this site is that there are too many people here
(with excellent knowledge) that “call you” on some of your theories. Maybe it’s better for you
to go to a site where there are more like minded people, who will give you a pat and the back whether your theory make sense or not. I’m not sure if the shroud is real or not…but I do know that I’ll miss your postings.
Colin,
“Change of plan: I’m now terminating all posting on the Shroud of Turin, feeling as I do that I’ve given it my best shot, and that it’s now time to move on”
Your “best shot”. Certainly not.
Your experiments, thoughts and models are very interesting.
You are certainly able to refine your thoughts.
We need you.
Nevertheless, if you decide now to move out, please give us a detailed (PDF ?) document explaining how the TS image might/could have been produced in the middle-ages.
Thank you.
Thanks for the appreciative comment Thibault.
No offence to you or Dan, but from now on I’m posting the more worthwhile and interesting questions together with my response onto my own site. It’s a strategy that allows me to ease out from ‘shroudology’ gently, as I begin to devote increasing amounts of time and concentration to a new project.
Here’s the link to the Comments on my site, where I hope you will find your question has been answered.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4111782305190930044&postID=8054593819136986166
I may try to respond to David Hines’s comment too, but that may take a little while (must view some more of his videos first).
Good Evening Mr. Collins: I think you might like this. Myrrh and Aloe Experiment. Wrapping a 3 D figure. Obviously you know I am pro authenticity. No need to go into that discussion. I feel strongly what you are looking for is myrrh resin. It does all the things you mentioned. “ADHESIVE properties that stick and mould linen to body anatomy, ensuring a sharp and detailed “take”. For whatever reason it works better with a combo of myrrh and aloes. Not just myrrh resin. You will definitely not agree with my image theory, you may want to skip past that part in the 2nd Video. 2nd Video shows what linen looks like after
You mentioned once “organic paste” Myrrh and aloes together make “organic paste”
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTqM4SVBSWE Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxJsOkYzTZU Part 2