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Info-ParaNet Newsletters Volume 1 Number 138
Info-ParaNet Newsletters, Number 138
Monday, January 29th 1990
Today's Topics:
Re: Odds and Ends
Re: Mars Face
Lazar and the Planet of the Sols
Re: Lazar/Area51
Mars investigation chronology
MARS INVESTIGATION CHRONOLOGY (fwd)
MARS INVESTIGATION CHRONOLOGY
Re: Lazar -- Los Alamos Article Conclusion
The Nullabor
The Nullabor
Skeptics/Science/WR
Re: Mars Face
Re: A New Book
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From: paranet!f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG!Jim.Speiser
Subject: Re: Odds and Ends
Date: 27 Jan 90 18:55:00 GMT
> Is the Face on Mars for real?
> I have read the book `The Face on Mars', and I found it odd
> that the author saw reason to use a different computer-enhancement
> technique to that normally used by NASA. The normal method gave
> us fantastically sharp pictures, so why was a separate method
> necessary if not to make the feature look more human than it
> really was? The pictures looked fake to me. My suspicions
> were further aroused later in the book when the author started
> talking about "harmonics of the speed of light" which to my
> physics is an absurdity.
> My conclusion was that it was pseudo-science, the purpose
> being $$$
> Regards John Daly Tasmania (Land of the Tasmanian Devils)
To tell you the truth, John, I have never heard of the book, "The Face
on Mars." The most popular book on the subject is "The Monuments of
Mars" by Richard Hoagland. The photos he (and most others I'm aware of)
refer to are not image-enhanced beyond the normal procedure performed by
NASA, they are, in effect, raw photos, at least to my knowledge.
"Harmonics of the speed of light" does sound like psychobabble to me. I
suggest "Unusual Martian Surface Features" (DePietro & Molinaar) as
being the least pseudo- and the most -science done thus far on the
subject, along with Dr. Mark Carlotto's article in Applied Optics.
Jim
--
Jim Speiser - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: Jim.Speiser@f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG
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From: paranet!p0.f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG!Jim.Delton
Subject: Re: Mars Face
Date: 28 Jan 90 04:04:00 GMT
Gene-
Why would the discovery that the face on mars is an artifact require us
to rethink our science?? It may make *some* religous folks rethink
there religions, but I doubt it would even have much effect on that
aspect of life. Religious folk are so used to dealing with fuzzy
thinking that it will be extremely easy for them to adapt, after all,
the bible did say something about god having other worlds to care for;
the religious folks will dig that part out and suddenly find that they
"knew" we weren't alone all along.
--
Jim Delton - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: Jim.Delton@p0.f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG
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From: paranet!p0.f422.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG!George.Lucas
Subject: Lazar and the Planet of the Sols
Date: 28 Jan 90 06:17:00 GMT
There are at least two places on Earth where there are Sols.
Greeting a visitor entering the semi-circular driveway of John Lear's Las
Vegas house is a frontispiece ornately embedded with "Palacio del Sol."
And, from Robert Lazar's mouth comes "Sol 3," a term he says he read in
briefing papers at S-4, the alleged UFO section of the Nevada Test Site.
"Sol 3" is supposed to refer to Earth since Earth is the third planet from
the Sun, just as the alien's home planet is called Reticulum 4 because it is
the fourth planet from the Binary-star system, Zeta Reticuli II.
Although Lear and Lazar are friends, it is, perhaps, too crass to suggest
that Lazar got the Sol terminology from the front of Lear's house. But, why
"Sol 3" instead of "Sun 3"? Why switch from English to Spanish?
--George--
--
George Lucas - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: George.Lucas@p0.f422.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG
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From: paranet!p0.f19.n19.z1.FIDONET.ORG!Bryon.Smith
Subject: Re: Lazar/Area51
Date: 27 Jan 90 16:18:00 GMT
In a message to Bryon Smith <01-23-90 19:40> Michael Chapman wrote:
MC> Anyhow I am an extremely enthusiastic follower of the
MC> ParaNet UFO & ET echoes and I wait with bated breath for
MC> all new info coming forth on the Lazar / Lear topics. As
MC> an Amatuer Astronomer (and a Laboratory Scientist) I find
MC> staring at the night skies thru a 'scope an absolutely
MC> stimulating experience full of incredible majesty, wonder
MC> and exitement.
Very glad to have you join us in the ParaNet UFO echo.
Please feel free to share with us your concepts of what, where, etc, that
UFOs might be. Also include your reasons for thinking so if you would.
It's a very interesting subject that has been around for a very long time
now, but now the interested parties are able to communicate, thanks to
ParaNet and like echos.
...Bryon
--
Bryon Smith - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: Bryon.Smith@p0.f19.n19.z1.FIDONET.ORG
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From: gmz@well.sf.ca.us (Gerry Zeitlin)
Subject: Mars investigation chronology
Date: 28 Jan 90 10:50:48 GMT
Since there has been some discussion of the Mars anomalies lately,
I'd like to send you a copy of Dan Drasin's chronology of the
independent Mars investigation.
It will follow in a separate message.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------
gerry zeitlin {apple|pacbell|hplabs|ucbvax}!well!gmz
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: gmz@well.sf.ca.us (Gerry Zeitlin)
Subject: MARS INVESTIGATION CHRONOLOGY (fwd)
Date: 28 Jan 90 10:52:51 GMT
Forwarded message:
-+From ddrasin Thu Jan 25 13:43:15 1990
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 90 13:43:07 pst
>From: ddrasin (Dan Drasin)
Message-Id: <9001252143.AA12214@well.sf.ca.us-+
To: gmz
Subject: MARS INVESTIGATION CHRONOLOGY
A VERY BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE INDEPENDENT MARS INVESTIGATION
1976
Viking-1, orbiting over the Cydonia region of Mars, transmits frame
35A72 to JPL. The first tiny, high-contrast print shows a mile-long
face-like mesa. Though Viking's mandate includes a "search for any
evidence of life on Mars, now or in the past" the Face is dismissed
without investigation as an "oddity of light and shading" and filed
away.
Carl Sagan receives $50,000 NASA grant to search for signs of
intelligence in Viking photos. He explicitly excludes any forms not
resembling terrestrial urban geometry as well as any single
structures larger than typical buildings on earth. His findings are
negative.
1979
Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar, imaging engineers under
contract to NASA'S Goddard Space Flight Center on another project,
stumble on the Face in the National Space Science Data Center
archives. Skeptical but intrigued, they independently develop an
advanced algorithm for enhancement of the Viking data tapes, and
produce the first "cleaned up" version of frame 35A72, which reveals
the Face as essentially symmetrical, and possessing specific,
recognizable, detailed facial features qualitatively unlike those of
typical "great stone faces" and similar illusions. These include
folds and horizontal stripes on its "headpiece" or "helmet," an eye
socket, eyeball and pupil, nose and mouth. The facial proportions
are those of early man.
DiPietro and Molenaar (D&M) approach NASA for other frames of the
area taken at different sun angles, to better verify the actual
3-dimensional shape of the Face. NASA claims that when the area was
photographed "a few hours later," the face had "disappeared"... and
that no other frames had ever been taken of the area. D&M become
suspicious, since "a few hours later" was night time at Cydonia, and
besides, Viking-1 was in a 24-hour elliptical orbit and couldn't
have photographed Cydonia "a few hours later." So they search
through tens of thousands of frames in the NSSDC files and discover
a misfiled frame, 70A13, taken at a higher sun-angle. Their digital
processing confirms the facial features and also reveals an odd
pyramid-like structure about ten miles southwest of the Face.
1980
DiPietro and Molenaar publish their findings and conclusions
(essentially, that the evidence is provocative and warrants further
investigation) and are stonewalled by the planetary science
community.
1983
Science writer Richard C. Hoagland (who co-conceived the famous
"Earth's calling-card" plaque carried aboard Pioneer 10) approaches
D&M about their digital imaging techniques, and is introduced to the
Face. Hoagland is also skeptical-but-fascinated. He takes the
position that "the likelihood of its being real is small, but the
possible consequences of its being real are great, so reason
dictates further investigation."
Hoagland notices some features D&M missed, and seeks additional,
corroborative evidence. He asks "if the Face is real, was it meant
to be seen from the ground as well as from above?" ... and hence,
"where would one stand to get the best view of the Face." This leads
him to a group of objects about 6 miles to the southwest which
includes a "fortress-like" structure having two straight walls and
an apparent interior space. The entire grouping has well-defined
boundaries that seem to parallel the axes of the face. For
convenience, he christens this area "The City."
He then discovers what appears to be a "marker" at the City's exact
lateral center that looks like a target or cross-hairs. He dubs this
the "City Square" and notices that a hypothetical observer standing
at this point would see: a) the best possible profile view of the
Face, and b) the Summer solstice sunrise, beyond the Face. Since
Mars' axis wobbles over a million-year cycle, the solstice sunrise
would have been seen directly over the eyes of the Face about 1/2
million BC.
On the horizon beyond the Face, Hoagland discovers a very curious
and highly anomalous "cliff" or wall, perched on the edge of a
massive impact crater, that seems to have at least a half-dozen
characteristics suggesting a non-natural origin, and multiple
alignments apparently linking it to other anomalous structures in
the region.
He also obtains low-contrast reproductions of the "pyramid" and
determines that it has not four sides but five, mimicking the form
of a human figure with outstretched arms. It is located on a
straight line extended from the "Fortress" wall, and its own
"spine, " or major axis, points precisely at the Face. Hogland
labels this structure the "D&M Pyramid," after its original
discoverers.
Hoagland decides to pursue the matter further, and calls upon
anthropologist Randolfo Pozos, who organizes a computer-linked
multidisciplinary investigation team from scientists at Sandia Labs,
SRI International, Goddard Spaceflight Center and elsewhere.
1984
After more than six months of research and dialogue the team
presents its findings at the "Case for Mars" conference at the
University of Colorado at Boulder.
Their paper echoes D&M's conclusions: "Provocative and deserves
further investigation." Result: The team is again stonewalled by
the planetary science community, who argue that "humanoid life could
not have evolved on Mars" -- though the team had taken pains to
argue precisely the same point, and had limited its speculation to
colonization scenarios -- partly because the scale and shape of many
of the Martian structures (juxtaposed with the inhospitable Martian
environment) suggested the possiblity of large, enclosed living
centers reminiscent of architect Paolo Soleri's "arcology" concept.
Dr. C. West Churchman, a Nobel prize nominee considered to be the
"father of systems science," now proposes that the Independent Mars
Investigation be based at, and sanctioned by, the University of
California at Berkeley. Shortly thereafter, the Wall Street Journal
is given a detailed briefing on the Martian anomalies but publishes
a radically disinformative front-page article that triggers a series
of media attacks on the investigation. As a result, prospective
private funding evaporates, and the University of California
retracts its red carpet.
Meanwhile, in a feature article in SOVIET LIFE magazine, the
Russians reveal their own fascination with the Martian "sphinx" and
"pyramids." Correspondence between the Independent Investigation
and Soviet investigators begins.
As the team becomes more familiar with the Martian landscape, new
anomalies are noticed:
Extensive damage previously observed on one side of the D&M
Pyramid appears to be connected with a large, bottomless
crater nearby (natural craters have *visible* bottoms) suggesting
explosive penetration.
Improved photographs show an open rectangular "scar" in the
Pyramid's side revealing what appears to be a "cellular"
internal structure.
The "Cliff" structure, when viewed from critical points in the
complex, takes on a distinctly facial appearance. Its features
include two eyes, symmetrical cheekbones, nose, mouth, teeth and
chin.
The ratio of distances between the western edge of the City, the
City Square, the eastern edges of the City and Face, and the
ridgeline of the Cliff, is observed to be 1:2:4:8.
The objects at Cydonia appear increasingly to form an
intelligently-designed complex linked by various geometric and
astronomical alignments.
The Mars Investigation now includes consultants in computer imaging,
physics, systems science, anthropology, astronomy, photographic
analysis, electronic communications, art and art history,
architecture and theology.
Hoagland observes that the stripes on the "helmet" of the face
bear an uncanny resemblance to those of the Egyptian Pharaohs;
dialogue among the team reveals that "Cairo" is a western
transliteration of "El Kahira," which, in Arabic, mean "Mars."
Dr. Mark J. Carlotto, of The Analytic Sciences Corporation in
Reading, MA (a major Govt. satellite imaging contractor) begins his
own private investigation of the Viking photos. His state-of-the-art
imaging technology reveals new levels of detail, including what
appear to be teeth in the mouth of the Face. Carlotto produces
three-dimensional digital simulations of the Face and other features
at Cydonia.
Hoagland discovers another anomalous pyramid elsewhere in the
Cydonia region. The mile-square so-called "Crater pyramid" sits
undamaged astride the rim of a 100-megaton-equivalent impact crater.
It is the tallest object within a hundred kilometers. An unnaturally
rectilinear network of furrows (suggesting perhaps a "mining
operation") can be seen tangent to the bowl of the adjacent crater.
Curiously, NASA had *pre-programmed* the Viking orbiter (since the
speed-of-light radio transmission delay precludes real-time control)
to take a unique series of frames of this object, though officially
it denies any interest in the structure. [The question remains: How
did they know it was there, and why did they deviate from normal
procedures to photograph it?]
1986
Anthropologist Dr.Randolfo Pozos publishes his book THE FACE ON MARS
which spotlights the philosophical and anthropological aspects of
the mystery, and asks some probing questions about how contemporary
science handles anomalies in general.
1987
Richard Hoagland's book, *THE MONUMENTS OF MARS; A City on the Edge
of Forever*, is published.
1988
Dr. Carlotto publishes an exhaustive paper about his early work on
the Viking photos in a leading scientific journal, *Applied Optics*.
He then applies spy-sat fractal analysis to the Cydonia photographs;
the process singles out the Face and the City as the "least natural"
objects in the region.
Dr. Carlotto proposes extending the SETI paradigm to the examination
of anomalous objects on planetary surfaces. He suggests fractal
analysis as the basis for an automated system to scan the 60,000
remaining Viking photos, as well as forthcoming data from planetary
missions, for evidence of intelligence.
Erol Torun, a geographer and geomorphologist at the U.S. Defense
Mapping Agency, reads Hoagland's book and takes issue with
Hoagland's claims of geometric and mathematical alignments. Torun
then makes his own independent measurements, using only universal
ratios independent of any particular number system. Torun not only
confirms Hoagland's observations but discovers that the D&M Pyramid
contains over twenty-eight significant angles, angle ratios and
trigonometric functions, including fourteen significant
relationships between the square root of five and the universal
constants e and pi; seven instances of redundancy of the number
three; and four significant reciprocal relationships. Torun
describes the D&M's geometry as "astonishingly complex, precise and
logical."
Torun performs a thorough geomorphological analysis of the D&M
Pyramid and concludes that its form cannot reasonably be attributed
to known natural forces. He states that "This object's 5-sided shape
and bilateral symmetry are unlike those of any landform seen to date
in this solar system.... This degree of mathematical precision does
not occur in nature.... The likelihood that the objects in Cydonia
are there because of natural forces is next to zero."
Hoagland confirms that all the anglular relationships found by Torun
in the D&M Pyramid are precisely echoed in the relationships among
the objects in the Cydonia complex as a whole.
Merton Davies, planetary geographer at the RAND corporation
confirms that the D&M Pyramid sits astride north latitude 40.87
degrees, whose tangent equals e/pi, a value discovered repeatedly by
Torun in the angles of the object itself.
Hoagland and Torun calculate that if the chance of a given
"coincidence" at Cydonia is multiplied by the chance of the *next*
coincidence, and so on, the net chance of a completely natural
origin for this complex is less than one in several trillion.
In December, Hoagland is invited by the Goddard Space Flight
Center's Engineering Colloquium Committee to present the
investigation's latest findings. The NASA administration attempts
unsuccessfully to cancel this session, and assembles a Mars-related
press conference at the same hour, at a different location. The
presentation by Hoagland, Carlotto and Torun is enthusiastically
received by NASA staff and repudiated by the Agency's administrators.
1989
Hoagland's book, despite almost no formal advertising, goes into its
seventh printing.
Hoagland addresses the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
James Falvo, an educator at Minnesota's St. Olaf college and a
doctoral candidate at the University of Nebraska, writes his
dissertation on the impact of allowing this body of Mars resarch to
be taught in the classroom. Falvo characterizes this situation as
another potential "Scopes trial." He points out that NASA's unmanned
*Mars Observer* vehicle, carrying a high-resolution camera and
scheduled for launch in the early 1990's, could settle the Mars
issue once and for all; however its mission priorities are
determined by a closed group of planetary scientists, and NASA still
holds the position that the Face is merely an isolated, eroded hill.
Falvo asks "How can theories be tested if the testers won't test
them?"
Prof. James Strange, an archaeologist and Dean at the University of
South Florida, begins to lay the groundwork for archeological
protocols which could be implemented on eventual manned missions to
Mars.
Richard Hoagland is invited by the Soviet newspaper *Pravda* to
write a guest editorial about the Mars investigation.
Dr. Brian O'Leary (who trained as a Mars-bound scientist-astronaut
until NASA abandoned its original manned Mars program in 1968) meets
with Soviet and Japanese representatives to propose joint manned
Mars missions using the Martian moon Phobos as a staging area. This
approach (by contrast with recent U.S. proposals) would evidently
cost less than missions to and from our own moon, due to Phobos'
negligible gravity. O'Leary views the exploration of the Martian
anomalies as possibly the "greatest adventure of our time."
Hoagland and Torun announce that they have begun to decode the
"mathematical message of Cydonia" which hinges on the redundancy of
e/pi and e/sqrt 5 observed in the D&M Pyramid and elsewhere. Through
a series of equations and geometric models, they are led to discover
certain planetary energy phenomena. For example, that the
preponderance of major planetary "energy centers" (areas of
persisitent volcanic and atmospheric activity) appear at about 19.5
degrees of latitude in the northern magnetic hemisphere. This
includes Earth's Hawaiian Islands, the largest volcanoes on Mars,
Venus and the Jovian moon Io, and the mean latitudes of the Great
Red Spots on Jupiter and Neptune, and of sunspots.
Hoagland and Torun predict successfully that the north magnetic pole
of Neptune will turn out to be in the same hemisphere as its own Red
Spot. They have also predicted the *magnitude* of Neptune's magnetic
field, on the basis of the "Cydonia equations," which, they claim,
may also describe heretofore unknown relationships among gravity,
electromagnetism and atmospheric phenomena.
Rep. Robert A. Roe (D-NJ), chairman of the House Science, Space and
Technology committee requests that Hoagland's organization (The
"Mars Mission") prepare a list of recommendations on legitimizing
and officially implementing the next phases of research into the
Martian anomalies. Later, Roe formally directs NASA to photograph
the Face and its surroundings during its unmanned 1992 Mars Observer
mission.
...
Here is a very rough ASCII-graphics map showing approximate
relationships of the structures at Cydonia.
0 1 2 4 8 (proportional
| | | | | units)
. .
+--a--|---\-+ . .
| b\| . . . to
+--+ + +--+ . . . . (d). . . . . . . . . |///// -------+ solstice
| c | . . e |/////. . sunrise
+-----+ . . . . .
. . . . crater .
. . . . .
. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(f) (g)
W N
\ / (approx.)
/ \
S E
a) Outline of the "City," a grouping of enigmatic landforms that
appears out-of-character on the landscape.
b) The "Fortress" - A triangular structure with thick walls enclosing
an interior space. Sight southeast directly along its easternmost
wall and you'll see the center of the "D&M Pyramid" at "f."
c) The "City Square", a cross-hairs-shaped structure at the exact
lateral center of the "City"
d) The "Face on Mars," about 1 mile from crown to chin. The vertical
axis of the Face is parallel to the orientation of the City. A
half-million years ago, an observer at the City Square would have
seen the Summer Solstice sunrise directly over the eyes of the Face.
e) The "Cliff," which appears on the outside edge of the splash
"apron" of a large impact crater. From the top of the City Square
structures, an observer would see the Cliff forming a backdrop
precisely behind the Face, as if to block out the jagged edge of the
crater. The Cliff must have post-dated the crater because it
suffered no damage from the cratering blast and because there seems
to be a large area behind it where the ejecta material appears to
have been excavated for the material to build it. There is a winding
"access road" that leads up from behind the Cliff to its north end,
loops around to the south end, then hairpin-turns back up to the
north. Details on the Cliff's surface give it an uncannily face-like
appearance when viewed from the southwest at about 20 degrees off
the ground.
f) The "D&M Pyramid," named for its discoverers, DiPietro and
Molenaar. The structure is five-sided, and shaped like a human figure
with outstretched arms (same proportions as DaVinci's Man in the
Squared Circle) Its head points directly at the Face, about 10 miles
to the northeast. Its left arm points directly at the City Square.
It's right arm points directly at the center of the Tholus
g) The "Tholus" or "Mound." A shallow concentric cone-shaped hill
with peripheral ditch in a form virtually identical to the classic
"burial mound" built by many prehistoric terrestrial cultures. The
D&M Pyramid, Tholus and Cliff form a right triangle.
...
For further background:
THE MONUMENTS OF MARS (1989), an informative, very up-to-date
60-minute audio cassette production, with enclosed poster of the
digitally-processed Viking photos, from Enhanced Audio Systems,
415-652-4009.
THE MONUMENTS OF MARS; A CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER (1987), the
excruciatingly detailed book by Richard C. Hoagland, published by
North Atlantic Books.
THE FACE ON MARS (1986), the epistemological book by anthropologist
Dr. Randolfo Pozos, published by Chicago Review Press.
UNUSUAL MARTIAN SURFACE FEATURES (1979, updated), the original
publication by Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar, who
initially re-discovered the Martian Face buried in NASA's archives,
published by Mars Research, P.O. Box 284, Glenn Dale, MD 20769.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------
gerry zeitlin {apple|pacbell|hplabs|ucbvax}!well!gmz
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: paranet!Don.Allen
Subject: Re: Lazar -- Los Alamos Article Conclusion
Date: 27 Jan 90 05:23:00 GMT
JD>That whole article reminded me of Joe Newman and his stories. It
also
sounded a lot like the style of the S-4 tales. I may have misread the
story,
but I got the impression that Lazar never actually drove the car under
jet
power while the newsmen were there, only that he fired up the "jet".
In the
absence of any info on what model honda this was, and factoring in what
honda
might have been selling in 1982, his claims that he had the thing up to
135
mph with essentially no modifications to the car, leave me just a tad
skeptical. Having driven a car that was at least somewhat designed and
modified for high speed to a speed of 137 mph, I find the idea of
driving an
unmodified 82 or earlier honda, and one powered by a jet engine, at
that
speed, real difficult to swallow. I think Lazar's main proficiency is
in the
area of spinning tall tales.
@ I drive a 1982 Honda Civic (2 door) Hatchback. It's got 156,000
miles on it and still in great shape. Runs like a top.
I just can't imagine a jet engine in the rear of it though..
Let's suppose in 1982,he put it into an Accord..still a pretty
light chassis but I DO recall that Lazar said he modified
the bottom of the car with additional support. He DID say that
he had a Firewall installed as well.
He did mention that he had to be careful and hold his speed down
or the car would be "airborne".
But like you....I have a hard time just *imagining* a *honda*
with a jet engine in it..A BIGGER car,yes,I could well see it.
(shaking head at thought of a civic hitting Mach 3 on the way
to Daytona Beach)
Lazar reminds me of "Doogie Howser"..here's this guy who has some
smarts and is rather YOUNG to have the credentials he claims to
have. He certainly sounds like he's got something on the ball,but
it does make you wonder why HE would be picked to work as a
replacement scientist..(I would call it a technician).
His comments are routinely dissected here. The disclosure about
the properties of 115,elements of his past employment,etc
need more clarification here. This seems to be the major "rub".
He (Lazar) hasn't helped his own credibility by omitting details
of these things.
Things I would consider good hard evidence:
ANY kind of documentation on 115 (weight,properties,etc)
Substansial documentation of past employment
Supporting testimony of fellow workers at Area51.
--
Don Allen - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: Don.Allen@paranet.FIDONET.ORG
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From: paranet!f7.n1030.z9.FIDONET.ORG!Vladimir.Godic.
Subject: The Nullabor
Date: 28 Jan 90 05:32:00 GMT
>
> Hi Vlad:
> Nice to be chatting to you at last through ParaNet. I
> would like to bring your attention to the file OZTRAIN.AUS
> uploaded to my system by David Galea. You will see that it
> refers to a sighting near Zanthus in WA. There is a comment
> that three trains many kilometres apart reported the same thing
> at the same time that beong 21:00 hrs WST.
Unfortunately we haven't got much info. on the OZTRAIN at the
moment.
> I now refer to UFORA89055 where the Hennessy's reported a UFO at
> 22:30 hrs CST. I note that in September the nation is on
> standard time and that CST it 1 1/2 hrs ahead of WST. That
> makes the Hennesey's report occur at the same time as the Train
> Drivers. It would also put the distance very much greater over
> 100s of kilometres. As the railway official said,"Whats going
> on".
>
> Have you any update on these reports.
I'll get back to you as soon as I get more info.
Cheers,
Vlad
> Bob.....
>
> --- FD 2.00
> * Origin: ParaNet OMEGA-ALPHA(sm) - Australia (9:1030/0)
--
Vladimir Godic - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: Vladimir.Godic.@f7.n1030.z9.FIDONET.ORG
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: paranet!f7.n1030.z9.FIDONET.ORG!Vladimir.Godic.
Subject: The Nullabor
Date: 28 Jan 90 05:38:00 GMT
>
> Hi Vlad:
> Nice to be chatting to you at last through ParaNet. I
> would like to bring your attention to the file OZTRAIN.AUS
> uploaded to my system by David Galea. You will see that it
> refers to a sighting near Zanthus in WA. There is a comment
> that three trains many kilometres apart reported the same thing
> at the same time that beong 21:00 hrs WST.
>
> I now refer to UFORA89055 where the Hennessy's reported a UFO at
> 22:30 hrs CST. I note that in September the nation is on
> standard time and that CST it 1 1/2 hrs ahead of WST. That
> makes the Hennesey's report occur at the same time as the Train
> Drivers. It would also put the distance very much greater over
> 100s of kilometres. As the railway official said,"Whats going
> on".
>
> Have you any update on these reports.
>
I'll get back to you as soon as I find more about the OZTRAIN.
Cheers,
Vlad
> Bob.....
>
> --- FD 2.00
> * Origin: ParaNet OMEGA-ALPHA(sm) - Australia (9:1030/0)
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From: chalmers@violet.berkeley.edu (John H. Chalmers Jr.)
Subject: Skeptics/Science/WR
Date: 28 Jan 90 18:18:29 GMT
A couple of comments on skepticism and science: I have to
dissent from Keith's opinion that skepticism is form of mental
illness. While we all ocasionlly get impatient and defensive
when our dearly cherished ideas are challenged (as I am now),
castigating skeptics is like killing the messengers who bring
bad news. The major reason why working scientists are skeptical
of new ideas is that most "new ideas are wrong, many experiments
simply don't work. What is assumed is not that the investigator
is lying, because outright fraud is quite rare, but rather
that the investigator has leapt to premature conclusions. Good
examples are "Polywater" where careful chemical work showed that
the new phases were not polymers of water, but rather solutions
of silica, and "Cold Fusion," which may be evidence for some
unusual chemistry, but probably not nuclear reactions.
Each year there are 1 or 2 highly publicized incidents
of scientific fraud, usually at some East Coast Medical school,
but actually the rate is very low compared to the several
hundred thousand papers published each year by US scientists.
What is worrisome is the amount of sloppy science that is
published, of premature results that are publicized. Skepticism
is truly merited when something is published outside of reviewed
journals. Even then, some garbage gets out, i.e.,the recent French
work on the effects of highly diluted antibodies, and the earlier
SRI studies on remote viewing, both published in the highly
respected and selective journal, NATURE.
Pons and Fleischman should have filed for the patents,
submitted detailed papers to journals, waited until they were
accepted with the necessary revisions, then held their news
conference. Doing PR first triggers skepticism and should.
Even so, their announcement caused a frenzy of reseach around
the world and something may still come of it, though the effect
they claim to have discovered was in fact already known, albeit
not widely.
Isaac Asimov has estimated that only 1 in 50 new heterodox
ideas that are publicized is ever found to hve merit; obviously
a much larger number are shot down before ever getting outside
the lab. There is no more toughening experience for a young
grad student than presenting one's hard earned data at the
weekly lab seminar and having one's fellow students pick it
apart. Orals are a breeze after rehearsing them before
one's peers.
Granting agencies tned to support only mainstream work
because research money is chronically scarce; at the moment
only 10-12% of proposals are funded. The bulk of the money
goes to scientists with proven track records because the granting
agencies are themselves responsible to Congress. No one wants
to have his/her decisions ridiculed by such pillars of the liberal establishment
as Senator Proximire or conservative watchdogs like
Jesse Helms. Congress very nearly demanded an item veto
over individual grants a few years ago. We would all like to
be given unlimited research money and left alone, but that
isn't going to happen in a democratic society, and shouldn't.
One mechanism by which innovative ideas do get explored
is "bootlegging and bootstrapping." Only apply for funds to do
research that has been essentially completed in order to guarantee publications.
Use the money for the current project to start
the next one. Follow up your off the wall ideas on your own
time and only announce them only when convincing evidence has been
accumulated.
Some companies allow their research personnel to devote
up to 20% of their time on personal research projects; Bell Labs
used to give complete freedom to its investigators, though it
tended to promote people faster if they worked on company
projects. Computer Music as well as the transisistor were
invented there. This policy may have changed now that the
"trust-busters" in the government broke up AT&T in hopes that
its computer division could do to IBM what a generation of
government lawyers failed to do, destroy American technological
leadership. So far they've done in the phone system.
As for Wilhelm Reich, the story is a little more complex
than often supposed. He was convicted of violating laws on the
insterstate shipment of unlicensed medical devices and while some
copies of his books were seized, they were never banned and in
fact some are still in print. Reich died of a heart attack
while serving a sentence in a federal prison. Pathetically,
he thought that he was being persecuted by communists in the
FDA and that President Eisenhower was going to rescue him.
Reich and the communists had a long-standing animosity, as
he had been expelled from the party in Europe, purportedly
because his sexual theories disprupted party business. The
Nazis chased him out of Germany because he denounced them
as "orgastically impotent sadists." Tact wasn't his strong
point. There has never been any evidence for the reality of
"Orgone Engergy," his microbiological work on "bions" was
extremely amateurish, and his theory that cancer, neuroses,
and other assorted ills were due to lack of high-quality
sex is unsupported. Masturbation therapy didn't cure
cancer, though the patients may have died happier.
I recommend the movie, "WR, Mysteries of the Organism,"
by a Jugoslav film maker, as an amusing introduction to WR's
bizarre world. It has some wonderful scenes of a party worker
exhorting workers to employ his theories. From my own experience,
I know that Reich's early work, "Character Analysis," was still
used by academic psychiatrists in the 1960's but his other books,
"Cancer Biopathy" and "The Function of the Orgasm," were considered
worthless by most medical people. On the other hand I read
them in the Stanford U medical library, so they were far
from unavailable.
Enough of the soapbox----John
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: paranet!f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG!Jim.Speiser
Subject: Re: Mars Face
Date: 28 Jan 90 16:01:00 GMT
> Gene-
> Why would the discovery that the face on mars is an artifact
> require us to rethink our science?? It may make *some* religous
> folks rethink there religions, but I doubt it would even have much
> effect on that aspect of life. Religious folk are so used to
> dealing with fuzzy thinking that it will be extremely easy for
> them to adapt, after all, the bible did say something about god
> having other worlds to care for; the religious folks will dig that
> part out and suddenly find that they "knew" we weren't alone all
> along.
Jim, this is exactly the point I try to make when arguing about the ET
hypothesis in general. It doesn't require ANY rewriting of the science
texts. It may, if actual contact is made, require the writing of
ADDITIONAL science texts, to cover the discoveries precipitated by such
contact. In other words, it won't necessarily mean our science is wrong,
just not fully developed. (It will, however, mean that a lot of our
scienTISTS are wrong).
This is why I reject the appelation of "pseudo-science" as applied to
UFOs.
Jim
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From: paranet!f20.n3607.z1.FIDONET.ORG!Gregg.Pasterick
Subject: Re: A New Book
Date: 28 Jan 90 21:03:00 GMT
Yeah! That's the one. I did read it over the past few days, and
it was interesting. His ultimate 'answer'/theory strikes me as being
as far-fetched yet as acceptable as all the rest. However, he reports
on about 1/2 dozen CE-3K experiences, some of which we all know about,
a few which are covered for the first time. One in particular is a
rather striking case as the abductee's life just plummets afterward.
He tells us why, but I'll know spoil it for you.
It's not the best of the many UFOs books that I've read, but it is
by no means something you should ignore if you are interested the UFO
situation......particularly Third Kind Encounters.
Gregg
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