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Info-ParaNet Newsletters Volume 1 Number 497
Info-ParaNet Newsletters Volume I Number 497
Monday, November 4th 1991
Today's Topics:
Re: Ogden Gifs
Re: Jupiter as Second Sun
Meier Tapes
AZ Mute Reports
Early Australian UFO history.
Tv Show...
Dr. Fredrick Bell
SETI BBS
(none)
When the normal becomes the paranormal...
AZ mutes
"REVELATIONS"
Re: FOX Show
Re: Roswell
Re: The End of freedom
Eschatology 101
Re: UFO shows
Re: Crop Circles
Help Mr. Edis find books
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From: Linda.Bird@f100.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG (Linda Bird)
Subject: Re: Ogden Gifs
Date: 2 Nov 91 05:31:00 GMT
Mike,
Aren't those Ogden gif's you posted about the drawings I made of the
object and not gifs of the laser photocopies?? <got that??>
Thanks,
Linda
--
Linda Bird - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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INTERNET: Linda.Bird@f100.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG
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From: Linda.Bird@f100.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG (Linda Bird)
Subject: Re: Jupiter as Second Sun
Date: 2 Nov 91 05:07:00 GMT
Hi Vlad,
Thanks for jogoging my memory again on that article. I'll look for it
this weekend.^^^^^ (that's supposed to be "jogging") Ah, it's getting
late.......
Say, do you folks down under receive a newspaper cartoon called
"Calvin & Hobbes?" Its about a 6-yr old boy and his stuffed tiger
doll. Anyway, cute cartoon in a cartoon book featuring these two
characters: Calvin is walking with his tiger in the woods (the tiger
doll becomes a real tiger when no other people are present) and Calvin
says, "I was reading about how countless species are being pushed
toward extinction by man's destruction of forest."
Next frame, he continues, "Sometimes I think the surest sign that
intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it
has tried to contact us."
Interesting statement, don't you think?
Regards,
Linda
--
Linda Bird - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Linda.Bird@f100.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG (Linda Bird)
Subject: Meier Tapes
Date: 2 Nov 91 05:36:00 GMT
Hi MIke,
How's it going? Was wondering if you've had a chance to make the
Meier tapes for me, or is there a snag? If there is a problem, please
call me collect - I sent you my phone number.
Thanks,
Linda
--
Linda Bird - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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INTERNET: Linda.Bird@f100.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG
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From: Jim.Speiser@p666.f100.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG (Jim Speiser)
Subject: AZ Mute Reports
Date: 2 Nov 91 05:26:14 GMT
This is a PRELIMINARY report on a series of cattle mutilations that have taken
place in Cochise County, AZ. So far 11 head of cattle have fallen victim over
the past few months. The most recent incident took place last week in a town
outside Sierra Vista. The images shown on local television depicted a cow with
its neck slit and its udders and genitals removed. It was a bit hard to tell
from the TV pictures, but the wounds did not seem to be of the "classic"
variety, i.e. laser-sharp edges, etc.
Today I spoke with Det. Mike Raffity of the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
Raffity told me that a strong lead had been developed linking the incidents
with a Satanic cult in the area. Although he did not personally see the animal
shown on TV, he told me that the wounds were made with a sharp instrument but
were not laser-precise, nor were there any other strange or tell-tale clues
that paranormalists look for. He seemed to have been recently given a crash
course on "classic mutilations" by way of phone calls from around the country,
possibly including one from Linda Howe. Raffity also told me that reports of
"total" exsanguination were just media exaggeration. The cow probably had 1 or
2 pints left out of the normal 4 gallons or so.
-+-----------------
--MUSING MODE ON
Raffity would not, of course, divulge the nature of his lead, but I raised the
question with him as to whether this were the first time a strong lead had been
developed linking a mute with a Satanic cult. He seemed surprised at this, and
told me that they've found cow's heads suspended from Satanic altars, and they
know that cow's blood is used for a purification ceremony. This raises the
question in my mind: Is our treatment of "classic" mutes as something different
from cult activity based purely on the degree of the precision of the cuts, and
the degree of exsanguination? Or is Raffity missing something major here? Or am
I? Sure, I know there are other signs, lack of tracks, etc., but if Raffity is
correct, and Satanic activity CAN account for SOME mutes, why can't they
account for all of them?
Jim
--
Jim Speiser - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Bill.Chalker.UFORA.Associate.NSW@f8.n1040.z9.FIDONET.ORG
Subject: Early Australian UFO history.
Date: 1 Nov 91 06:22:00 GMT
For anybody interested in the history of the Australian UFO
controversy up to and including 1959, please see my entery
in Jerry Clark's UFO Encyclopedia Volume 2, "Emergence of a
Phenomenon", which is due out in about November. Jerry
bought the manuscript of Vol. 2 with him in his Australian
visit during September. It looks like a gold mine of
information.
Regards from Bill Chalker.
--
Bill Chalker UFORA Associate NSW - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Jim.Speiser@p666.f100.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG (Jim Speiser)
Subject: Tv Show...
Date: 2 Nov 91 06:41:47 GMT
In a message to Jim Speiser <31 Oct 91 00:12> Jim Dritsas wrote:
JD> knows, who knows what the TRUTH REALLY IS...
There's the rub, alright....
As to Moore and Lear, the former has admitted to having aided and abetted
government disinformation activities, and the latter is a known former CIA
operative. So when we cast aspersions on their credibility, we're not just
whistling "Dixie."
Jim
--
Jim Speiser - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Clark.Matthews@f816.n107.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Clark Matthews)
Subject: Dr. Fredrick Bell
Date: 2 Nov 91 16:26:00 GMT
Hi, Andre!
In a message to John Burke <17 Oct 91 17:25> Andre Eichner wrote:
AE> Yes... in the Video he has a pyramid on his head. He sells the
AE> head-pyramids for 300DM ($200) in germany.
Nur 300DM?! Spottbillig um 600DM!!! :-) [Cheap at twice the price]
Bin neugirig, braucht mann einem Spitz am Scheitel einen zu tragen?
[do I need a point on my head to wear one?] :-(
AE> Here was another guy in Berlin, last week. He's speaking about
AE> ufo's and the greys in USA: Virgil Armstrong. Did you know about him?
Virgil Armstrong? Never hear of him. Please tell us more -- it's very enteresting to hear about the goings-on in Europe.
Could you tell us how much Fred Bell charges for his lectures there?
Best,
Clark
--
Clark Matthews - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: kirk!ge-dab.ge.com!ASTRO.dnet.ge.com!MX%carr
Subject: SETI BBS
Date: 3 Nov 91 19:52:25 GMT
From: 'MX%\'carr@kirk\""@ASTRO.dnet.ge.com
There's a new 9600 Baud BBS at (614) 258 1710, which intends to focus
primarily on SETI. Though not set up yet, they plan to have a UFO
conference as well. They are looking for amateur astronomers who want to
participate in optical SETI.
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From: ecn.purdue.edu!lush
Subject: (none)
Date: 3 Nov 91 20:31:29 GMT
From: lush@ecn.purdue.edu (Gregory B Lush)
Subject: When the normal becomes the paranormal...
I thought I'd share a quick calculation that anyone can do.
First, a little background. I was taught in high school
biology that people move, jump, breathe, etc. by flexing
muscles and that these muscles obtain the energy to do
this unremarkable work from food energy which we eat.
So, in order for our body to do work, we must burn food
energy in a similar manner to a steam engine burning coal.
We count this food energy in calories. The body stores the
extra energy if one does less work than one ingests in the
form of food energy. The FDA recommended daily allowance of
food energy for a male is about 3000 calories per day.
In physics class, energy is described in simple terms as being of
two forms, potential (PE) and kinetic (KE). If you take a ball and
lift it off the ground, you increase its potential energy by doing
work against the apparent pull of gravity. In an ideal world with
no friction and perfect energy conversion, the amount of work
required to lift the ball would equal the potential energy gained
by the ball. When the ball is released, this potential energy is
changed into kinetic energy, the energy of motion. The velocity at
the moment that the ball hits the ground from which it was lifted
can be found by conservation of energy principles,
PE = KE
2
m g h = 1/2 m v
where m is the mass of the ball, g is the acceleration due to gravity,
h is the height to which the ball was raised, and v is the velocity
at the point of impact with the ground.
Now let us do a homework problem.
It is quite easy for a backpacker hiking in Yosemite to gain
2000 feet (approximately 600 meters) in altitude in a single day.
An average-build male carrying about a 50-pound pack weighs about
100 kilograms. The acceleration due to gravity, assuming it
constant over the range of altitudes walked, is
9.8 meters/second^^2, or about 10. Thus, the potential energy
gained by the backpacker and his pack is,
5
PE = m g h = (100 kg) * (10 m/s2) * (600 m) = 6.0 x 10 Joules
There are about 4 Joules/calorie so a backpacker can easily gain
about 1.5 x 10^^5 calories in potential in a single day--to say
nothing of the work done to walk, talk, breathe, drink/eat, digest
during the day. This is 50 times the work available in the potential
energy of the food eaten during an average day. What is going on here?
Where does all this extra energy come from?
When I first discussed this with friends, the response was that the
mitochondria store energy. But a backpacker can go weeks in the back
country hiking up and down peaks, walking, sweating, taking pictures--all
requiring human effort and energy. Many people have fasted for weeks
or months while still being as active as when they ate regularly. How
much energy can be stored in the mitochondria, I don't know, but
that argument doesn't satisfy me.
Am I missing something?
Do you and I break the laws of physics every day of our lives?
Does that mean every motion we make is paranormal?
Greg (lush@ecn.purdue.edu)
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From: Sheldon.Wernikoff@p0.f605.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Sheldon Wernikoff)
Subject: AZ mutes
Date: 3 Nov 91 20:58:00 GMT
In a message to all <01-Nov-91> Jim Speiser wrote:
JS> This raises the question in my mind: Is our treatment of
JS> "classic" mutes as something different from cult activity based
JS> purely on the degree of the precision of the cuts, and the
JS> degree of exsanguination? Or is Raffity missing something major
JS> here? Or am I? Sure, I know there are other signs, lack of
JS> tracks, etc., but if Raffity is correct, and Satanic activity
JS> CAN account for
JS> SOME mutes, why can't they account for all of them?
Hi Jim,
John Altshuler, M.D. presented a paper at the Chicago MUFON
symposium entitled "Tissue Change in Unexplained Animal
Mutilations". The proceedings are available for $20.00 from MUFON,
103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin, TX 78155-4099. What follows are his
conclusions re: the cattle mutilations.
"Gross examination of unexplained animal mutilation deaths suggest
that these animal deaths were not caused by accidental death,
predation or cult sacrifices. Microscopic tissue examinations have
been extensively compared to known human tissue changes secondary
to high heat. It is difficult to avoid the inescapable conclusion
that the changes in animal tissues in these unexplained deaths had
dissection with an instrument causing high heat. By what
instrumentation and means this is accomplished remains a mystery.
for what purpose is even more enigmatic. The fact that these
animals are found in remote areas, away from human or animal
tracks, off roads and away from highways, found within hours of
having been seen alive at a time of unusual observed aerial
phenomena all suggest that extraterrestrial factors must be
considered as a plausible explanation of the ever increasing
numbers of unexplained animal mutilations."
I'd sure like to hear what some other pathologists have to say
about Altshuler's conclusions....some of the non-ET, non-cult
hypotheses. I've never seen anything in print anywhere. Has
Skeptical Inquirer ever done anything that you know of? I really
found your post of their PR on NDE's thought provoking. BTW, did
you know that the leading cause of "accidental" death in cattle is
electrocution by lightning?
I am certain that Satanic activity does account for some mutes,
just as hoaxers account for some CC's, but many cases in both areas
remain unexplained to my satisfaction.
Take care,
Sheldon
--
Sheldon Wernikoff - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Don.Ecker@p0.f3.n1012.z9.FIDONET.ORG (Don Ecker)
Subject: "REVELATIONS"
Date: 4 Nov 91 05:10:00 GMT
I just received Jacques Vallee's newest book "REVELATIONS" from Ballantine
Books and read a great deal of it this weekend. Yes, in my opinion Vallee
will once more stand the UFO field on its collective head.
Vallee, probably one of the most gifted and intelligent researchers, has cut
a wide swath through the UFO arena. Many UFOlogists are not going to like
what Vallee has to say about research and investigators this time around.
Folks like Bill Moore, Stan Friedman, John Lear, Bob Lazar, Wendelle Stevevs,
Linda Howe, Bilkum Cooper, etc. have been subjected to Vallee's critical
analysis and reasoning and according to Jacques they have come up very short.
Roswell? Well according to Vallee just because it has been investigated, it
ain't necessarily so. For example people always quote Jesse Marcel when he
described the debris. Well, according to Vallee:
"The material recovered in the crash
itself, while it remains fascinating, was not necessarily beyond human
technology in the late Forties. ALUMINIZED SARAN, also known as SILVERED
SARAN, came from technology already available for laboratory-scale work in
1948. It was paper-thin, was NOT DENTED by a hammer blow, and was restored to
a smooth finish after crushing." REVELATIONS page 83.
No, I would guess that many people in the UFO field will not take kindly to
Vallee's assessment of the flying disks and the people that chase them. What
will be interesting however, is to see how long it takes before many people
are screaming that "Vallee must be a government plant". That seems to be the
fate of anyone who breaks from the fold. I still think that he is one hell
of a researcher, and I do NOT agree with all his conclusions, but I DO think
they are necessary.
Don Ecker
--
Don Ecker - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Kay.Mclaughlin@p0.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Kay Mclaughlin)
Subject: Re: FOX Show
Date: 25 Oct 91 19:14:00 GMT
JS> Fellow ParaNetters, be prepared for an onslaught of inquiries from
JS> your friends and neighbors who never thought much about UFOs. All of a
JS> sudden they're gonna be real interested, and that's good, but they're
JS> gonna say to you, "Hey, what about that Lazr guy?", and that's bad.
JS> Because as soon as they find out how squirrely his story is, they're
JS> gonna be real disillusioned, and we may not get them back.
JS> What a shame.
Jim,
I saw a blurb in USA Today, that the ratings were sooo high on that show
that a series is being considered.
Kay
--
Kay Mclaughlin - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Kay.Mclaughlin@p0.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Kay Mclaughlin)
Subject: Re: Roswell
Date: 25 Oct 91 19:23:00 GMT
SM> I am new to Paranet, but I have found nothing in this section about
SM> Roswell, the most dramatic example of what is happening and the most
SM> dramatic example of the government (almost) screwing up. What am I
SM> missing? ---
Steve,
Stick Around! It's a topic here, but not the Only one!
Regards,
Kay
--
Kay Mclaughlin - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Steve.Rose@p0.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Steve Rose)
Subject: Re: The End of freedom
Date: 27 Oct 91 06:19:00 GMT
CM> there are *so many* such American agencies -- most of them military,
CM> so they can operate without restriction in the U.S. -- and they all
CM> have classified, or "black" budgets.
Oh? Never see much of that money ever make it to the lowly technical
levels. Guess it must be another of those 'live at the top' scenarios.
CM> the KGB apparatchiks *did not* follow their orders. With a proud
CM> history of 70 years of savage terrorism and repressionbehing them --
CM> they couldn't bring themselves to live up to it! Their instincts were
CM> astonishingly humane. Watching the coup fail was as gratifying
And I believe the local grunts can be counted on doing the same. What
makes them any less capable of critical and/or humane judgement? The old
addage, "_______ are people, too" seems to fit.
CM> underlings may be incapable of conscious choice: Remember the
CM> disturbing little stories coming out of Groom Lake, Tejon Ranch, and
CM> other places? -- you know, the stuff about guards "wh talked like
CM> robots" and cadres of soldiers forced to drink "pine" while undergoing
CM> indoctrination? So bear with me a while longer, and let me use my
No more bizzarre or true an account that the popular 'Big Foot'
sightings of today.
CM> Imagine these people being carefully vetted and then culled out of the
CM> military manpower pool and directed to units where they can be turned
CM> into human monstrosities that would make Stalin, Beria, and Hitler
CM> envious. Through careful concealment of fundig, total control of
CM> certain geographic areas, absolute secrecy, and "perverted science" (a
CM> fine old phrase originated by Churchill, to describe the Nazis), this
CM> could be done.
Quite an imagination! As they say nowadays..."Sell it to Hollywood."
CM> So many of these people may not be able to help themselves. In fact,
CM> they may be beyond help entirely.
As you can tell...I don't take to that view at all. I see bigger
attrocities being committed in full and open view of all...with no
attempt at any coverup. I call it collecting taxes and blatent, crass
commercialism. Two biggest ways a fool is parted from their money.
CM> But the people on top? They know exactly what they're doing.
How do you think they got there in the first place?
CM> Depressed,
Don't be. Just put in your 80+ years and check out like a true
champ. We're not going anywhere, either. ;-)
--
Steve Rose - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Dan.Smith@p0.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Dan Smith)
Subject: Eschatology 101
Date: 28 Oct 91 22:19:00 GMT
I have a hard time remembering so many details, so I
use a hypothetical "big picture" to help keep up with the
information overload in the paranormal field and elsewhere.
This is the only way for me to keep track of who's doing
what to whom and why. So now I'll tell you mine if you tell
me yours! What follows is an amalgamation from many
sources.
Since the plot is so thick, I start with Wm. S. in
supposing that all the world is a stage. The modest
proposal is that we put Copernicus back in the dustbin, and
trot out the cosmological anthropic principle backed up with
the holographic metaphor to explain objective reality. Yes,
the starry skies are the shadows on the walls of our cave.
No, the Apollo Project was not a Las Vegas hoax, but an
example of using the quasi-magical powers of our technology
to objectify the universe. Our Midas touch helps to turn
the orb of the moon into a sensory hologram we call a rock.
Each star and galaxy is a link between the cosmic mind
and our minds. 10 to the power of 10 (10^10) is the magic
number of immensities. Molecules -> Cell -> brain -> people
(souls) on Earth -> stars in the Milky Way -> galaxies in
the universe. UFO's do not tank up on anti-matter and put
the pedal to the metal, but rather they pierce the
trans-dimensional, holographic veils of Bohm's "implicate
order" back into the "explicate order" of Earth. To say
that they come from other stars is true only in a
metaphorical sense. I only restate the issue between the
"nuts and bolts" ufologists and the paranormal types. And
which of us are the nuts?
Continuing with the holographic metaphor, the earth
could have been created out of a chaotic "dreamtime" by
cooperating groups of spiritual adepts who gave form to our
globe through a grid system of sacred sites and temples,
with Egypt as H.Q., perhaps. The earth and heavens
gradually congealed into a form recognizable to us. Science
and technology have completed this process by coercing
physical processes into rigid habitual patterns that we call
the laws of physics. From spiritual adept to scientist,
there has been a nearly complete spiritual devolution. A
devolution facilitated, perhaps, by greater degrees of
memory loss at birth, and by greater physical retraints on
our paranormal abilities.
The earth has served as melting pot, and provided basic
training (boot camp style!) for some 10^10 souls. The
emphasis on this level of reality has been on developing
individual consciousness, a la existentialism. And now we
have evolved about as far as we can go in the direction of
materialism and individualism. We are bursting the seams of
our rigid yet fragile reality that we have helped to create.
If reality truly is a combined projection of our minds
and a cosmic mind, then we are aproaching an interesting
situation. Communication and biofeedback technology
amplifies and focusses our global consciousness. Paranormal
phenomena can manipulate that process on a mass scale. A
potential for global psychokenesis is being unleashed. What
will be the threshhold or critical mass for gloabal effects,
e.g. earth changes? The strong anthropic principle of
physics suggests a teleological omega point where a final
singularity of consciousness is the quantum mechanical
keystone for the world. This will be the true big bang,
against which the astrophysical big bang is only a sort of
mirror image. This scenario is radical, but at least it is
preferable to the universal entropic heat death offered by
science.
Rather less earth-shaking is a proposal for a
Singularity Early Warning Network (S.E.W.N.) that would be
an informal network of paranormal investigators, fringe
physicists, and concerned world citizens. We would discuss
patterns and trends relating the paranormal to current
events and to eschatological scenarios. Channeled sources
would also be reviewed. The participants would have to
negotiate a delicate balance between information
dissemination and rumor control.
There is some urgency to put in place a S.E.W.N.,
considering the inevitable enthusiasms surrounding the
upcoming Christian millenium, which lend themselves to
positive and negative exploitation by terrestrial and
extra-terrestrial agents.
As a case study consider the following: A number of
channeled sources are picking up on the Arguelles harmonic
convergence time table for global transformation as running
from 1987 to 2011-12. Neatly bisecting this is the
Nostradamian eclipse of 8-11-1999, that is centered over the
eclipse predicting, crop circle infested, megalithic sites
of southwestern England. The situation calls for more
investigation. If nothing has materialized by that
benchmark we can put the S.E.W.N. back on track for a longer
haul.
Well, I hope some others are willing to stick their
necks out, so that we all might get a clearer view of the
bigger picture(s).
... ----
--
Dan Smith - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
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From: John.Powell@p0.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG (John Powell)
Subject: Re: UFO shows
Date: 31 Oct 91 05:13:00 GMT
-=> Quoting ncar!cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com!vanth to All <=-
n> You mean this 'Beyond Reality' thing (what a stupid title!) is a
n> series? I saw an episode on psychic healing or some such thing (I
n> taped it, but haven't watched it yet) advertised for last Friday, but I
n> didn't know it was going to be a series. Does anyone know what else
n> they have in store for us?
I saw the episode Sheldon noted. It was pathetically bogus. These shows are
not even dramatic recreations like Unsolved Mysteries, they are labelled as
based on fact which means virtually nothing...
John.
... Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence.
--
John Powell - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: John.Powell@p0.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG (John Powell)
Subject: Re: Crop Circles
Date: 31 Oct 91 05:58:00 GMT
-=> Quoting Sheldon Wernikoff to John Powell <=-
Hi Sheldon, hope you're fine.
SW> I think we'll be seeing a great deal of significant new
SW> discoveries and innovative research re: the circles effect.
It seems as if that is happenning. Being able to conclusively and repeatedly
determine a hoax from a true crop circle is step number 1. If that means
sending samples to a lab and waiting a week then so be it. Especially nice
is that we have about 6 months before the show starts again...
Step number 2 is creating a circle ourselves that will selectively pass or fail
the above testing...
SW> It is encouraging to note that these professionals are coming
SW> forward despite all the talk of "hoax", and the potential of
SW> ridicule by their peers. Obviously, they feel confident enough in
SW> their convictions that there is "something" to the phenomenon, and
SW> are willing to take that risk. I maintain my view that they shall
SW> be proven to be correct in their beliefs.
Well, the shameless media-presented (and sponsored by who knows...) ploy to
discredit the totality of the phenomenon with this single pathetic prank,
(which essentially amounted to just a personal attack on Delgado), might
have worked well in the past but things/people change.
I'd bet that there are many professional people who were quite willing to
ignore this phenomenon until their intelligence was insulted by that stupid
Dynamic Geezer Duo hoax...
SW> One writer on another echo queried if anyone has done any Kirlian
SW> photography studies on CC plants. Not to my knowledge, but I am
SW> examining the possibility. This technique certainly could yield
SW> some intriguing results, and possibly provide us with another means
SW> of ascertaining authentic formations.
It just could/maybe/possibly/dunno yeild a quick & dirty, in the field,
way of determining whether or not a circle sample _should_ be sent for
further analysis... I guess that could be important if the trend/scope
continues for next year's 'crop.'
SW> I will continue to do my best to keep you informed on the latest
SW> developments, and appreciate the opportunity to facilitate the
SW> understanding of a most complex and elusive curiosity.
Sheldon, you're doing a terrific job!
John.
... Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence.
--
John Powell - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: John.Powell@p0.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: kirk!ge-dab.ge.com!ASTRO.dnet.ge.com!MX%carr
Subject: Help Mr. Edis find books
Date: 4 Nov 91 16:32:54 GMT
From: 'MX%\'carr@kirk\""@ASTRO.dnet.ge.com
To: Multiple recipients of list SKEPTIC <SKEPTIC@YORKVM1>
From: Taner Edis <edis%ETA.PHA.JHU.EDU@VM.USC.EDU>
I've noticed that while I keep about half a shelf of
'skeptical' material around the house, I have practically none
advocating any of the points of view that tend to be criticized in
this discussion group. This could leave me open to the charge that
I'm seeing only one side of the issue, and that getting my information
about ideas considered to be nonrational or pseudoscientific primarily
from sources admittedly critical of them was at least unbalanced.
While my opinion is that it is rather unlikely that skeptics are
engaged in misrepresentation or worse, occasionally experiencing
fringe arguments firsthand could still be useful. However, the
difficulty is finding sources that are not a waste of time, and go
beyond simple naivete, questionable motives or plain sloppiness.
So I'd like to ask if there are any suggestions for me to take
a look at some book or other. It need not be convincing (that may be
setting standards that are too difficult to satisfy), but merely a
responsible and semirational defense of an alternative viewpoint.
The local secondhand bookstores carry a fair amount of fringe
(not in terms of sales!) literature, but it's all Shirley MacLaine and
friends, so might just as well be called the `loony bin' (one store
does label the section as 'Wacky Phenomena'). So that's out. I
should go through back issues of Skeptical Inquirer and see if any
book that might fit the bill has been reviewed, but I thought I'd
still see if participants of SKEPTIC could help me...
* Creationism: Otherwise intelligent people defend it, so
maybe something is out there besides Morris & Co. Any knowledge of a
creationist tract that does not depend on religion or other
metaphysical grumblings about 'materialism' etc.? Denton's
'Evolution: A theory in Crisis' has been suggested, but from what I
know about it, it may not fit the bill.
* Psychic phenomena: This should be promising, after all,
parapsychology can be said to be a borderline case between science and
pseudoscience. Surely a decent book has been written by a
practitioner that does not insult ones intelligence. There was a
recent book called something like 'Parapsychology: the Controversial
Science', but the jacket gave me the impression that it depended a lot
on the usual 'garbage in, garbage out' with elaborate statistics.
* UFOlogy: I haven't seen a wide eyed UFO proponent book since
I was in that phase in high school. Maybe there is something better
in existence, but I'm rather comfortable with the thought that I might
go through the rest of my life without reading another.
* Others in the endless list....
Thanks, Taner Edis
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