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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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,

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

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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

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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

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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

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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. ;-)

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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).

... ----

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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.

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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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