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Stone Balls, Magnetic Hills Again, NASA Retreats, Drinking Soap, A New Tarot, Online ESP Test, The Great Keypad Puzzle, America's Best Christian, Dowsing in Italy, Edward Hides in Dallas but Appears in Omaha......
Many years ago, I saw at a museum in Washington, DC, a huge stone ball, about six feet in diameter. Its surface was rough but uniform, about like that of a cast concrete wall. The sign next to it said that it came from Costa Rica, and was an exceptionally large example of similar objects to be found there and in Mexico, ranging from a few inches or so to either 4 or 8 feet, depending on which articles you read. Many descriptions of these objects have appeared in woo-woo books, with much wonderment about how "primitive" humans were able to fashion such balls to an accuracy of either 2% or .08% again depending on whose account you read. Some years ago, I exchanged letters with Arthur C. Clarke, who had stated that these were most certainly Man-made, because of tool-marks still visible on the surfaces. The true nature and origin of the stone balls is quite different, though just as wonderful, in my opinion. They are formed in volcanic areas, in magma, and are the results of very much the same process that occurred in that once-popular and outstandingly grotesque novelty, the "Lava Lamp." This consisted of a bottle with a heating element in the bottom of it, containing two non-miscible ("won't-mix") liquids of slightly different densities and of different colors. The heavier liquid would of course settle to the bottom of the container, and when the heater was turned on, the adjacent liquid would expand, become less dense, and rise to the surface of the bottle. There, it would cool again and slowly settle back to the bottom. Thus, there was a repeating motion of globs of colored liquid rising and falling, an action that enchanted those who are easily attracted by inane entertainments. Those "globs" were spherical, taking that form naturally due to being effectively "weightless" in the surrounding medium. In space travel, released liquids take that same form, only settling out when being affected by a change in surface tension or other such interference. Their own surface tension holds them together, and they take the form of a sphere because that is the "default," in those circumstances. These stone balls are formed when the material granodiorite, a metamorphic rock melts in magma and is of different density than the surrounding fluid. Upon slowly cooling and solidifying, the magma traps the balls until weathering wears away the surrounding material, and the balls occasionally come to the surface by other geophysical means. They are still found, today, usually in valleys (why?) and still invoke wonder. (There is another form of stone ball that can be formed of quartz sand sandstone, a form of concretion that has a "seed" object like a crab or oyster shell at its center, but that's known as "new" rock, much like the "beach rock" that formed near Bimini and gave rise to the "Bimini Road" error that suggested Atlantis to the suggestible. See my book, "Flim-Flam!", pages 48 to 51. However, in this discussion we're dealing with very ancient, stone balls originating at very high volcanic temperatures.) When discovered, these almost-perfect spheres are of course rather easily moved especially downhill! and early civilizations would spot them and set them aside as curiosities, sometimes incorporating them into their temples. Ah, but remember that Clarke mentioned evidence of tool-marks on the surface of these objects, and his conclusion that this meant they were Man-made? I omitted one detail, above, when I wrote that the balls are still discovered, today. They sometimes have a thick "crust" on them, which can be chipped off with simple tools to reveal the much smoother surface beneath. The tools, it's obvious, will leave some marks behind on the new surface.... The most interesting aspect of all this, to me, is that "experts" in Costa Rica insist that their stone balls were fashioned by ancient inhabitants of the area, while those found in Mexico same material and appearance are the result of natural volcanic forces. I sense a lack of logic here.... I recently found this photograph of an area near Alenquer, in the Extremadura area on the west coast of Portugal, 35 km. north of Lisbon. I believe I see here a few similar formations, though I'd not been aware that they might also be found in that part of the world. Since looking into the matter a little further, I find that they're also reported in Easter Island! Folks, the notion that these are marvelous artifacts fabricated by ancient peoples, can be laid to rest not only by the geological evidence, but by the fact that the balls are found in such widely-separated geographical locations, and they are all made of the same igneous rock! And, if the ancients had chosen to make stone balls, they would, in my opinion, have opted to make them from much softer and more available material, such as limestone. Don't throw at me the fact that various kinds of pyramids (obviously Man-made) are found in widely-separated areas of the world: Egypt, Central and South America, Mexico, Sudan, India, Italy, and Greece. A pyramid is one of the most stable, easily-designed and easily-constructed forms. It is, in effect, almost any other less stable architectural shape that has already fallen down, and is thus not expected to change much over the ages. Yes, another celebration of Man's ingenuity turns into a mere miracle of Nature. Next, we'll turn to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, and its marvelous pillars. Or maybe not.....
Concerning the "Reverse Astrology" site mentioned here lately, it turns out to be a very excellent joke, which I'd not spotted until it was suggested I look further into it. When I saw the photo of the "beast" who runs the site, all was suddenly clear to me....
A reader signed "Whittier" reminds us that the old, tired, "magnetic hill" nonsense is apparently immortal, no matter how many times it's debunked, and cites a cemetery where this illusion is found. The reason for this belief, I find, is that people just have great difficulty in denying the evidence of their senses, no matter how wrong that may be. We magicians get this reaction all the time: "But I saw it with my own eyes!" One is tempted to ask, and I frequently do ask, "With who else's eyes might you have observed it, please?" Whittier tells us of
. . . Douglas Vogt, who has written a book on the subject, "Gravitational Mystery Spots of the United States." Vogt believes there are no easy answers for what happens on gravity hills. "Basically, they are places that prove our current definition of gravity is wrong," he says. "My belief is more that it's something buried from a previous civilization, such as a device that distorted time or gravity, that is causing it." OK. But Nick Clark, Rose Hills' director of marketing, who tested Gravity Hill when he first started working at the cemetery two years ago, thinks Vogt's explanation is, well, a little exaggerated. "It's weird. But in reality it's your brain being fooled by your eyes. In other words, an optical illusion," said Clark. "It's just the angle of the street that makes it look like it's going uphill." Hey, Mr. Clark, you're absolutely right, but don't expect the believers to allow that simple, factual, explanation, to faze them a bit. They think they have their miracle, and they'll hold it tightly, no matter what....
We heard last week that friend Jim Oberg had been commissioned by NASA to write a small book denying the persistent rumor brought about by yet another irresponsible FOX-TV farce that no one has landed on the Moon. Well, NASA has now withdrawn that commission, surrendering to the public outcry and media attention! Incredible, in my view. Ah, but not all is lost. Jim tells us that he's going to write it anyway, without NASA funding or blessings. You'll hear about it right here, as soon as we know it's available. Jim is now looking for a publisher. You know, just last week I appeared as the keynote speaker at the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teachers (CAST) in El Paso. I was asked several times about the rumor, and found that teachers most certainly are interested in having the ammunition to defeat such misinformation. They get questions about this, at every turn. Why did NASA cancel the production of the booklet? My inquiries to NASA are not yet answered.
Reader Tony Hegwood suggests we go to www.miracle2soap.com/scientific.htm to see the very latest in pseudoscientific gobbledygook directed at the unwary. I agree that this is just about as crazy as these sites can get, but Tony assures us that someone of his acquaintance is thoroughly satisfied with the product offered, and even drinks it, for reinforcement....! Take a look.
The "improved" and "updated" zodiac that I proposed last week (and suggested by some readers as a dandy T-shirt!) is reflected in a new version of the traditional Tarot card themes. It's called The Silicon Valley Tarot, and has "The Fool" replaced by "The Hacker," "The Magician" by "The Guru," and "The Hierophant" by "The Consultant." The "Strength" card is now named "Double Latte," and "Death" has become "The Layoff." I particularly related to "The Devil" becoming "Spam," and, as they describe it,
"The Empress," the Tarot's classic "mother figure," is replaced by "The Garage" the true "mother of invention" of Silicon Valley, the metaphorical womb from which great code will eventually emerge. Best of all, "The World" card is now "The Net." But we all knew that, didn't we?
I was advised by a reader to go to http://www.gotpsi.org and do the tests there. Why I allow myself to fall into these traps, I dunno.... Today I attempted to do the tests.... I registered dutifully, then when I reached the last page, where I was to perform the tests, I found, first, that I could not read the "Remote Viewing Test" nor the "Lottery Test." Second, there were no instructions on what to do, on any of these tests! In the "Card Test," I saw five spaces, one labeled "Your Choice" and one with a picture of gold bricks. I didn't make any choice, so what does "Your Choice" mean, to me? What does one do, here? There are no instructions! If I'm supposed to make a choice, it's a choice of what? After experimentation, I found that the solution is to click on the representation of the test, which brings it up on screen. So far, I've been getting just average, "expected," scores. No significance at all. Strange.....
Concerning the keypad puzzle of last week, I can tell you that I received some one hundred or so responses. Two of them were quite correct, giving the actual combo, though I only asked for the six most likely combos. Almost everyone spotted the evidence showing that numbers 1, 3, and 8 were the most used, judging from the heavy dirt that had accumulated on those buttons and the areas immediately surrounding them. But then the observations got pretty crazy. Some comments were very puzzling, such as those from a few who wondered what the fourth number could be, because only three showed usage! Hey, I believe these are equal-opportunity keys, capable of being used more than once! Most figured correctly that in order to have a 4-digit code, one key had to be used twice. However, a number of readers stated that key 8 appeared to them to be used most. A more careful perusal shows that key 1 was much more stained than key 8. Look at the amount of stain on the actual button itself! I'll run here the solution of reader Thomas R. Harrington, which was perceptive, but erred in the same way that most did. The general opinion was that my math was wrong. It wasn't only the math, but the math-plus-evidence that gave me six possibilities.....
Thank you for the years of entertaining sanity you've given me through your books and, for the past two years now, your JREF web site. May you and your ilk flourish and spread. Thomas, though I didn't mention it, after three incorrect entries, our system siezes up. After a long pause, it re-sets, but at that point does not tolerate another incorrect code entry, setting off the alarm instead, and connecting directly to police headquarters. After that, all hell breaks loose, and there's much excitement. Other readers adopted a Sherlock Holmes approach, trying to deduce from their knowledge of facts that we'd find easy-to-remember, how we'd decided on the code we used. I'll not share any of that with you, because you're too damn smart. I'll only say that we did have a mnemonic base, and now that we've changed to another combo, we still use a mnemonic. Don't go nuts trying to guess; it's not something you can come up with, believe me. One of the Sherlocks wrote, asking whether his solution was correct, and if he would have gained entry, and I responded:
I don't see any numeric connections in JREF's address or phone numbers, nor in such details as the founding date of the organization. Of course not! We would never have chosen anything that obvious!
Another avenue was closed when I found you were apparently born in 1928, not 1931. January 8 or August 1 of 1931 would have made too compelling a connection to ignore. Again, too obvious too "compelling? for us to choose! My birthdate is available in several biographical dictionaries (Who's Who, for example) but beware! I have specifically incorrect data in those sources to confound the "psychics" who often "reveal" that to me, and are WRONG! And, in answer to his question, no, he would now be behind bars..... Others many others after making correct decisions on the evidence presented, thought that 1-1-3-8 would have to be the correct combo, because I'd probably be a George Lucas fan (I am) and "THX 1138" is a well-known science fiction film of his. Exactly why I would avoid using that combo! Applying logic to such a problem, should involve some use of your knowledge of the person(s) who came up with the code! Hans Lehmann noticed that the last four digits of the JREF ZIP code are 1815, and guessed that 1-8-1-3 would be the code. Nope, not for that connection. For reasons given above.... But back to the puzzle. Since the 1 key is used far more frequently, it certainly is the one that's twice used, as Thomas and so many others correctly deduced. But I thought about just how that dirt gets on there. It seems evident that a person approaching the keypad with a dirty index-finger (I assumed that one finger was used, and subsequent inquiry proved me correct when I asked my staff) would tend to leave more residue on the first key pressed. I experimented by running my finger over Sophia's beautiful blue finish (she's my car, remember?) and then pressing my finger on a sheet of paper. Yes, most of the Sophia-dust went into the first smudge. That would lead to the conclusion that 1 is probably not only the first digit, but also probably the one twice-used, thus only combos 1138, 1183, 1318, 1381, 1813, and 1831 should probably be considered. I must credit Thomas Kowal Andersen of Denmark for the first answer that arrived in my e-mail box giving the six correct possibilities.... Well, after all that, I'll tell you that the old combo was 1-8-1-3. So there! That was a really good exchange, and I thank you all for participating!
Raher than spoil the impact of this next item, I'll just send you to http://bettybowers.com/misscleo.html to enjoy a website that should have come to my own attention, years ago. The remarkable Betty Bowers, "America's Best Christian," issues a warning to us all:
Once Miss Cleo is sent back to behind the counter at Taco Bell, will the FCC, in its stated desire to protect the American public from chicanery, turn its attention to other people on TV who hawk the future like it was theirs to sell for an exorbitant fee? I am, of course, talking about Pat Robertson. What of the televangelists who promise to cure everything from cantankerousness to cancer, in exchange for a generous "love offering"? Enough. Go to the web site.....
Next, still on the subject of religious paradoxes, consider this sign that I photographed last week outside a local church. In common with other churches, this one rents out facilities to other interests, and it seems that a traveling "Health Fair" rented space there. Perhaps the minister saw a possible rivalry of goods being offered, and as you see, his posted promise of "Eternal Life" certainly out-classes the other of only "Longer Life." However, I don't see competitive prices being offered.....
In my book, "Flim-Flam," I describe a dowsing test that I conducted in Italy, in 1979, with the cooperation of RAI-3, a major TV network in that country. Piero Angela, the host of the show that resulted, is a major figure in the Italian media, widely known and respected. There was one event that took place in connection with the test, that I thought I'd share with you. We had chosen an area outside of the town of Formello, 24 kms. from Rome, to set in place the buried pipes that were to be detected by the eager dowsers who had applied to RAI-3 to demonstrate their skills and win the then-$10,000 prize I was offering. The local city dump featured a cleared area nearby that was suitable, and very early in the freezing, rainy, and windy winter morning, Piero and I arrived at the site in his tiny Fiat accompanied by the huge mobile studio-truck that would be recording the test. Our vehicle was covered in a thin layer of ice. Piero decided we would explore the area briefly, and we drove to one of the dumping spots where huge trucks were coming in to discharge their loads of garbage. We had armed ourselves with a thermos of hot coffee, and confidently parked at the edge of a cavernous pit of trash, turning the heater up full. Engaged in conversation relating to the planning of the upcoming taping task, we did not notice when one garbage truck pulled up adjacent to us and began unloading a most astonishing mass of amorphous material that turned out to be a full load of bright pink styrofoam "packing peanuts," the sort of thing used to cushion fragile objects. How and where this stuff came to be part of Formello's trash, we'll never know. The wind shifted the majority of the fluffy bits toward the Fiat, and Piero switched on the windshield-wipers as we rapidly lost sight of the outside world. As quickly as we could, we backed out of the place, and made our way back to the spot where the TV crew were waiting for us. We had to heave at the doors to get them open, and as we emerged into the drizzly outside, we saw what had the crew screeching with laughter. I ask you to picture a little Fiat covered, wheels and all, in a layer of frozen-on pink styrofoam peanuts, topped with a peaked mound of them. Piero and I both exclaimed at once, "A wedding cake!" and fell to joining the others in their glee. I turned to Piero and asked, "Are you sure we're not in the middle of a Fellini movie?" The question was not all that fanciful.... As for the subsequent dowsing test, it went as expected. By the time the applicants arrived, delivered their inevitable theories and anecdotal tales about their wondrous abilities and past successes, and probed the area for the water-carrying pipes with no significant results the wedding cake had melted away, and we realized what I still regret, that we had not thought to snap a photo of the Formello Wedding Cake phenomenon. Drat!
Reader Michael Draper writes to tell me:
I'm a professional entertainer/acting teacher from Scranton, Pa. Most of my life was spent believing in the "absolute" truth of all paranormal phenomena. I was enthralled by the concepts of psychics predicting world events, and Uri Geller's spoon bending. I knew there was life after death. Hell, the "psychic" past-life tarot-reading entity channeling automatic-writing shaman, whom I paid a small fortune to, told me so. It must be true. She also told me that I was a current incarnation of a sixteenth-century French Negro prostitute who sold her/my children into slavery, and that this was the reason I had a current aversion to blood. (?) I've never had an aversion to blood; I'm a horror movie fanatic! Yet, I still believed without question. Here our reader suggested some ways in which he and his spouse might serve the JREF, and we're considering those possibilities seriously.... He continues:
I think people like John Edward are twisted soaking money from grieving families, giving them fairy-tales instead of honest grieving, getting loved ones to cry on camera so that his ratings could inflate alongside his bank account. Thanks, Michael. It's always good to hear that we've made a difference!
Reader Ian MacMillan always keeps us up with the most outrageous/ludicrous items on the Internet:
Someone with yet another free energy invention lists himself as having a few titles. I kid you not, he's Robert Adams, with all this flapdoodle after his name: It's the last one that gets me, Ian. If it weren't for that one, I might suspect he's a quack.....
Peter Gayton of Brisbane, Australia, alerts us to this "Global announcement" http://www.8march2003.com. This is a good example of an unsophisticated person with a keyboard connected to the Internet, but not much else. The major problem with such folks, in my opinion, is that they also get to vote....
Reader Mark "Hawkeye" Louis, of 96.3 KSCS radio, informs us:
I co-host a morning radio show in Dallas, Texas. We were recently offered an interview via satellite with John Edward. I told the co-ordinator that I would love Mr. Edward to be a guest on our show but to please inform him that I am a skeptic and I would bring up my doubts during the interview. Thanks, Hawkeye. I'll add here that it was Edward's flacks who were calling around to get him on radio shows, they called KSCS and when you accepted, they were the ones who refused an appearance when you leveled with them on your opinion. Just what does Mr. Edward fear so much? Does he only participate in programs where he knows he'll be interviewed by airheads? Is he that incapable of defending his claims? We can only wonder, because he's also declined to be tested for our JREF million dollars in line with Sylvia Browne, who's now into 438+ days of that same offer! You out there somewhere, Sylvia....?
As I said last week, Brady J. Phelps, Ph.D., is a behavior analyst and Professor of Psychology at South Dakota State University who recently attended a John Edward performance. He wrote me in advance of the show, asking advice on how he might discover the Edward routine, and very little that I suggested could be used, except that I told him to take along a concealed tape recorder. It served him well. Here's his report:
John Edward gave a seminar in Omaha, Nebraska, on Nov. 3rd, 2002, before a crowd of approximately 2,500, with people traveling from as far away as Kentucky to see the man who talks to the dead. Tickets were sold in advance for $45, but street hawkers were selling them for about $200. The setting had the feeling of a revival meeting ,but instead of Bibles, Edward devotees clutched copies of his recent best seller, "One Last Time." The crowd was between 5- or 10-to1, women to men. Since there was no reserved seating, there was quite a bit of unorganized chaos as the crowd poured in. Randi comments: This is the ploy that James Van Praagh also uses repeatedly. As soon as he very clearly has missed his guess, he tells the victim, "Well, you keep that," which is spirit-talk for go-home-and-think-about-it. We can be sure that something will occur to them that fits the bad guess, one way or the other. Continuing....
Edward explained more than once that he didn't see differences between a son, a son-in-law, daughter or daughter-in-law, and so forth. He said that blood relations could not be distinguished from legal relations as long as the relationship was a loving one, it seemed, which is very convenient for someone who wants to speak in generalities. Also, talking to someone in the upper balcony, Edward went on another fishing expedition: "I'm getting a name that sounds like Blackie, Blocky, or Biloxi or just a b-l-k-sounding name" directed at several people in a section of the audience; no one seemed to connect with it. He again tried for this connection with several individuals sitting together in a section, but without success. For one audience member, he revealed, "I see your dead son or son-in-law" unnamed until the audience member revealed the name of her son who had passed. "I see that your son died from some event that had an impact upon his body," to which the audience member revealed that her son had shot himself. "Oh, that must be the impact that I saw..." Note the subtle re-directing and going from general to specific. "Impact upon his body" can mean an auto accident, a fall, a punch, a blow, or a gunshot. And remember that if that guess is wrong (if the son died from a disease, for example) it's just forgotten and ignored! Continuing....
At another point, when Edward was targeting the audience directly in front of him: "I'm getting a flag image, or a flag. Did somebody bring a flag with them? No sir, it's not you," referring to an audience member wearing an American flag sweatshirt. "Do you have a flag with you?" pointing to a lady nearby. Yes, on the front of her purse was a very large, clearly visible, flag.
There you have it. I believe that Edward had spotted the flag on the purse, threw out the "I'm getting a flag" guess, and expected this woman to volunteer something that it could be assumed he'd not noticed. She didn't cooperate with his plan, so he had to specify her, to take advantage of this clue. Thank you, Professor Phelps. We're educated by your observations and conclusions.
I regret that a woman who offered us a run-down on a Sylvia Browne involvement for publication, has had to withdraw her account. She's been advised that Browne is litigious, and would likely recognize her from the extensive problems between the two of them. And, she rightly fears litigation that could cripple her financially. It may be that we may at some future point have the advantage of this person's statement, but not presently.
The Amazing Meeting may feature a very special surprise, one that we're trying to arrange. Wish I could tell you about it.... But, anon.
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