News Notes

Zip Dobyns

One never knows what the mail will bring. A few days ago it brought Issue 19 of a large newspaper called Atlantis Rising with contents which ranged from absurd to serious, modern science. The common theme was that most of the articles dealt with topics which are rejected by “conventional” science. An article on “cold fusion” described the ten years of work in both Japan and the U.S. which holds out hope of unlimited, clean, and cheap energy from the hydrogen in water. A company named Black Light Power Corporation has just purchased a $2 million building near Princeton New Jersey, and they may be close to producing generators that would shake up the world of big oil

On the other end of the spectrum, an author of a book on origins writes flatly that there is “not one single shred of solid scientific evidence to prove it,” with the “it” being evolution. He insists there are no “missing links” between man and ape. He has obviously been living under a barrel. New “missing links,” that is the remains of beings which are intermediate forms between apes and humans, keep turning up regularly. The most recent was reported within the past few months.

I would love to attend a conference scheduled June 7-9, 1999 in Bergamo and Milan, Italy, though I would probably be frustrated by the ignorance of the presenters. It will be devoted to the evidence for ancient catastrophes. Our Summer 1996 Asteroid-World mentioned the work by such astronomers as Clube, who rejected Velikovsky’s theories on the causes of some major past catastrophes, but who accept the reality of comet and asteroid collisions with earth that produced human fear of the sky. I expanded that Asteroid-World for my part of the book Millennium; Fears, Fancies, and Facts, which was published by ACS. Co-authors of the book were Maritha Pottenger, Maria Sims, and Kim Rogers-Gallegher. I do not doubt that there were catastrophes from the sky which contributed to the fears of ancient people, but most of the researchers in this relatively new field are totally ignorant of astrology and/or they deny its validity. The most valuable article in the Atlantis Rising newspaper was a report about Voices of the Rocks, a new book written by the geologist Robert Schoch. I was impressed enough to immediately buy the Schoch book and read it. It is important enough that I will discuss it in a separate article.

I don’t know enough physics to judge a paragraph on the theory of an Australian physicist, Wallace Thornhill. I do know there are still many unanswered questions about the nature of our sun. Thornhill offered evidence that rather than being powered by nuclear reactions, the sun was a cathodeless electrical discharge. The more technical subjects which lie outside one’s fields of knowledge call for reserving judgment. With my background in anthropology, including its sub-fields of archaeology and human evolution, I can offer an informed opinion in those areas.

I am currently subscribing to three archaeology magazines. They are designed for the educated public, and keep me up to date on the field which was my first love in college. In the past half century, archaeologists have uncovered the warfare and human sacrifice that was endemic among the ancient Mayans of southern Mexico and Central America, though some romantics still believe that the ancient Mayan culture and religion were highly spiritual. Archaeology is currently doing the same job of challenging the previous beliefs about the Anasazi who pre-dated the Pueblo peoples in the Four Corners region where Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico meet. Like the Mayans, the Anasazi were previously thought to be “peaceful” like the current Hopi and other Pueblo people. Archaeology is uncovering a very different picture.

The May-June 1999 issues of both Archaeology and Discovering Archaeology have articles and/or book reports about the Anasazi during the period before the arrival of the Spanish. They describe a period of several hundred years of warfare which may have been driven partly by severe drought conditions which led to raids for scarce food. The current collection of related books started with Lawrence Keeley’s book War Before Civilization which demonstrated that war was ubiquitous among agricultural peoples everywhere. He even claimed that the casualty rates were higher than in modern wars. Though smaller, the wars were lethal. In 1999, Steven LeBlanc published Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest in which he described unburied bodies, bones with evidence of wounds, burned buildings, warrior images, weapons technology, and other evidence of violence. He divides the time interval into three stages. From 200 to 900 A.D., small-scale warfare such as raids and ambushes were commonplace, like a condition of life. From 900 to 1250 endemic violence diminished with control in the hands of a ruthless central power. From 1250 to 1500, warfare exploded, with violence large in scale and devastating in effect.

An even more controversial book by anthropologist Christy Turner presents evidence for cannibalism during the middle period when a group ruling in Chaco Canyon is described as maintaining control by a reign of terror. The bulk of Turner’s book Man Corn consists of case-by-case descriptions of human remains from 76 sites. In all but four, Turner and his wife found evidence for human bones being treated like animal bones: butchered, cracked open, burned, boiled. Cannibalism was only found during the Chaco period, and Turner suggests it was used to terrorize people and maintain control. Needless to say, the modern Pueblo Indians are not pleased with this portrayal of what may have been their ancestors, though Turner suggests that the Chaco rulers were invaders who came up from Mexico with a religion that included human sacrifice.

Shifting from the past to the future, the latest publications from the Astrological Association of Great Britain include several interesting tidbits. The May 1999 issue of the newsletter, Transit, describes a serious discussion about a “chair in astrology at a British university” which a generous benefactor has offered to fund. Representatives from Southampton University, from the University of Kent, and from Canonbury Masonic Research Institute, met with astrologers from several organizations to discuss the possibility. Discussions are continuing and they will include contact with other universities. In light of the current efforts to establish Kepler College in the state of Washington, U.S.A., which will offer a general education that includes astrology, maybe our field will make it back into higher education while Uranus transits through Aquarius. I have pressed for research which would justify higher education taking astrology seriously, but perhaps we need the resources of such educational institutions to produce the research.

The same issue of Transit reports that NASA plans to launch an all woman crew in 2001 to determine whether men or women are better suited to deep space exploration. Kathryn Clark, chief scientist for the international Space Station, said the mission may reveal changes in women’s hormonal cycles during space flight and provide evidence that these changes may give women an edge. NASA says this is not a publicity stunt and it is keeping the project top secret. So how did the Brits learn about it?

The June 1999 issue of Discover magazine has an interesting article on what are technically called “libration points” from the Latin word for “balance.” They are theoretic points where gravity is balanced between competing forces; five related to Earth and the Sun and five related to Earth and the Moon. NASA has four space missions in the works to acquire information about the cosmos, taking advantage of the fact that a satellite can stay at a libration point with very little effort. But additional studies are hoping for something more; for “free rides.” Theoretically, there are three-dimensional loops around the libration points called “halo orbits” which might be used to move to different regions with minimum effort. The big question is whether the “halos” are relatively small, so a satellite “riding” on one would just make small loops around the libration point, or whether huge halo orbits are possible around a libration point shared by the Earth and the Sun. Also, some scientists describe the loops as oddly shaped, more like a Pringle’s potato chip. Parking a space ship in such a loop might let it stay there for years with minimal fuel while it studied Earth, the Sun, and the depths of space from different viewpoints. As early as 1978, the space ship International Sun-Earth Explorer was put at Sun-Earth Libration point L1. The potential for moving easily between libration points, using the halo orbits of more than one L point and crossing more space with minimal effort along a special path called a manifold, will be tested by Genesis, which is to be launched in January 2001. This is a small kernel of the information in the article. Those interested in frontier science should read it. Why are barbarians who call themselves Christians still fighting over a small piece of “sacred homeland” when humans are learning to explore limitless space?

Theoretically, science makes theories and tests them. Religions also have theories/beliefs, but mostly they are harder to test, whether from lack of funding, or lack of clarity in formulating the data, or lack of training in effective techniques by those willing to look at them, or from the inherent impossibility of defining absolutes in finite terms. Crop circles have been mentioned in previous issues of The Mutable Dilemma: mysterious, sometimes very complex diagrams formed by bending the stalks of growing grain. Some of the circles have been produced by human practical jokers, and materialistic scientists happily dismiss all of them as fraudulent. One of the problems mentioned above which hampers serious investigation of “borderline” human experiences, those which do not fit the materialistic paradigm, has recently been solved. Laurence Rockefeller is now funding research into crop circles in Wiltshire, England where they have been most common and have produced the most dramatic complex designs.

Colin Andrews, a former local government officer, has been hired. He has compiled the largest database on the subject, advised several governments of his findings, and presented his work at the United Nations in NY. He now has an office with seven computers and a staff which is working on crop circle data from around the world. They are even using global positioning technology via satellites to locate formations and return after harvest to carry out measurements, including magnetometer readings which have shown some fascinating results. Mr. Andrews has already discovered that some circles have a “magnetic fingerprint” resembling snowflake geometry. The preceding information came from an internet site (note: there is no www): http://sightings.com/ufo3/croprock.htm. Note: Hey! Neptune is also in Aquarius now! How nicely Neptunian for money made from oil to be used to investigate mystical phenomena.

Then there are the phenomena like alien abductions, which so far defy scientific methods of investigation. The best anyone has been able to accomplish so far is to form some descriptive categories accompanied by untested (maybe untestable) theories. The June 1999 issue of Fate magazine has an article on six categories of aliens which have been described by a variety of abductees and channelers. The Greys are the best known from Streiber’s books and many abductees. They are described as small humanoids lacking emotion and rather baffled by it in humans. They are blamed for the abduction and often painful physical examination of thousands of humans of all ages.

The Reptilians are even worse, filling a role as current demons. Some people think they are space invaders looking for resources. Some think they evolved inside the earth, while others think they come from different dimensions.

The Pleiadians, Sirians, and Orions, are described as more human-appearing and more benevolent, coming respectively from those star systems. The Arcturians, though associated with the star of that name, are said to have been described by Edgar Cayce as one of the most advanced civilizations in this galaxy. They are said to reside in the fifth dimension, to work closely with ascended masters, to serve as guardians of higher consciousness, and to represent the future of humanity. You can see why such “information” is hard to test. You can believe it, or you can say it is creative imagination writing science fiction, or you can keep it “on the shelf” waiting for more information.

The same issue of Fate also had an article with more evidence, including some still shots taken from videos of UFOs sighted over Israel. The author, Barry Chamish, describes an impressive wave of sightings that have been filmed, starting in September 1987. 1992 produced Israel’s first daylight videotape of a UFO, and another wave of sightings began in 1996. Since the world’s media have ignored what the authors say are credible videos, one wonders about bias. Israel is also getting crop circles, and a previous article in Fate described the sighting of weird “monsters.” Some of the UFO witnesses claim psychic power, including a group who have become healers who are convinced that they are guided by aliens. Videos are harder to fake than still photos. At least scientific testing could be used with them.

Switching from outer to inner space, I recently read the new edition of a book about Laetrile called World Without Cancer by G Edward Griffin. Despite my suspicion about the integrity of the AMA and FDA, which I think are mostly in hock to the big drug companies, I had accepted the orthodox line that laetrile, made from apricot pits, was not just not helpful, but was actually dangerous. Griffin’s book is a shocker, citing the dishonest research that formed the basis for the “official” claims. Griffin obviously exaggerates the value of nitrilosides which Dr. Krebs called Vitamin B17, but the evidence for some kind of helpful substance in the pits of apricots and plums, in apple and grape seeds, in millet, etc. have encouraged me to add some of those foods to my diet. Legumes also provide the nitrilosides, and they were already in my diet. The official scare warning about the danger of nitrilosides is based on the fact that they include cyanide, which is, of course, a poison. The gist of Kreb’s theory is that the cyanide is only released by a specific enzyme which is only present at cancer cells, so the cyanide remains inert in the body until it comes in contact with and attacks cancer cells. I believe that illness starts in the emotions, but no one is totally in control of their emotions, and if vitamins can help the body cope with negative emotions, it is pretty silly not to add them to our practice of positive feeling.

The May 20, 1999 issue of The San Diego Union-Tribune had an interesting article about University of Michigan scientists who are working on ways to protect humans from germs, including the much-feared anthrax which could be used as a biological weapon. Dr. James Baker has created drug droplets so tiny they have been dubbed “nano-bombs.” The tiny oil droplets fuse with bacteria while leaving normal cells alone. The bacteria and virus membrane coatings are disrupted, so the organisms literally explode with only fragments remaining. The work is still experimental, but if successful, it would be far superior to the vaccinations being currently given to army troops.

I’ve been seeing lots of articles lately about the benefits of green tea, including in the June 1999 issue of Life Extension magazine. Green has many more of the valuable antioxidants than black tea, and is credited with helping to prevent cancer, arthritis, and heart problems. You need several cups a day to get the benefits, and hot, but not boiling, water should be used to steep the tea. Now, if I could learn to like it without adding a sweetener.

I’ve been increasingly disillusioned by the information coming out about Dr. Deepak Chopra, including blatant infidelity while writing about love, taking credit for writing done by others, and what looks like a worship of wealth. An article in the May 3, 1999 Union-Tribune was a sort of last straw. In a list of wealthy donors to presidential candidates, Chopra is listed as promising to raise $100,000 for George W. Bush. The rich naturally support the rich, but it is Democrats who are funding studies in alternative health techniques.

A “flying car” is coming, according to Reuters on the Internet. According to Reuters, Moller International of California plans a maiden voyage with its “Skycar” within the next few weeks. The car will seat four people, get 5 miles to the gallon of gas, have a top speed of 600 mph, and take off and land vertically. Estimated cost initially is about $1 million, but later mass production could bring this down to about $60,000. A pilot’s license will be required to fly the car in the U.S.

An Internet list called Paracelsus has been conducting a running discussion of fats which has mostly reinforced the information I have been reading in other sources. The core points include the need for about equal amounts of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats, in contrast to the huge overuse of Omega 6 in the U.S. and other western countries which eat a lot of processed foods. All the research on coconut oil has used hydrogenated coconut oil and the process turns one of the most healthy fats into a harmful one. The saturated fat in meat is healthy IF the animals are fed on grass, but becomes harmful when they are fed corn and soy which is now standard practice. Heart disease and cancer were not major diseases in the last century when people in the U.S. ate far more fat from lard, pork, beef, butter, whole milk, and cheese, but the animals ate “natural” food at that time rather than corn and soy. An excessive use of soy, especially in baby formulas, can damage the thyroid. So, the battle goes on. Since most of us do not live on farms or have access to meat from grass-fed animals, ??? Olive oil is still the most universally acceptable form of fat, but we do need a modest amount of Omega 6, which is found in all vegetable oils except flax and perilla, balanced with an equal amount of Omega 3 from fish and/or the latter two oils and northern-grown nuts like walnuts for vegetarians. Plus you can enjoy unprocessed, unsweetened coconut and avocados.

Copyright © 1999 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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