From: Blather 
To: blather-net@lists.best.com 
Subject: Blather: the doctor and the devil
Date: Sunday, December 13, 1998 1:59 PM

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B  L  A  T  H  E  R

p a r a n o r m a l   p r o v o c a t e u r i s m

By Dave (daev) Walsh daev@blather.net
Web: http://www.blather.net
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December 11th 1998, Dublin, Ireland   Vol 2. No. 31
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THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVIL

Two weeks ago, Blather gave mention of Dr. Franklin Ruehl's claims of
extraterrestrial involvement in the malfunction of NASA's Deep Space 1
probe. Dr. Ruehl wrote Blather an interesting letter in response, and
so we have decided to share our rather gentlemanly argument with the
readership, with Blather as Devil's Advocate. 

According to the biography that he has passed to Blather, Dr. Ruehl
holds a Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics (UCLA), has a weekly
column *Ruehl's Riddles* in the *Sun* supermarket tabloid, and
has published some 1,687 technical papers and popular articles. He
lectures regularly before various colleges, organizations, aerospace
firms (such as Hughes, Lockheed, and Aerojet), and at expos (such as
the Whole Life Expo) and conventions (such as the Babylon 5 Con). His
TV program *Mysteries From Beyond The Other Dominion*, was one of the
four original series to debut on the Sci-Fi Channel in 1992, and he is
a regular on two other syndicated TV shows, *Strange Universe* and
*Weird TV*.


Franlin Ruehl: Thank you for your interest in my controversial
theory. While I am well aware of your skeptical bent, I am also
cognizant of the fact that your site attracts individuals with an open
mind to controversial theories regarding ETs.

Blather: Doctor Ruehl, loathe as I am to introduce a dichotomy into
theproceedings, I would be interested in hearing what you would regard
as a preferable opposite to a 'skeptical bent'. I would distance
myself from the likes of CSICOP and their like, finding them to be
dismissive of the paranormal *on principal*, whereas I am more than
happy to entertain the possible existence of paranormal entities -
physical or otherwise. However, that *doesn't* lead me to assume that
extra-terrestrials are visiting our planet, or messing with our space
probes.



FR: While I have no evidence that ETs have established an outpost on
Asteroid 1992 KD, I am convinced that advanced aliens somewhere in the
cosmos, whether in our solar system or beyond, have set up such
asteroidal bases. For instance, four additional planet-bearing stars
have just been identified,and more undoubtedly will follow.


B: Without sounding like a barrister, may I enquire as to exactly
what has convinced you that ETs not only exist but are in our midst
comsmologically and/or psychically speaking?

FR: Considering that the ion engine has the potential to increase our 
spacefaring capabilities by a factor of 10, it is certainly
conceivable that aliens might wish to sabotage our efforts in this
regard. That engine had functioned flawlessly on the ground in
multiple tests, but just 4.5 minutes after running on Deep Space 1, it
failed, and refused to start up despite numerous attempts to reboot
it. JPL even used the term "mysterious" concerning its failure!

B: When my new PC fails to boot up, I too often mutter 'mysterious'.
I think you may be taking a mile when NASA have given but an inch.
With the sabotage idea too - I mean, I'm all in favour of speculation,
but it's quite a leap from a technical malfunction to allegations of
sabotage by ETs!


FR: ETs might wish to restrict us in a non-forceful manner to our own 
domain of space. Recent discoveries have confirmed my thesis that 
planetary moons are potential sites for alien life. There may well
be underwater civilizations on Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa, not to
mention tiny Enceladus (which has at least a 40% water content). Even
if these entities have not developed a spacefaring technology, they
may have evolved powerful psychic abilities,which may have been
directed at Deep Space 1, i.e. alien remote viewers may have been
responsible for its failure!

B: Hmmmm - just because these moons have the potential to harbour
organic life, it certainly doesn't follow that organic life
has evolved to a level of consciousness and technical ability
which enables it to track what's going on here on Earth. On the other
hand, if these extraterrestrials are more advanced than us, why would
the bother merely sabotaging our hardware (which didn't work by the
way, Deep Space 1 is back on the rails)? It would be quite a fluke to
think that the ETs are at the same step of the (theoretical)
evolutionary ladder as us, not at some primeval or advanced stage...
or even extinct.



FR: Obviously, I cannot prove any of these suppositions, but all are
well within the realm of feasibility! Not only may have aliens also
zapped the 1993 NASA Mars probe, but may have also been responsible
for the enigmatic disappearance of the Telstar 401 in January, 1997,
and the recent failure of the Galaxy 4 communications satellite.

B: No pun intended, but as William of Occam put it "Entities should
not be multiplied more than necessary". I can't help but think that
you're stacking these suppositions on some fairly frail assumptions.
Machines are fallible, there are a host of more credible assumptions
to make about their breakdown before one even gets close to
considering interference from another planet.



Blather also brought up Dr. Ruehl's theories concerning the
pyramids...


FR: Regarding my contention that ETs were responsible for the
creation of the three Great Pyramids and the Sphinx, I point to the
erosional evidence adduced by Dr. Robert Schoch, backdating their
construction to anywhere from 7,000 to 9,000 years ago when there was
no organized Egyptian society capable of creating them. While that
does not prove that ETs were responsible, it certainly makes the ET
hypothesis as credible as any of the others that have been advanced.

For example,there were some 2.5 million stone blocks in the Great
Pyramid of Cheops, each weighing anywhere from one to 40 tons,
constructed over a 20-year period. Assuming they worked only 12-hour
shifts in the daylight, 300 days per year (taking time off for
holidays, inclement weather, etc.), they would have had to cut, grind,
and move in place one such huge stone every 1.45 minutes! In light of
such data,the extraterrestrial hypothesis seems worth considering!


B: In other words, it simply adds another hypothesis, perhaps more
unprovable than the rest? Just because we don't know - *at the
present time* - how humans could have done it in the past, it doesn't
necessarily follow that humans could never have done it. We might as
well attribute the building contract to 'The Gods'.

If someone else other than humans could have done the building...
*how* did they do it? Are we going on the assumption that
extraterrestrials imported some form of heavy lifting gear (mechanical
or otherwise) and then took it home with them again? If they have such
marvellous powers at their disposial, how come they can't sucessfully
take out a pesky space probe, several thousand Earth years later? Are
they the same aliens, or are humans creating extraterrestrials
scapegoats created to fill gaps in our understanding, like dozens of
little gods?... so that we have Pyramid Builders/Contractors ETs,
Space Probe Hating ETs, Abductor ETs...

Blather remains unconvinced.



NOTES
Non-Temperance Zone (earlier dicussions about Dr. Ruehl)
(http://www.blather.net/archives2/issue2no29.html)

['The Doctor and the Devil, in case anyone's wondering, is a reference
to *The Doctor and the Devils* by Dylan Thomas, a play about the 19th
century body-snatcher-murderers Burke and Hare]


GEMINID SKYWATCH
Blather was in touch with Eamon Ansbro of the Irish Centre for UFO
Studies/ Programme for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Research - they
have a skywatch planned for Monday December 14th at the Moylurg Tower
in Lough Key Forest Park, Co. Roscommon, from 5:30 onwards. This date
seems to have been predicted as when the UFOs are to show
themselves... as the Geminid meteor shower is due to peak on Sunday,
and if it is a clear night, doubtless there will be some level of
success for the skywatchers. Details are available at +353 79 62844.

Recent Blather coverage of the ICUFOS *Energy fields! - Shields up!*
(http://www.blather.net/archives2/issue2no27.html)

Last year's Geminid shower/ICUFOS skywatch
(http://www.blather.net/archives2/archives/issue1no32.html)

Lough Key Forest Park, Co. Roscommon
(http://ireland.iol.ie/~boylecoc/key.html)

_______________________________________________________

Dave (daev) Walsh
11th December 1998
daev@blather.net

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