• WGA CIRCLES THREAD EXPANDS TO COMPUSERVE FILE: UFO1207

    From Wes Thomas@RICKSBBS to ALL on Sun Jun 8 06:25:27 2025
    PART 1

    CIS THREAD(S) FOLLOWING
    SEPT. 22 UPLOAD OF CIRCLE.TXT.

    (Right margin adjusted for viewing utilities and
    loading by most word processors, text-with-line-breaks.)

    (As of this date There were 52 downloads of this file from
    ISSUES/PARANORMAL Lib. 10, uploaded Sept. 22, 1991).


    ------------------------

    #: 45583 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    23-Sep-91 21:16:53
    Sb: #45328-#Crop circles
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Jim Shaffer Jr. 72750,2335 (X)

    There is a substantial thread on crop circles which has been
    uploaded to Issues, Sec 10, Paranormal. It was taken from
    the Science and Health Forum of the WGA-BBS, a members-only
    BBS for the Writers Guild of America (television and
    screenwriters). I was part of this discussion, which
    develops some surprising but (for me) very satisfying
    explanations. The messages were uploaded on Compuserve
    partly in hope that those with greater expertise in the
    matters that are discussed -- millimeter and sub-millimeter
    lasers, masers, the physical effects of ionized gases, etc
    - would provide commentary.

    There is 1 Reply.


    #:
    17555 S3/General
    30-Sep-91 05:47:24
    Sb: #17344-Controversial new file
    Fm: stuart lees 75300,247
    To: Trevor Prinn (UK) 100016,2726

    I'm inclined to agree with you about the hoaxers - they seem
    to have been very quiet about their exploits since the
    initial claims.

    There are a lot of unanswered questions about the circles,
    and every explanation only seems to emphasise how little
    anyone knows about them. I think the explanation for the
    braiding given in circle.txt was to do with the maser
    spinning as it was emitted...that doesnt explain the stalks
    being bent at the same height though, does it. I must admit,
    I find the maser idea a bit improbable - there have got to
    be better test sites than Wiltshire - but then the whole
    thing is improbable.

    Have you seen any of these circles yourself Trevor?

    -Stuart


    #: 45683 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    29-Sep-91 00:21:36
    Sb: #45675-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    Since the thread that Sabaroff uploaded as CIRCLE.TXT, there
    have been several more small indications that the thesis may
    be correct. In NATURE last week is an article called
    "Measurement of atmospheric wavefront distortion using
    scattered light from a laser guide-star", which is based on
    US Dept of Defense work that began secretly in 1981, and was
    declassified in May of this year. So it is clear that the
    gov't has indeed been working within the general realm of
    lasers and the atmos-/meso-sphere.

    Also it has been discovered that the Dave/Doug hoaxster
    confession was arranged by a "news agency" that receives
    mail through its accountants, and does not have a telephone.
    Dave and Doug were asked point-blank on a talk show if they
    had ever been employed by a governmental intelligence
    agency, but they refused to answer, and chose to laugh the
    question off.

    (I should point out that I was a participant in the
    CIRCLE.TXT thread, and that I, too, am anxious for comment
    or response from those most knowledgeable in the fields
    under discussion. In point of fact, I would be happier if
    our conclusions were entirely incorrect, and the circles
    were the result of hoaxes, or whirlwinds.)


    #: 45697 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    29-Sep-91 23:23:38
    Sb: #CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247 (X)

    Michael, needless to say I was delighted by the disclosures
    regarding DOUG/DAVE. We should bring them to L.A. and make
    them producers.

    On our WGA BBS, as you know, we also have a News and Current
    events forum. There were some things in President Bush's
    recent speech regarding radical reductions in offensive
    nuclear capabilities, and the centralization of reduced
    stockpiles, *and the diversion of large portions of the
    spared budget to B2 and SDI research* which I found
    startling, to say the least. Since much of our CIRCLE.TXT
    thread attributes (some) of the crop formations (calling
    them simply "circles" now seems simplistic) to SDI connected
    maser/laser experiments, some things make more sense. The
    press has tended to discredit the concept of SDI as do most
    scientists, yet if we call it EARTH WARS instead of STAR
    WARS it makes more sense.

    Bush called for retention of retaliatory systems, such as
    submarine based weapons, and the clustering of fixed site
    silos - reduced to single warhead missiles. Admirable, but
    inconceivable unless we had something else to back it up.

    A missile's greatest enemy is Electromagnetic Pulse Effect
    (EMP), something that microwave energy generates in enormous
    quantities. I suspect when we talk about "hardening" silos
    (or used to), the hardening referred to EMP, not structural
    integrity. This would suggest another credible function for
    space borne maser technology - and submarines would be
    shielded and cloaked from it. Am I looking too hard for a
    positive side to all this...?

    Bob


    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45698 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 01:58:08
    Sb: #45697-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: tom genereaux 76703,4265
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    You've got it a bit wrong. EMP is *not* produced by
    microwave emission. You can induce a phenomena that is
    similiar, but much reduced in magnitude. This assumes that
    you have lots of rust, aluminium oxide, and conductors of a
    wavelength appropriate to the frequency. Otherwise it all
    gets dissipated as heat. Not very much heat, at that.

    Now, hardening *did* factor in EMP, but it also factored in
    blast effect, radiation hardness, and so on. EMP is by
    necessity a low frequency phenomenon - on the order of a few
    10's of hertz at best - and mostly a DC voltage field at
    that. The EMP test sites are the worlds largest ELF
    generators. (ELF = Extremely Low Frequency - 10khz and
    below.)
    Tom G.

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45702 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 06:16:37
    Sb: #45698-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: tom genereaux 76703,4265 (X)

    Tom, thanks for the clarification regarding the
    microwave/EMP relationship. It's equally useful to know that
    our logical processes have led us to an incorrect
    association, as it is to be confirmed. Perhaps more so, and
    your obvious expertise is much appreciated. We want to get
    it right. Responses like yours are welcome because their
    corrections lead to rethought questions. Could a very
    strong maser in any way affect the guidance and/or control
    systems of a missile as it leaves it's silo? And, if you
    know, what range of frequencies are considered to fall
    within the spectrum known as "microwave?"

    It is also my understanding that a nuclear detonation above
    ground would itself generate enough particle energy to
    affect communications and other electronic systems, and that
    such an event occured in the Pacific some years ago and
    wasn't much publicized. Are you aware of (that you can
    discuss) any spectra of radiation other than light or
    "microwave" which can be generated as coherent energy in a
    way similar to the maser/laser technology?

    Bob


    #: 45716 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 17:35:59
    Sb: #circle.txt
    Fm: JON BRUNSON 76477,1312
    To: 71251,2445 (X)

    Bob,

    One thing that would be of great interest regarding SDI
    hypothesis would be the aspect of the ellipses (you as well
    as others noted that they are not circles). If beams struck
    from geosynchonous orbit, they would all have the same
    aspect - assuming the same platform. However, I don't know
    that SDI satellites would be geosynchronous. Certainly
    kinetic devices wouldn't be put out that far because of
    transit time. Beam weapons would have to deal with spread
    and hence attenuation over that distance.

    Be that as it may, the aspect ratio and orientation would be
    very interesting. Of course, I am assuming our jokers are
    using circular 'stencils'. If the originating platform is
    deliberately firing ellipses, all bets are off.

    Jon Brunson 76477,1312

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45717 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 17:48:08
    Sb: #CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    Having just finished reading the recently uploaded
    CIRCLE.TXT discussion, I wanted to commend you (as the
    leading provocateur of the discussion) for what is by far
    the most innovative and thoughtful analysis of the phenomena
    I have yet encountered. Never before came across a BBS
    thread that made for such a compelling read!

    Not being of a conspiratorial bent, I am struggling mightily
    with your hypothesis that our defense establishment (or a
    small "black area" therein) would deliberately utilize the
    ancient circle legends of Wiltshire (a subject of rather
    remarkable obscurity until recently!) to disguise the ground
    effect of their maser/laser (or whatever) SDI tests. If you
    are correct that these are artifacts of SDI testing, would
    it not be safe to assume that *every* possible safeguard
    would be taken to insure the secrecy of the results? If so,
    it would seemingly require monumental courage and
    presumptiousness for an SDI project manager to conclude that
    the best of all possible testing alternatives would be a
    public display on the plains of Wiltshire. Would that our
    defense bureaucrats had that kind of imagination and guts!

    Another point; you mentioned that the technology necessary
    to create these patterns was, in part at least, probably
    made possible through the development of relatively high
    temperature superconducters. However, did not the circle
    phenomena develop in the early 80's, before these
    breakthroughs occurred? Seems to me that the *real*
    technological breakthrough was made at the time the first
    circles were created in the early 80's. The developments in
    the circle patterns since the early days reflect a
    relatively slow and plodding developmental pace (fairly
    modest variations on a theme) considering the magnitude of
    the original breakthrough (that would allow a circle to be
    created in the first place. [continued in the reply]

    There are 2 Replies.

    #: 45718 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 17:48:12
    Sb: #45717-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576 (X)

    [continued]

    Anyway, keep up the good work in prodding people to do some
    analytical thinking about one of the more intriguing
    mysteries of our time.

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45726 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 20:38:46
    Sb: #45718-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576 (X)

    In the most recent issue of Nature is an article based on
    research and testing done by the Dept of Defense, starting
    in 1981, of ground to air laser imaging. As I make out, they
    were creating pin-points -- for use as artificial star-
    guides -- at a height of ten miles. This is spectacular
    lack of beam attenuation.

    The authors note that this work has continued since 1981,
    but was de-classified (to a degree) in May of this year. So
    we know now that related work was going on, in the time
    frame under discussion.


    #: 45727 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 23:39:06
    Sb: #45702-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: tom genereaux 76703,4265
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    I should give some clarifications to my answer, first of all
    - it was rather late, and I was briefer in my reply than I
    meant to be. Large, (by large I mean gigawatts) transmitters
    can affect the guidance system of a missile by means of
    electromagnetic coupling. You can see this effect in a more
    limited fashion (and with a slightly different pathway) in
    your television set, when the next door ham beams a kilowatt
    down your TV antenna. Most of the energy is dissipated as
    heat in the receiving antenna, but a couple of volts of RF
    will still be coupled into the set. A simple filter will
    prevent this from being a problem - the energy gets
    dissipated as heat in the filter.

    Heating effects of a magnitude to severly disrupt a missile
    are by no means certain. You *can* potentially swamp a
    sensor with the coupled energy. Simple screening would take
    care of that. We do it all of the time. (Look at the door of
    your microwave oven for an example.)

    The most promising beam weapons are the neutral particle
    beam and the laser - either X-Ray, IR, or gamma. No one has
    produced a gamma ray laser yet, and we don't have a clue
    about how to do it, but it *is* theoretically possible.
    Masers are non-starters - they're bloody fussy beasts. You
    could use them in theory, but not in practice.

    The test you are refering to is Dominic Starfish Prime. This
    test was designed to test the effects of high-altitude burst
    on radio communications and radar, and not coincidentally,
    to test the long range effects of EMP. These effects were
    first noticed during a then secret three-shot high altitude
    test in the South Atlantic - the Argus series - sometime in
    1958. Three more high-altitude bursts took place in the
    Dominic series, but only one had sufficient size to have
    anything more than negligble effect. The earliest reference
    in the open literature that I have is in the 1964 edition of
    "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons". By the Third edition <
    Cont'd >

    There are 2 Replies.


    #: 45728 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 23:41:13
    Sb: #45716-#circle.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: JON BRUNSON 76477,1312 (X)

    Jon, the ellipses might be accounted for either by very
    slight drift of the stationary beam source, or by angle of
    incidence if it were slightly off a perpendicular with the
    target below. Considering the physical dimensions of most
    of the formations, and presuming a width of less than a
    centimeter for the point of emission, that's well within the
    paramaters of experiments already conducted here. From
    25,000 miles - the altitude of a geosynchronous orbiter, the
    width of the formations is not contra-indicated by published
    test results *in the atmosphere.*. From overhead, the beam
    would have to penetrate a desnsity unit of only one
    Atmosphere - 14.7 lbs/sq. inch. Surface experiments produce
    less spread than we're seeing, over ground distances with an
    "equivalence" of ten or more atmospheres.

    Such experiments have been done at an aerospace facility in
    the hills of Malibu, quite close to where I live. The
    stated purpose was to accurately place a stationary spot on
    terrain MANY miles away, for studies of tiny increments of
    earth movement - ostensibly for earthquake detection study.

    As a pilot, I have made many approaches into the smog of Los
    Angeles. From overhead, the ground can be clearly seen, but
    when descending into the layer at a normal rate of descent,
    one is looking forward into it edgewise. Visibility
    sometimes drops from unlimited (downward) to less than a 1/4
    mile edgewise. That's one reason an instrument rating is so
    important here. As to attenuation, we can already use
    kinetic devices to cut plate steel. I don't find it
    inconceivable that given the very high emission power
    possible, that we would still receive enough energy over
    that distance, and relatively narrow spread (1 cm. < 100
    yards) to produce an effect. Also, geosynchronicity would be
    a must for precision, and prehaps safety. (*more on stencils
    in reply*) Bob.

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45729 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 23:41:28
    Sb: #45717-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576 (X)

    Erik, your encouraging and complimentary response to
    CIRCLE.TXT is received with delight by all involved.
    Thanks! We're all professional writers, and have decided to
    place you in our Wills. We can be a vain lot...

    Re the conspiratorial aspect of the whole thing, I think it
    was the true purpose of STAR wars in the first place. Too
    many scientists debunked it in open hearings, while closed-
    door appropriations committees kept pouring classified money
    into it for me to believe it wasn't something "other" from
    the outset. As to the secrecy of the results, the likelihood
    was that the results might have been unpredictably
    detectable by the spy satellites of other countries (this
    started many years before Gorbachev). By placing the
    formations in a location (I'm also presuming an Anglo-
    American co-venture) which would guarantee obfuscation by
    the metaphysical history of the location, and simulating it,
    the story stayed on the occult book shelves for years.

    "It's an old story...". The perfect confounder for a new
    story. And so the CCCS book confirms. Great photos, not one
    word about the possibility of artifacts of human technology.
    Obviously, it worked. It's taken over ten years to get to
    this discussion. This kind of planning would have taken
    place among a very few at the top - certainly beyond the
    "need-to-know" of a project manager. By that I mean Joint
    Chiefs, the NSA, CIA, Executive branch. The shuttle pilots
    who may have deployed the orbiter(s) need not have known
    their function - only where to put them.

    As for the superconductor breakthroughs, "relatively high"
    temperatures are still on an order of -200 deg. C, making
    large scale experiments a lot more practical in the ambient
    conditions of space. In the CCCS book, the increasing
    precision and sophistication of the formations over the
    years indicates progressive refinement of the technology.

    [more in reply]


    #: 45730 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    30-Sep-91 23:53:39
    Sb: #45727-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: tom genereaux 76703,4265
    To: tom genereaux 76703,4265 (X)

    the effect is discussed in depth. I do remember that there
    was discussion of the effect at the time of the tests - Life
    magazine had a story on it, and the West Coast and Oahu
    papers also ran stories. The effect is discussed in
    "Fundamentals Of Naval Weapons Systems", and the various
    electronic packaging manuals have sections on it. Like a lot
    of things, the information was out in the open, but you had
    to know where to look. (Also, those of us working on such
    things took them for granted - "Hey, that's *old* news.
    <G>). EMP, BTW, is *only* apparent at a distance in high-
    altitude bursts. Low altitude bursts dissipate the pulse
    through ground coupling within a few 10's of miles. (The
    distance also has a heck of a lot to do with the size of the
    device. The higher yield the device, the more powerful the
    EMP).
    Tom G.

    #: 17563 S3/General
    30-Sep-91 08:09:29
    Sb: #17529-Controversial new file
    Fm: Allen Cobb [PRC] 72451,1764
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445

    Bob,

    Your comments on the lunar laser detection experiment were
    interesting. I had been under the impression that the
    purpose of the experiment was to validate the accuracy of
    lunar ranging in general. In any case, DETECTION of a
    laser's reflection off the moon is a far cry from IMAGING a
    doughnut shape on the ground, with sharp edges, isn't it?

    ac


    #: 17675 S3/General
    01-Oct-91 03:03:16
    Sb: #17563-Controversial new file
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Allen Cobb [PRC] 72451,1764

    This week's NATURE reports work supported by the US Dept of
    Defense, starting in 1981, to focus a ground-based laser to
    a pin-point ten miles above the surface of the earth. (This
    to emulate a star's light, for focussing telescopes.) The
    work was secret for ten years, and was partially de-
    classified in May of this year.

    Lasers can jiggle single atoms about; even from a great
    height, a football field is a pretty large canvas, in
    comparison.


    #: 17668 S3/General
    01-Oct-91 01:31:16
    Sb: Controversial new file
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Allen Cobb [PRC] 72451,1764

    Allen, to the best of my knowledge, the lunar laser
    detections experiments had no (disclosed) relationship to
    SDI. That its success may have confirmed for some the
    possibilities, and thus helped to launch it, is unknowable
    (yet). That was back in the early '70's.

    The reflectors left on the moon were formed to compensate
    for spreading over that great distance, and in that respect
    resembled extremely long focal-length reflectors not unlike
    telescope mirrors. What was ascertained was that a laser
    could be aimed from earth, reach the moon adequately
    collimated to access the reflector, and return through the
    atmosphere and be seen.

    I never meant to infer that this related directly to crop
    imaging from a much more advanced technology than that, from
    a source only 25,000 miles away, as opposed to the
    earth-moon round trip of 476,000 miles. The example was
    cited to demonstrate the length of time research has been
    going on.

    Essentially, CIRCLE.TXT explores the idea that
    masers/lasers/whatevers, of power outputs and collimating
    efficiencies using enhanced superconductive technologies not
    yet stated, are able to create artifactual images through a
    stencil, from a geosynchronous orbiter(s), much like a
    "cookie cutter."

    Bob

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45731 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    01-Oct-91 01:07:11
    Sb: #45727-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: tom genereaux 76703,4265 (X)

    Tom, thanks for the generous addendum to your prior on EMP.
    (I got the reply, too). Most of the publicity on EMP I've
    seen had to do with gamma effects - to with a random cosmic
    ray momentarily zapping a logic gate in some bank's
    computer, resulting in a billing error. I know it's more
    general than that, and I appreciate the organization you
    offered. I was especially struck by your mention of other
    potential beam scenarios such as X-Ray and IR. I'd
    entertained the notion of the latter, but left it out of the
    discussion because of the many crop effects that occured
    while under the surveillance of thermographic sensors and
    light amplifiers. All that was seen was new circles in the
    morning. I'd have presumed that thermography would have
    shown an IR effect, though it may be a mistake to presume
    anything at this point.

    I was struck by your inference that gamma ray lasers have at
    least been pondered, and may be theoretically possible.
    I'll file that one.

    I'd also like to add what a pleasure it is getting credible
    information from one actively involved in related science.
    My late father (a ham, K6JW) was a senior scientist on
    Surveyor, at Hughes. He degugged the communications system,
    hired based on his invention of a pulse-modulated AM
    transmitter which reached (in 1957-8) the MARS station,
    KC4USA, at McMurdo Sound using 20 watts input to final, from
    Philadelphia. They didn't believe him, because his signal
    strength was below noise level, but his intelligibility was
    higher. I know what you mean about *old* news. When
    Surveyor landed, he shrugged, knowing Apollo was only a
    matter of time, and was already on his way to Mars. He was
    "on" Voyager, and made it out of the Solar System.

    Thanks again for the fascinating information.

    Bob


    #: 45732 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    01-Oct-91 01:07:25
    Sb: #45728-circle.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    (contined)

    I'm presuming circular stencils, Jon. What makes pursuit of
    the "cookie cutter" thread so compelling - whatever the
    exact energy source - is the later, ever increasing
    appearance of not just circles, but circles connected by
    straight lined, in turn bisected at right angles, with
    parallel liner formations alongside: and all perfectly
    aligned with the natural furrows in the fields. Drift might
    not be detectable in rectilinear formations in the form of
    obvious distortion, as in a circle/ellipse effect.

    They also make a compelling argument for the stencil theory.
    In leafing through page after page of these things, one sees
    the compound structures with linear elelents starting to
    proliferate [not to mention the one called "the insect"
    which looks exactly like an Anasazi petroglyph (Arizona) I
    have in a Smithsonian catalogue of such things, printed in
    the 1870's].

    But the most striking resmblance of the compound circle/line
    structures is their resemblance to *sighting reticules.* I
    understand that crop circle events are proliferating
    elsewehere in the world. It's interesting to speculate if
    the preliminary sighting, collimating, and power control
    systems done in Wiltshire have reached a point where it is
    now necessary to move on to other areas.

    If the mythology of Britain were the first cover, recent
    documentaries on UFO's in S.E. British airbases
    ("Unexplained Mysteries") which included active duty
    personnel - hitherto inconceivable - might not mean that the
    Military is priming a new confounder. "Give it to the
    UFOlogists now..."

    Bob


    #: 45733 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    01-Oct-91 01:07:39
    Sb: #45729-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    (contined)

    Erik, I wanted to comment on the relative obscurity of the
    archeology of the Plains of Wiltshire. Albert Watkins work
    on the ley lines, from the 20's, and the more "academically
    accepted" work of such scientists as Alexander Thom, Gerald
    Hawkins, and others - are widely published and seriously
    studied here. Especially since the new respectability of
    "ArcheoAstronomy," and its adoption and accreditation by a
    number of pretty "straight" asronomers. Even the late nobel
    laureate, Richard Feynman was interested.

    There are hundreds of books in print on the subject. Just
    as "space travel" was relegated to the science fiction book
    shelves until Neil Armstrong made the discussion respectable
    by "doing it," so it was with the standing stones and
    circular mounds and more sophisticated structures such as
    Stonehenge, Men Antol, Maes Howe (Orkneys), Avebury,
    Glastonbury, and the demonstration (as opposed to theory),
    that alignments had geodetic and astronomical significance.

    In Chaco Canyon, Arizona, for example, these same
    researchers are now discovering the same functions in
    hitherto obscure structures and enigmatic petroglyphs.
    There is considerable interest.

    One can only imagine the effect in England itself, with
    writers such as Jon Michel and others popularizing the
    subject over the year - with Ley Line Societies debating in
    print... with a sub rosa national obsession over the truly
    fascinating reality of what has been in place for over 4000
    years... What a fabulous cover! It makes the rules of
    evidence unmanageable.

    Bob


    #: 45751 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    01-Oct-91 22:16:40
    Sb: #circle.txt
    Fm: JON BRUNSON 76477,1312
    To: 71251,2445 (X)

    Bob,

    My only point about the elliptical shape was that if you
    fire a circle the image is elliptical due to the angle of
    incidence and curvature of the earth. If the aspect and
    orientation were consistent, it would be a pretty strong
    piece of evidence for a stationary platform in space.

    Another aspect of the phenomenon to consider is how the
    stalks fall. Not only do they swirl both clockwise and
    counter, they also have been known to fall all in the same
    direction. In one circle, there was a small central swirl
    and the stalks in each quadrant fell in the same direction
    at right angles to those in adjacent quadrants. In still
    other cases, they all fell directly centrifugally. These
    and other idiosyncratic (for want of a better word)
    behaviors make SDI a less than viable hypothesis.

    Some have used the term conspiracy to characterize your
    conjecture. I don't see that has the right connotation for
    one or two governments testing weapons systems. That is
    what they are supposed to do. I love the mindset
    demonstrated by Erik when he suggested defense bureaucrats
    lack imagination and guts. Military Intelligence is not an
    oxymoron as the joke goes. Military types may have
    different goals than the average civilian type and use all
    sorts of means to gain them, and they would just as soon
    have you underestimate their abilities. It makes their job
    easier.

    Jon Brunson

    There are 3 Replies.


    #: 45753 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    02-Oct-91 04:20:49
    Sb: #45751-circle.txt
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: JON BRUNSON 76477,1312

    There has been a fair amount of work done on the circles,
    hoping to explain them by freak weather conditions and so
    forth. In the published papers, the scientists say that the
    patterns could be formed by ionized cushions of air. In
    fact part of their problem was to figure out how even
    anomalous weather patterns could be configured to do the
    same thing that lasers would do in creating the cushions and
    the ionized atmosphere. The Japanese scientist who
    evidently did reproduce the strange patterns did so using a
    laser over (I forget which) metallic or semi-metallic
    substance.

    This is all talked about in circle.txt. What should be
    emphasized is that the lasers (if they exist) are not
    cutting the crops directly (as lasers are wont to do in
    movies about bank heists); they are ionizing the atmosphere,
    creating a "microclimate", and it is this that bends the
    stalks in a certain way according to the dynamics of the air
    pocket, that creates a sporadic light show, and brings
    reports of electromagnetic disturbances.


    #: 45754 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    02-Oct-91 06:01:55
    Sb: #45751-circle.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: JON BRUNSON 76477,1312

    Thanks for the clarification of your question regarding
    "elliptical," Jon. It actually makes an answer to the
    question simpler to state. If I were conducting what I
    believe to be preliminary refinements - targeting,
    stability, energy emission control, beam spread... I would
    feel silly (as I sort of do) for not having also factored in
    the curvature of the earth as a distorting element. Yes,
    that could certainly be a factor, except that it would be a
    radial effect, resulting in a slightly wider circle.

    Angle of incidence is another story, but I would hope that
    great effort would go into acheiving a perfect vertical.
    That still leaves drift, and not very much at that. I find
    it hard to imagine a stationary satellite at 25,000 miles
    which would be *perfectly* stationary, and all things
    considered, the degree of ellipticality (?) is small enough
    to suggest relatively great stability. The obvious way to
    achieve this is through the gyroscopic effects (precession-
    compensated) of rapid spin.

    It's admittedly a leap to the notion that the spinning beam
    (behind a contra-rotating stencil) might in some way cause
    the patterns of layover, but we are still after all, in the
    brainstorming stage and don't claim to have all the answers.
    I'm sure there are many secrets out there.

    I've also seen pictures of the really radical patterns you
    mention. I don't have the answer to all the specifics, but
    I don't think the remaining enigmas are enough to (yet)
    dismiss the overall scenarios. We have a superstructure
    that's conceivable. We may be a long way from dotting the
    "i"'s. From what I know of how secrets are kept, we all may
    be startled by the effects manifested by the technology
    itself. Conspiracy and underestimated abilities ahead.


    #: 45755 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    02-Oct-91 06:02:11
    Sb: #45751-circle.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: JON BRUNSON 76477,1312

    I think that the term "conspiracy" in this context is a _non
    sequitur_. I've been involved enough in serious research
    into assassination conspiracy to know that the term can be a
    red herring. With few exceptions I've found "lone assassin"
    conclusions to be manifestations of the collective denial of
    something that's "too bad to be true," and therefore
    processed by the brain into invisibility, to keep anxiety
    threshholds tenable. As the denial begins to weaken there is
    perceived a second conspiracy to conceal the first
    conspiracy, when in fact the second conspiracy is often the
    clinical denial of the first one, seen in retrospect. I find
    hope in that... Maybe truth is immortal after all. It just
    takes getting used to.

    "Conspiracy" connotes a clinical mindest suggestive of
    paranoia, always a convenience when needed. I agree, Jon,
    that the testing of weapons can require a great deal of
    coordination among the participants to hide the pattern
    produced if the elements are allowed to connect. The
    security structure of the Manhattan Project is a classic
    example.

    I also enjoyed Erik's citation of "imagination and guts."
    Whoever put this number together had to be amply endowed
    with both. I even see a sense of humor at work in the
    "Arizona petroglyph."

    So where does conspiracy end an symbiosis leave off. Take
    the lowly termite. Each termite is a conspiracy all its
    own, its G.I. tract being a safe house for a protozoa,
    complete with room and board. The termite grinds up the
    wood like a food processor so the protozoa (a
    dinoflagellate, I think) can ingest it, and the termite
    assimilates the nutrient wastes and byproducts that
    result.

    Top level Military and industrial security is something
    else. Bob.


    #: 45760 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    02-Oct-91 18:26:44
    Sb: CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: JON BRUNSON 76477,1312

    Joe, it was not my intention to take impugn any aspect of
    the military intelligence community. However, I see how my
    remark might have left such an impression. The point I was
    making was this; in order to give credence to the SDI theory
    being discussed here, one has to imbue SDI project managers
    with a combination of characteristics (knowledge of group
    psychology, history, a LARGE dose of chutzpah, just to name
    a few) that, to my knowledge (admittedly not comprehensive)
    have not been similarly demonstrated in other projects.

    Unless I missed it, I have yet to see any discussion
    regarding why all the circles are formed at night. Is it
    possible that sunlight interferes with the process, or does
    selection of Wiltshire as a proving ground require after
    dark testing in order to avoid the possibility that the
    cicrle formation will be directly witnessed? If the latter,
    then the selection of this location would certainly seem to
    impose a significant handicap to R&D activities unless you
    assume (rather unlikely I would think) that direct daylight
    observation of the process adds nothing significant to the
    testing.


    There is 1 Reply.



    #: 45795 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    03-Oct-91 21:36:32
    Sb: #45583-Crop circles
    Fm: Jim Shaffer Jr. 72750,2335
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247

    I downloaded that file and I found it interesting. You're
    right -- there are a lot of ideas discussed there that don't
    show up elsewhere for some reason.


    #: 45798 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    04-Oct-91 00:37:38
    Sb: #45795-Crop circles
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Jim Shaffer Jr. 72750,2335

    I'm glad you read it. Really, the only thing that I'm
    trying to push is a search for the truth -- wherever that
    leads. I've no emotional investment in one solution over
    another -- or rather the one solution I'm wedded to is the
    right< one. What was presented in that thread -- and what
    information has been garnered since that thread -- still
    suggest that the crop circles are, in large measure, the
    result of military/intelligence laser/maser testing from
    geosynchronous satellites in place over Britain.

    The presence of experts in allied fields is the reason for
    pushing the matter here. I hope others will take down the
    thread and read it through.


    #: 45823 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    04-Oct-91 20:22:41
    Sb: #CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247 (X)

    What was presented in that thread -- and what information
    has been garnered since that thread -- still suggest that
    the crop circles are, in large measure, the result of
    military/intelligence laser/maser testing from
    geosynchronous satellites in place over Britain.<<

    It strikes me that the evidence presented in CIRCLE.txt and
    subsequent discussions can, at best, be described as
    suggesting only that SDI testing is a theory that appears to
    address more aspects of the phenomena than ony other.
    Considering the wackiness of most of the other theories,
    that's not really saying much. Interesting for sure, but a
    whole lot of holes yet to be filled!

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45833 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 03:58:42
    Sb: #45823-CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576

    Absolutely. It is only a suggestion. But I hear that the
    two men who confessed were asked point blank on a television
    interview if they had ever been employed by an intelligence
    organization, and they didn't give a straight answer. That,
    also, the "news organization" which controls them and their
    story doesn't not actually have a telephone number, and its
    only address is through its accounting firm. That the USDoD
    releases the information that it has been working with
    ground-to-air laser focussing systems since 1981. That for
    the first time the USDoD allowed members of the military to
    appear on camera to talk about UFOs, and actually played up
    the possibility that there are strange things happening in
    the skies over south-Eastern England. The announcement last
    week that the DoD was going to be putting its own smaller
    satellites into orbit, and not rely on NASA, which is too
    public and too unreliable. And so on. Such scattered
    notes fit and enhance one scenario, and they do not fit any
    other.

    It's a far too complicated matter for anyone to claim
    certainty. But I don't go back on my simple point: since
    the thread has ended, it has grown easier to accept this
    explanation, and only more difficult to accept any other.
    (And in any case, it's not half so tortured as what
    Astrophysicists are having to do to shore up red-shift as
    purely a cosmological factor, and directly and only related
    to distance.)


    #: 45837 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 06:11:07
    Sb: CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247

    If you start with the assumption that all big secrets
    ultimately get leaked, (and the parameters of this one make
    it a great candidate for ultimate "leaking"), then the DoD
    is setting itself up for some bigtime embarrasment down the
    road. If they are smart enough to pull this off, they are
    certainly smart enough to recognize that it won't be a
    secret forever. How will they explain the duplicity? or are
    you suggesting that they really don't care?


    #: 45844 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 07:59:08
    Sb: CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247 (X)

    But I don't go back on my simple point: since the thread
    has ended, it has grown easier to accept this explanation,
    and only more difficult to accept any other.<<

    In reading my prior message I realized I didn't address this
    comment. Just wanted you to know that I agree totally with
    this statement. Unfortunately, the *competing* theories,
    being so relatively lightweight, provide a very poor
    benchmark against which to make comparisons.


    #: 45849 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 10:11:27
    Sb: CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Eric Albrekston 70312,3576 (X)

    Erik, thanks for permission to send this private exchange we
    had when I responded to your #45760 to Jon Brunson regarding
    secrecy and day/night testing, and assorted items.

    Before I became a freelance writer in the entertainment
    industry (including credits in "Star Trek: Both
    Generations," and also a lot of Earth stuff) I worked in a
    division of RAND, in Santa Monica, as a Dept. Editor, and
    was very involved in who got to know what. The SDI stuff
    we're brainstorming would have been strictly Top Secret (I
    only held Secret), and on an ironclad "need-to-know" basis.
    Most of the people working on it would have no idea of the
    nature of the goal - only the component(s) in which they
    were involved - much like during the development of the A-
    bomb. Project Managers wouldn't have come under this
    category. SDI may be among the most sensitive projects
    since then, if it is in fact a disinforming title.

    The group psychology and history could very well have come
    from a Think Tank such as RAND, the product of a very few
    specialists under NSA level security. That's heavy duty
    *tight.* The chutzpah was in the funding of it, as it was
    publicly described as something which couldn't work. And
    now, in Bush's latest speeches on disarmament, he openly
    speaks of rediverting some of the newly freed funds to SDI.
    That is clearly chutzpah. There are other, even more
    cockamamey projects that must have required even more of the
    same in the selling.

    Anyway, on to night/day testing.


    #: 45852 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 10:21:21
    Sb: #CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    You noted something which hasn't been discussed and should
    have been - the day versus night testing. Accuracy over the
    25,000 mile distance we're talking about would be
    unpredictable altered by a daytime sky - if only by the
    gravitational effects of the sun in bending light and other
    radiations - the demonstration of which was one of the early
    supports for Relativity.

    Another argument for night testing is the diminished chance
    of a field being occupied at the time of exposure. Another
    is that if laser-dot hot spots are used for sighting and
    alignment, these would be much more effective at night. Yet
    another is that R&D would be concerned mainly with the
    effect, not the process. Night would give cover for an
    effect that may take hours to complete. It would also make
    the recording of sonic effects easier.

    And, a big unknown is the time lag between exposure and
    effect, if any. As for R&D activities in general, I think we
    can presume that the formation process itself would have
    been thoroughly studied in smaller scales, as indicated by
    the various experiments cited my Michael McDowell in other
    messages.

    Your questions were good ones.

    Bob


    #: 45853 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 10:21:36
    Sb: CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Eric Albrekston 70312,3576
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    Bob, your exposure to the people involved in these types of
    projects clearly gives your opinion some credibility
    regarding their capability to both invent and successfully
    execute something this remarkable. I can only defer to your
    judgement in that regard. Yet.......10 years is an awfully
    long time for our government to keep anything truly secret.
    Especially something that would have so many of its
    participants quietly smirking at the great joke they were
    playing on the world press. You have have referred to the
    Manhattan Project several times and I am aware of the
    remarkable secrecy that was enforced. But times have
    changed dramatically since then and I suspect that similar
    efforts today would be considerably less successful.

    Accuracy over the 25,000 mile distance we're talking about
    would be unpredictably altered by a daytime sky - if only by
    the gravitational effects of the sun in bending light and
    other radiations<<

    Some of your other speculations for night circle formations
    are persuasive, but this one needs a little more support.
    For instance, it suggests that all the crop circles are
    formed only when the satellite is in the earth's shadow. I
    don't know what period of time a geosynchronous satellite
    would be in the earth's shadow, but if this is a requirement
    for accuracy, the project has a *long* way to go before it
    results in any significant defensive capability. Same is
    true if the process takes hours to complete. Why spend
    millions putting up a space weapon platform that, after 10
    years of testing, requires hours to achieve the desired
    effect? Seems to me that we wouldn't put it up until we had
    largely overcome that difficulty.


    #: 45854 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 10:21:41
    Sb: #CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Eric Albrekston 70312,3576
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    An additional issue I have yet to see addressed by this
    theory is the obvious problem of what becomes of the testing
    program when the "crop season" ends in Wiltshire. Just call
    it a day and wait for next spring? Obviously not, yet no one
    (at least none that I can recall) has put forth a theory as
    to what testing alternatives go into effect in the fall and
    winter. Your thoughts?


    #: 45859 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 12:00:33
    Sb: CIRCLE.EXE
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Eric Albrekston 70312,3576 (X)

    Erik, I clearly have a lot to learn about the /split
    commnad... This is in response to # 45853-4, your response
    to my # 45851-2 (whatever the headers say.) They started out
    private. Sorry about the chaos.

    I think I'm being read as suggesting a much more developed
    stage of technology than we have actually reached. If my
    theory is correct, I think that what we're seeing is the
    very early stages of developing of something that may not
    mature until the next century. Michael McDowell has cited
    some of the experiments on laboratory scale, and I see
    geosynchronous orbiter tests as a natural next step. I
    think we're seeing the refinement of fundamental techniques,
    not fully developed systems. I see fine tuning of prototype
    technology, collimating methods, focussing - and even
    learning to compensate for natural effects (such as gravity
    bending and surface sphericity) at low levels of energy
    compared to what it might lead to.

    I also see a natural evolution of the application of known
    technologies to defense systems (hopefully) and other
    applications. In my own mind what I'm doing is
    extrapolating that which already exists and amplifying it
    forward in time. The smart bombs demonstrated in Iraq were
    certainly mind-blowers, given the relatively primitive toys
    which the previous generation of guided missiles used -
    which was awesome when it appeared. Nothing has been put
    forth here based on a technology which doesn't in fact
    already exist. We have put not millions, but billions into
    it, and if we can make complex patterns in a field from a
    sattelite, 10 years is a few minutes, having started with
    simple lab experiments.


    #: 45860 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    05-Oct-91 12:00:46
    Sb: #CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Eric Albrekston 70312,3576 (X)

    So what I'm saying is essentially in agreement with you,
    Eric. It does indeed have a long way to go, but the signs
    exist to anticipate what's coming. As to the completion
    time of the process, I suspect that the actual exposure time
    is quite short. I have no idea how long the effect takes to
    become completed. Given the normal exponential acceleration
    of development of such things as we're imagining (literally,
    I'm sure many believe) we only have a glimmer of the
    possibilities. If there is a geosynchronous sattelite over
    England, I'd be surprised if it was more than an early
    prototype of a technology that may not even have a name yet.

    The question in your last, "what happens when the crop
    season ends in England," is, according to the latest
    reports, answering itself. There has been a tremendous
    proliferation of clustered events in other parts of the
    world - including Japanese rice fields. I don't know when
    they harvest rice, but it's happening. And as was noted in
    some priors, we're being handed Air Force UFO stories now,
    as though the Metaphysical cover is about to be handed to
    the UFOlogists, so that other sites can be visited openly.

    Given the proliferation of other current sites, I'd say the
    testing alternatives for fall and winter are already being
    tuned up, if not operating.

    Bob


    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45884 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    06-Oct-91 02:41:05
    Sb: #45837-#CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576 (X)

    I don't start with the assumption that all big secrets
    ultimately get leaked. Or, rather, even if they do, the
    truth is not always universally accepted.

    In general, the higher you go in any chain of command,
    whether in corporate America, the White House, the Military,
    Hollywood studios, or the Boy Scouts of America --
    decisions can be (and very often are) made for trivial
    reasons, that usually have to do with personal ego, and
    rarely with the ultimate good of an organization. It's only
    rarely possible to trace these things back. Which is to
    say, I don't know why the military, or intelligence, or
    whatever is working the way they are (if indeed they are
    involved at all in the crop circles). I can imagine,
    however, that allowing the UFO incident in the early 80s in
    se England to have the participation of military personnel
    was an attempt to confuse the crop circle business even
    further. (The show also included mock-ups of purported
    ships, and the light effects were suggested; it is possible
    that these were deliberately slanted away from the actual
    effects, a case of image disinformation.)

    By the way, I do not consider the above evidence of
    anything. But if the military do have somewhat to do with
    the crop circles, then the above makes sense of an abrupt
    and apparently unique departure of practice by the military.
    I like theories which explain other phenomena, more than I
    like theories that have to be altered in order to fit other
    phenomena.


    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45885 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    06-Oct-91 02:47:01
    Sb: #45854-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    I read that the two gentlemen who confessed to the crop
    circles, tried to produce another in daylight and before
    witnesses. But its quality was distinctly below par. They
    blamed this on the fact that it was so near to harvest.

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45886 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    06-Oct-91 03:03:40
    Sb: #45852-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    Bob:

    Maybe you or someone else here can look at the 12 Sept 91
    issue of Nature, and see if the discussions there bear more
    than the obvious relevance to what we're talking about.
    There's even a photograph (oddly fake-looking) of a laser
    beaming up to a point in the atmosphere. They discuss
    making pin-point of light at heights of 1 K, and then also
    at 80-100K.

    The News and Views article talks about the secret military
    testing of laser optics through the atmosphere, which was
    only partially de-classified a few months ago. The two
    articles themselves give detailed explanations of
    experiments partially based on the military work as applied
    to telescopes. I don't have the knowledge to figure this
    out. Primmerman et al.'s work was supported by the Defense
    Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Strategic Defense
    Initiative Organization and the Army Strategic Defense
    Command. The Lincoln Lab (MIT) scientists worked out of the
    Mt Haleakala telescope and beam director on Maui.


    #: 45887 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    06-Oct-91 06:15:10
    Sb: #45886-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247 (X)

    Thanks for the tip on the Nature article, Michael. Among
    the times that try persons' souls is when they let the wrong
    subscription lapse. Like, I need Conde Nast right now.

    The reason for the classification of military
    laser/telescope technology may have been due to its use in
    the Stealth fighter in hot-spotting Cruise missile targets.
    With current disclosures about the Stealth's (relatively)
    high visibility to "pulsed" low frequency radar. There may
    be a need to loosen "need-to-know" (the usual reason for
    diminished classification) to preserve or increase funding
    in that specific area. On the other hand...

    The telescope research is especially intriguing, as the
    curvature of the mirror (presuming reflectors) must be a
    super-precise parabola (as opposed to circle or ellipse) to
    focus all the visible wavelengths to a white spot. As a
    childhood amateur telescope maker, I remember the anguish of
    chromatic abberation if it wasn't just right. When you
    start talking about the ranges you describe, and the funding
    agencies, It's certainly suggestive - not of answers so much
    as new questions. I'll follow up on the references. Thanks.

    Bob


    #: 45888 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    06-Oct-91 06:15:17
    Sb: #45885-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247 (X)

    Michael, has anybody yet tried faking one of the straight
    line formations connecting circles, complete with parallel,
    unconnected bars, (the ones that look so much like sighting
    reticules) without leaving a trace of their traverse to or
    from the sight?

    Do they use stilts, or what? I once had a Chevvie that
    cornered like stilts...

    In all fairness, I'm sure some of the formations are
    fakes... Uh, I wonder how one fakes a circle in a rice
    paddy. They're in the Orient, now.

    Bob


    #: 45889 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    06-Oct-91 07:21:37
    Sb: #45884-#CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247 (X)

    Michael, I cannot take issue with anything you said. The
    recent willingness of the military establishment to
    participate in UFO discussions is indeed a curious turn of
    events.

    In any event, if the military is responsible for crop circle
    formation, some person or group of people is coordinating
    the various aspects of the program. Can you or Bob cite any
    historical precedent for a military disinformation campaign
    (in modern history) that reached so deeply into pop culture?
    Is it possible that the dimensions of this campaign are so
    wide as to overreach itself and thus guarantee that people
    such as yourself will take note and try to strip the covers
    off?


    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45890 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    06-Oct-91 07:21:48
    Sb: #45860-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    If there is a geosynchronous sattelite over England, I'd
    be surprised if it was more than an early prototype of a
    technology that may not even have a name yet.<<

    Bob, would seem that under the discussed scenario the
    question is not "if" but "how many". Unless geosynchronous
    satellites have a helluva lot more maneuverability than I
    ever expected. Where is/are it/they? Over Britain, Japan,
    Australia? And assuming your explanation to be correct,
    that's great for this year if the other sightings do turn
    out to be legit. But what about prior years when the whole
    phenomena evaporated at the end of September?

    Please don't misinterpret my queries as anything more than
    an effort to facilitate the fleshing out of a theory that
    remains the best explanation I've yet heard for the origin
    of crop circles. So far you are doing a splendid job.

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45920 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    06-Oct-91 16:52:57
    Sb: #45889-CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576 (X)

    Any historical precedent?

    A disinformation campaign about the dangers of nuclear
    radiation. It continues today. Nobody's dying, nobody
    died. Nobody's sick, nobody ever got sick except a little
    nausea.

    And, I also remember, a few years in there when we were not
    bombing Laos, and no planes were flying over Cambodia, and
    even today, the CIA still doesn't get any money from poppies
    in the poppy fields of those beleaguered lands. I believe
    there are still a few Big Deals that we don't know about
    Vietnam, mostly the getting-in part -- and if I'm right,
    there's a second fiction the military has maintained for
    over ten years.


    #: 45949 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    07-Oct-91 06:46:16
    Sb: #45890-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576

    Eric, your queries are terrific! The whole purpose of this
    is to literally brainstorm the Q's and A's from different
    perspectives, that will fill in a "most credible possible
    scenario." I was very pleased by your compliment, and thank
    you for it. If I'm giving good answers, it's because I'm
    getting quality questions.

    The question, having come this far with the line of inquiry,
    is indeed *how many,* and not *if.* I hope I can get the
    /split command right, because I need to lay out some stuff
    about geosynchronous sattelites. If you already know the
    fundamentals, forgive me, but other readers may not know. A
    geosynchronous sattelite is one that maintains a fixed
    position over a point on the earth. It does this by
    maintaining an altitude high enough so that orbital velocity
    is the same as the speed of the rotation of the earth below
    it - the required altitude is about 25,000 miles.

    They can be launched as the payload of a conventional
    booster, or deployed from a Shuttle - the super-secret
    missions of which date back to around the time Wiltshire
    began having its "experience." One is simply released from
    the cargo bay, and propelled upward to synchronous altitude
    with it's own propulsion system. If payload requirements
    allow the necessary systems and fuel, they can also be
    retrieved by lowering them with ground control commands to a
    decaying orbit, followed by a rendezvous with a Shuttle,
    which can retrieve it, bring it home, repair it, refuel it,
    even redeploy it. (The Hubble Telescope is due for a repair,
    when "other priorities" are out of the way.)

    (Networking and other stuff follows)

    [More]


    #: 45950 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    07-Oct-91 06:46:29
    Sb: #45949-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    [Continued]

    The first geosynchronous satellites (GS's for short) were
    Intelligence gatherers, but at the turn of the '80's became
    better known for their "sattelite weather pictures" on the
    TV news. Before pilots could get the pictures directly,
    they used to watch the 6:00 A.M. CNN news for them. It was
    more informative than a weather briefing. More and more
    GS's got deployed, and now the earth is pretty well covered.
    There was a bad hole in the coverage, until recently, when
    one of the Pacific GS's went out.

    More recently, a network of them was deployed to furnish
    global navigation servcices to ships at sea, and aircraft,
    and is performing superbly. Another was recently deployed as
    a communication link for Shuttles, to relay communications
    when the Shuttle was out of range of a ground station.
    Always a dangerous time. So, "how many" is a given. I
    don't know how many in close proximity it requires to "do a
    Wiltshire," but clusters would be simple. And yes, they
    have considerable local maneuverability. Using on board
    thrusters, small changes in altitude would result in lateral
    movement, aided by directional thrusters. If we could
    control a soft lunar lander (Surveyor, on which my father
    was a Senior Scientist) in the early '60's, precisely
    maneuvering a GS at a fraction of that distance is no big
    deal.

    I would presume that the number has proliferated
    considerably, and that the ones were talking about are
    networked. (I'll be back in a few minutes with an
    interesting reference from the original upload,
    CIRCLE.TXT...)

    Bob


    #: 45952 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    07-Oct-91 07:23:13
    Sb: CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Eric Albrekston 70312,3576

    Eric, following up on my prior about sattelite positioning,
    I went to extract something that Michael McDowell had
    contributed to CIRCLE.TXT, in his message #888 therein. We
    had been discussing what was controversial, in England, of
    the disposition of Castle Herstmonceaux, a prior site of the
    Royal Greenwich Observatory. It's in the area of crop
    circle activity. Countering a bit of disinformation that the
    telescopes there were no longer in use, a correspondent
    Englishman on CompuServe wrote:

    "The Satellite Laser Ranger scope at Herstmonceaux is still
    used by the RGO [Royal Greenwich Observatory] for measuring
    orbits of artificial sattelites, for measuring precise
    earth-rotation parameters..."

    Michael also noted in that message, since confirmed, that in
    the 1991 season crop circles have spread across Europe, with
    "notable formations appearing in Sweden, near Wiesbaden and
    near Cologne in Germany, in the Netherlands, in Italy, in
    Bulgaria, In Yugoslavia, and in Siberia. About three dozen
    have been formed in Japan."

    Bob


    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45953 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    07-Oct-91 08:24:21
    Sb: #45920-#CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247

    Michael, I wanted to add a bit to the list of disinformation
    campains, though in some cases the disinformation was
    intended not for the pop culture, but for its elected
    leaders. (I also want to apologize for ripping off your
    stuff about Castle Herstmonceaux in a prior to eric, and
    signing my name twice on something. At least I've mastered
    /split.)

    Since Lincoln's time, with the help of General McClellan's
    private secret service under Alan Pinkerton, disinformation
    of presidents in service to the private agendas of other
    power bases and, sometimes, commercial interests has been
    routine. More recently, it was done to Roosevelt, Truman,
    Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Reagan. Bush's
    roots speak for themselves. Without turning this political
    and coming off as the flaming radical which I am not, the
    Eisenhower disinformation left a legacy which still lives,
    and it all turns on a word, and a suitable beginning is
    Iran.

    Early in the McCarthy period, one did not challenge the use
    of the word "communism" in expressing something to shoot at.
    I know in the '50's, I didn't. Given the Korean War,
    Hungary, and all the rest, one could be very anti-communist
    and be a flaming liberal in domestic affairs, all at the
    same time. That pretty well describes me, nobody could be
    more pleased at the recent turns in world politics viz a viz
    democratization than me. That unequivocally said, when
    Mossadegh tried to nationalize Iran's oil,('50's) Eisenhower
    was persuaded this was communism in action, and the CIA got
    its first shot at deposing heads of state. We installed the
    Shah and trained his secret police, the Sadak. It gets
    better...


    [More]

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45954 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    07-Oct-91 08:24:35
    Sb: #45953-CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    [Continued]

    This was soon followed by the news that Arbenz, the leftist
    president of Guatemala, was going to nationalize the
    agronomy. The CIA went in and he was history. Another
    communist down the tubes. Then along comes Castro to make a
    deal with us - in which his nationalization of the United
    Fruit Co. was the deal breaker that opened the Cuban door to
    Russia. At the time we were paying for sugar at a rate
    determined by a 1903 treaty, and United Fruit had a total
    monopoly. Castro started in the Sierra Maestra of Oriente
    province because the Fruit Co. owned *two thirds* of the
    province outright, and he knew recruitment would be easy.
    What the pop culture didn't know was that among the chief
    attorneys, members of the board, a chairman of the board,
    and the principal stockholders were John Foster Dulles (Sec.
    of State), his brother Allen (head of CIA), Senator Henry
    Cabot Lodge (whose father shot down the League of Nations),
    Walter Bedell Smith, A couple of other Cabots and Lodges,
    and three Latin American ambassadors, one of whom didn't
    speak Spanish. So it was never about ideology, it was about
    money, and we bought military dictatorships to protect it.
    This legacy, as well as the Iranian void left by the
    inevitable revolt against the Shah, filled by the
    fundamentalists, still lives.

    So does the disinformation of Johnson about the Gulf of
    Tonkin, etc. It pervades us by the twisting of labels.
    STAR Wars being really EARTH wars. Old hat. The
    Intelligence Agencies even disinform each other in their
    turf wars.

    Anyway, back to Wiltshire!

    Bob


    #: 45989 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    07-Oct-91 22:08:57
    Sb: #45798-#Crop circles
    Fm: Jim Shaffer Jr. 72750,2335
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247 (X)

    Hmmmmm..... I just had a particularly bad idea.... Have
    you heard about the mysterious deaths of technicians and
    engineers in England in the past few years? Could there be
    a connection? It's been suggested for a long time that
    they're related to a MJ-12 sort of conspiracy, but maybe
    they could be related to terrestrial defense research
    instead.

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 45990 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    07-Oct-91 23:14:35
    Sb: #45989-Crop circles
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Jim Shaffer Jr. 72750,2335

    I do know of the deaths. I had not connected them with the
    crop circles, and I think I still don't. There was, or is,
    a faltering attempt to connect each of the scientists to UFO
    research, but I've not even seen a list of names of these
    engineers and technicians.

    If the deaths are related, the timing -- well before the
    circles business had begun to escalate -- is off. I also
    believe that agents of the British or the U.S. government
    would dispose of dangerous elements in some way that was
    less conspicuous than leaving a corpse tied to a table at
    the bottom of a lake. Of course this makes me wonder if the
    claim is true that all these deaths have been ruled
    suicides...

    This is one of those mysteries which, to me, doesn't fit in
    with the CIRCLES hypothesis. I'd love to see more facts,
    however, for the business is talked about in rather a
    mythologizing way; where it's only helpful if somebody hauls
    out lists and tables and clippings. It would be helpful,
    in fact, to dispose of the deaths as a related phenomenon.
    CIRCLES isn't going to be telling us what became of Charlie
    Ross, and things only get confusing if we try to gather in
    too much. I had been reluctant to suggest Herstmonceaux,
    but now I'm glad I did. So if anyone knows enough to shoot
    this down, or shore it up, tell
    all.


    #: 46006 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    08-Oct-91 17:33:00
    Sb: CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247

    Michael, your message #45833 suggested that the two men who
    confessed to the crop circle hoax acted in a manner
    afterwards that suggested they were perhaps the unwitting
    dupes of the DoD. If true it would suggest a remarkable
    dichotomy in the level of sophistication between the
    technical end of the project and the disinformation campaign
    intended to keep it secret. The enlistment of those two
    bumpkins by some shady arm of the intelligence community
    reflects a level of amateurish clumsiness that makes one
    wonder how the project could possibly have remained secret
    this long. It seems totally out of character with the level
    of sophistication that this thread has assumed is at work.

    In the same message you comment on the USDoD recent release
    of info relative to ground-to-air laser focussing systems.
    Your comment suggests such releases of info is unusual. I
    don't know what specific info you are referring to, but as a
    long-term subscriber to Aviation Week, I see new SDI
    articles on a weekly basis. That's not why I subscribe so I
    generally don't read those particular articles in detail
    but, on a weekly basis, they are reporting on particle beam
    technology, space-based lasers, railgun technology, etc. So,
    my question is this: what specific news has *recently* come
    out of the defense establishment that adds something new to
    the debate about crop circles?


    #: 46007 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    08-Oct-91 17:33:10
    Sb: CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247

    Any historical precedent?

    You cite 2 historical precedents for the existence of large-
    scale disinformation campaigns sponsored by the defense
    community. Even making the large assumption that they exist
    as you believe them to, they are fairly small-scale and
    narrowly focused productions in comparison to what this
    thread is postulating. They were (are?) essentially little
    more than passive "stonewalling" tactics to hide either a
    mistake (fallout) or a politically embarrasing breach of
    international protocol(Cambodia). Neither would seem to
    provide strong evidence that the necessary mindset exists to
    conceive and execute a disinformation campaign of the scale
    that this thread addresses.


    #: 46008 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    08-Oct-91 17:33:30
    Sb: #CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    To catch up on several points in your recent postings:
    There are some aspects to the geosynchronous satellite
    discussion that seem to me to require further refinement.

    Firstly, such satellites would be a poor selection as a
    weapons testing platform for any program that wants to
    remain secret. Their deployment is eminently trackable if
    only because of the long rocket firing necessary to get them
    to the extremely high altitude necessary for a
    geosynchronous orbit. I find the concept of a "stealthy"
    geosynchronous satellite to be fairly remote. So, it's
    ability to sit over UK for years and remain undiscovered
    while performing nightly test firings just seems a little
    farfetched. (No one has yet mentioned the necessity for the
    "beams" to contain large amounts of energy but emit almost
    no visible light!)

    Secondly, the issue of what happens when the crop circle
    "season" ends has not been adequately addressed. You
    speculated that a multitude of geosynchronous satellites are
    in orbit. Why put up more than one (much less establish a
    network) if it does no more than replicate the same testing
    over a different area? Geosynchronous satellites are
    incredibly expensive due to the expense associated with
    getting them into a 25,000 mile orbit. Putting up more than
    one simply to perpetuate a disinformation campaign is a
    stretch. Only a second generation testbed could possibly
    justify that expense, and there is no evidence yet discussed
    of any large breakthroughs in what these presumed satellites
    are capable of doing. Why select a location (Wiltshire)
    which provides only a seasonal testing ground? The marginal
    maneuverability of a geosynchronous satellite precludes any
    serious likelihood that the one speculated to be over
    Britain could be rapidly moved into place over Australia or
    Japan. We have great fuel limitations in

    [continued in the reply]

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 46009 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    08-Oct-91 17:33:47
    Sb: #46008-CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576 (X)

    [continued]
    merely adjusting our current NOAA satellites to give proper
    Atlantic Ocean coverage, let alone shifting them back and
    forth on an intercontinental basis. Again, maybe 1991 will
    be the year that the phenomena continues after the crop
    season ends in Wiltshire. But what explains the absence of
    fall and winter activity in prior years?

    Thirdly, Michael noted the spread of crop circles to Sweden,
    Italy, et al. Can you or Michael please reference the
    source of this info. My ENS clipping folders haven't picked
    up any such stories nor are any stories found in an online
    search of UK newspapers as late as this afternoon.

    Fourthly, your ruminations on the subject of cold war
    disinformation campaigns are food for thought but they
    address the crop circle phenomena in a tangential manner at
    best. The interpretation of recent geopolitical events is a
    topic on which you will never achieve any meaningful
    consensus. (Spend some time in the Issues forum if you want
    daily evidence of that!) Hence, butressing your crop
    circle/SDI theory through their utilization probably does
    more to muddy the water than clarify. It also provides
    opportunities for readers who disagree with your perceived
    political bent to question the credibility of all your prior
    postings. Both you and Michael have referred to past
    disinformation campaigns and those comments have been
    informative. But neither of you has mentioned any campaign
    focused solely on a weapons development issue that is a true
    analog to the subject of this thread.

    Sorry to be so long-winded here. Once I got going more and
    more questions came
    to mind.

    PS: I may be misinformed (certainly wouldn't be the first
    time), but I don't think Hubble is geosynchronous.


    #: 46020 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    08-Oct-91 22:04:57
    Sb: #46019-CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Eric Albrekston 70312,3576

    I remeber noting one example of weapons system
    disinformation, the Manhattan Project, but that was
    dismissed as being out of date. In fact it's not. I have
    an extensive collection of antique newspapers, starting with
    the war between Charley Two and Cromwell in 1642, and on
    through the 1980's, an a lot of stuff from WWII. Many
    weapons system that took years to develop weren't known of
    until they'd been successfully tested. Likewise nuclear
    subs, missiles we still haven't been told exist, it goes on
    and on.

    If I could give you a more recent campaign of this magnitude
    (which the others are not) I'd be on "60 Minutes" and not
    here. You're asking for data I have no way of having. I
    too read Aviation Week, and it also disinforms on occasion.
    That's how they get away with printing the classified stuff
    they do. One hand feeds the other. There's other stuff to
    read, too. As to the other events for which you requested
    documentation, I carefully put in quotes the statement, (I
    hope, and if I didn't please insert them) that it was a
    response from an English correspondent. I included them
    because I had seen the same places mentioned (on a smaller
    scale) in the foreign press, and discussed on short wave
    commercial radio from other parts of the world, to which I
    listen regularly. Crop circles are a global item.

    The other point you addressed was the "visibility" of high
    energy beams at night. Too many meteorological variables
    keep this from being arguable - not to mention Tom
    Genereaux's mention of other energy forms than optical or
    microwave which might be involved. I wish I knew..

    Bob


    #: 46021 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    08-Oct-91 22:38:31
    Sb: #45990-Crop circles
    Fm: Jim Shaffer Jr. 72750,2335
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247 (X)

    I haven't seen a list of names either, but there's
    supposedly one at the back of Sydney Sheldon's new novel
    "The Doomsday Conspiracy", which just happens to be about
    silencing the witnesses to a UFO crash. (It seems Sheldon
    is cashing in on the UFO craze. Except for the list of
    names, though, I don't think it's an attempt at "fiction
    based on the truth" like STrieber's "Roswell" and the very
    controversial books by W. A. Harbinson. For one thing, the
    crash takes place in Switzerland (never heard of one there)
    and for another, the aliens are benevolent.)


    #: 46028 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    09-Oct-91 05:09:22
    Sb: #46019-CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Frank Hentschel 75126,72
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445

    HST's orbit is nowhere near geosyncronous (mean altitude
    ~600 km, period 97 minutes).

    -fjh


    #: 46033 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    09-Oct-91 07:53:56
    Sb: #46028-CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Frank Hentschel 75126,72

    Thanks for the information, Frank. It corrects a general
    misconception held here about its whereabouts. Would you
    happen to know if that was its originally intended
    operational orbit, or a holding orbit pending the scheduled
    1993 repair mission? Would you also happen to know how its
    stabilized on a celestial target, given that 97 minute
    period? I'd be very grateful for any information you might
    have about it. The people at JPL gave the impression that
    it was quite maneuverable, and they originally wanted it
    higher than that.

    Bob


    #: 92349 S14/News/Current Events
    12-Oct-91 01:02:09
    Sb: #92338-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Michael McDowell 76207,1247

    Michael, I thought you and Sheldon Cohen might enjoy the
    following update, extracted from a CIS letter I received
    last night. The correspondent is a resident of Wiltshire,
    the site of the most publicized sitings, and is actively
    engaged in the research.

    It refers to a crop event near Barbury Castle, in August of
    this year, one of the most spectacular to date.

    "... The farmer in whose field it formed in the
    second week of August has offered a reward of twenty
    thousand pounds to anyone who can replicate it, the downside
    is that if you cannot you pay him ten thousand pounds for
    damage to his wheat field; so far there have been no takers.
    The two characters, Doug & Dave, who claimed to be the
    authors of all the formations have not taken up this offer
    and are now being prosecuted by the farmers Union for damage
    to crops much to everyone's amusement !"

    I guess Time Magazine missed something...

    Bob


    #: 46142 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    11-Oct-91 17:56:34
    Sb: #46019-CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    Bob, glad to see your posting in the Astronomy forum. Maybe
    we'll get some contributions from folks with the technical
    expertise to address some of the issues that have been
    raised. Reason I was browsing in that forum was that I had
    earlier requested their expertise regarding the possibility
    of recovering GS satellites. I posted a question asking
    anyone if they were aware of a GS satellite ever being
    recovered after insertion into GS orbit. Response follows:


    Message: #92245, S/3 Satellite Observing
    Date: Thu, Oct 10, 1991 4:57:09 AM
    Subject: #92199-GS satellites
    From: Tony Beresford 72726,3245
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576 (deletable)


    No Eric, nobody has the OOMPH to send a manned capsule into
    Clarke orbit. Certainly not the US. And although the CIA and
    NSA people dont always speak up about what they know the
    russians are doing , I think launching Soyuz capsules to
    geostationary orbit with Energia would be obvious anyway.

    Bob, I haven't forgotten your last message. Am still
    mulling it over.

    -Erik-


    #: 92264 S3/Satellite Observing
    10-Oct-91 15:47:56
    Sb: #92245-GS satellites
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Tony Beresford 72726,3245 (X)

    Tony, you confirmed what I already suspected. Thanks!


    #: 92351 S3/Satellite Observing
    12-Oct-91 02:02:51
    Sb: #92264-GS satellites
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576

    Erik, I'm pleased the discussion has departed the E.T.
    section of SPACE and finally found it's way here. There is
    also discussion on ASTRO/News/ Current Events.

    When I suggested the possibility of geosynchronous satellite
    (GS) retrieval, I never envisioned sending the Shuttle into
    Clarke orbit, but rather bringing the GS down. I understand
    from an unclassified source at JPL that this is possible. I
    hope Tony Beresford or someone who believes differently will
    comment.

    Since geosynchronicity is a matching of GS period to the
    rotation of the earth - this being altitude dependent - the
    scenario with which I was presented involved "goosing" the
    GS downward into a controllable decaying orbit, and
    rendezvousing a Shuttle with it at a lower altitude - on the
    order of 600-800 km. I'm informed that Hubble is at 600
    km., 97 min. period, for just that purpose.

    Payload accommodation for fuel, thrusters, and control
    systems might be considerable to enable recoverability, but
    as I understand it this capability (or its development) is
    part of the program and has been for some time. If it's
    been done, nobody's talking.

    Corrections are welcome. This isn't about being right, but
    rather finding out what is.

    Bob


    #: 92355 S3/Satellite Observing
    12-Oct-91 06:31:40
    Sb: #92348-GS satellites
    Fm: John McDonnell 73437,3202
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445

    It is certainly possible to build-in retrieval capability
    for a GEO satellite; there simply isn't generally a need.
    For example, a geosynchronous communications satellite which
    has worn out generally isn't worth fixing anyway (i.e. not
    worth the cost, loss of payload, etc.)


    #: 92374 S3/Satellite Observing
    12-Oct-91 21:39:13
    Sb: #92348-GS satellites
    Fm: Tony Beresford 72726,3245
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445

    I rather think the required payload of rocket would reduce
    useful payload to a very small amount. Consider that the
    scenario you are suggesting is equivalent to the velocity
    increment given by the third stage and the circularising
    burn to get to Clarke Orbit. An ion motor solution seems
    most reasonable but there are no flight ready electric
    propulsion systems in use.


    #: 92386 S3/Satellite Observing
    13-Oct-91 00:52:27
    Sb: #92355-GS satellites
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: John McDonnell 73437,3202

    Thanks for the response, John. The origin of the inquiry
    related to the thread concerning a "special circumstance"
    scenario. This is laid out in the CIRCLE.TXT thread, which
    speculates (among other things) that the "crop events" in
    Wiltshire, England, and elsewhere, are (among other things)
    the artifacts of preliminary SDI experiments employing
    laser/maser/other technology originating in GEO satellites
    over the affected sites. As opposed to a comsat, landsat,
    navigational device, or weather satellite, a need for
    retrievability and redeployment can be envisioned.

    Answer we needed was whether it could be done at all. If it
    is SDI under a brilliant cover (the obfuscating nature of
    the site), and under an inverted title (Earth as opposed to
    Star), many puzzles fall into place. Also, budget becomes
    unlimited, and the only remaining question on the particular
    point becomes conceivability of the concept of GEO access.

    Thanks again.

    Bob


    #: 46157 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    12-Oct-91 00:25:06
    Sb: #46142-CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576

    Thanks for redirecting me, Erik. It's much appreciated. I
    responded to your exchange with Tony Beresford over on
    ASTRO/SATTELITE OBSERVING. I'm grateful to you for the
    referral. For thread readers here, those are the places to
    look for continued activity.

    So as not to leave anyone hanging, my query about retrieving
    GS's was in the context of goosing the GS down to a lower
    orbit, not sending the Shuttle up to get it.

    See you on ASTRO.

    Bob


    #: 46158 S7/Extraterrestrials?
    12-Oct-91 00:25:11
    Sb: #46142-CIRCLES.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576

    Almost forgot... re that last message you're mulling over,
    I'll look for a response here, or the thread might get
    scattered all over the place. Thanks again for keeping me
    current as to where the action is.

    Bob


    #: 92651 S3/Satellite Observing
    18-Oct-91 19:15:30
    Sb: CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445

    Bob, got a little distracted with political events the past
    week. Talk about a conspiracy!

    Anyway, I've enjoyed our past discussions of crop circles as
    possible artifacts of SDI testing. The Fox television
    network aired a special program tonite entitled "The UFO
    Report: Sightings". It contained a segment on crop circles.
    Not surprisingly, it focused on them as almost certainly
    related to UFO activity. The best part was some great aerial
    photos of the more recent "pictogram" formations. I'm not
    sure why, but those dramatic photos never fail to get the
    juices running! Seldom does an unexplained phenomena
    display itself in such a flagrant "I dare you to figure me
    out" manner.

    The failure of the Fox show to make any reference to the
    possible high-tech human origins of crop circles just gives
    me more confidence that SDI testing is the most likely
    explanation. Why look for extraterrestrial explanations
    when much more prosaic explanations remain to be
    investigated? I confess that I remain highly skeptical that
    GS satellites are involved. Also, some aspects of the
    alleged disinformation campaign that we previously discussed
    strike me as fairly remote. However, your prior comment
    that noted the crop circle patterns resemblance to
    sighting/aiming reticules strikes me as the single most
    insightful observation yet made regarding their possible
    origin.

    The aforementioned Fox show also claimed that circles were
    showing up in Japan, Canada and elsewhere. Sure wish I
    could get some "hard" news to confirm those claims. The
    spread of genuine "Wiltshire type" circles to other parts of
    the globe would be a fascinating development.


    #: 92262 S14/News/Current Events
    10-Oct-91 11:54:20
    Sb: #92250-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Sheldon Cohen, TN 72140,327
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445

    According to Time magazine a week or two ago, the crop
    circles were created by two British hoaxsters who finally
    came forward. Their biggest problem weas that for a long
    time no one noticed their circles.


    #: 92305 S14/News/Current Events
    11-Oct-91 06:40:56
    Sb: #92262-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Sheldon Cohen, TN 72140,327

    Sheldon, there's little doubt that some of the "crop events"
    are the product of hoaxers. To look at quality photographs
    of the simultaneous events in the publications referenced in
    circle.txt, consider the 11 year history of increasing
    sophistication and size and simultanaeity of immense
    formations, the hoaxers from last week's "Time" are history
    even in Britain. Over the past year 20/20 did two serious
    pieces on these events, and Hugh Downs is one of the world's
    great skeptics. I call them events because most of them are
    far too full of linear componenents - some of them
    connecting the circles, complete with mid line
    perpendiculars and bisections, all aligned with the crop
    furrows already in the fields - to be called "circles."

    Many look more like target reticules projected through a
    stencil, others are immense replicas of archeological
    patterns already on site with a 5000 year old history.
    Presuming a laser/maser/other coherent beam with a projected
    diameter of a fraction of a centimeter, through a stencil, a
    beam spread of the hundreds of yards which charactarize
    these "cookie cutouts" is not inconsistent with an origin
    from the 25000 mile altitude of a geosynchronous orbiter.

    Hoaxers account for some, not all, and we're not about
    UFO's, unless they're of human manufacture. This is a very
    real, underpubicized mystery which has been under study by
    serious scientists for years. Circle.txt referenced again in
    the following, will be a surprise to many.


    #: 92338 S14/News/Current Events
    11-Oct-91 20:21:01
    Sb: #92262-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Sheldon Cohen, TN 72140,327 (X)

    They have been unable to reproduce their work by daylight,
    however, and with witnesses. They were sponsored by a "news
    agency" which does not have a telephone, its only address is
    c/o an up-scale accounting firm, and it has apparently no
    other clients and no other stories. This is covered in the
    CIRCLE.TXT, to some extent. The incidence of crop circles
    would have required these two men, in their sixties, to
    create two or three circles a night every night for the
    entire length of the English growing season. When they were
    asked, on English television, if they had ever been employed
    by any intelligence agency, they laughed, but did not give a
    precise reply.

    Most of the above is circumstantial. Their complete
    inability to reproduce even a single simple circle under
    conditions that were far more favorable (light, no need for
    silence, or the obliteration of all footprints) than those
    under which they claimed to have succeeded so frequently, is
    what kills this particular hope for this simple, and un-
    sinister solution.

    (I should make it clear that I am a participant in the
    thread that made up CIRCLE.TXT, but I have been a member of
    this forum for almost a year now, and log in every day --
    that is, I'm not appearing here for the sole purpose of
    defending and promoting a pet theory. In fact, I log on
    every day in hope of finding a dozen messages hammering on
    the issue of cosmological redshifts. I can hardly wait till
    I can read an article in Nature, or in Science News, or
    anywhere else for that matter, that doesn't automatically
    assume that redshift = distance and distance alone.)


    #: 92387 S3/Satellite Observing
    13-Oct-91 00:52:37
    Sb: #92374-GS satellites
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Tony Beresford 72726,3245

    Thanks for the informative response, Tony. At least it's
    theoretically possible. As you may have noted in priors,
    the question concerns hypothetical SDI experiments addressed
    in CIRCLE.TXT and its subsequent thread, and some of the
    English "crop events" being artifacts of same.

    Presuming unlimited budget, a small nuclear propulsion unit
    employing high thrust, impulse thrusters using superheated
    gasses, and the purely speculative idea that more than one
    Shuttle payload might be joined before deployment to
    Clarkesville, does it then become a rational element of the
    dialogue - especially presuming NSA top secret development
    over a ten or eleven year period.

    The "crop events" began as primitive circles around the time
    the high frequency super secret Shuttle missions began, and
    have been growing in sophistication ever since. That's the
    genesis of this inquiry,

    One last brain-pick... do you or someone else know the
    unclassified version of the size/weight of a current Shuttle
    payload?

    Again, thanks for the information.

    Bob


    #: 92388 S3/Satellite Observing
    13-Oct-91 08:20:02
    Sb: #92374-GS satellites
    Fm: Allen Thomson 72757,1325
    To: Tony Beresford 72726,3245

    no flight ready electric propulsion systems in use

    Minor correction: the FUSSR and the now-defunct USSR have
    used plasma thrusters on a variety of GEO and LEO satellites
    for many years. Coupled to a nuclear power source, scaled-up
    versions of these engines could perform the orbit-changing
    maneuvers being discussed here.


    #: 92427 S3/Satellite Observing
    14-Oct-91 08:03:58
    Sb: #92422-#GS satellites
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Tony Beresford 72726,3245

    Tony, a belief is developing that the "novel plot" is indeed
    the reason that so much classified money is poured into SDI,
    with more to come (thanks to progress in disarmament talks)
    for eleven years, and speculation as to some of the payloads
    of super-secret Shuttle flights. This thread began with the
    upload on Sept. 22 of CIRCLE.TXT (with klutzy file
    description due to Tapcis inexperience) to the
    ISSUES/PARANORMAL Library 10, for want of a better place to
    put it. A thread started on SPACE/EXTRATERRESTRIALS around
    Msg. # 45328. I fervently hope that both will be read, as
    we have finally attained neo-respectability by our presence
    here, which is where we wanted to be in the first place.

    Since CIRCLE.TXT is a thread from the "Science & Health"
    forum of the (members only Writers' Guild of America (WGA),
    West, Inc., Los Angeles, dealing with the Wiltshire "crop
    events," proposing that some of them are artifacts of GS
    borne SDI experiments in maser/laser/other EARTH directed
    technology.

    I realize that as professional writers, we would
    understandably be perceived as developing "novel" plots.
    This is not the case, here. Writers may have well-exercized pattern-recognition skills, but the scenario this thread
    produced has not been discussed elsewhere, and we sincerely
    wanted it introduced into the international discussion.
    Before I was writing "Star Trek: Both Generations,"
    "Bonanza," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "The Equalizer," and some
    movies, I was a Dept. Editor in a then RAND division. My
    late father was a Senior Scientist on Surveyor, at Hughes,
    and the arduous process of getting on the Astronomy Forum
    involved no E.T.'s or metaphysics.


    [More]


    There is 1 Reply.

    #: 92428 S3/Satellite Observing
    14-Oct-91 08:04:10
    Sb: #92427-GS satellites
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    [Continued]

    The thread already available in CIRCLE.TXT and the
    SPACE/E.T.'s messages have brought the reasoning as to how,
    by whom, why there, what for, hoaxes or not, etc. to a point
    of evolution that I think will come as a surprise to many,
    here, who are willing to suspend disbelief long enough to
    read the material already on CIS, and, if interested, do
    everything in their power to shoot down its dominant theory.

    CIRCLE.TXT represents only the views of the participants,
    and not its host forum or the WGA. It was uploaded with
    consent of all participants. Even the skeptics thought it
    deserved discussion.

    If we were fictioneering, we wouldn't be trying so hard to
    attract the discussion of the the truly knowledgeable people
    that we would expect to frequent this forum. From some of
    the messages on /SPACE/E.T., I suspect some did participate,
    feeling their professional credentials were safe.

    I'm very grateful to you and the others who have been
    willing to take us seriously enough to answer our questions
    and correct our lay misconceptions. I truly hope the
    material already posted and uploaded is examined, and the
    "novel plot" continues to be brainstormed.

    Bob


    #: 92429 S3/Satellite Observing
    14-Oct-91 08:04:25
    Sb: #92423-#GS satellites
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Tony Beresford 72726,3245

    Allen, I hope you managed to read my priors to Tony
    Beresford. I'm pretty knowledgable in the workings of the
    National Security Act, and though the prior development of
    this thread as cited there, and elsewhere, is informed
    speculation based on unclassified sources, I know that some
    of you are professionals and working under clearances. For
    the record, none of the participants in the CIS thread(s)
    except Michael McDowell, who I know well, have ever met
    anywhere but here.

    Your message to Allen Thompson presumes that what the US has
    flown is known. It also presumes that the Russians aren't
    aware of it, and that it might not be an international co-
    venture, (perhaps Anglo/American), which is developing
    coherent beam technology (maser, laser, other) as the
    military equalizer of the 21st century. It would portent a
    rationale for some recent geopilitical developments, and
    promise a control over Third World nuclear proliferation, so
    calling it a Manhattan Project of the 21st century isn't
    necessararily a doomsday paranoia. The same security
    methods might apply.

    The super-secret Shuttle missions begin around the time of
    the first "crop circle" events in Wiltshire, England, where
    I understand is also located the Royal Greenwich
    Observatory's orbital tracking and earth-rotation
    measurement facility for a number of years, now. My working
    premise is that *some* of the "crop events" are artifacts of
    tests originating in GS(s) over the site. Most are within a
    100 mile radius of Stonehenge, and have progressed in
    sophistication over the period of the secret Shuttle
    flights. Placing the images in an area with a 5000 year
    archaeological and metaphysical history would be a brilliant
    cover. "It's an old story...", making the rules of
    evidence unmaginable.


    [More]


    There is 1 Reply.

    #: 92430 S3/Satellite Observing
    14-Oct-91 08:04:38
    Sb: #92429-GS satellites
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445 (X)

    [Continued]

    Hardly anyone has closely examined the high quality
    photographs currently in print, because they have been
    relegated to the occult book shelves. That something
    extraordinary is happening, as opposed to paranormal, seems
    unarguable. Lately, the density and grographic range of the
    events has been spreading - 30 in Japan in the past few
    months.

    To let Tony off the hook of suggesting a coverup, I'll be
    happy to make the suggestion. It won't be the first.
    During the '70's my late father (then working on Voyager),
    got me an insider's tour of the Hughes research facility in
    Malibu. It was from the beginning a laser-dedicated
    facility, ostensibly developing VERY long range collimation
    for the purpose of earth-movement detection, hopefully
    toward the devolopmnent of earthquake prediction systems.
    Howard Hughes' earthquake phobia was getting a lot of press,
    too. Given the sophistication of what I saw, and the length
    of time since I saw it - and given the added development of
    relatively high temperature superconductors (particularly
    magnetic applications) - and the favorable ambient
    conditions of space for maser efficiency - I can't begin to
    imagine the degree of development that's been achieved.

    If you're willing to read CIRCLE.TXT and the abovementioned
    thread, you'll find a number of references and citations
    regarding long ongoing research in plasma physics - some of
    it suggestive of the potential for electrical propulsion,
    the lack of which you concede has intrigued you. I hope the
    brainstorm will continue.

    Bob


    #: 92457 S3/Satellite Observing
    14-Oct-91 16:58:09
    Sb: #92423-GS satellites
    Fm: Allen Thomson 72757,1325
    To: Tony Beresford 72726,3245

    Well, we did fly one reactor (SNAP-10, I think it was), but
    it wasn't very big. As to why we never fully developed high-
    isp propulsion systems--dunno, but it seems to be a
    combination of lack of perceived need, budget, and the
    technological conservatism that set in after the 1960s.
    Sigh.



    #: 92533 S3/Satellite Observing
    15-Oct-91 21:10:05
    Sb: #92422-GS satellites
    Fm: Michael McDowell 76207,1247
    To: Tony Beresford 72726,3245

    I very much respect the professionals and the professional
    attitudes found on this forum, and I'm glad that Bob
    Sabaroff has so carefully explained our intentions and our
    hopes for the Crop Circle thread. As I was very proud to
    have been a minor part of the discussions here of Arp and
    the cosmological red-shift discussion, I was glad to be able
    to contribute somewhat more to the Crop Circle discussion.

    Although I'm a writer (over 30 novels published, the film
    BEETLEJUICE, other films, television as well, and a
    doctorate in English), I do have a little background for the
    discussion. I was an NSF mathematics scholar back in the
    days of the CDC 6400, and for six years I worked at the MIT
    National Magnet Laboratory. I was secretary for the group
    working on Lasers of all sorts, far-infrared, sub-
    millimetre, super-conducting, GaAs, and the like. And I
    have a memory for irrelevancies -- such as the fact that
    Herstmonceaux Castle had recently been put up for sale.

    You will find on the thread more and more acerbic skeptics
    than have yet shown up on CompuServe. And you will find the
    Astronomy forum quoted for information (on the disposition
    of the Castle mentioned above) that I knew to come here for.
    But what can't be stressed enough is that the Circle.Txt was
    uploaded as a target for your best shots. Show us where the
    reasoning is off, the facts wrong. We have no interest at
    all of convincing you of anything. We have every interest
    in getting at the truth of the subject.



    #: 92651 S3/Satellite Observing
    18-Oct-91 19:15:30
    Sb: CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576
    To: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445

    Bob, got a little distracted with political events the past
    week. Talk about a conspiracy!

    Anyway, I've enjoyed our past discussions of crop circles as
    possible artifacts of SDI testing. The Fox television
    network aired a special program tonite entitled "The UFO
    Report: Sightings". It contained a segment on crop circles.
    Not surprisingly, it focused on them as almost certainly
    related to UFO activity. The best part was some great aerial
    photos of the more recent "pictogram" formations. I'm not
    sure why, but those dramatic photos never fail to get the
    juices running! Seldom does an unexplained phenomena
    display itself in such a flagrant "I dare you to figure me
    out" manner.

    The failure of the Fox show to make any reference to the
    possible high-tech human origins of crop circles just gives
    me more confidence that SDI testing is the most likely
    explanation. Why look for extraterrestrial explanations
    when much more prosaic explanations remain to be
    investigated? I confess that I remain highly skeptical that
    GS satellites are involved. Also, some aspects of the
    alleged disinformation campaign that we previously discussed
    strike me as fairly remote. However, your prior comment
    that noted the crop circle patterns resemblance to
    sighting/aiming reticules strikes me as the single most
    insightful observation yet made regarding their possible
    origin.

    The aforementioned Fox show also claimed that circles were
    showing up in Japan, Canada and elsewhere. Sure wish I
    could get some "hard" news to confirm those claims. The
    spread of genuine "Wiltshire type" circles to other parts of
    the globe would be a fascinating development.


    #: 92582 S14/News/Current Events
    17-Oct-91 12:19:54
    Sb: #92262-#CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Stuart Lees 75300,247
    To: Sheldon Cohen, TN 72140,327 (X)

    <Their biggest problem weas that for a long time no one
    noticed their circles.>

    The local TV station in the West of England (includes
    Wiltshire) has been giving coverage to the circles for
    years. If no one noticed the hoaxers' circles it can only
    have been because there were many more intricate circle
    patterns to take note of elsewhere.

    -Stuart (Bristol, England)

    There is 1 Reply.


    #: 92624 S14/News/Current Events
    18-Oct-91 01:04:31
    Sb: #92582-CIRCLE.TXT
    Fm: Sheldon Cohen, TN 72140,327
    To: Stuart Lees 75300,247 (X)

    Well, I was going by what Time Magazine said. So if I was
    wrong, actually I wasn't wrong--Time was.


    #: 92666 S3/Satellite Observing
    18-Oct-91 23:01:18
    Sb: #92651-CIRCLE.txt
    Fm: Robert Sabaroff 71251,2445
    To: Erik Albrektson 70312,3576

    Would you believe that even as I type, my trusty VCR is
    taping the very TV show referred to. It's 9:28 P.M. in L.A.
    and Fox is airing it from 9 - 10. From your comments, I'm
    looking forward to viewing it at leisure when I log off.
    (actually, I'm in Tapcis... technicalities technicalities).

    There is some media confirmation involving at least the
    Japanese circles. They appeared in rice paddies, and film of
    them was shown on CNN's International News Hour, which airs
    here around midnight. There was no mistaking them. Same
    format.

    I recall that your inquiry here about the possibility of
    retrieving GEO's, and the thread eventially came around to a
    concession that it was theoretically possible - and that
    satellites could be linked before deployment, to increase
    the payload to include maneuvering systems - and could upon
    recovery be refueled and redeployed, I arrive at the
    scenario that seems most possible.

    I cling to GEO's because the precision of the alignments and
    the sharpness of their outlines suggest a very stable and
    stationary point of origin. The possibility of substantial
    maneuvering payload means that considerable resources could
    be utilized to establish the aligned spin necessary to
    provide gyroscopic stability and make necessary corrections
    for precession. A moving source, whether a spy plane or non-
    GEO satellite would be taking great risks of malfunction or
    imprecission, and would be very detectable. It also seems
    convenient that the Royal Observatory's orbital tracking and
    earth rotation measurement facility is in the affected area.

    Bob


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