Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Some latitude for error?

Richard Hoagland has stated many, many times that the latitude 19.5° N or S has special properties. It is the latitude of three of the vertices of a tetrahedron inscribed in a sphere when the fourth vertex is placed at one of the poles, and according to Hoagland "hyperdimensional energy" is manifest at these latitudes.

Hoagland is also quite addicted to stating that features are at that latitude when in fact they are not. The Great Red Spot of Jupiter and Olympus Mons on Mars are two examples. On Earth, there is but one genuine example — the massive volcano Mauna Loa, exactly at 19.5° N.

Last night (25/26 January 2010) on Coast To Coast AM Richard Hoagland stated that Port-au-Prince, site of the recent devastating earthquake, is at 19.5 degrees. In actual fact the exact coordinates of the epicenter are 18°30'N, 72°38'W. A caller to the show pointed this simple fact out and, after some pause for thought, Hoagland retorted "I was thinking of geodetic latitude — not geographic — the latitudes change because the Earth is not a perfect sphere, it's an oblate spheroid."

Well, OK. That has some superficial logic. The geometry he suggests would obviously assume a perfect sphere, and indeed our planet is not that. George Noory let it slide by, as he always does.

Here, however, are the problems with that statement.

- Latitudes as commonly cited are geodetic. The other form of latitude is geocentric.
- A geocentric latitude is always less than its geodetic equivalent.

Here's the deal. A geocentric latitude is based on the imaginary radial line connecting a point on the Earth's surface to the exact center of the Earth. A geodetic latitude is based on a pseudo-radial line which is the extension of the local vertical. This image (taken from this wikipedia article) is an exaggerated depiction of a point whose geodetic latitude is 66° and geocentric 60°.







Now, conversion from one to the other is not a simple matter. The difference at this latitude is something like seven minutes of arc. But we can say for sure that neither the geocentric nor geodetic latitude of Port-au-Prince is 19.5°. This was almost certainly a deliberate lie by Hoagland, which he knew he would get away with because of George Noory's ignorance of mathematics.

If it were true, by the way, that 18°30' converts to some "real" 19.5°, Hoagland would lose the one shining example of "hyper-dimensional energy" that he claims. The 18°30' latitude does not pass through Mauna Loa. In fact it misses Hawaii completely. It also misses Popacatapetl. It misses everything that could conceivably validate Hoagland's ridiculous proposition.

Should we allow Hoagland some latitude for error? I say no — he's just a liar.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, i hope Mr. Hoagland recognizes the errors of his calculations. I guess his expertise lies more within the study of terrestrial and vibrational magnetic earth frequencies that has nothing (everything)to do with the physical calculations of the changing spherical nature of the earth. Hmm...what a one sided guy

expat said...

Thanks for the comment, anon. Actually, Richard Hoagland's expertise lies purely in the realm of public speaking. He's an extremely eloquent advocate of propositions that are sheer poppycock.

オテモヤン said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Biological_Unit said...

Let's look at the North and South Latitudes of the Sunspots on the Sun right now:

Area 11051 N16W41

11052 S17W70

11053 S22W77

Now we add the Lats and divide by three: 18.33.

Okay, it's not 19.5. It's closer than expat's guess ... if he had an opinion ... but he needs someone in authority to tell him first, then he will tell us.

Biological_Unit said...

The Sun is a Solid Calcium Ferrite ball, powered by interstellar Birkeland electric currents.

It is a Load in a Circuit.

Biological_Unit said...

Kristian Birkeland predicted auroral electrojets in 1908.

Maybe it takes a hundred years, perhaps in another hundred we'll get Men back to soundstages that resemble the Moon ...

(booo ! hisss !)

expat said...

I can't help having a slight giggle over the fact that Mike Bara's best buddy Sean David Morton has been exposed as the fraud we always knew he was.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sec_goes_after_psychic_for_scamming_oW2uYFCpYbK0AQJ30hiwHJ

Biological_Unit said...

Someone should ask Coast to Coast AM about Sean! You should come up a bogus reason for the call screener.

Ed Dames is another Epic failure. He was/is a Remote Viewer who used to be a regular on C2C. He was cooked up by the Military to come up with "evidence" in the Lockerbie case.

expat said...

Yes, speaking of "latitude for error," the only thing more comical than Ed Dames' remote viewings is George Noory's ludicrous interpretations of them. "Wow, Ed!! You correctly predicted that Steve Fosset would be found -- and what's more he was found only 75 miles from where you said. A hit!!!"

Biological_Unit said...

Mike Bara says "The Secret" is REAL !

I was reading The Lightbringer Blog, just for larfs !

I have an Idea - I'll write a book about how "Writing Books about a Secret" is a secret path to Riches - you know, acquiring "stuff" will make you joyous !

Then I will write a book about writing books about writing books about a fictitious Secret - of course, making money through deception and chicanery.

Just like Mikey !

Biological_Unit said...

http://hhmsssword.blogspot.com/

This guy says he's an RCH associate involved in a Secret Space Navy. No JPEG's of Space stuff have ever surfaced there, only illustrations from Sci-Fi Comics !

He also told me that a F-15 Eagle could get into orbit, just getting back down was a problem...

What a goddamn liar !

Biological_Unit said...

NASA Moon astronauts tell the BBC President Barack Obama's decision to cancel the US lunar programme is "catastrophic".

Yes, people are asking questions about those hoaxers, I mean heroes. They may have to come clean some day !

Biological_Unit said...

Will you buy the new edition of Dark Mission ?

Yes 0 (0%)

No 1 (100%)

I want to see what's in it first

0 (0%)

Votes so far: 1

Poll closed

Poll Closed due to raging embarrassment !

Biological_Unit said...

http://hhmsssword.blogspot.com/

Of the military shuttle, they are as differently configured as a military hummer would, mission specific to generic. These things exist – and in greater number than you would think. The Army has at least three that I know of – know of as in seen with my own eyes. The Navy probably has at least twenty, only DOD knows how many the Air Force has. There are several variants. Some are closed with bomb bay doors instead of payload doors. Some have VTOL capability. Some are completely sealed and are used primarily for transportation. The newer variants have a split tail, flatter overall height and squat landing gear. Almost all have a large gyroscope(s) in the front. I’m no scientist but apparently it helps in high speed maneuvers in space.

He gets away with this lie by saying "they're launched from Alaska". No LAUNCH PLUMES have ever been seen ! He sometimes writes that these Shuttles are launched by a "roller-coaster thingy". This would kill all the Astronauts on board, maybe that's why he doesn't say that now !

Biological_Unit said...

If you are reading this, Sword, you idiot - I DEMAND THAT YOU STOP LYING !!

Repent, it will make you feel better !
How many people believe your crap ? I know theiantruouo does, but he is weak-minded and scatter-brained.

Biological_Unit said...

I'm waiting patiently to nominate Sword for the Nobel Prize in Physics.

He said that Gravity Plating was perfected by his Space Cadet unit. Of course, I know that Gravity is a Great Mystery today to ALL Physicists.

The simpler explanation is that he LIED about this, and CONTINUES to LIE every god-damned day !!