Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Open letter to Adrienne Loska

Dear Adrienne,
Happy New Year.

As your client Mike Bara moves into the intensive writing phase of his book Ancient Aliens on Mars, you might usefully advise him as follows:

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* The so-called Face on Mars is not a mile-wide sculpture. We know that because the HiRISE telescope on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has shown the feature at sufficiently high resolution (< 1m/px) that the facial features previously claimed on the basis of poorer images can be seen to be imaginary. Enough people know this that, if you write that it's the deliberate work of a Martian civilization, you will once more be a laughing stock.

* Planet Earth does an orbit of the Sun in 365 days. Mars does its orbit in 687 days. It follows inevitably that there is a very great difference between the closest and farthest approaches of the two planets. The very slight eccentricity of the orbit of Mars makes an almost negligible contribution to that difference. If you write, as you did in November 2010, "If both orbits were circular, ... [t]hey would maintain basically the same distance relative to each other" you will again become a laughing stock.

* Please do not repeat your opinion that Gerry Soffen lied about the second Viking image of the so-called Face. The reason is that your opinion is incorrect. Here's why.

* You probably ought not to repeat the pseudo-fact that Olympus Mons is at 19.5° latitude. The reason is  that it is not. It's at 18.65°N.

* Please be particularly circumspect when writing anything about gravitation. In writing on this topic in the past, you've made so many disastrous errors that I seriously worry whether you have any understanding of it at all. My neighbor has a 12-year-old daughter who's really keen on physics -- if you like I can pass any of your copy by her for checking.

* Good luck. Remember, fact-checking is so, so easy in this age of google and wikipedia. I fully realize that Adventures Unlimited Press doesn't give a rat's ass about facts, but when your text includes horrible errors I, your faithful manager, look bad too. People think I can't control you.

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Regards,
expat

31 comments:

Jiminy Oddbird said...

"Furthest" denotes allegorical distance. 'Farthest' delineates geographical distance.

expat said...

Stuart Robbins (PhD) has only just released a podcast about the so-called Face. It's very brilliant.

expat said...

You're right. I've corrected it.

Anonymous said...

I think Bara and his ilk have proved time and time again that they are not worried about facts, they are worried about selling books. Reading about ordinary geological features on Mars is quite boring to the average reader, but saying these features are alien made-faces and beach front properties and boom, paycheck. Who cares about logic when moneys involved. I guess what I'm trying to say is Bara is a twit.

Trekker said...

Wasn't Hoagland also supposed to have a new book out around now, or is that just a figment of my imagination?

Jiminy Oddbird said...

Hoagland has stated that the HD effect can be manifest at 'near' 19.5 degrees. I suspect that much of his hypotheses are derived from principals of Astrology, where depending upon various planetary aspects, tolerance values can range as much as 8 degrees of 'Orb' (no pun intended). That means 8 degrees (+/-) of 19.5 or ranging from 11.5 to 27.5 degrees.

astroguy said...

Misti, under that idea, then the vast majority of locations for ANYTHING would be "evidence" for his stuff. That's because he also claims significance at 0° and any multiple of 19.5°. Since ±8° is a range of 16°, then we're talking about 0-8°, 11.5-27.5°, 31-47°, etc. Nice sharpshooter fallacy on his part.

Anonymous said...

Forgive my obvious ignorance, but is Ms Loska the publisher or editor of Bara's 'work'? And this open letter; is it going to be e mailed, or are you fairly confident that she'll read it anyway?

Yorkshire Pud

expat said...

Trekker: Yes, he announced The Heritage of Mars: Remembering Forever on April 2nd 2012 (just missing April Fool's Day). Mind you, he also announced the exact same project on Nov. 17, 2000.

Unfinished projects are a feature of Hoagland's "work." Thanks to Alan Archer's diligent research, Hoagland's wikipedia page now lists several never-finished books.

Pud: Adrienne is Mike Bara's manager.The blog has been brought to her attention but there's no guarantee she'll read it, still less act on it. It may be significant that the previous open letter, written by Neville Parchemin, is the #1 google hit on Adrienne's name.

Chris Lopes said...

From her previous responses during the ziggurat thing, I'd say a response of any kind is unlikely in this case.. She's as impervious to reality as Bara.

Ricky Poole said...

Looking for intellectual honesty from the "It's a face!" authors is like expecting to get something other than narcissistic criminality from a television evangelist. In fact I think that the pseudo-religious nature of the "Awake and Aware" crowd has marked them as sheep for the shearing by the "evangelists" of this retreaded alien mythology. Pseudo-science and superstitious belief systems make ready tools for the fleecing of those too ready to believe what "resonates" (whateverthehellthatmeans) with them on some level, even if they can't articulate it themselves. I see the Ancient Astronauts cast as being in the same class of humanity as Benny Hinn, Mike Murdock, Jim Baker, and Jimmy Swaggart. It's a new religion with its own television evangelists and traveling itinerant preachers.

expat said...

....and now, with the death of Phil Coppens, its own home-grown martyrs?

expat said...

On the book which is called face today, Mike is saying he'll only be home for 4 weeks out of the next 6 months. There's a strong hint that he'll again be traveling with Maureen Elsberry.

My guess: A TV series rivaling 'Ancient Aliens.' But will it be for cable, or just internet? And where the hell did they get the funding?

expat said...

2 more questions:

- How's he going to finish the book?

- How's he going to get together the promised lawsuits against me and James Concannon?

FlightSuit said...

For Mike Bara to be able to sue you, he would have to be able to pay a lawyer's fees. That would seriously cut into the lease payment on his stripper-filled BMW.

Anonymous said...

This whole ancient alien thing is a fad. TV has been saturated with these kinds of shows, and its just too much. I think it would be a mistake to make another show about aliens. its just a waste of time and money. Even the ratings for the original show are so bad they moved the show to H2 network. These people need to move on and find another stupid theory to blather about.

Unknown said...

Expat,

Love the comments on the very bad science of Mr. Bara. Whether we like or dislike what he has to say, he should make sure he gets facts and science right.

I just posted my latest on The Face at my blog, interposemission.blogspot.com

I like all the comments on here. Hope the earlier discord is set aside.

Anonymous said...

I guess my only question on the moon book is, did he spell my name right on the dartboard target? And don't you just love that devil-oberg cartoon of me?

Jim Oberg

expat said...

Yes James, I thought the "sack of protoplasm" comment was kinda sweet, too.

Then he complains to Melissa Morton that the attacks on the ziggy-story were couched in vile, offensive, insulting language and were personal as opposed to factual.

Right now his favorite football team is losing to the Redskins 13-14. Hope the game ends that way.

expat said...

Well, it didn't turn out that way. Mike's boys trashed the opposing quarterback's knee in the fourth and went on to win 24-14. All's fair in love, war and american football I guess.

Tara Jordan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ricky Poole said...

Dan Catselas/Cain/Burisch (fake: area 51 scientist, head of MJ12, pioneering microbiologist, and snappy dresser) is rubbing Hoagland's rhubarb! https://www.eaglesdisobey.net/MarsCollection.htm

expat said...

This is cute:

"Sorry, RCH.... why don't you go home and polish your frauded Angstrom medal. It's pretty obvious that Dan has got the attention of certain people, and you just don't."

FlightSuit said...

Wow, that Dan fellow has some impressive credentials!

Chris Lopes said...

Trained Observer,
Thanks for the link. It's always fun to see what Hoagie's peers think of him. Not much, as it turns out.

Ricky Poole said...

Catselas/Cain/Burisch rivals Hoagland for coming up with ridiculous claims and outrageous stories to remain relevant in the UFO/Alien mythos arena. He and his wife had a major falling out with the Project Camelot crowd, OpenMinds magazine, and others a couple of years ago and doesn't seem to have been as active as he had been previously, but there always seems to be a new pitch every few months or so. I wonder how many of those Mars DVDs he has managed to sell?

harry starkers said...

wasn't it proven that he was a las vegas casino security guard when he claimed to be working at area 51?

Ricky Poole said...

I think he and "Marci" may have both been employed by casino's. In a "how to win at blackjack video", b.j.wolf (marci) relates how she worked for casinos for over 20 years and had both of her arms broken at one point. Dan was also a parole officer in Las Vegas. I have a correction. His second version of a last name was Crain and not Cain. Linda M. Howe promoted his story for a while and then OpenMinds magazine retreaded it recently. Here is there pricey book called "Eagles disobey: The case for Inca City, Mars" 1998 http://www.amazon.com/Eagles-disobey-case-Inca-City/dp/0964809028

Chris Lopes said...

Trained Observer,
I'm thinking the bottom has fallen out of the pseudo-science DVD market. That's why Hoagland finally threw in the towel and now offers links to his videos on The Enterprise Mission. He can't even sell them as coasters these days.

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expat said...

I've had a look around my settings and I don't see how I can do that. I bet if you look hard you can find an "un-follow" link or button.