Friday, December 22, 2017

Open letter to Linda Moulton Howe

         Coast to Coast AM is not known as a source of scientific fact—quite the converse, actually. Nevertheless, when a reputable scientist is quoted on that show I think the audience is entitled to expect to find a few pearls of fact among the dross of sensationalist speculation that is the program’s nightly bread and butter.

        There were precious few to be found in your report of your interview with John Brandenburg this week. First, his statement that NASA is “part of the Department of Defense for the intelligence community” is totally incorrect. You yourself ought to know that and should not have allowed that statement to go unchallenged. NASA’s charter and purpose is civilian space exploration and aeronautical research. JPL is a science laboratory managed by CalTech. The fact that both institutions carry out classified projects under contract to the DoD in no way alters that fact.

        Brandenburg revealed further ignorance in stating that “Almost all of the astronauts are either active military or ex-military.” This is not true. Currently 18 of 44 active NASA astronauts—a minority—are ex-military, and none at all are active military. The overwhelming majority are Ph.D scientists.

        It’s frankly astounding to hear Brandenburg accuse NASA of fudging data on xenon isotopes in the Martian atmosphere. Where did Brandenburg get the data on which he bases his nuclear theory, if not from NASA? I believe his initial analysis was based on Viking data, and since April 2015 extremely precise data on xenon and argon isotopes has been available from the SAM instrument on Curiosity. I’m quite sure Brandenburg has studied that data, and accordingly ought to be acknowledging JPL’s expertise instead of making false and defamatory statements about the laboratory.

        It was also astounding to hear you and Brandenburg discuss xenon isotope ratios on Mars without either of you making any reference to the alternative theory that the “excess” 129xenon arose from decay of 129iodine. Iodine is a solid in Martian ambient conditions and therefore would not have been lost at the time when Mars lost most of its atmosphere some time in the first 100 million years of the planet’s existence. There has been time since then for 275 half-lives of the 129I > 129Xe decay process, and that fact provides a firm enough basis for the theory that it deserves mention in any discussion such as you had with Brandenburg.

Ref: Yes, folks, it's the xenon isotope show! 

Regards,
[expat]

7 comments:

vonmazur said...

I used to like to listen to LMH when she was on Art Bell, now she has resorted to loaded questions and assuming facts not in evidence..

G-Zeus said...

Art left Coast and most of his audience left with him. Midnight in the Desert is only available online. It used to be carried on AM radio as well as Shortwave. Heather has had moments with NO callers! This never happened with Art on the air. I liked when a caller once told Whitley Streiber that he just had a "bad dream" and he made up the abduction story to get famous and wealthy. That was glorious and he was obviously upset about this for the rest of the show.

Anonymous said...

LMH - I can't help but wonder if she's on a secret payroll. I mean, the woman
has been lied to since Richard Doty told her tall tales in the 1980s, yet she
promulgates the wildest claims to this day. With all her connections and years
of research, why has she never raised the possibility that UFOs are man-made
secret technologies - and "aliens" are just a red herring to take people off the ball ?

expat said...

I assume LMH does get a stipend of some kind, as C2C's official "investigative journalist." As an aside, that title has always bothered me. Aren't all journalists investigative, by definition?

vonmazur said...

"Instagate-ive" not investigative....after the fake crop circle in Solano County CA, that she got all worked up about, she lost any chance with me of being the real thing. It was obvious that it was a commercial publicity stunt, but she insisted it was a real crop circle, whatever that means...

G-Zeus said...

Instigate. yes
You're just another one of those worldwide computer god gangsters with your Frankenstein gangster controls

Anonymous said...

You are right on about the Iodine 129 source being an obvious source of Xe 129 over millennia. The main problem is where did the Iodine 129 come from. From what I have seen, it is complicated and too hypothetical.

For various reasons, Brandenburg likes to use the alien nukes explanation. Although a nuclear blast could create Xe 129 over millennia too, it comes from the same decay of Iodine 129, not directly. Also, he should be baffled, but appears oblivious, by the other Xenon isotopes created by his hypothesized nuclear blast over millennia, which really do not match Mars' atmospheric Xenon composition.