More data just keeps pouring in.

After sign off from the Art Bell show last night, TEM posted an image showing the SETI data obtained in Australia.The images came from the Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and were posted by Dr. Ray Norris, a principal investigator with the facility. While the paper claimed to be a "case closed" on the Dore affair, it was full of several major logical holes and seemed to ignore their own data graphs. The posting is obviously intended for political consumption, aimed at the general public who lack the training to spot the obvious inconsistencies.

It starts by linking Dore with the Effelsberg story, which is easily used to discredit the Dore data. It should be remembered that Dore at no time named the two astronomers or the Observatory he claimed were going to support him at the press conference.Those stories came from the British press. Norris then points out that the claim has been "ridiculed" by the SETI community, partly because Dore (who is not part of that community) did not follow established protocol for reporting it. Dore of course, evidently had good reason for not reporting it, he did not trust the SETI community and did not wish to be "ridiculed" before confirming his findings.

Setting aside for a moment the implications of a community of "scientists" who would rather ridicule a possible find in their chosen field than check it out, ATCA at least pointed their telescope at EQ Pegasi. After using a very narrow band instrument pointed at the star, they came up with nothing. When they switched to a mode with less sensitivity and a larger field of view, they had a major hit at 1451.8 MHz, which they promptly dismissed as "probably not related," because Dore's original signal was reported as 1453.075 MHz and the signal was several degrees off the star's position. The logic of this conclusion is hard to absorb.

The signal, derisively described as "interference" by Norris, is a megaphonic blast of biblical proportions! It is unimaginable that a spike which is nearly twice the amplitude of the background noise can be mere interference.

The SETI model may be the problem. Evidently, the SETI guys assume that ET will be sitting around one night, listening on his ET version of a HAM radio, and catch a call from us. They have decided that what he will then do is send another signal back from his little cabin in the ET woods, and wait around for 22 light years or so for us to call him back.

Now, even if you ignore the fact that a radio telescope would probably be the ET equivalent of an 8-track tape to any mildly advanced civilization, had it occurred to these geniuses that ET might do something else? Like get in his car and go have a look?

Assuming that any signal off a stellar source is "not related" is about as smart as assuming that a traffic light is not related to your car unless it is positioned directly in front of you, not to mention stop signs, which are way off to the side. Given the "probe model" put forth by Hoagland on Art Bell's show last Friday, it would seem only logical to check the general vicinity, which they did. But then to dismiss such an obvious hit as "Almost certainly ... a terrestrial satellite" is sheer stupidity. I mean, didn't it ever occur to these guys that ET might have a car phone?

Norris goes on to argue that it must be a satellite signal because it is modulating up and down. He assumes that this due to a rotational period of the source object, which he has decided is a satellite. OK, which satellite? It is a fairly easy thing to check for a terrestrial satellite in the area, although it can take some time. But he hasn't apparently even tried. Another problem is that most satellites don't rotate unless they are committed to particle research, and there are no such bogey's in the sky at the moment.

Of course, there is another perfectly reasonable explanation for the observed modulation. It's pinging.

The idea of an approaching probe sending out a navigational beacon is evidently beyond the SETI mindset. To dismiss the signal as a satellite simply because it is not on a star and seems to be dropping in frequency is overtly stupid. The fact is the signal has all the characteristics that SETI should logically be looking for, if in fact they are actually interested in finding ET. It is our suspicion here that they are not.

To make such arrogant assumptions and dismiss such compelling data is criminal. If the target is moving and decelerating, then we can expect that it will continue to drift farther from the position of EQ Pegasi and it's frequency will continue to drop. Further observations are essential if we are to determine where it is really coming from and what it really is.

To ascribe such behavior to gross incompetence is far fetched. This posting seems calculated to discourage anyone else from looking, as opposed to trying to determine the nature of the signal. As we stated yesterday, SETI must fall into one of two categories on this issue, liars or idiots. At the moment, they appear to be liars.

But, we know one thing more than we knew yesterday. The signal is real.

Other developments:

The web pages which posted the images and e-mails from Paul Dore have been taken down. The main page has been replaced with a black background and the logo of the National Security Agency. While this is proof of nothing, it is curious in light of Dore's story from yesterday. One point that gives it credence: mis-using the logo of an agency of the US government is crime punishable by fines and/or imprisonment. The news of this has been all over the net all day. If it was not really placed there by NSA, Geocities would have certainly taken it down by now. We intend to test this. The site has been rebuilt here. Lets see what NSA has to say about that.

The reality of Mr. Dore's involvement and the supposed press conference is itself in doubt. "Our man" in London has reported the following:

I have called the British Astronomical Association who say they know nothing about the press conference.  Then I called the Royal Society of Chemistry who handle the Scientific Societies Lecture Theatre.  They looked into it and called back, saying that there is no such press conference scheduled there tomorrow, in fact the Environment Agency has the theatre booked for the whole day. I have spoken to the British Interplanetary Society, The British National Space Center, the editor of 'Astronomy Now' magazine, and even rang 'The Sun' and asked for Nathan Keyes, who does not exist as far as they know!  So, it has been interesting, but it is obviously a hoax!  The information is definitely WRONG.  I spoke directly with the man who runs the Lecture Theate, Colin Powell, who also knows nothing whatever about it.
I do not believe that a press conference was ever planned, certainly it was never promoted, and the press were not invited to anything, and the hall as described was not booked.  So I am suspicious. An MSNBC reporter, did a story about it.  He contacted Paul Dore by e-mail, and the response from Dore was a denial that he was involved in anything of the sort. 

It is kind of a neat trick to cancel a press conference that was never called, if that in fact is what this information means. There were also a number of other problems with some of the information posted at the Geocities site. It cannot now be denied that the signal exits, so how do you hoax something that's real? Well ... by creating a Red Herring, you can quash any attempts to seriously pursue a real signal. If you hoax a hoax, most pretty boy media types are going to buy the first hoax and stop asking questions. Which gives the insiders time ... for what? It is now more important than ever that more observations be made.

You may have noticed a series of strange commercials on CNN election coverage last night. We sure did. There were two from a company called Qwest. One featured a man in boat, watching what is described as a "shooting star" (actually a massive Tunguska sized body burning through the atmosphere) descend to Earth. The other features pyramids, data transfers, disk shaped objects and horses (Pegasus anyone?). They both end with the slogan "The world is about to become a very different place". Yeah.

The other commercials are from Andersen Consulting, basically a head hunting firm, and feature Constellations coming to life (including Taurus) and roping the moon with a magical rope of light and then starting to haul it away. Images from the ad campaign and an mpeg of the commercial can be seen here.

A frightening confirmation of our article on the Taurid Meteor Stream occurred today in Florida. What is being described as a "sink hole" appeared in the middle of a highway. Since the sink hole seems to have ejecta, we suspect this was actually the latest Taurid impact. More details to come.

Finally, if there is to be a "landing" of something in the Southwest on December 7th, there must be an alignment of some kind of symbolic significance on that day. So, does the model fit the data?

How about EQ Pegasi, dead on the Horizon, at high noon?

If these seemingly escalating events are real, and we are on the verge of a major revelation or disaster, it must follow that the "in crowd" knows about it. The commercials mentioned above are indicative of a growing trend of suspicious images and symbolic references, from the placement of the "Orion" logo in the movie "Apollo 13" (the mission which featured Pegasus on it's patch), to the eerily prescient storylines of Chris Carters "X-Files" and "Millenium". We seem to be bombarded (there's that word again) with images of coming disaster. The "Titanic" allegory seems strikingly appropriate. If we are going to sink and there aren't enough life boats, how would  you get the word out that it was time to pack up? Lets hope we can force the truth into the open and set our own course through the icy waters ahead.