What's New for 1-25-02

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@ICX.NET>]

Some DOE and energy news from Robert Park, for your edification and

amusement.



--Susan Gawarecki



WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 25 Jan 02   Washington, DC



1. DOE VOODOO: INSPECTOR GENERAL UNCOVERS MORE HIGH-TECH DOWSING.

The DOE Office of Environmental Management supports development

of innovative environmental cleanup technologies.  It would be

hard to imagine anything more innovative than "Passive Magnetic

Resonance Anomaly Mapping," which combines an electronic system

and a human operator into a single bio-sensory unit by connecting

the operator at the wrists to an electronic system strapped to

his waist.  The device is supposed to locate underground water,

faults, fractures, buried objects and chemicals.  Specifics on

the interaction between the operator and the electronics are, of

course, proprietary.  However, it relies on the operator's

ability to sense tiny changes in magnetic fields.  You've been

having trouble sensing magnetic fields?  Not to worry.  The

operator, a Ukrainian, is said to be the only person in the world

who can.  According to the DOE Inspector General's report, no

peer review was sought before spending $408,750 on field tests. 

You will be shocked to learn that it failed every test.  The

company that developed it blamed calibration problems.  We are

reminded that DOE also bought into the DKL LifeGuard.  It was

supposed to detect a human heartbeat through 500 ft. of concrete

and steel(WN 25 Sep 98). Before that, DOE fell for the Quadro

Tracker, a dowsing rod with lights and buttons (WN 12 Jan 96).



2. IRISH VOODOO: REUTERS BITES ON THE LATEST FREE-ENERGY CLAIM. 

I got a call this week from a Reuters correspondent in Dublin who

had witnessed a demonstration of the Jasker Power System, a motor

that is said to replenish its own energy source.  All he could

tell me about it was that it's the "size of a dishwasher," and it

kept three 100-watt light bulbs lit for two hours without running

down the "starting batteries."  To prevent the idea from being

stolen, everything else was secret. It was developed in Ireland

to keep the U.S. government from suppressing it.  What did I

think?  I think he was a damned fool for covering it.  The first

warning sign of voodoo science is that it's pitched directly to

the media.  Second, details of how it works are withheld.  Third,

a powerful establishment is said to be attempting to suppress it.



THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND and THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

Opinions are the author's, and are not necessarily shared by the

University or the American Physical Society, but they should be.

--

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