mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== THOTH A Catastrophics Newsletter VOL III, No. 5 March 15, 1999 EDITOR: Amy Acheson PUBLISHER: Michael Armstrong LIST MANAGER: Brian Stewart CONTENTS THE PARADIGM SHOPPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Mel Acheson MORE TESTIMONIALS . . . . . . .by Barry Cornett and Wal Thornhill ELECTRICAL GRAVITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Wal Thornhill QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ELECTRIC SUN . . . . . . . . by Wal Thornhill GALACTIC CURRENTS AND THE OUTER PLANETS . . . . .by Wal Thornhill ---------------------------------------------- THE PARADIGM SHOPPE By Mel Acheson thoth at Whidbey.com This issue of Thoth contains a compilation of comments on solar phenomena as understood from an electrical or plasma-physics viewpoint. They illustrate what has been called the "incommensurability" of paradigms, a scholarly term for what is actually a rather mundane occurrence: the difficulties-and benefits!-of communication when words have more than one meaning. The difficulties arise from the listener's assumption that the speaker means what the listener has always meant. What the listener hears will sound nonsensical. The benefits arise from the listener's assumption that the speaker has in mind a different meaning engendered by a different viewpoint. By making an effort to understand the meaning, the listener can discover the new viewpoint. >From the viewpoint of established theory, the term "sun" refers to a set of observations understood as effects of the ideal gas law, gravity/radiation-pressure equilibrium, and thermonuclear reactions. Discrepancies between observations and the predictions of theory are accounted for by adjusting the theory to fit the facts (by more detailed articulation or by ad hoc amendment) or by discounting-even ignoring-facts that don't fit, that make no sense. >From the viewpoint of plasma physics, the term "sun" refers to a set of observations (not quite the same set as for established theory, and certainly with different degrees of importance attached) understood as effects of Birkeland currents, anode discharge characteristics, and driven circuits. While not denying the existence of gravity and gasses and fusion, it dismisses them as being of secondary importance, as not being the center of attention (just as established theory dismisses plasma phenomena as secondary and uninteresting). Because the universe of facts is much larger and more complex than the universe of our imaginations and theories, this selection and valuation of facts is an inherent aspect of building theories. Furthermore, the process of building theories is itself a tool of intellect that is directed toward and constrained by purposiveness: survival, comfort, curiosity, play. This restores to science the evolutionary, developmental, or just plain learning aspect that orthodoxy tends to ossify. (Science works best when it avoids the pretense of righteousness about the ideas and facts held in human hands, when it develops possibilities rather than proclaiming impossibilities and certainties.) The cumulative growth of knowledge represented by the articulation of a theory is occasionally interrupted by a jump to a more inclusive or more appropriate viewpoint, much as plateaus in a learning curve are separated by episodes of sudden insight into a larger understanding. This trait of human cognition that erects the successive edifices of theory is a common ground underlying their linguistic incommensurability. Knowledge is not "just the facts" nor "just theory" but a judgement about the relationship between facts and theory. And theories compete on this level of judgement: The criterion is not "which theory best fits the facts" but "which combination of facts and theory is most appropriate and promising for which purposes, in contexts of available resources, level of understanding, focus of curiosity, etc." My favorite example is the use of geocentric theory by architects to place a building on a site and of heliocentric theory by astronauts to place a robot on Mars. And if you insist that heliocentrism is "the real truth", what will you tell the little green men who ask directions to cross the galaxy?) Nor are these aspects known in advance, but, as Hayek pointed out in the field of economics, the competition is itself a process of discovery. That the acceptance of a paradigm takes place in the extrascientific arena of politics is simply the manifestation on a statistical or population level of the judgements of the individuals involved with the issue: how many judge which paradigm to be most appropriate. Communication occurs not so much at the level of formal debates as at the level of "market share". With that in mind, enjoy shopping this issue of Thoth. ---------------------------------------------- MORE TESTIMONIALS by Barry Cornett and Wal Thornhill "A light broke in upon my brain, 'twas the carol of a bird. It ceased and then it sang again the sweetest song ear ever heard." (From "The Prisoner of Chillon") And this is how I feel now that I have gone back to a 1982 journal Kronos and read Ralph Juergens "Electric Discharge as the Source of Solar Radiant Energy." My thanks go to Wal Thornhill who finally straightened out my thinking by pointing out where that old article was. I remember seeing it many years ago. I hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to it then-I guess that shows how bright a scientist I am! I have had so much trouble getting a "feeling" for this new (to me) plasma physics business. I know that sounds silly, but I just have to have a "feeling" for scientific concepts. The same is true of mathematical concepts. I was having one hell of a time getting a "feeling" for Wal's Electric Universe. I just couldn't get past the plasma thing, and the electrical circuitry anomalies they seemed to present. I know what the problem was now. It's the magnitude of the whole damned thing! This whole thing is on a scale that is nearly incomprehensible. (In fact, maybe it is incomprehensible?) The Sun is an anode. A positively charged entity. Where's the other part of the electric circuit? The cathode? It is the baffling volume of space that surrounds the Sun called the Solar System. The current flowing into the Sun from the electrons and/or negative ions in that space constitute the cathode drop. This is not an easy scene to grasp! (In fact I may not have grasped it yet! But I have a "feeling" for it anyhow!) Now, granted there are not very many electrons, or negative ions (or protons and positive ions, for that matter) in interstellar space. It is estimated that there are only 50,000 electrons in a cubic meter. That is practically nothing. BUT, try to imagine the incredible number of such negative particles in a spherical volume with a radius the size of Pluto's orbit! That volume is conservatively 15 times 10 with 27 zeros behind it, cubic miles! Now, imagine all these little electrons drifting inward toward the positive Sun, gathering velocity along the way as well as saturation (electrons/M"), until near the Sun's surface there is not only a giant amperage, but the electrons have reached relativistic velocities! We are talking major energy proportions here! Just think of the electromagnetic fields! And think of the immense ionization going on near the surface, and the much more massive protons and positive ions being repelled by the anode, and you are visualizing the solar corona, and flares, and God knows what else! What a vision! Barry Cornett. Wal Thornhill adds: My thanks to Barry! You have expressed how I felt when I first read Ralph's articles back in the 70's. All the years since I have been waiting for someone else to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by Ralph. When they do, I told myself, I'll support them to the hilt. It finally dawned on me after re-establishing a connection with Dave Talbott a few years ago that I could be a long time dead waiting for someone else. Also, I think there is a time for everything and my view of what I like to call "The Big Picture" didn't finally fall into place until a few years ago. It is a synthesis of ideas resulting from odd synchronicities in my life, Juergens being a major player. To see someone else grasp that picture is all the reward I could ask for. Wal Thornhill ---------------------------------------------- ELECTRICAL GRAVITY By Wal Thornhill [ed. note: This is the latest in a series of responses to the misunderstanding that electrically-driven gravity might somehow not follow the same physical laws as conventional gravity.] Juergens' model (which is what I'm discussing) was not dependent on tossing out the accepted view of gravity, although he did offer the opinion that it would be found to be an electrical effect, as had Velikovsky and others before him. Obviously any replacement theory of gravity must satisfy all of the measured physical aspects of gravity, including that manifest in the Sun. To claim to be a superior model it should also offer explanations for any anomalies, and there are several that I've mentioned before. Besides, the current theory of gravity is pure metaphysics and cries out for re-examination. Ralph Sansbury, in the latest copy I have of his work, 'GRAVITY AND LIGHT: charge polarization inside electrons & atomic nuclei', 1998, writes (p.60): "The linkage between gravity and electrical forces as formulated here is related to the linkage formulated differently in other theories including Einstein's general relativity. Before discussing general relativity and other ways of interpreting the data confirming it, I think it is interesting to note the historical interest in such a linkage which culminated to some degree, before Einstein's general relativity, in the work of Mossotti, Zollner and Debye on polar molecules and the attraction thereby of neutral particles suggesting that the gravitational force between neutral particles might be ultimately due to electrical causes. In his 1882 book, Explanation of Universal Gravitation through the Static Action of Electricity and The General Importance of Weber's Laws, Fredrich Zollner writes, in the introduction,. '... we are to conclude that a pair of electrical particles of opposite signs, i.e. two Weberian molecular pairs attract each other. This attraction is Gravity; it is proportional to the total number of molecular pairs.' ." . . . Ralph's work has a distinguished pedigree. And all of those people knew well the difference between a simple dipolar interaction and gravity. Before Einstein muddied the water, it was an obvious idea to look for the origin of the gravitational force in the fundamental electrical nature of matter. Note that we are NOT talking about the bulk separation of charge. We are dealing with dipoles the size of electrons, protons and neutrons. In Ralph's model, it is their ability to influence one another at a speed far in excess of c, and cooperate in massive bodies that gives the resultant which we term gravity. ---------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ELECTRIC SUN by Wal Thornhill A reader asks: Why does the sun exhibit a spectrum like that of a blackbody? Wal Thornhill responds: Please explain why the source of heating should make any difference to the spectrum of the Sun? Does a hot-plate on a stove radiate any differently if it is heated electrically rather than by gas? Based on the work of Dr C E R Bruce of the Electrical Research Association in England and Eric Crew, FRAS, the solar granulation (where most of the visible photospheric radiation is emitted) is the upwelling of glowing gas, heated and accelerated from below by 1,000's of kilometres long lightning bolts. Those thread-like lightning bolts can be seen to advantage in the penumbrae of sunspots. They have no conventional explanation. Juergens gave a very detailed discussion of the role of solar granulation in the anode phenomenon we call the Sun in Kronos IV No. 4. When it comes to the Fraunhofer lines (dark lines caused by absorption of specific wavelengths by neutral atoms and ions in the solar atmosphere) in the solar spectrum, Juergens quotes H Zirin in 'The Solar Atmosphere', p. 295; "The problem of the production of the Fraunhofer lines is so complicated ... that attempts to predict the profiles from model atmospheres have ended in total failure." Juergens proceeds to show how the electrical model may explain the many anomalies. More questions: What does the galactic plasma look like? How can you know it's getting more negative? How do you measure it? How much is there? So why don't other isolated objects, like the Earth, also glow? Wal responds: It is the most reasonable answer I can think of and it fits with the work of plasma cosmologists. The plasma cosmologists have drawn the configuration of galactic plasma in an electrified cosmos. (See "The Big Bang Never Happened" by Lerner). It takes the form of twisted current ropes following the spiral arms of our galaxy. The evidence for their existence and their magnitude comes from maps of the galactic magnetic field. Some indirect evidence for progressive galactic electrification also comes from an extension of mine to the work of Halton Arp on quasar red shifts and the formation of plasmoids at the centre of active galactic nuclei (AGN's). Other objects do glow. The night side of Venus for example has a glow that can be photographed, yet its night is so long that it should have no ionosphere to speak of on the dark side. The dark side of the Moon is bathed in x-rays. The outer planets all radiate more energy than they receive from the Sun. There is however a fundamental difference between the light from the Sun and that from the planets. It is also known that a DC corona discharge from very small wires requires very high current before a luminous discharge appears from positive wires. This suggests that in a given galactic environment a certain size must be reached before a stellar type discharge can begin. A reader objects: GPS satellites must calculate the pressure on them due to solar radiation in order to determine their orbits. No calculations are made for any pressure in the opposite direction (towards the sun) because there is no pressure in the opposite direction. ... The electrical model, as far as I can work out, relies on an equal amount of energy heading towards the sun as away. These relativistic electrons should, by Wal's model, charge up the satellite and push it towards the sun. ... Wal answers: Solar radiation pressure has nothing to do with pressure from the solar plasma. GPS satellites don't orbit outside the Earth's magnetosphere so they are not subject to the solar wind or cosmic electrons. Anyway, the incoming energy is partitioned differently to that leaving the Sun so it is meaningless to talk of opposing "pressures". Charging of a satellite is a transient affair unless it is travelling on a cometary orbit with a large heliocentric radial component. Measurement of the characteristics of a plasma by a probe immersed in that plasma is fraught with difficulty and relies on the correctness of assumptions about the nature of the plasma. Since all physicists assume a neutral plasma surrounding the Sun as their starting point, it is very likely that none of the experiments performed so far were either capable of providing a definitive answer to the Electric Sun hypothesis, or if they were the results may have been misinterpreted using an incorrect physical model, or in the worst case the instruments may have been deemed to be malfunctioning and the data discarded. ---------------------------------------------- GALACTIC CURRENTS AND THE OUTER PLANETS By Wal Thornhill The planets do intercept some of the galactic energy on its way to the Sun. (But not much on the outward journey from the Sun). Neptune exhibits strange variations in albedo, inversely related to the solar cycle. Whether that is a direct electrical glow in the ionosphere or some other albedo effect in the atmosphere is not clear. In the Electric Universe, the most tangible evidence of electrical energy input to the planets is in their weather systems. Neptune for example has wind speeds up to almost 1500 mph! It also exhibits spots which I think are sudden releases of energy from the encircling plasmoid (radiation belt) via plasma discharges into the ionosphere. I would expect therefore that changes in albedo would be tied to the solar cycle since that, in turn, reflects the passage of the solar system across the cosmic power conduits: the galactic Birkeland current threads. Neptune's moon exhibits "geyser" activity which indicates electric discharges are impinging on that moon, just like Jupiter's moon, Io. (Would you believe it? - the greenhouse effect was invoked to explain Triton's geyser activity!) It is also covered with double-ridges, like Europa. The next closest outer planet, Uranus, exhibits a phenomenon termed "electroglow" in its upper atmosphere. No one could explain where the electrons got their energy from. "Hot" protons with energies up to 500MeV were found. Also, the warmest point on the planet was its north pole which had been in darkness for 40 years when Voyager 2 shot past. This offers a clue as to how the Earth might have had a uniform global climate during the Saturnian era, since most of the energy appearing in the atmospheres of these outer planets is toward the infra-red and ultraviolet ends of the spectrum. Dwardu has written on the subject of the purple light of that era. It is the plasmoid that fundamentally drives planetary weather systems. It is evident that the weather models used on Earth are missing something important since they don't work for any other planet. Even the Sun has weather! - which strengthens my conviction that it is a common electrical phenomena. ---------------------------------------------- PLEASE VISIT THE KRONIA COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE: http://www.kronia.com Other suggested Web site URL's for more information about Catastrophics: [Ed note: the SIS Website address has changed to: http://www.knowledge.co.uk/sis/ ] Subscriptions to AEON, a journal of myth and science, may be ordered at the I-net address below: http://www.ames.net/aeon/ http://www.knowledge.co.uk/sis/ http://www.flash.net/~cjransom/ http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/velikovskian/ http://www.bearfabrique.org http://www.grazian-archive.com/ Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered, 10 Pensée Journals may be ordered at the I-net address below: http://nt.e-z.net/mikamar/default.html ----------------------------------------------- The THOTH electronic newsletter is an outgrowth of scientific and scholarly discussions in the emerging field of astral catastrophics. Our focus is on a reconstruction of ancient astral myths and symbols in relation to a new theory of planetary history. Serious readers must allow some time for these radically different ideas to be fleshed out and for the relevant background to be developed. The general tenor of the ideas and information presented in THOTH is supported by the editor and publisher, but there will always be plenty of room for differences of interpretation. We welcome your comments and responses. thoth at Whidbey.com New readers are referred to earlier issues of THOTH posted on the Kronia website listed above. Go to the free newsletter page and double click on the image of Thoth, the Egyptian God of Knowledge, to access the back issues. --- You are currently subscribed to kroniatalk as: mikamar at e-z.net To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-kroniatalk-36515E at telelists.com