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 II, No. 4 February 28, 1998 EDITOR: Amy Acheson PUBLISHER: Michael Armstrong LIST MANAGER: Brian Stewart CONTENTS: Catalyst For a Paradigm Shift . . . . . . . . . . . Amy Acheson A Hearty Welcome to Amy. . . . . . . . . . . . . .David Talbott Europa Close-ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wal Thornhill Electric Universe Predictions For Comet Probe . . Wal Thornhill A Geologist Looks at Valles Marineris . . . . . . Louis Hissink Comments by Wal Thornhill ----------------------------------------------- CATALYST FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT By Amy Acheson (with selected input from Kronia-list members) "I don't get any feeling at all that astronomers and castrophysicists are in any mood for the grand-daddy of all paradigm shifts. But it has to come." Wal Thornhill In fact, the new paradigm is waiting at the station for those who dare to climb aboard. The ride is exhilarating, the scenery incredible. The universe has never been so intriguing. As for the old paradigm, you need look only as far as the nearest popular science magazines to see it puffing back to the repair shop: "Have you read 'How Stars Shine' by James Trefil in the Jan 1998 issue of Astronomy magazine? . . . Quote: 'If it [the lack of neutrinos] isn't [explained], it will be back to the drawing board on this whole issue.'" D.E. Scott, PhD THOTH can be one of those drawing boards on which we build a new model, deeply rooted in mythology and stretching to the infinity of the electric universe. And it's not limited to the extremes of prehistory and cosmology. This fundamental shift in perspective holds exciting new opportunities for every aspect of human knowledge and research. For example: " . . .if there have been very large changes in Earth's mag. field (or Earth's charge?) in previous epochs I'd be very surprised if life (and its chemistry) wasn't affected directly" D.E. DAVIS As I assume the position of editor of THOTH, this is my goal: to make this magazine a catalyst for a paradigm shift and a forum for discussing and exploring the implications of ancient planetary catastrophe.. Submissions welcome. Amy Acheson thoth at Whidbey.com ----------------------------------------------- A HEARTY WELCOME TO AMY By David Talbott I would like to personally express my gratitude to Amy Acheson for taking on the editorial chores of THOTH. Over the past year, Amy's contributions to Kronia's electronic discussion group brought many important issues to light, and she has shown an excellent grasp of the "big picture" questions. As THOTH's circulation continues to grow, we will be adding new features to the newsletter, while developing a team of regular contributors. Since many new readers have signed on in recent months, I list below a few of the research-themes to be explored in THOTH-- 1. Planetary catastrophes have had a far greater impact on the evolution of the solar system, the history of our earth, and the evolution of human consciousness than science has acknowledged. 2. Modern science has failed to understand the role of electricity in organizing the physical world, from the molecular, to the global, to the intergalactic. 3. Astronomy took a wrong turn when scientists came to believe that planets have moved on their present courses for billions of years. This idea was possible because the theorists assumed that only gravity and inertia controlled the behavior of planets and moons. 4. A few thousand years ago, the Earth itself moved in a close congregation of planets. At times, these planets appeared as familiar, charitable, and kind sources of comfort. But at other times, these huge bodies loomed erratic and terrifying above ancient skyworshippers. 5. During episodes of instability, as planets moved on near-collision courses, electrical discharges (lightning bolts) flew between planets and moons, producing massive and still-visible scars on these bodies. 6. These events were experienced around the world as the most awesome and traumatic events in human history. 7. The first civilizations arose in the shadow of sweeping planetary upheaval, and in these violent events one discovers the experiential taproot beneath ancient myth, ritual, and symbolism. So too, these events will help to illuminate hidden urges and fears that still influence the human psyche today. 8. To face and finally embrace this human experience will precipitate nothing less than an intellectual revolution, affecting all of science, our educational institutions, the direction of space exploration, our religious institutions, our sense of connection to planets and stars, and our deepest understanding of human identity. David Talbott dtalbott at teleport.com ----------------------------------------------- EUROPA CLOSEUPS By Wal Thornhill A few days ago, NASA released the closest ever images of Europa. See them at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/index.html The highest resolution one, catalog no. PIA01180 has a resolution down to 6 meters and shows a view from an angle as if looking out of an aircraft window. At the top of the picture are two prominent furrows with dark material lying at the foot of each central valley. The dark material appears to be largely comprised of a string of craters. The text accompanying the picture referring to the similar dark markings closer in at the foot of the image says: "Smaller dark, circular features seen here are probably impact craters." Does that mean that the strings of them along the valley floors are impact craters? It cannot be so. What we are seeing are the crater strings associated with lightning tearing across the surface. On the Moon, astronauts were puzzled by the fact that all craters, down to a meter or less in diameter, had glazed floors. Impacts do not cause much melting, lightning does. The dark material on Europa is most likely melted surface material. That together with the crater circularity and the strings of them along the valley floors central to the furrows fit the electrical explanation alone. The walls of the valleys have a characteristic V-shape and in another of the images, PIA01178, there is a prominent furrow running from top to bottom of the image. In it can be seen the transverse striations expected from the blast effect of surface lightning. I have noted similar striations in recent closeups of channels on Mars. Some of the melted matter should, as on the Moon, have been scattered to either side of the furrows. There appears to be some down the right-hand margin of the furrow last mentioned. The NASA caption says: "The brightness of the region suggests that frost covers much of Europa's surface." I think that would explain the patchy nature of the dark areas along the furrow margin where the frost for some reason has not covered the underlying material. The complexity of the furrowing in the image, PIA01178, should give serious pause to any geologist trying to explain Europa's features by tectonics. The parallelism and conformity of the cross-cutting ridges, the apparent disregard for topology by later furrows, the lack of evidence for any flow from later furrows into earlier ones (if we heed the notion that the ridges are formed by upwelling icy slush) do not have any counterpart on Earth. As if all of this weren't enough to kill off conventional explanations, we have similar furrowed scarring on Ganymede, Saturn's moons Enceladus, Tethys and Dione, Uranus' Miranda and Neptune's Triton - to name but a few. Some of these moons are tiny. Tectonics anyone? Slushy ice at Neptune? I don't think so. Wal Thornhill walt at netinfo.com.au ---------------------------------------------- ELECTRIC UNIVERSE PREDICTIONS FOR SPACE PROBE By Wal Thornhill >Planned for launch in 2003, the Deep Space 4/Champollion >spacecraft will rendezvous with Comet Tempel 1 in 2005 and >spend several months orbiting the comet nucleus making >high-resolution maps of its surface. The spacecraft will >deploy a lander with a 1-meter-long (3.3-foot)drill to >collect samples that will be analyzed on-site; an attempt >will be made to return a sample to Earth in 2010. >The project is part of the Deep Space mission series under >the NASA/JPL New Millennium Program, designed to perform >flight demonstrations of new spacecraft technologies for >solar system and Earth-orbiting missions. I predict that unless NASA has begun to take notice of The Electric Universe before they perform this comet caper, they will be in for some nasty surprises. To begin with, it will be an interesting exercise to orbit an object that is firing plasma beams and modifying its apparent gravity in the process. Any object that tries to land on it will need lightning arrestors fitted to equalize the voltage differences before touchdown. But a more serious problem will occur after landing. Any metal object protruding from the surface of the comet will become a prime candidate for the focus of one of the comet's plasma discharges. In that case, even if the electronics survives, radio communications will be lost until the nucleus rotates the lander to the night side. Any lander should be rigorously tested in a plasma lab and allowance made for loss of communications due to plasma shielding. In other words, NASA would be well advised to use light signaling (like an infra-red remote control) between the lander and the orbiter. The orbiter will also suffer plasma shielding effects in its communications with Earth. If these precautions are not taken, I expect the mission to fail mysteriously just as the Pioneer Venus probes had mysterious sensor failures, all at the same level in Venus' atmosphere, and where a voltage inexplicably appeared between the ends of disconnected external electrical leads on the probes. This is an Electrical Universe! Wal Thornhill ---------------------------------------------- A GEOLOGIST LOOKS AT VALLES MARINERIS By Louis Hissink With comments by Wal Thornhill >Ok, Ok, Wal, here is one geologist who is unabashedly not >a Lyellian. Professionally having a catastrophic bent is >not good, considering the tribality of the geological >profession in Australia, but what the heck, genius has to >pays its price. :-) [WT] Good to hear from a catastrophist outback beyond the Black Stump! >Now I had, until this posting, assumed that the channels caused a drenching of the solar system with water, (the >flood stories ETC). (Louis Franks ice comets may be a >hangover from that event). I now see that this >interpretation needs revision in light of the latest data >(above). [WT] I welcome input from the mythologists on Kronia, but I think that the very earliest references to Mars as a blue planet indicates that it had water then. I would expect that time to be when Mars shared an orbit with the Earth about Saturn's equator. (I've given my reasons for this conjecture in an earlier post). Mars lost its atmosphere and water in its later interactions with Venus and the Earth in the formation of the Polar Configuration. It was then reported to have developed its characteristic rusty red appearance. Mars may have been responsible for much of the water that came from the heavens and also the bloody, rusty appearance of the water at times. It was about the time of the breakup of the Polar Config that Mars copped massive interplanetary discharges, causing most of the scarring which appears so fresh on its surface today. >If Wal's interpretation is correct, that some of the Martian >channels are collapse structures, meaning that Mars has >experienced expansion as a result of interaction with >Venus/earth, then that seems to be OK. In this scenario >electrical interaction between two cosmic bodies results >in partial melting of the internal rocks/material of the >body, causing a gross volumetric increase by lower density >rocks caused by internal melting, ala Bowen's reaction >series, and thus differential expansion. Cooling after >this electro thermal event (Anfilov scenario) causes >collapse structures, and earth quakes. [WT] Hang on, I'm arguing against collapse as a mechanism for the creation of VM etc. Collapse should take place along fault planes which could be at any angle to the vertical. The canyon walls are almost without exception near vertical. Of course, that doesn't rule out the interesting scenario you describe but when you look at the other odd characteristics of VM they match electrical scarring to a T. >Mind you, one must also be aware of the stratigraphical >implications. If the flood legend is older than the >Martian event which I interpret as occurring at approx 750 >BC, then the collapse structures will be younger than >water caused channels. This implies that further imagery >will be complex. [WT] That was roughly Velikovsky's dating of the Martian event. I agree with the Saturnist position that these things were "prehistoric", with echoes into historic times. >As I am in Western Australia and have to rely on satellite >email (at $2 per min), or GSM connections, looking at the >images is a fiscal no-no, so until I get back into Wet >season mode, I will soley rely on the Thoth e-news for >further data. I'm glad you are keeping in touch. Regards, Wal Thornhill PLEASE VISIT THE KRONIA COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE-- http://www.kronia.com/~kronia/ Other suggested Web site URL's for more information about Catastrophics: 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/xxx/cat/sis/ http://www.flash.net/~cjransom/ http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/velikovskian/ http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/Catastrophism.html http://www.grazian-archive.com/ http://www.tcel.com/~mike/paper.html Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered, 10 Pensee 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 initial focus will be 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. New readers are referred to earlier installments in issues of THOTH posted on the Kronia website listed above. Go to the THOTH page and click on the image titled "Thoth: the Egyptian God of Knowledge" to access the back issues. ----------------------------------------------- EUROPA CLOSEUPS By Wal Thornhill A few days ago, NASA released the closest ever images of Europa. See them at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/index.html The highest resolution one, catalog no. PIA01180 has a resolution down to 6 meters and shows a view from an angle as if looking out of an aircraft window. At the top of the picture are two prominent furrows with dark material lying at the foot of each central valley. The dark material appears to be largely comprised of a string of craters. The text accompanying the picture referring to the similar dark markings closer in at the foot of the image says: "Smaller dark, circular features seen here are probably impact craters." Does that mean that the strings of them along the valley floors are impact craters? It cannot be so. What we are seeing are the crater strings associated with lightning tearing across the surface. On the Moon, astronauts were puzzled by the fact that all craters, down to a meter or less in diameter, had glazed floors. Impacts do not cause much melting, lightning does. The dark material on Europa is most likely melted surface material. That together with the crater circularity and the strings of them along the valley floors central to the furrows fit the electrical explanation alone. The walls of the valleys have a characteristic V-shape and in another of the images, PIA01178, there is a prominent furrow running from top to bottom of the image. In it can be seen the transverse striations expected from the blast effect of surface lightning. I have noted similar striations in recent closeups of channels on Mars. Some of the melted matter should, as on the Moon, have been scattered to either side of the furrows. There appears to be some down the right-hand margin of the furrow last mentioned. The NASA caption says: "The brightness of the region suggests that frost covers much of Europa's surface." I think that would explain the patchy nature of the dark areas along the furrow margin where the frost for some reason has not covered the underlying material. The complexity of the furrowing in the image, PIA01178, should give serious pause to any geologist trying to explain Europa's features by tectonics. The parallelism and conformity of the cross-cutting ridges, the apparent disregard for topology by later furrows, the lack of evidence for any flow from later furrows into earlier ones (if we heed the notion that the ridges are formed by upwelling icy slush) do not have any counterpart on Earth. As if all of this weren't enough to kill off conventional explanations, we have similar furrowed scarring on Ganymede, Saturn's moons Enceladus, Tethys and Dione, Uranus' Miranda and Neptune's Triton - to name but a few. Some of these moons are tiny. Tectonics anyone? Slushy ice at Neptune? I don't think so. Wal Thornhill ---------------------------------------------- ELECTRIC UNIVERSE PREDICTIONS FOR SPACE PROBE By Wal Thornhill >Planned for launch in 2003, the Deep Space 4/Champollion >spacecraft will rendezvous with Comet Tempel 1 in 2005 and >spend several months orbiting the comet nucleus making >high-resolution maps of its surface. The spacecraft will >deploy a lander with a 1-meter-long (3.3-foot)drill to >collect samples that will be analyzed on-site; an attempt >will be made to return a sample to Earth in 2010. >The project is part of the Deep Space mission series under >the NASA/JPL New Millennium Program, designed to perform >flight demonstrations of new spacecraft technologies for >solar system and Earth-orbiting missions. I predict that unless NASA has begun to take notice of The Electric Universe before they perform this comet caper, they will be in for some nasty surprises. To begin with, it will be an interesting exercise to orbit an object that is firing plasma beams and modifying its apparent gravity in the process. Any object that tries to land on it will need lightning arrestors fitted to equalize the voltage differences before touchdown. But a more serious problem will occur after landing. Any metal object protruding from the surface of the comet will become a prime candidate for the focus of one of the comet's plasma discharges. In that case, even if the electronics survives, radio communications will be lost until the nucleus rotates the lander to the night side. Any lander should be rigorously tested in a plasma lab and allowance made for loss of communications due to plasma shielding. In other words, NASA would be well advised to use light signaling (like an infra-red remote control) between the lander and the orbiter. The orbiter will also suffer plasma shielding effects in its communications with Earth. If these precautions are not taken, I expect the mission to fail mysteriously just as the Pioneer Venus probes had mysterious sensor failures, all at the same level in Venus' atmosphere, and where a voltage inexplicably appeared between the ends of disconnected external electrical leads on the probes. This is an Electrical Universe! Wal Thornhill ---------------------------------------------- A GEOLOGIST LOOKS AT VALLES MARINERIS By Louis Hissink Comments by Wal Thornhill >Ok, Ok, Wal, here is one geologist who is unabashedly not >a Lyellian. Professionally having a catastrophic bent is >not good, considering the tribality of the geological >profession in Australia, but what the heck, genius has to >pays its price. :-) [WT] Good to hear from a catastrophist outback beyond the Black Stump! >Now I had, until this posting, assumed that the channels caused a drenching of the solar system with water, (the >flood stories ETC). (Louis Franks ice comets may be a >hangover from that event). I now see that this >interpretation needs revision in light of the latest data >(above). [WT] I welcome input from the mythologists on Kronia, but I think that the very earliest references to Mars as a blue planet indicates that it had water then. I would expect that time to be when Mars shared an orbit with the Earth about Saturn's equator. (I've given my reasons for this conjecture in an earlier post). Mars lost its atmosphere and water in its later interactions with Venus and the Earth in the formation of the Polar Configuration. It was then reported to have developed its characteristic rusty red appearance. Mars may have been responsible for much of the water that came from the heavens and also the bloody, rusty appearance of the water at times. It was about the time of the breakup of the Polar Config that Mars copped massive interplanetary discharges, causing most of the scarring which appears so fresh on its surface today. >If Wal's interpretation is correct, that some of the Martian >channels are collapse structures, meaning that Mars has >experienced expansion as a result of interaction with >Venus/earth, then that seems to be OK. In this scenario >electrical interaction between two cosmic bodies results >in partial melting of the internal rocks/material of the >body, causing a gross volumetric increase by lower density >rocks caused by internal melting, ala Bowen's reaction >series, and thus differential expansion. Cooling after >this electro thermal event (Anfilov scenario) causes >collapse structures, and earth quakes. [WT] Hang on, I'm arguing against collapse as a mechanism for the creation of VM etc. Collapse should take place along fault planes which could be at any angle to the vertical. The canyon walls are almost without exception near vertical. Of course, that doesn't rule out the interesting scenario you describe but when you look at the other odd characteristics of VM they match electrical scarring to a T. >Mind you, one must also be aware of the stratigraphical >implications. If the flood legend is older than the >Martian event which I interpret as occurring at approx 750 >BC, then the collapse structures will be younger than >water caused channels. This implies that further imagery >will be complex. [WT] That was roughly Velikovsky's dating of the Martian event. I agree with the Saturnist position that these things were "prehistoric", with echoes into historic times. >As I am in Western Australia and have to rely on satellite >email (at $2 per min), or GSM connections, looking at the >images is a fiscal no-no, so until I get back into Wet >season mode, I will soley rely on the Thoth e news for >further data. I'm glad you are keeping in touch. Regards, Wal Thornhill Louis Hissink ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Wal Thornhill ---------------------------------------------- PLEASE VISIT THE KRONIA COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE-- http://www.kronia.com/~kronia/ Other suggested Web site URL's for more information about Catastrophics: 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/xxx/cat/sis/ http://www.flash.net/~cjransom/ http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/velikovskian/ http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/Catastrophism.html http://www.grazian-archive.com/ http://www.tcel.com/~mike/paper.html Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered, 10 Pensee Journals may be ordered at the I-net address below: http://www.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 initial focus will be 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. New readers are referred to earlier installments in issues of THOTH posted on the Kronia website listed above. Go to the THOTH page and click on the image titled "Thoth: the Egyptian God of Knowledge" to access the back issues.