Will It Be Gold Fusion?

Is cold as good as gold? If (if. . .if. . .if. . .) the science defined in last Sunday's "60 Minutes" (CBS-TV) program holds true, cold fusion is real and endowed with immense potential for "free" energy. Unfortunately, the two scientists originally credited with a successful cold fusion experiment years ago were vilified by fellow scientists who found the chore unreproducible, but renewed laboratory conquests accomplished by others may transform them into heroes for our time -- and their detractors into irrelevant wisps of hypocrisy and huffy pomposity.

There also might be a lesson in all of this for members of the scientific community who continue to deny the UFO phenomenon and either condemn or obstruct further research by their fellows. In the meantime, may I suggest:

Cold infusion: The process by which numerous scientific minds coagulate into an icy aggregate of doubt following the introduction of an unwelcome thought.

Hypothesopreposterous: The description of a theory held beneath contempt by the proper scientific community because. . .um. . .because, after all, they are the proper scientific community and they can't be bothered to explore things that simply cannot or must not be.

Bonehead: Bonehead.

Whale of a Tale in Walesville?

Was a UFO directly or indirectly responsible for the crash of an F-94 fighter jet in Walesville, NY in July of 1954 -- a crash resulting in the deaths of several people? Did the pilot and his radar observer bail out just prior to the ditching because a UFO somehow caused intense heat in the cockpit? Could another UFO have been present, but uninvolved with the main incident?

Maybe the details aren't quite what UFO literature has echoed and reaffirmed for the last 55 years, at least according to the evidence as outlined by researcher Kevin Randle. As a New York resident, I've often quoted the Walesville incident recorded in books by Donald Keyhoe and others in the past myself, but Randle's fresh look at the evidence and time line reminds us that one can never be too cautious, particularly when older cases are involved.

Still, Randle does encounter disagreement on his blog, as questions are raised by at least one reader. Whatever one's opinion, Kevin Randle's blog entry entitled, "Walesville UFO Jet Chase" is worth your time (see the link to his site in the margin).