Category: lenr-forum

relating to the LENR discussion site, http:://lenr-forum.com

Just when we thought it couldn’t get more ludicrous

It did. Yesterday, IH revealed a Rossi objection to a Discovery Request where Rossi objected to a request for communication records:

REQUEST NO. 4: All Communications between You and Giuseppe Levi, Evelyn Foschi, Torbjorn Hartman, Bo Hoistad, Roland Pettersson, Lars Tegner and/or Hanno Essen.

It included this:

ANSWER:  … It is clear from this request that Defendants seek only to harass and intimidate Plaintiffs through this request as Defendants know that some, or all, of the above individuals participate in the nomination process for the Nobel Prize and their involvement in this matter could jeopardize any consideration Plaintiffs may be receiving for such nomination.

Never mind that none of those people are members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which votes on the Nobel Prizes, nor that the disclosure of correspondence with them would have any effect on Rossi’s potential, never mind that Rossi is an engineer, not a scientist, and didn’t discover anything as to basic science (NiH reactions were suspected or shown before his claims), and never mind that Rossi has not shared his discoveries with the world as yet, and if he does, and if they are real, it would completely wipe out whatever oppobrium might settle on him from disclosure, and never mind that if he wanted to avoid this, filing the lawsuit would be, ah, counterproductive. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. One might think.

But today he topped himself. Continue reading “Just when we thought it couldn’t get more ludicrous”

The New Fizzle

Facts are facts, or why Darden et.al will lose the ECAT Case

This is a post, last updated in August, 2016, on thenewfire.wordpress.com, a site apparently owned by Rends, a lenr-forum.com moderator. I never saw any abusive moderator actions by him on lenr-forum, but when Alan Smith claimed to have the support of Staff, in his deletion actions and perhaps for his later ban, he could be part of that.

The blog is full of misinterpretation and conspiracy theory. The tagline is “Supporter of the LENR Revolution”, but, in fact, this is Planet Rossi, at its worst.

I received an email asking about a claim made on the blog page, so I’m looking at it in detail. Continue reading “The New Fizzle”

Is LENR real?

Yesterday, on lenr-forum.com, THHuxley wrote:

As someone who tends to be a debunker I can answer that [question about why people argue so much on lenr-forum]. Internet sites like this tend to be fan sites, where the object is admired. In this case people here would believe or hope LENR exists and come to see what new proofs and applications have been found.

I introduce here evidence for the reality of LENR. Continue reading “Is LENR real?”

Lenr-forum miscellany, with a fast and clearly-earned ban

I’ve been cleaning up the blog, creating structure, having fun, and, today, mostly, I wrote for the private CMNS list. Then I looked at lenr-forum, and saw some Stuff. This is miscellany and I don’t know yet what I’ll call this, it’s just what hit me. Continue reading “Lenr-forum miscellany, with a fast and clearly-earned ban”

Planet Rossi or just plain Planet Confusion?

The Rossi v. Darden developments thread on Lenr-forum.com has moved into more general discussion of the case. Randombit0, I call Zero, showed up with Planet Rossi arguments. He actually provides, as he has in the past, a hint that he is Rossi, not that it matters much. I’ll come to that.

The usual mishegas is studied and compared with case evidence and, ah, expert opinion.
Continue reading “Planet Rossi or just plain Planet Confusion?”

Ignorance is bliss

“Ignorance is bliss” is a reference to easy assumption that a site has free discussion. Even when it starts to become obvious that this is not so, it’s easy to make up excuses that allow us to think that everything is cool, moderation is a difficult job, nothing need be done, etc. All of that may be somewhat true, but it allows situations to fester and grow. After all, the community must support it, because if they didn’t….

If they didn’t, what? Why, they would just go away! Which may leave no visible sign of any problem. A site may be far less successful than possible, but who will know?

Most people, as well, will be afraid to “rock the boat.” After all, they might be next ….
Continue reading “Ignorance is bliss”

Trolling on lenr-forum

One of the common afflictions of internet discussion is trolling. Trolling is behavior that generally seeks to irritate or enrage participants, it is a move in a social game that seeks to win by upsetting the opponent. It is possible, at least in theory, for a troll to be ‘sincere,’ but merely ignorant. Having no mind-reading crystal ball, I assess trolling by effect, both actual and inferred.

A characteristic of trolls is that argument is endless. No matter what has come before, the troll will assert that his points have been completely established, and that resistance is futile, and stupid.

When trolling is allowed, discussion quality declines. There is, however, a strong anarchist bent to internet communities, and so trolling may be permitted. There is an audience that loves to see the conflict.

Lenr-forum traffic appears to have declined, there are fewer comments than I was accustomed to seeing. However, today brought these, so far. I will examine them from the point of view of trolling.:
Continue reading “Trolling on lenr-forum”

Commentary: Details matter

Kirk Shanahan is the last critic of LENR to be published on the topic in a peer-reviewed journal. Jed Rothwell is a long-standing supporter of LENR, an editor of scientific papers and translator from Japanese.

A post on lenr-forum from THHuxley looks at conflict between Jed Rothwell and Kirk Shanahan and draws conclusions about LENR. First of all, the participants:
Continue reading “Commentary: Details matter”

Commentary: Lenr-forum.com

I have been “permanently banned” on lenr-forum.com, a major LENR discussion site. I have already been commenting here on some issues raised there, this is now a necessity, if I’m to comment at all. Criticism and commentary is welcome here or there. I am continuing to watch lenr-forum.com at this time.

So this first post on lenr-forum.com will cover the ban. What preceded it?
Continue reading “Commentary: Lenr-forum.com”

Discussion on C&EN

In Chemical & Engineering News, a publication of the American Chemical Society.

Cold fusion died 25 years ago, but the research lives on

Scientists continue to study unusual heat-generating effects, some hoping for vindication, others for an eventual payday

Original article and comments. … Krivit reaction. … And more from Krivit.

Reaction on lenr-forum … and more on lenr-forum.

My interest being community process, always, I decided to study the comments on this article as they stand today. I may update this. Italics indicate quoted material. I have quoted the comments in their entirety, because cherry-picking (even if motivated without intention to bias) could create bias.
Continue reading “Discussion on C&EN”

COP is a red herring – what matters is reality of an effect

This was written as a response on lenr-forum.com, but became long and I decided this is worth a post here.

AlainCo wrote: If you came with 1% error, and an anomaly of 10%, a skeptic will bash you as “you have unaccounted error sources”, which is probably right, but not by 10%.

I consider it necessary in this field to stop worrying about skeptics, be skeptical oneself, and design controlled experiments for testing hypotheses, including exploring the parameter space, not for proving things to skeptics.
Continue reading “COP is a red herring – what matters is reality of an effect”

On Observation, Experiment, Theory, Trust and Belief

A discussion on lenr-forum led me to this musing. Eddington was quoted there.

“Never trust an experimental result until it has been confirmed by theory.”.

This led me to look at a 1978 New York times article, For a Nobel Math Prize, by Paul R. Chernoff, a mathematician, of course.

Continue reading “On Observation, Experiment, Theory, Trust and Belief”

All it takes to start a meeting is a resentment and a coffee pot.

— Alcoholics Anonymous saying.

I just built this and it’s quite a mess, but … I’m just going to sit and wait for someone to show up; until then I’ll just do what I feel like doing, but one thing is certain. Here, I’ll stay out of trouble. Or will I? Wanna help?

This domain is dedicated as a place for the community of interest in cold fusion to meet and discuss and perhaps even to cooperate and collaborate. All are welcome. This is a human community and will doubtless have some rules, but … don’t worry, be free, we will let you know if you break the as-yet-unwritten rules, and you’d have to try hard to get yourself kicked out. Or at least you would know you were doing it.
Continue reading “All it takes to start a meeting is a resentment and a coffee pot.”