from the comments at that site:
If you show me that, say,
Homeopathy works,
I will change my mind,
I will spin on a fucking dime.
I’ll be as embarrassed as hell,
Yet I will run through the streets yelling,
It’s a MIRACLE!
Take physics and bin it!
Water has memory!
And whilst its memory
Of a long lost drop of onion juice is infinite,
It somehow forgets all the poo it’s had in it.
You get… Blacklight Power.
I heard them mentioned on Talk of the Nation Science Friday yesterday afternoon and looked them up.
A sample of their awesomeness:
BlackLight Power Inc., is the pioneer of technology based on the patented process of releasing chemical energy from hydrogen called the “BlackLight Process.” More specifically, energy is released as the electrons of hydrogen atoms are induced by a catalyst to transition to lower-energy levels (i.e. drop to lower base orbits around each atom’s nucleus) corresponding to fractional quantum numbers. The lower-energy atomic hydrogen product called “hydrino” reacts with another reactant supplied to the reaction cell to form a hydride ion bound to the other reactant to constitute a novel proprietary compound, or two hydrinos react to form a very stable hydrogen-type molecule called a dihydrino molecule. As hydrogen atoms and catalyst atoms are normally found bound together as molecules or are bound in other compositions of matter, BlackLight has invented a solid fuel that uses conventional chemical reactions to generate the catalyst and atomic hydrogen at high reactant densities that in turn controllably achieves very high power densities. The catalyst causes the hydrogen atoms to transition to lower-energy states by allowing their electrons to fall to smaller radii around the nucleus with a release of energy that is intermediate between chemical and nuclear energies. BlackLight’s experimental results on its process and compositions of matter are published widely and have been replicated by independent groups.
This company has been around for a few years and wouldn’t really be notable, except for the fact that they have attracted $60 million in funding…. for extra tiny hydrogen molecules called “Hydrinos”!
Bob Parks is a physicist that likes to debunk mad scientists on his “What’s New” newsletter.
2. PATENT NONSENSE: COURT DENIES BLACKLIGHT POWER APPEAL.
The status of BlackLight Power’s intellectual property is fuzzier than ever. BLP was awarded Patent 6,024,935 for “Lower-Energy Hydrogen Methods and Structures,” a process for getting hydrogen atoms into a “state below the ground state” You might expect these shrunken hydrogen atoms, called “hydrinos,” to have a pretty special chemistry. Do they ever! Indeed, a second patent application titled “Hydride Compounds” had been assigned a number and BLP had paid the fee. Several other patents were in the works. That’s when things started heading South. Prompted by an outside inquiry (who would do such a thing?), the patent director became concerned that this hydrino stuff required the orbital electron to behave “contrary to the known laws of physics and chemistry.” The Hydride Compounds application was withdrawn for further review and the other patent applications were rejected. Since the one patent already issued involves the same violations of basic laws of physics, there is a cloud over its status as well. BLP filed suit in federal court arguing that it was too late for the Patent Office to change its mind. The court was not impressed, so BLP appealed the decision. In denying the appeal, the court said the Patent Office has a responsibility to take “extraordinary action” to withdraw a questionable patent. The long-awaited IPO may have to wait a little longer.
How do his backers have money for things like this? Shouldn’t they have been fleeced long ago?
The Mardas Gap was coined by Sam Jacobs to refer to the gap between an inventor’s promises and what is actually produced. “Mardas” refers to Magic Alex, the fascinating T.V. repairman who sold an invisible sonic force field to the Beatles.