>From Mark Iverson
> What I see in your [Terry Blanton's] posts, TB, > is overconfident, arrogant intelligence... And you > wonder why you were banned? Probably not the first > time, eh? Can you say, "Clueless"? > > Perhaps you should learn to ask questions minus the > snide, derogatory remarks. and > You wouldn't believe a thing they say at this point, so > what good would it do? >From Esa Ruoho > i understand the desperate need to disbelieve, and the desperate > need to believe, in what Steorn say, be they educated guesses, > opinions based on experience, or just plain distrust / trust. >From my perception, Mark appears to want to believe in the sincerity of Steorn's OU claims. While many within the Vort Collective might have their doubts, I suspect few are inclined to fuss over it - at least for the moment. Most appear to be taking a sensible wait-and-see approach. In the meantime, and unfortunately for Mark, he appears to have grown increasingly defensive towards those who have chosen to be more expressive of their criticism of Steorn's controversial claims. >From my perception, it all seems to boil down to the simple fact that Terry isn't willing to take Steorn's claims at face value, certainly not without proper due diligence. Personally, I might be inclined to be more in sympathy with Mark's valiant defensive of Steorn's plan-of-action if it was clear that Mark had performed equivalent "due diligence" on these kinds of controversial OU claims as Terry has performed, such as on the Sprain project. It bears repeating that Terry diligently reported back to the Vort Collective insofar as the NDA he signed with Sprain allowed him to do. (Of course, this is where Mark can educate us on what controversial OU related projects he may have worked on. This is where Mark can educate us on why we might wish to take his defense of Steorn more seriously.) In the meantime it bears repeating that Terry eventually found himself in the unpleasant position of having to be the harbinger of bad news. Apparently, Sprain responded by ostracizing Terry from the group when he finally realized that Sprain's claims of OU were inaccurate. What is clear to me, what should be clear to everyone on the Vort Collective is that Terry's criticisms of Steorn's behavior are not based on overconfidence or arrogance as Mark would like to everyone to believe. Terry's perceptions are certainly not "clueless." >From my perception, Esa's recent comment probably comes closest to the heart of the issue. Beliefs are an interesting human construct. For better or worse, religions and civilizations have been based on a "belief." Unfortunately, there can be dire consequences when we begin to identify the core foundations of our soul with a particular belief construct. Folly occurs when we end up serving beliefs originally constructed to help us better understand Mother Nature. Such beliefs placed on a pedestal eventually begin to demand strict obedience. They eventually demand sacrifices of all its subjects in order to defend its honor. Personally, I wish Steorn the best of luck. I continue to hope that their controversial OU claims are eventually proven to be accurate. What a hoot that would turn out to be! I'm not betting on it, however. Regards Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks