Hall of shame

If I may be so bold to give him a place on here, he deserves none other than to be the first;

Nikola Tesla, the great. A man whose work and reputation proceeds himself, to which we owe a lot of our understanding of electronics today. We owe thanks to him for the three-phase circuit, the demonstration of radio, Alternating Current, Tesla coils … and almost the entire free-energy movement. Tesla, late in his career found himself without publicity, and so sought it with headlining claims, such as that he had found a second form of energy, a claim which, to this day, has not been verified experimentally, or even justified theoretically, as would be expected from someone of Tesla’s stature. He also published the fraudulent photo of himself sitting next to his Tesla coil to demonstrate its “safety” – a claim I challenge anyone to test. Finally, we come to the cracker; he claimed that he could create a machine that could split the world entire in two. I find his late claims to be that of a comical genius, to the extent that I would love to shake his hand in appreciation. However, the Tesla coil safety claim is a dangerous one, and the free energy claim is one of utter dishonesty, due to his lack of detail. If anyone ever had found this, something utterly astounding - this is the very man who would document it well, for his career, for his reputation, for science. He would have done a thorough job of it, and, he did not. Merely stating Tesla’s name in connection with a theory is not evidence, unless you can cite a piece of his work that verifies your own claims, claims which need to be of such detail to be thus verifiable. Nikola Tesla; a great man to whom we owe much, and so do the frauds that are abound on the Internet.


Bill Kaysing, self titled “father of the Apollo hoax theory”. Probably one of the few of the hoax authors who actually believed his own logic-vomit. For that matter, he can be credited with a pinch of honesty that other hoax authors cannot. However he claimed correctly that he worked for Rocketdyne – the company responsible for the Saturn V rockets – what he does not fill you in on, however, is that he was publications analyst, as befitting for his degree in English – not Science, as he wanted you to assume. His claims are manifest with false logic arguments and appalling reasoning sufficiently that his honesty in wanting to find the truth past publishing his own book is left in wanting.


Viktor Shauberger, advocate of free energy and anti gravity, with nothing more than photos and poorly explained diagrams to show for it. His findings have not been replicated, and in explanation for his lack of detail; the government stole it all.


Kent Hovind, of the “Intelligent design” movement (pro-Christian only creationism), creator of the Hovind dinosaur museum, and father to a host of what have been aptly titled; Hovindisms. At this moment, dear old Kent is in jail for tax fraud, of which has little bearing on the nonsense he proclaimed while he was free. While I sympathise with the somewhat large extent of his sentence, I cannot find sympathy for his claims. Not only does Kent believe sound travels at the speed of light, but also believes himself a scientist, with a fast-track degree in theology (of which his thesis is not accessible). Kent makes a great many claims, and a great many self-contradictions [see www.kent-hovind.com] – but the act that has landed him here is that he is an advocate of the –according to Hovind- Satan-authored New World Order. The deadliest part of his teachings, is that not only is he a great speaker (and thus one perfect at swaying a traditional Christian audience who wouldn’t know science from their left foot, or Hovind’s, for that matter, to which works to his advantage) – but he then has his audience in place to believe that their government is part of a world conspiracy against Christians. His method of introducing conspiracy theories as a side dish to his creationisms to a large and ready audience is more dangerous than the hoax websites themselves.


Hutchingson, self-styled pioneer inventor, and sole user of what he names his “Hutchingson effect”. On his website http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Thinktank/8863/main.html he offers to sell videos of his brand-named effect in action. (example:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LhvpC2lsCs&feature=related So far, two things have occurred. First; scientists have managed to magnetically levitate mammals in high Magnetic fieldshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1vyB-O5i6E which is vaguely similar to Hutchingson’s claims but has real detail, papers, underlying theory, and experimental replication and thus have nothing to do with Hutchingson. Secondly; Hutchingson claims to levitate non-magnetic materials in magnetic fields but this is also nothing new. In college I levitated aluminium with use of magnetically induced Eddy-currents within the material that generate their own magnetic repulsion. But these claims are not fully what Hutchingson claims; he appears on the documentary channels and claims that he can meld wood and metal like jelly, that he can melt metal at low temperatures – and the best of all, he went on a radio show to claim that this is what brought down the twin towers. Finally, the usual story to note; the evidence he provides for his effect is not in the form of drawings, data, graphs, schematics or equations, but videos of his effect in action which he sells for $100 a piece. In explanation for why he hasn’t got the evidence, in typical fashion of a new-energy entrepreneur; the government raided his house, took photos, and took everything. They took everything so he has nothing to show you, and can’t replicate his detailed plans - except of course, even though they took it all, he can still make the videos for you to buy.