Conference hydra::dejavu

    
    	Hey Mikie!   I got one too.    Well, actually two.   I
    went back the next day to see how similar the colors would be.
    
    	I also came to a personal conclusion that it's a scam, and
    had put a note in here monday.   Later I wondered if I might not
    be going to far, and deleted it, since I have no *proof* that
    it's a scam.   Oddly, my note also, was 1045 in here...
    
    	I asked him what the dials and switches were for, and he told
    me he was turning on and off high voltage components inside the
    camera.    I also came to the conclusion that he was actually
    using them to adjust the colors on the photo.   He was pretty
    nervous about it when I questioned him, and it seems clear that
    he gave you a different story than he gave me.
    
    	When I wore levis and a green pendant, so that he could see it,
    my 'aura' came out green with slight blue highlights.   When
    I went back the next day I wore a grey sweater with yellow
    highlights;  I got a yellow 'aura' photo.    The photos were 
    entirely different.    I concluded that he *may* have been 
    selecting the colors from intuitive cues he read from people's 
    clothing.     There was a woman there who was selling rainbow posters 
    and jewelery, and *her* 'aura' came out multi-colored like a rainbow, 
    just like the card she was wearing in the photo.    That one in 
    particular looked pretty hokey to me.

    							Alan.

    Reply to .1, Alan,
    
    And I shoulda' noticed that all their pictures, the booths readers and
    cameraman, had white glows in the auras. Too much of a coincidence. 
    
    Thanx for that information Alan. Come to think of it I was wearing a
    blue and white sweatshirt with beige pants. My photo had tinges
    of yellow from the beige pants. 
    
    It's still nice to know that I can be taken. B^)

Mikie?, I have this land for sale in Southern Florida ...
... and this bridge in New York ...

;')

.0 (Mikie)
    
    If he is really getting a patent on the gadget, than you can have the
    plans for a few dollars from the patent office if and when he gets it.
    He is, however, legally entitled to sue you if you use those plans
    commercially (one of the reasons the Founding Folks of the US
    established a patent office was to allow inventors to profit from their
    inventions without having to keep them secret, and thus encouraging the
    free flow of information).  Of course, you only have his word that it
    is patent pend. and if he is getting a patent there is no guarentee
    that it is the same one he actually uses.  He could *claim* the same
    effect from a series of "charged auric filters" or whatever and get
    his patent as long as no one else had attempted to patent similar
    gobledegook and as long as there was sufficient information to build
    the device he claimed to have invented.  Basically, only perpetual
    motion machines need to proven to work before they can be patented.
    
.1 (Alan)
    
    Sorry you deleted it Alan.  I thought it was a very good note, and
    properly seperated your speculations from the facts you based them on.
    If you saved it, could I encourage you to repost it as a reply?
    
    					Topher

RE: .4   Topher,
    
    	Well, since you asked, I'll go ahead and repost my original
    1045.0 note.
    					Alan.

             <<< BOMBE::DISK_NOTES$LIBRARY:[000000]DEJAVU.NOTE;1 >>>
                             -< Psychic Phenomena >-
================================================================================
Note 1045.0          "Aura Vision" photographs -- for real?           No replies
SSDEVO::ACKLEY "Mediumfoot"                          79 lines  30-APR-1989 22:30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    	Yesterday and today, I spent some time at the Colorado Springs
    psychic fair.   One of the more intriguing items at the fair was
    a booth with a big sign over it that said "Aura Vision".   It
    purported to take photos of people's auric fields, and several such
    photos were displayed, each having the appearance of a portrait
    photograph taken with a polaroid camera, against a dark background,
    against which the colors of the "aura" were brightly displayed.
    
    	I asked the man operating the camera a few questions, but he
    was real vague about it, and didn't appear to know what was inside.
    He said someone else had designed it.   He spoke of high voltage
    electronics being in the box.
    
    	I had my photograph taken, which took no longer than any snapshot,
    taken while my hand was on a metal plate.   Afterwards a pretty
    assistant was available to interpret the colors of aura photo.    
    A blob of light next to my temple, in the photo, was my "guide".
    I stood around and watched for a while, and also asked around about 
    other people's opinions.    No one would come out and say it, but
    it seemed there was some skepticism.
    
    	Corrine, who arranged the fair, said she didn't know if it was
    real or not, and that it was one of the hottest topics at the fair.
    Other psychics giving readings at the fair were interested but 
    unconvinced.    I had a channeled reading done, but forgot to ask
    the spirits what they thought about the camera.  :-)

    	The camera was a black box about 10" x 10" x 12", and it appeared
    to have a camera built into the back of it, so that whatever was
    concealed in the box was between the person being photographed and
    the camera.    Along the side of the box were about eight dials,
    and beside each of the dials was a switch.   These were on
    the side of the box away from the center of the room, so that you
    had to get behind him, against the wall, to see him operate the
    switches.    Before each photo he would change the position of
    a few of the dials and switches in a seemingly random way.
    
    	On Saturday I had the photo taken, then on Sunday I went back
    for a closer look and had a second photo taken.    the second time
    around I noticed that the black box had a flap on the front that
    only opened for a moment, just before the shutter clicked.   In
    that moment, it could be seen that the box was mainly empty.   It
    was all arranged so that others could not see through that flap
    at an angle, while the photo was being taken.   The person in front
    of the camera was essentially blinded by a bright light.
    
    	When I asked the operator of this camera about the function
    of the dials and switches, that were on the side of it, his
    explanations seemed rather lame.   He said that he was turning 
    the high voltage components in the box, on and off, because at
    previous times it had been burning out.    A single switch would 
    have sufficed for that purpose.    Besides, he only manipulated
    these switches and dials just before each photo, and left
    them alone after the photo and between photos.    There were
    no readouts of any kind, and if it was a voltage adjustment
    as he said, then there would have been a meter or something
    other than *just* dials and switches.    I could only conclude 
    that the dials and switches were used to select, by hand, the
    colors to be included in the photo.

    	He said that a new version of the camera was being designed that 
    wouldn't have the dials and switches.    Clearly these drew the questions
    of the skeptics.    I suspect the next version may have a hidden
    or remote a remote control so that the colors could be adjusted by an
    assistant.
    
    	The second photo was comprised of entirely different colors
    than the first one.   It seemed that the colors he may have picked 
    might have been cued off of some colors in  the clothing I was
    wearing.   When I was wearing a green pendant, I got a green aura 
    photo.   When I was wearing a grey sweater with yellow highlights, 
    I got a yellow photo.
    
    	I suspect that the black box might contain colored light bulbs, 
    positioned so as to add light to sections of the photo.    The 
    switches are manipulated before each photo so that the colors are 
    different for each photo.   
    
							Alan.

re: all

    Well, I have seen this too.  It only cost me $5 here in Atlanta.  The
    difference was how the vendor described what she was doing.  It was
    billed as a simple form of kerlian (sp) photography, not quite
    sophisticated as the expensive cameras.  The dials (only two I think)
    were for adjusting voltages based upon moisture content on your hand
    or something.  Anyway, it was explained that the result wasn't an aura,
    rather an indication of your electrical 'life force' field.  They didn't
    make any attempt to interpret the photos.  One interesting thing they
    did was to ask us to concentrate on a particular finger but not to apply
    any more pressure with it.  The resulting photo showed the concentrated
    upon finger brighter that the rest in all of the ones I observed, including
    mine and my friends.  The subjects didn't tell which finger they were
    concentrating on until after the photo was developed.

    Terry

    
    RE: .6
    
    	I have seen the Kerilian (sp?) photography too. I never paid
    to have it done and I doubt I will. But anyway... The pictures given
    were polaroids (instant pictures) and it cost 15$ for one. After
    taking the picture "a psychic" explains it to you. I saw some other
    folks pictures and it just looked like a scribble of light. Silly
    little thing. They advertised it as also able to show you
    your "lucky numbers". 
    

    Re .6 (Terry):
    
    > ......................................................... It was
    >billed as a simple form of kerlian (sp) photography, not quite
    >sophisticated as the expensive cameras. 
     
    Well, actual "simple" Kirlian photography uses a high-voltage source,
    a plate, and a photographic emulsion.  Thus, the "cameras" aren't
    all that expensive.
    
    I had a genuine Kirlian photo taken of my hand at a psychic fair,
    and the photographer was honest enough to say he wasn't sure how,
    or if, Kirlian photographs related to "the aura."
    
    Kirlian photography is discussed in Note 65.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
                                                

    re: .4
       
    Topher, what is the Patent Office's time limit for proving a
    perpetual motion machine works?
                                   
    						Don

    As far as I know, there is no time limit, one must simply have a
    "working model" which can be shown to really be "working".  Obviously
    it is impossible to show that a machine will literally run for ever.
    The filer must show reasonable evidence that the machine runs for
    a significant amount of time without an external source of energy
    and without consuming an internal one.  The main reason for this is
    that many basement inventors come up with designs on paper which they
    have never built but which they are *convinced* will do so -- but first
    they want their patent so they can "safely" go to investors.  Pointing
    out the problems with the designs is time consuming and frequently
    fruitless -- they will *not* be convinced.  Frequently, the machines
    will only run for a short time and then stop.
    
    So a working model is required before they spend the patent offices
    time.
    
    I imagine that a machine which ran for a period of days without a
    clear source of energy might be granted a patent even if the examiners
    were sure that there was an overall slow energy loss in the system.
    A patent is not a statement of belief on the part of the patent office
    that the idea works.
    
    					topher