TAARP - TR-001 -
The Report Itself
This document comprises the 1995 status report and the planned activities for 1996 of The Alpha Astrophysical Research Project (TAARP).
The activities of 1995 were primarily involved with defining, organizing, and formatting a specific astrophysical problem that involves establishing correlations between patterns in the distribution of matter in the solar system and the level of manifestation of a particular phenomenon on the surface of the earth. Significant progress was made in the assembling of a data base. Initial attempts were made to find correlations of a particular nature. Some meager but encouraging correlation results were obtained. A general plan for an adaptive, self-organizing, pattern recognition computer algorithm for exploring the existence of correlations was completed.
The work planned for 1996 primarily deals with the development of the pattern recognition algorithm.
The Alpha Astrophysical Research Project (TAARP) was founded in March 1995. Its primary objective is to apply modern concepts of artificial intelligence to problems of astrophysics that are principally concerned with patterns in the distribution of matter in the universe. One such problem is that of accurately predicting interference of radio frequency signals due to disturbances in the earth's magnetic field. This problem appears to be fundamentally associated with the distribution of matter in the solar system.
TAARP is currently comprised of two collaborators who work on the project for free:
Appendix A presents the resumes of these two collaborators. Mr. Cecil Gwinn serves as a scientific advisor to TAARP. As demonstrated in Appendix E, his scientific advice has been and continues to be of paramount importance to TAARP.
Disclaimer: This project could not function without the generous and professional technical contributions of Mr. Glenn Johnson and Mr. Cecil Gwinn. However, they should not be held responsible for any opinions, statements, or conclusions presented herein. Mr. Fred E. Howard III, as project director, has veto override on any objections they may have had to any of the material in this report. Therefore, he alone is responsible for the totality of the content of this report.Attempts are under way to bring other collaborators on board whose expertise is deemed critical to the success of the project. Current plans are to advance the project along for one year (i.e., from March 1996 to March 1997) using only freely-contributed time from collaborators, to the point where it can be clearly demonstrated that TAARP is a viable organization capable of conducting serious and creative research in astrophysics by the specific application of artificial intelligence paradigms to issues concerning patterns in the distribution of matter in the universe. By March 1997, TAARP should be in a position to acquire significant levels of funding from governmental, industrial, and private sources.
Funds contributed to the project by Mr. and Mrs. Fred E. Howard Jr. were used to: a) Purchase a Macintosh 6115 Performa Computer. b) Purchase several software packages. c) Purchase numerous items required to establish an office for TAARP.
Pattern recognition is one aspect of artificial intelligence. Adaptive, self-organizing, pattern recognition algorithms will be developed and will serve as the primary analytical tools of the early phases of the project. Other aspects of artificial intelligence will be brought into the project as they are required. The pattern recognition methodologies that TAARP will develop will be unique because they will involve the synergistic evolution of classification features and accompanying classifiers. Therefore, these pattern recognition methodologies should be capable of serving as powerful tools for attacking pattern recognition problems in such diverse areas as medicine, finance, and Department of Defense reconnaissance/strike operations. Appendix D presents an example of a pattern recognition methodology which employs the synergistic evolution of classification features and accompanying classifiers.
This report will serve two purposes. First, it will present the results of TAARP's first year of research. Second, it will present the next series of tasks that TAARP will address. Both the first year's effort and the proposed follow-on tasks are involved with attempts to establish correlations between the levels of manifestation of a specific phenomenon on the surface of the earth and specific patterns in the arrangement of the various bodies of the solar system when viewed with a geocentric perspective.
The massive amounts of data being collected on many different aspects of astrophysics, such as high resolution infrared images and minute, accurate measurements of the curvature of space due to large masses, could be better managed and analyzed if modern concepts of artificial intelligence were utilized more seriously by astrophysicists. The current objective of TAARP is to create and exercise pattern recognition software in order to discover any existing correlations between the levels of manifestation of a specific phenomenon on the surface of the earth and specific patterns in the distribution of extraterrestrial matter about the earth. TAARP's first year of research indicates that there is a reasonable probability that such correlations exist.
If this geocentrically oriented study fails to produce hard, scientific evidence of the correlations, then a follow-on study will be conducted that will utilize the sun as the reference point. In other words, the initial study will be geocentric in nature, and the possible follow-on study will be heliocentric in nature.
One of the primary reasons for performing the geocentric study first is the ready availability of a geocentric data base.
Interference of RF signals is an issue of serious importance to NASA, the FAA, and telecommunications companies such as AT&T. The capability to accurately predict the kind and degree of RF interference relative to specific locations of transmitters and receivers, where one or both could be terrestrial or extraterrestrial, would be very valuable.
Extensive technical information exists in the literature indicating strong correlations between RF interference and various solar phenomena such as solar flares and sunspots. The physical mechanism usually proposed for the RF interference deals with interactions between the solar wind and the earth's magnetic field, with resulting perturbations in the earth's magnetic field. However, recent work by the astrophysicist Dr. Percy Seymour indicates that electrical currents generated in the ionized gases of the earth's ionosphere, due to gravitational interactions between the gases and the local extraterrestrial bodies (i.e., the sun, the moon, and the extraterrestrial planets of the solar system), can cause significant perturbations in the earth's magnetic field. (See References 7 and 49).
John Nelson spent over 20 years of employment with the RCA Company studying RF interference. The vast majority of his work was heliocentrically oriented, but some of it was geocentrically oriented. His heliocentric work indicates that strong correlations exist between the magnitude of RF interference and specific relationships between the positions of the planets about the sun. A critical review of his work by a group of scientists and other professionals is given in Addendum No. 1. (This addendum is not on the website.) This review was taken from Reference 48. TAARP plans to make a serious attempt to acquire the data base that Nelson generated.
F. Perdurabo spent 40 years conducting research involved with establishing correlations between various phenomena on the earth and patterns in the arrangement of the extraterrestrial bodies of the solar system. (See Sections E2.1, E2.2, E3.0, and E4.0 in Appendix E and References 3, 4, 6, and 40.) Perdurabo's primary scientific education is in chemistry. TAARP has convolved Perdurabo's theoretical and experimental work with the theoretical work of Percy Seymour to produce a data base and a working hypothesis around which last year's efforts were centered, and around which this coming year's efforts are to be centered. The data base consists of:
The PHENOMENON is an accurate measure of the magnitude of the disturbance in the earth's magnetic field. Thus, High, Medium, and Low manifestations of the PHENOMENON correspond to High, Medium, and Low manifestations of disturbances in the earth's magnetic field.
Appendix E gives a detailed discussion of the data base and the working hypothesis. (Section E4.0 makes it clear that High PHENOMENON, Medium PHENOMENON, and Low PHENOMENON refer, respectively, to individuals of high, medium, and low capabilities and that the issue at hand is natal astrology. The reason for using the "coded" term "PHENOMENON" is given in Block 1: The Technical Report (Preface).) Henceforth, this data base will be referred to as the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base. For the remainder of this report, including Appendices B, C, D and E, the terms High, Medium, and Low will not be burdened with qualifiers, other than "PHENOMENON", which will of course refer to the PHENOMENON discussed at length in Appendix E. Each reader of this report will have to make an independent assessment of the veracity of Appendix E. It should be clearly noted, however, that even if the working hypothesis presented in Appendix E proves to be completely erroneous, the pattern recognition methodologies developed over the next year will be readily capable of addressing Nelson's data base if it can be acquired or any other astrophysical problem dealing with patterns in the distribution of matter in the universe. The primary reason for this argument is that it should be clear from Appendix E that TAARP has a data base wherein there are three distinct levels of manifestation of a certain PHENOMENON, and, in general, fairly precise assignments of a place on the face of the earth, of a date, and of a time of day for each occurrence of the PHENOMENON. (This statement is not exactly correct. For the High and Medium manifestations of the PHENOMENON, there is considerable uncertainty vis-a-vis the times of day. However, as is made clear in Appendix E, the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base is only a "warm up" data base for TAARP. We plan to construct a completely accurate data base in the near future of a similar nature to the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base. Also, note that, in general, the time of day is not very important with respect to the particular quantitative analyses reported on herein.) Thus, even if TAARP is completely wrong in associating the PHENOMENON in question with disturbances in the earth's magnetic field, we still have a very viable pattern recognition problem to work on. Very specifically, we will be trying to delineate any existing correlations between High, Medium, and Low levels of manifestation of the PHENOMENON and specific patterns in the arrangement of the major extraterrestrial bodies of the solar system about the earth.
The effort proposed herein is a continuation and expansion of work initiated by TAARP in March of 1995. The work performed by TAARP from March 1995 until March 1996 is presented in Appendix B and Appendix C. Appendix C also presents the technical details for Task 1 of the new proposed work. Appendix D presents the technical details for Task 2 of the new proposed work.
The basic philosophy currently guiding TAARP's efforts is:
Seymour claims that resonance effects, for which a very small input can have very large consequences, are the reason why a small body far from the earth, such as Neptune, can have enough gravitational interaction with the fairly minute mass associated with even a large collection of ionized gases in the earth's ionosphere to be responsible for establishing significant electrical currents in the gases.
One of the most interesting themes in Nelson's heliocentric work is the correlation between the amount of RF interference on the earth and very specific angular relationships of pairs of planets, with the position of the sun being the apex of the angle in question. He found that angles that are multiples of 30° and 45° are very significant in terms of the magnitude of RF interference. Referring back to Seymour's method of reasoning, it may be that resonance effects involving the gravitational interaction between a pair of planets on the one hand and various collections of masses of gases in the sun on the other hand are the primary causes of solar phenomena that some investigators think correlate with RF interference.
One of the most interesting themes in Perdurabo's geocentric work is the correlation between the level of manifestation of the PHENOMENON and very specific angular relationships of pairs of extraterrestrial solar system bodies, with the positions of specific places on the earth's surface being the apex of the angle in question. When the angle is very close to 0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120° or 180°, then the PHENOMENON tends to be accentuated. Again referring back to Seymour's method of reasoning, it may be that resonance effects involving the gravitational interaction between a pair of extraterrestrial solar system bodies on the one hand and various collections of masses of ionized gases in the earth's ionosphere on the other hand are the primary cause of significant electric currents in the ionosphere, which in turn cause serious perturbations in the earth's magnetic field, which in turn cause high levels of manifestations of the PHENOMENON.
It is interesting to note that apparently Nelson and Perdurabo were not aware of each other's work. However, it may very well be true that they both were influenced by a common body of scientific knowledge.
The ecliptic is the two-dimensional plane which contains the sun and approximately contains the orbits of the planets of the solar system. With a simple, geocentric perspective, at any given moment in time, the sun, the moon and the eight planets (earth not included) can be envisioned to lie on a circle in the plane of the ecliptic with the earth at the center of the circle. This is of course a gross simplification of the geocentric situation because in fact at any given moment in time the extraterrestrial planets, the sun, and the moon are at radically different distances from the earth, and aside from the sun, it is rare for one of the extraterrestrial bodies to fall exactly in the plane of the ecliptic. However, for the early phases of the current effort, this simplified geocentric model will be used. The reason for this is that for the current effort a step-by-step procedure will be followed that begins with an attempt to find correlations between the PHENOMENON and the angular separations of extraterrestrial solar system bodies (ESSBs) as projected onto the plane of the ecliptic, and increasingly brings more and more physical cause and effect factors into play.
For example, if gravitational resonance effects are important to the level of manifestation of the PHENOMENON, then explicit account of the forces of gravity may have to be factored into the procedure to try to find correlations between the PHENOMENON and the angular separation of ESSBs. This can be done in at least two different ways:
Note that the parameter referred to as parallel, which is a measure of how far out of the plane of the ecliptic the plane is that is formed by the earth and any two ESSBs, will at first not be included in the correlation attempt because the plan is to identify as clearly as possible the extent to which each of the geometric factors defining the positions of the ESSBs relative to the earth correlate with the PHENOMENON.
Some of Seymour's work in cosmic magnetism and a large amount of Perdurabo's work suggests to TAARP that the positions of ESSBs relative to the earth's eastern horizon, the earth's western horizon, the zenith, and the nadir are correlated with the PHENOMENON as it is measured at a specific point on the earth's surface on a specific date, and at a specific time. In addition, the work of Perdurabo strongly suggests that the tropical zodiacal position of an ESSB correlates with the level of manifestation of the PHENOMENON in association with an ESSB. These two factors will be referred to, respectively, as:
These two factors will be incorporated into the correlation investigation. (Note that the issue of the tropical zodiac versus the sidereal zodiac is very curious. See Block 6: One Good Reason Why Science Condemns Natal Astrology and Block 7: The TAARP Sidereal Zodiac.)
The following symbols are taken from the works of Nelson and Perdurabo and will be used by TAARP:
| Major Extraterrestrial Solar System Bodies | ||
 = Sun
|
 = Moon
|
 = Saturn
|
 = Mercury
|
||
 = Jupiter
|
 = Venus
|
|
 = Mars
|
||
 = Uranus
|
 = Pluto
|
|
 = Neptune
|
||
| Aspect Angles Between Any Two Solar System Bodies | ||
 = 0° = Conjunction
|
 = 30° = Semi-Sextile
|
 = 60° = Sextile
|
 = 90° = Square
|
 = 120° = Trine
|
 = 180° = 0pposition
|
For heliocentric applications, the apex of the aspect angle is the sun. For geocentric applications, the apex of the aspect angle is a specific point on the face of the earth. Aspect angles other than those listed above do appear in Nelson's and Perdurabo's reports, but the aspects given here are considered by Perdurabo to be the major aspect angles of interest, and they are among the total set of aspect angles that Nelson considered to be of primary importance.
For geocentric applications, the "angular distance" between two ESSBs is the angle formed by the following two lines:
A similar definition exists for heliocentric applications with the reference point being the sun instead of "the point on the earth".
"Orb" is the angular window relative to an aspect angle that is used to define the degree to which two ESSBs are in aspect. For two ESSBs to be "in aspect" for a given aspect angle and a given orb, then:
| Angular Distance - Aspect Angle | must be less than or equal to the Orb.
The designation : 1° means that as seen from the earth and as projected onto the plane of the ecliptic, the angle between and is 1° from exact conjunction. This is depicted in Figure 1.
Similarly, as depicted in Figure 2, :2° means that and are within 2° of perfect sextile.
Note that in addition to the , angular distance of 58° depicted in Figure 2, an angular distance between them of 62° would also be indicated by :2°.
Figure 3 depicts :1°.
In the following discussion the term "data item" or simply "item" will be used. A data item consists of:
and the Moon are considered to be planets.TAARP has expended considerable time and energy in procuring, studying, and assessing the works of Perdurabo. As is true with the data bases generated by most scientific test programs, it is very difficult for a newcomer to take Perdurabo's data and evolve a correct interpretation of it.
Of the many volumes of Perdurabo's work, only three (References 3, 4 and 6) present data appropriate for use in TAARP's investigations. However, careful study of many of his publications are required in order to properly understand the data presented in these three data volumes. These three volumes provide 100 data items. Of these 100 data items, TAARP has to date only begun a study of 32 of them. For these 32, based on a fairly thorough study of many of Perdurabo's publications, TAARP has made the following assignments:
What is implied here is the following:
To the group of 14, TAARP added one data item of its own. Furthermore, TAARP has generated 27 data items of its own that have been assigned to the Low PHENOMENON category. Therefore, the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base currently consists of the following 60 data items:
Of the remaining 68 (i.e., 100 - 32 = 68) items in Perdurabo's data base, TAARP is currently of the opinion that some of them will eventually be added to the High PHENOMENON category, most of them will eventually be added to the Medium PHENOMENON category, and none of them will ever be added to the Low PHENOMENON category. Furthermore, TAARP is confident in its ability to add data items of its own determination to each of the three categories. Eventually, therefore, we should have a very large data base to work with. Appendix E gives a detailed discussion of the original Perdurabo data base and the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base.
The primary reason that TAARP will continue to expend considerable effort on Perdurabo's 100 items is because it is considered essential to thoroughly understand the analysis Perdurabo provides for each of these 100 items in the three volumes of his referred to above. Appendix E discusses this issue in detail.
In total, the 60 data items currently comprising the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base covers a wide expanse of the surface of the earth and a period of time extending over 50 years. As explained in Appendix E, the current version of the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base does not include the planet Pluto.
Appendix E goes into considerable detail discussing the various possible problems with the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base. Suffice it to say here that TAARP has considerable confidence in the method it has chosen to assign High, Medium, and Low levels of manifestation of the PHENOMENON, whether it be a level of manifestation of the PHENOMENON indicated by Perdurabo or a level of manifestation of the PHENOMENON provided by TAARP. It is absolutely critical to understand that, as clearly demonstrated in Appendix E, these assignments by TAARP have absolutely nothing to do with knowledge of the geocentric or heliocentric distribution of matter in the solar system for the particular dates and times of day that the PHENOMENON manifested. If the subject assignments by TAARP did rely upon information about distribution of matter in the solar system, then the entire current effort would represent a circular argument and would be scientifically absurd.
TAARP is currently of the opinion that Nelson's data base is more thorough and extensive than Perdurabo's. We hope to acquire Nelson's data base and perform an analysis of it similar to the analysis we are conducting of the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base.
As of February 1996, TAARP had accomplished the following tasks in its effort to find correlations between the level of manifestation of the PHENOMENON and patterns in the distribution of ESSBs relative to a geocentric frame of reference:
TAARP plans to accomplish three tasks in the March 1996 to March 1997 time period. The first task is relatively easy and involves the development and exercise of an adaptive learning algorithm to further investigate one of the two promising leads uncovered in last year's work. The second task is a massive pattern recognition effort. It involves the development and exercise of an adaptive learning algorithm that will search for patterns within the structures of geocentric planetary configurations that correlate with different levels of manifestation of the PHENOMENON. Tasks 1 and 2 are both quantitative in nature. One of the primary differences between them is that for Task 1, a given set of features (i.e., the six major aspects) will be explored, whereas for Task 2, the adaptive learning algorithm will itself have to create candidate features and then evaluate them for their utility as delineators of patterns in geocentric planetary configurations.
Task 3 is a qualitative task and involves a further development in TAARP's understanding of the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base.
7.1 Task 1
This task will involve the development and exercise of an adaptive learning algorithm designed to optimize the orb and aspect weights of a specific methodology for finding correlations between High, Medium, and Low levels of manifestation of the PHENOMENON and values of a specific parameter that quantifies the manifestation of the six major aspects in geocentric planetary configurations.
Appendix C provides the technical details for the adaptive learning algorithm.
7.2 Task 2
This task will involve the development and exercise of an adaptive learning algorithm designed to permit the evolution of a set of discriminating features and an accompanying classifier that delineate correlations between High, Medium, and Low levels of manifestation of the PHENOMENON and the manifestation of the features in geocentric planetary configurations.
Appendix D provides the technical details for the adaptive learning algorithm.
7.3 Task 3
TAARP will continue its qualitative study of the 60-Item Perdurabo/TAARP Data Base along the lines presented in Appendix E.
