Brief comments on Bob Vernon's response to my physical critique

    Bob Vernon sent me an E-mail message showing me his reply to my physical critique and asking if I were "man enough" to post it on my site. Evidently he hasn't examined much of the site, or he would have seen that I post responses whether positive or negative. To make it easier for everyone to read his response, I have posted the original version, which gave his and my remarks different colors. But even if I weren't in the habit of printing negative responses, this one would have been easy to print because he didn't really address any of the points directly, that is, by supplying physical evidence to support his view. Instead, he just shouted responses, many of which were to other questions and at least one of which was factually wrong. It isn't worth replying to his points because they aren't points. He accused me right and left of lying, and even incorporated that into his title.
    One of the things I have learned in this world is that more somebody howls at you, the closer your points were to the mark. By this standard, it seems that my points were telling indeed.
    The one point of his that is worth noting concerns my remark about Files's calling the XP-100 the XP-2100. To this Vernon responded very strongly, stating that "James Files has never referred to the Fireball as the XP-2100 in his confession or otherwise. Ken Rahn is lying." I suppose that now is the appropriate time to notify Bob Vernon that I recently took the time to check every word of his transcript of the "confession" by following it and noting the discrepancies while watching the video. It appears that Files has either forgotten this part of the "confession" or thinks he can get away with denying something is on the tape. The first times Files discussed the fireball, he called it the XP-2100, but the transcript reports it as XP-100. I checked this point carefully to confirm it; anyone else can as well.
    Now that Vernon has challenged my memory of the tape, I have decided to go ahead and report some of the other things I found on it, such as the times that he (Vernon) coached Files on what to say. I think that people familiar with the tape (as well as those who have not yet seen it) will find these comments of interest. I hope to post these findings within a few days of this writing (13 January 2001).

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