Decoding the Georgia Guidestones

A recent nighttime photograph of the Georgia Guidestones

Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?
– Maurice Strong, founder of the UN Environment Program

It’s a beautiful, warm, November Saturday in Georgia and the defaced granite monument looms above Mart Clamp while he uses a stonemason’s hammer and chisel to patiently chip away at the stubborn polyurethane splattered across the Swahili lettering his father sandblasted into the hard rock thirty years ago. Inexplicably, branchy tufts of hay rain down in slow motion from high up in the blue skies overhead like a vast army of eight-inch pagan fairies who are too tired to keep afloat in the still air. Children nearby playfully roll the hay from heaven into a wispy ball about four feet across.

A large man with broad, square shoulders and a crushing handshake, Mart Clamp was born to work stone. Quick to smile with a youthful face, Clamp is a friendly man whom children instinctively like. “I don’t understand why people would do something like this,” Clamp remarks as he cleaves off a piece of polyurethane taking along with it a thin sliver of underlying granite. “Up until the last year or two, the worst thing they’d do is smear chicken blood everywhere.”

It’s all more than a little surreal.

Mart Clamp chips away at recent vandalism at the Georgia Guidestones.

Crowded next to the South Carolina border in northeast Georgia, Elberton, aptly the county seat of Elbert County, is the self proclaimed “Granite Capital of the World.” Home to at least 42 active quarries, chances are good that regardless of where you live in the United States there’s a chunk of Elbert County nearby. For the last century, buildings, monuments, countertops and, of course, gravestones have been built and laid all over the world using Elberton granite.

A granite map of Georgia with Elberton marked in red

Elbert County is so rich in the durable igneous stone that practically everything there is built of granite. Homes, road signs, banks, the community center, the county jail and even the grossly oversized, 20,000 seat Blue Devils high school football stadium are all constructed out of the 400-million year old, sparkling rock, a combination of gray feldspar, quartz and mica. Unsurprisingly, little Elberton, with a population under 5,000, probably has the highest concentration of monuments in the world.

Elbert County is also the home to thousands of stoneworkers: explosive experts, stone cutters, sand blasters and heavy equipment operators specializing in handling huge blocks of granite. Almost exclusively male, these stoneworking men combine to form the backbone of the Elbert County economy. For the most part, these men are the hardworking, salt of the earth types that have come to symbolize classic Americana. But it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Elbert County is also home to a thriving community of Freemasons. After all, at least one major branch of modern Masonry got its start among the stonemasons of England, Scotland and Ireland in the late 16th Century.

“I know nearly all of the men who worked on this monument and nearly all of them were good Christians and good Masons,” Clamp maintained. “I know that none of them would have worked on the Guidestones if they believed that there was anything evil or untoward about them.”

But that is not quite accurate. Nearly thirty years previously to the day, Mart Clamp’s father, Charlie Clamp, was sandblasting over 4,000 4-inch letters into the eight faces of the four Guidestones. Forebodingly, as he carved the words “to an age of reason” into the Pyramid Blue granite capstone, Charlie Clamp says he heard “strange music and disjointed voices.”

The Elberton Granite Museum attendant, a warm, amiable man in his sixties, also revealed that the Guidestones have been a persistent source of controversy with the local churches. “The churches in this area have never been too happy about it,” he said in a perfect, melodious Georgia accent. In a Los Angeles Times article, the man who constructed the monument, Joe Fendley, remarked that he “got a lot of poison calls and poison letters” over the Guidestones. “I’ve heard preachers say it’s evil,” confided Hudson Cone of the Elberton Granite Association in that same article.

In his interview with us for this article, retired banker Wyatt C. Martin, the one man who knows the true, secret identity of the initiator of the Georgia Guidestones, lamented about all of the attention he has gotten over the years from witches, pagans and “nutcases.” Mr. Martin, a devout Christian man who is now nearly 80-years old, nevertheless remains proud of his contributions to the Guidestones.

Gary Jones, publisher of the Elberton Star newspaper, probably best summarized local feelings when he told us, “None of the churches around here ever liked the monument much, but the Guidestones literally put Elberton on the map, so people in Elberton are pretty protective of them.”

After a recent spate of increasingly severe vandalism, Elbert County was protective enough to put up two wireless surveillance cameras, even though the cameras remained unpowered during our recent visit to the monument.

Two recently installed surveillance cameras remain unpowered and pose a hollow threat to vandals.

Our investigation in Elbert County led to the discovery of an apparent, ongoing attempt to topple the English language Guidestone. We passed on photographic evidence to Jones showing that a large notch was recently cut from the top of that Guidestone near the support pin attaching that stone to the capstone.

Two views of a large notch that was recently cut into the English language Guidestone.

Anger directed against the monument has only grown more intense over the years. Many believe the Georgia Guidestones advocate – if not outright promise – genocide at an almost unimaginable scale, promote eugenics and hint towards a New World Order global government where personal rights are only granted through service to a tyrannical world state. Some even claim the Guidestones are the product of a Satanic cult.

Interestingly, we have found evidence that a date is encoded in the Guidestones – a date that is only a few days away – and an event planned for this date may very well lend credence to the very darkest of sinister theories.

What is the truth about this modern, mini-Stonehenge? Do the Guidestones contain secret messages? Who is behind this enigmatic granite edifice? What’s going to happen on January 4th, 2010, a date that appears to be deliberately hidden in the design of the monument? Can we decode the Georgia Guidestones?

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The Mystery of Robert C. Christian

If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.

– Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, patron of the World Wildlife Fund

The official Georgia Guidestones creation story is centered on a mysterious character who used the pseudonym “Robert C. Christian.” As the story goes, a middle aged man walked into Elberton Granite Finishing Company on a Friday afternoon in June, 1979. It just so happened that no one else in the office was available to talk to him, so the company’s president, the energetic, ambitious and reportedly quirky Freemason Joe Fendley, greeted the man who introduced himself as Robert C. Christian.

Busy with payroll, Fendley initially didn’t take Christian seriously when the odd stranger began describing an elaborate granite monument that he wanted Fendley’s company to build. However, as the refined, silver-haired and well dressed Christian elaborated on project details involving solid granite slabs larger than anything anyone in the area had ever produced, Fendley took notice.

Joe Fendley whipped out a calculator – and a metric conversion table since R.C. Christian made all of his specifications in meters, an unusual metrology for Georgia during the 70s – and quickly provided a rough cost estimate. Fendley deliberately made sure to err well on the high side, but Christian didn’t flinch at the price. Fendley then carefully explained that no monument that big had ever been quarried in Elbert County and that consultants would have to be hired to provide the necessary astronomical and language translation expertise, so the price he quoted was only a rough estimate and could not be guaranteed.

Undeterred, Christian went on to explain that he represented “a small group of loyal Americans who believe in God” and want to “leave a message for future generations.” He then asked Fendley to suggest a local bank to serve as a financial intermediary.

As soon as Christian walked out of his office, Fendley telephoned his friend and Granite City Bank president Wyatt C. Martin and warned him of a “kook who wants to build some kind of crazy monument.” About half-an-hour later, Christian appeared at Martin’s office and quickly dispelled most of banker’s skepticism with his expensive suit of clothes and intelligent, articulate demeanor. After introductory pleasantries, Christian recounted his mission to Martin and explained that “Robert C. Christian” was a pseudonym that he chose because he was a Christian.

As a banker, Martin insisted on knowing Christian’s real name so that he could investigate his finances before the project could begin. Christian complied, but conditioned that he and the group he represented wanted to remain anonymous forever. Martin agreed to never disclose Robert C. Christian's true identity.

According to the Guidestones’ official story, Joe Fendley, who died recently, and Wyatt Martin were the only people to have met Christian. By that same story, Martin is the only person who ever knew Christian’s true identity. When we spoke with Mr. Martin several days ago, he remained committed to his vow of secrecy taken more than thirty years ago. However, we have made discoveries that shed light on who might really be behind the Georgia Guidestones and we will discuss our findings later in this article.

Christian asked Martin to find him five acres of land for the monument. He initially wanted the land to be in Hancock County on a line stretching west from Augusta. However, Martin argued against that location and said Elbert County would be cheaper and easier to accommodate. Christian agreed and, at a later date, settled on a five-acre plot on the Mullenix farm, a spot Martin favored. Purchased for $5,000 on October 1, 1979, the location is a little over seven miles north of Elberton on a ridge that is supposed to be the highest point in Elbert County. Christian had the land deeded to the county with grazing rights given to the Mullenix family for at least twenty years. The land is to remain otherwise undeveloped in “natural conditions.”

Over the years, a number of inconsistencies with the official story have arisen. For instance, Christian originally maintained that he was only one of a group of individuals who had planned the Georgia Guidestones for more than 20 years, but in his book written more than five years later, Common Sense Renewed, he is listed as “the author and sponsor of the Georgia Guidestones Monument.” Later in the book he writes that he is “the originator of the Georgia Guidestones and the sole author of its inscriptions.”

“Over the years, I’ve begun to suspect the same thing, that the whole thing came from only one man or at most one man and his family,” Martin told us recently.

In the Elberton Granite Museum’s extensive guidebook on the Georgia Guidestones, Christian is said to have vanished for so long after his initial visit that Fendley and Martin came to believe Christian’s appearance was simply a prank pulled off by Fendley’s Shrine Club buddies. However, in a later interview with Wired Magazine, Wyatt Martin claims that Christian returned on the Monday following the Friday of initial contact.

Also, the museum guidebook reported that “upon completion of the project Martin said that all material concerning the project was shredded,” but in his recent Wired interview, Martin admitted that, in fact, he still has all of the Georgia Guidestone records along with all of the letters from Christian. Every last document related to the monument are packed inside a 1983, hard-sided, plastic, IBM computer case sitting in the back of Wyatt Martin’s garage.

Fendley meticulously documented the quarrying and building of the Georgia Guidestones monument, a tactic that backfired on him because his deliberate preplanning for a media blitz gave fuel to the critics who saw the Guidestones as nothing but a big publicity stunt Fendley and Wyatt concocted. People liked to say that “Ole Joe” was the most famous Elbertonian since “Old Dan Tucker,” the 18th century preacher who was memorialized in the still popular folk song of the same name. To his grave, Fendley denied these allegations, but he nevertheless enjoyed the attention the monument brought and used the publicity as momentum to gain the mayoral office of Elberton in 1980.

Nevertheless, Fendley's photo record of the Georgia Guidestones construction project is included in the museum guidebook and is valuable for the many details it documents.

About nine months after the secretive first meetings with Christian, the monument was formally unveiled on March 22, 1980, in front of a crowd of around 400. The guidebook lists more than eighty people involved in the project. U.N. language experts and college professors were used for the challenging language translations and transliterations. Scientists and engineers were contracted to oversee the project's astronomical details.

The crowd for the unvieling was impressive, but one important character was missing. "I don't think R.C. Christian has ever even visited the monument to this day," Mr. Martin confided to us.

Although there are reasons to believe that the R.C. Christian story is almost a complete fabrication, the few "facts" about him from the story are:

• R.C. Christian visited Stonehenge before designing the Georgia Guidestones.
• He was over sixty years old when he wrote Common Sense Renewed in 1986.
• He claimed to be a Christian, but his writings suggests that he might instead be a follower of Alice A. Bailey's New Age movement who venerate "The Christ" but also worship other deities.
• He had a great-grandmother from Georgia.
• He served in World War II.
• He was very well traveled and sent checks to Martin to pay for the monument from banks located all over the country.
• He was at least moderately wealthy.
• He liked Thomas Paine.
• He distributed his book to "several thousand political officials and shapers of public opinion throughout the world. All members of the United States Congress received copies."
• He quoted Henry James' remarks about Stonehenge.
• He was described as a "gray-haired middle-aged gentleman" when he met with Fendley and Martin in 1979.

We'll discuss Robert C. Christian's ideas expounded in Common Sense Renewed later in this article.

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The Monument

Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it.

-- Albert Pike, Morals and dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

Composed of four “Guidestones,” a capstone and a central “Gnomen Stone,” the Georgia Guidestones is a granite monument located on top of a modest hill next to Georgia State Highway 77, a little over seven miles north of the town of Elberton. Although the location is purportedly the highest point within Elbert County, this is a rather dubious designation since the pancake flat surrounding acres appear to be at least as high in elevation.

The stones of the monument are secured together with eight inch, stainless steel dowel pins that are 1-5/8 inches thick. Bedrock was excavated to a depth of two feet for the monument’s foundation. The support stones rest on a frame of iron reinforced concrete. The combined weight of the monument including its buried support stones is about 119 tons.

Although hyped as “overwhelming in size,” the Georgia Guidestones structure is really not particularly large. The Georgia Guidestones would only be an average sized monument in Washington D.C. and would be dwarfed by many of the larger monuments there. Loosely and deliberately modeled after Stonehenge, the Georgia Guidestones is much smaller. Stonehenge is both taller (over 24 feet tall versus 18 feet) and covers far more area (the extant stone structures of Stonehenge stretch over an area nearly 40 yards across, while the Georgia Guidestones can be enclosed within a 20’x24’ rectangle).

Mart Clamp, who owns Clamp Memorials in Elberton, estimated that it would cost about $500,000 to build the Georgia Guidestones today. Gary Jones said that he’s been told the monument cost around $225,000 when it was constructed in 1980. However, Wyatt Martin, the banker who handled all of the funds for the Guidestones, says that figure is much too high but did not provide a cost estimate. To be sure, it’s still a sizable sum, but well within reach of many groups. In fact, many individuals could have easily afforded to pay for the Georgia Guidestones, somewhat diminishing the case that the monument could have only been erected by a cabal of deep pocketed global elite.

The monument provides four astronomical functions:

1. Polaris, the North Star, is visible through a hole drilled in the Gnomen stone. Unfortunately, this sighting hole is misaligned and poorly executed. It takes effort to glimpse Polaris since it is barely visible in the extreme right limit of the misshaped hole.

The Polaris sighting hole

2. The four Guidestones are aligned in a paddlewheel formation pointing to the limits of the 18.6 year lunar declination cycle. Also called the “lunar standstill,” this regular phenomenon appears to have been important to the Bronze Age, megalithic constructing societies of Britain and Ireland. Archaeological evidence indicates that some Ancient American Indian cultures also tracked the lunar standstill. Today, Neopagans place value on the lunar declination cycle.

3. Weather allowing, every day at noon the sun will shine through a 7/8 inch hole drilled through the capstone onto the south face of the Gnomen stone. Reportedly, the day of the year can be ascertained by the location of the light spot, but we could not discern any markings on the Gnomen stone to aid in this function. However, the upper third of the Gnomen stone’s south side is machined much smoother than the remainder of the rock-pitched construction.

The noontime sun aperture

4. The Gnomen stone, presumably named because it marks time somewhat like the gnomen finger of a sundial, is also slotted to allow viewing of sunrise and sunset throughout the year. The limits mark the summer and winter solstices. The fall and spring equinoxes are marked with a groove at the center of the slot.

The solstice / equinox slot

To the west of the monument, a large granite marker stone located flat on the ground explains these astronomical features. It also provides a few basic monument measurements and a diagram identifying the languages used on the capstone. The main function of the marker stone is to identify the location of a time capsule buried six feet beneath it. However, the dates for the burial and opening of the capsule remain blank and many Elberton residents believe nothing was ever buried there.

The large, granite marker stone to the west of the monument

Our metal detector could not locate anything beneath the marker stone, but we did observe four small hits, each about a foot away from the marker stone in the four cardinal directions. However, the Guidestones have been used frequently for pagan sacrifices and the marker stone has sustained damage recently due to crude attempts to dig up the time capsule underneath it, so the hits we obtained might have been caused by caches or offerings left by worshipers -- which seems to occur often -- or simply trash left by vandals.

Flora Smith, 12, and Evie Smith, 10, created a 3d model of the Georgia Guidestones in Google Sketchup. YouTube transcoding produced minor corruption at the start of the video.

Wyatt Martin confirmed that the time capsule was never buried and that the monument is, in fact, incomplete. “R.C. Christian had hoped that the centerpiece he erected would inspire people to build twelve more Guidestones based on the lunar calendar and inscribed with more languages,” Mr. Martin explained, “There was a Guidestones Foundation set up to collect money for this, but it has since been shut down after the couple died who were running it.”

The scope and severity of vandalism has increased dramatically over the last two years. The monument is covered in graffiti, much of it obscene. Some messages denounce the New World Order, some messages are written in code, some mock and insult politicians and a few messages promise the fiery sword of God’s justice for those behind the Guidestones.

However, Elberton county volunteers like Mart Clamp have become good at removing the spray paint and marker ink regularly left by disquieted visitors. Blood, although common, is trivial to clean and will eventually vanish on its own. The polyurethane splattered across the English and Swahilli Guidestone faces is much more problematic, requiring Clamp to chisel it away.

A movie appeared on the Internet last year claiming responsibility for a wave of vandalism that occurred at that time.

Promise to The New World Order at The Georgia GuideStones
Uploaded by neverknwo. - Up-to-the minute news videos.

Another video, full of profanity, soon followed claiming to identify the masked vandal as radio talk show personality Jim Host.

More problematic than the paint or polyurethane is the damage done to the marker stone during obvious attempts to dig up the time capsule underneath it. The marker stone has been chipped away on its west side and a small part of the northwest corner has been broken off.

As mentioned earlier, the most severe damage of all is a large notch recently cut into the English language Guidestone near the stainless steel pin securing that Guidestone to the capstone. It appears that the damage was made over the course of about a year in an ongoing effort to topple that Guidestone.

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Humanity’s Tombstone

A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal.

– Ted Turner, founder of CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, Kappa Sigma alumnus and donor of $1-billion to the United Nations

Of course, none of these details would ordinarily raise an eyebrow, much less cause the raging storm of controversy that may ultimately lead to the complete destruction of the Georgia Guidestones. No, what enrages many people are the ten messages inscribed on the eight faces of the monument, written in eight different languages: English, Classical Hebrew, Swahili, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Hindi.

Author and political activist Mark Dice, a highly vocal critic of the monument who is calling for the destruction of the Georgia Guidestones, maintains that the messages are the “Ten Commandments of the Illuminatti.” Some people call the granite monument “humanity’s tombstone.”

Indeed, almost everyone we talked to agreed that the ten Georgia Guidestones dictums are intended for a decimated earth. “Absolutely, the Georgia Guidestones are rules for a post-Apocalyptic world,” affirmed Naunie Batchelder, a psychic who favors the monument so much that she was married in the shadow of the Guidestones.

No, controversy arises from whether or not the Apocalypse is planned or endorsed by the sponsors of the Georgia Guidestones.

Robert Christian correctly anticipated that his ten rules etched with 4” high letters into giant granite slabs and expressed in eight different languages would be interpreted as commandments to the world. He denies this. “They are not commandments. We have no authority to command.” The latter might be true, but one gets the distinct impression that Christian is not sincere about the former.

His Guidestone pronouncements hint at the creation of a new world government, commonly referred to as the "New World Order" by his critics. Other commandments seem to support eugenics policies. It even appears that he suggest that rights will only be conferred if service to the state is rendered. Among Masonic themes, Christian wants to install a global language, perhaps like the one that purportedly existed under King Nimrod during the construction of the Tower of Babel.

The first Guidestone commandment sets a global population target of only 500-million. Considering that about 6.6-billion people are alive today, this represents a 93 percent population reduction. Worse, in his book Common Sense Renewed, Robert Christian reveals that his initial 500-million global population target might be too high for him only six years after the monument was erected.

Robert Christian elaborates upon his Georgia Guidestones messages in his book Common Sense Renewed

In that book, which expounds upon his strange and nebulous Guidestone messages, R.C. Christian removes all doubt about his support for a global government. Christian calls for a “rational world order” and a “global rule by reason,” the latter phrase bringing to mind the French Revolution and its very unreasonable Reign of Terror. And terror you should feel.

While Christian is very careful to season his book with lots of flowery rhetoric, he does so to conceal and make palatable his extreme views for a new “rational world order,” a phrase he uses several times in his book. “We believe each human being has a purpose,” “Humans are special creatures,” “each child takes its place in the human story,” “every child must be wanted, needed and loved,” are phrases that soften the fact Robert Christian advocates mass sterilization programs, considers human reproduction to no longer be “exclusively a personal matter,” demands the state “have a voice” and “power of direction” in regulating a couple's decision to have children.

After all, Christian believes “bringing unneeded children” into the world is “evil.” Of course, the state gets to decide if your children are “needed.”

And regarding the eugenics question, Christian is very much in favor of state run human breeding programs.

Through a state run eugenics program, Christian believes the world can produce “healthier and more productive human beings” over each succeeding generation. “Superior human intelligence, compassion and drive” and other “desirable mental and physical qualities” can also be enhanced under such eugenic conditions.

Humorously yet sinisterly, Christian cites “docility” and “loyalty” achieved through selective breeding in dogs as evidence that “comparable but more important modifications” in human behavior can be achieved through eugenics.

In R.C. Christian's “Age of Reason,” even if the state allows you to have children, you will be required to raise them under strict conditions so as to “mold their characters and to develop their potentials as socially worthwhile adults.”

That is, if the state even allows you to keep them.

Because even if you and your spouse are considered good breeding stock, the state might find you “temperamentally unsuited for parenthood.” In which case, your children will be transferred “to the care of others capable of nurturing them into well adjusted adulthood.”

No, Christian does not see people when he looks at us; he sees cattle:

Humanity has successfully applied practical genetic principles in developing domesticated plants and animals. It is now within our power to begin the domestication of our own species in a parallel fashion.

And don't think that you are safe just because you lined up for voluntary sterilization.

For instance, if the economy is bad and you lose your job, in Robert Christian's rational world order, you will have to become a slave of the state to survive. You won't be able to vote and you will be compelled to work jobs often held by illegal immigrants, who will then be displaced back to their native lands. If you don't like your job and quit, you will starve.

Not only will you have to be suitably employed or own a private business to vote, you will also have to pass both intelligence and “educational requirements” tests to prove to the state that you are worthy of the right of suffrage. Want to run for public office? Robert Christian has more tests that you will need to pass first.

Speaking of rights, you will have none if Christian gets his way. Rights to him are privileges that the state will only bestow upon you if you properly serve the state.

And don't forget your identity card! In Christian's nightmare world, everyone is required to carry with them a unique biometric ID card. Without one you will not be able to get work or get government help.

Okay, so you are a good citizen in Christian's new age world. You might be allowed to have children. You might be allowed to raise them. You might be lucky enough to find a suitable job so that you can vote.

Just be sure not to get sick or injured, because Christian believes the state must ration health care “favoring those individuals whose continuing lives are most valuable” to the state.

But you were injured because your new Halliburton electric toothbrush exploded in your right hand, blowing it off at the wrist and blinding you for life. Surely, you have recourse to litigation. No, Christian wants to place caps on litigation and let financial damage beyond this limit fall to his state's wonderfully efficient and fair health and welfare system.

Unfortunately, that means that since you can no longer work, you will lose your voting privileges, almost certainly lose your child because you will not be able to care for him properly on welfare and you will receive the lowest standard of medical care available because you are no longer productive for the state.

It's all very rational and reasonable in Christian's mind.

And now that we know the real meaning of R.C. Christian's otherwise nebulous granite platitudes, here is a description of all of his writing on that cold, stone edifice.

The capstone bears the message “Let These Be Guidestones To An Age Of Reason” written in the ancient languages that play a central role in Masonic theology: Babylonian Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Classical Greek and Sanskrit.

R.C. Christian's Ten Commandments for a post-Apocalyptic world are:

1.Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.

2.Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.

3.Unite humanity with a living new language.

4.Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.

5.Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.

6.Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.

7.Avoid petty laws and useless officials.

8.Balance personal rights with social duties.

9.Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.

10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

Faced with the grim realities Robert Christian expressed in detail through Common Sense Renewed, supporters of the monument don't want to believe it. “The builders of the Georgia Guidestones didn't write the book,” psychic Naunie Batchelder insisted, “they are enlightened and the monument is a place of peace and light.” She continued, “That book is a lie, a deception.”

But in fact, a more apt description of the Georgia Guidestones really is “humanity's tombstone.” The fact is Robert Christian wants most of us dead and those few left won't be treated like humans.

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Who is R.C. Christian?

Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure -- one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.

-- David Rockefeller

Wyatt C. Martin is a warm, friendly, gregarious Christian man. A genealogy buff, Mr. Martin asks me about my ancestry. I tell him that one of my father’s relatives traced my family tree back to the 1100’s showing that I am a direct descendant of Geoffrey Plantagenet, father of the House of Plantagenet. Martin finds this interesting and talks with me at length about his family’s rich history.

Wyatt Martin is important to this article because he is the only person who knows the true identity of Robert C. Christian.

There are three primary suspects.

Joe H. Fendley, Sr.: “I can tell you that there are a lot of people in the granite industry who believe to this day that Joe Fendley is having a big chuckle at all of us from way up there in that Big Granite Monument in the Sky,” laughed Elberton Star Publisher Gary Jones, “most all of them think Ole Joe pulled off the Guidestones as a publicity stunt.”

That sentiment is not unique. Dr. Gloria Bader Merchant, wife of the second suspect on our list, thinks Joe Fendley might have concocted R.C. Christian. “Joe Fendley was very enthusiastic about the Guidestones; it was his project and very personal for him; he ran everything. It seems perfectly in line with his character to create the monument and the R.C. Christian story,” Dr. Merchant posited. “Joe Fendley was also a very active Mason, and I’ve always thought the Guidestones were inspired by Masonic principles,” Dr. Merchant, an Alice A. Bailey disciple who worked in Bailey’s Arcane School, expounded.

Indeed, Fendley was a very active Freemason and Shriner. The Shriners Club is reserved for high ranking Freemasons and Joe Fendley had reached the 32nd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry ten years before he erected the Guidestones monument. Virtually every man who worked directly on the monument also was a Freemason.

Fendley was probably inspired and motivated by the The Argo Spire, a monument constructed by a rival granite company five years before the Georgia Guidestones were built. The Argo Spire is an impressive, solid granite obelisk -- and another symbol of Freemasonry. At 51 feet high, it weighs nearly 21 tons. It was erected in 1975 and relocated to the Elberton Granite Museum in 1985.

The Argo Spire

By all accounts, Joe Fendley, a likable and somewhat eccentric man, relished the media attention the Guidestones brought him and he utilized that notoriety to springboard to mayor soon after the monument was completed.

But there are several convincing reasons to cross Joe Fendley’s name off our list.

“Joe was a great salesman and it’s easy to imagine that he was behind the Georgia Guidestones, but I believe that the truth is somewhere in the middle between Joe Fendley and a group of global elite,” concluded Gary Jones, who in Elberton is considered an expert on the Georgia Guidestones. “I don’t think Joe had the skills necessary to design all the astronomical aspects of the monument and I don’t think he could have written that book,” continued Jones and referring to Robert Christian’s Common Sense Renewed.

Psychic Naunie Batchelder was even blunter. “I knew Joe Fendley and there’s no way he could have been behind the Guidestones,” Batchelder emphasized, “Joe was a talker and he had a big mouth. There’s no way he could have kept a secret that long.”

Most condemning is Wyatt Martin’s testimony. “I made a vow never to reveal R.C. Christian’s true identity,” Martin reaffirmed, “however, I can tell you that Joe Fendley was not R.C. Christian.”

Dr. Francis Merchant: An author, college professor and Alice A. Bailey disciple with United Nations connections, Dr. Francis Merchant is an ideal suspect for being R.C. Christian. Not only was he an Elberton resident, but his writing style, as demonstrated in his interpretation of the Guidestones' 10 dictims published in the Elberton Granite Museum’s brochure on the Georgia Guidestones, is very similar to R.C. Christian’s.

Merchant devoted much of his life to the study of Alice A. Bailey’s writings. Bailey is considered by many to be the founder of the New Age movement. She and her second husband, Foster Bailey, formed the Lucifer Publishing Company in 1920. It took them a few years to realize that it wasn’t a great idea to name their company after the devil – especially in early 20th Century United States – so they changed their organization’s moniker to “Lucis Publishing Company” in 1925. Their organization is now commonly known as the Lucis Trust.

Alice and Foster first met during meetings of the Theosophical Society. Eventually, Alice Bailey was kicked out of the Theosophical Society because the organization’s leadership did not believe she was really channeling the spirit of “The Tibetan,” an entity she eventually named “Djwhal Khul.” Alice was expelled despite the fact that Helena Blavatski, the founder of the Theosophical Society, had made very similar spirit channeling claims.

Alice Bailey appears to have been greatly influenced by her husband Foster Bailey, a 32nd Degree Freemason and equally enthusiastic Theosophy buff. “Alice didn’t have a head for business,” Dr. Gloria Bader Merchant, widow of Francis Merchant, told us, “she often said she would not have gotten anywhere without Foster’s work on all the business aspects of their endeavors.”

Blavatskian Theosophy and Freemasonry as established by Albert Pike share a great deal in common, from their veneration of Lucifer to their fascination with the Aryan race. Consider the following two quotes:

Stand in awe of him, and sin not, speak his name with trembling ... It is Satan who is the god of our planet and the only god...

-- Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society

LUCIFER, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish Souls? Doubt it not!

-- Albert Pike, Morals and dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

It’s pretty creepy stuff and, together with their Aryan writings, served as foundation for the Nazi movement, filtered through Guido von List and the Thule secret society of Bavaria. Here is a sample from Pike’s Lectures of the Arya:

They were white men, as we are, the superior race in intellect, in manliness, the governing race of the world, the conquering race of all other races. They called themselves Arya, the Aryans, the Warlike, or, some think, the Noble… we owe not one single truth, not one idea, in philosophy or religion to the Semitic race… it is a fact indisputable.

-- Albert Pike, Lectures of the Arya

While her teachings are generally softer and gentler than her masters', Alice Bailey herself made many statements broadly critical of Jews while she extended the Aryan mythos. “The Jews are the reincarnation of spiritual failures or residues from another planet,” she claimed while praising the Aryans as the “emerging new race” of “mentally adepts.”

As bizarre and universally offensive as many of Bailey’s beliefs are, the Lucis Trust continues to be a very influential organization with tentacles reaching deep inside the United Nations.

So it would seem that living in the little, out-of-the-way Southern town of Elberton, Dr. Francis Merchant must be involved in the Genesis of the Georgia Guidestones.

In fact, Dr. Merchant had nothing to do with the building of the Guidestones. “We moved to Elberton to retire in September of 1980, well after the monument was built,” Dr. Gloria Bader Merchant, a gracious lady now in her 80's, explains, “I can state unequivocally that my husband had nothing to do with the building of the Georgia Guidestones.”

Tragically, on January 5, 1981, a strong, healthy Dr. Francis Merchant died suddenly and unexpectedly at home, as if struck down by lightning bolt from Zeus, shortly after delivering his essay on the Georgia Guidestones to Joe Fendley.

Robert Edward “Ted” Turner III: American media mogul and multi-billionaire Ted Turner is an off-the-wall character who sometimes appears to be insane. Here's a video of Turner claiming that most of us will be dead and the rest will be cannibals in 30 or 40 years unless we act now on global warming.

The largest land owner in North America, Ted Turner started his road to riches when he inherited his father's billboard business. Turner's media empire is largely centered in Atlanta, Georgia, less that 100-miles away from the Guidestones.

A billboard very close to the Georgia Guidestones

Other than his famous shock of white hair and his first name, Ted Turner doesn't really fit the description of Robert C. Christian. He is famously not a Christian, but Robert Christian's Common Sense Renewed is anything but a Christian tome. However, it is highly likely that the Guidestones would have been torn down years ago if not for the fact that Robert C. Christian advertised that he was a Christian, which was probably a simple ruse to deflect and confuse local critics.

Given Turner's notoriety even back in 1980, if he did play the role of Robert Christian, it wouldn't be a smart idea to list details of his life if he wished to remain anonymous. In other words, the official description of Robert C. Christian might be little more than a smoke screen, a cover story concocted to thwart those seeking to connect the Georgia Guidestones to Turner.

It is well established that Ted Turner has sentiments that parallel those expressed by Robert Christian. For instance, in a 1996 interview with Audubon Magazine, Turner said that reducing the world population to 250-300 million people “would be ideal.” This continued the downward trajectory that we already witnessed from Robert Christian.

Turner is a fanatical supporter of the United Nations and has donated $1-billion to that organization. He is equally fanatical about environmental issues and was co-creator of the Captain Planet cartoons, a show targeted for children with New Age environmental themes. Turner also founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Christian spent a great deal of time on nuclear warfare issues in his book.

Turner even published his own alternative Ten Commandments and they sound a lot like the ten Georgia Guidestone dictums:

1. I promise to have love and respect for the planet earth and living things thereon, especially my fellow species--humankind.

2. I promise to treat all persons everywhere with dignity, respect, and friendliness.

3. I promise to have no more than two children, or no more than my nation suggests.

4. I promise to use my best efforts to save what is left of our natural world in its untouched state and to restore damaged or destroyed areas where practical.

5. I pledge to use as little nonrenewable resources as possible.

6. I pledge to use as little toxic chemicals, pesticides, and other poisons as possible and to work for their reduction by others.

7. I promise to contribute to those less fortunate than myself, to help them become self-sufficient and enjoy the benefits of a decent life, including clean air and water, adequate food and health care, housing, education, and individual rights.

8. I reject the use of force, in particular military force, and back United Nations arbitration of international disputes.

9. I support the total elimination of all nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction.

10. I support the United Nations and its efforts to collectively improve the conditions of the planet.

And don't overlook Ted Turner's prodigious vanity. It is completely consistent with his ego to give his pseudonym the same first name he possesses.

Turner had already made our Top 3 list, but we have since obtained evidence that implicates Ted Turner directly with the creators of the Georgia Guidestones. While circumstantial, the evidence is so persuasive that we believe that Robert Edward “Ted” Turner III played the role of Robert C. Christian in the Georgia Guidestones creation story.

The evidence we obtained came from a source who has maintained a long relationship with Ted Turner. We cannot divulge the details of that evidence without exposing that person's identity to Turner.

For the record, when we asked him about it, Wyatt Martin denied that Ted Turner was Robert Christian.

============

What's Done In The Dark Will Be Brought To The Light

It is written hieroglyphically with numbers and images; and the Apostle often appeals to the intelligence of the Initiated. "Let him who hath knowledge, understand! let him who understands, calculate!" he often says, after an allegory or the mention of a number.

-- Albert Pike, Morals and dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

The body of occult work in active use today is like an endless, sticky, black ocean of tar. I have had the misfortune of swimming in that sea of engulfing darkness while researching this article. For an analytical, reasoning mind, the occult is offensive. For the moral, the occult topics relevant for this article are shocking and repulsive. I am sick of this subject. In this section, which I would like to avoid altogether, I will only cover the most important and topical information and leave further research up to the intrepid reader. I only include this section because it does appear to be a very important part of the Georgia Guidestones story.

Former University of Texas assistant professor Texe Marrs is a prolific author on occult topics, particularly those involving Freemasonry, Theosophy and the New Age. Marrs briefly discussed the Georgia Guidestones in his recent book Mysterious Monuments. “I visited it [the Georgia Guidestone monument] some years ago and talked to the City Manager of Eberton about it. He confirmed that the Masonic Lodge folks were the instigators, though he didn't call them that,” Marrs told us recently. “He was quite nervous about the whole situation,” Marrs continued. Our investigation in Elberton provoked similar responses. People were initially very eager to discuss the Guidestones for this article, but became uncomfortable and quiet when the inevitable Masonic issues arose.

The genesis of New Age theology starts with Albert Pike's Morals and dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1871, a book where he expounds on a broad range of occult topics. He then radically expands his ideas in Lectures of the Arya in 1873 where he attempts to divorce the European white race from semitic influences by creating an Aryan super-race mythos. In 1888, Helena Blavatky publishes her two volume tome The Secret Doctrine which takes and expand Pike's teachings outside of Freemasonry to found the bedrock of Theosophy. Guido von List "Germanized" Blavatsky's teaching and, through the Bavarian Thule Masonic secret society, gave birth to the Nazi party.

After the Blavatsky-founded Theosophical Society kicked out Alice Bailey, she formed a new branch of Theosophy now commonly called the New Age movement. Her Arcane School and the Lucis Trust have become very influential organizations and appear to be favored as the blueprint for a United Nations endorsed world religion.

A central theme in this Theosophical lineage – in fact, predating Albert Pike – is the idea that man can attain divinity. As such, God becomes the jealous adversary working to thwart man's elevation to godhood. Satan, or, more commonly in modern occult circles, Lucifer is seen as man's ally, the Bringer of Light, the Bestower of Knowledge.

Two passages in Genesis are particularly important pillars of belief for these “Luciferian” sects. Genesis 3:22-24 states:

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

This is seen as by Luciferians as an admission by God that man can become like Him. It also demonstrates for them that God is unfair, cruel and jealous.

Perhaps an even more important passage is Genesis 11:6. Here, God remarks as King Nimrod's builders erect the Tower of Babel:

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

This passage suggests that godhood is still attainable for man if mankind is unified under one order with one language. For Luciferians, this is the key to achieving their goal of reaching divinity.

Genesis 3:22 appears to be represented in the Georgia Guidestones with the March 22 (3/22) unveiling date. Lucifer or Satan is represented by the number “666” which appears to be encoded in the overall height of the monument of 18 feet (in numerology, it is common practice to combine numbers in the fashion 6+6+6 = 18). The number 18 also appears in the year the monument was unveiled, 1980. In this case 1 + 9 + 8 + 0 = 18 which, again, is the most basic numerological encoding for “666.”

The true dimensions of the monument are obscured by two factors. Firstly, even though Robert Christian specified the monument's measurements in meters, they are reported in all official Guidestone related material in feet. Secondly, the buried support stones are included in the monument's height.

Robert Christian specified each Guidestone to be 0.5m x 2m x 5m. The capstone is an additional 0.5m bringing the overall height of the monument to 5.5m = 18.0 feet. The true dimensions of the various monument components are as follows:

Each Guidestone: 0.5m x 2m x 5m (42,437 lbs. each, proportions 1 : 4 : 10)

Center "Gnomen" stone: 0.5m x 1m x 5m (20,957 lbs., proportions 1 : 2 : 10)

Capstone: 0.5m x 2m x 3m (24,832 lbs., proportions 1 : 4 : 6)

As a sidebar, the SI (metric) system almost perfectly recreates Babylonian / Sumerian metrology in length, volume and mass. Although wikipedia is often unreliable, this quote appears to be essentially accurate:

Although not directly derived from it, there is a 1:2 proportional relationship between SI and Sumerian metrology. SI inherited the convention of the second as 1/86,400th of a solar day from Sumer thus, two Sumerian seconds are approximately one SI second. Moreover, because both systems use a seconds pendulum to create a unit of length, a meter is approximately two kuš3 [cubits], a liter 2 sila3, and a kilogram is 2 ma-na.

So the dimensions of each Guidestone are 1 cubit x 4 cubits x 10 cubits.

Regardless, the proportion of each Guidestone is then 1 : 4 : 10, which is possibly an encoding for January 4, 2010. Lending credibility to this hypothesis is the fact that the Burj Dubai will be officially completed on that date. The Burj Dubai is an almost otherworldly new building. By a very large margin, it is the tallest man-made structure ever built. At 828m (again, the number 18 appears: 8 + 2 + 8 = 18, also 828 = 46 * 18), the Burj Dubai will officially surpass what currently is the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101, by over 1,000 feet (2,717 feet compared to 1,671 feet) when it opens next Monday. The spiraling staircase, ziggurat-like design resembles a 21st Century Tower of Babel (Burj Babil).

Unfortunately, that might be the symbolic intent. The Burj Dubai might be intended to symbolize a new Tower of Babel and a completion of King Nimrod's vision: a world where man can become like God. It might even symbolize that the builders believe an Antichrist has arrived.

The Burj Dubai

Note that the Luciferian elevation of man to godhood is not a gift bestowed upon everyone, but rather a chosen few. The rest of humanity is left to serve and worship their new gods. The totalitarian society outlined in Robert Christian's book is a typical variation of this vision.

Disturbingly, one last piece of evidence supports the hypothesis above. Genesis 11:6 appears in a major, recent event: September 11th, 2001. In Luciferian sects, an upright pentagram represents constructive or good magic, while an inverted pentagram indicates destructive magic: cosmos versus chaos. 9/11 is an inversion of 11:6 indicating a destructive event. Of course, New York's Twin Towers, at one time the two tallest buildings in the world, fell that day and many people died. It is chilling to think that a Luciferian cult would have the power to orchestrate these events, but there does appear to be a trail of occult evidence suggesting the possibility.

NOTE: Since the time this article was initially published, the Burj Dubai was opened in an elaborate, fiery ceremony and renamed the Burj Khalifa after Sheikh Khalaifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan, the leader of Abu Dhabi who bailed out Dubai after a financial crisis last month. It is worth mentioning at this point that the Georgia Guidestones' capstone has the proportions 1 : 4 : 6 and the former emir of Dubai, Sheik Maktoum bin Rashad al Maktoum, died unexpectedly on a trip to Australia on January 4, 2006 (1 / 4 / 6). He was 62.

============

Conclusion

Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand

Workin' in the dark against your fellow man

But as sure as God made black and white

What's down in the dark will be brought to the light

– Johnny Cash, “God's Gonna Cut You Down”

The Georgia Guidestones monument in Elbert County, Georgia, has been the focus of controversy since its unveiling nearly thirty years ago. Our investigation into this structure suggests that much if not all of the criticism directed against it has been largely correct.

The undebatable originator of the monument, a man who used the pseudonym Robert C. Christian, authored the book Common Sense Renewed. In it he expounds upon his ten precepts etched into that stone edifice. Christian's vision for the future is a totalitarian world order where the most sacred act of humanity, procreation, is completely controlled and regulated by the state for eugenics purposes, purposes that include selective breeding to modify human behavior like, as in dogs, increasing docility and loyalty. Children are the property of the state and the state decides where and how they are reared. God-given rights are replaced with state bestowed privileges granted temporarily for services rendered to the state. Suffrage is limited to the few whom the state considers worthy. Health care is rationed according to your value to the state, with only the elite receiving access to the most valuable life saving and extending medical services. If you lose your job, you become property of the state to be shipped anywhere labor is needed. Refusal means starvation, no access to health care and, doubtlessly, worse because Robert Christian wants most of us dead and the remaining survivors will be treated more like cattle than men, women and children in Christian's new Rational World Order.

Accusations of sinister, occult and even Luciferican influences on the monument's design also appear to be largely on target. Robert Christian's vision expressed in his book is broadly consistent with modern Theosophical and Masonic theology. His book also includes many Masonic phrases. Moreover, the monument's design clearly incorporates numerous Masonic themes, from its astronomical functions to the inclusion of virtually all archaic and extant languages important to Freemasonry, to apparently deliberate inclusion of numerological messages, to the neo-pagan design of the monument based upon England's Stonehenge.

The odd, narrow proportions of the Guidestones, 1 : 4 : 10, appear to point to the date January 4th, 2010 which coincides with the completion of the Burj Dubai, a fantastically tall, new building erected in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. If the two structures are truly connected in this manner, it almost certainly symbolizes the completion of a new Tower of Babel and the beginning of a New World Order where man -- or more accurately certain men -- can now reach godhood. It may, in fact, indicate that the builders believe an Antichrist has arrived.

Our investigation into the identity of Robert C. Christian has uncovered highly persuasive yet circumstantial evidence linking Robert Edward “Ted” Turner to the very center of the Georgia Guidestones originators. This evidence is so strong that we believe Ted Turner probably was R.C. Christian. At the very least, Turner probably knows who R.C. Christian is.

Throughout our investigation, all of the people we met were good, honest, decent individuals. From Mart Clamp whose father, a master sandblaster, etched the 4” letters into the eight faces of the Georgia Guidestones, to the gracious Dr. Gloria Bader Merchant whose late husband contributed his significant writing skills for production of the monument's guidebook, to Elberton Star publisher Gary Jones who, like most Elbertonians, keeps a protective eye on the Georgia Guidestones, to psychic Naunie Batchelder who was married underneath the Guidestones and who long ago predicted that the secrets of that strange edifice would be revealed within 30 years, to, of course, Wyatt C. Martin, a proud, gentlemanly, devout Christian who is the only person who knows Robert C. Christian's real identity, all of these and more are wonderful, salt-of-the-earth people.

But in their midst is an abomination to humanity. The large, graven stone monument on top of the highest hill in Elbert County is a betrayal of a good, kind and loving people's faith. It is a blight to their community and an insult to all mankind. Good people of Elbert County, Georgia, the world watches as you decide the fate of the Georgia Guidestones.

Video of the hay fall described at the beginning of the article

Copyright 2009, 2010 Van Smith

Why the FTC lawsuit against Intel has substance

John Oram interviewed me for this interesting BSN article.

BTW, BSN's web server has been very slow lately, so be patient when trying to pull up this article. I've been told that their site traffic has been heavy, so perhaps it's time for Theo to upgrade his hardware.

Changing Seas

After nearly eight years, I resigned from my position at Centaur Technology to start a new company, Cossatot Analytics Laboratories (abbreviated CAna Labs). At Centaur, I was head of benchmarking.

I can say with a level head that Centaur is one of the best places to work in the world. I'll write more about both my experiences at Centaur and CAna Labs soon.

"What about Van's Hardware?" you might ask. That's a good question. The site will likely remain on life support for the immediate future.

For an urgent fix of computer hardware information, I can recommend my favorites. Of course, HardOCP, AnandTech and The TechReport seem to be getting better and better and that's why they continue to flourish.

I love Mike Magee; long live Mike! He's now writing and editing for TGDaily, a very nice website that was spawned from my old haunt, THG. Likewise, I follow Loyd Case who seems to be just about everywhere nowadays.

My friend Rick C. Hodgin used to be managing editor for Wolfgang Gruener at TGDaily. Rick tempted me a time or two to write for him. Although Rick always spoke very glowingly of Wolfgang, he no longer works for him. Rick is still posting on and off at Geek.com.

For the longest time, our very own Joel Hruska worked for ArsTechnica, another top notch tech site. Now, HotHardware is lucky to have Joel's services.

Speaking of Tom's Hardware, I now visit there frequently after all of these years; the content there is quite good again.

I often don't agree with his takes on NVIDIA, but I'll never stop following my old friend Charlie.

And speaking of old friends, John Oram is now writing for Theo Valich's Bright Side of News. I don't know Theo, but John speaks very, very highly of him.

If you want to dive deep into computer tech, visit Lost Circuits, perhaps the most technically rigorous hardware site of them all.

Sadly, one of my favorite sites is no more. Ace's Hardware has been defunct for several years now. Fortunately, Johan De Gelas continues to write detailed analysis for Anand. It's true that a surrogate Ace's forums sorta still lives on, but I'm not a big fan of message boards.

I haven't posted on technology related message boards in many, many years. When VHJ was popular, whenever I posted under my real name I always had to be prepared to devote a lot of time for responses. To avoid this, for a few months soon after I began working for Centaur, I posted anonymously under whatever name popped into my head at the time (but I never attempted to hide my IP address out of respect to the forum owners). But even posting anonymously is a headache because it still invites responses, and many message board devotees can be determined, provocative and harsh. Some people simply like to argue. I do not like to argue, and I don't like to spend my time reading people trade insults, which is all too common on many message boards.

Dave Graham did a fantastic job running our own VHJ message boards. We had interesting discussions there at times, but the message boards were still often a headache despite the fact that they achieved some level of success, largely due to Dave's work.

Lastly, I like to take a peek at what Andrew Orlowski writes at The Register. I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew many years ago at a conference. He's a very nice guy and his articles are insightful, intelligent, bold, well written and worth reading.

3,000 Low Temp Records Set This July in U.S.

AccuWeather blogger Jesse Ferrell reports that July was unusually cool over large sections of the United States. In fact, he claims that 3,000 low temperature records will be broken over this region during this month of July. He writes:

First, some stats. 1,044 daily record low temperatures have been broken this month nationwide according to NCDC -- count record "low highs" and the number increases to 2,925, surely to pass 3,000 before the end of the month.

Rest in Peace, Billy Mays

We hardly knew ye.  Pitchmen was one of the best programs on television.  You seemed to be a good man and we will miss you.

Apparant attack on Dutch royal family

A 38-year old Dutch man drove his black Suzuki Swift into the Dutch royal parade, narrowly missing an open topped bus carrying the 71-year old Beatrix and her adult children. The man struck several onlookers, killing five and injuring twelve.

Upon questioning, the driver stated that his attack was directed at the royal family. The man is in critical condition after his car collided with a large, stone obelisk.

The Dutch royal family has close ties to the secretive Bilderberg Group, an organization seen by many as a major command component of globalism. Prince Bernhard was one of its founders, and the Bilderbergers maintain their headquarters in the South Holland town of Leiden.

Mexican Flu observations

The U.S. Government, the corporate media and the WHO -- three globalist organs -- continue to under-report the number of Mexican Influenza cases and underplay its lethality.

At the same time, the WHO and the U.S. Government are deploying higher and higher levels of pandemic controls.

Monday's conveniently timed buzzing of "Ground Zero" New York by one of the President's 747s flanked by two fighters was almost certainly a psyop intended to blunt public attention away from the flu, where the first line measure of shutting down the U.S.-Mexican border has still not been taken.

It appears that the Mexican Flu is virulent and spreading rapidly. The number of existing cases appears to be significantly higher than what is being reported. When the true numbers are finally released, they will probably be accompanied with unprecedented measures from our federal government.

While no cases of the flu have been detected in pigs yet, Egypt has already announced that it will slaughter its entire hog population.

Cooler Master HAF 932 for $124.99

New Egg is running a sale on the Cooler Master HAF full tower computer case. I have one of these at home, and it is an outstanding case that I highly recommend. Kathy paid Fry's $160 my HAF. New Egg is selling them for $124.99 with promo code EMCLRPL24.

With the HAF and Sniper cases, Cooler Master is probably producing the best mid-priced enthusiast cases right now. The Antec Twelve Hundred has its high points, but it is not tool-free, has limited front panel connectors and the case fans do not have motherboard connectors.

My Cooler Master HAF recommendation comes with two caveats: 1. It's a huge case. 2. It doesn't have filters.

Although the Cooler Master HAF features three huge 230mm fans, only one is lit by LEDs. These fans do not have external speed controls, but are very quiet. Cool Master should also implement hot swappable SATA drive bays like those on Zalman's case.

PC-Audio a misnomer no more, Avi ADM9.1

As the music industry decides what its next medium for mass marketing shall be the music file industry has been a runaway train. I have been writing and testing PC-related products for almost 6-years now for http://www.madshrimsps.be/ among others, and recently have re-discovered my once favorite hobby. No its not surfing 25-ft swells in late September off Marconi Beach State park on Cape Cod Massachusetts, its High End Audio. When I suffered a spinal injury some years ago racing MTB bikes I was forced to liquidate all my High End Audio gear long before my humility would allow me to collect Social Security Disability (although this is an earned income everyone pays into). As I sold all that stuff, Futterman NYAL OTL prototype amps, panel speakers, a Sony x777 CD player (their $3k audiophile model) and thousands in cables, I realized I had begun several years before as a pure music lover and by that time I had actually lost that passion. I began after hearing a High End system running out and buying every CD I could find and by the time I sold everything I had just two CD's I considered Audiophile quality recordings. I wasn't listening to music, I was listening to the nuances in hardware.

I had spent well over $10k on my own system which consisted of Dealer Demo "bargains" and then spent years siting in front of over one hundred different types of loudspeakers. I was isolated, and frustrated in my perfectionism. High End Audio cost money and to reproduce a true 20Hz ~ 20kHz costs big money. When you want Joni Mitchell in the room it costs about as much in High End Gear as it would to have her perform live at your home. Its a world onto its own and a absolute pleasure for the electronics hobbyist with a open bank book. When it comes to Affordable High End what we have is another misnomer like PC-Audio.

PC-Audio has always been driven by multi-channel affairs which were designed for Gaming, hence surround sound. Recently this has begun to change. Influences from High End Audio are slowly influencing PC-Audio. When I was into High End separates were the rule. Isolate and specialize each function, purifying it. Instead of a CD-player you have a transport and separate DAC and then a distinct power unit for that device. Now the digital cable between transport and DAC becomes an industry onto itself. From the DAC's Analog outputs we now need silver wire kapton insulated interconnects. Then the pre-amp and if there's a phono-stage this is separate with separate power supply. Now we have the interconnects from Pre-amp to stereo a,p or monoblocs. Either way once again the laws of physics meet engineering as an art form. For example read this little gem about a pair of "vacuum" sealed interconnects which cost $14,900 per 1m pair, Tara Labs Zero interconnects. I understand the science, I understand the potential for why they"sound" better, I also understand that's what I spent on my entire system in 1992. In that Tara Labs article the Reviewer's speakers are my 10.0 drool factor, in the mbl 101E Radialstrahler loudspeaker costing a mere $44,900 or about the same as a P-Class Mercedes (P=Poor). And the mbl 101E are still considered a value given what some other High End models cost.

So, is there a silver solder trickle down effect in High End Audio? Erm maybe, the current trend are chinese assembled integrated tube amplifiers, especially single ended Pentode and many incorporating USB fed (or TOSLINK) DACs. This new breed of Audiophile quality Plug and Play integrated amps with on-board D/A conversion are made for use with the modern PC or Laptop, a first. This transforms your PC's HDD into an instant music file server and provides access to thousands of free streaming Audio websites the world over. My favorite has been Deezer.com which offers one of the "cleanest" signals especially in their high quality stream Chanson Francaise. There you'll find many live studio recordings, those which allow a a system capable of 3D imaging to come into its own. There many strong acoustics and clear vocals as well as rock, and some funky folk. Rare in the annals of High End I recently auditioned a Single Ended Pentode integrated amp with on-board Burr Brown USB DAC, from Tecon. Their Model 55 reviewed here cost a mere $389 shipped in the USA and all that's required is a PC and passive speakers. I mated the Tecon to the venerable Lovecraft Designs, Abby also reviewed by me, although at $2k this defeated "affordable" at least relative to what "we" might conisder. In the High End world some wouldn't make this purchase out of some discombobulated sense of pride. An ideal match for the Tecon Model 55 would be the affordable Tekton Model 6.5 which cost just $350 and Tekton makes models as low as $200 or as high as $3,300. Basically $600 will get you one of the best sounding systems you've ever owned if your an owner of mass-market mid-fi. And very respectable, accurate and their ability for three dimensional imaging will certainly launch your High End Audio love affair.

Undoubtedly the gradual decline of the CD will not necessarily go the way of vinyl, vinyl still has in its favor a true analog signature and will be favored by a large majority of the Purist Audiophile Crowd so long as they continue to press it. Except for the Compact Discs sitting on shelves, the future is the music file albeit Lossless, Mp3, Mp4 etc.

There is one product out there which has recently captivated me, this is a unique active speaker system by a company known as Avi HiFi Originating out of the UK like so many great loudspeakers, they have released the Avi ADM9.1 active loudspeaker system. In my many years of "High End Audio" this system has completely redefined what I've come to expect from High End Audio as well as what is considered a value. How are they different? The typical powered speaker system utilizes a single amplifier in a main enclosure from which zip-cord feeds the right or left passive unit. Already we have problems with such a design, since the additional electronics in one enclosure give it slightly different sonic characteristics and other potential offsets. Avi in the Purist tradition has placed bi-amplified 250W mid/bass driver and 75W tweeter in each enclosure. Therefore each speaker is a true active unit under its own power, ergo each has its own power cord. The main unit contains two TOSLINK inputs which feed a Wolfson 8741 DAC. Two analog inputs allow you to bypass the Wolfson DAC (although I can't see any reason why) which is one of the most neutral sounding I've had the pleasure of hearing. It simply invites streaming music files and gives back all it takes. Another RCA out supplies the right speaker and if its more bass you desire there is a dedicated subwoofer output. Avi makes a subwoofer which was designed with the ADM9.1 speakers in mind. The following was taken from Avi's webpage:

Therefor we've produced a special dedicated, ultra high powered 10" model for the ADM9's. The voice coil is 3" diameter, maximum excursion is 2" and it's in a sealed box and driven by a linear, analogue bipolar amplifier that can produce up to 30 Amps and 200 Watts. The filter can be set to 20, 30, 40, 60, 80 or 100 Hz and gain adjusted to suit room acoustics. In practice it extends low frequency excursion to below 30Hz...



I do not feel the need for a subwoofer since I don't feel as if I am missing much. The ADM9.1's are rated down to 60Hz and I am certain this is the most honest 60Hz I've ever heard. Given the number of speakers I have owned and heard rated down to "50Hz ~ 40Hz" based on budget constraints, this is a region I am most familiar with. The sound from the ADM9.1's is like nothing I've ever heard from a active speaker system, indeed from any combination of separates up to $10k and beyond. They are as fast as planar ribbons (there will be consequences for that description)image as if they were 360 radiators, and pack bass worthy of full range. If any of these attributes were lacking they would still be a bargain at approximately $2k USD. The fact they present a realism which flows into and and fills the room with live music level, even the most critical listener can't deny they perform far beyond their stature. Listening to Joni Mitchell BLUE, the ADM9.1's were able to maintain what are some of the highest pitched vocals and still allow you to hear her diaphragm expand, the moisture on her lips and know exactly where she sat when letting loose on the microphone bested my Proac, Cary, Audible Illusions combo from years back. If i can summarize these speakers in one word that would be, "Effortless." They just don't seem as if they have to work as hard as many to give what most cannot.

If I had $10,000 to spend on anything I wanted in High End Audio, I would still buy the ADM9.1 and spend the rest on a Tapestry. They are the best value in Audio I've seen in many years, especially when you consider you don't have to leave your seat to enjoy streaming audio from your PC. I've neglected other reviews since the ADM9.1's arrived and if I could afford them I'd own them by now. The highest compliment I can given them, is that I don't want to give them back :)