[hardcore] Fwd: <nettime> NASA photo analyst: Bush wore a device during debate

[domin8r///corrosion]

['bezicne bubice za polaganje ispita' -d]


>X-From_: nettime-l-request at bbs.thing.net  Sat Oct 30 16:06:33 2004
>Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 14:17:02 -0400 (EDT)
>From: David Mandl <dmandl at panix.com>
>To: Nettime <nettime-l at bbs.thing.net>
>Subject: <nettime> NASA photo analyst: Bush wore a device during debate
>Sender: nettime-l-request at bbs.thing.net
>Reply-To: David Mandl <dmandl at panix.com>
>
>http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/29/bulge/index.html
>
>[Nelson's photos at the URL above]
>
>NASA photo analyst: Bush wore a device during debate
>Physicist says imaging techniques prove the president's bulge was not
>caused by wrinkled clothing.
>by Kevin Berger
>
>Oct. 29, 2004 | George W. Bush tried to laugh off the bulge. "I don't
>know what that is," he said on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday,
>referring to the infamous protrusion beneath his jacket during the
>presidential debates.  "I'm embarrassed to say it's a poorly tailored
>shirt."
>
>Dr. Robert M. Nelson, however, was not laughing. He knew the president was 
>not telling the truth. And Nelson is neither conspiracy theorist nor 
>midnight blogger. He's a senior research scientist for NASA and for 
>Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and an international authority on 
>image analysis. Currently he's engrossed in analyzing digital photos of 
>Saturn's moon Titan, determining its shape, whether it contains craters or 
>canyons.
>
>For the past week, while at home, using his own computers, and off the 
>clock at Caltech and NASA, Nelson has been analyzing images of the 
>president's back during the debates. A professional physicist and photo 
>analyst for more than 30 years, he speaks earnestly and thoughtfully about 
>his subject. "I am willing to stake my scientific reputation to the 
>statement that Bush was wearing something under his jacket during the 
>debate," he says. "This is not about a bad suit. And there's no way the 
>bulge can be described as a wrinkled shirt."
>
>Nelson and a scientific colleague produced the photos from a videotape, 
>recorded by the colleague, who has chosen to remain anonymous, of the 
>first debate. The images provide the most vivid details yet of the bulge 
>beneath the president's suit. Amateurs have certainly had their turn at 
>examining the bulge, but no professional with a r=E9sum=E9 as impressive 
>as Nelson's has ventured into public with an informed opinion. In fact, no 
>one to date has enhanced photos of Bush's jacket to this degree of 
>precision, and revealed what appears to be some kind of mechanical device 
>with a wire snaking up the president's shoulder toward his neck and down 
>his back to his waist.
>
>Nelson stresses that he's not certain what lies beneath the president's 
>jacket. He offers, though, "that it could be some type of electronic 
>device -- it's consistent with the appearance of an electronic device worn 
>in that manner." The image of lines coursing up and down the president's 
>back, Nelson adds, is "consistent with a wire or a tube."
>
>Nelson used the computer software program Photoshop to enhance the texture 
>in Bush's jacket. The process in no way alters the image but sharpens its 
>edges and accents the creases and wrinkles. You've seen the process 
>performed a hundred times on "CSI": pixelated images are magnified to 
>reveal a clear definition of their shape.
>
>Bruce Hapke, professor emeritus of planetary science in the department of 
>geology and planetary science at the University of Pittsburgh, reviewed 
>the Bush images employed by Nelson, whom he calls "a very highly respected 
>scientist in his field." Hapke says Nelson's process of analyzing the 
>images are the "exact same methods we use to analyze images taken by 
>spacecraft of planetary surfaces. It does not introduce any artifacts into 
>the picture in any way."
>
>How can Nelson be certain there's some kind of mechanical device beneath 
>Bush's jacket? It's all about light and shadows, he says. The angles at 
>which the light in the studio hit Bush's jacket expose contours that fit 
>no one's picture of human anatomy and wrinkled shirts. And Nelson compared 
>the images to anatomy texts. He also experimented with wrinkling shirts in 
>various configurations, wore them under his jacket under his bathroom 
>light, and couldn't produce anything close to the Bush bulge.
>
>In the enhanced photo of the first debate, Nelson says, look at the 
>horizontal white line in middle of the president's back. You'll see a 
>shadow. "That's telling me there's definitely a bulge," he says. "In fact, 
>it's how we measure the depths of the craters on the moon or on Mars. We 
>look at the angle of the light and the length of shadow they leave. In 
>this case, that's clearly a crater that's under the horizontal line -- 
>it's clearly a rim of a bulge protruding upward, one due to forces pushing 
>it up from beneath."
>
>Hapke, too, agrees that the bulge is neither anatomy nor a wrinkled shirt. 
>"I would think it's very hard to avoid the conclusion that there's 
>something underneath his jacket," he says. "It would certainly be 
>consistent with some kind of radio receiver and a wire."
>
>Nelson admits that he's a Democrat and plans to vote for John Kerry. But 
>he takes umbrage at being accused of partisanship. "Everyone wants to 
>think my colleague and I are just a bunch of dope-crazed ravaged Democrats 
>who are looking to insult the president at the last minute," he says. "And 
>that's not what this is about. This is scientific analysis. If the bulge 
>were on Bill Clinton's back and he was lying about it, I'd have to say the 
>same thing."
>
>"Look, he says, "I'm putting myself at risk for exposing this. But this is 
>too important. It's not about my reputation. If they force me into an 
>early retirement, it'll be worth it if the public knows about this. It's 
>outrageous statements that I read that the president is wearing nothing 
>under there. There's clearly something there."
>
>
>
>
>
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