The $37,900 Question
In the past few days, more than 50,000 unique visitors have stumbled upon this website, due to the national attention surrounding the infamous Killian memos. Most of these visitors came after my initial offering of a $10,000 cashiers check to the first person who could exactly (and reasonably) reproduce the memos on technology available in 1972. While there has been some good debate as to the nature of what constitutes "reasonable", the general consensus seems to be this: the only "typewriter" which could create documents that look like the Killian memos is the IBM Selectric Composer typesetting machine, and that machine has been deemed inadequate to have created the memos by the nation's leading authorities on the Selectric line. At this time, after careful analysis of all available evidence, the belief that the CBS memos were created in 1972 cannot be rationally supported with any degree of intellectual honesty.
Amazingly, my email was flooded with not only people trying to claim the prize, but individuals who so strongly shared my belief that the documents were forgeries that they too, pledged significant amounts of money to the challenge. As of now, including my initial $10,000, the amount pledged stands at $37,900.
These were not just idle "me too"s. Some people sent financial information, their home address and phone number for verification, the address and phone number of their employer, their checking account routing numbers, and even at least one social security number!
Of course, I cannot assure that all or even any of the dozens and dozens of "contributions" would ever be honored (other than my own). But I am very humbled and flattered at the offering, and in the unlikely event someone does satisfy the requirements of the challenge, they will receive a list of the names and addresses of all others who publicly offered funds as well. (At this time, if anyone would like to be removed from the pledge list, contact me as soon as possible at defeatjohnjohn@hotmail.com.)
As the firestorm has wound down a touch, this site will eventually be getting back to the more pressing issue of keeping John Kerry out of the White House. :) I have therefore started http://stop60minutes.com/ to chronicle and catalog all the information we've collected here, including information about the monetary challenge.
A few of you have also emailed me asking how you could donate to this site directly, to keep us up and running. Whereas initially I waved away these very sweet offers, the increased bandwidth and hosting costs of this site, ludicrosity.com, and stop60minutes.com, are a valid issue. Therefore, if you feel that you've gotten a dollar or two's worth of enjoyment or information from us in the past few days, would like to see us continue, or think we're certain to fail on our $10,000 challenge and want to donate because you feel sorry for us :) , please consider leaving a bit in our site tip jar. Any donations will go right back into site operations and costs, and I'd be your friend forever. You can use Paypal (the first link) or Amazon, and the donation will go to Addis Enterprises (my DBA):
Again, I want to thank all of you for what has largely been an intelligent, spirited, and respectful discussion on all sides. I hope to see some of you stick around for the Presdential debates, and thanks for the entertaining and enlightening weekend.
Amazingly, my email was flooded with not only people trying to claim the prize, but individuals who so strongly shared my belief that the documents were forgeries that they too, pledged significant amounts of money to the challenge. As of now, including my initial $10,000, the amount pledged stands at $37,900.
These were not just idle "me too"s. Some people sent financial information, their home address and phone number for verification, the address and phone number of their employer, their checking account routing numbers, and even at least one social security number!
Of course, I cannot assure that all or even any of the dozens and dozens of "contributions" would ever be honored (other than my own). But I am very humbled and flattered at the offering, and in the unlikely event someone does satisfy the requirements of the challenge, they will receive a list of the names and addresses of all others who publicly offered funds as well. (At this time, if anyone would like to be removed from the pledge list, contact me as soon as possible at defeatjohnjohn@hotmail.com.)
As the firestorm has wound down a touch, this site will eventually be getting back to the more pressing issue of keeping John Kerry out of the White House. :) I have therefore started http://stop60minutes.com/ to chronicle and catalog all the information we've collected here, including information about the monetary challenge.
A few of you have also emailed me asking how you could donate to this site directly, to keep us up and running. Whereas initially I waved away these very sweet offers, the increased bandwidth and hosting costs of this site, ludicrosity.com, and stop60minutes.com, are a valid issue. Therefore, if you feel that you've gotten a dollar or two's worth of enjoyment or information from us in the past few days, would like to see us continue, or think we're certain to fail on our $10,000 challenge and want to donate because you feel sorry for us :) , please consider leaving a bit in our site tip jar. Any donations will go right back into site operations and costs, and I'd be your friend forever. You can use Paypal (the first link) or Amazon, and the donation will go to Addis Enterprises (my DBA):
Again, I want to thank all of you for what has largely been an intelligent, spirited, and respectful discussion on all sides. I hope to see some of you stick around for the Presdential debates, and thanks for the entertaining and enlightening weekend.
<< Home