SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE EDITOR

Forrest M. Mims III

Society for Amateur Scientists Executive Director Dr. Shawn Carlson has directed that this issue of The Citizen Scientist be devoted solely to the fallout from my special feature article "Meeting Dr. Doom" and Shawn's special editorial "Dealing with Dr. Doom" (TCS, 31 March 2006).

How The Citizen Scientist Story Took Off

The TCS feature was posted the evening of 31 March 2006. Late on 1 April 2006, a detailed and very nicely written feature by reporter Jamie Mobley was posted online at www.seguingazette.com and published as a page 1 story in the Sunday morning Seguin Gazette-Enterprise. Meanwhile, Shawn Carlson's editorial was also posted on TCS.

Jamie Mobley's story was sent to the Associated Press, which spiked it. I spoke with an AP bureau person who verified the fact the story was spiked and said so. He then said that his editor blocked the story because it came from a "small town newspaper," and it's implications were so serious they needed to be checked. The staff person said the editor was assigning a reporter to the story.

While the wheels of the ancient Associated Press ground on, the new media took charge. Early Sunday afternoon the Drudge Report placed both the newspaper story and the TCS article at the top of its web page. Immediately, my e-mail box began to overflow. The newspaper is part of a chain across Texas, and all their servers crashed, leaving only the TCS article available.

Then World Net Daily made the TCS story the lead on its site, and there was another avalanche of e-mails. Meanwhile, many blogs ran with the story. The Society for Amateur Scientists web site received a record number of hits and did not crash. More about this will appear in a future edition of The Citizen Scientist.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press finally called for an interview. Their story appeared the evening of 3 April, two days after they were sent Jamie Mobley's far more comprehensive breaking news story from the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise. The AP story listed the web sites for Professor Pianka and the Texas Academy of Science, but failed to list the sites that broke the story and informed them, namely The Citizen Scientist and the Seguin newspaper. On appeal, the AP listed the newspaper site--but not the site that broke the story, The Citizen Scientist. So much for an antiquated journalism machine that would never have had the story without the web and which published well after the story was sent around the world on blogs, news sites and a torrent of e-mails.

The Prank Factor: Is Professor Pianka Real?

Because the story was released over the April Fool's Day weekend, rumors circulated on the web that we were spoofing everyone with a prank. Apparently at least some in the mass media adopted this view.

There is a great record of April Fools hoaxes in science publishing, but ours was most definitely not a prank. An old Texas scientist, who poses dressed like Moses and favors images of death and skulls with flashing red eyes, does indeed exist. He is Dr. Eric R. Pianka, and he was announced as the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist at the 109th annual meeting of the Texas Academy of Science at Lamar University on 3 March 2006.

As reported in the TCS special feature, I was present when Professor Pianka gave the Distinguished Scientist lecture at the Lamar University Science Auditorium. After praising the Ebola virus for its killing efficiency. He then paused, leaned over the lectern, and carefully said, “We've got airborne 90 percent mortality in humans. Killing humans. Think about that.” I most certainly did.

After commending bird flu, universal human sterilization, and his opinion that, "We're no better than bacteria," Professor Pianka received a prolonged standing ovation from the Texas Academy of Science members who were present and some students. Some even cheered.

Yet there's more, for Professor Pianka and his Ebola plush toy made an appearance at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, on 31 March 2006. There he showed the same Power Point slides of skulls and Ebola. But he went even farther this time, perhaps not knowing that reporter Jamie Mobley and her tape recorder were present. The lecture was also recorded by a reporter for a major magazine.You can read Jamie's story here if the servers are not crashing from her follow up stories.

What's Next?

The Citizen Scientist will resume it's normal coverage of citizen science news, features, columns and projects as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the news media has made numerous inquiries that must first be addressed. A summary of the matter will appear in a future issue of TCS.