RE: [mega] some corrections; A courtesy to this list
To: mega@yahoogroups.com
From: Kevin Langdon <kevin.langdon@polymath-systems.com>
Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 23:57:45 -0700
Subject: RE: [mega] some corrections; A courtesy to this list
At 02:26 PM 4/22/01 -0400, Chris Langan forwarded:
> The following public service announcement is brought to you by
> Dr. Gina LoSasso, Membership Officer of Mega Society East.
> *********************************************
I.e., counterfeit.
> A couple of corrections to some recent posts:
> MegaList is now the Official Discussion List of the Mega Society
> East.
I.e., bogus.
> All qualified Mega-level individuals are invited to join Mega List
> by sending a blank email to:
> MegaList-subscribe@topica.com
> We hope some of you will join us! Please note that by joining us,
> you may still freely participate in any other mega-level society :)
Gee, thanks.
My application to join was rejected. Obviously, those who deny
access to what are purported to be Mega Society resources to a
Mega member are not telling the truth and not following Article V,
Section 1 of the Mega Constitution, which provides that "All
members of the Mega Society shall have the right to vote, run for
office, and participate in the affairs of the society."
> Subscription to Noesis-E is made available to members and
> subscribers to the Global UltraHIQ Community or any of its
> forums, such as Ultranet or Mega Society East.
I.e., phony.
> There is a *suggested* donation, but one may subscribe by
> simply electing to "defer".
> For more info, please visit:
> http://www.ultrahiq.net/UltraHIQ/FAQs/UltraHIQFAQ.htm
> All donations go directly to support the Mega Foundation's
I.e., the organization totally controlled by Chris and Gina, who
constitute a majority of its three-person Board--which was not
elected democratically. The MF is simply a vehicle for Chris
Langan's attempts to build himself an empire while neglecting
the nonexistence of his wardrobe.
Let me make this clear: There is nothing wrong with having
one's own private organization. What I object to is the
misrepresentation of a top-down, authoritarian organization
as a cooperative community of equals.
> programs and projects. Not only do we (Chris and I) not
> receive any compensation for the enormous amount of time
> we dedicate to these projects, but we contribute much of our
> own money toward the expenses and supplies that it takes to
> run such an organization.
So what about all these supposedly lucrative arrangements with
wealthy backers that Chris has been boasting about? Naturally,
they have nothing to do with any of this.
> We thank all individuals who have kindly supported the efforts
> of the many people involved in our organization, but at the same
> time, we welcome everyone into our community regardless of
> their ability or desire to contribute, just as we have welcomed
> Kevin.
> Since Kevin has brought this up, I will point out that Kevin is
> subscribed to three of our forums (he does not qualify for either
> Ultranet or MegaList, or he would be welcome there as well)
This is more of Chris Langan's crap about my qualifications, from
the nimble fingers of his partner in misappropriation this time,
totally ignoring the expressed will of the membership, as he so
often does. Gina LoSasso claims to be "Membership Officer" of
the "Mega Society East" (i.e., ersatz), but she isn't a member of
Mega at all, and yet she has the nerve to question my credentials!
We need to approve the proposal put forward by the Mega
officers and put a stop to this.
> and receives the password to access the Mega Society East
I.e., imitation.
> website and Noesis-E although he has never elected to make
> a donation of any kind!
I manage a number of e-mail lists myself, including this one. The
total cost of these lists is zero.
> It is not our desire to divide,
That's a lie. Chris can't compete and he'd rather be the big frog
in his own little pond. That's the long and short of it.
> rather we are doing our best to make our community one where
> individuals from all HIQ organizations may come together to
> meet friends and enjoy the content we provide on our 500+
> page web-complex at:
> www.ultrahiq.net/GraphicSiteMap.html
> To receive updates (2-4 per month) on content being added to
> the UltraHIQ site, send a blank email to:
> UltraHIQ-subscribe@listbot.com
> Best wishes,
> ~Genie
Some of this is good stuff. Some is not so good. I have commented
specifically on Chris Langan's material in *Noesis*, so I needn't go
into further detail here.
At 12:32 PM 4/22/01 -0700, Chris Langan wrote:
> Greetings!
You're in the army now! ;-)
> As a courtesy to this list, I'm posting my reply to Chris Cole's
> latest attack on me and the Mega Society East.
I.e., delusional.
> Please don't think I'm moving the action over here; that's not
> my intention. If you qualify at the mega level - and as far as I
> know, all but one of you (Langdon) does - it is very easy for
> you to join the Megalist, which contains many more mega-level
> subscribers than this one does
Highly doubtful. Chris' and Gina's organization clearly contains
many people who have never produced qualifying scores of any
kind.
> and whose bandwidth is not quite as easy for Mr. Langdon to
> monopolize.
It's pretty hard to monopolize bandwidth on one of these lists. Each
person writes as much or as little as he likes. What bothers Chris
isn't bandwidth, it's the boy who sees that the Emperor's wardrobe
is nonexistent.
> I do not consider Mr. Langdon's style of argumentation worthy
> of my time,
Of course not. Chris would much rather spend his time pushing over
push-overs, people who are oh-so-impressed with Chris but who
don't really get his CTMU. . . .
> and am too busy to make a never-ending string of exceptions for
> him.
No exceptions needed. Just answer my objections to your stuff.
> By the way, I'd like to make something clear. The Mega Society
> East
I.e., imaginary.
> is not a "business" of mine, I draw no salary and make no profit
> from it, and I have no plans to do so. In fact, I regard the money
> it costs me as a donation to the ultraHIQ community. Needless
> to say, that includes all of you. The Mega Society East
I.e., pirate.
> warmly welcomes the participation of any mega-level qualifier at
> any time. The only other requirement is civility.
When are you going to kick yourself off the list?
> ***
> OK, here we go again.
> Cole:
>> This replies to Chris Langan's response to my comments. With
>> minor exceptions, Langan does not contradict the facts presented
>> in my response. In terms of the exceptions, if he believes that he
>> proposed the name "Noesis" in communications to which I was
>> not a party, well, o.k. Such assertions are all the better when
>> supported by names, dates and quotations, but it hardly matters.
Right. Who cares who named it? They don't let whoever first suggested
the name "Columbia" or "Atlantis" take a space shuttle for a spin.
> CML: Why not save the private correspondence for the attorneys,
> should it come to that? After all, we see below that Chris Cole has
> now dropped his claim to have been "elected" in 1991
> ("immediately after the merger") and again in 1995. (The truth is, he
> functioned despotically for almost seven years before "finding
> democracy" in a fit of ex post facto self-legitimization.)
This is typical of Chris. There wasn't a peep out of him when Chris
Cole became Publisher and for years after that. Chris Cole
published quite a bit of Langan's work. Chris Langan's whole claim
to any kind of legitimate leadership of the Mega Society is a clumsy
fabrication with no basis in law or in fact.
> This is smart of Cole; he can't exactly seem to ride a shining
> white horse if he leaves too little space between his tidbits of
> disinformation.
The principal source of disinformation in Mega is Chris Langan. He
has absolutely no respect for the truth. For example, he challenged
my assertion and demanded proof when I wrote that he had made
various extravagant claims for the CTMU, while all the time he knew
perfectly well that he had written all kinds of stuff like that, as I have
demonstrated. This is dishonest.
> In return, I'll refrain from making too much of his slips and omissions.
> But readers should bear in mind that I'm only trying to be nice, just
> in case Cole has an uncharacteristic change of heart and turns over
> a new, cooperative leaf.
Sort of like cooperating with a mugger.
>> In fact, Langan makes our case for us:
> From the viewpoints of Mega Society members other than Chris
> Cole and his confidants - and I neither know nor care what it takes
> to qualify for the position of Cole's "confidant" - this is an out-and-
> out falsehood. When people claiming to be in charge don't put out
> the journal for months on end, members begin use words like
> "defunct" to describe it.
That is not, in fact, what happened. The issues of *Noesis* published
at the time of the merger, ##64-66, are now on the Web. See my
Mega Society page:
http://www.polymath-systems.com/intel/hiqsocs/megasoc/megasoc.html
>> This has happened not just once, but several times.
Yes. *Noesis* has been published on an irregular schedule. So
what? We've only got about 25 members so it's a little harder
to find a volunteer with time to publish frequently than it is for
Mensa or even Prometheus.
>> It may be true that because Chris Cole saw himself as
>> continuously "in charge", he never personally regarded the
>> Society as defunct. But from everyone else's viewpoint,
>> Cole and company have been unconscionably lax.
We make no claim to publish on a fixed schedule. But nobody
else was available to publish at all when the call for volunteers
was issued. Chris claims that he volunteered, but in fact he
gave the society an ultimatum: he demanded that "Cole and
company" step out of the way or face a separate edition of
*Noesis* published by Chris Langan. Langan later followed
through on his threat.
>> Langan seems to claim that the Society was defunct either
>> when he published his six issues in 1990, or when he started
>> publishing "Noesis (East Coast Edition)" in 1997, or both.
> CML: Wrong again. The Society was not defunct when I
> published the first six issues, precisely because I permitted no
> lapses during that period. The journal had become a "hot
> potato", no one wanted any part of it, and Ron Hoeflin - who
> was initially reluctant to resume as publisher - agreed with me
> that more than one Langan issue would be appropriate. Why
> did Ron think this appropriate? Ron thought it appropriate
> because he had no other takers (neither he nor anyone else
> was to hear from Ray Wise until several months later). Indeed,
> after Ray's issue, Ron announced that it would be curtains for
> the Society unless a suitable volunteer as publisher could be
> found! That's when the seas calmed, the clouds parted, and
> Chris Cole descended on a golden beam of light to bring his
> fellow members the strong leadership he thought they craved.
> Unfortunately, although he and his adjutant Rick Rosner
> managed to produce the journal on an erratic schedule until
> early 1997, they ended their run with an unannounced,
> unexplained 7-month lapse.
Big deal. Rick's career suddenly took off. And the "lapse" had
already ended when Chris stepped in to "fix" everything.
> Although there were other lapses, this particular stretch of
> dead air was when Cole unmistakably became "defunct" as
> publisher.
Chris Cole was a publisher without an Editor for a while and he
finally edited and published quite a bit of material himself.
> Perhaps Chris Cole needs to have his memory refreshed.
> Ron Hoeflin: "If there are no volunteers, this journal and
> society will probably be terminated...there is not sufficient
> intellectual or monetary feedback from the members to give
> me personally sufficient incentive to continue...".
> Although Ron didn't make this announcement until after he'd
> gotten me to hand the journal back to him, he'd made similar
> noises previously.
Exactly. Everybody knows that Ron can be pretty gloomy
sometimes. This isn't evidence of anything but how Ron was
feeling that day.
>> This is a pretty straight-forward admission that Ron
>> resumed editing Noesis from Langan and that the Society
>> was not defunct at the time.
> CML: When I first took over as editor, the Society was
> merely *almost* defunct. But by the time Ron resumed the
> editorship, something else had transpired to make the
> Society anticipate a new lease on life. To wit, Cole had
> begun complaining to Ron Hoeflin about my "long-winded"
> style as editor, letting Ron know that maybe he, Chris Cole,
> could do a better job. (Although I could go on, I'll stop here.)
Good. Becase it has nothing to do with the Mega Society as it
currently exists. Chris acquiesed in the Cole/Rosner *Vidya*
and submitted material to the Editor. For him to try to make a
claim on the Editorship years down the road is laughable.
>>> After all, when I took over Noesis, the rotating editor system
>>> we were using had ground to a halt because no one wanted
>>> to volunteer for the next rotation.
> Cole:
>> There was no "next rotation" that "ground to a halt." Langan
>> took over his turn and expanded it to six issues. This confused
>> the other members and disrupted the rotation.
> CML: Perhaps Cole means "the other members who didn't want
> to take their turns editing". If so, perhaps what "confused" them
> was another member's inexplicable willingness to do so onerous
> and thankless a job as publish the Society journal at personal
> expense. If anyone knows this not to be the case, why doesn't he
> step forward right now and tell everybody how I "prevented" him
> from taking his turn?
This also is irrelevant.
> Cole:
>> As previously noted, one member who had moved and
>> did not receive Langan's issues, Ray Wise, went ahead
>> and published his issue in its proper sequence.
> CML: Here's how Ray Wise, who had dropped out of
> sight with a suddenness and unpredictability rivalling that
> of Chris Cole himself, explained it on the cover of his
> surprise issue. "After the shock dissipated, I wondered
> why I hadn't received any of the (last) nine issues. (...) I
> must have neglected to inform any of you of my change of
> address." Until he came to this realization, it seems that
> even *he* had thought that the Society was defunct!
Maybe so, but he had just forgotten to funct himself.
> Cole:
>> In fact, Wise's issue had to be renumbered later because
>> Langan had been late in publishing his issues, which is a
>> rich irony when Langan calls such delays "unconscionable."
> CML: Right...that must be why Ron Hoeflin, in issue 54,
> described me as "highly reliable" in an editorial capacity.
> (He also said that I was "too focused on my own personal
> interests", but that was because nobody else had bothered
> to contribute.) But why should I have to defend myself?
> If there's one person on the planet who has absolutely no
> business badgering anybody else about "late issues", it's
> Chris Cole.
Why blame Chris? I'm the one who's chronically late finishing
issues.
> Cole:
>> By the way, in the first of these six issues, Langan's first words
>> are: "This is the first of several issues of Noesis for which I have
>> agreed to be responsible." No mention here of permanently
>> taking over the editorship.
> CML: That's because it wouldn't have been appropriate. But if
> your taste runs to stark contrast, compare my six months of
> forebearance with Chris Cole's seven years of arrogance. That's
> how long he reigned as Lord High Publisher before deigning to
> subject himself to a vote, even in a medium he exclusively
> controlled. And even then, he couldn't whip up a majority of the
> Society to validate his rule.
He got an overwhelming majority of the votes cast--and Chris
didn't get any. Har har hardy har har.
> Cole:
>> Ron was running the Society in 1990 and resumed publishing
>> Noesis after Langan's six issues, so Ron clearly did not think
>> the Society was defunct. By 1997, there had been a merger
>> with the original Mega Society and elections for officers.
>> The first appearance of the counterfeit Noesis was met with
>> consternation and demands to cease and desist. Again, the
>> Society was not defunct.
> CML: Cole knows very well that the merger was announced ex
> cathedra by Rick Rosner in mid-1991, in issues 64 and 65. Cole
> didn't run for election until late 1997 (since this was about the time
> he dropped the ball for seven months, we're all a bit unclear on
> the exact timing of his "inauguration"). Remember, Cole had taken
> over as publisher in January 1991. Don't be afraid to do the math
> - Cole played despot for almost 7 years before belatedly learning
> to feign a love of democracy.
The merger wasn't one guys idea. It was discussed by the officers
the two societies, who then acted a little hastily but were amenable
to slowing down and doing it right, and that's what we did.
> Cole:
>> While it is true that Noesis was published sporadically, this is
>> not unusual for small volunteer organizations. The assertion that
>> gaps in its appearance signaled the demise of the Society are
>> not supported by contemporary evidence. And even if there
>> was a possibility of an honest misunderstanding on Langan's part,
>> his continued publishing of the counterfeit version proves he does
>> not believe this is the justification of his actions. Indeed, his
>> actual justification is below.
> CML: Cole's self-righteous use of the epithet "counterfeit" never
> fails to impress. If only he were able to show that he's using it
> correctly and in the best interests of the group he claims to
> represent (unfortunately, his despotic track record tells quite
> another story).
This has been established beyond a reasonable doubt by the
evidence that has now been made available.
>>> This is a smokescreen. In reality, there is no way to submit a
>>> proposition to Cole's version of Noesis without subjecting it
>>> to the customary spin-doctoring of Cole and Langdon.
> Cole:
>> Langan's true justification for publishing the counterfeit Noesis
>> is that he cannot get a fair hearing in the regular Noesis. But
>> in fact, there has never been any "spin-doctoring" of Langan's
>> submissions. All have been published, including in some cases
>> entire issues of his work. Not one word has been changed.
> CML: And I let Chris Cole do his thing right up to the moment(s)
> that this was no longer the case. But as I've already explained, it
> wasn't the case the first time I edited Noesis. It certainly wasn't
> the case when Chris Cole faded into the woodwork for over 7
> months in 1997. And it hasn't been the case since Cole
> appointed Kevin Langdon "editor".
What a crock of shit. I haven't rejected anything; Langan hasn't
submitted anything.
> Even now, Langdon is libeling me on his personal web site,
> calling the charitable foundation I help run a "cult".
Every word I wrote is true. See the new issues of *Noesis* now
in press for where to find massive evidence.
> Why on earth should I, or for that matter anyone else, expect
> fair treatment under those conditions? Even Cole, Ward and
> Langdon's home state of California subscribes to a "three-
> strikes" rule.
> If nothing else, Cole's sanctimony tickles the memory. Let's
> take a straw poll. How many of you would like to publish
> what you consider to be serious work in a "journal" whose
> editorial page is likely as not to contain the editor's personal
> masturbation schedule? Tasteless tales of bimbos performing
> fellatio in elevators? A list of likely places to wipe the boogers
> one picks from one's nose? Such was "the Mega Society
> journal" in the days of Cole and Rosner.
Chris is the one who keeps writing about these distasteful things.
> Might that not have put an unattractive spin on the journal's
> contents? You tell me.
Have you seen the stuff Langan prints in his journal?
> Cole:
>> By the way, this is true for all submissions of Mega members.
>>
>> Mega members have questioned and in some cases disagreed
>> with Langan. This is not "spin-doctoring." This is to be
>> expected in a democracy.
> CML: Once again, we find ourselves treated to Chris Cole's
> wisdom on the subject of democracy. It's like being forced to
> attend a Bill Clinton lecture on chastity and marital fidelity.
Or a Chris Langan lecture on intellectual honesty?
> Cole:
>> The bottom line is that a functioning organization, The Mega
>> Society, exists, with membership, bylaws and a journal. This
>> was the status quo ante, before Langan began doing business
>> as "Mega Society East" and "Noesis - East Coast Edition."
> CML: "Doing business?" Neither Gina nor I nor Bob Seitz,
> nor any of the volunteers who have contributed time and
> material to the Mega Society East or Noesis-E on behalf of
> the ultraHIQ community, has made a penny. By definition,
> what *we're* doing is charity and public service. Want to
> know who's "doing business"? The one who's pretending that
> he's been producing and selling goods and services on a
> sufficiently consistent schedule, and with a sufficient mandate,
> to have established a "commonlaw trademark" of which we're
> in "violation".
The law is clear and Chris Langan is wrong.
> We're speaking, of course, about Chris Cole, who is now
> surprising even me with his readiness to hoist himself on his
> own petard.
Chris Cole is not the retard on the petard.
> Cole:
>> Those uses of our names infringe intellectual property rights, as
>> anyone can easily determine. We have the right to defend our
>> prior use, and will do so if necessary. I appreciate Langan's
>> appeal for friendship and cooperation and would like very
>> much to resolve all matters of disagreement that may exist on a
>> mutually agreeable basis. But the current state of affairs, in
>> which there are two Mega Societies and two Noesis journals,
>> can't continue indefinitely. If Chris Langan has a proposal, we'll
>> be pleased to consider it. My own proposal is that he rejoin the
>> Mega Society and become an active participant in its affairs,
>> according to the democratic process that we have implemented.
>> If he is not interested in doing that, then we are not the ones who
>> are causing divisions in the society.
> CML: I'll be issuing a statement. Meanwhile, Cole is making
> several mistakes. The first is to confuse the plural possessive
> pronoun "our" (...property rights) with the singular ("my"),
which
> is really where his heart is. The next is to think that members of
> the Mega Society are stupid and vindictive enough to shoot
> themselves in the feet by encouraging him to engage in personally-
> motivated nuisance litigation using his own money in their good
> names.
This is not nuisance litigation. We have a very strong case.
> The next is pretending that the Mega Society East has
> "damaged" this community when it has done the exact opposite
> (and that includes what he calls "the Mega Society", recently
> described by its own founder Ron Hoeflin as "moribund").
It's hard for a society to survive when prospective members are
misled into thinking that it's to be found under Chris Langan's
roof.
> His next error is to assume that I've stopped being a Mega
> Society member and am therefore in need of "rejoining" it.
He must have been thinking of the human race. ;-)
> And most importantly, he is making the error of blatant
> inconsistency before an intelligent audience. That is, even while
> claiming that he is "not the one causing divisions in the society",
> he threatens to sue another member for making a positive
> contribution to the community...a journal rich in serious intellectual
> content and free of editorial booger-wiping, masturbation
> schedules and between-floors blowjobs.
Would that the same were true of Chris Langan's messages.
> If Cole is sincere about friendship and cooperation, so am I, and
> so is the Mega Society East. We've done something that he and
> his companions couldn't do in over a decade, we're due our fair
> share credit for that,
The media did it. You guys just did some bad acting and presented
a caricature of extreme intelligence.
> and we're entitled to pursue as independent or affiliated a course
> as we deem appropriate, under whatever name we choose
> (provided that it generically describes our function and purpose).
Not according to the trademark law.
> One solution would be for each group to extend to the other a
> hand of friendship,
You could start by handing back what you misappropriated.
> agree that the other is also a legitimate mega-level society with
> the right to name itself accordingly, and while posting a cordial
> statement regarding its uniqueness and independence, adopt a
> policy of mutual cooperation on behalf of the ultraHIQ community.
> Now, that's something that would make us *all* look good. And
> it would do Cole's vociferous little faction the most good of all.
> Sincerely,
> Cris Langan
> ***** www.megasociety.com ***** (aka www.phony.com)
Kevin Langdon