740212c
Title
740212c
Text
=== Page 1 of 4
Theory estimates lightning strikes
February 12, 1974
TO MY SCIENTISTS.....
I think this file will jolt you. It should.
Further, it points out...the priceless importance...of the documentation I have been doing...through the years!
Attached hereto...are three confirmed, signed affidavits...from three different sources...stating that I, PK Man, stated I would cause lightning to strike in a certain small area...and that I was successful in each case, within minutes!
Charles Jay...is a brilliant man. Paints in oils. Lives just outside Philadelphia. Sidney Margulies...is a partner in the law firm (well-known in Philadelphia) of Cohen-Shapiro, Berger and Cohen, in the PSFS Building, in Philadelphia. He is not only a lawyer...but has a CPA degree. Such a man...does not give statements lightly.
Frank Taylor, and Niki Dyer...are court reporters...highly intelligent people, and responsible persons...who were present, along with Mrs. Waddell... when I caused lightning to strike the Apollo 12 moon rocket, notifying them in advance of my purpose.
Also attached...is a statement from Dr. Edward T. Pierce, a physicist, to the effect that the odds are a million to one that lightning would strike within a small area (within minutes).
Now, I put it to you...since I have done this at least three times, on record...solidly documented (have done it other times, with other people, but did not bother to get an affidavit at the time)...THEN WHAT ARE THE ODDS AGAINST THAT? I.e., my causing lightning to strike a certain target within a small area within minutes? Three million to one? (Am not a mathematician...so you'll have to figure it out...could be greater than that.)
Thus...you can easily see...that I am truly a creator of miracles. And can solidly prove it, in the way that I have. Most ingeniously, too.
And bear in mind...that a skeptic could not argue that I had "hypnotized" one person into believing such a thing had happened. No indeed! I caused it to happen, as you can see, with five different persons in various geographical locations! That fact...will put down any skeptic. Also...prominent attorneys and court-reporters...are not accustomed to signing false affidavits! (Mr. Jay would not, either...but you'd have no way of knowing that.)
This file...is an accurate file. Tell me...do you know of any other psychics now, or in history...who have called down lightning onto specific targets, within a small area, within minutes? Forget it. There aren't any, and never have been. Just this psychic...PK Man.
Owens
=== Page 2 of 4
# Theory estimates lightning strikes
Lightning may never strike twice in the same place, so goes the saying, but Staff Scientist Edward Pierce has developed a technique to estimate when and where it will strike first.
Dr. Pierce says that the method permits one to determine the likelihood that lightning would strike a building or piece of land in a particular location.
"One could also determine how this likelihood would vary from hour to hour and day to day throughout the year," says Pierce, a physicist.
The technique for predicting lightning at a given place and given time involves the use of thunderstorm statistics. Routinely recorded at weather stations, these statistics are converted into lightning estimates.
Information analyzed from the statistics, Pierce says, includes lightning activity during a 24-hour period in an area and the proportion of flashes reaching the earth. Based on experiments, he says it is possible to estimate flash incidence for any area of the world over any period of time.
For example, there is a one in a million chance of a flash striking a picnic held on a quarter acre lot in North Dakota between 3 and 4 p.m. on July 4.
Such information could be of value to a corporate executive who must decide where to install a computer, to a contractor determining construction schedules, or to insurance companies.
Further refinements in the technique also allow conversion of accessible thunderstorm data into the incidence of lightning flashes for a building of any given height. A tall building, says Pierce, may actually trigger lightning because electric fields tend to build up rapidly on such a structure. Static electricity would then discharge initially to the clouds rather than from the clouds to the building. - [ ]
PIERCE
## What's the chance?
An SRI scientist has developed a technique for estimating the probability of lightning. (See story on page 3)
4
=== Page 3 of 4
STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
NEWS RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Ronald I. Deutsch, Ext. 3754
Home: (415) 326-8773
Stan DeVaughn, Ext. 3034
Home: (415) 322-3342
RELEASE DATE: For immediate release
Copies to
Menlo Park, Calif. --Lightning may never strike twice in the same place--if we believe the saying--but a Stanford Research Institute (SRI) scientist says he has developed a technique to estimate where it will strike first--and when.
In the current issue of SRI's quarterly, INVESTMENTS IN TOMORROW, Dr. Edward T. Pierce says that the technique permits one to determine the likelihood that lightning would strike a building or a piece of land in a particular location.
"One could also determine how this likelihood would vary from hour to hour and day to day throughout the year," says Pierce, a physicist.
The technique for predicting lightning at a given place and given time involves the use of thunderstorm statistics. Routinely recorded at weather stations, these statistics are converted into lightning estimates.
Information analyzed from the statistics, Pierce says, includes lightning activity during a 24-hour period in an area and the proportion of
(more)
=== Page 4 of 4
2/2/2
flashes reaching the earth. Based on experiments, he says it is possible to predict the flash incidence for any area of the world over any period of time.
For example, there is a one in a million chance of a flash striking a picnic held on a quarter acre lot in North Dakota between 3 and 4 p. m. on July 4.
Such information could be of value to a corporate executive who must decide where to install a computer, to a contractor determining construction schedules, or to insurance companies.
Further refinements in the technique also allow conversion of accessible thunderstorm data into the incidence of lightning flashes for a building of any given height. A tall building, says Pierce, may actually trigger lightning because electric fields tend to build up rapidly on such a structure. Static electricity would then discharge initially to the clouds rather than from the clouds to the building.
A computer on an upper floor of a building would usually be far more vulnerable to lightning damage than one on a lower floor, he notes, because of the greater concentration of current near the point of impact. Memory damage to a computer bank, where vital information is stored and monitored, could spell disaster for record keepers.
Stanford Research Institute is an independent, nonprofit organization that performs contract research for government, business and industry.
# # #
EDITORS NOTE: A copy of INVESTMENTS IN TOMORROW is available upon request.
2/6/74
3
Theory estimates lightning strikes
February 12, 1974
TO MY SCIENTISTS.....
I think this file will jolt you. It should.
Further, it points out...the priceless importance...of the documentation I have been doing...through the years!
Attached hereto...are three confirmed, signed affidavits...from three different sources...stating that I, PK Man, stated I would cause lightning to strike in a certain small area...and that I was successful in each case, within minutes!
Charles Jay...is a brilliant man. Paints in oils. Lives just outside Philadelphia. Sidney Margulies...is a partner in the law firm (well-known in Philadelphia) of Cohen-Shapiro, Berger and Cohen, in the PSFS Building, in Philadelphia. He is not only a lawyer...but has a CPA degree. Such a man...does not give statements lightly.
Frank Taylor, and Niki Dyer...are court reporters...highly intelligent people, and responsible persons...who were present, along with Mrs. Waddell... when I caused lightning to strike the Apollo 12 moon rocket, notifying them in advance of my purpose.
Also attached...is a statement from Dr. Edward T. Pierce, a physicist, to the effect that the odds are a million to one that lightning would strike within a small area (within minutes).
Now, I put it to you...since I have done this at least three times, on record...solidly documented (have done it other times, with other people, but did not bother to get an affidavit at the time)...THEN WHAT ARE THE ODDS AGAINST THAT? I.e., my causing lightning to strike a certain target within a small area within minutes? Three million to one? (Am not a mathematician...so you'll have to figure it out...could be greater than that.)
Thus...you can easily see...that I am truly a creator of miracles. And can solidly prove it, in the way that I have. Most ingeniously, too.
And bear in mind...that a skeptic could not argue that I had "hypnotized" one person into believing such a thing had happened. No indeed! I caused it to happen, as you can see, with five different persons in various geographical locations! That fact...will put down any skeptic. Also...prominent attorneys and court-reporters...are not accustomed to signing false affidavits! (Mr. Jay would not, either...but you'd have no way of knowing that.)
This file...is an accurate file. Tell me...do you know of any other psychics now, or in history...who have called down lightning onto specific targets, within a small area, within minutes? Forget it. There aren't any, and never have been. Just this psychic...PK Man.
Owens
=== Page 2 of 4
# Theory estimates lightning strikes
Lightning may never strike twice in the same place, so goes the saying, but Staff Scientist Edward Pierce has developed a technique to estimate when and where it will strike first.
Dr. Pierce says that the method permits one to determine the likelihood that lightning would strike a building or piece of land in a particular location.
"One could also determine how this likelihood would vary from hour to hour and day to day throughout the year," says Pierce, a physicist.
The technique for predicting lightning at a given place and given time involves the use of thunderstorm statistics. Routinely recorded at weather stations, these statistics are converted into lightning estimates.
Information analyzed from the statistics, Pierce says, includes lightning activity during a 24-hour period in an area and the proportion of flashes reaching the earth. Based on experiments, he says it is possible to estimate flash incidence for any area of the world over any period of time.
For example, there is a one in a million chance of a flash striking a picnic held on a quarter acre lot in North Dakota between 3 and 4 p.m. on July 4.
Such information could be of value to a corporate executive who must decide where to install a computer, to a contractor determining construction schedules, or to insurance companies.
Further refinements in the technique also allow conversion of accessible thunderstorm data into the incidence of lightning flashes for a building of any given height. A tall building, says Pierce, may actually trigger lightning because electric fields tend to build up rapidly on such a structure. Static electricity would then discharge initially to the clouds rather than from the clouds to the building. - [ ]
PIERCE
## What's the chance?
An SRI scientist has developed a technique for estimating the probability of lightning. (See story on page 3)
4
=== Page 3 of 4
STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
NEWS RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Ronald I. Deutsch, Ext. 3754
Home: (415) 326-8773
Stan DeVaughn, Ext. 3034
Home: (415) 322-3342
RELEASE DATE: For immediate release
Copies to
Menlo Park, Calif. --Lightning may never strike twice in the same place--if we believe the saying--but a Stanford Research Institute (SRI) scientist says he has developed a technique to estimate where it will strike first--and when.
In the current issue of SRI's quarterly, INVESTMENTS IN TOMORROW, Dr. Edward T. Pierce says that the technique permits one to determine the likelihood that lightning would strike a building or a piece of land in a particular location.
"One could also determine how this likelihood would vary from hour to hour and day to day throughout the year," says Pierce, a physicist.
The technique for predicting lightning at a given place and given time involves the use of thunderstorm statistics. Routinely recorded at weather stations, these statistics are converted into lightning estimates.
Information analyzed from the statistics, Pierce says, includes lightning activity during a 24-hour period in an area and the proportion of
(more)
=== Page 4 of 4
2/2/2
flashes reaching the earth. Based on experiments, he says it is possible to predict the flash incidence for any area of the world over any period of time.
For example, there is a one in a million chance of a flash striking a picnic held on a quarter acre lot in North Dakota between 3 and 4 p. m. on July 4.
Such information could be of value to a corporate executive who must decide where to install a computer, to a contractor determining construction schedules, or to insurance companies.
Further refinements in the technique also allow conversion of accessible thunderstorm data into the incidence of lightning flashes for a building of any given height. A tall building, says Pierce, may actually trigger lightning because electric fields tend to build up rapidly on such a structure. Static electricity would then discharge initially to the clouds rather than from the clouds to the building.
A computer on an upper floor of a building would usually be far more vulnerable to lightning damage than one on a lower floor, he notes, because of the greater concentration of current near the point of impact. Memory damage to a computer bank, where vital information is stored and monitored, could spell disaster for record keepers.
Stanford Research Institute is an independent, nonprofit organization that performs contract research for government, business and industry.
# # #
EDITORS NOTE: A copy of INVESTMENTS IN TOMORROW is available upon request.
2/6/74
3
Collection
Citation
“740212c,” Archive Home, accessed June 27, 2026, https://www.pkman.org/archive/items/show/593.