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View Full Version : Crackpot device - please help debunk


flurpy
6th December 2006, 01:46 PM
South Africa's most popular investigative journalism program did a story on a guy at a local university with a "finding device" which can locate anyone on the globe with a strand of hair. (They actually used Google Earth)
The device started with finding miniature diamonds, worked, and is now used for convicts on the run, to great success.
The journalist did a test, and the inventor (with a local science proffessor's backing) was able to locate a drum of oil secretly hidden kilometres away, with a drop sample from it.

I know this is bs, but it is causing quite a stir, and need some debunking info.
I've seen something similar with findings bodies from 9/11, but can't locate it.

On the program, they convinced the sceptic journalist, who deducted that if we can only get a beard stubble from Osama...

A full transcript of the program can be found on carteblanche's website, which this forum won't allow me to post, but the transcript is quoted verbatim bellow.

Please help.

flurpy.


PS:
Here is the transcript of the program:
"
Secret Science Tested

Date : 03 December 2006

Ruda Landman (Carte Blanche presenter): “Can you remember when the fax machines first became part of the office set-up? When the computer replaced the typewriter? The first time you used an auto teller, the first cell phone call you made? It wasn’t all that long ago, yet at the time it was mind boggling.”

Today it is the most common thing to do. You probably don’t even think twice about it.

Ruda: “Now imagine this: A person disappears, you find a few strands of hair left on a brush, you put those hairs into a gadget and that points out on a map where in the world that person may be.”

That’s exactly what a group of Bloemfontein businessmen claim they are able to do.

Steering the project is Danie Krugel, former police superintendent and current Director of Health and Safety at the Central University of Technology of the Free State.

Danie Krugel (Inventor): “If you get a signature sample of something… let’s call it organic or non-organic… a very small sample. I have developed a method to use that small sample and to create data that I use to search for its origin. So you transmit and you receive.”

Ruda: “Is there anything metaphysical involved? Are you psychic?”

Danie: “I‘m a Christian and I put it clearly… this is science, science, science! That is what is so fantastic about it. It is tied to the science we hear but people didn’t realise it… it’s just science. That’s it.”

Given the massive potential of the invention, Danie refuses to divulge exactly how it works. He says the energy source is his most precious secret.

Once he has done a test with a hair sample - or signature material [which] pertains to whatever he’s looking for – Danie is able to geographically pinpoint an area by applying co-ordinates from more than one vantage point.

The search area is where the lines intersect.

In the past two years Danie’s travelled across South Africa to test the equipment. This is a long list of his successes… [data on screen]

Most of those he tracked down were found Alive.

Danie: “Now that’s fantastic. To phone the dad and say, ‘Look, I‘ve got him’ or ‘I have got her. You can come and get him’ or ‘you can come and get her.”

Ruda: “How many of those have you had?”

Danie: “A lot, a lot, a lot.”

In 2004 police at the Navalsig police station in Bloemfontein were trying to track down the suspect in a murder case.

They got the name of the attacker from the victim before he died, but he was on the run. Left behind was a razor with the suspect’s beard stubble. And within hours Danie was able to tell the police where to search….

Captain Danie Van Der Berg (SAPS): “Danie took daily readings to see where he was and what was happening, but every time we just missed him by a few minutes.”

Ruda: “So every time you went to the address he wasn’t there?”

Capt. van der Berg: “He had been there, but just left. He never stayed in the same place for long.”

Danie: “One night at about 7 or 8 o’clock I thought: now this is now enough. I went out and I tried to get as close to him as possible. I told them and said, ‘This is where he was’. The next morning they phoned me and said they had found him there.”

Bloemfontein private investigator, Leon Rossouw, has often called on Danie’s services…
In one case a man was reported missing after his car was found abandoned at this filling station [on screen] on the N1.

Danie tracked him down to the Pelonomi Hospital after Leon was able to get a hair sample in the missing man’s shower.

But the hospital did not have any record of him.

Ruda: “Danie insisted that the missing man was here at the Pelonomi hospital. Desperate, the family came back to check one last time - do a physical search if necessary. They found him in the mortuary.”

Leon Rossouw (Private Investigator): “He walked on the N1 to the oncoming traffic and jumped in front of a big truck. So unfortunately this person died.”

Ruda: “But Danie was right?”

Leon: “Danie was right.”

Finding missing people was the last thing Danie had in mind when a group of businessmen approached him four years ago to develop equipment that could locate minerals.

Danie: “We started by getting stuff from overseas. A lot of people who said they could develop the stuff for us [was] just a hoax. Then we started with diamonds. The small diamonds, the sugar diamonds gave me a lot of heartache because you pick up on every small piece of diamond. Now what we do is work to get the bigger diamonds from a carat upwards.”

Danie and his partners are now reworking this old dig, but they only focus on dumps where the equipment shows they will find real big ones.

They have reason to smile. Their register shows they’ve found almost 300 carats in just three months.

Ruda: “How did you get involved in this area looking for people?”

Danie: “I was following the Leigh Mathews case and that night on the news they said they had found her body. I was so upset. What bothered me was what went through her mind. We heard the shocking news that her naked body was found in the veld. She was shot. The whole of South Africa was looking for her and nobody could help. That night I couldn’t sleep.”

Watching his son asleep, Danie made a decision.

Danie: “I took a pair of scissors and cut off a piece of his hair. I thought: if I can get diamonds, I am going to try this. I worked until 5 o’clock the next morning. The first test… no result. Nothing worked. Then, from two metres, I could pick him up. The first positive test was two metres from where he was lying there on the bed. Then we started… 25metres, 50 metres, 100metres, then 50 kilometres and 150 kilometres. I believe that night - with Leigh Mathews - if I may say so, the Lord saw my heart. ”

Carte Blanche put Danie to the test. We cut off a sample of our cameraman’s hair and sent him to hide in a Bloemfontein cemetery with his camera rolling.

Danie took two readings and within minutes he was able to point out where our cameraman was hiding. The exact spot was pointed out on an aerial photograph.

Danie: “The point where I would start searching for this person would immediately be in this vicinity.”

And that’s exactly where we found him.

Ruda: “If one can locate diamonds and humans with the same equipment, what else could one find? And what else can this seemingly amazing invention do? Well the simple answer at this point is that nobody really knows.”

For our second experiment we hid a can filled with crude oil on a farm outside Bloemfontein after Danie had taken a sample for his test. We took the GPS reading and contacted him once we had left the area.

The previous test Danie conducted with crude oil was over a distance of a few metres, but this time he was doing it from 6 kilometres away and from the other side of this dolomite hill!

It only took 15 minutes before he phoned back with the co-ordinates.

He wasn’t spot on, but he effectively reduced the search area to a few hundred metres. He was overwhelmed by the outcome

Microbiologist, Prof Ryk Lues, was sceptical when he first heard about Danie’s invention, but then he realised its potential.

Prof Ryk Lues (Microbiologist): “My first reaction was: Wow! this sounds a little bit far fetched. But I know Danie well enough to know that he could be onto something.”

That something could mean applications in science, health, pharmacology or microbiology.

Ryk: “Food safety is a big thing nowadays. If you could find a technique that could very quickly pick up certain pathogens in food substances. Let’s say you could get something - you could put something in a factory that scans the substances as they pass in the processing line and picks up certain toxins, chemicals or hazardous substances.”

Ruda: With this in mind, we gave Danie a sample of harmless bacteria and I hid the source in a hair salon in a retirement village in Bloemfontein.

He was a kilometre away, but identified the area within minutes.

Ruda: “The bacteria used in this experiment were harmless, but the same would apply to dangerous bacteria, or chemicals or viruses. This could have been anthrax, or XDR-TB or HIV.”

Ryk: “The current methods are very lengthy. You need to cultivate the organism first, which takes two or three days, then identify the organism and then prescribe treatment. If you had a technique that can immediately or very quickly identify something there and then, it would really be a breakthrough. The technique would be revolutionary if it could be applied in different environments.”

Danie: “If the right scientists take this I believe it can help us medically, in minerals, and of course crime.”

Ruda: “Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people go missing around the world every day - often without a trace. But maybe not without leaving a few hairs on a jacket or on a pillow.”

Think of Osama Bin Laden, Lord Lucan or even Ananias Mathe - the man who’d escaped from C-Max.

Ruda: “Imagine if their hair was available.”

AgingYoung
6th December 2006, 01:59 PM
Think of Osama Bin Laden, Lord Lucan or even Ananias Mathe - the man who’d escaped from C-Max.

Ruda: “Imagine if their hair was available.”
...or bigfoot. Heck, Elvis!! We could put that matter to rest.

Gene

Loss Leader
6th December 2006, 02:59 PM
Well, I can't debunk much because there really isn't that much information. The expert that they got for their report, Ryk Lues, is a professor at the Central University for Technology specializing in food safety technology. He studied how to keep school lunches safe from microbes. It's a bit of a strange specialty to be evaluating a device of this nature, especially because he seems to know the inventor.

I can't even find a phone number for the Navalsig police station in Blomfontein, SA.

Foolmewunz
6th December 2006, 03:23 PM
CSICOP lists two SA based associates. You might want to forward to them. I don't know of any other South African skeptic/sceptic societies, as the years I was visiting the country were prior to my delving into skeptic issues.

This sounds like a lot of woo, but hard to debunk from just the transcript. It has all the hallmarks, though, of a scam. Secret energy source. Statistics using terms like "a lot".

Assn. for the Rational Investigation of the Paranormal (ARIP), Marian Laserson, Secretary, 4 Wales St., Sandringham 2192.

SOCRATES, Leon Retief, contact, PO Box 10240, Welgedacht 7530, South Africa. email: leonr@iafrica.com

Actually, you might forward it to Randi. It's the kind of thing he likes, IMHO.

Pipirr
6th December 2006, 04:41 PM
Sounds like dowsing. Secret technology? Wishful thinking...
I second the idea of sending this to James Randi. He'd have a few choice words to say.

Zep
6th December 2006, 05:26 PM
Scam. Observation, guesswork, and an accomplice or two.

RenaissanceBiker
7th December 2006, 01:39 AM
They imply that it detects and analyzes DNA at a distance. Such a device would revolutionize crime investigation and would have other unique applications. Since they have opted out of becoming extremely wealthy by licensing this technology, I must assume it is because it doesn't work.

DevilsAdvocate
7th December 2006, 02:23 AM
Ruda Landman (Carte Blanche presenter): “Can you remember when the fax machines first became part of the office set-up? When the computer replaced the typewriter? The first time you used an auto teller, the first cell phone call you made? It wasn’t all that long ago, yet at the time it was mind boggling.”Errmm. Yes. I can. And, no, it wasn't mind-boggling. Must be appealing to baby-boomers and older. Generation-Y wouldn't remeber. I'm an older Gen-Xer and remember all of this stuff. I remember my first personal computer (a Franklin), first email (an extention of CICS intranet and CC mail), first fax (telecopier), first ATM transaction (I guess that's what they call "an auto teller" these days), and first cell phone call. My mind was never once boggled. OK, I'll admit that the Franklin was a bit of a mind blower--bot not boggling.

DevilsAdvocate
7th December 2006, 02:43 AM
WOW! I got through the whole article. So they can detect anything anywhere? Are they listed on the NYSE? I'll tell my broker to BUY, BUY, BUY!!!!!! This will change the whole world by Tuesday! Look out! No more searching for gold, diamonds, oil, water! These guys got it all. Big money!! No more engery bills, missing persons, unloose criminals. All the gold, oil, diamonds, water, we every need. This is going to be great! I can't wait. We should get this in about a week or so, right?

MRC_Hans
7th December 2006, 02:49 AM
EHr, crap. Proof? You hear of this in a newspaper, with the "inventor" promoting it, operating it, and being secretive about it.

If this was real, the guy would be sitting in a harbour-front penthouse in Monaco (or wherever he desired), shoveling in megabucks while the news would suddenly be full of crimes solved, terrorists apprehended, lost treasure found, spies disappearing, etc. etc. I mean just imagine if the allied forces in Iraq and Afganistan could suddenly locate weapons cashes and explosives from remote?

I call this the triviality test: If an alleged invention that, if real, would shake the world is used or suggested used for trivialities, then it is bogus.

ETA: I see DA wrote essentially the same.

Hans

Starthinker
7th December 2006, 06:36 AM
It probably works on the quantum level, but inter-demensionally. I'll try and replicate this device in my basement when I get home tonight.

flurpy
7th December 2006, 09:26 AM
Thanks for feedback guys.
Just a question about DNA -
Does diamonds, oil, dead hair etc. have DNA, or is the DNA still retractable?
All is organic if i'm not mistaken, bus does the DNA of a dead thing, like a hair, disintegrate? Or a diamond?

RenaissanceBiker
7th December 2006, 10:34 AM
My bad. Diamonds don't have DNA. That makes this a Star Trek device.
http://monroelab.net/images/spock-with-tricorder2.jpg
"Captain, sensors are picking up unusually high levels of *********."

flurpy
8th December 2006, 07:18 AM
lol
That Mr Spock pic was great.
I did a search on the guy who invented this device, and found that another TV channel did a program on him on 8 Dec 2004, exactly 2 years before, exactly same gadget, exactly same story (locating owners of a lost hair)

See w w w dot sabcnews.com/sci_tech/science/0,2172,93664,00.html

Funny that after 2 years of having a device that can work miracles, he has not made any progress.

A further search of the guy shows him battling satanism in public schools in his home town. (He is a devout Christian and extortionist)

hehe

flurpy

ChristineR
8th December 2006, 11:14 AM
Hmm, I seem to leave long blond hairs wherever I go. My DNA should be all over the place.

RenaissanceBiker
8th December 2006, 11:29 AM
That darn filter. I should have made it: "Captain, sensors are picking up unusually high levels of masculine bovine excrement."

Iamme
9th December 2006, 05:04 PM
Hmm, I seem to leave long blond hairs wherever I go. My DNA should be all over the place.

So it be possible that if you were a fugitive, you could be sending the coppers on a lot of wild goose chases.

Anacoluthon64
12th December 2006, 12:26 PM
This Danie Krugel thing was recently raised in the JREF forum (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=62371).

'Luthon64

Meadmaker
12th December 2006, 04:30 PM
Well, of course you could point out that if he could find James Randi under certain reasonable conditions, he could also find a million dollars at the same time.

But of course, that would undoubtedly be beneath them.

Mastermind
30th July 2007, 01:23 AM
I was totally amazed how totally loony Carte Blance has become regarding
this. Yet again yesterday 29 July they again featured him this time on
a feature about 6 missing girls that went missing in 1989.

They even gone so far as introducing a "clearvoyant" this time to "help"
find the missing girls remains. Not once in the program did they question
the legitimacy of the methods used.

How low will people go to make a name for themselves ? This just makes
me angry how they can try legitimizing this and let those families go through
the pain all over again.

The transcript is just too large but go their website's lead story. They
even had the great idea of filing the transcript under
Science, Computers and Technology....

What makes this even more amazing is that in real investigative journalism
you would expect they would show both sides of the story ? Well
the following is all they had to say about it :

"There were of course also the sceptics who questioned him and us in no uncertain terms. But most viewers wanted only one thing. They wanted Danie Krugel to find the missing girls in the Gert van Rooyen case."

I can't beleive how much assumtions they presented as "facts"

All I can say its just mindbogling how crazy these people are....

Marc Lurie
28th August 2007, 07:29 AM
Hi,

I am sooooo pi$$ed off at Carte Blanche about the Danie Krugel article.

I tried to get a journalist from the Sunday Independant fired up about the situation, but it seems that's fizzled out.

Here's a 2 suggestions, and I'd love feedback:

1) I am prepared to buy Krugel a Business Class ticket to the USA and pay for his accomodation while he takes the million dolar challenge. However, if he fails, he must repay me the full value of the ticket and the accomodation. If he he wins the million dollars, then I will have no claim on him, but I would like him to spend a few thousand dollars on excavating the site he identified as the burial place of the Van Rooyen victims. (Ruda Landman did say that the reason they didn't continue with the excavation was a shortage of money).

2) I kinda prefer this idea. I would like to somehow publicly denounce Krugel in the most demeaning terms as a fraud and con man. If he responds with a defamation charge, then I will have won because he will have to PROVE that he ISN'T a fraud. If he doesn't respond, then he clearly IS a fraud and I will ask the Assests Forfeiture Unit to confiscate any property he bought with the proceeds of criminal activity. In other words, if he has been paid to find bodies and did so under fraudulent conditions, then his car, house, clothing etc. were clearly illegally obtained and can be seized.

Any suggestions? Does anyone have an idea of the best vehicle to use to publicly attack the guy?

In South Africa we are always complaining about high crime levels and that we need to fight back. Well, here's a guy who's clearly breaking the law, fleecing people out of money, and misleading the public. Let's take him on.

Marc

Soapy Sam
28th August 2007, 03:21 PM
Where is "the origin" of anything?

If I give him my fossil shark tooth, is he going to find me, or the place I found it?

Mastermind
3rd September 2007, 01:50 AM
Tell me, have they tested it on a moving target ?

Go put your fossil shark tooth sample in the international mailing system and ask him to find it.

His nice little crackpot device should still be able to point out where it is as it travels the world. We can track our test sample via a tracking number and he can go fetch it with his fancy little device of his.

Should be much cheaper than a plane ticket :)

Then again like all those woowies out there he would find a excuse for it not
working eg. say his device isnt designed to work that way or find something else to blame it on like saying the dna sample is bad etc...