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Don, I suggest you read Renaisauce's blog entry about the Galileo Complex, which I think applies to your "Mind of Man."

You are the one who is claiming that well-established theories are wrong. When that happens, you need extraordinary evidence to support your extraordinary claims.

In this case, in order to attribute the Pioneer anomaly to new physics, you need to rule out plausible conventional explanations first. This one is hardly grasping at straws. The anomalies observed for Pioneer have no counterpart in the orbits of any natural body in the Solar System, so it is reasonable to suspect that we are seeing an effect that is due to the properties of Pioneer rather than the properties of nature.

You and I agree that we hear hoofbeats, but you are the one who is jumping to the conclusion that they are caused by unicorns. I think horses are still the most likely explanation. Zebras are a slight possibility.

Since I promised myself not to get into extended arguments with you, this is all I have to say; "Show me the unicorns!"

I'll let others pick up the argument from here.

Fred Bortz -- Science and technology books for young readers (www.fredbortz.com) and Science book reviews (www.scienceshelf.com)