Does that sound unequivocal? I think I expressed the requisite number of doubts and reservations appropriate to academia. "Assuming there was no mistake" and assuming "the thing can be replicated." Those are assumptions, not assertions. When I say "my guess is that . . ." that really is a guess, not an assertion.
You wrote the above cited mail to Vortex (1) the day after the January 14, 2011, demo. The phrases you quoted were the minimal precaution at that time, nevertheless your mail finished in one of the most assertive, unequivocal, and explosive way we can imagine: "There is no way you could fool the professors involved in this, and I am sure they are not all engaged in a conspiracy to fool the rest of us. Sometimes, a single test in isolation is so convincing it reduces or eliminates the need for independent replication. The most dramatic example in history was the Trinity atomic bomb test. This test is not quite as convincing as that, but in my opinion it is far more compelling than any other cold fusion test in history." (bold is mine)
However, I do fully agree with your statement that "There is no way you could fool the professors involved in this". As you had already said in a previous mail to Vortex (2): "various professors at the university have been involved for some time, and they designed and implemented the calorimetry. I do not think there is any way Rossi could "fool" these people. I think that would be physically impossible." Exactly! It was "physically impossible", because, according to his words, Rossi was abroad in the weeks preceding the demo and went back to Italy only the day before the test.
So, what's happened? Who did fake the experiment and the calorimetric data?
Maybe you know the answer, Jed. In (1), you also revealed one of the most astonishingly fact about that demo. After only a few hours from the conclusion of the test, you "spoke with one of the people in the project about the calorimetry".
How has it been possible? This is outside of any imaginable academic behavior. In fact, in a press release from the Department of Physics, issued on January 11, we can read (English translation by Krivit): "The test will be held by a researcher of the Physics Department of the University of Bologna, and will take place before a selected public of researchers and professors of the same Department. A confirmation of the amount of energy produced and of its origin would imply that we are dealing with new source of energy."
So, the responsibility to announce to the world the existence and availability of a "new source of energy" was publicly assumed by the University. Moreover, as you reported in a subsequent mail to Vortex (3): "There were several people from Physics Department from Bologna University, Director included. Moreover, also the Director of Bologna Section of National Institute of Nuclear Physics attended, in almost official way, the demonstration. [...] All the measurements were made, INDEPENDENTLY, from a Researcher (and Technicians) of Bologna University. Rossi made only supervision about key safety aspects "
How was it possible that "one of the people of the project" spoke with you after so short time revealing to you all the most important information "about the calorimetry"? Of course, I'm not going to ask you an answer, I know that you would reply that these are your businesses, but I'd invite all the readers here to pose themselves this question.
Why the hell the physicists of the most ancient University of the western world should have felt the necessity to share the most sensible data of what could have been the most important experiment in the history of the physics, as well of the humankind, with an expert in programming and Japanese literature who lives on the other side of the Atlantic?
(1) "http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-[email protected]/msg41364.html"
(2) "http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-[email protected]/msg41324.html"
(3) "http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-[email protected]/msg41536.html"