April 9, 1998: Earthquake Updates - Jim Berkland

Art Bell welcomes geologist Jim Berkland for a wide-ranging discussion covering the Mars face controversy, earthquake prediction, and a breaking allegation from Richard C. Hoagland. Berkland, a fellow of the Geological Society of America with 35 years of field experience, calls the new Mars Global Surveyor photograph of the face a "technological fraud," arguing that the image was deliberately degraded. He notes that previous strips from the same camera showed far superior quality, making the poor Cydonia image inexplicable.

Hoagland joins mid-show with explosive claims backed by pixel analysis. He reports that the raw image was reduced from 2,048 pixels to 1,024, effectively halving the resolution, and that the grayscale was compressed to just 42 shades. He calls this a "smoking gun" of data tampering, matching CCD fingerprint streaks from earlier orbits to prove the image was copied and degraded before release.

Berkland then turns to earthquake prediction, noting a spike in missing pet ads in the Los Angeles Times and elevated numbers in Seattle. He discusses the link between El Nino years and major California earthquakes, tidal forces during the full moon, and his own track record, including his newspaper-published forecast of the 1989 World Series earthquake.