I never called Mr. Pillinger a "fraud" (in fact, I've corrected you before about this). I did say that I thought his Beagle 2 idea and his solicitiation for donations was a scam. I did note that Open University was basically a correspndence school - it is. That was about four years ago Barry.

I have also said that I was impressed with Mr. Pillinger's tenacity and give him credit for making the Beagle 2 a reality. It almost didn't make it - on several occasions. In fact, full funding is still a question mark.

Your capacity for selectively reinventing history is both amusing and disappointing. You won our bet, I honored it, you cashed my check. That should have been the end of it, but you keep dredging it up no matter what the topic of the thread may be.

But winning our bet, doesn't make you right about Gil Levin or life on Mars. I am amused that you feel compelled to moosh these very different issues together. What I am interested in knowing, however, is what your reaction will be if Beagle 2 comes up empty handed?