Sunday, February 27, 2011

Caddys and Coins; Omens and Tokens

I chose the photo in the blog header because it shows a 1960 Inverness green Cadillac convertible similar to the one Townsend owned and loved, but I was building the header on a netbook computer with a 11x7 inch screen. I did not realize that the photo shows a glimpse of someone sitting in the driver's seat of the car, until Linda pointed it out to me much later, saying the driver resembles her dad, wearing his favorite brown plaid shirt and sitting with one tan arm propped on the window ledge. 

SMASHWORDS EDITION coming March 18
I took that surprising synchronicity to be a particularly suspicious omen.

And that's what Kestrel's wonderful book cover seems to me be. It reminds me of a lucky coin spinning through space:

Thanks so much, Dear "Christrel"

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Preparing for the Ebook World

More than one of the Brown Crowd (readers and/or historical and scientific researchers)  have told me they will be buying an ebook reader this year.  I am happy to hear that but prospective buyers need to be forewarned: Research the battery life of any ereaders under consideration  before buying.  The best so far, is the  the Apple Ipad with something like 9 hour life.

I was a stage 2 early adapter who selected a Foxit eSlick specifically for its ability to handle .pdf files, which is the format of scanned historical documents. Unfortunately, this brand starts to fade after two-three hours of constant use. I will have to live with this limitation since Foxit has now bowed out of the ereader business, but surely those of you who are still shopping can do better.

The Paris Report in English, at last, courtesy of Raymond

Townsend was once hired as a consultant, by Southwest Aviation....the French company, not the one that bases its current claim to fame on giving out free peanuts when other carriers are charging by the smile.

Doc Brown made two trips to Paris, in 1955 and again in 1956 and Jaques Cornillion, the American representative of the company (Société National de Construction Aeronautiques du Sud-Ouest (S.N.C.A.S.O.)/Sud Aviation) saved all of the  correspondence and reports from these ventures. Mr. Cornillion passed away recently but before he died, he authorized the publication of these original documents. Some of them can now be found in their original language at the Projet Montgolfier website.

Raymond Lavas, a French Canadian forum member (aka PeeTee, aka Trickfox,  has been translating the report for public consumption. "Tricksie" is is a tenacious medical miracle who entered the Townsend Brown story before Paul and Linda ever took up the keyboard quill. He has just completed his translation of the body of the lab summary report and is starting in on the appendices now. Thank you, Tricksie, for all you do.

Raymond has also invited anyone fluent in both French and laboratory physics to help verify his translations and interpretations. If you know of anyone who can help, pass it on....

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

On the Front Lines of the Info Wars

Remember the recent story of the diplomat who shot two Pakistani "robbers" in Lahore? According to Asia News, it is escalating into something much larger:

London, Feb 20(ANI): Double murder-accused US official Raymond Davis has been found in possession of top-secret CIA documents, which point to him or the feared American Task Force 373 (TF373) operating in the region, providing Al-Qaeda terrorists with "nuclear fissile material" and "biological agents," according to a report.
Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is warning that the situation on the sub-continent has turned "grave" as it appears that open warfare is about to break out between Pakistan and the United States, The European Union Times reports.
Update, February 25th.

Apparently the CIA has copped to Davis as being the  head of station in Pakistan, and that admission has lessened the tension between the two countries somewhat. No word on the "fissile material" and "biological agents" though. Until I hear otherwise, I will just assume those charges fall in the category of Russian haymaking.





Monday, February 21, 2011

Calling All Kiwies

...and Arc and Nate, in particular. Thinking of you tonight and hoping all is well

Serious Quake Strikes Christchurch

Be safe. Check in at the Hut when you can.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

"The GoodBye Man" Publication Plans

Apparently, I am not meant to be posting on the Quonset Hut right now, or I would not manage to lock myself out of my account on a consistent basis. This state of affairs will probably be a very good thing for my work schedule, as Linda and I are aiming to release the e-book version of THE GOOD-BYE MAN  within the next few weeks.

For our working cover, we have been using the Astrologer's tweak of the  artwork from PeeTee, who offered up his tweak on the work from Geoff and Kestrel. Look for a cover change in the new edition. Guys, when you get this message, would you send me the jpeg of the coin, spinning in from the right, stripped of the "book" behind it? Smashwords says:"The ideal cover image is a vertical rectangle shape (like a book) with approximate dimensions of 500 pixels wide by 700 pixels tall. Images cannot be square or three dimensional."

Look for the SMASHWORDS EDITION March 18, 2011!





Thanks, rose
(email to addy in previous post)