Monthly Archives: October 2012

October 18, 2012 · 9:36 pm

Wild Western Festival – Book Signing

I will be at the Wild Western Festival, at Sahuaro Ranch Historical Park, this Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am until 5 pm signing copies of The Travelers’ Club and The Ghost Ship and Twisted History.  Copies will be available for $10 and $5 respectively, which is about a 40% discount off the retail price.  Look for me at the Arizona Steampunk Society booth.  And yes, I WILL be in costume, so you can’t miss this opportunity to gawk at me in my Stetson.  Those who know me know what color it is too – Black.

Here is the link with all the information:

http://www.wildwesternfestival.com/

 

 

 

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October 18, 2012 · 10:25 am

A Great Man Passes – Bill Konopnicki

I met Bill Konopnicki many years ago in one of those lobbyist back rooms.  He needed someone to run his campaign, and the major lobbyist who invited me in was conflicted out because they had another candidate in the race for the two seats.  They wanted me to help Bill be the second place person.  I always hated running campaigns.  There was no money in it, I would break even at best and Bill lived in Safford.  Running campaigns over multiple counties was tough not only in travel, but they have different voters lists, zip codes and media markets.  In my life I have run over 150 campaigns and won over 90% of them.  So, I was honored to be called in, but hesitant.

Who was this person across from me?  I did research and found they owned some restaurants and radio stations.  They were well-liked, a local boy made good, a faithful LDS member, a family man, and sincere.  My concern is that he had the “fire in his belly” to run for office, not that he was just a pawn, selected by others.  We had a great meeting and I was truly impressed with him, which is a rare for me as I am usually quite cynical of people.  He had that rare quality, where you knew you could trust him five minutes into a conversation.  He was the type of person I would love to have had as a father or grandfather, patient, wise, kind and humble.

His name was a tough one.  Konopnicki?  As best as I know it was pronounced KO-po-nik-ee.  At least when I said it that way he smiled and never corrected me.  I ran a campaign based on his honesty, integrity, business sense and local background.  There was a compelling picture we used of him stooping to check the progress of cotton in a field.  These were real pictures, not staged, and people could tell.  We won the primary easily.  So easily, that our fellow candidate’s team asked us to back off, that we might defeat their candidate in the general.

I met with Bill and he asked what he should do.  I said, “Do you want to win and represent your district, or not?”  He thought about it for a few minutes.  “I want to win.” he said simply and firmly.  So we did.  I have helped elect so many people I was disappointed in later, but I have never regretted helping Bill Konopnicki.  I know we all have our failings and vices, but I honestly never found any of them in Bill.  He went with the other person for future campaigns when the conflict was resolved, but he never forgot our early work together.  He was like that.  A person who never forgot friends.

Not only will I miss Bill Konopnicki, but the world will miss him.  When you lose someone of his caliber, we are all lessened.  My prayers are with his family, loved ones and friends that their time of grief may be short and their memories of the man long.

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October 18, 2012 · 9:54 am

Government Declassifies Flying Saucers

 

The truth isn’t out there … it’s been stored in a warehouse for 56 years.

The National Declassification Center in College Park, Md., opened one of more than 100 cardboard boxes from the Air Force recently and came across a 114-page document from 1956 sure to interest the tin-foil-hat crowd: a document describing a secret program by the Air Force to build a flying saucer.

“These records have been classified probably since their creation during the ’50s,” Neil Carmichael, director of the declassification review division at NDC, told Popular Mechanics, which first posted news of the complete document. “It’s like somebody went into somebody’s office, emptied out a filing cabinet, stuck it in a box, sealed it, and sent it off to the federal records center. It was deemed permanently valuable at some point in its life and that’s why we have it today.”

Last week, the group posted a few images and a brief blog entry on the program, which was estimated to cost just $3.2 million, the report said. But an NDC representative told FoxNews.com that the group is “in the process of digitizing” the entire document and has not yet released it onto its website.

Carmichael told FoxNews.com this document is just a drop in the agency’s bucket.

‘It never ceases to amaze me what we find in the records.’

– Neil Carmichael, director of the declassification review division at NDC

“We have about 400 million pages to get through the executive order President Obama signed in 2009,” he said. “I tell my techs, ‘If you find anything interesting, let us know.’”

And every once in a while, they find something good.

“Some of these reports are kind of interesting,” he told FoxNews.com. Talk about an understatement!

The newly released documents, not yet posted on the website of the National Declassification Center, offer details on a Cold War-era plan to build a round, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that can only be described as a flying saucer.

The disk-shaped craft — which comes complete with an ejector seat and was powered by a “ram jet” — was designed to reach a top speed of Mach 4 and reach a ceiling of more than 100,000 feet, according to the lengthy document, which is titled “Project 1794, Final Development Summary Report” and dated 1956.

It reveals that the Air Force had contracted the construction of the craft to a Canadian company, Avro Aircraft Limited in Ontario.

“Six Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbo-jet s — 1,900 lb. thrust, 22.0” overall diameter, 525 lb weight each — are mounted radially in the wing, exhausting inwards; and used as gas generators to drive a pair of contra-rotating centrifigual impellers by means of a radial inflow turbine,” the document says.

Much of the 114-page document is devoted to detailed descriptions and schematics of the propulsion system, as tested in a scale model seen in a series of photographs. But the report appears to conclude that the flying saucer was better in concept than actual execution.

“The efficiency of the airframe at supersonic speed appears good and that of the engine reasonable, so that a long supersonic cruise range is also forecast,” it said. But in testing, the craft — essentially a glorified hovercraft — simply didn’t work as hoped.

“Apparently, as it gained in altitude, it would start to wobble uncontrollably,” Carmichael explained.

The report notes a followupplan to develop weapons suitable for the saucer, to allow it to be used as for reconnaissance, as an interceptor, or as a tactical bomber. Still, the concept of the U.S. Air Force attempting to build a flying saucer at the height of the Cold War is captivating, leading some to posit a connection between the rumors of a crashed saucer at Roswell, N.M., and the public fascination with Area 51.

After all, the Air Force dubbed it Project 1794 — rearrange those numbers and you’ll get 1947, the year of the Roswell incident.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and it never ceases to amaze me what we find in the records,” Carmichael told FoxNews.com.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/10/18/govt-declassifies-report-secret-flying-saucer/#ixzz29fcBsE9s

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October 16, 2012 · 9:08 pm

Who Is Better to Lead the Free World – WITHOUT talking about the two current candidates!

Forget Obama, Romney and other candidates.  Forget conservative and liberal.  Forget Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party, Independent, etc.

Here are the questions:  Does a person’s cultural and financial history matter to you for President?  If so, what is the perfect mix?

1)  Does it make you more inclined to vote for someone if they are the same race, the same gender, from the same state or city?  Why?  I have voted for a whole spectrum, none of that entered my mind, but I have heard others say it matters.  I voted for Alan Keyes, a black Republican for President eight years before Obama ran.  I am glad we overcame the hurdle of electing a black man to office less than 50 years after people died in the Civil Rights movement for their equality.  But should I care he is black and be happy?  Shouldn’t we be color blind and not remark on his race?

I grew up dirt poor, white trash.  We grew our own food, sewed our own clothing, even gathered wood and nails from old collapsed barns to make our own lean to house to live in.  My father was permanently disabled when I was around three, so we got free USDA crap cheese and milk, social security checks and lived like crap.  My father and mother abused me and my brother and sisters terribly.  My brother abused me as well.  I went to school with bloody pants from being whipped.  My father died when I was 15, my mother took off to another state shortly after that.  I raised myself through high school.  I went on to the US Air Force, then achieved degrees in electronic engineering, computer science and economics and finance.  I worked like a banshee and made six figures.  Now I have “retired” to be a novelist.

Am I better as a leader because I was poor and abused?  Am I worse as a leader because I was a CFO and CEO and a 1%er?  Does it matter I served in the military?  Does it matter I served in public and private sectors, that I made payroll and developed jobs?

What if I was born with a silver spoon?  From birth I hobnobbed with power, like the Kennedy clan, or the Rockefellers.  Does that make me out of touch?  Or would that make me a better leader because I know how to use power, who has it, how to play the game to achieve goals.  I would be comfortable in the halls of power and be experienced at the landmines?

If I was poor and struggled and achieved…  Does that mean I am better?  What if I get to Washington and have no idea what to do?  I only know my small group from my home town to call upon.  I don’t understand how to get things done in the big time and get frustrated?

These issues are shown to us in beautiful films at conventions, images on our screen, pundits and propagandists, charts, jokes, pretty much everywhere.  But do they really mean something?

2)  Having read the above…  Who is your perfect candidate?  No names.  Describe their life.  I would appreciate if you feel comfortable answering here, but even if you just think about it yourself, hopefully this has been thought provoking.

 

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October 16, 2012 · 1:26 pm

Five Failed Auto Accessories

Feature failures: 5 of the silliest automotive features ever

By Rob Sass

Published October 13, 2012, Hagerty

  • horseadcar660.jpg

    Occasionally, automakers get it right in the new feature department — seat heaters? Good. Back-up camera? Good. Intermittent wipers? Really good. Self-parking? BMW’s iDrive and Ford’s Microsoft Sync? Let’s just say the jury’s still out. The market, however, decided quickly on the list below, which contains automotive gimmicks that range from not-very-useful to patently absurd.

  1. Record Player: Offered by Chrysler from 1956 to 1957, it was the auto industry’s first attempt at making pre-recorded music playable in a car. While engineered for the rather bumpy environment of a moving car, the player wasn’t immune to skipping and scratching the records, which weren’t the standard-size LPs or 45s but a smaller proprietary format that required owners to buy all of their music again. Those of a certain age who have owned Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” on 8-track, vinyl, cassette, CD and MP3 can sympathize.
  2. Front-Mounted Horse Head: This turn-of-the-century accessory was meant to make early internal combustion cars less frightening to horses. More than just a freakishly large hood ornament, it literally consisted of a not-very-convincing, life-size fake horse head that could be mounted on the front of the car. It could also be used as an additional fuel tank, pre-dating the Pinto, (the other exploding equine) by some 70 years.
  3. Swamp Cooler: Numerous companies from the 1930s through the 1960s marketed these ungainly contraptions that looked like the offspring of a jet engine and a canister vacuum. The device attached to the window of the car and contained a few gallons of water, which used the ram air effect created while the car was moving to force humidified air inside. They were minimally effective in hot, dry areas. Practical and relatively inexpensive auto air conditioning put an end to their use. Occasionally, auto swamp coolers can still be seen as odd period accessories on classic cars.
  4. Rear-Facing Seats: Car sickness occurs when the brain receives conflicting signals about whether the body is in motion or not. Rear-facing seats were a common source of this type of cerebral confusion, yet they were standard as the “back, back” seats in so many of the classic station wagons that baby boomers grew up (and threw up) in.
  5. Semi-Automatic Transmission: Both Porsche and Volkswagen used this obscure bit of technology to allay the fears of clutch-o-phobes. It was essentially a conventional manual transmission without a clutch pedal. The device was actuated when the driver put his or her hand on the shift lever. Unlike today’s shiftable automatics, there was no fully automatic mode. You had to move the lever through each gear.  Porsche called it “Sportomatic,” and VW called it “Automatic Stickshift,” even going so far as to advertise it with a chrome badge on the back of the car. They’re heartily disliked by collectors who often replace them with conventional manual transmissions.

Click here to sign up for more classic car stories from Hagerty.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/10/13/feature-failures-5-silliest-automotive-features-ever/?intcmp=features#ixzz29Un6zH9L

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October 15, 2012 · 3:23 pm

Where Did The Universe Come From?

This is from a regular science column I write in order to break down complex scientific theories down to a level where the average sci-fi fan without extensive scientific training can understand them.  Please forgive where I over simplify.

Where Did The Universe Come From?

by Michael Bradley

Mankind is the only known species that spends time dwelling on how we happen to be here and do we have a purpose.  Beliefs both in science and in religion permeate every human society even in prehistoric times.  This primer will only deal with the astrophysics theorems as they have altered over modern times.

The atomic age brought in a theory that everything in the universe is composed of atoms.  These were classified on the handy Chart of Elements, protons and neutrons counted, electrons counted, rings of electrons and atomic mass all classified.  Unfortunately, this atomic theory fell apart as proof of dark matter appeared.  (This is discussed in an earlier article.)  Scientists, using Doppler theory, radio transmission and the red-blue shift now vary in believing atoms represent only 2% to 17% of the universe.  It is like standing in a dark field where 1,000 people have flashlights across from you, but maybe only two turn them on.  So we thought there were only two.

The rejection of atomic theory led to a radical theory called string theory.  That our universe basically is like a violin string that vibrates in ten dimensions.  This would explain many things, but it could not explain the beginning of things, the quantum singularity which many refer to as the big bang.  Also, string theory broke into five different theories instead of one.  Another group of theorists, the heavy gravity crowd believed that there were in fact 11 dimensions, not ten.

These two groups merged after fighting for years, and developed string theory using 11 dimensions, and suddenly the mathematics began to work and the five collapsed to one.  However, there were still problems.  The weakness of gravity is one problem.  Gravity might seem strong as it keeps things in orbit and keeps us from flying off Earth, and yet a weak child can pick an apple off the ground and toss it into the air.  Electromagnetism on the other hand can hold that same weight of ferrous material quite tightly.

Theorist began to wonder why gravity was weak.  Is it leaking out of our known universe?  Then someone came up with M theory, that instead of strings vibrating in 11 dimensions, that there is a membrane like object quivering in 11 dimensions.  If there were also other membranes, or P-branes, they could all co-exist and each have radically different laws of physics.  Perhaps gravity does NOT leak from our universe, but leaks INTO our universe from another P-brane consisting of nothing but gravitation?

The more the M theory explored these alternative universes, the more it made sense.  Basically, we are all intertwined membranes with unique series of attributes.  So what of the big bang?  Theorists now believe the membranes come in all sorts of sizes, flat, donut-shaped, and more.  As they move around and they shimmy and wiggle, they can run into each other.  A collision of membranes would not only explain the beginning of our universe, but also why clumps of it move differently, and why there are so many varieties of galaxies.  They were each made separately as individual wrinkles in wiggly P-branes collided multiple times.

It is the first modern theorem that can go beyond the quantum singularity of the big bang and explore what happened before.  If you picture a room filled with bubbles, floating around and sometimes touching, sometimes popping, sometimes combining or bouncing off each other, then that is one way of visualizing the infinite P-branes of which our M universe is one random bubble formed by collision and proximity with others and we each leak into and out of the others, forming our own unique laws of physics.

Religion or Science?  Astrophysics does not disprove or prove a greater power.  The more we explore the complexities and find just how beautiful and complicated existence is, the more each side has ammunition.  Believers will say that if you found a Swiss watch in the Sahara desert, keeping perfect time, would you think it evolved there, or that someone designed it and made it?  The more complex the design, the more it implies a designer.  However, most believers also acknowledge that this Creator will not give us proof, that we have to take a leap of faith.

Non-believers in the world of physics are looking for a single mathematical formula that will explain EVERYTHING.  M theory combined with P-branes and alternative universes co-existing in dark matter, all bumping together and affecting each other is the latest theory.  They believe there is NO Creator, despite the inclination of humans throughout history to build shrines and worship a Creator.

In the end, if an answer is ever definitively theorized, tested and proven, it will still leave one question unanswered.  Did it all just happen?  Or, did some Creator set it in motion?

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October 15, 2012 · 12:12 am

Cute Dogs With Babies and Children

Your every Monday post of cute dogs – this time with babies and kids.

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October 14, 2012 · 6:32 am

Putting Together a Horror Anthology – Submissions Requested

Twisted Nightmares!

Horror Anthology

Submissions Needed, 5,000 words or less, only horror themes can be poetry, short stories, flash fiction, whatever.  WORD format preferred, only electronic submissions accepted.

Volunteer Editors Needed; Volunteer Selection Panelists Needed

Publishing by Michael Bradley, Eiverness Consulting Group, Ltd.

Submissions required by January 31, 2013.  Expected publication prior to May 2013 and published in Kindle format.

Please send inquiries and submissions to:

eiverness@cox.net

For the subject put:  Anthology Submission

This publication is designed to be an additional opportunity to highlight the talents of local writers.  Those chosen for publication will receive two free copies of the printed version and will be able to buy printed copies at cost for their own use or sale.  All other profits and expenses, including electronic sales will be retained by the publisher.

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October 14, 2012 · 3:35 am

Awesome Vehicles – If you Could Only Choose One…

Here is a mix of driving, flying and floating vehicles.  If you could only choose one, which would it be:

 

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October 12, 2012 · 7:51 pm

Town Appears from Alternative Universe

Draft Back Story…

 

TOP SECRET – DEPARTMENTALIZED CLEARANCE ONLY – DESIGNATION WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

NEED TO KNOW ONLY – DESTROY COPIES – FILE NUMBER 42-ECHO-ZULU-107

TOPIC:  TIME SPACE VORTEX QUANTUM SINGULARITY CONFIRMED

CODENAME DESIGNATION:  H.G. WELLS

The occurrence of a class 5 time space vortex quantum singularity has been confirmed in the environs outside of Tucson, Arizona.  Codename HG Wells has been assigned for all communications.

In accordance with sealed Presidential Directive 8-b, the area has been cordoned off to prevent entry or exit from the area.  The vortex is limited to an area of approximately three square miles.  So far quarantine protocols have been effective, however, the longer the vortex remains unclosed the increased danger that the overlap in alternate universes will either expand, or our own universe will diverge from its natural path.

On or about two weeks ago, the event started with a strange rumbling and the appearance of blurred lights outside of the City of Tucson.  In the middle of an undeveloped area of the Sonoran desert, an entire town materialized.  Initial analysis shows that while the town is consistent with those found in America during the nineteenth century and the inhabitants appear in many ways to conform to Victorian and Wild West periods of our universe from around 1830 to 1890, there are significant variances.

The people of the town are unaware of our modern world and have technology created on advanced steam theory and machinery not available in our own timeline.  While we have long theorized through astrophysics of membrane theory that multiple universes exist and occasionally bump or influence each other, this is the first visible proof.  For reference purposes our universe as we know it is designated Alpha One.  The people and town that have appeared have been designated to be from alternate universe and timeline Beta Two.  They appear to be in most respects human and unaware of their transposition from Beta Two into Alpha One.

Initial investigation has led to two working theories:  1) A device with technology unknown to us accidentally transported the city to this universe and broke, leaving it unable to reverse the process; or 2) someone intentionally used the device to move the city and has hidden the device or disabled to prevent their return.  Our investigators have been unable to determine the location of the device or how to return Beta Two citizens to their own parallel universe.

The problem is that to reveal our existence as Alpha One citizens may endanger the safe return of Beta Two citizens and cause irreparable harm to both universes.  Dr. Moriarty J. Verne, Professor of Astrophysics, has studied this phenomenon and came up with an unusual yet workable plan on solving this problem.

His plan is to provide a cover story that the Beta Two town is in fact the site of a “steampunk convention” and a movie set.  The Beta Two residents will be viewed as “actors” immersed in their part.  Guest will be invited to help “investigate” thinking they are simply having fun with a convention gimmick.  Professor Verne believes that while most of us Alpha One residents are blinded to the truth of the situation, that steampunk fans have a special connection to Beta Two thinking that will allow them to get to the bottom of what happened.

Professor Verne feels their may be some cross-universal psychic connection that has imbedded the desire to dress as “steampunk” characters in certain psychically sensitive free thinkers in the Alpha One universe that is directly related to the parallel Beta Two universe.  By allowing these people to visit the town, he believes they will succeed where non-psychically connected investigators have failed.

The cover story includes creating a Steampunk Convention entitled, Wild West Con 2 at the Old Tucson Studios.  Ticket buyers will then circulate amongst the Beta Two inhabitants, dressed similarly so as not to raise suspicion or interfere with the timelines.  Each will be asked to “investigate” in exchange for prizes.  The results of their inquiries will be turned into Professor Verne, dressed in disguise to blend in.  After the three day event, these investigative notes can then be used to solve the mystery and return the Beta Two inhabitants and their city back to the appropriate universe.

If all goes well, no one will ever be the wiser.  If it fails, we have prepared a special compound in Area 51 in which to forcibly relocate the Beta Two citizens and their town.

 

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