Notes from the Author: My mental health.

Welcome dear readers. Those of you following this blog regularly know that I am at the moment on a road trip (currently in Coeur d'Alene Id, getting ready to head to Nelson BC)

When I launched this blog I also put my novel "The Gavaskar Field" on the market. That has been very like exposing one's soul. It's been fun, exciting, nerve wracking, daunting and more.

I had planned to continue my regular blogging while traveling. I figured I'd have down time every day and I have but . . . when I do have down time I need rest. Not just from the travel but I need a break from business.

I can tell that my batteries are being recharged. I am getting excited about getting back home next tuesday and getting back to work. I have a whole new list of great ideas and stories to tell.

What am I saying here? I'm saying that I now know that what I need from this road trip is nothing but road trip.

I visited one of my very best friends in Wyoming and I'm on my way to visit another in Nelson. I need to be present. To that end I will post no blogs through this weekend and I'll be on the road next tuesday.

See you after Labor Day

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: More on the Messiah/Founder

Greetings sweet readers. My last post mentioned the first words of the Founder. We were discussing his childhood. As he grew he chaffed at the constraints that constant media scrutiny brings. 

The world watched at young Marcus Johnson excelled in school and they were shocked when he disappeared immediately after graduation. For several years media continued to carry reports discussing the possible whereabouts of young Marcus.

He was not discovered until he revealed himself ten years later as the head of a corporation that flooded the market with new inventions and technologies.

Our next post will discuss some of these inventions and how they changed Earth society even after Marcus Johnson left the planet.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Welcome gentle readers. I'm still in Jackson Wyoming with friends. Spent the day on Jackson Lake. It was a near perfect day. Some clouds some rain some beauty. Saw one elk several honkers, buffalo, a heron and a few coufusesdus touristei.

The Tetons ain't Kusha but they come awfully close.

Tomorrow back on the road.

Tired Traveler

Travel can be very tiring. I'm working on a post but I haven't had the energy to finish today. Tomorrow morning I'll be out on Jackson Lake and I'm expecting a battery recharge from that.

A brief note. After a two day drive and a couple of naps I am safe and sound
with friends.
Tomorrow I will tell the tale.

Philip the Bard's Harappan blog: A post from Ina.

Welcome gentle readers. My name is Ina Normer. I am Philip’s wife. I don’t refer to him as Philip the Bard for obvious reasons. If I don’t keep his ego in check who will?

Philip got carried away last night at the Bird in Hand tavern so I’ll fill in for him today.

We have a small house and a decent sized garden. I tend the garden while my husband works on his books. He helps in the yard occasionally.

Growing under a red sun has been a learning experience. Earth and Harappa have similar suns. Most of the plants we came to Kusha with have survived and adapted to the different light but some failed. We can’t grow roses or dahlias but the sunflowers do very well. Most of the Earth and Harappan veggies have adapted, though the only Harappan food we have here is the sweet tuber.

Some old Harappans grow Harappan algae indoors but it wont survive under the Kushan Sun.

Oh, I hear stirrings from down the hallway. I’d better tend to the “Bard”. 

Have a great weekend!

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

The Long Drive

The appeal of the long distance drive.

Not everyone I know understands my love of a long drive. First of all there is the environmental impact. I don’t do nearly the long trip I used to do as I have become more aware.

Then there are some people (my wife) who just don’t appreciate spending a long day cooped up in a car.

Me, I love it. There are few things I enjoy more than driving a new road. It doesn’t have to be new, but newness enhances the experience. 

It’s been six years since I embarked on a long road trip. This trip involves driving to Jackson Wyoming from my home in Chimacum Washington. After a few days there with an old Air Force Buddy I’ll drive up to Nelson BC, where I lived for three years while my wife went to school there at the art college.

I will write posts from the trip and post pictures on my Facebook page as I go. There may be some gaps when I am away from internet connections.

But I will be thinking about my readers.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I’ll be packing and Sunday I take off. I plan on sleeping in a Montana rest area Sunday night and arrive in Jackson the following afternoon.

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: The Messiah's First Words

Marcus Johnson was born in Earth Year twenty - forty-four, on December six. His father, Brandon “Buck” Johnson was First Citizen of the new American Government. It was a period of major environmental disasters. The new government in an attempt to build morale in the citizenry made young Marcus the center piece of a new propaganda program.

Cameras followed his every move. Media channels broadcast Marcus Johnson’s life nearly all the time. People would tune in just to watch the child sleep. His first steps were celebrated by the entire world. 

While the world was crumbling outside people took solace in watching this infant’s protected and safe childhood.

His first words, broadcast live around Earth were, “Giddy up go Daddy.”

We will continue discussing the Founders life in our next post. 

Authors note; I will be on a road trip next week. I’m visiting friends in Wyoming and BC. I will post from the road but there may be a missed day or two depending on internet access. Rest assured I will be thinking about my loyal readers and will post when I can.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Meet the Messiah

Good Day gentle readers. Today we start talking about Marcus Johnson. He was known as the Founder on Harappa and on Earth he became the Messiah, well after he left the planet.

A great deal of effort has gone into tracing his genealogy. The Johnson name can be traced back to Buddy Johnson the son of single mother Jennifer Johnson. She was the daughter of twentieth century pop star Buddy Cross and a Samantha Johnson. There was some question about who the father was as young Jenny Johnson was raised by Buck Johnson and did not meet her biological father till she was in her early twenties.

The Cross line has been traced back to sixteenth France. Perhaps the most notable person in that line was Curtis Cross who rode with Marcus Reno at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. It is not known if Marcus Reno was the inspiration but the Cross/Johnson line used the name several times before it was given to the Founder/Messiah.

Tomorrow; The Founder’s first words.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Final notes on the Librarians

Greetings noble readers. We have been discussing Marcus Johnson’s LIbrarians recently. We went through their first two tasks from the Founder. They managed the Founders library and they continued scientific exploration.

There were charged with a third task by the Founder. They were to steer culture from the background.

They encouraged worship of the Founder. They produced art and literature that glorified Marcus Johnson and promoted his philosophies.

It is known that there were regular visitors to government offices in both Caelum and Salus. They generally received a warm welcome in Caelum where support for the founder remained strong.

Salus, however, eventually cut off ties with the Librarians. History shows that Harappan society was on the verge of complete fracture when humans from Earth showed up on the starship Marcus Johnson.

Most historians consider the Librarians of Harappa a failure. While they did preserve much Earth art, history and literature, that was lost on Earth, they did not advance science during their two hundred years of investigation and they were loosing control of Harappan society.

I was well acquainted with Rodin Cooper and met several other Librarians. I found them to be overly secretive but I felt their concern for Harappa and our civilization was sincere.

My next post: Marcus Johnson himself.

Coming next week; The author’s road trip to Wyoming and BC.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Best Guitarists in the Rock Era?

Best Guitarists in the Rock Era?

I am a guitarist. At least I play one. I’m hardly a professional but I love to play. I play by ear and have only a limited knowledge of music theory. For most of my musical career I played “singer-songwriter” stuff. Acoustic steel-string, Dylan, CSNY, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, some of my own creations. Then I had a hand accident and damaged the two middle fingers on my left hand (the fretboard hand) that made some chords difficult to play.

So I started playing more solo electric guitar stuff and that is where I am now. I still do some unplugged but most of my time is spent rocking out to great old albums (Abraxas, one of my favs to play along with).

I tell this story so you know where I am coming from.

First the most influential guitarists;

1 Chuck Berry

2 Jimi

3 Eric Clapton

4 Eddie Van Halen

There are certainly more influences but these four are cornerstones. Chuck Berry defined rock guitar by trying to copy Johnny Johnson’s piano playing. Jimi showed us what could be done with an electric guitar. Clapton moved blues into the electric era and he became the historian of licks. Van Halen brought a whole new bag of tricks to the instrument.

Technically the best;

1 Stevie Ray Vaughn

2 Carlos Santana

3 Duane Allman

4 Eddie Van Halen

Simply put Stevie Ray Vaughn is the best rock guitarist ever. Carlos Santana is right there with him. Santana has all the rock chops but can also add in searing jazz, hot latin and afro licks and is one of the most soulful musicians on any instrument. Duane Allman ruled the slide and Eddie is just so technical (a bit too technical for me, most times)

My Favorites

1 Carlos Santana

2 Stevie Ray Vaughn

3 Duane Allman

4 Leo Kotke

5 Roy Clark

Who is Leo Kotke? He plays mostly slide, mostly acoustic but does all kinds of things with a guitar that I’ve heard few other musicians be able to do. If you haven’t heard this guy and love the guitar look him up. Roy Clark? Yes,  Roy Clark. He is mostly known for his cheesy country music and of course for the Hee Haw TV show. But, the man could rock. I heard him one time guest host for Johnny Carson. He started by saying that his voice had gone out but he would still jam with Doc’s band. They did a blues number that blew me away. He could be Chet Atkins smooth and still play some raunchy blues

There you have it. The definitive list of rock era guitarists.

Notes from the Actor: After the glitter.

Notes From the Author: My Movie Diary, Part Two, After the Glitter

Yesterday I mentioned that the one person on the movie set that was not pampering me and blowing sunshine up my skirt was the producer. I don’t want to imply she was rude or mean in any way. It’s just that she was more . . . business oriented than the rest of the movie crew.

The director was all about getting more shots, more camera angles. The producer was more about, can we finish this shoot on time. “Do we really need one more angle?”

I met the producer once off the set and she looked a different person. Her face softer, more relaxed.

After my last day of shooting I went home and left my make up on. Just to see if anyone noticed. Of course my wife noticed. That was easy. 

So I went over to Little Ricky’s house. “You look great! What have you done? Did you loose weight? Get a tan? What is it?”

His wife and later my other neighbor Phil (yes the inspiration for Philip the Bard) said similar questions. I am not kidding.

I understand that young men in some metropolitan cities are wearing make up. I know the cosmetic industry has been trying to come up with something to get guys buying their products for years. 

Well, here’s the thing guys . . . if you wear make-up people will tell you how wonderful you look. I’m just sayin’.

. . . but no I have not taken to wearing make-up.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Notes from the Author: As an Actor

Notes from the Author: (As An Actor) My Movie Diary, Part One, Stepping into the Spotlight

Yes, I acted in a movie once. I was in Michael Moore’s Sicko but that wasn’t acting. That was just being myself. But while living in BC Canada, I actually acted in a movie called “The Change Agents”. My neighbor who worked at the local high school talked me into going to an audition there, just for fun. Well, just for fun, I was chosen to play “Don”, a stuffy English teacher. 

The students of the local high school with one very dedicated and talented teacher made it a school project to create a feature length film as their way of protesting Canada’s environmental record, especially in regards to the Alberta Tar Sands.

I had a ten o’clock show time for make up. I started the day by having two pretty young women pamper me and paint my face, lipstick and all. I have to say everyone on the set (except for the producer) treated me with the utmost kindness and respect. I was constantly flattered, pampered and coddled. I always left the set feeling great about myself.

The equipment was still being set up in the room where filming was to take place, so there was nothing to do. I read some and visited with some of the other actors. Briefly met with the director about my “motivation”, and then it was time for “blocking”, which is arranging the movement of the scene and coordinating it with the camera movements. Since I sat during that entire scene there wasn’t much for me to do but sit there while they measured how high my head was.

The prop guy (the Artistic Director) set a plate of food in front of me and said sternly, “Don’t touch anything on that plate!”. The way he said it led me to believe there were dire consequences for not complying. I feared that plate.

By noon we were ready to shoot. My one line in this scene is “I thought the teachers were the ones supposed to slam the doors.”, said while shaking a piece of celery at another actor. Then I was to take a bite of a rice cracker. I must have eaten at least 30 halves of a rice cracker. In fact there was a student who’s job it was to replace the cracker and remove the half eaten one after every take, poor girl. 

The pattern was to do the scene about seven times then move the camera and do seven more takes. This went on all day. We wound up doing just the one scene. It will probably be less than five minutes in the movie but it was an all day job.

This scene took place in the teacher’s break room. There were five actors and about twenty or slightly more crew. The place was packed. Anywhere that was not on screen was full of people or equipment. The floor was a tangle of cables and wires. Then when they brought in the camera dolly, more people were required (cable wranglers, dolly wrangler).

Occasionally between takes the make up girls would come up with a huge tackle box stuffed with cosmetics and re-pretty my face.

Over and over we re-did the scene. Eventually we got to doing close ups. When we did them we only did snippets of the scene. But each close up required the camera, sound and lighting being reset.

Fortunately my fellow actors are nice people because we spent the entire day sitting at a table waiting for things to be done around us. Then we would recite a quick scene and then wait a half hour or so to do the scene again.

I love watching movies, but one little thing I have always wondered is why there is so often “continuity” issues. Things moving around or disappearing on the set behind the actors during one scene. Hair being wrong from one line to the next. I have always thought “are these people stupid?” how could they get these little things messed up?

Well now I know the answer. Put 30 people in a small room all day and things move. For example the director happened to leave her glasses on our table before we started shooting so she had to leave it there all day. When she needed to read the script she had to get the glasses and remember to replace them exactly the way they were. Several water bottles were left on the set during breaks and the “continuity” person had to come in with her digital camera and check every corner of the room to see where everything belonged. We wound up moving a plant around the room for various shots to improve the BG (back ground).

The movie is out now. I haven’t seen it. Friends of mine who have say it is quite good. Most of my work wound up on the “cutting room floor”. Oh well, stardom may have to wait a bit longer. 

If you get a chance to support these kids I urge you to take it. These kids are trying to something good for the world. Check out ther facebook page, The change Agents.

Tomorrow on the Blog: Part Two, After the Glitter

Notes from Bubba the Science Guy: Gravity and the Gavaskar Field

Notes from the Author: Bubba the Science Guy

I have been writing about the Gavaskar Field, my theory on the nature of the Universe. I think we have a basic understanding that the Gavaskar Field is the underlying structure of our Universe. My theory presupposes multiple universes.

Black Holes are one of the more fascinating phenomenons observed in the cosmos. They are one of the more powerful events we can see. How would such a thing interact with the theoretical Gavaskar Field?

On the sub atomic level we often see particles come into being from nothingness and then disappear. Where to they come from, where do they go? . . . The Gavaskar Field.

My theory on black holes and the Gavaskar Field is that we see matter being sucked into black holes never to be seen again. I contend that this lost matter has gone to . . . the Gavaskar Field. From there it returns as sub atomic particles.

Black holes, therefore, are the Universe’s recycling system. They gather matter and funnel it to the Gavaskar Field where it is returned to the Universe we see as sub atomic particles.

This is where I see some convergence between Higgs theory and Gavaskar theory. Higgs Field theory describes how these particles come into being and Gavaskar Field theory makes this process universal.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: More on the Librarians

Greetings shrewd readers. We’ve been discussing Marcus Johnson’s Librarians. They were vilified when the Founders deceits were discovered but their redemption came when they opened their library to the public. Much of the Founder’s library was returned to Earth when people started moving off Harappa.

The Library wasn’t all the LIbrarians did during their two hundred years on Harappa. They maintained an orbital space station where they kept tabs on climate issues and continued Johnson's habit of observing the stars. They did record a short burst of non random signals from Kusha but their astronomers found nothing beyond that.

As far as other scientific advances from them there is not a lot of evidence. They were a secretive order while on Harappa but they did include their files when humans were required to load their files onto the EG.

When their files were opened there were not a lot of new discoveries found. They had done a lot of work with the human brain and how it works. They did come to some understandings about how the two hemispheres work together. There were some studies on materials and a few useful alloys were found.

Obviously most of their scientific studies centered around illumaphane the strange mineral that made FTL possible, The Harappan scientists did not discover the properties that allowed faster than light travel but they did come to some understandings about how illumaphane affects gravity. They put a lot of energy into studying the Harappan Curse and came to agree that the disease was related to illumaphane.

Their scientific mission is seen as mostly a failure and their contributions to knowledge were scant.

Tomorrows post will discuss how the Gavaskar Field relates to gravity.

When Philip the Bard returns he will discuss the Librarian’s third mission; steering Harappan society.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: More about the LIbrarians

The Librarians

Greetings, intrepid readers. Yesterday I introduced you to Marcus Johnson’s Librarians. While they called themselves “wizards” they weren’t really. After the Arrival, Marcus Johnson’s lies were exposed and the Wizards were seen as the right hand of the Founder, there were assaults on anything and anyone associated with them. The name “Wizard” became more of a pejorative and friends of the Wizards started calling them “Librarians”. It was seen as a more innocuous title and separated them from Johnson, if only slightly.

The Green Revolution on Earth led to the destruction of much great art, literature, music and technology. Anything that was not seen as honoring the Green Messiah was considered blasphemous and much of it was destroyed by the Greenies. Some was rescued by individuals in the early SID (Science and Industry Division) but vast amounts of historical treasures were lost during this time.

Therefore, when the Earth Revolution destroyed the power of the Greenies, people on Earth found that they had to look to the Librarians on Harappa to restore much of what was lost during the Pax Veridis.

It was almost like finding an untouched Library of Alexandria.

The second of their three tasks was to continue scientific research. Tomorrow we’ll discuss what they did during their two hundred years of exploration.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan blog: Meet the Librarians

Who were the Librarians?

Whew! What a weekend. I’m still a little woozy. The Gutterminds were up till the wee hours saturday playin’ Stones, Beatles, Toxik Idols, you know the classics. Sunday was a family barbecue. It was my grandson Jared’s twenty-first birthday. He’s the youngest of the grandkids. Naturally some of us wound up playing more music last night. We were around the campfire till the rings started fading.

. . . but that’s not what this post is about is it?

I’ve mentioned the Founder’s Librarians. Not everyone knows their history. They weren’t always known as the Librarians. At one time they called themselves Wizards. They never practiced magic but they had access to technologies that no one else on Harappa had back before the Arrival.

Marcus Johnson’s idea was to create a totally new paradigm on Harappa. To do so he wanted to erase the public memory of Earth. In the Founder’s mind Earth was a failure. They had ruined what was once a lovely planet.

Yet the Founder understood that the history of humanity deserved to be preserved. A significant portion of the cargo holds of the Arc of the Millenium carried as much art, historical artifacts, books, media of all kinds and more, everything that Marcus Johnson found worthwhile from Earth culture and history.

This treasure was stored in Terraholm, a complex dug into Mount Kailas on Harappa. One of their three primary tasks was to caretake this collection.

Not long after I met my wife, Ina, I went to Terraholm with her and Dorian Thain. Ina introduced us to movies. We saw, American Grafitti, Close Encounters, The Best in Each Other and more. We saw origional art from many of the ancient Earth masters. Then we found the music library.

That’s when I found Rock n’ Roll music from Earth’s Twentieth Century. I’ve been given a lot of credit over the years for this but really I only just found the old recordings and learned how to play the stuff. Berry, Perkins, Enders those guys were the ones who created the music. I just shone a light on what should have never been forgotten in the first place.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about one of the Librarian’s other main tasks from the Founder.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   ; }

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Bubba's Science Blog: Yes, a guy called "Bubba" thinks about science.

How gravity interacts with the Gavaskar Field

OK, I admit it. I am only speculating here. But then, doesn’t a lot of science start as speculation. Not too long ago I read Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything” (I highly recommend this wonderful book) and in it he describes how so many of humanity’s great leaps forward came as a result of serendipity. 

I have already described my theory of the Gavaskar Field in an earlier post. (date post?) Now we begin to explore the ramifications of the existence of this universal field.

I thought I’d start by trying to understand the interaction of Black Holes to the Gavaskar Field. When I sat down to work this out I understood that I have to come to an understanding on how the Gavaskar Field relates to gravity first before we can get into the strange physics of Black Holes.

I have heard astronomers who are just now uncovering the structure of the universe describe the arrangement of galaxies as appearing not unlike a bubbly foam. The galaxies seem to collect where the bubbles meet each other. This makes me think that the Gavaskar Field is not uniform. Further, galaxies are gathering in places in the Gavaskar Field are either denser or less dense. Until we find a way to measure the gavaskar field we wont know if dense GF means an area of more or less gravity.

It is not necessary to make the assumption that the denser the Gavaskar Field the stronger the gravity in that area. It is merely important to know that there are shifts in the strength of the Gavaskar Field. I’ll call that the GF rating. A high GF rating is an area of stronger gravitation, no matter what the characteristic of the Gavaskar Field that is causing it. That is an issue we’ll have to wait until we better understand the structure of the Gavaskar Field to understand.

To summarize: Parts of the Gavaskar Field exhibit stronger gravitational pulls than other parts, though we don’t yet understand the mechanics of this. We can see its effect on the arrangement of galaxies in the Universe.

Next week we will discuss how gravity the Gavaskar Field and Black Holes work together.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.