THE GREAT GAME

[Elizabeth Helen Drake]

Grady,

Consider me your WELCOME WAGON!

Paul and I certainly appreciate your signing on and offering one of the most unusual observations!

And that is a VERY interesting concept.( That this forum. being peopled by this number of very different individuals would somehow be able to show us what it is out there that the public is looking for? Is that right? But here is the twist. Our readers don't know ahead of time .... other than the title ..... what the content of the post category is ......... but still they pick what they pick. What is it that encourages them to pick one title over another?)

Am I catching your drift here Grady? Because this is a new thought and I want to make sure that I am understanding you . And Trickfox, if you are monitoring this , can you give me your thoughts on this too? Anybody else out there catch what Grady has just thrown at us?

For some reason, what I see that Grady is pointing out here is that we can look in the mirror of the collective conciousness of this post !..... (stop me here Grady, if I have misunderstood you) ..... The readers open the chapter or site that they SOMEHOW FEEL COMPELLED to open ..... so the results of their "compulsion" would show up on a graph? Like yours? Is that what you are saying?

And if thats the case then Paul and I would be able to look to the "chapters most viewed" to see where the strongest draw for the book is .... because it is already being shown to us here?

Help Trickfox, you are the mathematician here. Am I reading this wrong? Have I misunderstood something? Have I missed something?

Thanks Grady for that interesting comment. I won't let it fall on deaf ears. Elizabeth

[Paul S.]

Don't go for the wild science fiction explanations. The readers just really want to know .... what kind of man he really was ..... grady

Grady, I've been meaning to get back to you since you posted that... it's truly one of the most valuable posts I've seen.

Now, I don't know for sure if you can separate the man from the "science fiction," or, at least, from the novel science that he was exploring. The man informed the science and vice versa. What made his science so unique and compelling must be, at least on some level, what makes the man so appealing, don't you think?

But regardless, the basic observation ... i need to paste that one over my desk. People mostly want to relate to the man not as a scientist but as a man. That's what I hope I've been doing, and will strive even more so to do after reading this.

Thanks,

--PS

P.S. Following up on the inspiration in this message, I have taken the liberty of re-titling one of the subjections of the forum "The Character of Townsend Brown" so that we can have a place to focus on precisely the material that Grady has directed our attention to.

[twigsnapper]

Paul, Elizabeth and Grady,

Your comments about not being able to separate the man from his work because the work "informed" the man and vice versa ... is entirely accurate.

Perhaps in some sections of business and industry a person can go to work in the morning, punch a time clock, punch out at four or five and be away from his desk and never think of it until he is there the next morning.

Thats a job. Not a passion.

So when you start trying to explain the life of a man whose work was his passion ....... you have to see that there is no separating the two. They are truely part and parcel.

And the people who love a man like that eventually come to understand that he is what he is and there is definitely no changing it and it is more fruitful just giving in and "going with the flow".

Josephine used to say, regarding her relationship with Townsend .... "Its bigger than both of us " ... which was an old saying even then but particularly worked for the two of them. She recognized that he had another mistress that he loved with all his heart. It was his lab, wherever it was, most of the time it was along in his head with him.

Instead of taking the fools part, Josephine wisely recognized that if she loved Townsend at all she would have to love that part of him too. She was a wise woman so she accepted that other mistress.

Speaking from some experience, that is not an easy person to find. The one that can look into your soul and see what is it that is important to that soul and then be able to step aside and let you have that relationship, but still be there for you.

Many more times it boils down to "Its her or me" and then the poor guy has to pick. Josephine never forced the issue like that, though I am sure there were times when she was sorely tempted to say those words. But she loved him and she stuck with him for all those years. And there was an expression they used between them that Paul will introduce when he is ready. For them, said sometimes with a glimmer of humor at the irony of it ,you will recognize the phrase when you see it. I just wish that I had found the woman who would have said that to me.

Twigsnapper

[Mark Culpepper]

Hey Paul, Who is Marge? from China? Is that a spam post or are we supposed to pay attention to it somehow?

I am up early and noticed that it just came on.

And Mr. Twigsnapper, while I am asking questions and the fog of the day hasn't really taken over my clarity. On another section you happened to mention to Linda B something about a Rainbow trail? or something like that? Can you tell me what the blank is going on here? Linda? Is this just back channel communication?

Oh, and Paul. I am just waiting for that new chapter ....( up early because horsecrazy daughter has signed up one of her other horses for a three day show and just guess who gets to be the head driver, groom, stableboy and " Oh Dad hold him for me for a moment cause I got to go pee" and yes..... all that. Meanwhile Blinker gets three days off which I wish I could trade with him.)

Victoria! are you home? We all have missed you! and Lisa wants me to mention that you were right about the show sheen. She says its the only mistake that she has made so far and that she thinks of you riding "wild" ponies and draws inspiration from that. Do you still ride? Mark C.

[Paul S.]

Hey Paul, Who is Marge? from China? Is that a spam post or are we supposed to pay attention to it somehow?

All you need to know about "Marge" is that she's history, or soon will be. I have done some research on how to better manage membership of these forums. Starting yesterday, there will be no new members that I do not approve as "administrator," and the next thing I'm going to do is purge all the bogus members that are using the site for their spam-bots. Hopefully that will keep things a little more focused.

Hope you and Lisa have fun at the horse-show.

--PS

[Victoria Steele]

Paul,
Since I have been home I have been trying to read all these posts again and hey theres really a slew of them now. But the reading is still very interesting. I, of course, gravitate (thats funny) toward Mr. Twigsnapper because you know me and BAD BOYS and I just know that gentleman was probably the prototype for the guys that I so admired. I'm never very sure where he is coming from or what agenda he has, which I think is part of the agenda that he keeps. But this forum is a revealing medium and I thought that what he said recently about Josephine was exceptionally touching. When he wrote this Paul hadn't posted "Remember Dear" yet and no one knew at the time that the complete statement was " Remember Dear , You will always have me!"

Mr. Tiwgsnapper said on this post "and there was an expression that they used between them that Paul will introduce when he is ready. For them, said sometimes with a glimpse of humor at the irony of it, you will recognize the phrase when you see it. I JUST WISH THAT I HAD FOUND THE WOMAN WHO WOULD HAVE SAID THAT TO ME.

Damn! Thats pretty special. May I assume then Mr. Twigsnapper that you have not married? So,did those "Caroline rules" affect your life too? How would you find a woman that could be the special one though?

And I don't know why I am treating it like the Browns had the perfect relationship because ..... look at the divorce papers! Jeeze Louise. still chewing on that one!

Victoria