Chapter 25 - "We've Never Heard of the Guy"

[Martin Calloway]

Beating you to opening this chapter discussion ... maybe, hello Paul.

Opening this Chapter for discussion with the single observation

"Obscure 20th Century Scientist " doesn't quite describe him , does it?

Martin

[Paul S.]

"Obscure 20th Century Scientist " doesn't quite describe him , does it?

Maybe not for those of us assembled here, but for the rest of the population... I don't think it's really off the mark. And I certainly don't say that as any slight. But, ask the average man on the street who invented the "Ionic Breeze" and see what kind of response you get.

For that matter, ask 'em who invented television...

--PS

[Martin Calloway]

Paul.

Maybe you are right. For most of us Townsend Brown would be an "obscure 20th century scientist."

But that begs the question. What got him OBSCURED? He must have gotten into something REALLY dicey. In chapter 22 you mention Charles, who sounds to me like a body guard. What could possibly have warrented that?

You did a good job talking about Farnsworth but how are you going to proceed when, I get the impression , Townsend Browns life is only going to get darker and darker? Whats your plan? How can you acturally clear the clouds? Martin

[Victoria Steele]

I have asked myself what I would do if faced with the kind of non-cooperation that you have been delt with from Navy authorities about his records. Ughhhhh. I'd be throwing dishes in frustration.

And after some thought, (because its not easy, my sympathies,) but I think I would turn my attentions , as you already said, to what I DO KNOW ... and not worry too much about the other stuff. Its like creating a framework for other information.. by telling what you do know.

You OBVIOUSLY know stuff about Townsend Brown that no one has been able to put togetherbefore. You all know my opinions about the other sorry attempts to write about Townsend Browns life. But this is a fascinating mix of his work and his life ... and I can tell its accurate. Paul is too careful for it not to be. And in the long run THAT PATH is going to tell you what he was really doing. And even if you NEVER uncover the totality of the classified side of his life ... the rest of it is fascinating and worth it anyway! As they say ... its not always the destination that is important , but the trip.

You know that he and his family moved nearly constantly. You know where he went, when he went there, right? even if you don't know what he was exactly doing. Just work on what you know. Thats what I would do. Continue putting out there the personal and lovely details .... so that when we see the name "Townsend Brown" we have a vision of what the man was really like.

I think I mentioned when I first started posting that I love science more than nearly anything BUT I am a realist and for most out there ... too much pure science will numb the very best of the lot. Eyes glaze over, people fall asleep in their chairs. Sometimes even me.

But you talk about a daughter who is told, after all that sacrifice "Its all over?" after moving her entire life to promote his work.... or the wife that has to constantly pack up and move just to be able to stay with the man she loves ... Thats the story most will want to know about. Am I just being the romantic in the lot again? Victoria

[Mark Culpepper]

Victoria (and others that I am sure agree with her)

Yeah but, You don't want this important story about the science of this man to be obscured by the trappings of a romance novel either. So its back to the cold hard trail.

And a trail made up of other peoples memories? How do you know Paul, what memories are valid? I am sure that Townsend Browns daughter has been a help, but much of her contribution has to be drawn from her memories, and its been a long, long time. How can you be sure that she has remembered accurately?

And that goes for alot of the characters that you must have to draw from. After all, most of the prinicples of this story are dead or doddering. How much can you trust the memories of old half senile people anyway?

And if "Dr." Brown was leading such a secret life, he would not have told his daughter anything anyway. I sure didn't know what my Dad was up to either. So how do you follow that kind of trail? Mark

[Paul S.]

In chapter 22 you mention Charles, who sounds to me like a body guard.... I get the impression, Townsend Browns life is only going to get darker and darker? Whats your plan? How can you acturally clear the clouds? Martin

Martin, why do you presume that Townsend Brown's life only gets "darker and darker" ?

I admit it gets... more and more mysterious, and only time will reveal how I will contend with that -- to me, too not just you readers. But to presume that Brown's life gets "darker" misses the point.

I will attempt to convey how Brown was actually a source of light, not darkness. If anything, it was the forces around him that were "dark."

And characters like Charles, well, he was just the "buffer" -- protecting the light within, and fending off the darkness without.

Just how well I will be able to convey that remains to be seen. But if I fall short of that goal, it certainly won't be fore lack of trying...

Thanks,

--PS

[Angela Bloomstrum]

It seems to me that there were others involved in this story that were busy "protecting the light".

Josephine certainly, from the very first boat trip when she looked at him and actually SAW him. His daughter, (who I am sure that he considered the "light of his life") stood by him from the looks of it , and even wanted to go on that last trip, again to protect him.

Ask others who knew him. They saw the light that he represented too.

It is encouraging that you recognize that a light like that can never be allowed to go dark or to be "obscured" Angela

[Martin Calloway]

Paul, You entitled Chapter 25 " We've never heard of the guy."

Have you ever considered what would have ever been said about Townsend Brown in another twenty years, if you hadn't been there to catch some of this information? From the looks of it , information was just being allowed to "wither away". Or to be covered up, or changed to fit someone elses requirements.

But, I understand just a little bit about the Navy records requirements and yes, you are right, you have to prove that you are a relative to get information generally . So who is this Brian Parks? Agency? What Agency? Years ago? So ... was he taking information out? or putting disinformation in? Or was he just getting information for his own use? Whats the deal? Martin

[Paul S.]

So who is this Brian Parks? Agency? What Agency? Years ago? So ... was he taking information out? or putting disinformation in? Or was he just getting information for his own use? Whats the deal?

That, Martin, is exactly what we're wondering.

Oddly, it turns out that about a year ago I purchased from 'Brian Parks' via eBay the very same package of papers (including the 'Optical Frequency Gravitational Radiation' paper that Andrew recently obtained) more than a year ago. I presumed him at the time to be a "private" individual who had accumulated some papers for... whatever reason.

Unfortunately, when Linda related to me her conversation with Ms. Painter -- "another agency... who is Brian Parks? -- the brain cell that was holding that information died on the spot and did not make the necessary association. Old brains can be like that some time. I think it's called "Part-timers disease."

So, if indeed "Brian Parks" obtained access to Brown's Navy records, and/or had a hand in "purging" or "weeding" or otherwise doctoring any of those records, then the 64-thousand dollar question is "what agency did he represent, and does he actually represent that agency or did he assume that persona in order to penetrate the Archives' defenses."

Damned if I know...

--PS

[Victoria Steele]

Well, this is a fine kettle of fish, as my Grandmother used to say.

So Paul, do you have room now on your list for this "Brian Parks" . Seems like he has some answering to do even if his participation was totally innocent and above board it still LOOKS funny, not to mention what it SMELLS like.

So if "another agency" was there. What were THEY doing in that file ... and WHY.

With other fingers in there how do you know what was taken out, added ... changed. In other words how do you know what you even got is accurate?
This is really strange. So lets go to the source ... Mr. Parks ... mind answering some of those questions? And by the way ... this would be odd. Any connection between you and Mr. Moore? Just thought I'd ask. Victoria

[ladygrady]

Seems to me that Dr. Brown was really getting the raw end of the stick here. OTHER people were REPORTING that he did such and such and then he gets blamed for saying that stuff himself. Which he didn't if you look at it closely enough. And I can see by reading the other chapters that Dr. Brown was in a position where he could not defend himself without spilling the beans about what he was actually was doing. Puts a spin on having to "turn the other cheek".

So, did his family in Zanesville believe the rumors? What about his wife? Could he ever tell her? And his children? If the rumors of him being a scamp and a scoundrel (thats what the librarian at Denison certainly made him sound like) .... Did they ever have to listen to that? That would piss me off if someone talked about my Dad like that. Grady