Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

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Thomas Blaty
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Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

Post by Thomas Blaty »

Hello everyone, my name is Thomas Blaty.

I first started doing research on Mr. Brown in the early 1980's when I bought some infolios about his work from Rex Research. Since then I have done some experiments with gravitors and also his disc shaped designs without a whole lot of success.

I grew up on Catalina Island but unfortunately moved away before Mr. Browns time there. In fact I didn't know he ever lived there until a few years ago (found out from the internet). I also didn't know he was buried there until I saw his gravestone while visiting my father who is interred there along with my mother. I have a sister who still lives there along with her husband and when I told them about Mr. Brown they said they would be glad to tend to his grave when they visit their parents graves.

About 5 years ago I contacted Linda Brown via email and told her about my sister and her husband tending to her fathers grave. She was living in Philadelphia at the time so was not able to visit her fathers gravesite. She was so happy when I told her that she offered to send me a copy of her book when it was in print. Unfortunately, I haven't heard from her since. Hope she is doing ok.

Kind regards, Thomas.
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Paul Schatzkin
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Re: Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

Post by Paul Schatzkin »

Hello Thomas, and welcome to the Rabbit Hole.

Sorry it took a couple of days to get your introductory post approved. For some idiot reason the notifications I get form this site re: approvals and new posts wind up in a spam folder.

I have taken the liberty of editing your post to add some blank space between what I think are the paragraphs?

Have you availed yourself to the book? If not, DM me with your address and I will gladly send you one on Linda's behalf, a small token of gratitude from both of us for tending TTB's grave.

Thanks,

-PS
Paul Schatzkin, author of 'The Man Who Mastered Gravity' https://amz.run/6afz
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It's "a multigenerational project." What's your hurry?
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"We will just sail away from the Earth, as easily as this boat pushed away from the dock" - TTB
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Re: Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

Post by natecull »

I first started doing research on Mr. Brown in the early 1980's when I bought some infolios about his work from Rex Research.
Hi Thomas! Very glad to hear from you. Can you remember what was in those 1980s Rex Research information folios?

I ask because I too got into the Townsend Brown mystery in the 1980s - it was a family member who got hold of various mail-order photocopied and stabled information packs, I think in the later 1980s through early 1990s. I remember there being some quite extensive ones which I haven't been able ever since to locate online.

For example, there was one folio which was a whole biography of Townsend Brown, including references to the Caroline Gravity Cruise, Eldridge Johnson, William Stephenson and Ilya Tolstoy. And there was another, by another author, which traced the scientific usage of the word "electrohydrodynamics" (what would now be a simple Google search, but at the time required university library access). That one ended up referencing James R Melcher's "continuum electromechanics" team at MIT. Although Rex Research in the web era has an extensive website, they don't seem to have the old paper documents. (And I'm not even sure that they were all from Rex Research, though they were the most active of those "back pages of Popular Science/Mechanics" publishers.)

I would love if anyone else could substantiate some of these memories.

Nate
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Re: Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

Post by Thomas Blaty »

Paul Schatzkin wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 1:16 pm Hello Thomas, and welcome to the Rabbit Hole.

Sorry it took a couple of days to get your introductory post approved. For some idiot reason the notifications I get form this site re: approvals and new posts wind up in a spam folder.

I have taken the liberty of editing your post to add some blank space between what I think are the paragraphs?

Have you availed yourself to the book? If not, DM me with your address and I will gladly send you one on Linda's behalf, a small token of gratitude from both of us for tending TTB's grave.

Thanks,

-PS
Hello Paul, and thanks for the welcome! Also, sorry about the lack of paragraphs. Grammar was never my best subject. No, I have not gotten a copy of the book yet but would love one! I will send you my address and thanks in advance for that!
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Re: Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

Post by Thomas Blaty »

natecull wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 10:13 pm
I first started doing research on Mr. Brown in the early 1980's when I bought some infolios about his work from Rex Research.
Hi Thomas! Very glad to hear from you. Can you remember what was in those 1980s Rex Research information folios?

I ask because I too got into the Townsend Brown mystery in the 1980s - it was a family member who got hold of various mail-order photocopied and stabled information packs, I think in the later 1980s through early 1990s. I remember there being some quite extensive ones which I haven't been able ever since to locate online.

For example, there was one folio which was a whole biography of Townsend Brown, including references to the Caroline Gravity Cruise, Eldridge Johnson, William Stephenson and Ilya Tolstoy. And there was another, by another author, which traced the scientific usage of the word "electrohydrodynamics" (what would now be a simple Google search, but at the time required university library access). That one ended up referencing James R Melcher's "continuum electromechanics" team at MIT. Although Rex Research in the web era has an extensive website, they don't seem to have the old paper documents. (And I'm not even sure that they were all from Rex Research, though they were the most active of those "back pages of Popular Science/Mechanics" publishers.)

I would love if anyone else could substantiate some of these memories.

Nate
Hello Nate, and thank you for the welcome! I don't remember exactly which infolios I purchased but there was nothing about the "Caroline Group". I think I got rid of all my infolios several years ago when I cleaned out my desk (face palm) but I will dig thru it to see if anything is left from TT Brown.
Thomas.
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Jan Lundquist
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Re: Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

Post by Jan Lundquist »

Welcome, Thomas.

How lovely of your sister and her husband to take care of Dr. Brown's gravesite. One day, I hope to be able to make a pilgrimage to lay flowers on it, and to sit on the bench where he and Linda rested when he took her to see the plot he had selected.

At one time, Townsend leased a property on Catalina that had once been used as an aviary. Was that a well known site, or does the mention of it ring any bells for you?

Paul, the 'net gremlins are at it again. Today, I found a months worth of unattended join requests in the reddit homeopathy forum that I moderate. They had, somehow, bypassed the mod mail inbox completely.

Jan
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Paul Schatzkin
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Re: Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

Post by Paul Schatzkin »

Jan Lundquist wrote: Fri Sep 27, 2024 6:56 pm Paul, the 'net gremlins are at it again. Today, I found a months worth of unattended join requests in the reddit homeopathy forum that I moderate. They had, somehow, bypassed the mod mail inbox completely.
Tell me about it.

I get notified whenever a new user registers or a new post is added to a thread I am following.

All those notifications go into a spam folder. I have even instructed my (Apple) mail client to give those incoming messages the "VIP" treatment. They still wind up in spam, which I wind up checking several times a day. .

And then stuff shows up when I neglect to do that.

<*sigh*>

--PS
Paul Schatzkin, author of 'The Man Who Mastered Gravity' https://amz.run/6afz
.
It's "a multigenerational project." What's your hurry?
.
"We will just sail away from the Earth, as easily as this boat pushed away from the dock" - TTB
Thomas Blaty
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Re: Hello, I'm Thomas Blaty.

Post by Thomas Blaty »

Jan Lundquist wrote: Fri Sep 27, 2024 6:56 pm Welcome, Thomas.

How lovely of your sister and her husband to take care of Dr. Brown's gravesite. One day, I hope to be able to make a pilgrimage to lay flowers on it, and to sit on the bench where he and Linda rested when he took her to see the plot he had selected.

At one time, Townsend leased a property on Catalina that had once been used as an aviary. Was that a well known site, or does the mention of it ring any bells for you?

Paul, the 'net gremlins are at it again. Today, I found a months worth of unattended join requests in the reddit homeopathy forum that I moderate. They had, somehow, bypassed the mod mail inbox completely.

Jan
Hello Jan, thanks for the welcome!

I hope you can make that pilgrimage to Catalina. It's a beautiful place! I forgot to mention that my sister and bro-in-law also plant an American flag next to his grave on Memorial and Veterans Day.

Yes, that "aviary" was known as the Birdpark. It had exotic birds from all over the world. It was built with parts of the original Casino building. I believe Mr. Brown leased a building that was nearby the aviary, which later became a preschool. The aviary building that is, not the one Mr. Brown leased. In fact, my niece attended the preschool back in the 90's.

Kind Regards, Thomas.
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Jan Lundquist
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Post by Jan Lundquist »

Thank you, Thomas.

I saw a news story today of a fatal small plane crash over Coronado. I hope your family is okay.

I am determined to get to Catalina again, one of these days. I have been once with a friend who was the daughter of Wrigley's right arm PR person. Her family lived in the Zane Gray house. When her mother tired of houseguests who over stayed their welcome, she gave her daughters rollerskates, and invited them to skate up and down the hall. LOL. By the time we visited, the house had become a motel, so she was able to stay there, one more time.

Jan
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Post by Thomas Blaty »

Thank you, Jan. Yes, I saw that story as well. The plane crashed on takeoff about a mile west of the runway. Unfortunately, all 5 people on board were killed. Nobody I know though.

Thanks for the interesting story about the Zane Grey Hotel!
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Jan Lundquist
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Post by Jan Lundquist »

Thomas, and anyone who is interested in Catalina Island, this was an interesting, but sad story about the private plane accident.

Pilot in Catalina crash that killed 5 took off after dark: Like flying into a 'black hole'
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... e5c0def10f
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Post by Thomas Blaty »

Thanks for the link, Jan. It is indeed a sad story.

Having flown in there many times with my brother when he owned his own plane I can attest to the fact that it is not an easy runway to handle. There is a steep drop off at the end of the runway so they could have caught a down draft without enough altitude to recover.

They also have runway lights but I'm not sure if they were on at the time.
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