"Norm"

[austintorn@aol.com]

"OK, I'm coming," said Austin. I found the rhyme for 'orange'":

Sporange n.
1. In botany, the case or sac in plants in which the spores, which are equivalent to the seeds of flowering plants, are produced or carried. Also sporangium.

[RascalPuff]

Dear Austin:
I went to the ToeQuest Pub and had a look at what you and Tarina are up to in the RPG story - noticed that every time you post one of your illustrations, all that becomes of it is a square around a red x. It looks like your work is being absconded and I think the guilty party animal is 'Webshots'... (Delphi's 'Biblinski' says that it's 'Webshots', and not 'Photobucket' or 'Photoshots' that need to be dealt with). They have not responded to the below messages, but it looks like they're still targeting your work...


Special effects by Austin P. Torney
---------------------------------

Special effects by Austin P. Torney


From: Gordie (BIBLINSKI) 1:05 am To: Kai (Kaiduorkhon) (2 of 2) 14288.2 in reply to 14288.1 The images that have been replaced by Temporarily Unavailable are sourced at webshots.com, not Photobucket. You'll need to contact webshots.com about restoring the use of those images.

Gordie
Delphi Forums staff

Options
------------------------------

Dear Webshots staff:

After using a free photobucket service to transmit 3 C.I.A. declassification documents
to my computer, all of the illustrations disappeared from four books and essays I have
posted on several different forums on the net. Back up illustrations are not displacing
the 'Temporarily Unavailable' blanks that now occupy the space the subjected missing
illustrations used to be.

I have been advised by your affiliate (photoshots - 'Robert', at 1-800-746-8696), that in
order to speak to you on the phone I am required to buy a 'Premium' account. I have
been repeatedly asked if I 'uploaded' anything to you or 'photo-shots', whereas, I have
not uploaded any information, neither have I done any business whatsover with
webshots or photoshots, nor do I have any intention of buying a 'Premium' account so
that I may talk to you on the phone about this unexpected, uncalled for imbroglio.

Your affiliate at photoshots says that you have my illustrations 'stored'. I request that
they be replaced by the same means that they were initially displaced.

All of this impostion on my posted books and essays (disappearance of the
illustrations therein) originated with a free photobucket transmission of the
described (3) documents. I do not have any use for the offered services that have
since then been brought to my attention, tantamount to requiring me to pay for your
services.

I respecfully request that all of the missing illustrations be returned to
their proper places on my websites, at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,
K. B. Robertson (aka Kaiduorkhon/Kaidu41).

------------------------------------
Dear Dennis R.
Webshot Support Representative
http://www.webshot.com

I have not 'uploaded' any illustrations or photos to you, or 'photoshots'. Upon doing 'free' business with photobucket, I find that my full length book and essay sites have been raided and deleted of their illustrations. I want them returned. I do not wish to run any gauntlets from photoshots to webshots to retrieve what webshots pilfered from me. Thousands of people are being deprived of my hand drawn and professionally enhanced illustrations that you have 'stored'. Are you extorting me to do business with you sir? Holding my illustrations as ransom? (Note: Webshots requires the purchase of a Premium account before they will talk to you on the phone; though you may talk to their fractious affiliates at photoshots.com listed ph. # 1-800-746-8696.)

Webshots: A.G. Interactive Inc. One American Road, Cleaveland Ohio 44144

Better Business Bureau Foundation, 1169 Dublin Road, Columbus, Ohio 43215

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, 80 E. Broad St. 17th Flr. Columbus, Ohio 43215

[austintorn@aol.com]

Thanks, GrandMaster General Rascal Ninja.

I guess WebShots is to cheap to continue hosting stuff for free. Well, easy come, easy go. I use another place now.

I hope you don't ask for rhymes for 'silver'.

[austintorn@aol.com]

The Taliban's top leader is in custody.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was nabbed last week
In Karachi by American and Pakistani intelligence teams,
Unnamed U.S. officials told several news outlets.
Two Taliban figures also confirmed the arrest to Bloomberg News.

Since the US has signed the Geneva Convention,
Which prevents the torture of prisoners
To gain valuable information
Which would save many lives,
(Although the Taliban haven’t signed it)
The NIA was called in
To question the prisoners.

They were able to find out
About some nuclear material
Being brought in to the US;
However, the cell involved
Is self-contained
And so there would be no way
To contact them.

Meanwhile, Analog,
The southern field commander
Of the Ninja Empire,
Had been alerted by TimeParticle
Of the “unusual event” of the sinking
Of a Coast Guard drug interdiction vessel
Off the coast of Texas.

Timeparticle:
“It’s not often that
These vessels go down;
Either it was sunk
Because of a huge amount
Of drugs being involved
Or that something
Much more potent
Is being brought into the U.S.”

Analog:
“Let’s try our new satellite system.”

Timeparticle:
“It has photos better than Google Earth?”

Analog:
“It has super high definition video
That gets saved for but a few days
On holographic discs.”

TimeParticle:
“Of the whole gulf and the southern region?”

Analog:
“Yes, amazingly,
But that’s a lot of data
And so that’s why
We have to reuse the storage
After a few days.”

TimeParticle:
“That is amazing,
Having every square inch
Of such a massive area on HD video.
Let’s take a look.”

…

Anybody?

[RascalPuff]

Hi Austin & MiddleEastern sports fans:
I don't think it's in TV GUIDE, but have you had a look at this?
Please lemme know what you think of it.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/mollyspup/messages/?msg=2.1

TV That Watches You

[austintorn@aol.com]

The Ninja Empire may indeed have TVs that watch suspected terrorists.

I'll have to ask GrandMaster General Rascal.

[RascalPuff]

The Ninja Empire may indeed have TVs that watch suspected terrorists.

I'll have to ask GrandMaster General Rascal.

Machine Theory is:
Any space in which a microwave transmitted radio signal can be placed (anywhere any conventional portable radio receiver is operational) is audio-visually accessible, via television implemented reconnaissance: without cameras or microphones.

The abilities and powers of The Invisible Machine are not to be confused with its fictional counterpart in George Orwell's 1984. In that novel, the Orwellian - "Big Brother is watching" - machine also looks over its subjects, but the viewed subject must be in the immediate presence - and in front of - that (Big Brother's) 2-way TV screen:
"The telescreen could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely. Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing." - George Orwell, 1984 , excerpt.

On the other hand, the only spaces The Invisible (‘What?’) Machine can't see into and place on television, are exclusively those spaces where a portable radio cannot receive radio signals, such as within a deep tunnel or canyon. Such visually inaccessible spaces are called ‘radio wave shadows’ - the only blind spots in the Invisible Machine's audio-visual, ever potential omniscience.
The Machine's camera is radio (micro) waves themselves. Anywhere a radio wave can be placed by a conventional transmitter, can be automatically wired for sight and sound, by The Machine's microwave radar transceiver. Any object - animal, mineral or vegetable - anywhere within the field of that radio wave transmission can be placed - targeted - on conventional TV, anywhere, from any distance and/or angle: at the will and convenience of The Machine's operators; under the influence and/or persuasion of their up-signaling subscriber ships - the self proclaimed (Orwellian ‘NewSpeaking’) PeerAmid Society - one of the many Orwellian NewSpeak coded names for itself, employed by the EYE society's inner circle.

As an information gathering system The Invisible Machine and its operator-subscriber’s comparatively make Big Brother's 2-way TV screen reconnaissance resemble a toy that George Orwell may have extracted from a box of CRACKERJACK ('The - Students Against Gravity <SAG> endorsed - candy with a toy inside'. Wink).

The subjected Machine transmits conventional microwave radio signals in the higher frequencies; thereby providing its operators with total audio-visual television access to all spaces immersed in that radio wave signal. The Invisible Machine utilizes standard RaDaR (Radio Detection and Ranging) technology; exactly as - for the past seventy years - it (radar) has been understood to exist and function - but with the innovational introduction of state-of-the art radio technology's microwave transmitters and receivers; attachable to any conventional TV receiver, cable accessed anywhere; via satellite reception (closed circuit cable).

A conventional radar contact (blip) is electronically and optically zoomed-in upon (dramatically magnified without loss of optical resolution), by way of the Machine's (auxiliary) ultra-dense radio microwaves. For the same reason a newspaper photo yields varying detail under magnification; in accordance with how large or small the dots constituting the wire-photo-transmitted pictures are.
In this comparison, the smaller and closer together (more dense) the picture's dots, the more detail (optical resolution) will appear under magnification. This same principle holds true as applied to the Invisible Machine's usage of micro radio waves (small dot) radar; as compared to conventionally limited (large dot) radio wave radar. The Machine also provides its own lighting; facilitated by the same radio waves (invisible artificial light) serving as its camera(s) and microphone(s).

[austintorn@aol.com]

Hmmm… The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) might be a giant "Eye in the Sky".

Be seeing you… (As the BBC Prisoner might say)

[austintorn@aol.com]

P: I’m sending a feed to the General.
Let’s start it a few minutes before
The Coast Guard vessel went under.

TP: Wow! This is more than just HD video—
It’s 3-D+! And there are no clouds.

P: We have two satellites, to provide 3-D;
They can also take away the clouds
And then enhance the scene
From the infrared and more,
But this is a clear day.

TP: The Coast Guard vessel
Is hailing two speedboats
And they’re coming to a stop.

I can’t quite understand what’s happening
Inside the speedboats
From this top-down view.

P: Change to more of a side view.

TP: We can do that?
OK, done.
…

TP: Uh, oh. A handheld missile launcher
Is being aimed at the Coast Guard vessel.

…

TP: They sunk it,
And are now taking off.
…

TP: Cripes! They must be doing 100 mph.

P: Run it fast forward;
We’ll track them to their landing.

TP: OK.

A (to comm assistant): Get me Oversight,
And control of the laser satellite.

Comm: OK; …
The laser satellite is presently
Over the other side of the world.

A: Bad luck. Get me a live Stealth Bomber.

Comm: Yes, sir—one is already aloft
In the region; it’s even NIA.

A: Good luck. What’s up, TP?

TP: See, they’re at the Texas shore now.
I’ve slowed the video.
They’re loading something into a white van.

A: Good work.
Pinpoint that van
And follow it into real time.

Comm: Niihau is on the line;
They’ve been following;
They are granting you
Ultimate Authority to continue.

TP: I’ve tracked them using high speed video.
We now have real time, via the NIA Eye satellite.
They’ve entered Houston proper.

A: Holy Christ!
I need a hundred cement trucks.
Alert Houston police pursuit,
But have them stay back, slowing all traffic;
The terrorists might get scared
And detonate and we’re not quite ready yet.
Redirect the Stealth jet, highest priority.
Have the counter-terrorism official
At the next toll booth
Take a special reading on that van.
Get me the U.S. President.

…

Meanwhile, ironically, at Capitol Hill,
The politicians are again raising a fuss
About the severe prisoner interrogation techniques.

…

TP: The van ran the toll booth,
But we got a reading that
The nuclear device is live and armed.

P: Damn! That means they are
Approaching their target very soon.

TP: NASA?

A: It would appear to be.
Evacuate the area to the west first.
How’s our jet doing?

Comm: They’re in the area,
Having just pulled out of mach-4;
Just about ready;
Here’s a direct connection to the pilot.

A to Pilot and Navigator: Emergency verified.
Do not hit the van directly;
The device is armed;
Blast some bunker-buster holes
Just ahead of the van
Such that it will plunge
Into one of them.
Execute at will.

Comm: The cement trucks are on the way.
General Rascal likes your plan.

P: Have the police pursuit stop and block all lanes
To stop all the traffic behind the van.
The traffic ahead of it will be able
To just move on in time.

Comm: I have the U.S. President.

A to President: NIA request to prepare
For DEFCON 3, as we may very soon
Have an unstoppable nuclear explosion
Within Houston city limits.

The President: Will do; have been following.

The Stealth Bomber bore down
Upon the speeding van,
Like a giant bird,
Blasting three holes in the freeway
Just in front of it,
The van plunging into the first one.
The jet sent more missiles near by,
Some of which might cause some debris
To partly fill the hole the van was in.

A: Nuclear explosion?

TP: No.

P: They were still three minutes from NASA.
Keep the area clear.

…

TP: We have an underground nuclear blast confirmed.
Low megatons.
The wind is still out of the west
There’s not much population there.

A: Good luck!

TP: Indeed.

A: This should end some of those discussions in D.C.

TP: Let’s backtrack those speedboats
Whence they came.

A: Get on it.

[austintorn@aol.com]

Magical Happenings

What secrets of life and death
Lay buried in the sands?

What inaccessible truths
Protect themselves by their own magic?

Old Rascal lit up a cigar,
And the stories unfolded
In the haze of this pipe dream…

“Do tell what else
Was in that Great Pyramid, Fredrick,”
The General suggested.

“There were 4000 year-old iron weapons
That did not rust,
Looking as new as the day they were forged.

“I held glass that bent without breaking.

“I drank from a vase
That poured water without end;
I filled an entire tub from it
And bathed away all my dirt and dust.

“A compass needle went around
And never stopped.

“I ate a cake but I still had it.

“I saw the starry skies
Through solid rock walls.

“I entered a room that had no door.

“There was light within the room
But no flame or openings.

“I looked into a grain of sand
And saw eternity.”

Fredrick paused, recalling.

“Outside, I saw the Sphinx.
Its glance was fixed on something else.
It was the glance of a being
Who thinks in centuries and millenniums.
I did not exist and could not exist for it,
For it was the face of eternity.”

No one spoke.

The General rose.
“Next, after an hour break,
During which you might go out
To see the scenery,
We may hear some about a long trek
From an escape from a Soviet prison
Through the mountains
And across some ink-black rivers.”

Questor and Top Secret
Headed down one
Of the many paths of Niihau,
Its secrets ever shrouded in mist from above
And all around from the other islands;
But, here they were,
Within the Forbidden Paradise…

“Come back, friends,”
Said the General,
“To hear of the dark,
The light, and the never.”

“We are here, being ever.”

“There are books unwritten and never told.”

“We can listen until we get old.”

“By what muted shore of the dark river
Did its strand call me forth?”

“We’re sure that we’ll never hear worse.”

“By what far edge of furrowed forest
Didst the Motherland seek my name?”

“Oh, Dragon, through what hazy depth
Of Gloom hast thou tread and threadest?”

“Gather thee round and you shall knowest.”