Area 51 covered elsewhere and curved surfaces

Last week I spent quite a bit of time talking about Area 51, but apparently someone else covered it quite completely, so I guess I don't need to mention it anymore.  :-)

So, Frank tried again to explain to me how the Door works. He wrote some equations on the chalkboard as he talked, but it just looked to me like a bunch of squigglies. Then he showed me a picture in a book he had, and it looked neat, and I said that I'd seen a similar hole at a minature golf course. (He didn't like it when I said that.) He explained the picture as showing a hole representing the Door, curved space in a flat area, except that our Door is a curved thingy in a flat space.

It's difficult for me to explain (especially as I don't understand it myself), but at least he did give me some kind of approach to getting my head wrapped around it: Picture a flat world where all the people living there are two-dimensional. Then try to explain to them how you can bend their world and connect two distant points. It's the same thing with the Door, except it's a three-dimensional world being bent through the fourth dimension.

It seems that the topic has been covered quite well, too. You just have to know where to look for the info. I'll see if I can get a hold of some of those reference books and let you know what I find by next week.

Area 51 is in the news, and Frank's in a book

Recently Area 51 has made the news. In fact it's there because of a new book, and the good news is that Frank was interviewed for the book. He may be famous! I just hope she quotes him properly. Anyway, consider reading it; we all need to support authors, right?

So, Area 51 is back in the public view again, but what do we really know about it? Many folks have heard about it, and many go to check it out, but the government denies it exists. Take my word for it, Area 51 really does exist. After all, where do you think Frank came across the equipment needed to make the Door function? If you want to read more about it, check out the Area 51 blog listed down in our Blog List (bottom of the left column).

And do you think that's the only one? Not likely. Consider Znamensk in Russia or Woomera in Austrailia, both secret locations, they lie just outside Kapustin Yar and the WPA, respectively. Neither one as famous as Roswell, NM and the incident that happened there, but to the locals, they are just as mysterious.

Lots of info to read, so I'll leave you to get to it. See you in a week.

Wormhole blog and Beta trip

Well, it appears that someone was took note of some of Frank's wormhole theories, but he was apparently too embarrassed to use his real name. Anyway, thanks to Mr. Anonymous, we found a blog from Universe Today (with some neat pictures) that had a comment referencing a FAQ posted by Enrico Rodrigo, who had been a professor at UC, Irvine, so if any of you are interested, go ahead and read it...just make certain you're in a comfortable place, because it'll take a while. Maybe we can get a good discussion going. (Enrico also does research into Brane Worlds, whatever they are.)

Last week I mentioned a possible beta-trip, just as a test of the idea of sending folks out on weekly trips. Well, Frank thinks we need to keep it in house before we get the general public involved. What do you think? Should we open things up to people who haven't been with us since the beginning?

Let us know on the poll. Thanks!

Geeks and guinea pigs

All right, so the tree huggers aren't too bad, just a bit of a pain to get through on our way into and out of work. At least they are generally nice folks. Fortunately, the Star Wars geeks have yet to find us. It would have been worse a couple days ago (May the 4th).

Anyway, Frank wanted to discuss more physics, but I vetoed that idea. I think we've had enough of those lessons for now. (If you disagree, let me know, and I'll tell Frank that he was right.) So, last week when I mentioned volunteers, it got Frank's attention. He thinks that if we were to get more guinea pigs ...er... volunteers to help us out, it would help him with the design. If anyone knows of a group of about a dozen or so folks interested in making a trial run, let us know. We'd be willing to send them out on a trip for free...as long as they give us some feedback on how things went. Any takers??

Gotta keep things short this week as Frank has plans...I'll tell you more next week.