Leo

Late in 2001, a great deal of media attention was focused on Ginger, a.k.a. "IT" - a secret invention that the brilliant and eccentric inventor Dean Kamen had been working on for over a decade. Some reports said it would be an even bigger deal than the PC!

What finally emerged in early December was the Segway, a self-balancing "human transporter". It uses a combination of gyroscopes, tilt sensors and high performance motors - and vast amounts of computing power - to produce a scooter-like device that lets you travel over virtually any kind of terrain without toppling over.

As Kamen explains, "The idea is to put a human being into a system where the machine acts as an extension of your body. When you walk, you're really in what's called a controlled fall. You off-balance yourself, putting one foot in front of the other and falling onto them over and over again. When you use a Segway, there's a gyroscope that acts like your inner ear, a computer that acts like your brain, motors that act like your muscles, wheels that act like your feet."

Segway's performance has earned rave reviews, although its $3000 price tag may limit sales to industrial markets and the high-end consumer market.

The Segway is a wonderful reminder of our own ability to stand and move about with an upright posture. The Segway's design is impressive all right, but what's even more amazing is the design of our body that allows us to go about life without falling over. After all, we are tall, relatively thin creatures with a high center of gravity resting on two rather small feet.

Why on earth don't we just keep falling over? How do we stay upright?

A large part of the answer lies in the way our head is balanced on top of our spines and an ingenious structure that allows for stability - our heads don't easily detach from our bodies! - and for flexibility - our heads can move quickly and easily in response to changing circumstances.

As Joan Arnold, a teacher of the Alexander Technique in New York City writes: "... when the neck muscles do not overwork, the head balances lightly at the top of spine. The relationship between the head and the spine is of utmost importance. How we manage that relationship has ramifications throughout the rest of the body. As the boss -- good or bad -- sets the tone for an organization, the head / spine relationship -- compressed or free -- determines the quality of the body's overall coordination.

"Our neuromuscular system is designed to work in concert with gravity. Delicate poise of the head sparks the body's anti-gravity response: a natural oppositional force in the torso that easily guides us upward and invites the spine to lengthen, rather than compress, as we move. Instead of slouching or holding ourselves in a rigid posture, we can learn to mobilize this support system and use it wherever we go -- in the car, at the computer, in the gym."

But this elegant design only works well if the muscles in our necks are free of excess tension. And unfortunately, as we go through life, many of us develop tension in our necks and other parts of our body, that interfere with both our upright posture and our ability to use our body as it was designed.

You can easily see this for yourself if you take a look at just about any group of adults running or jogging and compare what you see to children running about at play. More often than not, the adults will be tightening their faces shoulders, arms - and of course their necks. Most small children will be running about with ease and poise.

The harmful posture and movement habits many of us acquire as we grow up can come about for a variety of reasons: the unconscious imitation of adults in their lives who themselves carry excess tension, bad school furniture design or stressful family situations, to name but a few.

A machine like the Segway doesn't have to face these kinds of problems. If something happens to affect its functioning - perhaps a motor or computer failure - it's quickly fixed by repair or replacement.

For us, it's more complicated. We can't just go out and order a new neck when our old one becomes excessively tight. But we can use our intelligence to assess the situation and learn how to release the harmful posture and movement patterns that have crept into our lives.

There are a number of somatic teaching and therapeutic processes that can help us restore the grace and ease of movement we had as children. The one I'm most familiar with is the Alexander Technique. Taught for over a century, it has a well-deserved reputation for helping people improve the quality of their physical functioning.

Segway is an Anglicized version of the musical term segue which means transition. The Alexander Technique is really about learning how to adapt to changing circumstances - moment-by-moment transitions - in the most efficient way possible.

The quote from Joan Arnold comes from her excellent short introduction to the Alexander Technique at http://alexandertechnique.com/at/

Robert Rickover is a teacher of the Alexander Technique living in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also teaches regularly in Toronto, Canada. Robert is the author of Fitness Without Stress - A Guide to the Alexander Technique and is the creator of The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique at http://www.alexandertechnique.com

Robert Burns, a poor man, an educated man, and a ladies man, is representative of Scotland, much like whisky, haggis, bagpipes, and kilts. He lived a life shortened by rheumatic heart disease, 1759-1796, but his life journey through poverty, informal education, disappointed love, nationalism, and literary and financial success can be identified by all Scots and common men the world over. He has become almost a national symbol of all things Scottish. His life is like a love story with a happy ending.

The Poet, Robert Burns

Robert Burnss family raised seven children on sparse, rented farmland on the west coast of Scotland. The family cottage still stands as a proud tourist attraction. The family farm was not successful and the family moved from farm to farm. Life on the farm in western Scotland was harsh and Robert worked long hours with his father.

Burns father recognized the value of education and he managed to hire a local teacher to tutor Robert. He was an extremely bright student, mastering Shakespeare, current poets, French, Latin, philosophy, politics, geography, theology, and mathematics. His father read the Bible during the evenings around the cottage fireplace and Robert became an expert on the Bible and a devout Church member.

Robert Burns wrote his first poem at age 15. The poem was called Handsome Nell and was about his first love for a girl named Nellie Blair. Throughout his life, Burns was a charming and witty man, attracting the attention of numerous women. A dozen or more women can be identified as the inspiration for various poems. Burns wrote many famous love poems, including A Red, Red Rose and One Fond Kiss.

Heres an excerpt from Handsome Nell.

O once I loved a bonnie lass,
Aye, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
Ill love my handsome Nell.

Burns, in a later comment on this poem, stated that he had never had the least thought or inclination of turning poet till I got once heartily in love, and then rhyme and song were, in a manner, the spontaneous language of my heart.

The Turning Point

In 1786, at age 27, Robert Burns went through a major turning point in his life. He suffered a disappointing love affair with Jean Armour, who was pregnant with his twin sons. The local community and Armours father were outraged by the affair and her father rejected Burnss offer of marriage.

Dejected and depressed, Burns made plans to leave Scotland and sail to Jamaica in the West Indies. To finance the trip, Burns submitted a volume of his poetry for publication.

The publication of 612 copies in a simple, unbound volume was called Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, also sometimes known as The Kilmarnock Edition. The poems were well received in Edinburgh by socialites who were enchanted by the poems and amazed that a poor farmer could write so well.

So, instead of planning his escape to a new world, Burns planned a trip to Edinburgh. His confident manner, ingratiating style, and his obvious wit and intelligence brought Burns popularity and admiration. Soon, a second publication of his work was executed in Edinburgh.

The Growing Popularity

During his stay in Edinburgh, Robert Burns met printer James Johnson, who planned a project to print all of the folk songs in Scotland. This project enthralled Burns and embarked upon a journey throughout Scotland to collect as many folk songs as possible. Burns collected over 300 songs and wrote a few himself, including A Red, Red Rose.

One of the results of his travels throughout Scotland was that Robert Burns ingratiated himself to everyone he met and he rose to national prominence and popularity.

The collected songs were published by Johnson in six volumes and by George Thomson in a five volume set.

Another happy outcome of this turning point in Robert Burnss life is that he was able to return home and marry his beloved Jean Armour, now with the blessing of her family.

Robert Burns continued to collect and write songs for The Scots Musical Museum, an anthology of traditional Scottish lyrical poems, until his untimely death from rheumatic heart disease in 1796.

Within a few years of his death groups of Robert Burnss friends and fans gathered to promote his memory and to celebrate his life. By 1801, five years after his death, groups met on the anniversary of his death, but later they began to meet on the anniversary of his birth, January 25. Now there are many Burns clubs and societies who celebrate his memory with dinners, including haggis, and readings of his works.

The Poem, A Red, Red Rose

One of the most famous songs that Robert Burns wrote for this project and first published in 1794 was A Red, Red Rose. Burns wrote it as a traditional ballad, four verses of four lines each.

A Red, Red Rose begins with a quatrain containing two similes. Burns compares his love with a springtime blooming rose and then with a sweet melody. These are popular poetic images and this is the stanza most commonly quoted from the poem.

The second and third stanzas become increasingly complex, ending with the metaphor of the sands of life, or hourglass. One the one hand we are given the image of his love lasting until the seas run dry and the rocks melt with the sun, wonderfully poetic images. On the other hand Burns reminds us of the passage of time and the changes that result. That recalls the first stanza and its image of a red rose, newly sprung in June, which we know from experience will change and decay with time. These are complex and competing images, typical of the more mature Robert Burns.

The final stanza wraps up the poems complexity with a farewell and a promise of return.

A Red, Red Rose is written as a ballad with four stanzas of four lines each. Each stanza has alternating lines of four beats, or iambs, and three beats. The first and third lines have four iambs, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in da-dah, da-dah, da-dah, da-dah. The second and fourth lines consist of three iambs. This form of verse is well adapted for singing or recitation and originated in the days when poetry existed in verbal rather than written form.

A Red, Red Rose
by Robert Burns

O my luve's like a red, red rose.
That's newly sprung in June;
O my luve's like a melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will love thee still, my Dear,
Till a'the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o'life shall run.

And fare thee weel my only Luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!

*****************************

Garry Gamber is a public school teacher and entrepreneur. He writes articles about real estate, health and nutrition, and internet dating services. He is the owner of http://www.Anchorage-Homes.com and http://www.TheDatingAdvisor.com.

With all of the exercise and body sculpting information that is available today, it can be difficult to determine what is truth. Many people have specific questions related to their fitness that will help them make better choices. To help with these exercise and body sculpting questions, here are three of the top questions that are asked by men and women when they start an exercise program or are thinking of starting an exercise program.

The first exercise and body sculpting question on everyone's mind is: how much do I have to workout? That's a fair question. People don't have a lot of spare time these days, so how can they make the most of the time they do have? Here are some simply ways to begin an exercise program without taking up a lot of time. You can do an interval training program, which blends cardio exercises with weight bearing exercises. This might include two minutes of cardio, then one minute of a certain body sculpting exercise, then back to cardio to repeat the sequence. You can also choose to do 30 minutes of activity each day (that means ANY activity) and then do some body sculpting exercises two to three times a week. As you become fitter, you can add more time to your workouts.

When will I see results? That's the next common exercise and body sculpting question. A lot of the answer will depend on how regular you are with your workout program. If you follow it religiously and do the exercises correctly, you can see results as quickly as four weeks. But if you're not following the exercise routine or you're still eating as much as you did before you started working out, it can take much longer. Try to make healthier eating choices and follow your new exercise plan for faster results.

And the last exercise and body sculpting question that people ask is: how can I lose weight? By cutting down your calories that you eat each day and adding more activity to your life, you will lose weight. This sounds simple because it is simple in theory just not as simple in practice. Try leaving three bites of food at every meal to easily cut down on your calories and then make sure that you get your workouts in. You only want to lose one to two pounds each week, and these simple steps can get you started.

These exercise and body sculpting questions and answers can help motivate you to get started on your personal path to health and fitness. If you have further questions, look for those that are certified in fitness topics or for government websites.

Machelle Lee owns and operates, The Invisible Gym in Santa Cruz, CA. Her mission is to inspire people to become physically active and enjoy the benefits of a balanced, healthy lifestyle. For more information and questions you can visit her website. http://www.the-invisible-gym.com/

Being faced with the possibility or reality of bankruptcy is a frightening prospect. Those facing this dire financial situation are definitely likely to have concern regarding their financial options after bankruptcy. One question people frequently have relates to whether or not they will be able to benefit from refinancing after bankruptcy.

Refinancing is not impossible right after bankruptcy. However, immediately after you file bankruptcy is not the best time to try to refinance. You should wait until your credit scores begin to show improvement before filing for bankruptcy. The best way to improve your credit score after bankruptcy is to consistently pay all of your bills on time.

Additionally, it is a good idea to wait until you are able to get a credit card before attempting to refinance as well. Of course, you dont necessarily need to use the credit card, but lenders will look upon the fact that you have one as a way to demonstrate creditworthiness.

Keep in mind that as long as lenders see the bankruptcy on your credit report, you will feel the impact in higher interest rates and payments.

Special Situations for Refinancing After Bankruptcy
While it is in your best interest if you have a fixed rate mortgage to wait to try to refinance until enough time passes after your bankruptcy to show a significant improvement on your credit score, there are some situations where you might need to go ahead and try to refinance right away.

For example, if your current mortgage is an adjustable rate mortgage, and you are faced with the reality that your payments may soon go too high for you to be able to afford them, you might need to go ahead and try to refinance. Even though lenders will look at your poor credit and recent bankruptcy as a negative and offer you only high interest rate options, what they offer might be preferable to your current adjustable rate mortgage.

The question of should you stay with your current loan or should you refinance depends on your situation. It depends on the terms of the original loan as well as what lenders might be willing to offer you in light of your recent bankruptcy. Be sure to read the fine print of your current loan to find out if any early repayment penalties apply.

The Impact of Refinancing
Keep in mind that when you are trying to rebuild your credit, you need to take care to avoid doing anything that could have a negative impact on your credit score. Every time a lender runs your credit report, it will have a negative impact on your credit score. While you are trying to rebuild your credit, the worst thing you can do is have every lender in town pull your credit report.

Joshua Suffie is the expert behind the website Refinancing Right. For more information on mortgage refinancing have a look at our site. Mortgages are a cut throat industry and you should go into it knowing the numbers yourself. Our refinancing calculator can tell you exactly how much you will benefit from refinancing your home loan.

Boating is insanely popular these days. If you enjoy, purchasing your own boat is the next step for you. Here is some basic advice.

If you are thinking about purchasing a boat, congratulations! A boat, no matter the size, is a purchase that is bound to bring you plenty of good times. However, just like with any purchase, caution should be taken to ensure that you are getting a fair deal. Buying a boat is a lot like buying a car. You will need to consider whether you should purchase a new or used boat. You will need to find a reputable dealer or find someone who is selling their boat. You need to know what to look for to determine whether the boat you are buying is seaworthy.

The first step in buying a boat is determining exactly what type of boat you need. Where will you be using your boat? Are you planning to use it in the ocean, on a lake or in a river? How many people will use the boat at one time? Do you require a boat that has accommodations for sleeping? How much money have you set aside to purchase the boat?

Once you determine what type of boat you want, you can start comparing different available boats. Your first concern, of course, is the safety of the boat. Newer boats should have little safety concerns, but with used boats you will need to know what to look for. Ask whomever is selling the boat if the boat has ever been in any type of accident. Check to see if the paint is chipped or whether you can see spots where the paint color is not uniform. This might indicate an accident. Are their any rust lines or lines where you can tell that the boat was submerged in water? Does the deck of the boat feel sturdy or are there spots which feel soft? How does the inside of the boat smell? If you smell mildew or mold, this is not a good sign. Ask for the maintenance records for the boat. Did the previous owner take the time to do routine maintenance tasks?

Some people are quite concerned about the appearance of a boat. Remember, a worn down appearance doesn't necessarily mean that the boat is in bad shape. If you are concerned about the appearance, make sure you do a complete check of the boat before agreeing to buy. If purchasing new, check to see what options and accessories are available at the time of purchase. You can often get a discount on these items if you purchase them with the boat.

Finally, make sure you know all the costs associated with your boat before you make it yours. Remember, the cost of the boat is just one thing you will be expected to pay. Boats need to be registered just like vehicles. If the boat will travel on a trailer, you will probably be expected to register this as well. You will have to pay taxes on the boat. Some other expenses include dock fees, the cost of routine maintenance or repairs, and the cost of your fuel or oil. If you will not be using the boat year round, you need to add in the cost of storing the boat during the winter months. As long as you do your homework before heading out to purchase your boat, you should be quite thrilled with boat ownership.

Jonny Holderbrock writes boat information articles for BoatDealerDepot.com.

VoIP call termination services are quickly taking control of the entire communication structure. At the time of its invention in 1995, the scenario was completely different. VoIP services have gone through its share of rough times, facing difficulty in getting acceptance by both industry and residential. The main concern of telephony users at that time was the low voice quality provided by VoIP, which was chiefly because of lack of high speed internet providers.

However, with time, there has been a bounteous growth in the availability of high speed broadband services which are now easily accessible to the users. This has helped greatly in making voice over IP termination accepted and popular among the telephony users.

There are copious VoIP service providers in the telecom industry offering services like VoIP termination facility, VoIP termination business plans, wholesaler carrier services and VoIP reseller programs. All these services are ideally customized to meet the requirements of the client in order to assure maximum satisfaction.

Call termination wholesale services are offered to those clients who are interested in operating on a larger scale than resellers and, therefore, purchase VoIP minutes in bulk. Their main clients generally are resellers. All VoIP providers ideally offer A-Z termination rates to their clients; i.e., rates for call termination facility to all the countries across the globe. Depending upon the rates, the wholesaler or reseller opts for a particular service provider.

However, there are other parameters for selection as well. Quality of service is definitely one of the most essential criteria. It is imperative that you provide crystal clear voice quality with minimum latency to your client. The client would not hesitate to switch services if he's offered better quality service even at a higher rate elsewhere.

Quality can be judged by the ACD (average call duration), ASR (average success ratio) and PDD (post duration delay) ratios provided by the provider. ACD should be ideally between 5-6 minutes to be of good service and above 6 minutes would be excellent service. Similarly, ASR should be at least between 40-50% and above 60% will ensure enhanced voice quality. PDD should be bare minimum with 3-4 seconds being taken as average and below 2 seconds as excellent.

For making high quality and speed long distance calls, visit VoIP Termination Service Providers offering best VoIP Services

The interior design industry is always changing. Few years back, you had to go to a proper design or art school to study interior design. These days, interested students can have interior design as major in almost any college or university.

Today it is compulsory for professional interior designers to have an industry license in order to practice their skill. Much like an architect, they must go through intensive study and testing before even being allowed to take any licensing testing. The NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification), requires all testers to have a combination of:

• six years of work experience,
• two years of schooling plus four years of work experience,
• Four years in a FIDER recognized university or college plus two years of work experience in order to qualify.

Students interested in interior design study should go for a college or university that is FIDER recognized and works towards a bachelor's degree which is required for commercial career. Even some of the high-end designers prefer to achieve a masters degree or a doctorate in design.

There are few extra courses that would-be designers should consider such as: AutoCAD by Autodesk is an excellent computer aided drafting course. Those with some experience and knowledge of this software program can command a higher starting rate than those who havent taken the time to learn anything about it.

Business classes along with variety of marketing courses are also a plus that many students ignore. Remember, interior design is 90% networking, marketing, selling, and knowing the right people; 7% paperwork and only 3% design.

Some professional designers even advocate taking acting classes that can help you learn how to make better sales pitches.

Art classes too can help you be better prepared when talking with clients. People are visual and youll have a better shot at convincing a new client of your ideas if you can sketch them. Also consider taking an art, furniture and antique history class. They all come in to play every day in the design industry.

Design school can be very intense. You will have to take traditional classes; a normal workload of reading, tests and other class work, as well as you will have to complete very large-scale design projects along the way.

One vital aspect where the design school can really help you is to find most successful and rewarding stream of interior designing matching your skills. Theyre many different fields to enter in this profession. There are residential interior designers whose only purpose is to serve homeowners, and then there are commercial interior designers who work on offices, restaurants, banks, malls, hotels, and so on. And, all of these specialties need a project manager heading up the entire project, a draftsperson, and a product sales representative.

Some designers go for their own drapery workroom or fabric warehouse, a design firm, or decide to be a partner in a firm, a painter, wallpaper hanger, carpet layer or any of a hundred other design specialists. How you eventually use your designers education and skill is totally depending on you, your interest, and the level of your designing skills.

Darren Williger writes for InsidePlanning.com, ErgoWebsite.com, and ParentingProcedures.com

What we dont know, we learn. This is the premise of the academic world in which we received our primary education in reading, writing, and mathematics along with a host of far fancier subjects down the road. So when it comes to learning what we need to know about a hobby or sport in which were interested, it stands to reason that a school would offer the necessary fundamentals in order to safety and skillfully enjoy ourselves. In the case of boating an exhilarating activity that also requires a vast amount of skill - boating school can arm you with the tools you need to safely and adeptly navigate the waters.

Obviously the most important use for boating school is learning the intricacies of driving a boat or sailing for sail boat owners. Just like driving an automobile, boating requires skill, concentration, and an eye towards safety at all times. A reputable boating school will offer thorough classroom education followed by a series of in-boat lessons that will give you the lay of the land when it comes to the operation of a boat.

Included in the operation of a boat and a part of the lessons learned in boating school is the importance of navigation whether by instrument or by sight. GPS is a fantastic navigational tool and boat operators should be well-versed in operating it. But if your GPS system malfunctions it is important to know how to find your way on your own.

Just as important as learning how to operate a boat is learning how to be safe while operating it. A boating school as part of its curriculum will teach the vigilance for safety that is necessary on board a boat. You will learn how to deal with everything from relatively minor mishaps such as sunburn and on-board scrapes and bruises to more serious safety measures such as rescue training and CPR preparedness.

Boating can be a wonderful activity enjoyed by the whole family; but in order to boat responsibly you must boat safely; attending a boating school is a must before heading out to sea.

For easy to understand, in depth information about boating school visit our ezGuide 2 Boating.

There are two major kennel clubs in the U.S. They are the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the United Kennel Club (UKC).

The AKC is the oldest, largest,best-known (thanks to the Westminster Dog Show) and most rigid.

The UKC is second oldest, second largest and generally considered more accessible to ordinary dog owners.

Both register dogs and both have standards of conduct for breeders.

Generally, however, the AKC is more concerned with breeding dogs that meet the physical demands of a breed standard.

Sometimes that, in my opinion, has led to unfortunate side effects such as miniaturizing dogs to the point they developed slipped kneecaps and collapsed wind pipes.

The UKC, on the other hand, stresses the whole dog - both looks and temperament. It is well known for its performance events: Coonhound field trials, water races, agility trials and hunting tests for the retriever breeds.

Your own interests would determine which kennel club would appeal to you although you register in both.

There are other kennel clubs and other "purebred" registries. Be aware that some of these exist only because the breeders can't meet the standards of the AKC or the UKC.

For example, one of the largest alternative kennel clubs was started by a group of Missouri dog breeders who were booted out of the AKC because they violated safety and health standards.

When they could no longer advertise their puppies as being AKC-registered, they created a registry of their own.

Another registry was started to handle a franchised chain of pet shops.

It's easy to tell a true registry from a quick-buck operation. The real kennel clubs require a pedigree and often DNA or genetic testing.

The quick-buck ones require you to send a check. Many do not require your dog to be a purebred and one of them even registers wolf/dog crossbreeds.

Many reputable breeders are registered with their breed club as well as the AKC or UKC.

Many breed clubs have a stricter code of ethics than either the AKC or UKC. It's reassuring to only deal with a breeder who dual-registers or only registers with the breed club named in the AKC's list of breed clubs.

I don't know why you would ever want to be registered with any kennel club other than UKC or AKC.

Louise Louis is a certified canine specialist and creator of the popular website on small dogs, http://www.ToyBreeds.com

Have you looked at your birth certificate lately? If it says you were born between 1946 and 1964, welcome to my world. You and I are officially considered Baby Boomers.

What do we have in common? Well, were over 40, but not yet over the hill. Sadly, a few of our unfortunate members are under a hill somewhere, taking the eternal dirt nap.

But the rest of us share a unique time and space. We were born in the middle of the 20th century, and hope to live to the middle of the 21st. When our earliest members were born, only 141 million people lived in the U.S. Today there are over 295 million.

And we Boomers make up over 78 million or about 26 percent of the U.S. population. That means were vitally important to the media who want to reach us, to the nations retailers, to our growing children, and to our aging parents.

And, in a few years, well be major consumers of all those geriatric products were only beginning to stock now.

Think about what weve witnessed in the last 40-60 years. Weve seen television grow into an enormously influential medium. Weve observed a space program that took humans to the moon, and returned them safely to the earth.

Where are we going as we age? Will we someday be viewed by our children and grandchildren as a great generation? Will we make this world a better place?

One of my friends died prematurely, in his 40s. But not long before he passed away, he told me one thing really bothered him.

I dont have any children, he said. And I havent done all I wanted to do. I wonder if somebody cares to judge my walk across four decades if I've left any footprints.

What sort of footprints will you and I leave for others to follow?

RIX QUINN writes the weekly syndicated column Baby Boomers for DBR Media. He also wrote the book on short writing, Words That Stick. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS8/qid/

The long awaited and much-touted mini-series, The Triangle, made its debut on the Sci-Fi cable channel recently. As a person who has studied the paranormal for most of his life, I always watch these kinds of fictional entertainment projects based on unexplained events with a slightly more critical eye then the average viewer or sci-fi fan might. Unlike other Sci-Fi projects that attempted to report on or fictionalize various areas of the unexplained, this one is a gem. There are several reasons why I believe that The Triangle is one of the best science fiction projects based on unexplained events I have ever seen.

Beyond the fact that the cast really delivered the goods, those responsible for the project know good science fiction. Rockne S. OBannon is credited with writing the teleplay and as Executive Producer. With projects like Alien Nation, SeaQuest DSV, Amazing Stories and the 1980s incarnation of The Twilight Zone under his belt, OBannon knows how to tell a story well. Dean Devlin is also one of the Executive Producers and is given writing credits. Despite the disaster that was Godzilla, Devlin gave us Star Gate and Independence Day. Craig R. Baxley is Director and is certainly no stranger to the weird having been involved with Left Behind, Rose Red and Kingdom Hospital.

Despite the luminaries that acted in, wrote, produced and directed The Triangle, the most important reason for the success of this mini-series may be its willingness to offer The Philadelphia Experiment as an explanation for all the weird happenings. Its obvious that those responsible for this production did their homework. Paranormal Investigators have been linking people, planes and ships lost or missing in the Bermuda Triangle to the infamous Navy project for many years. Anyone wanting to create a fictional entertainment project about weird events that occur in the area also known as the Devils Triangle would be foolish to ignore the interest people have in the possible Philadelphia Experiment connection.

Unlike other Sci-Fi channel projects based on the unexplained, The Triangle doesnt bother to apologize for whats presented. I was especially impressed with the no-nonsense manner in which the Philadelphia Experiment material was worked into the plot. Anyone who has studied the alleged U.S. Government experimentation with time travel, invisibility and mind control as deeply as I have knows what a hard sell that material is. The Philadelphia Experiment was never just some World War II project to make Navy ships invisible. It was and is an incredibly complicated and diverse program that is able to exist based on the fact of non-existence in the public mind, propped up by over fifty years of disinformation and secrecy.

I have always said that paranormal reality is better then any science fiction ever presented in book, film or other forms. The cases I have investigated involving the unexplained have challenged everything I believe or have been taught about the world we live in. Im not speaking of ethereal New Age concepts, but actual occurrences which defy you to explain them. That is what I liked about The Triangle. The characters were average people mulling through life until they were suddenly slammed in the face by paranormal events. Whether believers or disbelievers by nature, none of them could deny what they were experiencing.

Most mini-series start off with a bang, then end in the most disappointing way possible. That certainly wasnt true of The Triangle. In the end, the characters involved found themselves in a new and permanently altered reality. For me, it was a more then worthwhile payoff for watching the six hour presentation over three nights. Thats because I not only believe its possible, but have seen evidence that such things have already happened.

As a child growing up on Long Island, I found myself constantly confronted by things I couldnt understand. Stories of UFO sightings, odd disappearances, alien abductions and even strange creature sightings were not uncommon in a place less then a one hour drive from New York City. Add to that the weird stories I heard from our mostly ex-military neighbors. Despite government claims that paranormal events were often reported by untrained observers or unstable people, most of those I met with unusual stories to tell were very credible. These included active and retired military pilots, police, firefighters, engineers, scientists and technical writers. Then there was what I experienced myself.

Our home was built in the 1950s on what had been farm property. It was the first house built on our block. It didnt take long for all the houses that were subsequently erected to be purchased. All of the homes except one were occupied by families. That home was across the street and a couple of houses down from us. It was occupied by an elderly couple who liked their privacy and, it was rumored, had been involved in some sort of scientific research for the U.S. Government. If you were a kid, you knew better then to play in front of their home. They would call your parents, the police or both. Obviously, they were not the most beloved people on the block. However, that became a non-issue one summer morning.

It was the mid-1960s and I was enjoying my summer break from elementary school. Since most people went on vacation during that time, I was left to roam the block and rummage up what friends I could. With stores, a library, park and even a bowling alley close by, I was always looking for someone to venture out with me to those places. Each time I walked pass the house owned by the elderly couple, I admired how well it was kept. Window boxes were filled with carefully chosen flowers, the lawn was manicured to perfection and bird droppings were quickly cleaned off the sidewalk or driveway whenever any dirty bird dared to poop on the property.

As I walked toward the elderly couples house to visit a friend next store on that particular day, I was frozen in my tracks. The house was gone! I mean it just wasnt there and looked like it never had been. When I mentioned this to my parents, they assumed it was a joke. They had never seen or heard about the couple. When they saw how serious I was, my parents assured me that no house like I described had ever existed in our neighborhood. My friends and their parents said the same thing. In the interest of not being labeled the neighbor nut cake, I dropped the matter. Beyond the fact that a house and its occupants had managed to vanish overnight, what really bothered me was why I was the only person who remembered the structure and the people who lived in it. Then I remembered something.

A few days after the couple had moved in, I was walking past the house when the elderly man called out to me. He asked if I wouldnt mind helping him hang some pictures and do some odd jobs. I ran home to ask my parents for permission to go into the house. They said it would be fine. So I spent most of that afternoon helping the man with various jobs inside and outside the house. I earned five dollars and some good will for my efforts. To my knowledge, I was the only person living in that neighborhood who had ever actually been inside the house. That is the only reason I can think of for possessing the memories of the house and the elderly couple.

I gave up thinking about the incident until I started the seventh grade. My junior high school had a well stocked library. After reading The Time Machine, A Wrinkle in Time and some comments by physicists published in a scholastic magazine, I began to consider the possibility that a natural or deliberate event involving alteration of the space time continuum had occurred. The comments by the physicists in an article about modern science introduced me to the idea of alternative realities and dimensions. While some felt that there were only a few physical dimensions, others saw a universe full of alterative realities that could eventually be accessed if the technology to do so was available.

With that foundation, it wasnt hard to imagine what someone with access to technology of the type described as being used in the Philadelphia Experiment project could do. Playing with time would be as easy as riding a bike; until you fell off. Its always the aftereffects that anyone wanting to play Time God would have to take into consideration. The consequence of messing with the fabric of time and space would be a new and possibly undesirable reality. Thats if you view Time as a line. I believe that people involved in the real Philadelphia Experiment and related projects look at Time as a continuous circle without beginning or end. If you have the right technology, you can jump anywhere into the circle, make subtle changes and still retain the overall stability of the reality in which you live. Your reality would be where you were born in the circle.

The Triangle took a quantum leap (no pun intended) for a major production. It dared to take a plunge in the reality that researchers like myself have lived with for most of their lives. That reality is the fact that we cannot always run to science or some known database of information for answers when it comes to understanding the unexplained. Although a fictional presentation, I was glad to see that those involved with the project had the guts and intelligence to step out from the usual sci-fi mold and give the world of the paranormal the respect it deserves without the usual skeptical disclaimers.

You can read more about my research into the Philadelphia Experiment, The Bermuda Triangle and related topics on my website at http://www.ufoguy.com

About The Author
Bill Knell
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Terms To Use Article: Permission is granted to use this article for free online or in print. Please add a link to or print my website address of http://www.billknell.com A native New Yorker now living in Arizona, Bill Knell is a forty-something guy with a wealth of knowledge and experience. He's written hundreds of articles offer advice on a wide variety of subjects. A popular Speaker, Bill Knell presents seminars on a number of topics that entertain, train and teach. A popular radio and television show Guest, you've heard Bill on thousands of top-rated shows in all formats and seen him on local, national and international television programs.