http://www.americanantigravity.com en-us http://www.americanantigravity.com N/A tventura6@comcast.net Thu, 15 May 2008 17:53:36 EDT 20 http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/82/NEW-PRODUCT-PAGES.html Man, I really like the old American Antigravity "classic" page - with bold colors, lots of pictures, and an artistic flair that the new Content Management System just doesn't allow. I guess both sites are beautiful in their own way, and if I remember correctly, updating the old site - especially updates across the entire site - was becoming a real pain when I upgraded back in 2005. It's strange how something can look so striking until you see it everyday, and then as time progresses you end up seeing only the flaws, and not the beauty. You might have missed them, but the last pages I built for the American Antigravity "classic" interface went online less than a week before I migrated to the Content Management System - it was a complete renovation of the AAG classic look and feel, but I'd already found another direction to go in, so I put them up, and then forgot about them. The new CMS has product pages also, so it's easy to forget the older ones, despite the fact that they're a little more descriptive. So two years later, I logged back in to update the whole section -- again. The classic site still gets traffic, and now that I'm releasing the STAIF videos on DVD-Rom, I figured it was time to log back into my web-editor and makes some updates. The results are quite beautiful - perhaps moreso on the black background I chose for the product pages after I got tired of the dark, heavy blue in the classic site. Check it out online: Click here to visit American Antigravity's classic product listings. Tim Ventura Sat, 17 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/81/Indywatch-Bernard-Ippolito.html by Bernard Ippolito Dear sir, I am writing to say that after much study and thought into this matter that I can safely confirm the universe is shaped as a mega spherical blob, just incase you find difficulty in forming an idea of such a shape that if you were to emagine a simple quadrafoil shape and put in a three dimensional form, you therfore would have six sides that bulge out from each side of the sphere.  This shape is due to the effects of the big bang.  On a two dimensional form it is named as quadrafoil, if you push in all the four bulges it is countered by the inner edges as they all push out simultaneously as an effect of the neighbouring four inner edges, however, if you were to try the same with the mega sphere, but this time you push in all six bulges from every direction simultaneously, the effect are going to counter in a much stranger manor than a simple four sided shape, I have never formed a model as such to experiment what actually happens although the key in the understnding on how the universe operates from the lowest forms of matter such as rocks, to it's highest forms such as consciousness at the back of which there are anti forces that hold the signature of all physicalities, are in the concepts of a blob like sectesphere!  However there is nothing lower than rocks or higher than consciousness in the universe apart from their evolution which is the only constant.  INDYWATCH: Have a short comment on a new or innovative device that you're tinkering with? Email us at americanantigravity@comcast.net, and be sure to mention that it's an indywatch update for the blogs-page. No religious or political themes, and please note that submissions are subject to editorial discretion. AG Research Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/80/Indywatch-The-Newsgroups.html by 2253Hi Tim, First of All, I have to congratulate you for the great job that you have done all of these years as also and to the other researchers and Labs like JLN Labs, Intalek, NewElectrogravity, e.t.c. Well you really reached to a very interesting and critical point about the Groups which for me the answer is very simple(because I am an unusual person). I have to say that I am not a usual man and so I will be happy to give you my insight about your questions, even if it will be stupid in a way and for many reasons, but I will do it. I am also a member of the Yahoo Groups and I have registered to 10 of them.I am inactive member the last 4 years, but I observe and I have already noticed the behaviour of the Groups. Answer: (1):Personally after the publication of my theoretical work ( purposely I do not mention the name, but those who know, know ) in 2003, I started to not send any more posts to the Groups, because I thought that I am giving many ideas and info for free.Everybody beyond the interest also want to invest on these subjects.So I think in a way that I am little bit responsible about what you observed(Is it a joke or not?), because highly intuitive scientifically members like me and others will stop to participate and will remain only to observe and fish the ideas and the info of the others.The info of the others can be used for forecast of progress on these subjects as also to observe who is near to a truth according to a personal opinion. Answer (2):The Technicians, Profesional Scientists or amateurs researchers ( Like me which profesionally I am an Electronic Engineer) which they are a small percentage in the Groups, will try to take advantage of the free info and if they succeed something, you will never hear about them again (I have not succeed something important, but I have made some simple experiments). Answer (3):The rest of the members of the Yahoo Groups have been registered to them accidently or by simple curiosity to explore and to exchange by learning about these new ideas. This percentage of the members of the Groups which mostly has not any technological background, but only what they have heard on TV, have read magazines and have seen something on the Internet, these people will left the Groups very quickly because they cannot follow it. So the answer to your question as a Total is that the Great Gap of inactivity on the Groups belongs to the large percentage who they lack of Knowledges on these subjects. Those who have remained active are: The Moderators, the Theoreticians(harmless),those who are seeking some contact to go further carefully and those who are searching technical information to make their own experiments. The silence on these subjects is related more to secrecy, because if you look around you all of these years, can you remember how much info is already exchanged and how Scientific Papers, Patents and experiments are already published on the Internet? You do not know how much I want to share ideas and info about Seismology,Antigravity, OverUnity Devices,Archeology.Because I am not a usual man, I have the fear that those I can reveal are beyond the truth, everybody will take advantage of me and I will not profit anything. I have understood why some experiments have failed to achieve Antigravitational or OverUnity effects (Sensitive Conditions). Do not forget:The Know-How is very well deeply hidden in Scientific Papers and Patents or experiments, because nobody wants to reveal the truth just for the shake of Knowledge.Everybody wants to take advantage this kind of knowledge and to invest on it for money and because he just likes it. Congratulations again for the great and interesting work that you!The American Antigravity for me has become the official Electronic Newspaper for these subjects. Best Wishes An amateur Explorer of the Truth INDYWATCH: Have a short comment on a new or innovative device that you're tinkering with? Email us at americanantigravity@comcast.net, and be sure to mention that it's an indywatch update for the blogs-page. No religious or political themes, and please note that submissions are subject to editorial discretion. AG Research Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/79/Indywatch-Larry-Burks.html by Larry L. BurksWhat every body want's is gravity. Real gravity. What everybody doesn't know is that they already have gravity. Thee is nothing wrong with it. IT's working great. "If it's not broke . It don't need fixing" You don't need to find a way to turn gravity on. It's all ready on. What you have to find is a way to turn gravity " off " And we allready know how to do that. You have to use a wormhole. But the people that are allready doing this don't call it a wormhole. They call it by a different name.  High speed switch. Gate high speed switch, wormhole. Type these words into google and see what it brings up. It's not antigravity. It's not called gravity shielding. Gravity is turned off. Just like the all optical high speed switch's that are needed to make fiber optic work right so that we can have the internet. There is a empty black space that forms on the inside of a gravitational free space negative lens. Invers vortex. A wormhole. The same black empty space that can be seen In Dr. kocks book. Which is the same empty black space that can be seen on my home page. www.ufoworkshop.0catch.com. Which is also the same empty black space that can be seen on the Hubble teloscope home page. The rest of you guys have been barking up the wrong tree for the past fifty years. Wise up. The way that you do this is the same way that everybody else does it. Do it the same wat that the big dogs do it. Let nature do what it is fully able to do. Nothing is able to rest with in the empty black space. of a wormhole. Not even the particles that make up the gravitational field. The tube part of the atom. No tube,,, no particle,,,, no gravity!!! No nothing,,, no how,,, no way. Not now. Not every. And we know this to be true. Why, oh, why, is it that you say that your into manipulating gravity. But no body is talking about the thing you should be talking about when you manipulate gravity. This tells me one thing. You don't know. Your blowing it. Look around you. Who are the ones that are leading you in the wrong direction. Why are they doing this. Are there snakes in the grass here?  Larry INDYWATCH: Have a short comment on a new or innovative device that you're tinkering with? Email us at americanantigravity@comcast.net, and be sure to mention that it's an indywatch update for the blogs-page. No religious or political themes, and please note that submissions are subject to editorial discretion. AG Research Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/78/Indywatch-Steve-Tuttle.html by Steve TuttleYou're quite correct, the other matter is effected by gravity, or atleast effects our gravity, it is now dubbed black matter. Black matter is a name given simply because it can not be seen by any method we know of. I believe it is directly related to what we call black holes, and from my 'experience' believe to be some sort of 'finite mater' completely out of our 'physical' system of matter. The why is a long story. But it may be the link between the existance of physical law and spiritual law or light and truth. An element of what one might call matter un-organized (the combination of all types of matter present in any system in the universe but in a state not yet in a state recognizable or usefull). All matter we know of has a digree of usefullness, is effected by the laws we appreciate and can predict. Such 'un-organized matter may fill endless space in places where "organized matter" does not. So I have idendified in a relitive way, just for tagging purposes four (4) conditions of the universe's space and matter: First is what we know, Physical Matter; Second the space which exist between Physical Matter, and any other type of Matter, known or not known; third is what I call spirit matter, finite matter, or what science is now calling black mater and black energy; fourth there is 'un-organized matter' which has not yet become subject to law, and which may be, and which would unevoidably become both physical and spirit matter, light, energy, and truth or governing law. Ferthermore, because time is relitive to the planet upon which one resides, and the 'law of infinate series' exists, and you ofcourse know that the red shift is dominant, there is only one conclusion. The UNIVERSE never did begin, and never will end. It always has been and always will be, and it has no end (though our finite minds can not comprehend it, mathematically we see it clearly). An extension of this reveals all types of marvelous conjecture. . .both the chicken and the egg existed co-eternally. . .no one thing came before its counter part, all things have existed for ever. In turn all will continue to exist, even 'law' of all types, and so we have to ask the greatest question of all as I see it. WHY? WHAT ARE YOUR THAUGHTS ON THIS? NATURALLY I HAVE MORE, AND SUBSTANTIAL PROOF IN EVERY ASPECT YOU MAY CONSIDER 'A LEAP'. E-mail me if you are interested in the sources and the 'why'. Have a good day.  INDYWATCH: Have a short comment on a new or innovative device that you're tinkering with? Email us at americanantigravity@comcast.net, and be sure to mention that it's an indywatch update for the blogs-page. No religious or political themes, and please note that submissions are subject to editorial discretion. AG Research Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/77/Indywatch-An-Idea-on-Gravity.html by JohnI have a certain idea on of how gravity works. I could be on a real scientific break through that could revolutionize the way the world looks at space & time itself and at the same time create a weapon that makes the A-bomb look like a fire cracker. The real question is, should I tell the world of this discovery? As a self aware species are we ready for this new understanding of reality. Get rid of the self centered way of life to benifit from this new technology. It could be that Homosapians are not mature enough for it and like a child playing with matches end up eliminating our own existance. Maybe  as a one living world entity, we can put away our toys and step back to look at the over all picture. That the world we live in is rare place and we are unique beings of creation. If you crunch the numbers we shouldn't even be here, but since time and space are infinite so are the possibilities. I would like keep silent but unfortunately its such a simple combination eventually someone will figure it out anyway. I'm still in the research phazes of my theories and because my funding is so little it will be years before I can even publish anything in the American Scientific Journal. I can tell the readers that Einstein's Theory of Realativity is 100% correct but missing a whole lot of key notes and lacked a visual understanding of it. Life as we know it will change dramatically if I can fit all the puzzle pieces precisely togather but I am positive that I'm on the right path. It will influence the way we travel making the car and airplane obsolete not to mention cheap affordable space flight. imagine a remote control to move heavy objects like a refrigerator without any effort. A purpetual motion engine that doesn't need fuel. dependance on fossil fuels will be a thing of the past as well as other industries and certainly economies will crumble under this new found power. Just think of what the different militaries of the world could do with this new power source. Just the tip of the iceberg imagine a bullet which hovers endlessly until it finds its selected target. Or a floating battle airship as large as five football stadiums. How about a gravitron bomb that can wipe out a whole country not just one city. Sounds like science fiction and yet its what the year 2000 should have been like for most of us anyway. You will hopefully see all this happen soon unless something happen to where I can't finish this increadable project. I just hope that when I do release my findings that the world is a better place somehow I have hope it will be. Email me if you feel the need to ask questions but don't expect me to tell all my secrets yet... INDYWATCH: Have a short comment on a new or innovative device that you're tinkering with? Email us at americanantigravity@comcast.net, and be sure to mention that it's an indywatch update for the blogs-page. No religious or political themes, and please note that submissions are subject to editorial discretion. AG Research Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/76/Indywatch-Jeffrey-Beer.html by Jeffrey BeerThe device described below, as invented by the author, is intended as a propulsion system for spacecraft. It is able to generate a forward motion without ejecting mass rearward. Name of device: Relativistic Variable Mass SynchrotronWhat it does: Asymmetrical Momentum Force Generator         The "reactionless drive" consists of a circular particle accelerator, a synchrotron. The elecrons would travel around the synchrotron at a constant speed. But, on half of the circuit, the  electrons would be made to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the path being travelled (probably with electrostatic plates), moving as close to the walls as possible with each oscillation. So, there would be a vertical, up-down oscillating movement of the electrons during one-half of their journey around the track.                If they were oscillated at near light-speed, their mass would increase over this portion of their journey around the track. Therefore, the momentum generated would be greater on that side of the track and the entire synchrotron would experience a net force in that direction. Of course, with the current technology available, the force would be very small, probably too small to be practical. But, it would still be interesting in that it would demonstrate that a reactionless drive is theoretically possible altogether. The Relativistic Variable Mass Synchrotron is able to generate a net force using the principles of Einstein’s relativity theory. It is important to note that the speed of the electrons around the track is not changed. Only their vertical motion is changed over part of the track. This way, their variable mass can be used to generate a unidirectional force. An alternative method would be to have the electrons travel up and down a cylinder with negatively charged electrode plates at each end.  After the electrons (or other charged particles) bounced off the bottom electrode, the group of electrons could be made to spin rapidly in a cyclonic fashion just above the inside wall of the cylinder, in a motion perpendicular (horizontal) to the direction of their journey up the cylinder. By being made to spin at near-light speed, their mass would increase. Then, as the electrons bounced off the negatively charged top electrode plate and were sent down the cylinder, the momentum of the impact would be transferred to the cylinder. During their downward journey, the rotating motion of the electrons would be slowed or stopped, thus reducing their mass. They would then be deflected off the bottom electrode, imparting less momentum to the cylinder than they did at the top. Then, after the deflection, the electrons would be accelerated again before bouncing off the top cylinder. Note that mass is not increased or decreased during the acceleration phase, but only during the time when the electrons are coasting. As a result, there would be a net upward force generated on the cylinder, prompting the cylinder to move upward, provided it is not restrained by a gravitational field or other impediment. The principle is the same as with the circular particle accelerator described above. These devices, if perfected, would function as a method of propelling spacecraft without ejecting mass. Just to make sure that everyone understands the principle behind my Reactionless Space Drive, I will present it in a simplified form. Please understand that this is for explanatory purposes only, and that a working reactionless space drive would be constructed differently: Imagine a huge cylinder floating in space, capped at both front and rear ends. There are two giant springs, one at each end. Within the cylinder is a synchrotron (circular particle accelerator) which slides on tracks between the two springs. Now, set the synchrotron in motion so that it starts sliding back and forth on its track, bouncing between the two springs mounted at each end of the cylinder and coasting on the track between each bounce. Here is the sequence of events: 1)  The synchrotron bounces off the rear spring. 2) While coasting to the front spring, the synchrotron accelerates its charged particles to near-light speeds, thus increasing their mass. Thus the synchrotron taken as a whole (with its charged particles) is now more massive. 3) The synchrotron bounces off the front spring, transferring its momentum to the cylinder and causing the cylinder to move forward. 4) As the synchrotron coasts to the rear of the cylinder, the synchrotron greatly reduces the speed of its charged particles, causing them to decrease in mass. The synchrotron taken as a whole is now less massive. 5) The synchrotron bounces off the rear spring, transferring its momentum to the cylinder, thus generating a rearward force on the cylinder. The cylinder slows down. However, because the synchrotron is now less massive, the momentum transferred to the rear of the cylinder is less than the momentum transferred to the front of the cylinder. Thus, there is a net forward thrust, and the cylinder continues its forward motion. 6) As the synchrotron coasts back to the front of the cylinder, it accelerates its charged particles to near-light speed again, thus causing them, and the synchrotron taken as a whole, to become more massive. 7) The synchrotron again bounces off the front spring, transferring more momentum to the front of the cylinder than had been transferred to the rear, resulting in a net forward thrust. 8) The cycle repeats itself continuously. I hope that this clarifies the workings of my reactionless space drive. To learn more about this device, visit Jeffrey Beer's Reactionless Drive Newsgroup online. INDYWATCH: Have a short comment on a new or innovative device that you're tinkering with? Email us at americanantigravity@comcast.net, and be sure to mention that it's an indywatch update for the blogs-page. No religious or political themes, and please note that submissions are subject to editorial discretion. AG Research Fri, 02 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/75/Indywatch-Bernard-Ippolito.html by Bernard IppolitoI have come up with a theory on teleportation of physical matter, any object that can be viewed with one eye and showing all it's sides on a critical shape from an angle means that the vertex (A), of the energy and it's opposing (B), will also run smoothly throughout the objects natural kinetic energy without self interuption thus, anything it comes in contact with at high speed as of the bullet from a gun! and from a certain angle as the bullet hits a wooden board, at this angle light can get around every side of the bullet at once and the bullet's force therefore, as it comes in direct contact with the board, will only use force (A), and the force (B) is cancelled out due to it's critical shape and angle it hits the board at!  force (B), will then work as one force such as, (A), but without (B).  Force (A) and (B) are diametric opposites known as the vertex or apex, and all forces obey the law's of all physicalities they run through known as causality.  This is the (7.11 3) principle on a cube of twelve vectors. If (A) = (B) of a bullet in a gun, then (A) = (B) in the force this bullet creates when it hits the board directly ahead, however if the bullet at an angle, that is shaped so that light can get all around the bullet at just every point and angle, then at this precise angle as the bullet hits the board, it will theoretically use only (A), and no (B) to counter as (A) and (B) are diametric opposites of the same small unit namely the bullet and it's equal force of impact.  This may cause (A) and (B) of it's force to coil into itself directly and parallel, and the board will remain untouched as the impact can only exist as a cosequence of an opposite reaction - (B), and the moment anything it comes in contact with regardless of how small or big the impact, equals an albeit small and infinitesimal amount of energy created by the slightest contact which means the impact is the energy created by the impact itself and the energy is responsible for making a hole in the board as it impacts but in this instance, as the board should remain untouched after the shot is fired, and anything the bullet hits on the other side of the board has not been measured in relation to the bullet's departure from the gun to it's (7.11) angle and will arbitrarily impact any object on the other side as if the board was not there to begin with.  The impact must match up with the critical angle that the bullet impacts with the board! this angle must be precise as force (A) and force (B) both happen together as one force within one object, and force (A), must be stripped of force (B) as a consequence of the critical angle of impact on the board. The polarization of force (A) and (B) resulting through a super torque symmetry on the bullet thus, causing (B), to seize to exist at it's moment of impact. INDYWATCH: Have a short comment on a new or innovative device that you're tinkering with? Email us at americanantigravity@comcast.net, and be sure to mention that it's an indywatch update for the blogs-page. No religious or political themes, and please note that submissions are subject to editorial discretion. AG Research Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/74/Indywatch-DIY-Wormholes.html by Larry BurksHi Tim, I hear your want to know how to form a wormhole. I have a web page that tells you how it's done. Check out www.ufoworkshop.0catch.com  I have pictures of wormholes like those found in nature on my page - It tells you who has done this and how they did it. Every thing is there. The only one's that know how to do this . Is the one's that are all ready doing it. How do you think I found out. Now I'm telling you.  Wormhole are not like you think. There are wormholes and there are wormholes and then again there are wormholes.   The ones that you are talking about are not real. The one found in nature are. You just got to know.  How to look and where to look.  If you come to my page. You can find others than me, that are doing the same thing. I need all the exposure I can get. There is not a another webpage like it on the net. It's the only one. I've looked. There is a black-out on this kind of info. Read "Lasers and Holograms" by Winston E. Kock He worked of NASA. His Book is how I found out. This book is about how NASA does it. How do I know? It has pictures of three UFO's hidden in the the Pictures. They are picture of 1/2 half of a UFO You have to take a flat mirror and place it on the center line to see the hole UFO. Is this book about UFO's? NO it's about how to form a wormhole and manipulate gravity. To find out how to use a wormhole to manipulate gravity . Go to my page. INDYWATCH: Have a short comment on a new or innovative device that you're tinkering with? Email us at americanantigravity@comcast.net, and be sure to mention that it's an indywatch update for the blogs-page. No religious or political themes, and please note that submissions are subject to editorial discretion. AG Research Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST http://www.americanantigravity.com/blogs/73/Arthur-C-Clarke-on-Star-Trek.html By Sir Arthur C. Clarke  Friends, Earthlings, ETs -- lend me your sensory organs! I send you greetings and good wishes at the beginning of another year. I'll be celebrating my 90th birthday in December – a few weeks after the Space Age completes its first half century.  When the late and unlamented Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957, it took only about five minutes for the world to realise what had happened. And although I had been writing and speaking about space travel for years, the moment is still frozen in my own memory: I was in Barcelona attending the 8th International Astronautical Congress. We had retired to our hotel rooms after a busy day of presentations when the news broke -- I was awakened by reporters seeking comments on the Soviet feat. Our theories and speculations had suddenly become reality! Notwithstanding the remarkable accomplishments during the past 50 years, I believe that the Golden Age of space travel is still ahead of us. Before the current decade is out, fee-paying passengers will be experiencing sub-orbital flights aboard privately funded passenger vehicles, built by a new generation of engineer-entrepreneurs with an unstoppable passion for space (I'm hoping I could still make such a journey myself). And over the next 50 years, thousands of people will gain access to the orbital realm – and then, to the Moon and beyond.  During 2006, I followed with interest the emergence of this new breed of 'Citizen Astronauts' and private space enterprise. I am very encouraged by the wide-spread acceptance of the Space Elevator, which can make space transport cheap and affordable to ordinary people. This daring engineering concept, which I popularised in The Fountains of Paradise (1978), is now taken very seriously, with space agencies and entrepreneurs investing money and effort in developing prototypes. A dozen of these parties competed for the NASA-sponsored, US$ 150,000 X Prize Cup which took place in October 2006 at the Las Cruces International Airport, New Mexico. The Arthur Clarke Foundation continues to recognise and cheer-lead men and women who blaze new trails to space. A few days before the X Prize Cup competition, my old friend Walter Cronkite received the Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award. I have known Walter for over half a century, and my commentary with him during the heady days of the Apollo Moon landings now belongs to another era. A space ‘pathfinder' of the Twenty First Century, Bob Bigelow, was presented the Arthur C. Clarke Innovator Award for his work in the development of space habitats. With the successful launch of Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis 1, Bob is leading the way for private individuals willing to advance space exploration with minimum reliance on government programmes. Meanwhile, planning and fund-raising work continued for the Arthur C Clarke Centre "to investigate the reach and impact of human imagination", to be set up in partnership with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Objective: to identify young people with robust imagination, to help their parents and teachers make the most of that talent, and to accord imagination as much regard as high academic grades in the classroom - anywhere in the world. The Board members of the Clarke Foundation, led by its indefatigable Chairman Tedson Meyers, have taken on the challenge of raising US$ 70 million for this project. I'm hopeful that the billion dollar communications satellite industry I founded 60 years ago with my Wireless World  paper (October 1945), for which I received the astronomical sum of £15, will be partners in this endeavour. I've only been able to make a few encouraging noises from the sidelines for these and other worthy projects as I'm now very limited in time and energy owing to Post Polio. But I'm happy to report that my health remains stable, and I'm in no discomfort or pain. Being completely wheel-chaired helps to concentrate on my reading and writing – which I can once again engage in, with the second cataract operation restoring my eyesight. During the year, I wrote a number of short articles, book reviews and commentaries for a variety of print and online outlets. I also did a few carefully chosen media interviews, and filmed several video greetings to important scientific or literary gatherings in different parts of the world. I was particularly glad to find a co-author to complete my last novel, The Last Theorem, which remained half-written for a couple of years. I had mapped out the entire story, but then found I didn't have the energy to work on the balance text. Accomplished American writer Frederik Pohl has now taken up the challenge. Meanwhile, co-author Stephen Baxter has completed First-born, the third novel in our collaborative Time Odyssey series, to be published in 2007. Members of my adopted family -- Hector, Valerie, Cherene, Tamara and Melinda Ekanayake -- are keeping well. Hector has been looking after me since 1956, and with his wife Valerie, has made a home for me at 25, Barnes Place, Colombo. Hector continued to rebuild the diving operation that was wiped out by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004. Sri Lanka's tourist sector, still recovering from the mega-disaster, weathered a further crisis as the long-drawn civil conflict ignited again after more than three years of relative peace and quiet. I remain hopeful that a lasting solution would be worked out by the various national and international players engaged in the peace process. I'm still missing and mourning my beloved Chihuahua Pepsi, who left us more than a year ago. I've just heard that dogs aren't allowed in Heaven, so I'm not going there. Brother Fred, Chris Howse, Angie Edwards and Navam Tambayah look after my affairs in England. My agents David Higham Associates (www.davidhigham.co.uk) and Scovil, Chichak & Galen Literary Agency (www.scglit.com) deal with rapacious editors and media executives. They both follow my general directive: No reasonable offer will even be considered. I am well supported by my staff and take this opportunity to thank them all:Executive Officer: Nalaka GunawardenePersonal Assistant: Rohan De SilvaSecretary: Dottie WeerasooriyaValets: Titus, Saman, Chandra, SunilDrivers: Lalith & AnthonyDomestic Staff: Kesavan, Jayasiri & MallikaGardener: Jagath Let me end with an extract from my tribute to Star Trek on its 40th anniversary – this message is more relevant today than when the series first aired in the heady days of Apollo: “Appearing at such a time in human history, Star Trek popularised much more than the vision of a space-faring civilisation. In episode after episode, it promoted the then unpopular ideals of tolerance for differing cultures and respect for life in all forms – without preaching, and always with a saving sense of humour.”Full essay available here  Colombo, Sri Lanka28 January 2007   AG Research Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST