Crack in the Dam

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Trish and Rob

Logo of Reporters Without Borders in defense of online free expression.

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A few weeks ago, we received a notice from blogger that one of our posts had been cited for copyright infringement, so our blog was taken down, the supposedly offensive post was put into draft form, and we were told that unless the offensive post was removed, our blog would be deleted. We deleted the post, but were totally mystified about how we had infringed on copyright.

As professional writers, copyright infringement is important to us. The story, from last November, was a seemingly innocuous post of two or three sentences about two of the  deaths in the construction of the Hoover Dam, a father and son, the first and the last to die. We provided links to our sources and, the story is detailed in Wikipedia. On December 20, 1922, J.G. Tierney died while surveying for a site for the dam and thirteen years later to the day, his son, Patrick Tierney, was the last man to die during the dam’s construction.There you have it.

In the aftermath of the removal of the offending post, we noticed that someone from the Department of the Interior, which is in charge of sites like dams,  had been on our blog a number of times, always searching for Hoover Dam. So we wrote to the Interior Department and asked if a copyright infringement complaint had been made by the department. We included blogger’s email to us and a screenshot of sitemeter showing the search words and the Interior Department’s name.  We received a wonderful email from their public affairs specialist, who said she would look into. Quoting from her email:

Hi there, Rob!

I’m not sure who would be asking you to remove these facts since, as you mentioned, they’re well documented in a number of other sources, several of which we use here in our office as research resources.  We even have this information listed on our own official Bureau of Reclamation Hoover Dam website at: https://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/History/essays/fatal.html , so I’m really not sure why Google or anyone associated with the Department would be making this request. 

Do you have a copy of the request and/or a name as to who initiated this?  I’d be happy to follow up with them to determine why this is being considered.  Just let me know if there’s any way I can help.  Thanks!

Colleen Dwyer, Public Affairs Specialist
Bureau of Reclamation, Boulder City, Nevada

Her followup was extensive. She checked with the Interior Department’s regional security staff and with the Hoover Dam Police Department “just in case they conduct some random security on the web to find any potential info that may impact security of Hoover Dam, but they do not conduct these kinds of actions.”

She went on to say:
“Frankly, I’m surprised that Google would ask for removal of a post based solely on one individual’s comment, and without specific proof of the copyright violation.   I’m not sure of the procedure to contest the infringement claim, but if you can use my e-mails and/or contact information as proof of clearance by the Bureau of Reclamation for you to publish the information regarding the Tierneys, feel free to do so.”

On July 7, someone came onto the blog using the search term, “Hoover Dam crack image download.” They didn’t find anything on our blog because the post had been removed, and besides, we hadn’t written about any crack.  It’s an amusing synchro, however, since we certainly found a crack in the dam with our experience writing about it. 

So we have clearance from the Interior Department, which uses the same story in their materials. We haven’t copied anyone else’s material. The info in Wikipedia is still there. Who knows?

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments

Ghostwriters

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Trish and Rob

Actor Jamie Cromwell

Self-employment is fraught with uncertainty. We knew this when we quit our jobs in 1983 – Rob in journalism, Trish in  teaching. But we knew that we didn’t want to spend our lives working at jobs that we disliked and we were willing to take that Castaneda leap into the unknown.

We kept following the synchronicities and they led to some and they led to some pretty strange places. One of those places was the world of ghostwriting.  

 Through a contact in Iowa – Ed Gorman, one of the most generous human beings we’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting – we hooked up with a a book packager. A book packager is someone who brings together a person with an idea – often a celebrity – and a ghostwriter.
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It was the 1990s, our careers were in flux.  We had left one agent, were in search of another, and were working with a book packager in the hopes of generating income.

Many book packagers generates idea that might interest publishers. These ideas often involve bringing a celebrity and a writer together to  produce a book that a publisher buys, with the celebrity’s name on the cover. And this was how Jamie Cromwell entered our lives.

It was 1996, Babe the Pig had been nominated for an Oscar and Cromwell was a hot commodity. So one day we got a call from the book packager. “Hey, you guys interested in doing a UFO book with Jamie Cromwell?”

Well, hey, are you kidding? We had just gone to see Babe the Pig with Megan and loved it. “He’s interested in UFOs?” we asked.

“Yeah, he goes out into the desert with Stephen Greer and looks for these suckers.”

So one thing led to another and one Saturday morning, the phone rings. It’s Cromwell.  His voice is soft, measured, just as it was in the movie. We spend an hour tossing around various ideas, all related to UFOs, abductions, the whole nine yards. He likes us, we like him, and he says he’s going to book a flight to Boynton Beach, where we’re living at the time, so we can brainstorm about the book. And a few weeks later, he arrives, a man so tall that he has to duck to get through our doorways. He must be six foot seven, maybe taller.

We’ve got a vegan lunch ready, and  sit around our family room table while Megan is at school, and talk. Really talk. If you’re the kind of person for whom ideas hold promise and intriguing speculation, then this is the table where you should have been sitting that day. Jamie’s mind was labyrinthine, beautiful in its extremes, and we actually found commonalities in our mutual questions about the true nature of reality.

Jamie, like us, was fascinated about what UFOs are, what the abduction experience might actually mean, and what its ramifications might ultimately be. He related his experiences on a desert sojourn with Steven Greer; we related our experiences in the 1980s with Betty Hill.The conversation went on from there.

That night, the four of us went to a local Olive Garden for dinner, Megan, who was maybe eight at the time, questioned Jamie about the acting world, movies. At one point,  our waiter came over and started talking to Jamie about the movie business. Jamie was gracious and kind, answering the young man’s questions the way only a pro could.

The next day, we sat around the computer, hammering together ideas for the book. By the time Jamie left, we felt we had a solid idea, a solid proposal. We wrote it up, sent it to the book packager.In the meantime, we started working on the book and sent Jamie the first 100 pages or so. The packager sold the idea to Ace books and before the ink was dry on the contracts, Jamie called.

Jamie: “I read the pages. I really dislike the way this sex scene is written. This isn’t how I make love to my wife.”

Trish:  “Then you write the scene.”

Jamie: “I think I should come back down there and sit next to you while you write and correct it as you go along.”

Trish: “We don’t work like that, Jamie. You’d better write the book yourself.”

Jamie: “I think my wife and I are going to take a shot at writing the book.”

And that, as they say, was that.

As far as we know, the book was never written. We’ve followed Jamie’s career over the years and are grateful that from him we learned to never start ghostwriting the book until the contract has been signed.

Posted in Cromwell, ghostwriters, UFOs | 21 Comments

The Mumford Clan

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Trish and Rob

                                  Ireland

Today’s synchronicity has a couple of layers. It seems to be another one of those instances where the Internet and blogging create a rich atmosphere in which synchronicity can occur. It involves Connie Cannon and Gypsy.

On May 11, we posted an update on the significance of the number 11, from Connie, who is a long time numerologist. It seems that her correspondence with Gypsy started around that time. Connie poked around on one of Gypsy’s blogs, the YAYA tree,  which traces her family’s geneology, and ran across the name Mumford.

It’s not exactly a common name – certainly not like Smith or Jones – and alarms went off in Connie’s head. She, too, had Mumfords in her family tree that dated back to Ireland. In an exchange of emails, Connie and Gypsy realized they are related through the Mumford clan.

So here we have two women who met through a blog on synchronicity and discovered they are actually related. How cool is that?  Maybe the 8th secret is Cool Synchros.

Posted in blogging, Internet, mumford clan, relatives | 14 Comments

The Girl Beneath the Car

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Trish and Rob

 This Emil Nolde painting has nothing to do with the post. I just love the colors!
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  This synchronicity came from Nancy Atkinson, during an email exchange where she just happened to mention that her husband has great instincts.
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One time we were visiting my brother and as we were back out of a long curving driveway, with music and air conditioning blazing, we rolled onto something that caused our car to stop. I thought it was just a rock. But my husband didn’t hit the gas for quite a long time. I looked over at him and he was just staring straight ahead and not moving. At about that time my brother and sister in law came running around the corner screaming at us to not move! My little niece was stuck under our car!! She had used one of those saucer things for playing in the snow and had slid down a hill next to the driveway and right under our car. Her head stopped our car tire! If he had hit the gas we would have killed our niece! I’ve learned to trust his instincts!

It happened outside Placerville, CA. I had even told him to “go!” I couldn’t figure out why he was still sitting there staring straight ahead. But he didn’t move – and then we saw my brother and sister in law running toward us screaming to stay put. It was so weird. I asked him what he was thinking and he said he felt he shouldn’t hit the gas, he didn’t know why. I think it was my father, who had recently passed away, whispering in his ear not to move. His little granddaughter was under the tire and he knew my brother and I could never look at each other the same way if we had killed his little girl.


Posted in instincts, spirit contact | 15 Comments

The Face of Freedom?

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Trish and Rob

This CNN video, a report by Anderson Cooper, seems to have a trickster element to it as well, surfacing as it did over the Independence Day weekend..

Posted in BP, coverup, trickster | 8 Comments

The Trickster and July 4

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Trish and Rob

 We were trying to come up with a good synchro for this very American holiday, but couldn’t find anything and figured we would just post a Happy 4th and a photo of exploding fireworks.Then we ran across a fascinating AP article about a mistake that Thomas Jefferson made on page 3 of the Declaration of Independence.

Apparently Jefferson, when referring to the American public, used the word subjects, had seconds thoughts and used his hand to rub out that word while the ink was still wet and substituted citizens.

“Fenalla France, a research chemist at the Library, said her lab made the discovery last year by using hyperspectral imaging, using a high resolution digital camera that compiles a series of images to highlight layers of a document,” said the article. “Some of those invisible layers — like erased text and even fingerprints — pop into view on a computer screen.” France called the discovery “spine-tingling.”

Spine-tingling it may be, but it has the trickster’s fingerprints all over it. It’s interesting, too, that this discovery was made during this BP oil fiasco. After all, wasn’t this document our declaration of independence from the British?

Posted in global, July 4, trickster | 6 Comments

The Dead Speak, Part II

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Trish and Rob

On June 30,  we posted Part I of a story unfolding in Australia. In part 2 of Natalie’s story, the plot thickens. This evening (June 22) we received an update from her in an email:
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Yesterday, was my reading day at work. The night before, I hopped into  the shower,  and another missing girl’s name came to me. I quickly jumped out of the shower, and asked Mark to Google it while I put my pj’s on. Her name was ‘Deirdre’. Although she went missing at the same time as the other girls, her remains were found ten years later, and a person charged. That person was subsequently murdered in jail some time later. Her case is only linked to the one I am working on by timing. All three girls went missing within a 4 month period.

I did not know any more than her name , until Mark googled her story. Before bed, I centered myself.  Out of the blue, a voice told me that ‘Deirdre’s’ sister would be coming for a reading tomorrow.  I told Mark and he said” HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT????? Deirdre was murdered 31 years ago, why would her sister come to see you now?”

” I dunno, maybe I am completely delusional. We should get me a plan B career, if I am wrong about all of this.” I really started to doubt myself and had a very uneasy night.

On my way to work the next day, I said aloud “Why am I involved in this anyway? I am kidding myself surely! Why would these girls come to me???”

I turned on the radio, and two songs come on in a ‘double play’ that gave me an answer. The first song was called ‘Closure’ and the second was a remake of Bryan Adam’s’ Heaven’. They were number 31 in a countdown, the same number of years ago these crimes happened.

“Okay!!!” I yelled to the heavens, ‘I will do it, but only if you help me more, I can not do this alone.”

Immediately, I felt  a loving presence all around me. I asked it to protect me, and be with me at work today, most especially if Deirdre’s sister happens to turn up.

SHE DID.!! She did come. OMG. She really did.I burst into tears as soon as we sat down at my table.
What followed was the most beautiful reading I have ever had the honour to do.

I was taken to the light through the tunnel and spent time there with Deirdre, her Nanna and my client there. It was profoundly moving and I cannot describe it adequately. I was pretty ungrounded for the rest of the day to say the least.

As I am writing this, I still cannot believe it was true. I am in a weird head space for sure, right now, very focused on finding my original girl. Even more so after yesterday. To see Deirdre’s sister after that reading was priceless. Such a healing took place yesterday. Wow. Of course, I got straight on the phone to Mark to say I told you so!!!!

Posted in missing girl, natalie, spirit contact | 13 Comments

Adele’s John Lilly Dream

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Trish and Rob
 

                                                           John C. Lilly

This following story came from Adele, and it was left as a comment under the June 3 post. With all the sea creatures suffering in this oil disaster, it seems appropriate to post Adele’s synchronicity about John C. Lilly, the M.D. who did so much research with dolphins. Lilly passed away in 2001, but his legacy certainly lives  on. For more on this remarkable man, start here.

 I have been reading all your posts and comments about the oil spill horror but not commenting myself. I agree with everyone and find all this so distressing that I cannot watch the news about it any more because I stop functioning. Was it T.S. Elliot who said, “The world will end, not with a bang but a whimper.” Well we are in a big horror of a whimper.

I did want to comment about John Lilly. I read his book years ago, “The Center of the Cyclone.” Was that the one where he told about his dolphin experiences? I have carted hundreds of books back and forth across the country and during my recent move just over a year ago, I could not afford to do this any more and had to give most of my books away. John Lilly’s book was one that I wish I had now. Perhaps just as well since I can’t keep up with my To Do list these days.

I remember the part where Lilly told about his relationship with a special female dolphin. At some point he felt guilty about keeping the dolphins in confinement and decided to let them go free. When he did, his special dolphin friend committed suicide in sadness.

Thinking about John Lilly caused me to remember a little dream synchronicity I had about him. It was in the early 1970’s. One of his his books had just come out and he was doing a lecture tour. I attended one of his talks at Wainwright House in Rye New York. I had no idea what John Lilly looked like and had not yet read his book. The night before the lecture I dreamed I went to the lecture, saw him and noted that he was wearing a jumpsuit instead of the usual suit or sport’s coat of the time. I thought that very odd. Only auto mechanics wore jumpsuits. And I tried to figure out the symbolism of the jumpsuit.

When I got to the lecture, Lilly looked just like he did in the dream and he was wearing a jumpsuit. I’ve never seen a man, before or since, who wore a jumpsuit as his clothing of choice. I’d like to find that dream to see what other points there may have been to it.

Posted in dolphins, dreams, John Lilly, oil spill | 20 Comments

The Ghost and the Straight Pins

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Trish and Rob

        Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, Fl

 For Carl Jung, spirit contact fell under the larger umbrella of synchronicity. Jung had several experiences himself with spirits, which he recounts in his autobiography. I’ve always wondered, though, what he would think of the ghost and the straight pins.

During my (Trish) last year in college, I lived in a small apartment on the third floor of a spavined building in Utica, New York. My roommate, Linda, and I, shared our cramped living space with a tabby cat. Early in the school year, Linda’s grandmother passed away. One day not long afterward, Linda’s mother found a straight pin on the grandmother’s tombstone. A few days later, our tabby, Tigger, was about to jump into a chair where I was reading when she suddenly did a 180 in midair and tore into the bedroom. Linda and I just looked at each other, wondering what that was about.

The next morning, I found straight pins scattered around the living room – a pin stuck in a couch cushion, pins laying on the rug, a couple more straight pins on the kitchen table. This began to happen consistently. When Linda mentioned it to her mother, she sort of laughed and said it was Linda’s grandmother. “Nana G loved to sew. I’ve been finding straight pins all over the house, even underlining passages in the bible.”

I didn’t have any problem believing in ghosts  and was certain that Tigger had seen Nana G the night she did that 180, but straight pins?How did a ghost manipulate physical matter, even matter as small as a straight pin? But one weekend when we visited Linda’s parents, her mother showed up the straight pins underlining passages in the bible.

“How does Nana G do that?” I asked Linda’s mom.
“I have no idea,” she replied. “But isn’t it amazing?”

The straight pin phenomenon continued consistently for several months,  then gradually stopped. About ten years later, I was visiting St. Augustine with Linda and her mother. We were in that fort featured in the photo, Castillo de San Marcos. The Spanish began construction on this fort in 1672 to protect the city. It’s the only existing 17th century fort in North America. This is what it looks like inside:

Within its empty hallways, our footsteps echoed. The whisper of the past was everywhere. But everything was bare – the thick walls, the well-worn floors, not even a piece of trash in sight. So the three of us were moving through the interior, marveling at how cool it was despite the summer heat outside. I happened to look down and stopped, incredulous, staring at a single straight pin.

I picked it up and showed it to Linda’s mother. “What’re the odds of finding a straight pin in this place?” I asked.

Her mom smiled. “I’ve been feeling Nana G around.”

“Looks like she wanted to tour the place with us,” Linda said.

“So is this an apport?” I asked. 

Neither of them had an answer. But to this day, an apport – the paranormal transference of an object from one place to another – seems to be the best explanation.

Posted in apports, clusters, spirit contact, St. Augustine, travel | 16 Comments

Hurricane Alex and the Gulf

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Trish and Rob

So here it is, the first hurricane of the season, Alex, making landfall as a cat 2 storm, spreading tar balls and oil across the gulf. We should be grateful that it isn’t a cat 5 hitting right smack where the gusher of oil continues to spew on day 72.

For a roundup of news on the continuing catastrophe in the gulf, click here. There are a number of articles. Countdown ran a video this evening on a disturbing video about what’s really happening in the gulf. It’struly heartbreaking. The man who took the video from a small plane compared the oil slicks he saw to deep bruises on the skin of the ocean and within its organs.Here’s his report. And the video:

Posted in alex, gulf, hurricanes | 10 Comments