The Cantor Dimension (26 page)

Halley's body was indeed found at Temple Farm and all of the historical bits and pieces regarding Temple Farm such as Sibble Parry and the Knights Templar connection were indeed, genuine. The murder of Edmond Halley started out as a small item of trivia in the story, taking up a paragraph or two, but once I started digging the story took on a life of its own. So many pieces were interconnected and it seemed that the more I researched, the more fascinating the story behind Edmond Halley's murder became.

Sir Edmond Halley the astronomer:
Halley did indeed invent the liquid version of the compass. In researching the history of the compass an unexpected connection came up concerning Edmond Halley of Halley's Comet. This led to researching Halley, which brought even stranger facts connecting Halley with the father of gravity himself, Isaac Newton. Such connections are revealed in the book, and are accurate. During my research one bizarre fact led to another, taking me on an unbelievable journey which I have shared with you in the story.

The portions of Halley's family tree including Sybilla Parry, Mary Freeman, Ann Robinson, and the various Parry's and Perry's were researched exhaustively in the hopes of providing accuracy.

Whether any compass made by Halley exists today is unknown. Other than the liquid-filled compass, we can only guess at the types of compasses Halley might have made during his life.

Georg Cantor:
Georg Cantor, whose correct spelling is Georg, was a renowned mathematician who lived from 1845-1918. His full name was Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philip Cantor, born of father Georg Woldemar Cantor and mother Maria Anna Bohm.

Georg was born in Russia, his family moved to Germany when he was 11 years old, and there he spent most of his life. He married Vally Guttmann, a friend of his sister, and together they had six children, one of whom died young. With the exception of the child who died, I was unable to learn the names or fates of the other five children. The various Bohms, Grimms, Guttmanns and Gutmanns were actual people whose connections were made as accurately as possible.

Georg Cantor's mathematical genius and discoveries are factual. He did indeed prove the concept of mathematical infinity and was thus ridiculed by his peers for most of his life as a charlatan, as is often the case with those whose ideas are ahead of their time.

If you are curious about any of the facts attributed to Georg, or any of his odd beliefs, I welcome you to research him for yourself. You'll find many of the facts that I've attributed to Georg to be accurate until I start connecting them to the fourth dimension. Perhaps if he had lived longer, Georg himself would have made the connections that become the Cantor Dimension.

Albertus Magnus and the Philosopher's Stone:
Everything attributed to Albertus Magnus is factual. The Philosopher's Stone is a genuine legend though it was not thought to be an actual stone. Magnus, Aquinas, and Newton's adventures with the Philosopher's Stone are factual, as are all the strange and wonderful tales surrounding the Betyl Stones, the time gods, meteorites, and so forth. While the Itzawisis meteorite was indeed stolen, we know nothing of its theft or whereabouts and the notion that it was turned into a series of rings is purely fictional.

Tailed Men:
The tall tales of the tailed men were indeed told in the ancient texts. Every account was taken from an old encyclopedia or other text. The curse of Strood was also a true account, though I cannot say whether the men actually possessed tails. As so many actually believed in the truthfulness of it, and some claimed to witness the tails firsthand, one cannot help but wonder if the stories were indeed true.

Weird Facts:
Offa, Thingfrith, Tugmutton Common, Bastard Green, the Prince of Transylvania, Charles Dickens and Urania Cottage, the Hundred of Hoo, the asylum, and the many other wild and wacky oddities I've sprinkled through the story are true to the best of my knowledge. If you don't believe me, I've included a lengthy bibliography so that you can check for yourself.

The science behind the story:
Upon reading the original version of this book for what seemed like the first time after so many decades, I loved the story but not the scientific premise which made it possible. Science fiction had come such a long way in my lifetime that I decided to reinvent the science behind the story.

The original version was based on astral projection, and the projection of the physical body from one place to another simply by willing it. In other words, mind over matter. This revised version, with a new scientific premise and a new name to match, has its basis in a strange string of scientific facts. The revisions transformed the book from a metaphysical mystery into an astrophysical mystery.

The Cantor Cube and the Cantor Space do exist, as does an electron bound to a hole and crystals in our brains. Most of the pieces that I've strung together scientifically do exist, though not connected as I've connected them. The history of the space-time theories do indeed go back 250 years and Einstein was not the only notable whose name was attached to space-time.

Writing this story was like taking a box of a thousand tiny puzzle pieces and fitting them together into a coherent whole. No doubt you'll read oddities and wonder if they exist or if that particular portion of the story is true. Go ahead, take a whirl around Google and see for yourself. You'll be amazed at how the truth is far more bizarre than fiction could ever be!

Gottingen:
Google translations of the original German text from Wikipedia make a reference to both Gotting and Gottingen for the pastor Josef Grimm. Other accounts of the incident reference Goetting. As all accounts are specific to the state of Bavaria in south Germany, and maps of the accounts show a town in Germany south of Munich near the southern border, this Gotting is not likely to be the same city as the Gottingen in central Germany where the university is located. Otherwise, all of the stories and references relating to Gottingen are factual.

Fictional characters:
The front story characters which include Brody, Max, Ellen, Jimmy, Pat, Eric, Mark, Jerome, Donny, the various policemen, and their respective friends and families are pure fiction. Max and his family, and Jerome, in particular, are fictional characters, not actual descendants of famous people. The entire front story is fictional including the bank robbery. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental.

Timelines:
1643-1727: Life of Isaac Newton
1656-1742: Life of the astronomer Edmond Halley
1691: Halley invents the liquid compass
1704: Debaufres and Duillier invent the jewel bearing
1754: d'Alembert makes reference to space-time
1832: Discovery of Xenotime crystals
1845-1918: Life of Georg Cantor
1862: Cantor enrolls in the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich
1880: Discovery of the Eagle Station meteorite
1879-1955: Life of Albert Einstein
1896: Einstein enrolls in the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich
1908: Minkowski puts forth the theory of a four-dimensional space-time continuum
1946: Discovery of the Itzawisis meteorite
2001: Theft of the Itzawisis meteorite

Copyright:
The Cantor Dimension was originally written in 1993 and officially copyrighted in 1994 under the title/author: The Unicorn Papers by Jessie Kincaid, an early pen-name of Sharon Delarose.

It was never formally published and sat forgotten among my many writings. In 2010 or thereabouts, I went on a mission to find the original computer document which had been created in an obscure software program that few of today's software programs can import from. After quite a bit of futzing around, I was able to extract the book and move it into my current software program where I could revise and release it officially.

Portions of the book were outdated which was fascinating unto itself. The original version did not have cell phones, DVD players, or MP3 players. A variety of other technical changes had to be made in order for the story to be current. You will still, however, find references to "dialing a telephone" as dial phones were still the norm at the time the book was originally written. Lacking a better way of wording it, I left those references alone.

Table of Contents

Other Books by Sharon Delarose
Bad Dog to Best Friend
Yankee, Go Home
Wedding Anniversary Gifts for Coin Collectors
Queen of T-Shirts
www.gityasome.com
www.villagetshirts.com
www.bearsware.com
Shareware Computer Games
for Macintosh & Windows
www.gipsyking.com
www.gypsyware.com
Out Loud - Amplified Whispers Blog
Dogs, insects, true ghost stories,
UFOs, humor, money, pay it forward,
and whatever else is on my mind.
www.gityasome.com/blog

Table of Contents

Sneak Peak at Bad Dog to Best Friend

From bad dog to best friend, shelter dog Dakota's story is a must for anyone with a problem dog. From pottying all over the house, chewing and destruction, Dakota was transformed into a dog who could be trusted with full run of the house all day.

She came to us as a problem dog, abandoned by owners who couldn't handle her. When we first adopted Dakota she couldn't be left alone for a single minute. One year later we took her on a road trip and she was a model citizen. Dakota now brings us laughter and joy instead of "Don't Kill the Dog" sticky notes. Every technique we used, both the successes and the failures, we offer in the hopes of helping other dog owners.

Don't give up on your dog and abandon him to the dog pound. You have the power to save your dog from a life of revolving doors and people who don't want him. Locked inside of every bad dog is a good dog who just needs a bit of encouragement to come out. Transform your dog into Man's Best Friend as he was meant to be. Bad Dog to Best Friend will help you learn the ropes.

Bad Dog to Best Friend is full of advice and dog training tips. It gives step-by-step methods for potty training your dog, teaching your dog not to chew, weaning your dog from a crate, and you'll get the inside scoop on why your dog doesn't listen to you. Learn about the Boss Dog syndrome and how to avoid common mistakes many dog owners make. All it takes to have a good dog is to be a good teacher.

For those of you with Australian Cattle Dog/Siberian Husky mixes, there's a whole chapter devoted just to the Ausky breed. If you own an Ausky you're in for a wild ride. Learn what to expect from your Ausky and how to handle the quirks of this unusual breed.

Excerpt from the book:

The nightmare weeks (I didn't know a dog could pee that much)

Potty training a yo-yo dog is a very challenging task. They are highly stressed from being bounced from home to home and they live in fear of being abandoned again. What does a stressed dog do? It pees.

Dakota had the secondary problem of being a nervous pee-er. If she was stressed, she peed. If she was excited, she peed. If you raised your voice one iota, she peed. If she was mad at you, she peed. If the urge struck, she peed. While putting the leash on to take her out to pee, she peed - every time.

Our first weeks with Dakota were a nightmare of hauling out the carpet shampooer and scrubbing the garage floor over and over again. We hadn't expected this level of commitment having been told she was already housebroken. You'd think that the days she spent in the garage would be easier but they were actually harder and a lot more work than the carpet shampooer.

Dakota dumped incredible quantities of poop when she was in the garage and she smeared it everywhere. Every single thing in her reach would be covered with poop by the time we got home from work, including Dakota herself. Amazingly she did not do this in the house, only the garage. Maybe the cement floor of the garage felt like a dog pound to her. Maybe not being in the house where her comfort zone was stressed her out. Who knew?

In addition, Dakota barked all day according to the neighbors. Even from the garage they could hear her two houses away, and she destroyed her water bowl. We hadn't put her good water bowl in the garage with her. Instead we left her with a butter bowl full of water on our workdays. As soon as we were out of sight she tipped the bowl over and proceeded to chew the butter bowl into a million little pieces. Everything we tried to do for her was a tug of war. We tried to do something good for her and Dakota turned it into a nightmare.

Don't kill the dog (That wild bucking bronco wallowing in dog poop)

My commute to work is an hour and a half each way so after working all day and then battling traffic, I'd come home to Dakota and the alien world she'd created in the garage with everything smeared in poop. Every evening before I could relax I had to scrub down the garage floor with a long handled scrubber and a hose and then hand wash every single thing that had been within her reach. Dried dog poop on a concrete floor doesn't come off easily. It turns into a super-glued cement and no amount of scrubbing will completely remove it. At least after that first day she hadn't smeared herself with poop again which was a small consolation during those hours of unexpected garage duty.

I have no doubt whatsoever that if anybody else had adopted Dakota, she'd have quickly ended up right back at the dog pound. There aren't many people willing to commit themselves the way we had to commit to Dakota. We were utterly miserable but we were also determined. I knew what Dakota's ultimate fate would be if we failed her and it wasn't a good one. Besides, Dakota was actually great fun. She had a unique personality and you couldn't help but love her. In her good moments she was utterly charming and she made us laugh a lot.

You have to see this from Dakota's point of view. Most people don't see it from a dog's perspective and that truly helps in training your dog and understanding them. Dakota had been bounced from home to home for seven months, she had been at the dog pound twice, and we were total strangers to her. She'd only been with us a few days when we left her in the garage. She had no way of knowing that this was part of her new home and not a dog pound. She had no idea if we were coming back or if this was another abandonment. She had no reason to trust us. Everybody else who had passed through her life had let her down. Dakota had to learn to trust in her new family unit and this would take time.