Skulls, Supercomputers and Sci-fi

I wrote The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx to entice my nephew to read. From my experience, boys enjoy science fiction, so that’s the genre I chose for the book.

When I write science fiction, I base it on science fact. The ancient supercomputer that Cliff Post discovers is composed of 13 crystal skulls.

I got the idea for the supercomputer from knowing that quartz has a piezoelectric property which means it can change electrical energy, not mechanical energy. Quartz is used in microprocessors in modern computers. So I reasoned that if a small piece of quartz in a modern computer can hold thousands of songs and thousands of books, imagine the information a piece of quartz the size of a man’s head could hold. From this, I created the fiction that 13 quartz skulls could form an ancient supercomputer.

There in fact is a real ancient computer, the Antikythera Mechanism. It was discovered in 1900 in a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek Island Antikythera by sponge divers.

Some facts about the Antikytrhera Mechanism:

• made of bronze and consisted of cog wheels.
• constructed in 82 B.C.
• accurately calculated the position of the Sun, Moon and Stars.
• on display at the National Archeological Museum in Athens, Greece.

I designed my book to be educational as well as entertaining. Alongside Cliff’s adventures, I describe the Egyptian Museum in Cairo as well as all of the sites. I even discuss the Egyptian diet.

In addition, in writing the chapter book I drew upon my experience as a teacher. I taught “An Introduction to Pediatric and Neonatal Respiratory Therapy at Northeastern University in 1983. I also was a Clinical Instructor for Northeastern University at the Children’s Hospital in Boston. For the past several years, I have taught the American Heart Association’s Advanced Cardiac Life Support course at my hospital.

I used my lecturing techniques to write the educational material in my book. I explain topics in their simplest form in order to make topics easy to understand. I also use examples in order to clarify subjects.

Between using subjects in which boys are already interested and using my teaching experience to simplify learning, my writing will hopefully entice more boys to Drop Everything And Read!

Five Star Review!

Reviewer’s summary: Egyptian archeologist, Dr. Abdul Saad, discovers a hidden chamber in the right paw of the Great Sphinx, and he asks his life-long friend, Dr. Cliff Post, who is an American archeologist, to join him on an expedition down below the Great Sphinx, which Cliff eagerly agrees to do. Before the expedition can get started, Cliff and Abdul must convince the Council on Egyptian Antiquities that cutting into the Great Sphinx will not permanently damage this ancient wonder of the world.

However, getting the Council to award the digging permit is not the only problem Drs. Post and Saad confront. Their other challenge is dealing with Dr. Hosnee Sadat, an Egyptian archeologist who wants to convince the Council that he and his team should be allowed to open the hidden chamber and all Westerners should be excluded from having anything to do with the project. Past dealings with European and American archeologists has left Dr. Sadat convinced that Westerners only want to steal the glory and the riches of Egyptian culture. Read more of the five star review at Grid Review!

My Interest in Egypt

My interest in Egypt began when I was 12 years old. My 6th grade teacher, Mr. Sawyer taught us about ancient Egypt. I was fascinated. Even though I was only 12, I decided that I would travel to Egypt when I grew up. I was introduced to ancient Egypt in Mr. Sawyer’s Social Studies class.

Egypt is fascinating, and the best thing about Egypt is that new discoveries are being made almost on a daily basis. For example, there is more and more evidence that Egypt had advanced technologies:

• The three pyramids of Giza are arranged in a Pythagorean triangle and are aligned with the stars in Orion's belt.
• The Giza plateau was leveled so accurately that it is only 1/2 degree off from being perfectly level.
• The Great Pyramid is built so accurately that it deviates from true North by only 1/2 degree.

I've learned many things about Egypt through traveling and through reading. I love reading, and I love libraries.

My reading on Egypt is always from books; I don’t use articles. The books I had read before I wrote The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx were The Sphinx Mystery, Secrets of the Great Pyramid, The Giza Power Plant and Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo

On my first trip to Egypt, I flew to Cairo. In Cairo, we toured the city and visited the Egyptian Museum. We traveled south down the Nile by bus. We then went to Luxor, the modern name for the ancient city of Thebes. We visited the Valley of the Kings, The Valley of the Queens and TheValley of the Nobles. We visited King Tut’s Tomb. Then we traveled further south almost to the Sudan border where we saw Abu Simbel. I describe all these things in my book because I wanted the book to be educational as well as a fun and entertaining adventure story.

I have always thought that children's literature should be fun and exciting, and I tried to instill a love of reading in my nephew. When Matt was growing up, I taught him every chance I got. I gave him books and read to him. I also feel that travel is educational, so I took him to Disney World when he was eight. I also took him on cruises to Bermuda, Florida and the Bahamas, and Hawaii.

Do you feel one is more educational than the other? Reading versus traveling? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Do Extraterrestrials Exist?

Do Extraterrestrials Exist?

There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy which is the galaxy our Earth is in.
There are 180 planets in the Milky Way which are capable of supporting life.
There are 100 billion galaxies in the Universe.

Therefore, statistically, the odds are against life on Earth being the only life in the Universe.
It is known that meteorites carry DNA and RNA into our atmosphere. This has been proven by NASA scientists. So, it has been proven that life exists elsewhere in the Universe.

However, does intelligent life exist within the Universe? 

Although reports of UFOs have existed since Roswell in 1947, no alien being has ever been captured.
If aliens exist, why haven't they visited?
Other planets exist tens of thousands of light years away.
Our civilization is not advanced enough to interest other intelligent beings because they are far too advanced than us.

The Piri Reis Map

The Piri Reis Map

The Piri Reis Map was designed in 1513 by Piri Reis, a Turkish admiral.

photo source

The most significant fact about this map is that it could only have been designed by a person with a knowledge of satellite photography.

It is the only know map drawn in the middle ages which shows the South American continent in its correct longitudinal position.

photo source

The coastline of Antarctica is shown as it existed 12, 000 years ago.
Antarctica was not discovered until 1819 by Nathaniel Palmer.

It was unknown at the time of the ancient Egyptians.
Yet, the Piri Reis map is astonishingly accurate in its depiction of the Antarctic
Coastline.

How this map was created is an enduring mystery.

Summer Reading Program from Away We Go Media

If your child is between 8-16 and interested in joining the Summer program, then sign up with this form.We can at this time only have 10 kids total. All kids will be picked to receive free books for review.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KUaWB_qyWEaEXqOF4j7FGiO4tQA4_J8TRIsGj3JzVbo/viewform
https://docs.google.com/

About the Invisible Stars Sirius B and C

photo source

The constellation Sirius is called “the dog star.”  It was the brightest star in the sky and the most important star for the ancient Egyptians.

Sirius has two companion stars Sirius B and Sirius C. Both of these stars are invisible to the naked eye and were only discovered through the use of telescopes.

There is a tribe in Mali, West Africa called the Dogon who have worshiped these stars for centuries.

The Dogon-photo source

The Dogon know about the four moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn which were also discovered using telescopes.

The Sirius mystery is simply: ” How did the Dogons acquire their knowledge of Sirius B and Sirius C.?

Those who believe in the Ancient Aliens assert that there was contact between extraterrestrials and the Dogon tribe in the ancient past.

photo source

This theory has been disputed by mainstream archaeologists and anthropologists.

The mainstream archaeologists and anthropologists assert that the tribe gained this knowledge from the researchers who were studying them.

Ancient alien theorists still maintain that there was extraterrestrial contact between the Dogons and ancient aliens.

It should be mentioned here that although the ancient alien question is intriguing; it is not accepted by the academic community.