Friday, January 17, 2014

MEET THE CREW

WHO ARE YOU GUYS ? A series of re-posted material for our new visitors who may be wondering who runs this show. There is more than one person behind the AAB but we never use real names, there are good reasons why. But we want you to be able to trust our information and value our opinions, so in the first post below we explain why we use pen names and provide a little glimpse into the lives and careers of the people behind the AAB concept, the AAIS organization, and the actual writings published here. In the subsequent re-posts we introduce you to everyone sometimes by way of reprints of the their original introductions into print. You can scroll down to read each. This is the first time all of the crew biographical data has appeared in one long post. Originally these pieces were published over a period of about a year. After a suitable time as a blog post we will move this material to our site Introduction page so that new visitors in the future will be able to read about the crew anytime.

AAIS BIOGRAPHIES PART 1

WHO THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS ANYWAY?


CSS GENERAL STERLING PRICE

 One of the most frequently asked questions that I get from readers is simply "who the hell are you guys anyway?" This is often followed with some specifics such as "Why are so few of your posts actually signed or attributed to someone by name?" Well the second specific is easy enough to answer, many of the posts that are attributed to someone by name are simply attributed to a pen name. So as a matter of policy we go very light with real names around here and for good reason. You see the members of the loosely associated American Admiralty Informational Services , the well spring out of which the American Admiralty Books blog grew consists of a few new recruits, and the remnant of a now defeated army of truth seekers. That remnant is hotly pursued by forces of government and industry with things to hide. Much like Confederate General Sterling Price who ended the Civil War in Texas with only 300 men left from his original army, we decided not to surrender. Price crossed into Mexico and his story became the legend behind the old John Wayne movie THE UNDEFEATED. However Price and his stalwart brothers in arms were real flesh and blood human beings. They learned the price of dying undefeated was to die in poverty. 

 Most of us have already paid a price for telling truth to power. Compared to our credentials, levels of effort, and energy expended, our Federal careers in terms of rewards don't measure up to our peers who turned a blind eye to waste fraud, inefficiency, abuse and self aggrandizement in the Sea Services and maritime bureaucracies. Indeed even when we were able to hang on to our pensions our careers  resemble train wrecks. Over time we came to understand that what we have paid so far is but a down payment. Once we existed as a corporate force in the world of the Admiralty court system. We strode into court using our real names, took oaths to the truth, and signed papers. We survived for nearly twenty years but only under constant threat of corporate and personal ruin. Ruin came about two years ago. But we decided to cross our own generational Rio Grande and enter sanctuary in cyber space. From here we are reorganizing and assembling forces to publish the truth in our field, much to the chagrin of those in government and industry with something to hide. Truthfully American Admiralty Books is just the tip of the iceberg planned. So we have a fondness for projecting an image of a blog created by "Cyber Library Elves", and writers with nicknames like "Old Guy" (OG), and SEMI OLD GUY(SOG). We hope you never learn our real names but in order for you to trust us as a news source and source of book reviews and recommendations you need to get to know us. 

 So,  I'll try to provide you with some biographical material on our little informal group, real biographical information but assigned only by nick names or pen names. Today let's start with Og, Sog, Buck, and Vic.

Og refers to me the guy writing to you now. It's pronounced like a character out of the old cartoon strip ALLEY OOP and is simply derived from the initials of what I'm called in the third person around here "Old Guy".  In fact I'm 65, more than five years younger than the oldest among us who we won't be profiling today. But compared to some of our outlaw band I know that I appear two days older than water and one day older than dirt. My maritime career started at 17 years and 12 days old when, after an early high school graduation, I entered active duty with the U.S. Navy.


As young non rated seaman I liked the Navy and it liked me. But I was curious about all things maritime and eventually crossed over to the dark side and joined the U.S. Coast Guard where actual command at sea could be obtained by non commissioned petty officers. I enjoyed my first four years there but the all volunteer service had not been invented yet, I was getting older and realized that I could never support a family on even very senior enlisted pay.

 I transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, went to college on the GI bill plus my reserve pay and earned my first Merchant Marine Officer's license. I would earn others along the way including Unlimited Tonnage Master, First Class Pilot, Master of Sail and Chief Purser. I worked at sea, in the Jones Act trades and ashore as a steamship agent, admiralty law firm investigator, nautical arts and science instructor, marine safety manager, and eventually in the practice of maritime regulatory law and consulting within the formal organization that we will one day profile for you whose mission it was to fight junk science in the admiralty courts. At the age of sixty I took on a job with a Federal Executive Department Agency that had serious oversight responsibility for several federal nautical agencies and programs. I left that job at 64 retiring in protest over the growing technical incompetence, literal cover ups, and blind eyes turned toward the misdeeds of those we were supposed to be superintending. It was there that I learned that not only was telling truth to power unappreciated, and often punished, but that the so called "Whistle Blower Laws" were utterly toothless.

 I saw some really good people have all sorts of unnecessary pain imposed on them for the "crime" of being competent and truthful. When it became my turn on the rack I did something that only I was able to do because of age and prior services, I simply said "no thanks", took the pension, and ran. I'm all too well aware that just because I ran doesn't mean that I'm not followed. You see like General Price I didn't run home, and go sit in the rocking chair. I crossed a deep and wide river that my generation doesn't understand well, I crossed into cyber space. So that is why my name is Og. Pleased to meet you.

Sog is the cyber brain in the group. The name is pronounced just like the root in the word "soggy" and is derived from the initials that stand  for "Semi old guy'. Sog is about 39 and far from being even in the mid range of the group's average age. But Sog is the nominal informal second in command so I suppose that is how he got dubbed "Semi Old Guy".

Sog didn't originate the idea of the blog. He just started it and handed it to OG and said "see it can be done ". When Og said "easy for you to say, but I don't know the key strokes", Sog said "stop complaining and I'll show you". Sog often appears to lack a certain amount of respect for his elders like Og but then back at the bad old agency Sog was briefly Og's supervisor. Og quickly noticed that he was not the usual flash bang yuppie scum turned bureaucrat. In fact Sog beat Og out of the agency.
Sog is a graduate of one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the nation and is responsible for the "Maritime Literature" section (special page). Sog's maritime background was limited to leading the occasional audit into some government maritime activity, usually with no previous back ground. But unlike other government yuppies in similar situations Sog appeared to understand where experts were needed and sought them out. Sog is the go to guy in the group for correction of all "fat fingered errors"on the computer. For  a group of old guys lost in cyber space, Sog is the point man and guide. 
Sog has the longest potential for a resumed career in federal service and is under the deepest cover of anyone in the group. Sog is presently hiding out in Central America.

Buck is the son of Sog and is also presently hiding out in Central America. Buck is the youngest member of the team at three years of age.. No that's not a misprint. Buck is only three and he is a full fledged member of the team not a mascot .  Buck functions as attitude coach for all of us. As attitude coach Buck teaches through example the difference between courage and utter fearlessness.

The older military veterans among us have had to produce both physical and moral courage on occasion. We understand courage as being able to act despite being afraid. Courage is not the absence of fear. Frankly fear sucks. The better attitude is that of utter fearlessness physical and moral. Buck displays both kinds at all times. He jumps fearlessly from ill advised heights thinking if necessary, if he thinks at all at such times, that he can always fly. Buck jumps into piles of things without ever thinking that pointy sharp objects may lay within.

  Buck has no fear of social convention or other peoples' opinions. Buck is the only one among us with the nerve to walk into a group of women, nonchalantly remove his pants and skivvies and not streak, but stroll through the room. Challenged about his lack of pants does Buck hem and haw about, studder, and make excuses, NO! Buck smiles and simply replies "need air"'. That's utter fearlessness gentlemen! That's the attitude we all need to make a new career telling truth to power! But we settle for courage, we manage our risk, we hide behind pen names! But we always have before us the incredible image of utter fearlessness and the joy in life it brings when you really live without fear in Buck. Buck is an example to us all! And that's why at 3 years of age we honor him with the title "coach". Buck leads and teaches by example!

VIC was our first outside contributor. Vic is not an acronym for anything it's a first name. The name is Vic Socotra. But as you've probably guessed it's not his real name. In fact I'm not even sure that I know his real name.  We do know that in the real world Vic was a a naval "spook", a senior intelligence officer who retired as a full captain after decades of active naval service. Vic writes a lot but sometimes we are never quite certain when in fact we are reading actual "Vic"stuff because he uses more than one "pen name". He does have a blog http://www.vicsocotra.com/   it's extremely entertaining , I read it daily. He even has pictures of himself posted there, but they are at least twenty years old. But hey, they are actual photographs that's as close to real identity as you'll ever get with this group. 


 Vic has traveled the world and spent more time inside the Washington DC "Beltway" than all the rest of us combined. Anyone who ever speaks with "Vic" can tell that he is educated up the wazoo but nobody knows where. It's probably one of the many things about Vic that he "could tell ya but then he'd have to kill ya". When I was inside the belt way several of the young people in my cube farm joined the Naval Intelligence Professionals, an organization that Vic writes for frequently. As truth telling became more common place but unpopular in my agency my young co-workers became known as the "Outlaw Band". One of my greatest regrets about leaving when I did is that the outlaw band always wanted to meet "VIC" but never did. It was felt that "Vic" combined spook trade craft , with a knowledge of intellectual property law, and insider bureaucratic culture to get said what was needed to be said and avoid brass rage. He was perceived as doing this with skill and aplomb, that even while protecting himself he almost appeared to reach the Buck level of fearlessness. Its kind of like Buck and his belief that he can fly. I think the outlaw band felt that if they could meet the Vic standard of trade craft in protecting themselves they would have the confidence that Buck has in his ability to fly. Fearlessness bred from a belief in invulnerability.


 We rely on Vic for historical backgrounds, and regional insights, and once in while for a bit of wimsy that can turn to wisdom like the Great NAMAZU story that morphed into the Namazu School of Climatology and eventually the hiring of the Great Namazu as a full time analyst. If you weren't here in the beginning of the blog nearly two years ago you may learn all about the Great Namazu in our special section EVERYTHING NAMAZU. . Vic moves in crowds that read Iranian news papers in Farsi, or whatever lingo they are flapping their gums in these days. He has friends who have spent time in Russian jails. He was a personal friend of ''Admiral Mac", but if you want to know who "Admiral Mac" is you'll have to read your "Daily Socotra". We often get our inside track on maritime events through his insights gained from his contacts. You may never find the rest of us as individuals on Face Book but you can get to know "Vic" by clicking on http://www.vicsocotra.com/


 So that's the opening crew, it grew as time went on, some out of the original junk science combatant organization. We'll continue with "VJ", "Capn Ben" and the "YODA". We're a motley but truth telling and insightful crew. We appreciate your visits. Every time you click on us you give us a new lease on life. Rest assured that when you need maritime information we'll be here ,unless they catch us.

Portrait of Major General Sterling Price, C.S.A.
CSA Major General Sterling Price, Buck in another life?


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WHO THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS ANYWAY? PART 2

Editor's Note: 
Anyone new to the blog can't help but notice that we rarely attribute posts to real people. Either one of our fish staffers writes the article or one of our humans using a pen name. We have a reason for that. We often have to tell truth to power or truth about power. Power doesn't like truth so we try to insulate the staff from power on the rampage.
"The Crew" photographed per our standard practice back to camera (Photo Credit Imperial War Museum PD), Here the crew is examining another government skeleton in the closet



Meet Vegee and Yoda

"Vegee" is a retired senior commissioned officer of one of the sea services that will go unnamed, a marine educator, and lawyer, a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Mechanical Engineering and a leader in the maritime labor movement as well as a working licensed U.S. Merchant Marine Engineering Officer. He was once the commanding officer of Og and later his academic boss when Og was a nautical educator. It was Vegee who taught Og "there is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting". Vegee has written for publication many times and actually signs his real name. You have read something by him in our blog not so long ago as a news release. He has an official position within the National Mariners Association. Vegee is actually older than Og which really makes him one day older than water and two days older than dirt but he is the one among us who exemplifies the Buck attitude of utter fearlessness.

 The Yoda is so named because he is small of stature but a mental and spiritual giant, and he literally lives in a South Louisiana swamp that looks for all the world like the Yoda lair in Star Wars. The Yoda is a former nautical arts and science educator and author of nautical texts many times over. He virtually invented the National Mariner's Association. He has a 1600 ton ocean master's license and experience working in the offshore oil and mineral industry both on board ship and in management. He has often been constructively critical in print about certain Coast Guard policies and programs. Despite the fact that his criticisms of the USCG have been constructive, as we have so often said  power doesn't like truth and he has been called in print "Coast Guard Public Enemy Number One". Unfortunately for the USCG the YODA has never been proved wrong in the long haul. We don't call him the YODA for nothing. You have read many pages of his stuff if you read the National Mariners Association reports some of which we have reprinted on these pages. In the maritime world there is only one Yoda and in South Louisiana we know how to find him.
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"CAPN BEN
    "Capn Ben", with the exception of "SM" (Surfing Muse), is the youngest member of the motley crew and a working ship's officer more often than not at sea. He is our video producer, you see his work in our introductory video that you can link to at our "Home Page". He is also a contributor and nominally responsible for the OCEANOGRAPHHY and NAVIGATION sections. We say nominally responsible because he is so often at sea that we have to rely on staff for much of the content, but "Capn Ben" has produced a number of free tools that mariners may link to in navigation that help turn your lap top into a powerful navigational tool, especially in terms of voyage planning.  He is responsible for a number of the entertaining links in the OCEANOGRAPHY SECTION. In addition to being a U.S. Merchant Marine Officer actively working, Capn Ben is a graduate oceanographer with extensive voyaging and research experience in the tropical Pacific. Capn Ben is also a professionally trained diver and occasional contributor to our diving sections. Capn Ben is only 30. By the time he is as old as the Yoda he will be so awesome it will be scary. Our greatest fantasy about keeping the truth in front of power, the sort of poking the enemy in the eye dream , is to envision Ben running the  AAB ' AAIS at 80 years of age when the rest of us are long gone. We like to picture future heads of Federal agencies scratching their heads and pondering...."who the hell are these guys??? Are they immortal?" We're not, but the truth is with some of the crew under 40, some beyond reach of the Feds, and one almost immortal catfish on staff we should be around and really annoying for generations. 
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SURFING MUSE ("SM"): 
 "SM" is the "teen aged surfing dude" that we hired to run the slowly evolving surfing SECTION and SHOP. He's not much for writing and frankly we don't understand half of what he says but surfers seem to understand him. We fear that he is not too tightly wrapped. We rarely let him out in print but once in while if he has a sale going, or there is a major surfing event we let him rip. Its always an experience....we just presume the surfing crowd actually understands his language.
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 This is "The Great Namazu", 3,000 year old Japanese former demigod now employed by us as our lead maritime analyst. How we came to meet him, his previous work history, previous affiliations and in depth knowledge of all things having anything to do with the ocean is such a long story and he has so many fans that we have to devote an archive to him. If you have not read any of Namazu's posts you might want to learn a bit about him before you respond to his famous call to order...
"GREETINGS BIPEDS"  To learn more about this crew members click on EVERYTHING  NAMAZU.

 We know it is a stretch to ask you to believe that a 3,000 year old catfish writes as an analyst for us. Perhaps its best to just let Namazu explain it (more or less), once he took issue in print after being called a pen name, we reprint his diatribe below.

WHERE'S NAMAZU?  AS USUAL RIGHT IN MANAGEMENT'S FACE

OK BIG GUY YOU HAVE THE FLOOR
Namazu, Giant Japanese Catfish And Former Demigod, Turned Maritime Analyst
 One of the things I admired about American Admiralty Books before I offered my services to them was their obvious freedom from political correctness. I appreciated the need for pen names for many of the staff because after 3,000 years of observation I know how governments work and what can happen to the politically incorrect, or simply non political. I have no issues with the bipeds using pen names. So I read with interest Johnas Presbyter's recent offer to indirectly reveal his true identity to purchasers of a certain book that he was a contributor to. To drum up interest in the book he offered buyers a cryptic revelation of his true identity by identifying to buyers who requested it, the page number where his essay appears under his true name.

 Frankly I thought that cheapened the whole process of blog contributor identity protection. It looked like a cheap promotional stunt, a sales gimmick. Really I thought it was the cheapest until I noticed that Johnas stuck a book cover icon hyperlink into MY complaint about the tactic. JOHNAS THAT WAS A Cheap shot!   But I really didn't ask for space today to complain about cheap sales tactics. The "Where's Waldo" tone of the whole thing coupled with the fact that more than 90% of the contributing writers here feel they must use pen names makes me fear for my own credibility with the readers.  SO I ASKED FOR SPACE SO I COULD PUBLICLY DECLARE THAT I DO NOT USE A PEN NAME. I AM NAMAZU AND I AM AS REAL AS A HEART ATTACK.  I said it, I meant it, and I'm here to represent it. Consider this

 (1) As a legend it is common knowledge that I have been around since ancient times. Check this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namazu_(Japanese_mythology)  I have been described in Scientific American: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2012/03/10/namazu-the-earthshaker/

(2) There are many images of me dating back hundreds of years.   




(3) I am written about all over the Internet and my image appears often on Internet pages not affiliated or connected with American Admiralty Books or American Admiralty Informational Services in any way.  I am part of a class of well known beings from the vicinity of Japan called Namazu-e, there are books written about us.

Front Cover As I explained in my now famous "DEFENSE OF THE RE-EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS OF FORMER DEMIGODS" which was my response to the Religious Right's objections to my employment as a published analyst I did not chose the job title of "Demigod" that was thrust upon me and the other Namazu-e. We are now, and have always been personifications of forces of nature, in my case coastal earth quakes and tidal waves. We are not specifically "Pagan". I in fact, am a monotheist as I explained in my defense of my reemployment rights. That fact, plus my flawless theology ( I'm a fish I can't be baptized or be "born again", but my existence is defensible, and, well I gotta make a living) seemed to make peace between the Religious Right and myself. Now with all the "hoop la" over Johnas Presbyter making a game out of the fact that he is a real person using a fake name to publish things that his former government employers might not like I feel like I have to defend myself as a real intelligent being.

(4) Since I've been around for about 3,000 years I am not copyrighted, I am not a trade mark, I am not a domain name and can not be made such since my name has been known for thousand's of years, I'm real, I'm independent, I'm part of the public domain, I m a free agent and could write any where for any body. I AM NOBODY'S PEN NAME. 

,  I am as real as a heart attack. I'm Namazu and I approved this message!

PS: Tell Johnas Presbyter or whatever his real name is to stop being so cheap and hire those research assistants I asked for.
---------------------------------------------------------------------MEET NAMAZU's NEW HIRE: He may be a mere ghost but he is a powerful legal mind:

We would like to introduce you to our senior legal analyst. How he came to work for us is a most unusual story.

   File:Brandeisl.jpg  INTRODUCING OUR NEW (TO US ANYWAY, HE HAS ACTUALLY BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK A FEW TIMES) LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, LOUIS BRANDEIS, FORMER ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT FROM 1916 to 1939.  He has actually been dead for quite a while but recently Namazu made a trip up to DC while visiting with his cousin Jack in and around Annapolis. Both Namazu and Jack had assumed their human forms when they bumped into the ghost of Brandeis on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building. Apparently former demigods can see  and communicate with the dead and according to Namazu, Brandeis immediately recognized not only Namazu as a demigod but could see right through his assumed human form and being an excellent student of Asian history knew exactly who he was and that his normal form was that of a Giant Catfish. Cousin Jack however was a mystery to the good Judge. However Justice Brandeis is such a scholar that even Namazu withstood the temptation to exclaim..."You don;t know Jack?!". Well as things go with the big catfish the friendly banter quickly turned to things maritime, in this case admiralty law. As it turned out not only has Justice Brandeis participated and written opinions in many an admiralty case, but he was actually interested in doing some writing for publication again. Of course being a ghost we can't use  the hydrophones like we do with Namazu. But Namazu generously agreed to transcribing from Justice Brandeis' dictation. Tomorrow the Justice will hold forth on his first scholarly article in decades. Meanwhile we thought that we'd let the Great Namazu introduce our guest corespondent.

Johnas Presbyter, Editor

 NAMAZU, FORMER JAPANESE GIANT CATFISH DEMIGOD AND NOW MARITIME ANALYST WITH AAB.

 Greetings bipeds! I am very pleased to introduce our readers to my new friend, a real gentleman and scholar, former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Louis Brandeis. Louis was born November 13, 1856 and departed physical life on October 5, 1941. In between entry and departure from the planet he served the law of the United States. He literally coined the term "right to privacy" in one of his early law journal articles. He was known as something of a "Robin Hood lawyer" taking up many social justice causes pro bono before he was nominated to the Supreme Court bench over heavy opposition. Concerning that heavy opposition Justice William O. Douglas said "Brandeis was a militant crusader for social justice whoever his opponent might be. He was dangerous not only because of his brilliance, his arithmetic, his courage. He was dangerous because he was incorruptible. . . [and] the fears of the Establishment were greater because Brandeis was the first Jew to be named to the Court."  His nomination over came the opposition and Louis was seated on the Supreme Court which is of course making a long story short`. In our conversation on the court house steps Louis spoke eloquently about his concern for the American seaman. He has graciously agreed to provide us with an occasional post providing tips to the lawyers of injured American Seamen. Johnas and Og were thrilled to have him aboard since we've been needing a legal analyst and as a ghost he seems to have few monetary demands and most of his images are in t he public domain. We should have his first post up tomorrow.

Namazu



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  This is "Beastie" if you have ever caught a man sized fish don't tell him he gets upset. He is our fish video editor. We hired him when we had a short lived regular feature called "EPIC FISH FIGHTS". But when you try to show a truly epic fish fight every week after a while you have to down grade your definition of "epic". When we started "epic" was beyond "awesome", then degenerated to a point where we were simply showing really big fish being landed. We decided to stop the feature but to retain "Beastie" as fishing video editor. We make no attempt to keep to a schedule. A fishing video now can be epic, awesome, or merely instructional, or entertaining, even funny. "Beastie" is constantly on the look out for cool fishing videos. We decided to keep him on despite the irregularity of the feature because he literally works for chum and we felt that it was important to have at least two fish on staff.
 You see among the Feds who hate us there are some who claim that we have no freedom of speech based on our previous employment. But even our worst enemy within government has to the make the exception...."except for fiction". Well Namazu and "Beastie" are real as heart attacks but the Feds are so lacking in imagination that we are able to pawn their writings off as fiction, I mean really analytic articles written by big fish! Our readers should not be fooled however the intense intelligence behind these finny authors is obvious but if confronted by the Fed censors we'll swear its fiction.



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THE WAREHOUSE CREW 

 We're not just egg head sailor/ writers there is real work to be done. We actually do have a physical "warehouse" though it is not full of "books" in the conventional sense. It is full of very real documents , box loads, some bound in paper, others on floppy disks in now obscure old word processing programs. These binders, papers, and floppy disks contain a lot of truth from our previous organization's war on junk science. But they are protected by  legal client confidentiality ethical and legal considerations. To glean the lesson from this vast data bank we have to carefully review, redact, edit to protect client confidentiality and convert to currently used electronic format. Just physically it takes a lot of handling. 

 However, there is a lot of useful legal argument and insight, citations, and other lessons to be gleaned from the 20 years of court cases represented by this mammoth pile of material. But not one twittle or jot of this collection of admiralty wisdom may escape our clutches without processing to assure client confidentiality, even though many of the original principles are now dead and some of the law firms have closed. We have temporary and hourly help with this task. To help insure they are not harassed or wooed into compromising this material we keep their real identities secret. They are an important part of our little band and deserve to be included as "crew". We first introduced this group in the Christmas season of 2012 when we really did take on some temps. These are not their real names. Their foreman is called "Bruno"and one is named "VIC" but is no relation to Vic Socotra.

  We ran a kind of humorous  "portrait" of the group and let BRUNO "speak" for the group twice. On the second post we actually ran images of the "warehouse crew" out of costume. Then our security chief (  who insists on having no name, which is OK because he has no personality) suggested that real images are about as bad an idea as real names. Unfortunately in the reprint of the second article below the "crew portraits" have been redacted. But for better or for worse meet the ware hose crew and their story. Rest assured they aren't nearly as shady as their literary persona, but their "stories" and nick names tell you a lot about their self images


SATURDAY DECEMBER 22, 2012 THROUGH CHRISTMAS DAY THE HOLIDAY NOTICE BOARD.

Hi I'm Bruno and from your right to your left as you face da line up dats Vic, Ratso, Febber, Mangy, and Skeet. We're da temps for da holidays. Da regular work force around here, ya know dem guys Og, Johnas, da little puke "Surfing Muse", and all dem "library elves" dey took off for da Christmas holiday weekend. Dey all outta town. But our parole officer says we gotta stick close by so we holding down da shop while the regular guys go spend time wid their families, ya know like wives and such. You probably heard that Og guy talk about his wife "SWWBO"which I think stands for "She who would be obeyed." Dey told us to tell youse visitors dat all systems is working except da NEWS SERVICE which dey didn't think we could keep up. Dey also told us to stay off da hydrophones to da "Big Catfish" whoever dat is, so we guess you ain't gonna hear much from da "Big Catfish" over Christmas week end. But every other section of the blog is working OK. Here's da thing. Dey got a lot of last minute gift ideas described below. Da Og guy says if we do a really good job we might get to stay on beyond New Years. Our parole officer thinks dats a really good idea. So here is what we wanna ask you guys. There are all these gift ideas all over the blog and dey opened some on line shops in da Fishing, Surfing, and Diving sections.  ( Editor's note: We now have an on line shopping mall) If while ya reading the free on line books, or watching the free linked videos in the different subject pages if you could click on some of our advertisers or buy something already, dat would really makes us look good to dat Og guy when he gets back. Then they might keep us gainfully employed. Dats good! Dat keeps us off da street. Youse wouldn't wanna meet us on da street.  We thank you. Happy Holidays! 
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INTRODUCING BRUNO, VIC, RATSO, FEBBER, MANGY, AND SKEET

Thanks to your confidence as exhibited by shopping our site over the long Christmas week end, our temporary Christmas crew has earned a permanent position in the American Admiralty Books operation as forklift operators in the warehouse, and part of the shelving crew. The next time we do another installment in our series "Who the Hell are These Guys" we'll try to get you biographies on each of these now thoroughly reformed ex cons. Meanwhile thank you for your confidence and giving these guys an "even break".


Front: Bruno, against the wall: Vic, Ratso, Febber, Mangy, and Skeet
Below, their mugs before they went in the joint:
EDITORS NOTE: UN-COSTUMED PHOTOS REMOVED FOR SECURITY REASONS
                                                                  Bruno
               Vic                         Skeet                           Mangy                        Febber

Another reason we decided to keep "the boys" around; Louisiana just discovered a scam on the states's offshore oil deposits worked by three former governors back in the 1930s. This scam has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to their descendants that should have gone to the state treasury. We may write about that as the story unfolds and there is nothing like having some former crooks around when analyzing ancient scams by now long dead crooks lining the pockets of their grandchildren at tax payer expense.
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THE LIBRARY ELVES:
 Cute Baby Elf Photo by Petr Kratochvil only known photo of a library elf

We have no idea how many of these are about the premises here in cyber space, or their names. None of us have actually seen one but we see the results of their work all the time. even as I write this they are at work building our on line mall. These are the couriers who move  messages back and forth, stack and sort our information, proof read, correct grammar and spell check, store and retrieve useful images, receive and sort the mail, the list is endless. They live inside our computers and must be really tiny....and fast. But I swear they are real, look Petr got a clear picture of one through a electron microscope! When you are 66 and new to cyber space they are about as close to a logical explanation of how cyber space reality works as I'll ever come up with. So that's why we often attribute our progress to the amazing "library elves", they are crew too believe it or not. To quote a line from the movie "STRIPES"...."and that's the fact Jack!". Look at the intelligence behind those beady little eyes caught on camera just before dashing off at light speed to accomplish our bidding,
We usually can't see 'em but we want them to know we appreciate all they do.




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