Elvis online

The final (I hope) version of Elvis: The Legendary tours is now on line for proofreading, testing, and comments. This has been through Distiller and ought to work OK with Mac preview.

If I already gave you the access details this version is on line as

http://www.forgottenfutures.com/review/elvis.pdf

Use the same user name and password as last time to access it.

If you haven't previously been involved and would like to be, send an email to marcus dot rowland at gmail dot com. I'll be limiting this to people I know, at least on line, and would like you to confirm in your email that you understand that the details of how to access this file, and the file itself, must not be passed on to others.

More "serious science" - Flatland movement

Ok... so... Flatlanders are rigid geometric shapes moving through some sort of vaguely defined medium - we know that it's air-like and has mist, Abbott implies it's ordinary fog. So how do they move, manipulate objects, etc.?

The first answer I came up with is cillia - zillions of microscopic filaments covering their surface, used for propulsion (but what are they pushing against? If it's air it must be VERY dense), to adhere to things, etc. It sounds good, but there's no evidence for it whatever, and Abbot makes a big point of how flat their lines are.

So I'm wondering... if they're genuinely one atom thick could it be some sort of quantum or electrostatic effect? In the thread on visual processes yesterday cdybedahl pointed out that there must be a lot of energy going spare if there's the omnipresent white light Abbott describes. Maybe they use some of it to move, manipulate and stick to things, etc. In fact they might use this energy for all their needs, using food only for growth and repairing wear and tear of the body etc.

What I need here is some hand waving - this is almost good enough to go in as speculation as it is, but a bit more would be nice. Or if someone has a better alternative please post a comment!