Who We Are, The Story of Learn Ubuntu Org

9. Who is Thomas Joseph Nowak?

The Video Voyager is a Sci-Fi Comedy Novel written by Thomas Joseph Nowak. Now you might be wondering just who is Thomas Joseph Nowak and why is his book being sold here? Well first of all Mr. Nowak has generously agreed to donate all of the proceeds from the sale of his book to Learn Ubuntu Org Inc. Thomas Joseph Nowak is the Pen Name of our Founder Tom Judge. Actually Tom was an orphan from the Angel Guardian Orphanage and he was fortunate enough to be adopted and raised by two loving parents, Vera and Bernard Judge.
Thomas Joseph Nowak (aka Tom Judge) in the green room	When writing the book Tom decided to use what was his actual birth name as his pen name. So you could say that Tom Nowak is actually Tom Judges ugly twin brother. Below we will provide a link to get a copy for yourself but first maybe you might like to know some of the interesting behind the scenes facts about the Video Voyager.
After his mother passed in 1998, his original birth certificate was discovered. It was an old 1950's photocopy (white on black negative) and it showed that on April 9, 1953 he was born Thomas Joseph Nowak in Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn NY. Tom loved both of his adopted parents and has never met any of his birth family but is most grateful to his birth mother for carrying him to full term and giving him up for adoption in hope that he would have a good life.
Now, about the book ... If you like comedy adventure and Sci-Fi, are just a little bit on the geeky side, and can enjoy a good road story then this might be worth your reading. Lets start with the book cover. That is Telstar, the original and first US satellite that was launched on July 10, 1962. It was used for television and voice communications. Telstar 1 relayed its first, and non-public, television pictures—a flag outside Andover Earth Station—to Pleumeur-Bodou on July 11, 1962. For more on telstar you can follow this link to the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar
Tom Judge on remote in Cuba 1991	If you look closely at the pictures in the panels you will see actual pictures from Television Remotes around the world that Tom has worked on. This includes pictures from Africa, Cuba, Asia and the continental US. Tom worked in the 1980's and 90's as a field engineer providing tech support for television mobile units that covered sporting events. He has worked both as freelancer and on staff for most of the major Television Networks, including ABC, MSG Network, CBS, NBC, and ESPN.
Tom was on Safari at the end of a show in Nairobi Kenya, in 1980 when he took this shot of two lions, doing well... making more lions.Three cameramen were with him but Tom was the only one that got the shot. His comments on this shot were, "...The entire episode lasted about 30 seconds. Not much fun being a lion I guess." That day Tom got lucky by getting this shot.
Now for the Book Review... Times may change, and technology always changes, but people are still people and always a good source of stories and amusement. In a comical and often politically incorrect manner stories from behind the scenes in the 1980's were transported to the future and the 23^rd century...
Back in the 21st century Television Trucks roamed the world televising sporting events to the homes of millions. Behind the scenes there were many more interesting characters than some of the stars that they were televising. These were the unsung heroes of their day.	Mobile Television Production Compound Habana Cuba, 1991 Pan Am Games
The Video Voyager, a bucket of nuts bolts and vidiots	Now lets fast forward to the 23rd century. Instead of TV trucks we now have Television Space Ships, roaming the universe, televising sporting events back to good olde Terra Firma, that's earth for all of you land-lubbers. The Galaxian Network has just commissioned the latest and greatest vessel of them all, The Video Voyager IV, and in this story we follow a portion of her maiden 10 year voyage.
Along the way we get the know the TV crew, particularly Sparky, the chief maintenance engineer and his two close cohorts. Sometimes they are like the three musketeers, other times they are more like the three stooges.
1991 The Floridatita Bar, Habana Cuba One of Hemingway's Hangouts	A realistic and comedic relationship develops between the production and engineering crews throughout the story. Amid the televising of Gladiator Fights to the Death and Universal Olympic events the human story unfolds. Some things never change. An unlikely heroin emerges, sent by the Network to try to help cleanup the swashbuckling antics of this 'jolly roger' space television crew.

This high tech, sci fi -comedy novel is based on some real time war stories of actual television crews of our present times. The names have been changed to protect the guilty. Super high speed travel, high power transmission, and high pressure drive the crew to their brink of sanity. Along the way, we wittiness some great transformations of personalities as they deal with real life issues and find recovery via a 12 step program to change some of their lives forever. Even the bad boys of the crew prove to be quite heroic by their selfless actions as they save the life of a young boy in peril. In the end the ultimate success of their mission involves a spaceflight back through time. The book is 28 chapters in length, plus a short glossary of tech terms, approximately 325 pages total. It is an easy read and the story moves quickly. It gives the reader an in depth view about what goes on in the television control room and behind the scenes in sports broadcasting. The content has been carefully written to be clean enough for a near 'General Audience' rating although it has enough adult humor to entertain the sophisticated reader. The author uses his natural birth name, Thomas Joseph Nowak to pen the Novel. This is a name closely associated with space flight and controversy, in our present time. The book lives up to the name of the author in both content and excitement.
*All proceeds from book sales go to Learn Ubuntu Org Inc.* *(order from your choice of format and vendor below)*
	The Video Voyager is available in paperback or Nook format from Barnes and Noble click on the image on the left or the link shown below: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-video-voyager-thomas-joseph-nowak/1015309083?ean=9781432737238
	To order the Video Voyager in Kindle format from Amazon via the link below: http://www.amazon.com/Video-Voyager-Thomas-Joseph-Nowak/dp/1432737236
	The Video Voyager is published by Outskirts Press and you can also order Paperback copies of the book from there: http://www.outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?isbn=9781432737238
As of late, Tom Nowak has taken residence in the Philippines, with his lovely wife Maimai. He is somewhat of a celebrity there as depicted in the illustration, on the right. We hope you will purchase and enjoy the book as it helps support our non-profit, Learn Ubuntu Org, and our efforts to bring technical education to developing countries world wide. Cheers!