You may have to wait a lot longer, if you’re posting that question in this thread, Polycarp.
It is connected! 
Okay…I’ll bite.
Why have fans of science ficiton in general and Spider Robinson’s work in particular been so vocal in panning Callahan’s Key?
Hey, I’m in too. (As long as someone explains how one can be a fan of science fiction and also like Spider Robinson. :D)
Quite simple; it’s because…
[spoiler]the gang from Callahan’s Bar moves en masse to Key West, picking up en route half the clichés in fiction, in order to save the Universe from…
a 1920’s style death ray!
And this is not a joke post – that is the actual plot of the book![/spoiler]
De gustibus non est disputandum! 
Ahh, it’s some kind of “Scalar Weapon”.
link
http://217.206.205.129/articles/174_deathray.shtml
article on this guy. 3 pages worth, with photos.
This guy’s been mentioned before, but that article is the first to say that he caused a media storm pre-WWI. He could be the one.
Here’s a link to that Fortean Times article on “Death Ray (Grindell) Matthews”: