Chapter 68: A New Age of Speed and Power

[ladygrady]

You just "happened" to be there when Linda made her runaway break? Whatever you say Mr. Twigsnapper. My only comment is " Sir, you do get around, don't you?"

I wanted to comment on your last Chapter also Paul.

I see oh so many levels going on here and I thought that the organizational chart for " Project Winterhaven " was absolutely telling.

And of course, Langley with his expertise has already picked up on the part about detecting atomic blasts. Indeed. Sooooo who else was involved in this " atomic testing detection service?"

Wouldn't the English have wanted in on that or were the Americans and English not sharing atomic information that much? Seems to me their intelligence services have a long history with each other and Dr. Brown and William Stephensons network seemed arm in arm to me. Has everyone forgotten that wartime connection? And now we have Dr. Brown staying at the house of one of the heads of the French resistance. Now thats downright telling, don't you think? grady

[Paul S.]

And of course, Langley with his expertise has already picked up on the part about detecting atomic blasts. Indeed. Sooooo who else was involved in this " atomic testing detection service?"

Just FYI and FWIW, I left that part about the 'bomb detection' business in there precisely because of Langley's recent input and partly for his benefit. Without that input I might have skipped over that, but when I saw it recently I thought... hmmm.... better mention this.

It's that business that we picked up on -- and, grady, I think you quoted from Cook (must go back and read ALL that!), about the nexus "of stealth and atomic energy" that has me keeping an open mind on that subject and, hopefully, figuring out how to tie it all together.

Threads weaving together, indeed. Still a lotta holes in the fabric, though.

--PS

[Paul S.]

I think he was, I think he was!!!!! and do you know how I know? Take a look at what Mr. Twigsnapper told Griffin regarding his meeting with Dr. Brown on Catalina. I won't spoil it. Look for yourselves!!!! Its a reference to his relationship with Linda Brown.

HE was the man in the black Cadillac. Bet a million dollars that I don't have!

Am I right Mr. Twigsnapper? Am I right?

Well, you got your answer Victoria. Nice work. I think even Linda will be surprised to learn her the identity of her 'Good Samaritan.'

This whole process reminds me of a shaggy dog story my step-father used to tell about the German plumber:

All the pipes in the town are clogged. All the Great Plumbers in Europe are summoned. None can solve the problem. Then this wizened old plumber volunteers his services, and after the town fathers finish laughing he disappears down a man hole, takes out his Golden Hammer, and knocks three times on a pipe. Suddenly all the town's plumbing is flowing freely again.

A week later the town fathers get a bill for 10,000 marks. They are outraged -- 10,000 marks for three knocks with a silly golden hammer? -- and demand an itemized accounting. Another week passes and the plumber sends this itemized bill:

For knocking: 10 marks per knock = 30 marks.

For KNOWING WHERE TO KNOCK: 9,970 marks.

Sometimes I know where to knock. It's good that there are others who know where to knock when I don't.

Thanks.

--PS

[Victoria Steele]

Now I am NEVER going to get that song out of my head!!!!!

Thank you Paul for the Thank you. It means alot to me, it really does. Now I am good for many more miles!

And Mr, Twigsnapper,

You are truly the gentleman I have always taken you for. Thank you for your quick response.

And Flow. Thank you for finding that thread from Valone. I remember it.... but your link from that to the Mojave and things happening there is .... intuitively interesting.

Griffin, after re reading some of our responses ( actually some of my BROTHERS) I can see that we rubbed on you a little bit. SOME of that might be a normal reaction to a newcomer. Some of us too are just plain crazy jealous that you got to spend some time actually talking with Townsend Brown. face it guys, we are sorta.

But the thing about the sister being upstairs and not quite ready yet ..... gives us all time to get to know each other and like Flow said . we are all in this ... it is really one for all and all for one! ..... So I just want to say ( ahead of time because I haven't really gotten to ragging on you yet) that I do apolgize for being somewhat strident sometimes. This whole subject means alot to me and I will agitate and pressurize and anything I have to do to help bring out the details that I think that we all need to see and needs to be told. Warning up front. Victoria

[Victoria Steele]

And Trickfox,

I appreciate entirely where you are coming from but this is the thing that I find fascinating. Dr. Brown apparently was not the math person in his group. It was Beau Kitselman. BUT THIS WAS AFTER THE FACT. I mean .Dr. Brown reached his conclusions and apparently BUILT STUFF without having the math to back him up.

Thats why no one has been able to follow him.! Because they haven't gotten the math yet? So do you see what a vital role you are playing right now?

. NO ONE is going to be able to really follow him until they come up with the math BUT EVEN DR. BROWN COULD NOT HELP YOU HERE BECAUSE HE DIDN'T USE IT. HE WAS THE HOBBIT THAT KEVIN IS.

So I really see the problem that you have in front of you and if you feel like you are alone out there. Maybe its because you are? For awhile? Maybe there is a reason for that? See what I mean? Victoria

[Victoria Steele]

Paul, you said :


Threads weaving together, indeed. Still a lotta holes in the fabric, though

YEAH but they are " Schatzkin holes" which are decidely smaller than Valone holes or Cook holes , or heaven forbid, Vassilotos holes, Not to mention the one big hole that got me started in this .... the Moore Hole"

Victoria

[kevin.b]

Victoria Steele,
The math.
It's devine, time will show the wiser.
In a field where I walk my dogs every day.
A hand rested on my shoulder under a tree here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkIBvJs_WJY
I was helping the bar stay upright , as this was played.
Kevin

[Paul S.]

Not to mention the one big hole that got me started in this .... the Moore Hole"

I think that one qualifies as a crater.

--PS

[Chris Knight]

Victoria,

I hate to laugh at that one, but...

Thanks for the good laugh - you're always alright in my book.

[kevin.b]

As someone mentioned a bell, don't ignore it.
http://deoxy.org/video?v=1748298535022015119
kevin

[Langley]

Just FYI and FWIW, I left that part about the 'bomb detection' business in there precisely because of Langley's recent input and partly for his benefit. Without that input I might have skipped over that, but when I saw it recently I thought... hmmm.... better mention this.

--PS

Ta.
http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=ge ... =AD0422423

Descriptors : *SEISMOGRAPHS, SEISMIC WAVES, BIBLIOGRAPHIES, EARTHQUAKES, LITHOSPHERE, BLAST, UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS, DETECTION, EARTH(PLANET).

http://sss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/5/743
Kai-Henrik Barth

Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, [email protected]
The present paper analyzes the transformation of seismology from a small academic discipline to a large academic-military-industrial enterprise during the 1960s. In the late 1950s scientists, diplomats, and policy-makers recognized that improved seismological knowledge was crucial for the detection and identification of Soviet underground nuclear-weapon tests. Consequently, the Eisenhower administration initiated a comprehensive research and development program in seismology, known as Project Vela Uniform. Vela Uniform, managed by the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, increased annual federal support for US seismology by more than a factor of 30. An analysis of the origins, mechanisms, and consequences of Department of Defense patronage for seismology is at the center of this paper. I emphasize the role of scientific advisory groups and mission agency program managers in negotiating the field’s research directions. I argue that despite massive Department of Defense patronage, academic seismologists did not lose control over their field. They participated actively in the transformation of their discipline, realizing that arms control requirements offered a unique opportunity to modernize their field. This suggests that the case of seismology challenges some of the assumptions of the ‘distortionist’ theory, the dominant historiographical approach to science in the Cold War.

Key Words: Cold War • knowledge production • military patronage • Project Vela Uniform • scientific discipline • seismology

Vela Uniform = Mucho Grando research buckos. To me, its yet an example of how the whole thing is logically consistent with what was going on. Like if one was putting a proposal for funding these days you'd mention "global warming" at least once. Back then, if you mentioned something like "remote detection of distant atomic detonations" it would have a similar effect on the people considering the funding. Now Winterhaven 1953 is a bit early, but it shows Brown was onto it. If it were about hostile acts of war, well you'd just need to look around at the carbonised cinders. But if you attempting to monitor the Soviets test program then that is crucial.

How Texas Instruments used its skills to contribute and gain from Vela Uniform:
http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/his ... onvela.htm

[Paul S.]

Well kids, I've got good news and bad news about what comes next.

The good news is I found the lead-in for the next chapter, which is always a good sign. I tend to write in a rather linear fashion. Everything starts to flow after I've figured out the first sentence or two. One word, one sentence, in front of the other. A bit like walking.

The not-so-good news (it's not really bad news at all) is that as I'm starting to sift through the material for this next one, I'm discovering that it's going to cover a LOT of ground, and that a LOT of those "threads" we've been talking about are going to converge in the coming time and space. I am going to have to spend a lot more time sorting, sifting, cutting and pasting before I'm done. This one is going to take some very delicate spinning and weaving.

I know you guys all go stir crazy if it tweek.akes me more than a week to get another chapter posted, so you might want to start thinking now about what to do with yourselves.

And: I know I swore I was not going to leave my post until I got this first draft finished, but I've got a long weekend scheduled in the North Carolina hills next week (10/11-14) and it just seems unlikely that I'm gonna have it done before then.

So keep your fingers crossed, and throw in a prayer or two while you're at it.... but just in case, well, there ya go.

--PS

[flowperson]

STIR...STIR...STIR... hey Paul, if you're near Blowing Rock say hi to Carl Sandburg's spiritual remains will you ? Another of my heroes. If his spiritual presence is anywhere on this planet these days, it would probably be there. STIR...STIR...STIR !

BTW...great Robert Beckwith quote...another of my heroes.

flow....

[Victoria Steele]

Oh .... I SUPPOSE ...

Maybe walking in the hills of North Carolina would be a really good thing.

I have friends who say that is their favorite all time state. ( Next to 'HIGH", of course, but they are really not that bad any more, just some slightly displaced -in- time hippies. Seems to be enough room in North Carolina for really advanced thinkers AND the people who are scouting Alpaca farms for their next seasons supply for their spinning wheels..( guess what, they are generally the same folks!)

So enjoy the color and the drive. I am sure that we can find something to do around here and we promise to not chew on each other too much! At least I promise <g>,

Just throw us a tidbit as you walk out the door? Its just getting so good and I have to tell you that I am fascinated by Mr. Twigsnapper admission just recently that he was there when the Browns were running the Laundry.

This quote is from Morgan right? I loved it

So the years clicked off. The nagging from the FBI continued, his family fortune dwindled away, there were occasional bad credit instances and a few bounced checks, the sad letters written home to a near starving family. Eventually one of this country’s finest scientific minds was busying itself washing soiled clothing for customers. He made a point of declaring to any bystander that he was "finished with science forever." Feathers settled into the dust and the mole’s employers finally dismissed the whole situation...

There is alot to talk about right in that comment.. " He made a point of declaring to ANY BYSTANDER" ........ " Feathers settled into the dust " great PHRASE... pretty boring after that happens for something hunting. The FBI apparently figured that he was done AND FINISHED doing whatever they were upset over him doing ..... ( I wonder though what old Hoover would have said if he knew that this scientist was working with a Russian born resistance fighter for France. Oh.... coddles the brain just thinking what his reaction would have been!.) lets talk about that connection somebody. The guy is flipping fascinating.

And the Russians must have figured this Brown thing was a dead end too. Hey if the FBI pulls out why should they think this man was up to anything but folding clothes? I wonder how many Russian agents had come in to have him do their laundry and listen to him saying tha he was finished with science forever? If they had KNOWN the man they would never have believed him.

GREAT RESEARCH Paul! Wonderful stuff. Victoria

[Martin Calloway]

When I saw the title I immediately thought of the big hooplah Nick Cook said was going on until about 1957 or 1958. It was as if all of these big firms were just moments away from declaring that there was something big coming down the pike that was going to change EVERYTHING, they said.

That article that started Nick Cook was part of it. I think it was written in 1956 or 1957, can't remember ( The G engines are coming!" something like that . but that mentioned Lear and other companies and even mentioned Townsend Brown in France I think and then BAM!!!! EVERYTHING JUST DISAPPEARED FROM THE HORIZON.

So thats what we are coming up to I think and its going to be pretty major and I am sure its going to take time to get it right.

You didn't come this far Paul to screw it up now so do whatever you have to. The deadline for this book moves to accomodate you always, despite our impatience.

This is not a comic book you are writing. This is a book with so many layers it will call to a very large group of people and there are some out there that want to really understand this approach to black.

I have people walk up to me at conferences and I have overheard some say out loud " Oh, 1958. Thats when Townsend Brown went black." and I have never really understood why that was such a consensus since no one actually really knew what he did. So if he did " go black" I want to see that process through your eyes. Thanks for your efforts on this last.

Martin