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Astronomers Revel In Former NSA Site
westfirst writes "Welded carpets, strange light fixtures, odd graffiti, and a happy face painted on a radio antenna. All of these details and more X-Files grade mysteries are reported by the Baltimore Sun They're all buried deep in the North Carolina woods where a bunch of radio astronomers have inherited an old surveillance site abandoned by the NSA. Now, how can I get that carpet in my house?"
Is anyone else more than a little disturbed by the "four foot door" on the "golf ball building" described in the article?
Not really, no.
You've got this large, relatively futuristic building with gyrating triangles, and a door not big enough to fit most humans.
I think "most humans" would have no trouble ducking down a little to enter this building.
Perfect Dark grey theory, anyone?
HAHAHA no.
A plausible theory is that this ball serves the exact same purpose as the most of the special decorations on the entire site, which is to reduce interference, in this case to the Big Dish inside. Like the article says, the triangles of varying size can help to reduce interference caused by repeated patterns.
But I see your line of thinking! Maybe the door isn't four feet high because they didn't want to disrupt the damping triangles too much. Maybe it's four feet high because the NSA holds parties for extraterrestrials on top of a giant satellite dish. And they have these parties at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade too, because there are big golf balls there too, according to the article. Or maybe they're too stupid to operate this perfectly normal satellite dish by themselves, and they have to get aliens to do it for them! Yeah, that sounds about right.
Wait, this is Slashdot. Carry on.
~ Give me 101 plastic soldiers, and I will conquer the world.
Yup, they're on Terraserver. Information on the PARI site mentions they are NW of Brevard, NC. The map on the Tours page has a barely-legible "To NC 215". NC 215 is west of Brevard, and has an S-curve 2-3rds of the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Look for "Glassmine Mountain", south of "Cook Mountain". South of the S-curve, looking above the streams (the article says PARI is in a natural bowl, thus probably some streams nearby) on the USGS topological map one sees several circles marked "TOWERS". One does not put TV broadcast in a depression. Zoom in and the road pattern matches that of the map on the PARI site. Zoom in to the area where the buildings are near the road to the gate, and to the left is a large white circle. That white circle is one of the dishes, and the picture shows the shadow is way off to the side of the circle -- showing that the circle is suspended up in the air. I don't know if this link is a temporary search result or if it's a permanent coordinate link. "212 KM NE of Atlanta GA" the label says.
I want to know if a cat makes sparks when it touches the carpet after sliding down the curtains.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Sounds like TEMPEST caliber stuff...
I'm pretty sure static can be kept to a minimum with far less drastic measures.
However, it doesn't really surprise me considering who the former tenants were.
--K
A huge communications complex. complete with Kitchen, Basketball court, Tons of Ancient ceramic and bakelite 66 blocks (telephone punch down blocks), A huge generator room and 8 Transformers the size of 55 gallon drums.
Rotted Open
Sitting in a lake of PCB's
Needless to say we did not explore the tunnel that had been bricked over that was 15 feet wide and 20 foot tall. Later we discovered plans to Bldg 2. That tunnel went all the way to Schofield Barracks.
Big enough to drive a Semi through.
We called the EPA. They took plastic barrels that bolt together down the hole and presumably put alll the pcb's in them. The barrels never came out. Once assembled and filled they were left in place for the next impromptu archeologist. The man hole was welded shut.
There is now an entire community built over the site. Training area 4 is now entirely military housing. No Superfund. No Press.
Just a manhole welded shut in the middle of a schoolyard
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
Yes, as a temporary member (eventually, I will free all my electrons too and cease to be a member) of the Electron Freedom League, I have to concur. This anti-static bias is clearly a plot to deny electrons the freedom they deserve. Static electricity is a very common way for electrons to free themselves from their terrible bondage to protons. Reducing it can only have the effect of extending the bondage and slavery (electrons are the workhorses of all chemical reactions) of most atoms.
Electrons of the world, unite!
Brought to you by The Electron Freedom LeagueNeed a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
Why would they need to track satellites with radio dishes that huge? Then I understood. Those dishes could pick up the faint signals from the satellite's computer bus. From those signals you could get all sorts of interesting information about the satellites.
This is just like reading your computer monitor at a distance from the electromagnetic signals given off.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
If they are in need of funding, they should think about giving tours. It sure sounds like something I'd take a side trip to visit. Anyone else?
Viv
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I Use Napster. I use DeCSS. I buy over $1000 a year in CD/DVDs.
Viv
Gmail invites for ip
Every inch of floor in more than four buildings was covered with two-by-two-foot squares of bleak brown carpet. When the astronomers tried to replace it, they discovered it was welded with tiny metal fibers to the floor. The result, they eventually realized, is that the rugs prevent the buildings from conducting static electricity.
Somewhere, a government-contract carpet layer is reading this and having some nasty flashbacks to that job.
With the proper computer equipment, they might be able scan large chunks of sky quickly, due to the speed of the dishes. Plus, they'd be a perfect reference check for the SETI folk, due to the speed at which they can test a signal and localize it. They could check areas around signals to make sure it's not a mistake and such. I'm sure these can be used for great science... Makes you wonder what other modern equipment the NSA has.
But I have to say the riveted carpeting... wow. In our current data center, we have carpeting on a raised floor, but I'm not sure it's static free. I wonder if that will ever make it into the civilian market...
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
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Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
The part that scares me is this: the NSA has jurisdiction inside the USA, unlike the CIA which does not. I do not think most /.'s would be comfortable with the NSA in thier backyard.
It's like Blair Witch for geeks.
Emacs: for people who just never know when to
Is it just me, or does the article have this backwards? Sure, I'm just nit-picking, but it seems that one would install such metal fibers to promote conduction and thus prevent the build-up of static charge. Consider conductive anti-stat floor mats, wrist straps, et cetera, which make this seem not-so unusual (except that it's built into the carpet).
No - it's not just you. I think they probably intended to say that the metal filaments helped to prevent a build up of static charge in any location. People get confused because static electricity is a fairly misleading name - really all they mean is that a potential difference builds up in a locality and is only slowly dispersed into the surroundings because of the high conductivity of the environment.
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
What is inside that giant geodesic dome that looks like a golf ball?
Ask Mickey Mouse... he's had that technology for years.
here's the place that got the site.
click tour for site layout and pics!
i guess their mission statement puts me more at ease.
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
They were doing satellite eavesdropping, so they want to eliminate as much interference to their dishes as possible. Location gave them isolation from external sources, they just have to make sure that their own computers and whatnot don't kill the RF quiet that they worked so hard to create.
Perfect Dark grey theory, anyone?
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
ok ok...after checking out the site of the people who bought it i am a little more at ease...at least their mission statement looks honest, forward thinking, and relevant in it's scope.
it seemed wasteful, but i guess it would be all worth it is we got one more kid interested in astronomy or one or college student who was able to do their master's thesus while working there.
less caffine for me...
link for you to site - good pics of smiley dish!
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
the first sign that something is out of the ordinary is a line of giant transformers.
;)
But are they Autobots or Decepticons?
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If Bill Gates had a nickel for every time Windows crashed...
I work at a mid-sized IT facility. My project manager walked by, and looked at the front page of the Slashdot article. He saw the welded carpet line, and said "Oh yea. They all have that. It reduces EMF transmission. They also have double walls that emit white noise, and shielded wiring... Its all standard stuff." essentially quoted me 3/4 of the article without reading it.
Apparently this is more common than we all realize.