Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.
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.
--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I work at TRW in colorado, and we've got a bunch of them. I still don't admittedly know much about them and if I did odds are I wouldn't be allowed to tell anybody. Here's a picture of them, and an article besides.
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Right... its called a Faraday cage. Emanations check in, but they don't check out.
I like this line:
"I've never had someone come here that wasn't blown away."
...and neither has the NSA! ba-dum cha!
But seriously, folks...
SDMI: Finally! Music that won't rip or burn! Brought to you by the fine folks at RIAA.
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.
Actually, the only agency that has jurisdiction to collect intelligence on US entities(defined as US Citizens or corporations when) is the FBI. NSA, CIA, DOD only can do so in extremely strict circumstances of aiding civilian law enforcement and when it can be all but proven that said US entities are connected in a significant way to the foreign intelligence mission, such as an intelligence op gathering info on Osama Bin Laden leading back to a company in the US that is acting as a front. They then have to stop and request approval from higher authority(I believe to the level just below a cabinet secretary) to proceed, and the work will probably just be handed over to the FBI and local law enforcement anyways. The only other exception is when investigating individuals for security clearance purposes. If the NSA was found to be collecting intelligence on US entities as defined above in a situation not allowed above, or in a situation allowed above without getting the proper approvals, heads would roll.
Reference Executive Order 12333, Intelligence Oversight.
LCpl George E. Worroll Jr, United States Marine Corps
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.
I've for some felt there is a need for more fairness in the electronics industry with regard to static issues.
We have tons and tons of resources thrown at the 'anti-static' problem. I would propose that all facilities be required to provide an pro-static work area. Two possible arrangements come immediately to mind:
1. Electronic workbenches with a worksurface composed of cat's fur. The hand tools should all be made of glass.
2. Electronic workbenches made with a worksurface composed of steel. The hand tools should all be made out of flint.
Employees who work at either type of facility should be encouraged to wear polyester clothing, and shoes with teflon soles, of course.
There's been a clear anti-static bias in the industry for far too long, and it's time for that to change.
Hay thar.