PARANOIA

Decades later, a Cold War secret is revealed (Associated Press):

DANBURY, Connecticut (AP) — For more than a decade they toiled in the strange, boxy-looking building on the hill above the municipal airport, the building with no windows (except in the cafeteria), the building filled with secrets. They wore protective white jumpsuits, and had to walk through air-shower chambers before entering the sanitized "cleanroom" where the equipment was stored. They spoke in code.

Few knew the true identity of "the customer" they met in a smoke-filled, wood-paneled conference room where the phone lines were scrambled. When they traveled, they sometimes used false names.

At one point in the 1970s there were more than 1,000 people in the Danbury area working on The Secret. [...]

It was dubbed "Big Bird" and it was considered the most successful space spy satellite program of the Cold War era. From 1971 to 1986 a total of 20 satellites were launched, each containing 60 miles (100 kilometers) of film and sophisticated cameras that orbited the earth snapping vast, panoramic photographs of the Soviet Union, China and other potential foes. The film was shot back through the earth's atmosphere in buckets that parachuted over the Pacific Ocean, where C-130 Air Force planes snagged them with grappling hooks.

The scale, ambition and sheer ingenuity of Hexagon KH-9 was breathtaking. The fact that 19 out of 20 launches were successful (the final mission blew up because the booster rockets failed) is astonishing.

So too is the human tale of the 45-year-old secret that many took to their graves. [...]

According to the National Reconnaissance Office, a single Hexagon frame covered a ground distance of 370 nautical miles (680 kilometers), about the distance from Washington to Cincinnati. Early Hexagons averaged 124 days in space, but as the satellites became more sophisticated, later missions lasted twice as long. [...] Among other successes, Hexagon is credited with providing crucial information for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

From the outset, secrecy was a huge concern, especially in Danbury, where the intense activity of a relatively small company that had just been awarded a massive contract (the amount was not declassified) made it obvious that something big was going on. Inside the plant, it was impossible to disguise the gigantic vacuum thermal chamber where cameras were tested in extreme conditions that simulated space. There was also a "shake, rattle and roll room" to simulate conditions during launch.

"The question became, how do you hide an elephant?" a National Reconnaissance Office report stated at the time. It decided on a simple response: "What elephant?" Employees were told to ignore any questions from the media, and never confirm the slightest detail about what they worked on.

But it was impossible to conceal the launches at Vandenberg Air Force base in California, and aviation magazines made several references to "Big Bird." In 1975, a piece on the TV news magazine "60 Minutes" on space reconnaissance described an "Alice in Wonderland" world, where American and Soviet intelligence officials knew of each other's "eyes in the sky" — and other nations did, too — but no one confirmed the programs or spoke about them publicly....

Glorious comrades! The Amazing Politician, Beloved Father, Beloved and Respected Father, Beloved and Respected General, Beloved and Respected Leader, Bright Sun of Juche, Bright Sun of the 21st Century, Brilliant Leader, Commander-in-Chief, Dear Leader, Dear Leader, who is a perfect incarnation of the appearance that a leader should have, Ever-Victorious Iron-Willed Commander, Fate of the Nation, Father of the Nation, Father of the People, General, Glorious General Who Descended From Heaven, Great Defender, Great General, Great Leader of our Party and of our Nation, Great Leader, Great Leader, Great Man Who Descended From Heaven, Great Man Who Is a Man of Deeds, Great Marshal, Great Sun of The Nation, Great Sun of the 21st Century, Guarantee of the Fatherland's Unification, Guiding Star of the 21st Century, Guiding Sun Ray, Highest Incarnation of the Revolutionary Comradely Love, His Excellency, Invincible and Ever-triumphant General, Leader of the 21st Century, Leader of the Party and the People, Leader of the Party, the country, and the Army, Leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Leader, Mastermind of the Revolution, Party Center, Peerless Leader, Respected Leader, Savior, Shining Star of Paektu Mountain, Sun of Socialism, Sun of the Communist Future, Sun of the Nation, Superior Person, Supreme Leader of the Nation, Symbol of the Fatherland's Unification, The Great Sun of Life, Unique Leader, Wise Leader, and World Leader of The 21st Century has died.

Labels: glorious comrades, north korea

Attention, citizens! Throughout this Year 214 of The Computer, your friend The Computer has tracked the rapid growth of ebook publishing. Now The Computer's loyal servants in Housing Preservation and Development & Mind Control are proud to announce Ultraviolet Books, publisher of all-new official PARANOIA ebooks.

Licensed and approved by the PARANOIA owners, edited and laid out to professional standards, these DRM-free (not copy-protected), never-before-published novels are written by Famous Game Designers long associated with the roleplaying game; they feature new covers by The One True PARANOIA Artist, Jim Holloway; and they’re even for your security clearance.

The first two novels of the initial six-book license, in Kindle format, are now available for purchase and immediate download on Amazon:

• PARANOIA S1 Reality Optional by Gareth Hanrahan, designer of the 25th Anniversary rulebooks and writer of every PARANOIA RPG supplement published in the past several years. Conspiracy theorist Jerome-G, a worker in the Threat Obfuscation Department, creates fake dangers to cover up real ones. Now, somehow, his fictitious threats are turning real. Jerome-G finds a pair of experimental Augmented Reality goggles that reveal the truth behind everything -- and now he's more confused than ever.
• PARANOIA T1 Stay Alert by Allen Varney, longtime PARANOIA writer and designer of the 2004 edition. Troubleshooter Fletcher-R leads Team Rotisserie-459 on a mission to return a stolen helpbot. The bot isn't annoying or repetitious at all, no siree (“You look like you’re about to shoot your teammate! Would you like help?”). Embroiled in a gang war for control of the bot, Fletcher hopes to complete his mission before his teammates find out he's a traitor.

Two more PARANOIA books will follow later this month: Traitor Hangout by WJ MacGuffin (author of the PARANOIA RPG supplement Criminal Histories); and a promotional anthology, The Computer is Your Friend, designed to gently (well, more or less) orient new citizens of Alpha Complex.

Initially available for the Amazon Kindle family (.mobi format), the Ultraviolet Books line will soon have ePub versions suitable for the Nook, iPhone/iPad, and other e-readers. The books have no DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), so you can transport them easily among all your readers.

The Ultraviolet Books website tells more about the books and their authors, and will soon have free sample chapters and news. Sign up for the FREE (and spam-free) mailing list, and follow UVBooks on Twitter and Facebook.

At the Mongoose Publishing forum, Mongoose CEO Matthew Sprange gives his annual overview of Mongoose's past year and the one ahead. Matthew has cheery news about Mongoose's new website, the Legend (nee RuneQuest) and Traveller RPGs, Lone Wolf solo books, and the company's miniatures lines, including a Star Fleet Universe sublicense from Amarillo Design Bureau. There is hardly anything, good or bad, about PARANOIA:

Overall, the RPG market has a pulse but that is about all can be said for it (though there are high points). We think the bottom mark has been reached but that has been said many, many times before. [...] PARANOIA core books continue to be relatively strong, month in, month out, the supplements… not. A continuing conundrum for us. [...] There is a lot more happening in the Star Fleet Universe. We are currently discussing several projects, from novels through to iPhone games, and there is even talk of a PARANOIA/Star Fleet Universe crossover where players take the role of hapless away teams....

State of the Mongoose 2011

Labels: state of the mongoose