From chapter 20: Weapon description: LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) weapons deliver a large quantity of stored energy, thus obliterating their targets. A directed energy weapon (ray gun) delivers its effect at the speed of light, rather … Continue reading
From chapter 19: Dr. Jurgen, the professor, was distributing test results. “Hallson,” she said. A young man walked forward and crossed paths with another male student. Hallson shoved his shoulder into the other man. The student reacted immediately and slammed … Continue reading
From chapter 19: “Although Project Vela is beginning to show promise for detecting nuclear explosions in space—” Vela was the name of a group of satellites developed as the Vela Hotel element of Project Vela by the United States to … Continue reading
From chapter 19: Harper said. “Project Defender, the missile defense program, is really important, but as you said, probably not too interesting to your constituents. In the 1960s Project Defender and the Ballistic Missile Boost Intercept (BAMBI) concept replaced land-launched … Continue reading
From chapter 19: “Now that space research has been moved to the new NASA organization, we do have more opportunities for selecting projects,” Harper said. ARPA and NASA were created in the same year: 1958. The Advanced Research Projects Agency … Continue reading
I found another error. This is a phrase from chapter 19: “As he smoked his pre-embargo Montecristo,” This is from a scene that occurs in October, 1959. But the Cuba embargo wasn’t signed by Kennedy until October of 1960. So … Continue reading
From chapter 19: It was October 5, 1959. Perkins sat in his spacious third floor office in the congressional office building. In version 1 of The Smart Kid, this building was erroneously called the Russell Building. But I discovered that … Continue reading
In chapter 19, Michael and his dwarf roommate are walking through the campus when a taller student makes a derogatory comment. Archie counsels Michael on how to respond: “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” Archie … Continue reading
When Michael Shale enrolls at the University of Iowa, he meets his new roommate, Archibald Schneider. From chapter 19 of The Smart Kid: Archibald threw the covers back as he jumped out of bed, rushed toward Michael, and faced him, … Continue reading
In chapter 18, Michael Shale enrolls at the University of Iowa. The University of Iowa (also known as the UI, U of I, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 1847, Iowa is … Continue reading