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: “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
She remembered a college psychology course about people with multiple personalities. Sometimes it was accompanied by change of voice, or personality, just like in the book Sybil. Since Sybil had been published in 1973 is was well known in the … Continue reading
In chapter 13, after Charleen learns Matt’s secrets and thinks that she knows it all, the song on the radio that day is What a Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers. Debuting at #73 on 20 January 1979, the single … Continue reading
From chapter 12: “And Garrett had a nickname for me too.” She waited for Matt to ask. He smiled. “OK. I’m asking.” “Charlee.” She grinned. “Charlee…that’s cute.” “And I called my guys Charlee’s Angels!” “That’s funny!” The TV show, Charlie’s … Continue reading
From The Smart Kid: Charleen studied the framed cover of Life magazine titled The Faces of The American Dead in Vietnam. One Week’s Toll. The number 242 was hand-written in red ink. It was dated, June 27, 1969. Price 40¢ … Continue reading