205 River Road

‘205 River Road: National Register-eligible two-and-a-half-story, square-plan, Second Empire-style, frame residence capped by an asphalt shingle-clad mansard roof with bracketed cornice. Located on west side of River Road, residence was constructed in 1868 and became known as the Ivies. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Betty Friedan owned the residence where she wrote The Feminine Mystique. Four-bayby-two-bay clapboard-clad residence was remodeled after a fire in the 1980s or 1990s, but still retains integrity. Character-defining features include historic fenestration pattern such as surviving two-over-two-double-hung sash in wood surrounds, two-over-two double-hung sash dormer windows set in pedimented surrounds accented by volutes, wood-panel door set in wood surroun with arched transom and sidelights, canted bay at souteast corner, and two-story bay window at northeast corner. Residence also has wrap-around porch supported by arcaded posts with bracketed cornice.’

Historic and Natural Districts Inventory Form, Allison S. Rachleff, p. 14, October 2005, River Road Historic District.

Apollo 11’s Air-to-Ground Voice Transmissions

The Apollo 11 crew brought a black-and-white Westinghouse camera with 16mm film to the moon–the deployment of a TV camera to transmit signals to the Earth was added to the mission objectives. Lunar Module Pilot Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin closed a circuit breaker in the cabin and beamed Commander Neil Armstrong’s steps on the moon and the three astronauts all spent time on the mission shooting for the television broadcasts:

00 10 38 48 CC Capsule Communicator (Mission Control)
Stand by.

00 10 38 55 CMP Command Module Pilot Michael Collins
Start over with, “we were saying.”

00 10 39 36 CMP Command Module Pilot Michael Collins
Okay, Houston. You suppose you could turn the Earth a little bit so we can get a little bit more than just water?

00 10 39 45 CC Capsule Communicator (Mission Control)
Roger, 11. I don’t think we got much control over that. Looks like you’ll have to settle for the water.

00 10 40 01 CC Capsule Communicator (Mission Control)
11, Houston. We’re going to change – thinking about changing our voice uplink to another site. If you’ll stand by, we’ll see if we can improve the quality. Over.

00 10 40 11 CMP Command Module Pilot Michael Collins
Okay, Charlie.

00 10 40 12 CDR Commander Neil A. Armstrong
We’ll stand by for your call.

00 10 40 48 CC Capsule Communicator (Mission Control)
Apollo 11, Houston. We’ll try once more on this TV request. We’d like 10 minutes worth of TV. And we’d like a narrative, if you could give us one, on the exterior shots. You could also – we also suggest you might try the – an interior position. Over.

00 10 41 10 CDR Commander Neil A. Armstrong
Roger. We’re seeing the center of the Earth as viewed from the spacecraft in the eastern Pacific Ocean. We have not been able to visually pick up the Hawaiian Island chain, but we can clearly see the western coast of North America. The United States, the San Joaquin Valley, the High Sierras, Baja California, and Mexico down as far as Acapulco, and the Yucatan Peninsula; and you can see on through Central America to the northern coast of South America, Venezuela, and Colombia. I’m not sure you’ll be able to see all that on your screen down there …

00 10 42 04 CC Capsule Communicator (Mission Control)
Roger, Neil. We just wanted a narrative such that we can – When we get the playback, we can sort of correlate what we’re seeing. Thank you very much.

00 10 42 19 CMP Command Module Pilot Michael Collins
I haven’t seen anything but the DSKY so far.

00 10 42 23 CC Capsule Communicator (Mission Control)
Looks like they’re hogging the window.

00 10 42 29 CDR Commander Neil A. Armstrong
You’re right.

Apollo 11 Air-to-Ground Voice Transcriptions, (GOSS NET 1) Tape 7/7 Page 52. 
Nasa. gov. 

Declassifying the President’s Daily Briefs 1968–1976

“On August 24, 2016, the Agency released roughly 2,500 previously classified President’s Daily Briefs (PDBs) from the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations at a public symposium at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, titled The President’s Daily Brief: Delivering Intelligence to Nixon and Ford. This 40-page color booklet describes the documents and the PDB process during this period.

The PDB contains intelligence analysis on key national security issues for the President and other senior policymakers. Only the President, the Vice President, and a select group of senior officials designated by the President receive the briefing, which represents the Intelligence Community’s best insights on issues the President must confront when dealing with threats as well as opportunities related to our national security.

For several years, CIA information management officers have worked with their counterparts at the National Security Council and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the review and declassification of these documents. Roughly 85 percent of the collection has been declassified and is being made available to the public. The document collection can be viewed on the CIA FOIA website at: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/presidents-daily-brief.”

“President’s Daily Brief: Delivering Intelligence to Nixon and Ford,” CIA.gov, 2016.

Photo: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files, 1982 – 2007 Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1921 – 2008,  5 February 1982. 

The Kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr.

”I knew the guys who kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr. I met them through Ryan O’Neal. We played softball together and they were also on the team. They were pretty good athletes and seemed like nice guys, but they were not the brightest bulbs in the building. Always looking for a scam. When I heard they’d kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr. I thought, Of all the people in the world, why would you take Frank Sinatra’s kid? You’ll have the police, the FBI, and the Mafia after you…

…One of the kidnappers heard that Frank [Sr.] was using a hotel in Reno as his headquarters, and they were able to get a call through to him. They’d planned to ask for exactly $240,000, but as soon as Frank was convinced that they had his son, he offered them a million dollars.

‘No!’ these geniuses said, ‘We want $240,000 and not a penny more!’

They collected the ransom and actually got away, but they couldn’t help bragging about it. They were caught a few days later after spending a only a few thousand dollars on a living room set for the ex-wife of one of the kidnappers.

The FBI was ready to confiscate the furniture, but Frank said, ‘Nah, let the poor broad keep her couch.’ ”

But Enough About Me, Burt Reynolds and Jon Winokur, Blink Publishing, 2015.