Pacific Vortex: Victorian settee

pg 47

He motioned Pitt toward a Victorian settee.

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain. Some scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities and political concerns to the passage of the Reform Act 1832.

The era was preceded by the Georgian period and succeeded by the Edwardian period. The latter half of the Victorian age roughly coincided with the first portion of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe and the Gilded Age of the United States.

Culturally there was a transition away from the rationalism of the Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and the arts. The era is popularly associated with the values of social and sexual restraint.

The Victorian era is known for its eclectic revival and interpretation of historic styles and the introduction of cross-cultural influences from the middle east and Asia in furniture, fittings, and Interior decoration. Victorian design is widely viewed as having indulged in a regrettable excess of ornament. The Arts and Crafts movement, the aesthetic movement, Anglo-Japanese style, and Art Nouveau style have their beginnings in the late Victorian era.

The most common types of couches are the "loveseat", or British two-seater, and the settee or sofa, with two or more seats.

"Tell me, my friend, have you discovered King Kamehameha's final resting place?"

Kamehameha I (ca. 1758 – May 8, 1819), also known as Kamehameha the Great, conquered the Hawaiian Islands and formally established the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi in 1810. By developing alliances with the major Pacific colonial powers, Kamehameha preserved Hawaiʻi's independence under his rule. Kamehameha is remembered for the Kanawai Mamalahoe, the "Law of the Splintered Paddle", which protects human rights of non-combatants in times of battle. Kamehameha's full Hawaiian name is Kalani Paiʻea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiʻikui Kamehameha o ʻIolani i Kaiwikapu kaui Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea.

When Kamehameha died May 8, 1819, his body was hidden by his trusted friends, Hoapili and Hoʻolulu. The mana, or power of a person, was considered to be sacred. As per the ancient custom, his body was buried hidden because of his mana. His final resting place remains unknown.

"Our legends say he was placed in a cavern beneath the water."

From: http://www.to-hawaii.com/hawaiian-secrets-and-mysteries.php

Although the ancient Hawaiians had ceremonial burial rituals for all, the funeral rites given to ruling chiefs were especially complex and sacred. A ceremony that prepared the body for afterlife, including removal of the flesh from the bones, was followed by a secret burial of the chiefly bones.

The location of the bones was kept secret by whomever the duty was entrusted to, usually the decedent’s closest advisor. In the case of Kamehameha’s death, Chief Ulumaheihei (called Hoapili by the King) was given this honor. The bones of Kamehameha were extremely sacrosanct and must be kept hidden to ensure his spirit’s transition into the world of the aumakua, or gods.

Both for physical safekeeping of the sacred bones and to prevent any unwarranted spying, the bones were hidden at night for ultimate secrecy. It was believed that if the burial site location was disclosed, an enemy who came in contact with the bones could absorb the chiefly mana, or power.

Although it is yet to be proven, many believe that Kamehameha’s remains rest in a burial cave at Kaloko, a pond in Kehaha on the island of Hawaii. Other famous rulers, including Kahekili, a famous Maui ruler, are also at peace here. Some say that King Kalakaua ordered Kamehameha’s bones to be relocated to the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu Valley, although this is strictly hearsay as well.

If King Kamehameha’s bones were ever exhumed, either on accident or intentionally, there is no telling what chain of events this disrespect might set off. The conflicting accounts surrounding the final resting place of Kamehameha the Great’s bones are perhaps intentional stories conjured up to ensure that this particular mystery stays just that.

Spartan Gold: in a precise Y-turn and more

pg 41

"Yeah, maybe," Sam muttered, swinging the BMW into a precise Y-turn.

A U-turn is the simplest turn maneuver (as it involves no reversal of the drive train), and the fastest that does not depend on tires skidding sidewise as in a bootlegger turn. However, it is often infeasible, by requiring a roadway width equal to or greater than the width of the vehicle plus the diameter of its turning circle; that requirement tends to amount to around a handful of traffic lanes.

For most consumer-style passenger vehicles, a 3-point turn (or K-turn or Y-turn) is feasible on most roads.

An officially endorsed three-point-turn procedure consists of

--pulling to one side of the road,
--turning the front wheels toward the far side as fully as feasible, and
proceeding to within a few feet from the opposite curb;
--turning the front wheels in the opposite direction as fully as feasible,
reversing the drive train to its backward-travel mode, and
--backing toward the curb on the original side of the road until the rear wheels are close to that curb;
--turning the front wheels back toward their center (straight-travel) adjustment,
reversing the drive train back to its forward-travel mode, and
--proceeding forward on the appropriate side of the road.

"But if the pull into an IHOP, promise me you'll turn around and leave the poor man alone."

The International House of Pancakes, is a United States-based restaurant chain that specializes in breakfast foods. It is owned by DineEquity, with 99% of the restaurants run by independent franchisees.

While IHOP's focus is on breakfast foods such as pancakes, French toast and omelettes, it also offers a menu of lunch and dinner items.

The chain has more than 1,500 restaurants in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"Curiouser and curiouser."

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (Wonderland) populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre.

Here's the quote from Alic in context:
"“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). “Now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!” (for when she looked down at her feet they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off). “Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I’m sure I shan’t be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage the best way you can—but I must be kind to them,” thought Alice, “or perhaps they won’t walk the way I want to go! Let me see. I’ll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.”

And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. “They must go by the carrier,” she thought; and how funny it’ll seem, sending presents to one’s own feet! And how odd the directions will look!"

Pacific Vortex: He hadn't the slightest intention of arriving and more...

pg 45

He hadn't the slightest intention of arriving at Hunter's headquarters on time.

Not really an annotation, but I must just say that I find Pitt's character in this book extremely annoying.

He's wearing only a swim-suit, earlier in the book, when he finds the communication pod, and instead of getting dressed he drives to the naval base and barges into an Admiral's office and expects to be taken seriously. How stupid is that?

Now, here, Cussler has him being deliberately late to an appointment. Presumably this is meant as further proof of Pitt's independence and maverick spirit, but really, it's just plain rude.

The Mauser, Model 712 Schnell Fueur Pistole Serial number 47405 could only be described as a positively bloodthirsty firearm.

From: http://www.nramuseum.com/the-museum/the-galleries/ever-vigilant/case-62-world-war-ii-axis-germany-and-italy/mauser-model-712-schnellfeuer-machine-pistol.aspxClosely resembling the Mauser Model 1896 "Broomhandle" semi-automatic pistol, the Model 712 "Schnellfeuer" is a selective-fire pistol that features a detachable magazine, detachable shoulder stock, and 50 - 1000 meter rear sight.

The Schnellfeuer-Pistole ("Rapid-fire pistol") was a modification of the popular Mauser 7.63mm Model 1896 "Broomhandle" pistol. Originally developed by the Oberndorf firm, the semi-auto M1896 served with German units throughout the First World War. This design was copied by the Spanish firms Star and Astra, and versions produced by all three companies were sold in large numbers to the Chinese.

In 1930, Mauser dealers in China reported that they were losing sales to their Spanish competitors due to Astra's introduction of a selective-fire version of this pistol. Mauser mounted a vigorous response to this challenge, as designer Joseph Nickl's recoil-operated selective-fire pistol entering production during that same year. With an effective rate of 900 rounds per minute, these pistols were capable of firing an entire magazine in slightly more than one second. These pistols may be distinguished from the original M1896 pistol design by the presence of a detachable 20-round staggered feed box magazine, which could be removed for loading or charged in place with 10-round stripper clips, and by the bar-type selector switch mounted on the left side of the receiver.

Approximately 4,000 Schnellfeuer Modell 712 pistols were produced in 1930-31, most of which were shipped to China to compete against the Astra design. An improved version designed by Karl Westinger was introduced in 1932 to address reliability problems experienced with the original Modell 712. Externally, these guns are nearly identical to their predecessors, and may be identified by their "oval/point" selector switch. Approximately 98,000 were manufactured between 1932 and 1938, most of which were shipped to China.

In 1939, German armed forces began acquiring the Schnellfeuer under the military designation "Reihenfeuer ("Series Fire") Pistole Modell 713." These were widely issued to Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS military police and reconnaissance units, as well as to motorcycle dispatch riders. In addition, the Modell 713 was adopted by the Kriegsmarine for use by naval infantry troops. Although coupling a proven design of compact size with a select-fire capability would seem to be the best of several worlds, the Schnellfeuer proved otherwise.

These pistols could serve as a standard sidearm in semi-automatic mode, but were not markedly superior to the P.08 and P.38 semi-autos already in German military service. With their shoulder stock/holster attached, they also proved both effective and deadly for short range combat. At longer ranges, however, the Schnellfeuer's light weight and high rate of fire in full-auto mode made it uncontrollable except when fired in short bursts. Even then, its effectiveness was questionable. As sufficient MP38 and MP40 submachine guns became available to Nazi troops, the Schnellfeuer was replaced in the inventories of Germany's fighting forces.

Converting the gun into a carbine for long distance targets

A carbine, from French carabine, is a longarm [The term long arm/gun is used to describe classes of firearm and cannon with longer barrels than other classes. In small arms, a long gun is designed to be fired braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun, while in artillery a long gun would be contrasted with a howitzer or carronade] similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length.

The smaller size and lighter weight of carbines makes them easier to handle in close-quarter situations such as urban or jungle warfare, or when deploying from military vehicles. The disadvantages of carbines relative to rifles include inferior long-range accuracy and a shorter effective range. Being larger than a submachine gun, they are harder to maneuver in tight encounters where superior range and stopping power at distance are not great considerations. Firing the same ammunition as rifles gives carbines the advantage of standardization over those personal defense weapons (PDWs) that require proprietary cartridges.

Carbines are issued to high-mobility troops such as special-operations soldiers and paratroopers, as well as to mounted, supply, or other non-infantry personnel whose roles do not require full-sized rifles.

He parked the car and walked past a small, neatly carved sign that read: Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and Natural History

Bernice Pauahi Bishop (December 19, 1831–October 16, 1884), born Bernice Pauahi Pākī, was a Hawaiian princess, philanthropist, aliʻi, and direct descendant of the royal House of Kamehameha. She was the great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha I and last surviving heir. Her estate is the largest private landowner in the state of Hawaiʻi, comprising approximately 9% of Hawaii's total area. The revenues from these lands are used to operate the Kamehameha Schools, which were established in 1887 according to Pauahi's will. Pauahi was married to businessman and philanthropist Charles Reed Bishop.

Spartan Gold: Peat bog and more

pg 40

"Don't feel bad, Sam. That peat bog did jump right in front of us out of nowhere."

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens.

Bogs occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic, either from acidic ground water, or where water is derived entirely from precipitation, when they are termed ombrotrophic (rain-fed). Water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown colour, which comes from dissolved peat tannins. Bogs are very sensitive habitats and are of high importance for biodiversity.

Types of bog
Bog habitats may develop in various situations, depending on the climate and topography. The main types are:

Valley bog
These develop in gently sloping valleys or hollows. A layer of peat fills the deepest part of the valley, and a stream may run through the surface of the bog. Valley bogs may develop in relatively dry and warm climates, but because they rely on ground or surface water, they only occur on acidic substrates.

Raised bog
These develop from a lake or flat marshy area, over either non-acidic or acidic substrates. Over centuries there is a progression from open lake, to marsh, then fen (or on acidic substrates, valley bog) and carr, as silt or peat fill the lake. Eventually peat builds up to a level where the land surface is too flat for ground or surface water to reach the centre of the wetland. This part therefore becomes wholly rain-fed (ombrotrophic), and the resulting acidic conditions allow the development of bog (even if the substrate is non-acidic). The bog continues to form peat, and over time a shallow dome of bog peat develops: a raised bog. The dome is typically a few metres high in the centre, and is often surrounded by strips of fen or other wetland vegetation at the edges or along streamsides, where ground water can percolate into the wetland.

Blanket bog
In cool climates with consistently high rainfall, the ground surface may remain waterlogged for much of the time, providing conditions for the development of bog vegetation. In these circumstances bog develops as a layer "blanketing" much of the land, including hilltops and slopes. Although blanket bog is more common on acidic substrates, under some conditions it may also develop on neutral or even alkaline ones, if abundant acidic rainwater predominates over the ground water. Blanket bog cannot occur in drier or warmer climates, because under those conditions hilltops and sloping ground dry out too often for peat to form – in intermediate climates blanket bog may be limited to areas which are shaded from direct sunshine. In periglacial climates a patterned form of blanket bog may occur, known as string bog.

Quaking bog
Quaking bog or schwingmoor is a form of bog occurring in wetter parts of valley bogs and raised bogs, and sometimes around the edges of acidic lakes where bog is beginning to form. The bog vegetation forms a mat half a metre or so thick, floating over water or very wet peat. Walking on this surface causes it to move – larger movements may cause visible ripples of the surface, or they may even make trees sway.

Named after the daughter of King George II, [Princess Anne] boasted a population of 2,200 souls.

Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (2 November 1709 – 12 January 1759) was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort, Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands. Princess Anne was the second daughter of a British sovereign to hold the title Princess Royal. She was Regent of the Netherlands from 1751 until her death in 1759, exercising extensive powers on behalf of her son William V. Because of her English upbringing and family connections, she was known as an Anglophile - despite being unable to convince the Dutch Republic to enter the Seven Years' War on the side of the British.

With a population just under 2400 people, this hamlet at the head of the Manokin River was named for Princess Anne of Great Britain, daughter of King George II. It was established in 1733 and serves as the county seat for Somerset County (the southernmost county in Maryland).

In the mid-18th century, Princess Anne gained considerable importance as a market center because of the river trade. This was later augmented by the southward extension of the Eastern Shore Railroad on Maryland's Eastern Shore. At that time, the Manokin River was navigable as far as the bridge at Princess Anne.

Much of the town's architectural heritage from those days has been preserved. About 150 acres (0.61 km2) of the old town, containing about 300 structures, is entered on the National Register of Historic Places as the Princess Anne Historic District.

As he reached the turn-in, a black Buick Lucerne sedan pulled out.

The Buick Lucerne is a full-size car sold by the Buick division of General Motors. Introduced at the 2005 Chicago Auto Show, the Lucerne replaced both the Park Avenue and the LeSabre for the 2006 model year, and was sold through the 2011 model year. The Lucerne was based on a revised H-body platform, which it shared with the late Pontiac Bonneville.

Pacific Vortex: FXH helicopter and more

pg 43

"Also, the 101st Fleet wants to borrow our new long-range FXH helicopter"

This is a fictional helicopter.

"They'd simply send their most seductive Mata Hari to the nearest bar and let you pick her up."

Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "M'greet" Zelle (7 August 1876, Leeuwarden - 15 October 1917, Vincennes), a Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, and accused spy who was executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.

During World War I, the Netherlands remained neutral. As a Dutch subject, Margaretha Zelle was thus able to cross national borders freely. To avoid the battlefields, she travelled between France and the Netherlands via Spain and Britain, and her movements inevitably attracted attention. In 1916, she was travelling by steamer from Spain when her ship called at the English port of Falmouth. There she was arrested and brought to London where she was interrogated at length by Sir Basil Thomson, Assistant Commissioner at New Scotland Yard in charge of counter-espionage. He gave an account of this in his 1922 book Queer People, saying that she eventually admitted to working for French Intelligence. Initially detained in Canon Street police station, she was then released and stayed at the Savoy Hotel. A full transcript of the interview is in Britain's National Archives and was broadcast with Mata Hari played by Eleanor Bron on the independent station London Broadcasting in 1980.

It is unclear if she lied on this occasion, believing the story made her sound more intriguing, or if French authorities were using her in such a way, but would not acknowledge her due to the embarrassment and international backlash it could cause.

In January 1917, the German military attaché in Madrid transmitted radio messages to Berlin describing the helpful activities of a German spy, code-named H-21. French intelligence agents intercepted the messages and, from the information they contained, identified H-21 as Mata Hari. Unusually, the messages were in a code that German intelligence knew had already been broken by the French, leaving some historians to suspect that the messages were contrived.

Trial and execution
On 13 February 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in her room at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris. She was put on trial, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. Although the French and British intelligence suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her. Secret ink was found in her room, which was incriminating evidence in that period. She contended that it was part of her make-up. She wrote several letters to the Dutch Consul in Paris, claiming her innocence. "My international connections are due of my work as a dancer, nothing else [...]. Because I really did not spy, it is terrible that I cannot defend myself." She was found guilty and was executed by firing squad on 15 October 1917, at the age of 41.

Pat Shipman's biography Femme Fatale argues that Mata Hari was never a double agent, speculating that she was used as a scapegoat by the head of French counter-espionage. Georges Ladoux had been responsible for recruiting Mata Hari as a French spy and later was arrested for being a double agent himself.

The facts of the case remain vague because the official case documents regarding the execution were sealed for 100 years, although in 1985, biographer Russell Warren Howe managed to convince the French Minister of National Defense to break open the file, about 32 years early. It was revealed that Mata Hari was innocent of her charges of espionage.

[edit] Legend and popular cultureThe fact that almost immediately after her death questions arose about the justification of her execution, on top of rumours about the way she acted during her execution, set the story. The idea of an exotic dancer working as a lethal double agent, using her powers of seduction to extract military secrets from her many lovers fired the popular imagination, set the legend and made Mata Hari an enduring archetype of the femme fatale.

Much of the popularity is owed to the film titled Mata Hari (1931) and starring Greta Garbo in the leading role. While based on real events in the life of Margaretha Zelle, the plot was largely fictional, appealing to the public appetite for fantasy at the expense of historical fact. Immensely successful as a form of entertainment, the exciting and romantic character in this film inspired subsequent generations of storytellers. Eventually, Mata Hari featured in more films, television series, and in video games, but increasingly, it is only the use of Margaretha Zelle's famous stage name that bears any resemblance to the real person. Kurt Vonnegut's novel Mother Night is dedicated to her. Many books have been written about Mata Hari, some of them serious historical and biographical accounts, but many of them highly speculative.

They salvaged the New Century off Libya, the Southwind in the Black Sea, the Tari Maru within sight of the lights of China.

These are all fictional ships, invented for the purpose of the book.

"Why all the cloak and dagger?"

Cloak and dagger is a term sometimes used to refer to situations involving intrigue, secrecy, espionage, or mystery.

The phrase has two possible origins. One dates from the early 19th century and is a translation from the French de cape et d'épée and Spanish de capa y espada (literally "of cloak and sword"). These phrases referred to a genre of drama in which the main characters literally wore these items. In 1840, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "In the afternoon read La Dama Duende of Calderón - a very good comedy of 'cloak and sword'." Charles Dickens subsequently used the phrase "cloak and dagger" in his work Barnaby Rudge a year later as a sarcastic reference to this style of drama. The imagery of these two items became associated with the archetypical spy or assassin: The cloak, worn to hide one's identity or remain hidden from view, and the dagger, a concealable and silent weapon.

In historical European martial arts, the term can be taken literally, and refers to wielding a dagger in one hand and a cloak in the other. The purpose of the cloak was to obscure the presence or movement of the dagger, to provide minor protection from slashes, to restrict the movement of the opponent's weapon, and to provide a distraction. Use of the cloak and dagger was considered a "dishonest" method of combat because of its deceptive tactics. Giacomo di Grassi, in "His True Art of Defense" (1570), included a section called "The Rapier and Cloake".

Spartan Gold: Commercial subs don't have periscopes and more

pg 37

"As far as I know, commercial subs-for surveys or mapping or whatever-don't have periscopes."

A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle. More complex periscopes, using prisms instead of mirrors, and providing magnification, operate on submarines. The overall design of the classical submarine periscope is very simple: two telescopes pointed into each other. If the two telescopes have different individual magnification, the difference between them causes an overall magnification or reduction.

Periscopes allow a submarine, when submerged at a shallow depth, to search visually for nearby targets and threats on the surface of the water and in the air. When not in use, a submarine's periscope retracts into the hull. A submarine commander in tactical conditions must exercise discretion when using his periscope, since it creates a visible wake and may also become detectable by radar, giving away the sub's position.

21st-century submarines do not necessarily have periscopes. The United States Navy's Virginia-class submarines and the Royal Navy's Astute Class submarines instead use photonics masts, pioneered by the Royal Navy's HMS Trenchant, which lift an electronic imaging sensor-set above the water. Signals from the sensor-set travel electronically to workstations in the submarine's control center. While the cables carrying the signal must penetrate the submarine's hull, they use a much smaller and more easily sealed—and therefore less expensive and safer—hull opening than those required by periscopes. Eliminating the telescoping tube running through the conning tower also allows greater freedom in designing the pressure hull and in placing internal equipment.

NOTE
Military submarines are called submarines. Research submarines are called submersibles. They don't have periscopes because they're not needed for stealth purposes.

After dessert, a tiramasu so good it left them temporarily speechgless...

Tiramisu, literally "pick me up", is an Italian cake and dessert.

It is made of ladyfingers (Italian: Savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone, and flavored with liquor and cocoa. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of puddings, cakes and other desserts.

History
There is some debate regarding tiramisu's origin. It may have originated as a variation of another layered dessert, the Zuppa Inglese.

It is mentioned in Giovanni Capnist's 1983 cookbook I Dolci Del Veneto, while Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary gives 1982 as the first mention of the dessert.

Several sources (from Vin Veneto, dated 1981, to the Italian Academy of Giuseppe Maffioli and several cuisine websites) claim that tiramisu was invented in Treviso at Le Beccherie restaurant by the god-daughter and apprentice of confectioner Roberto Linguanotto, Francesca Valori, whose maiden name was Tiramisu. It is believed that Linguanotto named the dish in honour of Francesca's culinary skill.

Other sources report the creation of the cake to have originated in the city of Siena. Some confectioners were said to have created it in honour of Cosimo III on the occasion of his visit to the city. Alternatively, accounts by Carminantonio Iannaccone as researched and written about by The Washington Post establish the creation of tiramisu by him on 24 December 1969 in Via Sottotreviso while he was head chef at Treviso, near Venice.

"Well, there was that time in Mumbai--"

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million. Along with the neighbouring urban areas, including the cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. As of 2009, Mumbai was named an Alpha world city.[5] Mumbai is also the richest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West or Central Asia.

Pacific Vortex: Mayday signal and more

pg 42

"A ship would have to go down in seconds not to transmit a mayday signal."

Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m'aider, meaning "come help me".

It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by mariners and aviators but in some countries local organisations such as police forces, firefighters, and transportation organizations may also use the term. The call is always given three times in a row ("Mayday Mayday Mayday") to prevent mistaking it for some similar-sounding phrase under noisy conditions, and to distinguish an actual Mayday call from a message about a Mayday call.

"If they locate the remains, their salvage ships won't require an act of God to raise her from ten fathoms."

Act of God is a legal term for events outside of human control, such as sudden floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held responsible.

In the law of contracts, an act of God may be interpreted as an implied defence under the rule of impossibility or impracticability. If so, the promise is discharged because of unforeseen occurrences, which were unavoidable and would result in insurmountable delay, expense, or other material breach.

For example, suppose an opera singer and a concert hall have a contract. The singer promises to appear and perform at a certain time on a certain date. The hall promises to have the stage and audio equipment ready for her. However, a tornado destroys the hall a month before the concert is to take place. Of course, the hall is not responsible for the tornado. It may be impossible for the hall to rebuild in time to keep its promise. On the other hand, it may be possible but extraordinarily expensive to reconstruct on such short notice. The hall would argue that the tornado was an act of God and excuses its nonperformance via impossibility or impracticability.

In other contracts, such as indemnification, an act of God may be no excuse, and in fact may be the central risk assumed by the promisor—e.g., flood insurance or crop insurance—the only variables being the timing and extent of the damage. In many cases, failure by way of ignoring obvious risks due to "natural phenomena" will not be sufficient to excuse performance of the obligation, even if the events are relatively rare: e.g., the year 2000 problem in computers. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, 2-615, failure to deliver goods sold may be excused by an "act of God" if the absence of such act was a "basic assumption" of the contract, but has made the delivery "commercially impracticable".

Recently, human activities have been claimed to be the root causes of events until now considered natural disasters. In particular:

* water pressure in dams releasing geological fault (earthquake in China)
* geothermal injections of water provoking earthquakes (Zurich, Switzerland, 2003—currently on trial)
* drilling provoking mud volcano (Java, ongoing)

Such events are possibly threatening the legal status of Acts of God and may establish liabilities where none existed until now.

"They Navy raised the submarine F-4 from sixty fathoms right here off Oahu...back in 1915."

USS F-4 (SS-23) was a F-class submarine. Her keel was laid down by the Moran Brothers Company of Seattle, Washington. She was originally named Skate, making her the first ship of the United States Navy named for the skate. She was renamed F-4 on 17 November 1911. She was launched on 6 January 1912 sponsored by Mrs. M.F. Backus; and commissioned on 3 May 1913, Lieutenant (junior grade) K.H. Donavin in command.

Service history
Joining the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, F-4 participated in the development operations of that group along the west coast, and from August 1914, in Hawaiian waters. During submarine maneuvers off Honolulu, Hawaii on 25 March 1915, she sank at a depth of 306 ft (93 m), 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from the harbor. Despite valorous efforts of naval authorities at Honolulu to locate the missing boat and save her crew, all 21 perished. F-4 was the first commissioned submarine of the U.S. Navy to be lost at sea.

A diving and engineering precedent was established with the Navy's raising of the submarine on 29 August 1915. Courage and tenacity marked the efforts of divers who descended to attach cables to tow the boat into shallow water, while ingenuity and engineering skill characterized the direction of Naval Constructor J.A. Furer, Rear Admiral C.B.T. Moore, and Lieutenant C. Smith who accomplished the feat with the aid of specially devised and constructed pontoons. Navy diver George D Stillson found the superstructure caved in and the hull filled with water.[1] Only four of the dead could be identified; the 17 others were buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[2]

The investigating board subsequently conjectured that corrosion of the lead lining of the battery tank had permitted seepage of sea water into the battery compartment and thereby caused the commanding officer to lose control on a submerged run. Others believe that the bypassing of an unreliable magnetic reducer closed a Kingston valve in the forward ballast tank resulting in a delay.[3] Based on other reported issues, there many also have been problems with the air lines supplying the ballast tank.[3]

F-4 was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 August 1915.

In 1940, the remains of F-4 were buried as fill in a trench off the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor.

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-f-4-23.htm (Names and photos of the men lost.)

Spartan Gold: calamari and more

pg 36

To start they ordered calamari with red sauce and porcini mushrooms.

fried calimari
Squid [as opposed to octopus] is a popular food in many parts of the world. In many of the languages around the Mediterranean sea, squid are referred to by a term related to the Italian "calamari" (singular "calamaro"), which in English has become a culinary name for Mediterranean dishes involving squid, especially fried squid (fried calamari). Japan consumes the most squid in the world (around 700,000 tons)

Porcini mushrooms
Boletus edulis, commonly known as penny bun, porcino or cep, is a basidiomycete fungus, and the type species of the genus Boletus. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere across Europe, Asia, and North America, it does not occur naturally in the Southern Hemisphere, although it has been introduced to southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Boletus edulis, like its name implies, is an edible mushroom. Italian chef and restaurateur Antonio Carluccio has described it as representing "the wild mushroom par excellence", and hails it as the most rewarding of all fungi in the kitchen for its taste and versatility. Considered a choice edible, particularly in France, Germany and Italy, it was widely written about by the Roman writers Pliny the Elder and Martial.

The flavour has been described as nutty and slightly meaty, with a smooth, creamy texture, and a distinctive aroma reminiscent of sourdough. Young, small porcini are most appreciated by gourmets, as the large ones often harbor maggots (insect larvae), and become slimy, soft and less tasty with age. Fruit bodies are collected by holding the stipe near the base and twisting gently. Cutting the stipe with a knife may risk the part left behind rotting and the mycelium being destroyed. Peeling and washing are not recommended. The fruit bodies are highly perishable, due largely to the high water content (around 90%), the high level of enzyme activity, and the presence of a flora of microorganisms

For entrees, Sam selected a seafood pasta with pesto-sauteed bay scallops and lobster

Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy (pesto genovese) , and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts blended with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano and Fiore Sardo (pecorino sardo). The name is the contracted past participle of the Genoese word pestâ (Italian: pestare), which means to pound, to crush, in reference to the original method of preparation, with marble mortar and wooden pestle. However, the ingredients in a traditionally made pesto are not "pounded" but "ground" with a circular motion of the pestle in the mortar. This same Latin root through Old French also gave rise to the English word pestle

A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source. The brightly colored, fan-shaped shells of some scallops, with their radiating fluted pattern, are valued by shell collectors.

The name "scallop" is derived from the Old French escalope, which means "shell".

Clawed lobsters comprise a family (Nephropidae, sometimes also Homaridae) of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.

Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most often associated with the name. Clawed lobsters are not closely related to spiny lobsters or slipper lobsters, which have no claws (chelae), or squat lobsters. The closest relatives of clawed lobsters are the reef lobsters and the three families of freshwater crayfish.

In North America, eating the American lobster did not achieve popularity until the mid-19th century, when New Yorkers and Bostonians developed a taste for it. Prior to this time, lobster was considered a mark of poverty or as a food for indentured servants or lower members of society in Maine, Massachusetts and the Canadian Maritimes, and servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice per week. American lobster was initially deemed worthy only of being used as fertilizer or fish bait, and it was not until well into the twentieth century that it was viewed as more than a low-priced canned staple food.

Caught lobsters are graded as new-shell, hard-shell and old-shell and, because lobsters that have recently shed their shells are the most delicate, there is an inverse relationship between the price of American lobster and its flavor. New-shell lobsters have paper-thin shells and a worse meat-to-shell ratio, but what meat exists is very sweet. However, the lobsters are so delicate that even transport to Boston almost kills them, making the market for new-shell lobsters strictly local to the fishing towns where they are offloaded.

Hard-shell lobsters with firm shells but with less sweet meat can survive shipping to Boston, New York and even Los Angeles so they command a higher price than new-shell lobsters.

Meanwhile, old-shell lobsters, which have not shed since the previous season and have a coarser flavor, can be air-shipped anywhere in the world and arrive alive, making them the most expensive. One seafood guide notes that an eight dollar lobster dinner at a restaurant overlooking fishing piers in Maine is consistently delicious, while "the eighty-dollar lobster in a three-star Paris restaurant is apt to be as much about presentation as flavor"

While Remi chose a stuffed shrimp-and-crab ravioli in basil white cream sauce.

Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important food source for larger animals from fish to whales. They have a high tolerance to toxins in polluted areas, and may contribute to high toxin levels in their predators. Together with prawns, shrimp are widely caught and farmed for human consumption.

While in biological terms shrimps and prawns belong to different suborders of Decapoda, they are very similar in appearance. In commercial farming and fisheries, the terms "shrimp" and "prawn" are often used interchangeably. However, recent aquaculture literature increasingly uses the term "prawn" only for the freshwater forms of palaemonids and "shrimp" for the marine penaeids.[4]

In the United Kingdom, the word “prawn” is more common on menus than “shrimp”; while the opposite is the case in North America. The term “prawn” is also loosely used to describe any large shrimp, especially those that come 15 (or fewer) to the pound (such as “king prawns”, yet sometimes known as “jumbo shrimp”). Australia and some other Commonwealth nations follow this British usage to an even greater extent, using the word “prawn” almost exclusively. When Australian comedian Paul Hogan used the phrase, “I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you” in an American television advertisement, it was intended to make what he was saying easier for his American audience to understand, and was thus a deliberate distortion of what an Australian would typically say.

In Britain very small crustaceans with a brownish shell are called shrimp, and are used to make potted shrimp. They are also used in dishes where they are not the primary ingredient.

As with other seafood, shrimp is high in calcium, iodine and protein but low in food energy. A shrimp-based meal is also a significant source of cholesterol, from 122 mg to 251 mg per 100 g of shrimp, depending on the method of preparation. Shrimp consumption, however, is considered healthy for the circulatory system because the lack of significant levels of saturated fat in shrimp means that the high cholesterol content in shrimp actually improves the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and lowers triglycerides.

Shrimp and other shellfish are among the most common food allergens. They are not kosher and thus are forbidden in Jewish cuisine. On the other hand, shrimp are halal according to some madhāhib, and therefore are permissible in Islamic cuisine.

True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail", or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax. Many other animals with similar names – such as hermit crabs, king crabs, porcelain crabs, horseshoe crabs and crab lice – are not true crabs.

Crabs are prepared and eaten as a dish in several different ways all over the world. Some species are eaten whole, including the shell, such as soft-shell crab; with other species just the claws and/or legs are eaten. The latter is particularly common for larger crabs, such as the snow crab. Mostly in East Asian cultures, the roe of the female crab is also eaten, which usually appears orange or yellow in color in fertile crabs.

In some regions spices improve the culinary experience. In Asia, masala crab and chilli crab are examples of heavily spiced dishes. In the Chesapeake Bay region, blue crab is often eaten with Old Bay Seasoning.

For the British dish Cromer crab, the crab meat is extracted and placed inside the hard shell. One American way to prepare crab meat is by extracting it and adding a flour mix, creating a crab cake.

Crabs are also used in bisque, a global dish of French origin.

The fact that Remi had little interest in who exactly sank the Bismarck or why the Battle of the Bulge was so important was something that never ceased to amaze Sam.

Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later in April 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Along with her sister ship Tirpitz, Bismarck was the largest battleship ever built by Germany, and the heaviest built by any European power.

Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, codenamed Rheinübung, in May 1941. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break out into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, however, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat with heavy damage, although Bismarck herself had been hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank.

The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy with dozens of warships involved. Two days later, while steaming for the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one hit was scored that jammed the battleship's steering gear and rendered her unmanoeuvrable. The following morning, Bismarck was destroyed by a pair of British battleships. The cause of her sinking is disputed: some in the Royal Navy claim that torpedoes fired by the cruiser HMS Dorsetshire administered the fatal blow, while German survivors argue that they scuttled the ship.

The Battle of the Bulge (also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Von Rundstedt Offensive) (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive, launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, and France and Luxembourg on the Western Front.

The Wehrmacht's code name for the offensive was Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), after the German patriotic hymn Die Wacht am Rhein. This German offensive was officially named the Ardennes-Alsace campaign by the U.S. Army, but it is known to the English-speaking general public simply as the Battle of the Bulge, the "bulge" being the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies' line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.

The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. Germany's goal for these operations was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers' favour. Once accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theatre of war.

The offensive was planned with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Although Ultra suggested a possible attack and the Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, the Allies were still caught by surprise. This was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with their own offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance.

Near-complete surprise against a weakly defended section of the Allied line was achieved during heavy overcast weather, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance, particularly around the key town of Bastogne, and terrain favoring the defenders threw the German timetable behind schedule. Allied reinforcements, including General George S. Patton's Third Army, and improving weather conditions, which permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, sealed the failure of the offensive.

In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line. For the Americans, with about 840,000 men committed and some 89,000 casualties, including 19,000 killed, the Battle of the Bulge was the largest and bloodiest battle that they fought in World War II.

Pacific Vortex: Mynah Birds and more

pg 38

...a naked Pitt gazed out the open window at a pair of mynah birds who were fighting over a disinterested female.

he myna is a bird of the starling family (Sturnidae). This is a group of passerine birds which occur naturally only in southern and eastern Asia. Several species have been introduced to areas like North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, especially the Common Myna which is often regarded as an invasive species.

Mynas are not a natural group; instead, the term myna is used for any starling in India and surrounding areas, regardless of their relationships. This range was colonized twice during the evolution of starlings, first by rather ancestral starlings related to the Coleto and Aplonis lineages, and millions of years later by birds related to the Common Starling and Wattled Starling's ancestors. These two groups of mynas can be distinguished in the more terrestrial adaptions of the latter, which usually also have less glossy plumage except on the heads and longer tails. The Bali Myna which is nearly extinct in the wild is highly distinctive.

Some mynas are considered talking birds, for their ability to reproduce sounds, including human speech, when in captivity.

"Myna" is derived from the Tamil language.

He had a neatly trimmed Ahab, the whaler's red beard

The chin curtain beard (also called a Donegal or Lincoln) is a particular style of facial hair that grows along the jaw line and covers the chin completely (but does not include a mustache). This is not to be confused with the chinstrap beard—a style of beard that also grows along the jaw line but does not fully cover the chin like the chin curtain beard does. In addition, many chin curtain beards do not extend that far below the jawline, if at all, whereas all chinstrap beards generally do.

This style of facial hair was made famous by individuals such as Abraham Lincoln.

The Navy Department has compiled thirty-eight documented cases of ships over the past thirty eight years that have sailed into a circular-shaped area north of the Hawaiian island and vanished.

Cussler is creating this mystery for the book - in real life there are no such disappearances (without the maydays and wreckage, etc.)

bits of flotsam, oil slicks, even bodies

In maritime law, flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict describe specific kinds of wreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage.

Flotsam is floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo.
Jetsam is part of a ship, its equipment, or its cargo that is purposefully cast overboard or jettisoned to lighten the load in time of distress and that sinks or is washed ashore.
Lagan is cargo that is lying on the bottom of the ocean, sometimes marked by a buoy, which can be reclaimed.
Derelict is cargo that is also on the bottom of the ocean, but which no one has any hope of reclaiming.

Pacific Vortex: the Boston Strangler and more

pg 34

"I'm not the Boston Strangler or Jack the Ripper."

The Boston Strangler is a name attributed to the murderer (or murderers) of several women in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in the early 1960s. Though the crimes were attributed to Albert DeSalvo, investigators of the case have since suggested the murders (sometimes known as the silk stocking murders) were not committed by one person

Between June 14, 1962 and January 4, 1964, 13 single women (between the ages of 19 and 85) were murdered in the Boston area. Most were sexually assaulted and strangled in their apartments. Without any sign of forced entry into their dwellings, the women were assumed to have either known their assailant or have voluntarily allowed them into their homes, believing them to be an apartment maintenance man, deliveryman, or some other serviceman. Despite enormous media publicity that would presumably have discouraged women from admitting strangers into their homes after the first few murders, the attacks continued. The killings panicked and frightened many Boston-area young females, causing some to leave the area. Many residents purchased tear gas and new locks and deadbolts for home doors.

The murders occurred in several cities, making overall jurisdiction over the crimes unclear. Massachusetts Attorney General Edward W. Brooke helped to coordinate the various police forces. He controversially permitted psychometrist Peter Hurkos to use his alleged extrasensory perception to analyze the cases, for which Hurkos claimed a single person was responsible. When Hurkos provided a "minutely detailed description of the wrong person," the press ridiculed Brooke. While the police were not convinced that all the murders were the actions of one person, much of the public believed so; the connection between a majority of the victims and hospitals was widely discussed.

Confession
Gainsborough Street, site of the first murder attributed to the Boston strangler.

On October 27, 1964, a stranger entered a young woman's home posing as a detective. He tied the victim to her bed, sexually assaulted her, and then suddenly left, saying "I'm sorry" as he went. The woman's description led police to identify the assailant as Albert DeSalvo. When his photo was published, many women identified him as the man who had assaulted them. Earlier on October 27, DeSalvo had posed as a motorist with car trouble and attempted to enter a home in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The homeowner, future Brockton police chief Richard Sproles, became suspicious and eventually fired a shotgun at DeSalvo.

DeSalvo was not initially suspected of being involved with the stranglings. It was only after he was charged with rape that he gave a detailed confession of his activities as the Boston Strangler. He initially confessed to a fellow inmate, George Nassar. Nassar reported the confession to his attorney, F. Lee Bailey, who also took on DeSalvo's case. The police were impressed at the accuracy of DeSalvo's descriptions of the crime scenes. Though there were some inconsistencies, DeSalvo was able to cite details which had not been made public. However, there was no physical evidence to substantiate his confession. As such, he stood trial for earlier, unrelated crimes of robbery and sexual offenses in which he was known as The Green Man and The Measuring Man respectively. Bailey brought up the confession to the stranglings as part of his client's history at the trial in order to assist in gaining a 'not guilty by reason of insanity' verdict to the sexual offenses but it was ruled as inadmissible by the judge.

DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison in 1967. In February of that year, he escaped with two fellow inmates from Bridgewater State Hospital, triggering a full scale manhunt. A note was found on his bunk addressed to the superintendent. In it DeSalvo stated that he had escaped to focus attention on the conditions in the hospital and his own situation. The next day he gave himself up. Following the escape he was transferred to the maximum security Walpole State Prison where, six years later, he was found stabbed to death in the infirmary. His killer or killers were never identified.

Doubts
Doubts remain as to whether DeSalvo was indeed the Boston Strangler. At the time he confessed, people who knew him personally did not believe him capable of the vicious crimes. It was also noted that the women killed by "The Strangler" came from different age and ethnic groups, and that there were different modi operandi.

"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the media. The letter is widely believed to have been a hoax, and may have been written by a journalist in a deliberate attempt to heighten interest in the story. Other nicknames used for the killer at the time were "The Whitechapel Murderer" and "Leather Apron".

Attacks ascribed to the Ripper typically involved female prostitutes from the slums whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs from at least three of the victims led to proposals that their killer possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge. Rumours that the murders were connected intensified in September and October 1888, and letters from a writer or writers purporting to be the murderer were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard. The "From Hell" letter, received by George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, included half of a preserved human kidney, supposedly from one of the victims. Mainly because of the extraordinarily brutal character of the murders, and because of media treatment of the events, the public came increasingly to believe in a single serial killer known as "Jack the Ripper".

Extensive newspaper coverage bestowed widespread and enduring international notoriety on the Ripper. An investigation into a series of brutal killings in Whitechapel up to 1891 was unable to connect all the killings conclusively to the murders of 1888, but the legend of Jack the Ripper solidified. As the murders were never solved, the legends surrounding them became a combination of genuine historical research, folklore, and pseudohistory. The term "ripperology" was coined to describe the study and analysis of the Ripper cases. There are now over one hundred theories about the Ripper's identity, and the murders have inspired multiple works of fiction.

The contents of the syringe was an ordinary solution of scopalamine.

Scopolamine, also known as levo-duboisine, and hyoscine, is a tropane alkaloid drug with muscarinic antagonist effects. It is among the secondary metabolites of plants from Solanaceae (nightshade) family of plants, such as henbane, jimson weed and Angel's Trumpets (Datura resp. Brugmansia spec.), and corkwood (Duboisia species). Scopolamine exerts its effects by acting as a competitive antagonist at muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, specifically M1 receptors; it is thus classified as an anticholinergic, anti-muscarinic drug.

Although scopolamine is often portrayed in the media as a dangerous drug, its anticholinergic properties give it some legitimate medical applications in very minute doses. As an example, in the treatment of motion sickness, the dose, gradually released from a transdermal patch, is only 330 micrograms (µg) per day. In rare cases, unusual reactions to ordinary doses of scopolamine have occurred including confusion, agitation, rambling speech, hallucinations, paranoid behaviors, and delusions.

One of the earlier alkaloids isolated from plant sources scopolamine has been in use in its purified forms (such as various salts including hydrochloride, hydrobromide, hydroiodide and sulfate), since its isolation by the German scientist Albert Ladenburg in 1880, and as various preparations from its plant-based form since antiquity and perhaps pre-historic times. Following the description of the structure and activity of scopolamine by Ladenburg, the search for synthetic analogues of and methods for total synthesis of scopolamine and/or atropine in the 1930s and 1940s resulted in the discovery of diphenhydramine, an early antihistamine and the prototype of its chemical subclass of these drugs, and pethidine, the first fully synthetic opioid analgesic, known as Dolatin and Demerol amongst many other trade names.

Scopolamine was used in conjunction with morphine, oxycodone, or other opioids from before 1900 up into the 1960s to put mothers in labor into a kind of "twilight sleep". The analgesia from scopolamine plus a strong opioid is deep enough to allow higher doses to be used as a form of anaesthesia.

Scopolamine mixed with oxycodone (Eukodal), and ephedrine was marketed by Merck as SEE (from the German initials of the ingredients) and Scophedal starting in 1928, and the mixture is sometimes mixed up on site on rare occasions in the area of its greatest historical usage, namely Germany and Central Europe.

Scopolamine was also one of the active ingredients in Asthmador, an over-the-counter smoking preparation marketed in the 1950s and '60s claiming to combat asthma and bronchitis. In November 1990 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration forced OTC products with scopolamine and several hundred other ingredients that had allegedly not been proven effective off the market. Scopolamine shared a small segment of the OTC sleeping pill market with diphenhydramine, phenyltoloxamine, pyrilamine, doxylamine and other first generation antihistamines, many of which are still used for this purpose in drugs like Sominex, Tylenol PM, NyQuil, etc.

The humidity would have been stifling but for the trade winds...

The trade winds (also called trades) are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics, within the lower portion of the Earth's atmosphere, in the lower section of the troposphere near the Earth's equator.[1] The trade winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere, strengthening during the winter and when the Arctic oscillation is in its warm phase. Historically, the trade winds have been used by captains of sailing ships to cross the world's oceans for centuries, and enabled European empire expansion into the Americas and trade routes to become established across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

In meteorology, the trade winds act as the steering flow for tropical storms that form over the Atlantic, Pacific, and southern Indian Oceans and make landfall in North America, Southeast Asia, and India, respectively. Trade winds also steer African dust westward across the Atlantic ocean into the Caribbean sea, as well as portions of southeastern North America. Shallow cumulus clouds are seen within trade wind regimes, and are capped from becoming taller by a trade wind inversion, which is caused by descending air aloft from within the subtropical ridge. The weaker the trade winds become, the more rainfall can be expected within neighboring landmasses.

Spartan Gold: Abalone Cove and more

pg 36

Remi was there celebrating a successful research trip looking into rumors of a sunken Spanish ship off Abalone Cove.

Abalone Cove in California is an actual place, even if the Spanish ship is not. Abalone Cove Shoreline Park is located in Rancho Palos Verdes.

...they struck pay dirt within a year with an argon laser scanner that could detect and identify at a distance mixed metals and alloys, from gold and silver to platinum and palladium.

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal. Even though it has six naturally occurring isotopes, platinum is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust and has an average abundance of approximately 0.005 mg/kg. It is the least reactive metal. It occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some native deposits, mostly in South Africa, which accounts for 80% of the world production.

As a member of the platinum group of elements, as well as of the group 10 of the periodic table of elements, platinum is generally non-reactive. It exhibits a remarkable resistance to corrosion, even at high temperatures, and as such is considered a noble metal. As a result, platinum is often found chemically uncombined as native platinum. Because it occurs naturally in the alluvial sands of various rivers, it was first used by pre-Columbian South American natives to produce artifacts. It was referenced in European writings as early as 16th century, but it was not until Antonio de Ulloa published a report on a new metal of Colombian origin in 1748 that it became investigated by scientists.

Platinum is used in catalytic converters, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts and electrodes, platinum resistance thermometers, dentistry equipment, and jewelry. Because only a few hundred tonnes are produced annually, it is a scarce material, and is highly valuable and is a major precious metal commodity. Being a heavy metal, it leads to health issues upon exposure to its salts, but due to its corrosion resistance, it is not as toxic as some metals. Its compounds, most notably cisplatin, are applied in chemotherapy against certain types of cancer.

Palladium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd and an atomic number of 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas. Palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium form a group of elements referred to as the platinum group metals (PGMs). These have similar chemical properties, but palladium has the lowest melting point and is the least dense of them.

The unique properties of palladium and other platinum group metals account for their widespread use. A quarter of all goods manufactured today either contain PGMs or have a significant part in their manufacturing process played by PGMs. Over half of the supply of palladium and its congener platinum goes into catalytic converters, which convert up to 90% of harmful gases from auto exhaust (hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide) into less-harmful substances (nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor). Palladium is also used in electronics, dentistry, medicine, hydrogen purification, chemical applications, and groundwater treatment. Palladium plays a key role in the technology used for fuel cells, which combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water.

Ore deposits of palladium and other PGMs are rare, and the most extensive deposits have been found in the norite belt of the Bushveld Igneous Complex covering the Transvaal Basin in South Africa, the Stillwater Complex in Montana, United States, the Thunder Bay District of Ontario, Canada, and the Norilsk Complex in Russia. Recycling is also a source of palladium, mostly from scrapped catalytic converters. The numerous applications and limited supply sources of palladium result in the metal attracting considerable investment interest.

The waiter came, deposited a basket of warm ciabatta and a saucer of Pasolivo olive oil.

Ciabatta (literally slipper bread) is an Italian white bread made from wheat flour and yeast. The loaf is somewhat elongated, broad and flat. Ciabatta is baked in many variations.

Ciabatta in its modern form was developed in 1982. Since the late 1990s it has been popular across Europe, particularly in Spain, and in the United States, and is widely used as a sandwich bread.

A toasted sandwich made from small loaves of ciabatta is known as a panino (plural panini).

Ciabatta bread was brought to the United in the early 1990s by Orlando Bakery, a Cleveland firm. They brought over 3 bakers from Italy to develop the product and the mass production process. They successfully introduced a fresh bread, then later, a frozen version. It was quickly copied throughout the United States.

The more open-crumbed form, which is usual in the United States, is made from a very wet dough, often requiring machine-kneading, and a biga or sourdough starter.

Pasolivo Olive Oils [into which the bread would be dipped before being eaten] is a real olive oil. Pasolivo is the name of the family farmers that grow the olives, in Paso Robles, California on the state's central coast. "We hand-pick our olives and press them just steps away in our own olive press. Our olives are grown organically and sustainably, and we take great care with our olive oils from the tree to the table. We're proud to be a member of Paso Robles' vibrant food and wine community, and hope you'll come visit us on the farm. - The Pasolivo Family"
http://www.pasolivo.com/

Trojan Gold: Caltech and more

pg 35

While in his final months of study at Caltech

The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering. Its 124-acre (50 ha) primary campus is located approximately 11 mi (18 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Although founded as a preparatory and vocational school by Amos G. Throop in 1891, the college attracted influential scientists such as George Ellery Hale, Arthur Amos Noyes, and Robert Andrews Millikan in the early 20th century. The vocational and preparatory schools were disbanded and spun off in 1910, and the college assumed its present name in 1921. In 1934, Caltech was elected to the Association of American Universities, and the antecedents of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which Caltech continues to manage and operate, were established between 1936 and 1943 under Theodore von Karman.

Despite its small size, 31 Caltech alumni and faculty have won the Nobel Prize and 66 have won the National Medal of Science or Technology. There are 109 faculty members who have been elected to the National Academies. In addition, numerous faculty members are associated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as NASA. Caltech managed $332 million in sponsored research and $1.55 billion for its endowment in 2010. In addition, Caltech has been consistently ranked as one of the world's top institutions, particularly in science and engineering. It also has a long standing rivalry with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In 2011, the Times Higher Education, United Kingdom's leading higher education news publication, ranked Caltech the number one university in the 2011-2012 world university rankings. This is the first time in the history of the publication Harvard has been displaced from number one. In the same ranking, Caltech was ranked first in the Engineering & Technology and Physical Sciences categories.

First year students are required to live on campus and 95% of undergraduates remain in the on-campus house system. Although Caltech has a strong tradition of practical jokes and pranks, student life is governed by an honor code which allows faculty to assign take-home examinations. The Caltech Beavers compete in 13 intercollegiate sports in the NCAA Division III's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

...he would later find out was from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military. DARPA has been responsible for funding the development of many technologies which have had a major effect on the world, including computer networking, as well as NLS, which was both the first hypertext system, and an important precursor to the contemporary ubiquitous graphical user interface.

Its original name was simply Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), but it was renamed to "DARPA" (for Defense) in March 1972, then renamed "ARPA" again in February 1993, and then renamed "DARPA" again in March 1996.

DARPA was established during 1958 (as ARPA) in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik during 1957, with the mission of keeping U.S. military technology more sophisticated than that of the nation's potential enemies. From DARPA's own introduction,

DARPA’s original mission, established in 1958, was to prevent technological surprise like the launch of Sputnik, which signaled that the Soviets had beaten the U.S. into space. The mission statement has evolved over time. Today, DARPA’s mission is still to prevent technological surprise to the US, but also to create technological surprise for its enemies.

DARPA is independent from other more conventional military R&D and reports directly to senior Department of Defense management. DARPA has around 240 personnel (about 140 technical) directly managing a $3.2 billion budget. These figures are "on average" since DARPA focuses on short-term (two to four-year) projects run by small, purpose-built team

the Lighthouse, a jazz club on Hermose Beach

This is a real place, actually called "The Lighthouse Cafe":
http://www.thelighthousecafe.net/history.html
Since the 1940's, The Lighthouse Cafe located on Pier Plaza in Hermosa Beach, has been a haven for musicians and music lovers alike. The venue first gained popularity with the world renown jazz jam group "The Lighthouse All-Stars" called the club home. For years SoCal residents swarmed to the South Bay to take part in the west coast jazz movement and to see the talents of greats such as Buddy Guy, Miles Davis, Howard Rumsey, Chet Baker, and Shorty Rodgers swing every Sunday afternoon for Jazz Brunch, a tradition that continues today.

As the Los Angeles music scene evolved and became one of the most important in the world, so did the Lighthouse Cafe. It remains a laid back joint where the best of the pros and local up and comers from all music genres come to play. In a week you can hear the best in Jazz, Rock, Reggae, Blues, Classic and even Karaoke. This is a not to be missed experience in the South Bay.

Pacific Vortex: Mafia and more

pg 31

His only beneficiary was his white-haired mother, and unless she'd given up charity teas and hooked rugs, and had taken up with the Mafia.

The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering. Each group, known as a "family", "clan", or "cosca", claims sovereignty over a territory in which it operates its rackets – usually a town or village or a neighbourhood (borgata) of a larger city. Its members call themselves "men of honor", though the public often refers to them as "mafiosi".

According to the classic definition, the Mafia is a criminality originating in Sicily - ie Cosa Nostra. However, the term "mafia" has become a sort of umbrella term for any organized criminal network with similar structure, methods, and interests.

The Mafia proper frequently parallels, collaborates with or clashes with, networks originating in other parts of southern Italy, such as the Camorra (from Campania), the 'Ndrangheta (from Calabria), the Stidda (southern Sicily) and the Sacra Corona Unita (from Apulia). However, Giovanni Falcone, the anti-Mafia judge murdered by the Mafia in 1992, objected to the inflation of the use of "Mafia" to organized crime in general:

While there was a time when people were reluctant to pronounce the word 'Mafia' ... nowadays people have gone so far in the opposite direction that it has become an overused term ... I am no longer willing to accept the habit of speaking of the Mafia in descriptive and all-inclusive terms that make it possible to stack up phenomena that are indeed related to the field of organized crime but that have little or nothing in common with the Mafia.

The American Mafia arose from offshoots of the Mafia that emerged in the United States during the late nineteenth century, following waves of emigration from Sicily. There were similar offshoots in Canada among Italian Canadians. However, while the same has been claimed of organised crime in Australia, this appears to result from confusion with 'Ndrangheta, which is generally regarded as more prominent among Italian Australians.

"Kick a man in the balls and then act like miss Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm..."

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her two stern aunts in the village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy for life inspires her aunts, but she faces many trials in her young life, gaining wisdom and understanding.

"That's me, one of Al Capone's torpedoes..."

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947) was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early 1920s to 1931.

Born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City to Italian immigrants, Capone became involved with gang activity at a young age after being expelled from school at age 14. In his early twenties, he moved to Chicago to take advantage of a new opportunity to make money smuggling illegal alcoholic beverages into the city during Prohibition. He also engaged in various other criminal activities, including bribery of government figures and prostitution. Despite his illegitimate occupation, Capone became a highly visible public figure. He made various charitable endeavors using the money he made from his activities, and was viewed by many to be a "modern-day Robin Hood".

Capone was publicly criticized for his supposed involvement in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, when seven rival gang members were executed. Capone was convicted on federal charges of tax evasion, and sentenced to federal prison. His incarceration included a term at the then-new Alcatraz federal prison. In the final years of Capone's life, he suffered mental and physical deterioration due to late-stage neurosyphilis, which he had contracted as a youth. On January 25, 1947, he died from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.

Pacific Vortex: Don Juan and more

pg 26

Pitt didn't kid himself: no movie studio would ever star him in a remake of Don Juan.

Don Juan (Spanish, or "Don Giovanni" in Italian) is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors.

Don Juan is used synonymously for "womanizer."

Don Juan is a rogue and a libertine who takes great pleasure in seducing women (mainly virgins) and enjoys fighting their men. Later, in a graveyard, Don Juan encounters a statue of Don Gonzalo, the dead father of a girl he has seduced, Doña Ines de Ulloa, and impiously invites the father to dine with him; the statue gladly accepts. The father's ghost arrives for dinner at Don Juan's house and in turn invites Don Juan to dine with him in the graveyard. Don Juan accepts and goes to the father's grave, where the statue asks to shake Don Juan's hand. When he extends his arm, the statue grabs hold and drags him away to Hell

He wasn't about to wait for the posse to block the pass

A cliche from the silent Western, and indeed right up until the 1930s, is that the hero would be facing certain death at the end of the movie, until a possse, or more usually the cavalry, rode to the rescue.

He certainly didn't want to meet cruising policemen or a do-gooder vacationer who might conjure up the notion of playing Herbert Hero and rescuing Little Eva from the villainous Simon LePitt.

In the book Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, published in 1852. In the silent movie version, a young white girl named Eva (who had befriended the slave Uncle Tom) is kidnapped by the villainous Simon LeGree, and attempts to run to safety across an ice floe.

Since that time, over-the-top villains with designs on women have been called "Simon LeGree."

This time he recognized the scent as plumeria.

Plumeria is related to the Oleander, Nerium oleander, and both possess a irritating, milky sap, rather similar to that of Euphorbia. Contact with the sap may irritate eyes and skin.

Each of the separate species of Plumeria bears differently shaped alternate leaves, with distinct form and growth habits. The leaves of P. alba are quite narrow and corrugated, whereas leaves of P. pudica have an elongated shape and glossy, dark-green color. P. pudica is one of the everblooming types with non-deciduous, evergreen leaves. Another species that retains leaves and flowers in winter is P. obtusa; though its common name is "Singapore," it is originally from Colombia.

Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.

Pacific Vortex: Eaton School of Oceanography and more

pg 23

"And when mother died, our dear admiral was charting icebergs off Greenland with some long-haired freaks from the Eaton School of Oceanography."

There are many schools of oceanography, but this is a fictional name.

She..wore...an oriental sheath dress.

In fashion, a sheath dress is a type of dress designed to tightly fit the body. It is often made of a very light and thin material like cotton or silk, and rarely contains any flourishes. Unlike the shorter cocktail dress and the longer ballroom dress, a sheath dress typically falls around the knees or lower thighs, and can be either strapped or strapless. Some brands well-known for their sheath dresses include Ralph Lauren, Prada, and Marc Jacobs.

He signaled the bartender and ordered another Cutty on the rocks - a double this time.

Cutty Sark is a range of blended Scotch whisky and sherry produced by Edrington plc of Glasgow whose main office is less than 10 miles from the birthplace of the famous clipper ship of the same name. The whisky was created on March 20, 1923, with the home of the blend considered to be at The Glenrothes distillery in the Speyside region of Scotland. The name comes from the River Clyde-built clipper ship Cutty Sark, whose name came from the Scots language term cutty-sark, the short shirt prominently mentioned in the famous poem by Robert Burns - "Tam o' Shanter". The drawing of the clipper ship Cutty Sark on the label of the whisky bottles is a work of the Swedish artist Carl Georg August Wallin. He was a mariner painter, and this is probably his most famous ship painting. This drawing has been on the whisky bottles since 1955.

The Tall Ships' Races for large sailing ships were originally known as The Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Races, under the terms of sponsorship by the whisky brand.

"To the victor go the spils."

In the politics of the United States, a spoil system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a system of awarding offices on the basis of some measure of merit independent of political activity.

The term was derived from the phrase "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy" by New York Senator William L. Marcy, referring to the victory of the Jackson Democrats in the election of 1828.

Similar spoils systems are common in other nations that traditionally have been based on tribal organization or other kinship groups and localism in general.

Spartan Gold: Boston College and more

pg 35

Remi had attended his alma mater, Boston College, emerging with a master's in anthropology and history.

Alma mater (Latin: "nourishing mother"), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.

In modern times, it is often any school, college, or university at which one has studied and, usually, from which one has graduated.

Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early history as a liberal arts college and preparatory school in Boston's South End. It is a member of the 568 Group and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. Its main campus is a historic district and features some of the earliest examples of collegiate gothic architecture in North America.

Boston College offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees through its nine schools and colleges. Boston College is currently ranked 31 in the National Universities ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

Boston College is categorized as an RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity) in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

A Master's degree: A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. Within the area studied, graduates are posited to possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theoretical and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, critical evaluation or professional application; and the ability to solve complex problems and think rigorously and independently.

Sam's father, who had died a few years earlier, had been one of the lead engineers on NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a human in orbit around the Earth. The Mercury-Atlas 6 flight on February 20, 1962, was the first American flight to achieve this goal.

The program included 20 unmanned launches, followed by two suborbital and four orbital flights with astronaut pilots. Early planning and research were carried out by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), but the program was officially conducted by its successor organization, NASA. Mercury laid the groundwork for Project Gemini and the follow-on Apollo moon-landing program.

The project name came from Mercury, a Roman mythological god often seen as a symbol of speed. Mercury is also the name of the innermost planet of the Solar System, which moves faster than any other and hence provides an image of speed, although Project Mercury had no real connection to the planet.

Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966.

Its objective was to develop space travel techniques in support of Apollo, which had the goal of landing men on the Moon. Gemini achieved missions long enough for a trip to the Moon and back, perfected extra-vehicular activity (working outside a spacecraft), and orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve rendezvous and docking. All manned Gemini flights were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida using the Titan II GLV launch vehicle.

The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F. Kennedy proposed the national goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the 1960s in a May 25, 1961 address to Congress.

Kennedy's goal was accomplished with the Apollo 11 mission when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Lunar Module (LM) on the Moon on July 20, 1969 and walked on its surface while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command spacecraft, and all three landed safely on Earth on July 24. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, 12 men walked on the Moon. These are the only times humans have landed on another celestial body.

Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, following the Mercury and Gemini programs. It used Saturn family rockets as launch vehicles. Apollo / Saturn vehicles were also used for an Apollo Applications program which consisted of three Skylab space station missions in 1973–74, and a joint U.S.–Soviet mission in 1975.

Apollo was successful despite two major setbacks: the 1967 Apollo 1 cabin fire that killed the entire crew during a pre-launch test; and an in-flight failure on the 1970 Apollo 13 flight which disabled the command spacecraft's propulsion and life support, forcing the crew to use the LM as a "lifeboat" for these functions until they could return to Earth safely.

Apollo set major milestones in human spaceflight. It stands alone in sending manned missions beyond low Earth orbit; Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, while Apollo 17 marked the last moonwalk and the last manned mission beyond low Earth orbit. The program spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to rocketry and manned spaceflight, including avionics, telecommunications, and computers. Apollo also sparked interest in many fields of engineering and left many physical facilities and machines developed for the program as landmarks. Its command modules and other objects and artifacts are displayed throughout the world, notably in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museums in Washington, DC and at NASA's centers in Florida, Texas and Alabama. The Apollo 13 Command Module is housed at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Sam's mother, Eunice, lived in Key West.

Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about 90 miles (140 km) from Cuba.

Key West is politically within the limits of the city of Key West, Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city also occupies nearby islands and portions of nearby islands.

The island is about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide. In the late 1950s many of the large salt ponds on the eastern side were filled in, nearly doubling the original land mass of the island. The island measures 3,370 acres (13.6 km2) in area.