durabone
Jedi Council Member
Hi all;
Nice to be on here again.
I see a lot has gone on
in my absence. Pf!?
I drank beers with another
member last night, jogged
a lot of memories. Caught
me up a little. Grateful
for that.
One thing we touched on is something I read while away,
interesting book:
"Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons"
aka "Jack Parsons"
The book was written by George Pendle, IMHO decent & entertaining journalism.
I had heard that in the years leading up to WW2 there was a lot of
money being spent on researching solid rocket propellants. I had
also heard that research into black powder variants ceased suddenly
when Parsons demonstrated his asphalt-based propellant. That the
development was so non-sequitur to the research at the time was
singular, but not as rarefied as the atmosphere became when Parsons
claimed to have drawn the formula from an ancient occult text that
contained spells, including the secret of the ancient Greek weapon
of intense fire.
Yes, my curiosity was piqued. A few years later Pendle's book fell
into my lap. Okay, above statement echoed by Pendle, but not to the
point of one of us being able to cite line & passage where Parsons
got his idea.
What I did not expect was the rest of the stuff Pendle presents.
According to him:
- Parsons was one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California
- He loved hands-on with explosives
- He was "in trouble" a lot with the powers that be
- He was known for reciting Pan verses
- He became leader of the Church of Satan, reporting directly to Aleister Crowley
- Parsons ran a large house (the church) where many sexual experiments went down
- Rented a room to L. Ron Hubbard
- Swapped wives and partners perhaps more intensely than in "Peyton Place"
But the really weird part, L. Ron Hubbard "stole" Parson's woman and 'his' money?
They fled to Miami, where L. Ron Hubbard bought yachts with the money (the first
of his Scientology fleet?). Pendle writes that Hubbard's defense was that the Navy
put him up to the task of destroying Crowley's church in LA.
I guess keeping any profits from the op was ok? Yachts?! Navy?!
Enjoy. I am going to go and try and piece together more of what I missed.
Nice to be on here again.
I see a lot has gone on
in my absence. Pf!?
I drank beers with another
member last night, jogged
a lot of memories. Caught
me up a little. Grateful
for that.
One thing we touched on is something I read while away,
interesting book:
"Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons"
aka "Jack Parsons"
The book was written by George Pendle, IMHO decent & entertaining journalism.
I had heard that in the years leading up to WW2 there was a lot of
money being spent on researching solid rocket propellants. I had
also heard that research into black powder variants ceased suddenly
when Parsons demonstrated his asphalt-based propellant. That the
development was so non-sequitur to the research at the time was
singular, but not as rarefied as the atmosphere became when Parsons
claimed to have drawn the formula from an ancient occult text that
contained spells, including the secret of the ancient Greek weapon
of intense fire.
Yes, my curiosity was piqued. A few years later Pendle's book fell
into my lap. Okay, above statement echoed by Pendle, but not to the
point of one of us being able to cite line & passage where Parsons
got his idea.
What I did not expect was the rest of the stuff Pendle presents.
According to him:
- Parsons was one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California
- He loved hands-on with explosives
- He was "in trouble" a lot with the powers that be
- He was known for reciting Pan verses
- He became leader of the Church of Satan, reporting directly to Aleister Crowley
- Parsons ran a large house (the church) where many sexual experiments went down
- Rented a room to L. Ron Hubbard
- Swapped wives and partners perhaps more intensely than in "Peyton Place"
But the really weird part, L. Ron Hubbard "stole" Parson's woman and 'his' money?
They fled to Miami, where L. Ron Hubbard bought yachts with the money (the first
of his Scientology fleet?). Pendle writes that Hubbard's defense was that the Navy
put him up to the task of destroying Crowley's church in LA.
I guess keeping any profits from the op was ok? Yachts?! Navy?!
Enjoy. I am going to go and try and piece together more of what I missed.
