I had never thought of them that way, but of course, you are correct.

A resonator--yes, I agree. After all, that's what a real xylophone is: a collection of resonators. Most musical instruments work on that principle. So does the human voice.

Project X was basically a giant resonator. The key to its working was to find an appropriate resonance frequency. I am not disagreeing with anything you are saying, Temlakos; I am just adding my two cents.

I must admit I couldn't prove this. But it looked to me as though AS3 would say the SSI stole Robert Stadler's ideas in building Floyd Ferris' torture chamber, not the weapon of mass coercion and destruction that is Project X.

Here's my take on Project X.

http://www.conservapedia.com/Project_X

Note: I actually cut out a disk, held it on a map of the Midwest, and worked out the logical center of the circle of influence for Project X: Dunkertown, Iowa. That is my candidate for Harmony City.

This is along the same line of thinking as I had thought about.

I know that ProjectX was a Floyd Ferris project and what it was for. As for coherent sound, phononics is actually a pretty hot area right now and, like most things, has the capacity for good or ill.

AS3 without ProjectX would not be AS3. ProjectX is absolutely critical. If I had anything to say about casting, I would have recommended to keep Armin Shimerman (Quark from Star Trek Deep Space Nine) as Floyd Ferris. He was perfect for that diabolical role and was probably the best actor in AS1.

I see I should have explained. Project Xylophone was not one of John Galt's projects, nor one of Henry Rearden's projects. It was Floyd Ferris' project, borrowing heavily on Robert Stadler's cosmic-ray theory. I don't even know, BTW, whether AS3 will even feature Project X.

Ragnar might consider building such a coherent-sound weapon. But he got along just fine without one, using some kind of long-range naval gun.

I encourage you to read this "chapter" I wrote on a possible electrostatic motor. Turns out someone's been working on one. It is simple in concept, but difficult to implement. It would take a true engineering genius like John Galt to figure out how to make it practical.

http://www.conservapedia.com/John_Galt#T...

(BTW: in the modern "Man in the Iron Mask" movie, Athos the Musketeer, I believe, says, "I'm a genius, not an engineer." In France, that reads "Je suis genie, pas ingenieur." It's a pun--because the word for "engineering" as a discipline is "genie," the same word they use for the English concept of "genius."

The problem with these ideas in the long arm of the government, you can't escape taxes here on US soil. The answer is for a Midas Mulligan to buy an island near our coast, probably Florida, and sell property and and infrastructure. The money that all would save would far exceed the cost of the island for Midas or for the rest of us. Imagine saving 60% +/- on your income. The time has come.

Thanks for reminding me. I'll need a ball mill to take to the Valley. As for the kiln, I have a couple of small ones, but that is something on my to get list before making a clean break with the world.

We need to put ewv's comment into the script of a new movie Atlas Shrugged: Now Non-Fiction.

This is the last known communication on the fate of Midas:

"You are hereby notified that Colorado tract of land #183498676938475983671-39048-80729874, a.k.a. "the Valley", has been declared a protected ecosystem. In order to facilitate said protection, ownership records have been transferred to the Federal government by Executive Declaration of Taking under case "US Government v. #183498676938475983671-39048-80729874". The former deed holder of said "Valley" may sue in Federal court at his own expense for compensation in accordance with his fully protected rights under the Constitution. Said "Valley", having always belonged to all mankind, is further declared in accordance with the Antiquities Act of 1906 and therefore progressive and good to be a National Monument by presidential decree. Said Valley is designated as a US Forest Service Roadless Area in anticipation of Congressional designation under the Federal Wilderness Act of 1964. All mining, road building, motorized vehicles, airplanes descending through ray screens and other human artifacts are hereby prohibited. Into the indefinite future, said Valley is to remain 'an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.' This area of wilderness is further defined under the Act as 'an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which ... generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable'. Said Wilderness is therefore to be entered by primitive hiking only. Furthermore, the bank formerly belonging to former Valley deed holder, one Midas Mulligan, has been bailed out of private control under agreement voluntarily signed by said former deed holder due to recently discovered transgressions of Federal banking regulations. Said banker, having causing risk to the American people, is pronounced to have agreed to remain silent, which agreement is fully in accordance with full recognition of Constitutional First Amendment rights."

I have a power solution that is not as elegant as Galt, but it will work fine for starters. I know from whom to buy this before we leave. I could make it, but it wouldn't be different enough (and importantly cheap enough) to make it worth trying to make in the Gulch.

As for materials, we might need a Ragnar's help in procurement. I can put in a small scale metals, ceramics, and polymers manufacturing capability, but getting the materials could be an issue depending on our location. I would need to procure a few pieces of equipment on EBay before the exit. I know what I would need for that. That part isn't a huge concern for me.

Project Xylophone isn't particularly necessary. I do have the ability to do very small scale sonication for making nanomaterials. Fortunately all the stuff that I would have to take to do chemicals and materials R&D & production is MINE. Some of what I have isn't mine, but that doesn't need to come with us.

As for computers, everybody brings a laptop and gets it sanitized to not leave an electronic trace when communicating with the outside world. I need serious help here. I do have a few routers and a lot of computers we could take, but how to communicate wirelessly when in a remote location, I don't have that figured out yet and would appreciate help here.

The old satellite phones have been disabled. I am not aware, but I am sure that the military has replaced them with something better.

When I mentioned the invisibility cloak, there are two groups working on such a concept, but this is research, not something ready for deployment yet.

As a potter, I'm certain to find a place for my wheel and kiln. I'll dig my clay from the floor of the valley and process it with mills I'll move to the valley. All I need is a address.

I am a CNC machinist. There will be work for me in the Gulch. All payments will be in Silver and Gold. I know an Industrial Electrician who is interested. Anybody know a good engineers?

There are several engineers here, including me.

I'm not as concerned about the skill sets as I am about the financing. You're right. We do have the skills sets.

NSA now controls all such features.

We have all the skill sets required. Let's get started.

Who needs to drive? I imagine all the time about moving to someplace like Juneau Alaska, land locked, can't get there by car, going hunting and fishing, having no cares in the world, just living out the rest of life and enjoying it. Only problem, it's not really that cold there, but still too cold for me in the winter. If you own a car you don't have to lock it, in fact you can leave the keys in it anyplace you go.

Five years ago I wrote a series of essays on the Conservapedia site, giving my best sketch of what the Gulch might have looked like, and how the characters might have acted--in ways the book did not describe fully, that is.

I identified four plot elements that fell under the heading of "science fiction." They were:

1. The electrostatic motor John Galt invented in his last days at the Twentieth Century Motor Company, and used to good effect to build a power plant for the Gulch and a mini-power plant for his garret apartment in New York.

2. Rearden Metal, which I described as a substitutional alloy of iron and copper, with carbon thrown in for hardness.

3. Project Xylophone. I discovered a project, at Leeds University in Scotland, for producing a beam of coherent sound. The inventors saw this as the basis of a new, ever-faster computer. I recognized it as the basis for a sonicator of devastating power--exactly what the Xylophone was supposed to be.

4. The "refractor ray screen." I saw it as a mirage in the sky. Obviously you found an improvement on that.

By the way: hiding this vast camp in nearly circular valley would be essential. That would defeat cellular telephones. Now: how do you jam a satellite telephone? Or are satphones still viable? Seems to me they are not anymore.

In today's day and age, it would have to be more complicated that what AR envisioned because the technology to find us is that much better, too.

Blue Seed, an oceanic version, is the closet I have seen. The whole seasteding isn't a private or hidden as Galt's Gulch...which is problematic, but with the right tech it might be made invisible or undetectable.

Ah. What you describe is actually far more sophisticated than Ayn Rand's mirage-in-the-sky.

I get island fever quickly. I have to be able to travel in a long straight line. Driving in a circle reminds me of a hamster wheel

Look elsewhere in the Midas Mulligan post. I just posted something about how to make an invisibility cloak to deal with the satellites.