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I was born in 1943 in Washington, D.C. where my father was with Gallaudet College (now University) for the deaf. At my age of seven we moved to Knoxville, Tennessee and my father became the Superintendent of the Tennessee School for the Deaf. I went to Giffin Grade School and South Jr//Sr High School until the ninth grade when I went to Webb School. Robert Webb eventually retired and helped to restore the Bijou Theatre downtown. I frequented the Bijou in my younger years. As I have told many people, I could leave home with a quarter in my pocket, ride the bus downtown for free (under 12), buy a child movie ticket for 9¢, Milk Duds for a dime, Coke for a nickel , and come home with a penny. I used to get on the bus and go to the back where the sign said "This section for colored people." I had friends who tried to tell me that colored people were genetically inferior. I didn't argue too much, but I didn't believe it, either.  

[Side NotE:Anyone who reads Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond of UCLA will realize that intelligence is not centered in Caucasian humans.]

 In a recent year, we saw the movie "The Help." I told Lynn, my wife, "I grew up there."

It is racist to think Aryans are the most intelligent creatures on the planet. I believe to this day that my late brother and my son could not see color. My brother, George McClure, named for my great grandfather,grew up on the knee of our cook, who was black. My late Mom and Louise loved each other. Louise moved with us from Tennessee to Indiana in 1957, where she again lived in our house. I was in high school; 6 yr old George firmly believed she was part of the family. Our son, Andy was 8 yrs old when we moved from California to Rochester, NY. His immediate reaction to being in the Third grade was, "Mom, everybody looks the same."  Fortunately, he developed an immediate friendship with Troy Washington, a young black boy.

At my age of 14, we moved to Indianapolis, where Dad became Superintendent of the Indiana School for the Deaf. I began the 10th grade at Broad Ripple High School. David Letterman went to BRHS; however, we did not overlap. I believe he overlapped with my sister. David is four years younger than I am. I graduated in 1960 and began college at MIT. As it turns out, David Letterman went to Ball State in Indiana where he was in the Sigma Chi Fraternity. At MIT I was in the Sigma Chi Fraternity. My guidance counselor at BRHS told me one day that Cal Tech wondered why I didn't apply there. I said, "OK, I will." I did, describing my interest in being a Naval Architect. They turned me down. Meanwhile, I had been accepted to Yale, Stanford, Purdue, Case Western Reserve, Carnegie Mellon, etc., besides MIT. Once, I asked Dad, "When did you decide what you wanted to do?" He said, "I always knew what I was going to do." My great grandfather, Dad's grandfather, was deaf and a renowned educator of the deaf. If you are curious, you might Google "george morris mcclure sr." OneWEBSITE that works.My grandfather(William C. McClure)   (WCMcC--PDF Version) was also an educator of the deaf in Missouri and North Dakota; but, he died when Dad was eight years old. My grandmother and step-grandfather were life long educators of the deaf. My grandfather's sister, Edith McClure (Edith McClure Sutcliffe ) married Elbert Gary Sutcliffe, grandson of Judge Elbert Gary, founder of U.S. Steel. My Aunt Edith paid my tuition at MIT. There is a website that relates this part of the family's history. Big-slice-of-history I made a PDF to  cover the situation if the website went away. Big-slice-of-history.pdf

 By the end of my freshman year at MIT, two things had happened. I had befriended Kurt Powell, Professor of Naval Architecture. After I told Kurt I didn't want to design warships, I would rather design America's Cup sailing yachts, he told me I was going to starve. Also, I had decided chemistry was not to be in my future. So, over the summer, I reviewed the entire curricula for all courses (21 degree programs) for no chemistry and told myself, "McClure, in case you didn't know it, you are an Electrical Engineer.".

Kurt took me, several times to Quincy, Mass and the "Neighborhood Club, where we had lunch. Once, he aasked me if I knew Lee Remick.  I said, "Other than being in love with her, I have never met her. He said, " See that guy over there; It's Frank Remick, her father. He owns a department store, here." Kurt took me around Eastern Massachusetts and showed me some historical places, like Plymouth Rock.

I graduated in 1964 with an SBEE (MIT has an SB not a BS.). I married Lynnwood Andersen in June, 1964 in the MIT Chapel with Rev Mike Bloy, a chaplain associated with MIT. Our reception was at Longfellow's Wayside Inn in the only original room. I didn't care to work in the defense industry; so, I accepted a job with the U.S. Forest Service Equipment Development Center in Arcadia, California. Lynn and I moved from Boston to Arcadia. Our apartment was on Colorado Boulevard which extended West into Pasadena where the Rose Parade takes place. We frequented a Bob's Big Boy in Pasadena, which, in those days, happened to be a drive-in diner. We were so amazed seeing people in parkas in the fall when we were still in shorts. Obviously, this is a difference between Boston and Southern California.

In the fall of 1965, I became discouraged with the civil service and interviewed and took a job with the Eastman Kodak Company. By Thanksgiving, Lynn and I had moved to Rochester, NY. My career was with Kodak. Bruce Carlson, Director of The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), declassified my career on September 17, 2011. My career was consumed with Reconnaissance Satellites. The main one was Gambit3.(See attached dissertation.)

There is also a video of the Gambit Program. It is an NRO published video. Les Mitchel, who is prominently in the video, was the Program Manager when I came on board Gambit3. Tom Hanlon, who is also in the video, was Program Manager when I was made responsible for the proposal for the USNavy synchronous orbit system. We came up with a giant telescope 30 feet in diameter with a shperical segmented mirror system that would create an image of the entire portion of the earth visible. a smaller component of the system would be used to examine a small portion of the image and provide spherical correction and high resolution. The mirror segments would be prcisely aligned in position and phase using a laser system.

The first Gambit3 was launched in the summer of 1966. In the "clean room" after final assembly and test, I tried to wrap my arms around it and said, "OK Baby, Do your stuff." I was responsible for final system level test in a giant vacuum chamber. Below is the sequence of my activities on Gambit3 and follow-ons. Actually, I was first on a program that had the intention of putting the original Gambit (not Gambit3, ) camera system in a bay of the Apollo Service Module to take pictures of the surface of the moon prior to sending manned landing missions (Project Upward). The success of the Lunar Orbiter program (Also Kodak) resulted in the cancellation of the Apollo related program. I was immediately sent to Gambit3. Details below:

Our children were born in Rochester - Amy in 12/66 and Andy in 5/70. Meanwhile, Dad accepted a mission in Florida to become President of the Florida School for The Deaf and The Blind and to integrate the school. In January 1967 Dad and Mom moved to St. Augustine. After Dad accomplished the mission, Ray Charles acknowledged his attendance at the school when he was just blind at age 6. Much later, Kodak intended to sell our Division to Ball Aerospace in 1992. The Kodak Vice President and Government Systems  General Manager, Dr Gary H Conners, thought I would be a good guy at headquarters; so, we bought a house in Colorado. The division sale deal fell through, but we took the offered early retirement (my age 49) and went to Colorado anyway. Earlier during our tour in Palo Alto, We bought a vintage Jaguar in Atherton from a guy who had decided to get into Ferraris. Attached is an article I wrote for our local Jaguar club in Colorado. The article was picked up by the Jaguar Club of North America *(JCNA) and published in the Jaguar Journal.(Jaguar Article). The first picture in the article shows me holding the award I got from JCNA. The article's closing paragraph describes two things - a motorcycle trip to Sturgis and a crash in August, 2009. Rudy, my friend who is in the video, saved my life. I edited the video a few days before my crash.

 I do not know if God or a god was at the origin; however, I do believe that there is not a conscious god who monitors and/or directs humanity. We humans are accidents of nature. I believe genetic history points (converges)  to a single individual perhaps 100,000 years ago whom we may call "Eve."

 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve).

PDF Version: 20170802title=Mitochondrial_Eve.pdf

Religion is totally a human invention. Religion tends to be very comforting to many humans. Jesus, I believe, was a unique individual possessed of powerful ability to teach what humanity is and what it means to be human. It would serve us well to pay heed. Jesus did not dwell on deity, especially his own presumed.

I believe some interesting things happened early after the Earth was condensed from its molten state. The early solar system was a crowded place. A cataclysmic collision must have occurred and ejected some mass which became the moon. the depression left became the Pacific Ocean. This also created a fissure in Pangea, the early single continental land mass. This started the continental drift and essentially created the Atlantic Ocean. Another thing happened which was a new tilt to the rotational axis of the earth. this resulted in seasons which, I believe, are critical to the development of humans. Many plants became "annuals.Millions of years later little humans were running around North Africa learning how to grow crops from annuals and creating agriculture.  One thing they were dealing with was the seasonal flooding of the Nile River. This did, however, leave very fertile crop growing regions. Some humans grasped the nature and timing of the seasonal events and were able to anticipate and predict the floods. This made certain individuals religious leaders. As time went on, the notion of storing grain for off-season use emerged and humans formed societies with planning and communities. Ultimately, the lead organizer became an early Pharaoh. Governments emerged. I think this all happened because of the seasonal aspect of the early earth and its axis tilt. The notion of agriculture with "annuals" in human development is addressed by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel. "Planning" is a critical capability of humans.

Please understand that I am not particularly skilled in humanities. My freshman year at MIT I made an A in calculus and flunked humanities. My humanities professor was A. R. Gurney, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._R._Gurney) ( PDF PDF Version) subsequently a well regarded playwright. During an early calculus class I noted the boy next to me was suffering  from severe anxiety. He was trying to copy every mark the professor made on the board and he kept breaking his pencil lead. When he dropped his pencil, I picked it up for him. I then carefully placed my pencil on the desk, leaned back and thought, "This place is not going to get me down." So, now, I have a severe technical education. Although I made up a lot of humanities, I do not have a serious claim. I've had some further thoughts on science.  It seems to me that humanity has the collective brainpower to solve some major issues. For instance, instead of trying to build ever more devastating weapons, perhaps we could collectively resolve astro-physics and particle-physics. Remarkable space travel may be possible; or even time travel. The dimension of time and more about gravity needs to be explored. We should do this together. I am fascinated by Black Holes.  Scientists believe matter as we know it is ripped apart as it falls into a black hole. Does this mean molecules and atoms are "ripped" apart? Does matter as we know it exist in its most primitive state in a black hole? Do all forces except gravity disappear; so, there are no nuclear or electric forces in a black hole? Also, the fact that gravity affects light is well known. Black holes bend light rays. So, what would be the focal length of a black hole? Does this mean that some objects observed in the universe are actually virtual images of objects beyond black holes? Do black holes affect red shift. Gravity and acceleration are related. Acceleration is in many equations describing gravity. Time is greatly affected by acceleration. Time in objects accelerating relative to each other is seen to slow down. So, in the middle of a black hole is time at a dead stop? Anyway, this study needs to be pursued.

Here's another thing: It seems like so many people are wanting the Government to get out of our lives, especially to avoid the so-called health care "death committees ( or councils)." These same people are very much wanting the Government to make decisions on things like abortion and not trusting people to be able to make decisions for themselves. It could be a case of one group attempting to impose religious veiws on another group, explicitly prohibited by the Constitution. I believe that life does not begin at conception. Life began on our planet 3.5 Billion years ago. all inhabitants, flora and fauna,  of the planet share the same life. Life does not begin at conception. Life is being shared. It is merely a personal choice whether to keep sharing life.

There is another circumstance. Humans have an attribute not shared with other animals, and that is VANITY. We are uniquely burdened with VANITY. We believe we are different and somehow special. We were "created". It's true we have a peculiarly powerful intelligence capable of perceiving remarkable issues and circumstances. Like I mentioned above, I believe we humans might resolve particle physics and astro physics. Let's do it. Gravity is of particular interest.

 I happen to believe that indecent exposure laws are obsolete. It is seriously a cultural invention. Our prehistoric ancestors did not have a problem with exposure; just like they did not depend on "three squares" a day. Three squares is definitely a cultural invention. Several years ago after my son pointed out "Dad you are getting heavy," I realized that three squares was way too much for me. So, now I fast three days a week. I lost twenty pounds in six months. I started out fasting every other day Now, I have changed to three days a week. This is much more manageable and orderly. Similarly, culture is strongly telling little girls "don't show your panties." So, fascination with taboos is what inspires children to declare, "You show me yours, and I'll show you mine." Maybe there shoildn't be taboos, especially if there are comfort or style issues involved. There is a distortion about the human animal in the US. Sheer lingerie models do not grow any pubic hair or any nipples. Exposure is not necessarily indecent. In Japan, exposure is not an issue, in public baths for instance. It's interesting that the cases of violent rape per 100,000 people is a fraction of the rate in the United States. We are burdened with obsession with sexual matters, but in Japan there may be an obsession; however they are much more calm about it. Those same taboos are what sells certain magazines. Most of the "Indecent Exposure Laws" mention inspiring "prurient responses." The ones in the US who are not calm about sex are prone to prurient interests and very supportive of indecent exposure laws.However, it would not take too many generations to work through these issues and get a much more calm demeanor. Just like I mentioned above, why don't we spend money to raise more good citizens, rather than spending more and more on uniformed peace keepers. It wouldn't take more than a couple of generations to raise kids with more of a feeling of "belonging." Our children are the most important thing we have. The time they spend with teachers is so important and a large part of their lives. We should make sure that teachers' pay is comensurate. If we are successful raising good citizens, crime and "gang membership would go way down and probably drug dependence. Everyone would tend to feel a part of something important. Let's do it!

My 50th alumni reunion at MIT was in 2014. We attended. We happened to visit the MIT Chapel. We came out and got on a shuttle bus to go back to the motel.  We told a young couple on the bus that we were married there 50 years ago, pointing to the chapel. They asked us what was different now as opposed to then. I said that the things that were serious issues at some time were seriously funny now. The other thing that happened at the reunion was that in his comencement address the president of MIT, Raphael Reif, charged the graduating seniors - "Leave the world better than you found it." I have taken this charge to heart and my attempt to accomplish the challenge is manifest in the invention I hope to present elsewhere in this website. Stand By.

 I can be E-Mailed at mccluretech. This one works, now.