Kingston, NY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston,_New_York

Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is 91 miles (146 km) north of New York City and 59 miles (95 km) south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area by the United States Census Bureau,[3] It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British on October 13, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga. In the 19th century, the city became an important transport hub after the discovery of natural cement in the region, and had both railroad and canal connections. Passenger rail service has since ceased, and many of the older buildings are part of three historic districts, including the Stockade District uptown, the Midtown Neighborhood Broadway Corridor, and the Rondout-West Strand Historic District downtown.

..In 1777, Kingston became the first capital of New York. During the summer of 1777, when the New York State constitution was written, New York City was occupied by British troops and Albany (then the second largest settlement in New York and capital of the newly independent State of New York) was under threat of attack by the British. The seat of government was moved to Kingston, which was deemed safer. However, the British never reached Albany, having been stopped at Saratoga, but they did reach Kingston. On October 13, 1777, the city was burned by British troops[5] moving up river from New York City, and disembarking at the mouth of the Rondout Creek at "Ponckhockie". The denizens of Kingston knew of the oncoming fleet. By the time the British arrived, the residents and government officials had removed to Hurley, New York. The area was a major granary for the colonies at the time, so the British burned large amounts of wheat and all but one or two of the buildings. Kingston celebrates and re-enacts the 1777 burning of the city by the British every other year (2019 is the next "burning" of Kingston), in a citywide theatrical staging of the event that begins at the Rondout.

..Prior to 1825, Rondout was a small farming village. Construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal from Rondout to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, brought an influx of laborers. With the completion of the canal in 1828, Rondout became an important tidewater coal terminal. Natural cement deposits were found throughout the valley, and in 1844 quarrying began in the "Ponchockie" section of Rondout. The Newark Lime and Cement Company shipped cement throughout the United States, a thriving business until the invention of the cheaper, quicker drying Portland Cement. Large warehouses of ice sat beside the Hudson River from which the ice was cut during the winter and preserved all year to be used in early refrigeration.[7] Large brick making factories were also located close to this shipping hub.[8][9] Rondout's central location as a shipping hub ended with the advent of railroads which ran through Rondout and Kingston but could transport their loads through the city without stopping.

In the Stockade district of Uptown, many 17th century stone buildings remain. Among these is the Senate House, which was built in the 1670s and was used as the state capitol during the revolution. Many of these old buildings were burned by the British Oct. 17, 1777, and restored later. A controversial restoration of 1970s-era canopies was marred by the sudden appearance of painted red goats on planters just prior to the neighborhood's rededication

The Red Goats of Kingston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_goats_of_Kingston

The goats were placed on eleven planters which had been installed as part of a renovation project known as the Pike Plan... It is named for John Pike, the artist who originally designed the canopies

IBM's 40 years in Kingston https://omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/kingston-the-ibm-years/ibm-s-40-years-in-kingston

The IBM main plant was dedicated on November 2, 1956 on 200 acres of the former Boice Farm in the Town of Ulster. Initially, there were two divisions, one for manufacturing and assembling parts for the SAGE air defense system and the other for manufacturing electric typewriters. Even before the official dedication, there were 5,268 workers in Kingston—2,244 in the Electric Typewriter Division and 3,024 in the Military Products Division.

IBM had started manufacturing in Kingston even before construction commenced on the main plant. In 1954, it rented the former Ruzzo Bowlatorium on Grand Street in Midtown to begin work on the SAGE system. SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) was the heart of the U.S. Air Force’s air warning network and was designed to “limit to a minimum the breakthrough of Soviet long-range bombers coming to pour nuclear destruction on the U.S.,” as Time Magazine wrote in 1957.

Over the years IBM Kingston made significant contributions to the information systems field. The best known was the IBM System/360, arguably the most famous and successful mainframe computer, which was assembled, tested and shipped from Kingston.

Another "Mirror Man" John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org https://www.globalsecurity.org/org/staff/pike.htm

John Pike, one of the world's leading experts on defense, space and intelligence policy, is Director of GlobalSecurity.org, which he founded in December 2000. GlobalSecurity.org is focused on innovative approaches to the emerging security challenges of the new millennium. Internationally renowned for his depth of knowledge on a broad array of issues, Pike is widely noted for his ability to translate complex technical information into concise and pithy soundbites. He has consistently provided insight and understanding of world affairs, military, space and satellite technology to policy makers, the press and the public at large.

Pike previously worked for nearly two decades with the Federation of American Scientists, where he directed the Space Policy, Cyberstrategy, Military Analysis, Nuclear Resource and Intelligence Resource projects. Pike developed the Federation's award winning website, and was personally responsible for creating most of the site's online content. He has also been at the forefront of utilizing satellite imagery to monitor worldwide weapons facilities.

Frequently called upon to testify before Congress, Pike in 1983 established the Space Policy Working Group, comprised of Congressional staff and advocacy organizations concerned with missile defense issues. Ten years later, he set up the Military Spending Group, composed of public interest organizations working on alternative security strategies. Pike helped form the National Campaign to Save the ABM Treaty, and served on its Executive Committee. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served on a variety of non-governmental boards and advisory committees, including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Peace Research and European Security Studies Center, and the Verification Technology Information Centre of London. He has been a consultant to numerous groups, including the United Nations Group of Government Experts on Confidence Building Measures in Outer Space. In 1991 he participated in the NASA International Near-Earth Object (NEO) Detection Panel, and served as a consultant to the NEO Working Group of the International Astronomical Union.

According to this page, he's a charlatan http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/610069/posts [archived : https://web.archive.org/web/20180208234744/http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/610069/posts]

..I first became aware of Pike back in the late '80s, when he was CNN's favorite commentator on NASA's DOD missions. Pike would smugly describe the payload ... and he would invariably be wrong...