MIT Radiation Lab series on CD-ROM?

[John Larkin]

Hi,


The 28-volume 'MIT Radiation Laboratory Series' was published in the
late '40s and this is what is being referred to here. The word
'Radiation' was included in the name in the fall of 1940 to help coverup
what was actually being developed there. At the time atomic theory was an
open secret and so it was hoped this would deflect any unwelcome
interest; a large proportion of the initial team being physicists.

Over the last decade I have collected 24 of the series, only needing
"(5) Pulse Generators", "(6) Microwave Magnetrons", "(10) Waveguide
Handbook" and "(13) Propagation of Short Radio Waves" to complete the
set.

I live in hope.

I can spare a #13, but it would be the ugly grey reprint, not the
original maroon. If you want it, email me something I can use as a
shipping label.

Anybody got an extra maroon 24?

John

 

[Winfield Hill]

Jim Thompson wrote...

I got cited for driving nails on Sunday. But I skipped town before
that and the arrest warrant for refusing to pay the poll tax could be
brought to court.

I stopped at the Connecticut/M'ass line and pissed on Massa2shits ;-)

I've heard your story multiple times, and it still doesn't make any
sense. I've been here since '64 till now, pounded nails and more
on Sunday - no problem, and heard nothing of any putative poll tax.
Poll tax: "payment of all taxes used as a requirement to vote in
national elections," made illegal by the 24th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution (ratified in 1964), and declared unconstitutional by
the Supreme Court of the United States in 1966, so saith Google.

 

[Dennis Ritchie]

Does this statement bother anybody else - Bell Labs' technical library
getting shut down? Maybe they've digitized everything they want or the
old stuff is no longer current enough to be useful, but it just sounds
like a bad idea. Solar cells and Unix have turned out to be pretty
handy; I hope there is still somebody around thinking stuff up.

No, not shut down, but consolidated. There was duplication
between the main Murray Hill one and those in Holmdel and Whippany
and presumably Indian Hill.

They are under noticible pressure, though, and there is probably
loss of material.

Dennis

 

[[email protected]]

Does this statement bother anybody else - Bell Labs' technical library
getting shut down?

Dennis answered this later just in case you didn't see it.

.. Maybe they've digitized everything they want or the
old stuff is no longer current enough to be useful, but it just sounds
like a bad idea. Solar cells and Unix have turned out to be pretty
handy; I hope there is still somebody around thinking stuff up.

I worry and am working on trying to preserve existing knowledge.
There is a lot getting thrown away because "old-fashioned" implies
incorrect and, if it's incorrect, it needs to be obliterated.
There is tons of value in keeping knowledge about what didn't
work.

/BAH



Subtract a hundred and four for e-mail.

 

[Tim Shoppa]

There was duplication
between the main Murray Hill one and those in Holmdel and
Whippany and presumably Indian Hill.

In particular, I ended up with several cast-offs from Holmdel: a couple
of the Radiation Lab series, a copy of Clark and Hess which I'd been
searching for years for, some metallurgy books, some books about relay
switching and logic, etc. A real win for me!

Tim.

 

[Joel Kolstad]

There is tons of value in keeping knowledge about what didn't
work.

Tell it to the IEEE. My major professor and I have had many discussions about
how much of what didn't work should be included in journal papers, and his
experience (as a reviewer and occasional special sections editor) is that
spending anything more than a fleeting moment discussing techniques that
failed is a good way to get your paper rejected. There are notable exceptions
for authors who are recognized authorities in the field (i.e., they really
can't say "no" to them! ), at least.

---Joel Kolstad

 

[John Larkin]

There definitely was a living, working reactor there when I was a
student.

When I was at Tulane they had a subcritical reactor. It was a roughly
hot-tub-sized stainless tank, maybe 4 feet high, full of water, open
on the top, located in the ricketey old wooden Physics building in the
center of the campus. When I was there, all the fuel rods were stacked
on a table, and we were allowed to pick them up and pass them around.

They also had a vicious hard x-ray generator, a big heap of hv stuff.
They had tape on the floor to delineate the safe-dose operating
distance.

John

 

[Jim Thompson]

Jim Thompson wrote...

I've heard your story multiple times, and it still doesn't make any
sense. I've been here since '64 till now, pounded nails and more
on Sunday - no problem,

I was cited by Cambridge's finest ;-)

Maybe out in the suburbs, where you live, it wasn't an issue, but in
Cambridge you couldn't buy anything on Sunday except milk and eggs,
and only after 1:00PM; and "working" was forbidden, except cabbies,
bus drivers, etc.

and heard nothing of any putative poll tax.
Poll tax: "payment of all taxes used as a requirement to vote in
national elections," made illegal by the 24th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution (ratified in 1964), and declared unconstitutional by
the Supreme Court of the United States in 1966, so saith Google.

I think if you research it, Massachusetts had a poll tax until at
least 1964.

Remember I was living in Cambridge from August 1958 until June 1962,
Burton House freshman year, Goodale sophomore year, corner of Magazine
St. and Tufts (third floor of a house) junior and senior years... it
was there that I was cited for pounding nails, conduit hangers... I
traded wiring the landlord's barn for a month's rent.

I'll look around and see if I still have the warrant, although my
aging memory cells say I sent it to Voo Doo magazine (the now defunct
MIT humor magazine) and they wrote an amusing article around it.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Rich Grise]

Most universities have small nuclear reactors, no?

But anyway, EM radiation != nuclear radiation.

At the U. of Minnesota, there's a tower-looking thing a couple of
stories tall and maybe about 20 ft. in diameter, with a round top.
(well, it was there in 1968 - I don't know if it's still there.)
Everyone I talked to said it was a reactor. When I finally enrolled
there, it turned out it was a big Van Der Graaf generator. )-;

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Keith Williams]

When I was at Tulane they had a subcritical reactor. It was a roughly
hot-tub-sized stainless tank, maybe 4 feet high, full of water, open
on the top, located in the ricketey old wooden Physics building in the
center of the campus. When I was there, all the fuel rods were stacked
on a table, and we were allowed to pick them up and pass them around.

UIUC had a 1.5MW research reactor in the middle of the campus. AIUI
it's recently been decommissioned, or is in process.

They also had a vicious hard x-ray generator, a big heap of hv stuff.
They had tape on the floor to delineate the safe-dose operating
distance.

UIUC too. It's underneath the front steps at the Materials Research
Lab with a good hunk of a battle ship hull inbetween. The observation
window was a couple of feet thick, made out of some exotic material
that I can't remember.

 

[Winfield Hill]

Jim Thompson wrote...

I was cited by Cambridge's finest ;-)

Maybe out in the suburbs, where you live, it wasn't an issue, but in
Cambridge you couldn't buy anything on Sunday except milk and eggs,
and only after 1:00PM; and "working" was forbidden, except cabbies,
bus drivers, etc.

No, I lived in Cambridge until 1970. Most likely you riled up
a close neighbor, who wanted peace and quite, and who complained
to the police. Townies who didn't like Harvard or MIT students.

I think if you research it, Massachusetts had a poll tax until at
least 1964.

Are you using the term "poll tax" as per the definition above,
having to do with being able to vote, despite unpaid bills? Ahem.

 

[Jim Thompson]

Jim Thompson wrote...

No, I lived in Cambridge until 1970. Most likely you riled up
a close neighbor, who wanted peace and quite, and who complained
to the police. Townies who didn't like Harvard or MIT students.


Are you using the term "poll tax" as per the definition above,
having to do with being able to vote, despite unpaid bills? Ahem.

Yep. It had to do with voting. And the town clerk wouldn't accept
that I was just a student, and really a resident of WV. Probably
because I was renting a floor of a house. They even sent someone
around to personally serve me... guess I've always been popular ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Winfield Hill]

Jim Thompson wrote...

Jim Thompson wrote...

Winfield Hill wrote:

[ snip ] and heard nothing of any putative poll tax.
Poll tax: "payment of all taxes used as a requirement to vote in
national elections," made illegal by the 24th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution (ratified in 1964), and declared unconstitutional by
the Supreme Court of the United States in 1966, so saith Google.

I think if you research it, Massachusetts had a poll tax until at
least 1964.

Are you using the term "poll tax" as per the definition above,
having to do with being able to vote, despite unpaid bills? Ahem.

Yep. It had to do with voting. And the town clerk wouldn't accept
that I was just a student, and really a resident of WV. Probably
because I was renting a floor of a house. They even sent someone
around to personally serve me... guess I've always been popular ;-)

But don't students have to use absentee ballots and vote in their
home state? I'm trying to remember. I had only been here two or
three years before I changed my residence from California to Mass.
But I do remember voting for Goldwater, when was that?

 

[Jim Thompson]

Jim Thompson wrote...

Jim Thompson wrote...
Winfield Hill wrote:

[ snip ] and heard nothing of any putative poll tax.
Poll tax: "payment of all taxes used as a requirement to vote in
national elections," made illegal by the 24th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution (ratified in 1964), and declared unconstitutional by
the Supreme Court of the United States in 1966, so saith Google.

I think if you research it, Massachusetts had a poll tax until at
least 1964.

Are you using the term "poll tax" as per the definition above,
having to do with being able to vote, despite unpaid bills? Ahem.

Yep. It had to do with voting. And the town clerk wouldn't accept
that I was just a student, and really a resident of WV. Probably
because I was renting a floor of a house. They even sent someone
around to personally serve me... guess I've always been popular ;-)

But don't students have to use absentee ballots and vote in their
home state?

Yes. But the Massachusetts establishment, for some reason, decided I
was a resident and wouldn't renege. I wish I could find the warrant.
It was hilarious... authorizing the Sheriff of Middlesex (whatever sex
THAT is County to seize all my property for non-payment of poll
tax.

I'm trying to remember. I had only been here two or
three years before I changed my residence from California to Mass.
But I do remember voting for Goldwater, when was that?

That was 1964. In your heart you know he's RIGHT ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Winfield Hill]

Jim Thompson wrote...

That was 1964. In your heart you know he's RIGHT ;-)

Of course he was right, I remain a big Goldwater fan.
Bush, by contrast, is a massive big asshole.

 

[Jim Thompson]

Jim Thompson wrote...

Of course he was right, I remain a big Goldwater fan.

I do, too! He was our Senator for MANY years, and a damned good one.
He was always his own man.

Bush, by contrast, is a massive big asshole.

You just don't like Texans. That's alright. Texans don't like
East'ners ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Winfield Hill]

Jim Thompson wrote...

You just don't like Texans. That's alright. Texans don't like
East'ners ;-)

No, I've liked most Texans I've known, and I have enjoyed all
of my dozen or so visits to various places in Texas. But, I
really do dislike Bush and his crowd. You should as well.

 

[John S. Dyson]

Jim Thompson wrote...

No, I've liked most Texans I've known, and I have enjoyed all
of my dozen or so visits to various places in Texas. But, I
really do dislike Bush and his crowd. You should as well.

It is so interesting that the most incompetent and unwise people
tend to make strong suggestions as to what OTHER people should
think. Instead, those people who seem to complain about what other people
think should best reconsider their own defective reasoning. The
arrogance from the left (especially those who are so dishonest that
don't admit to their leftism) only helps to diminish their credibility.
It is definitely true that not all leftists (including those who don't
admit to their leftism) are incompetent, but those who make impositions
against other peoples beliefs (e.g. telling people how/what they should
think) seem to be the generally most intellectually incompetent. Perhaps
you should consider revisiting your own thinking -- even trying to
develop some political intellectual integrity instead of imposition
against others beliefs. (The saddest cases are those who show some
intellectual capacity, but lose all credibility with their leftist
and/or hateful blather.) Geesh, the ex-president who left the international
political (Korea/Saddam/etc) mess and the economy on the trajectory into a
recession, the same person who abused an underling at work, does deserve
some criticism, but NOT the same kind of misguided vehement hatred that
comes from the emotionally immature and apparent vacuous integrity of
typical Bush haters. (Al Frankenish people, and those who don't admit it.)
(The depth of Clinton hatred was only based upon his behavior -- the
Bush hatred is obviously genned up from the dishonest left, and the
mind numbed robots/those without integrity are good little followers.)

With integrity and honesty (so limited on the left), it only makes
sense to disagree with ideas, and not to make grossly general (and
essentially logically incorrect) blathering statements -- much worse
than what happened from the typical Clinton critic. (There certainly
were some vehement Clinton haters, but those don't even include Rush
Limbaugh when comparing the idiocy/limited integrity that even comes
from the Senate Democrat leader.)

John

 

[[email protected]]

Tell it to the IEEE. My major professor and I have had many discussions about
how much of what didn't work should be included in journal papers, and his
experience (as a reviewer and occasional special sections editor) is that
spending anything more than a fleeting moment discussing techniques that
failed is a good way to get your paper rejected. There are notable exceptions
for authors who are recognized authorities in the field (i.e., they really
can't say "no" to them! ), at least.

I wouldn't care to mix what didn't work in with what did work.
Readers of the specs that work have no interest in reading
about the trials and gray hairs producing that knowledge...
unless it affects implementing the widget. But there is
value in separate papers that could be collected and called
_Grim Tales of Product X_. One of the things we never
had time for nor paid for was to document why we did
particular tradeoffs in the initial design phase. By
the time we finally got a product out the door we had
forgotten all of the decisions, why we'ld made the decisions,
and were sick of the whole thing and wanted to start
working on the next neat project.

Our biz is now suffering from what we didn't write because
our youngsters are now having to make the same tradeoffs
and are going through the same learning curve.

Scientists must have a harder time of it because they
can't even tell which decision will make things work
until years or decades later. They have an open-ended
product cycle that may never ship. That has got to
be one big itch.

/BAH

Subtract a hundred and four for e-mail.

 

[Allan Adler]

I came into this thread late and have been reading it at deja-news.
If I understand correctly what people are saying, the series and a
paperback reprint of it are out of print and there was a CD ROM digital
reprint that is also out of print.

How many disks were used for the CD ROM edition? What are the chances that
it will be reissued at a reasonable rate? Also, what kind of files is it
kept in? I'm always concerned about how I would read it on a Linux system.