🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <132...@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> her...@dogwalk.Sun.COM (Brian Herzog) writes:
>On the topic of old computers (emphasis more on "old" than "computers"),
>I have a "NUCLEAR BOMB EFFECTS COMPUTER" dated 1962 (revised edition,
>no less!), which was packaged with the book "The Effects of Nuclear
>Weapons."  I don't have the book handy, but I believe it was published
>by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).  I got it from my father, who
>was a civil engineer certified in the design of fallout shelters

Hey!  We had one of those!  I worked at the National Bureau of Standards (now
NIST) during summers and vacations to put myself through college.  In the 
Center for Fire Research (of all places), there was a lab that had been the
home of a rather wacked-out tech named Max.  In addtion to collecting silver
objects ("Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Maxwell's Silver Pencil", "Maxwell's
Silver Mustang Convertible"...), he had customized all the little magnetic
labels on the drawers.  In addition to the standard "O-rings", "pipettes",
"thermocouples", "swage-lock fittings", and so on, were a few ringers: "doorway
to another reality", for example.  When I came across "Nuclear Bomb Effects
Computer" labelled on a very small drawer one day, I assumed Max had been at
it again.  Imagine my shock when I opened the drawer, and found that it had
been labelled correctly...


-- 
        David M. Tate       | "The concept of weight of evidence was central 
  dt...@unix.cis.pitt.edu   |  to my first book, and occurred also in at least
                            |  32 other publications [of mine].  What I say 33
 "A Man for all Seasonings" |  times is true."          -- I. J. Good.