> Richard Owlett wrote:
>
>> Jerry Avins wrote:
>>
>>> Rick Lyons wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 14:42:39 -0700, Kevin Neilson
>>>> <kevin_neilson@removethiscomcast.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> When I was a youngster (in the 80's) I had a book I bought from
>>>>> Radio Shack that described the concept of digital electronics. It
>>>>> then went through a calculation to show how television could never
>>>>> be digital because it would take too much bandwidth.
>>>>> -Kevin
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ha ha. Neat story Kevin.
>>>>
>>>> Speaking of poor predictions, check out the following.
>>>>
>>>> [-Rick-]
>>>> --------------------
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'd like to add one more.
>>>
>>> John von Neuman to Jan Rajchman (once, my boss) upon being shown his
>>> 8 kiloword memory in a cabinet the size of a large refrigerator and
>>> being told that twice that in the same volume was possible: "That's
>>> wonderful Jan, but what would anybody use that much memory /for/?
>>>
>>> Jerry
>>
>>
>>
>> Would that have been "Whirlwind" project.
>> That resembles my memory of subsystem which was in "Model Shop" at DEC
>> in 70's being cleaned up for donating to Smithsonian.
>
>
> I don't remember the date, but it was at the second of what turned out
> to be annual computer conferences, organized by von Neumann at a time
> when computer memory was mercury-column acoustic delay line, rotating
> magnetic drum (equivalent to a tape loop). and other such kludges.
> Rajchman, a specialist in electron optics (he had vastly raised the gain
> limit in photomultipliers) made a no-phosphor CRT memory that used
> secondary emission from glass to write. Some practitioners, including
> brought show-and-tell, the beginning of today's exhibit floor. (Having
> gotten into computer memories via his thesis specialty, he whet on to
> patent core memory.)
>
> Jerry
No. "Whirlwind" would have been much later. It was one of the first core
memories. Line drivers were 6L6's IIRC.
Reply by Steve Underwood●March 8, 20052005-03-08
Randy Yates wrote:
> r.lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org (Rick Lyons) writes:
>
>>[...]
>>* "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
>> --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
>
>
> Ouch! That had to hurt!
Probably much less than some of the other things Rick quoted, since this
just was miscalculation in a long chain. In the 60s Decca screwed up at
every turn with their pop music activities. They didn't become a label
predominately know for its classical recordings because they wanted to
be. :-)
Regards,
Steve
Reply by Jerry Avins●March 8, 20052005-03-08
Richard Owlett wrote:
> Jerry Avins wrote:
>
>> Rick Lyons wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 14:42:39 -0700, Kevin Neilson
>>> <kevin_neilson@removethiscomcast.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> When I was a youngster (in the 80's) I had a book I bought from
>>>> Radio Shack that described the concept of digital electronics. It
>>>> then went through a calculation to show how television could never
>>>> be digital because it would take too much bandwidth.
>>>> -Kevin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Ha ha. Neat story Kevin.
>>>
>>> Speaking of poor predictions, check out the following.
>>>
>>> [-Rick-]
>>> --------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> I'd like to add one more.
>>
>> John von Neuman to Jan Rajchman (once, my boss) upon being shown his 8
>> kiloword memory in a cabinet the size of a large refrigerator and
>> being told that twice that in the same volume was possible: "That's
>> wonderful Jan, but what would anybody use that much memory /for/?
>>
>> Jerry
>
>
> Would that have been "Whirlwind" project.
> That resembles my memory of subsystem which was in "Model Shop" at DEC
> in 70's being cleaned up for donating to Smithsonian.
I don't remember the date, but it was at the second of what turned out
to be annual computer conferences, organized by von Neumann at a time
when computer memory was mercury-column acoustic delay line, rotating
magnetic drum (equivalent to a tape loop). and other such kludges.
Rajchman, a specialist in electron optics (he had vastly raised the gain
limit in photomultipliers) made a no-phosphor CRT memory that used
secondary emission from glass to write. Some practitioners, including
brought show-and-tell, the beginning of today's exhibit floor. (Having
gotten into computer memories via his thesis specialty, he whet on to
patent core memory.)
Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by Richard Owlett●March 8, 20052005-03-08
Jerry Avins wrote:
> Rick Lyons wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 14:42:39 -0700, Kevin Neilson
>> <kevin_neilson@removethiscomcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> When I was a youngster (in the 80's) I had a book I bought from Radio
>>> Shack that described the concept of digital electronics. It then
>>> went through a calculation to show how television could never be
>>> digital because it would take too much bandwidth.
>>> -Kevin
>>
>>
>>
>> Ha ha. Neat story Kevin.
>>
>> Speaking of poor predictions, check out the following.
>>
>> [-Rick-]
>> --------------------
>
>
> I'd like to add one more.
>
> John von Neuman to Jan Rajchman (once, my boss) upon being shown his 8
> kiloword memory in a cabinet the size of a large refrigerator and being
> told that twice that in the same volume was possible: "That's wonderful
> Jan, but what would anybody use that much memory /for/?
>
> Jerry
Would that have been "Whirlwind" project.
That resembles my memory of subsystem which was in "Model Shop" at DEC
in 70's being cleaned up for donating to Smithsonian.
Reply by Richard Owlett●March 8, 20052005-03-08
Randy Yates wrote:
> r.lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org (Rick Lyons) writes:
>
>>[...]
>>* "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
>> --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
>
>
> Ouch! That had to hurt!
So they blew it re guitars.
Were right on re Beatles.
Now Elvis could actually sing,
But he chose lousy tunes/lyrics.
Shall I duck now or later ;]
Reply by Richard Owlett●March 8, 20052005-03-08
Rick Lyons wrote:
> On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 15:30:54 -0600, Richard Owlett
> <rowlett@atlascomm.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>>
>>After reading Jerry's post, I started to ask a question.
>>But read your post and realized I might ask a specialist.
>>
>>1. Any WEB available references on how to do Fourier transforms optically?
>>
>>1a. Can I assume the typical demo of interference effects from 2 slits
>>converting incident plane wave to 2 sources is a Fourier transform of
>>something? Can you tell I've not gone to school in decades ;]
>>
>>2. Did it depend on knowing the incoming carrier frequency?
>>IE Given an "optical Fourier transformer" as a 2-port black box.
>>Could you feed it an audio signal rather than RF and get out the
>>appropriate transform?
>>
>
>
> Hi Richard,
>
> I'll bet you'll find something useful if you
> Google on the combination:
>
> "spectrum analyzer" "bragg cell"
>
> See ya',
> [-Rick-]
>
Thou art Tantalus ;{
That combo turned up T-O-O many hits. I couldn't figure out how to
select elementary ones. Top hits were to specific to particular
applications.
Search for:
"bragg cell"
or
"bragg cell" physics
still too many hits -- "forest concealed by leaves, let alone trees"
Searched wikipedia style entries and found
"Acoustooptical Tunable Filter"
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/AcoustoopticalTunableFilter.html
That seems to be what I was thinking of that triggered my original question.
Can anyone point me to web based elementary description of "bragg cell"?
[ What I really need is access to a university library.
But local state taxpayer supported university does not give mere
taxpayers convenient access. They just spent many resources to beguile
in changing their name from "Southwest Missouri State University" to
something like "Missouri State" ARRRGH! ]
Reply by Jerry Avins●March 8, 20052005-03-08
Rick Lyons wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 14:42:39 -0700, Kevin Neilson
> <kevin_neilson@removethiscomcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>>When I was a youngster (in the 80's) I had a book I bought from Radio
>>Shack that described the concept of digital electronics. It then went
>>through a calculation to show how television could never be digital
>>because it would take too much bandwidth.
>>-Kevin
>
>
> Ha ha. Neat story Kevin.
>
> Speaking of poor predictions, check out the following.
>
> [-Rick-]
> --------------------
I'd like to add one more.
John von Neuman to Jan Rajchman (once, my boss) upon being shown his 8
kiloword memory in a cabinet the size of a large refrigerator and being
told that twice that in the same volume was possible: "That's wonderful
Jan, but what would anybody use that much memory /for/?
Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by ●March 8, 20052005-03-08
r.lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org (Rick Lyons) writes:
> [...]
> * "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
> --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
Ouch! That had to hurt!
--
Randy Yates
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications
Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
randy.yates@sonyericsson.com, 919-472-1124
Reply by Rick Lyons●March 8, 20052005-03-08
On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 14:42:39 -0700, Kevin Neilson
<kevin_neilson@removethiscomcast.net> wrote:
>When I was a youngster (in the 80's) I had a book I bought from Radio
>Shack that described the concept of digital electronics. It then went
>through a calculation to show how television could never be digital
>because it would take too much bandwidth.
>-Kevin
Ha ha. Neat story Kevin.
Speaking of poor predictions, check out the following.
[-Rick-]
--------------------
* "Who in their right mind would ever need more than 640k of
RAM (memory)!?"
-- Bill Gates, 1981 (100 times 640k is now
standard on home PCs.)
* "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
--Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless
march of science, 1949
* "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
--Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
* "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and
talked with the best people, and I can assure you that
data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
--The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall,
1957
* "But what ... is it good for?"
--Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems
Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
* "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
--Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of
Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 (Digital Equipment
Corp. was once the 2nd largest conmputer company
in the world, but it no longer exists.)
* "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be
seriously considered as a means of communication. The device
is inherently of no value to us."
--Western Union internal memo, 1876.
* "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value.
Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
--David Sarnoff's associates in response to his
urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
* "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn
better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."
--A Yale University management professor in
response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable
overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found
Federal Express Corp.)
* "Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?"
--H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
* "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and
not Gary Cooper."
--Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading
role in "Gone With The Wind."
* "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports
say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies
like you make."
--Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting
Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
* "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
--Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
* "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
--Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
* "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find
oil? You're crazy."
--Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to
his project to drill for oil in 1859.
Reply by John Monro●March 7, 20052005-03-07
Stan Pawlukiewicz wrote:
>
> I found it odd how little his children and wives were mentioned. One
> could say that the man was private about his personal life but he also
> talks about how to pick up women in bars, how he liked Las Vegas, and
> how he liked to hang around topless nightclubs.
>
Also, how little attention he payed, apparently, to the medical aspects
of his first wife's illness, compared to the in-depth research he
carried out (much later) on his own.
Tragically, although he was not able to affect the progress of his own
illness, possibly a more active interest in his wife's illness at the
time may have revealed the mis-diagnosis early enough to have done some
good.
Regards,
John