Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:13:52 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: subject Re: VW quality & Mercedes FI & Japanese FI - was -
Massive Maintenance and cost
In-Reply-To: <B8645B5F-614E-4EBC-99B9-22D0E63C7F29@dragonhome.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I was the marketing consultant for the region's first ISP. We used to
sit in the conference room each week and look up the new URLs that
came online. Imagine that. Remember the coffee pot cam from CERN?
Jim
On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 9:55 PM, Rowan Tipton <uther@dragonhome.org> wrote:
> On Apr 16, 2010, at 10:40 PM, Mike Miller wrote:
>
>> I worked for the employment department in California [EDD} when they
>> got a
>> second megabyte of memory for the mainframe. They were so proud! It
>> cost
>> them less than a dollar a byte [Around $750,000 IIRC]. That was CORE
>
> And now you can buy a 2Tb drive for $139 and 4Gb of memory for $125!
> And, yes I'm old enough to remember CORE memory. And old enough to
> remember when I got a weekly email with the IP name and address of
> every computer on the internet to put into /etc/host of all (well
> both) of our internet connected computers
>
> r!
>
>> storage.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> On 4/16/10 6:40 PM, "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>>> Funny how things work out. When Germany surrendered, we got the
>>> liquid
>>> scientists here in Huntsville. The Russians took the solid fuel
>>> scientists.
>>> They had powerful rockets that could throw anything into space, but
>>> they
>>> couldn't be controlled as well for exploration. We got the weaker
>>> liquid
>>> rockets because of the German team we got. We therefore focused on
>>> miniaturizing everything we put into space. That led to the
>>> transistor. That
>>> led to personal computers. That led to the internet that we are
>>> communication on right now.
>>>
>>> One time when I was at NASA with my dad, Dr. Von Braun knew I was
>>> there and
>>> came out and asked me to hold something. He put a funny-looking
>>> cube in my
>>> hands. It was the strung iron core memory (anyone remember THAT?)
>>> for the
>>> mercury capsule, about 16 bits in all if I remember. He said
>>> "you're holding
>>> two million dollars." What a feeling!
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:27 PM, frankgrun <frankgrun@aol.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Jim,
>>>>
>>>> I envy the extent of your experience with him! I met Werner when
>>>> he was
>>>> Director of Marshall Spacecraft Center. We spent an amazing 3+ hours
>>>> together during our first meeting on so many subjects including
>>>> our mutual
>>>> acquaintance, Dr. Willy Ley. I had interviewed Dr. Ley when still
>>>> in high
>>>> school and spent an amazing weekend at his home on Long Island. I
>>>> had a
>>>> number of shorter exchanges with him during later years. I later
>>>> came to
>>>> know Werner even better after he left NASA. As a history buff and
>>>> amateur
>>>> archaeologist, I was able to visit Peenemunde, Nordhausen and many
>>>> of the V2
>>>> sites. I was always interested in the chemistry and engineering of
>>>> liquid
>>>> rocket based propulsion and he got me invitations to several
>>>> reviews of the
>>>> Saturn propulsion system. Our greatest overlap was the dream of
>>>> exploring
>>>> Mars. He was focussed on human flight to Mars and I have always been
>>>> interested in searching for signs of life or of a second genesis
>>>> beyond the
>>>> earth. Incredible memories! The man was the most spell-binding
>>>> imagemaker I
>>>> ever encountered!
>>>>
>>>> Frank Grunthaner
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 16, 2010, at 5:31:32 PM, "Jim Felder"
>>>> <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> From:"Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com>Subject:Re: VW quality &
>>>> Mercedes
>>>> FI & Japanese FI - was - Massive Maintenance and costDate:April
>>>> 16, 2010
>>>> 5:31:32 PM PDTTo:frankgrun
>>>> <frankgrun@aol.com>Cc:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
>>>> Where did you run into Von Braun? My dad worked for him. Everybody
>>>> here knew him, we all went to the NASA picnics, tours of NASA, say
>>>> him
>>>> at sears buying a lawnmower and stuff like that around town.
>>>>
>>>> He gave me a "Ticket to Mars in Your Lifetime" once. I left it at my
>>>> grandparents' house and never saw it again. Wish I still had it!
>>>>
>>>> Jim
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:48 PM, frankgrun <frankgrun@aol.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Neat! Knew the man well, never the daughter!
>>>>>
>>>>> Frank Grunthaner
>>>>>
>>>>> On Apr 16, 2010, at 4:14:57 PM, "Alistair Bell" <albell@SHAW.CA>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> From: "Alistair Bell" <albell@SHAW.CA>
>>>>> Subject: Re: VW quality & Mercedes FI & Japanese FI - was -
>>>>> Massive
>>>>> Maintenance and cost
>>>>> Date: April 16, 2010 4:14:57 PM PDT
>>>>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>>>> Ah ha, looks like the Triumph was just giving you the old "up
>>>>> yours"
>>>>> on account of your passenger's father.
>>>>>
>>>>> :)
>>>>>
>>>>> alistair
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 16-Apr-10, at 2:45 PM, Jim Felder wrote:
>>>>> Maybe it was the TR4 distributor that flew apart in the middle of a
>>>>> Georgia forest with
>>>>> Dr. Werner Von Braun's daughter in the passenger seat in the
>>>>> middle of
>>>>> the night on the way to Atl anta.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>
> I remain, as always
> YrLyl&ObdntSrvnt,
>
> r
>
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