Hmm, they are probably concerned about destroying magnetic media in neighboring packages. Other than that I can't figure out why they would care (it won't be enough to pull a magnetic compass off course for example). There are gauss meters around, if this is there requirement I bet they have one in their pickup stores. --Chuck

ip500 wrote: [snip] As an aside, it turns out that the FAA sets _minimums_, not standards. Both the airline/air freight company and the _airport_ can set additional standards above those set by the FAA. This applies to civil airline security as well. You can cruise through a checkpoint at one airport carrying something (a good example being a Leatherman tool) but be refused entry at another. -- Chris Kennedy chris(a)mainecoon.com http://www.mainecoon.com PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97

Marvin wrote: Funny, that's the self-same airport where I had problems... -- Chris Kennedy chris(a)mainecoon.com http://www.mainecoon.com PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97

John Lawson wrote: You've got me very curious. I'm familiar with flux-gate compasses which do not use light, and with laser ring gyros which do (but, of course, are not compasses). What's a flux-ring compass, and how does it use light?

On 8 Nov 2000, Eric Smith wrote: [snip] [snip] You'd think after five months in India I'd get over the jet lag. ;] Sorry for fluxing this up. I of course *meant* laser-ring gyrocompass. But this has drifted off the edge of the topic horizon, and folks might have little patience left for it. Private e-mails on the subject are requested hereafter, if anyone wishes. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ObClassiccmp: On the Hybrid Computer topic - since they are now quite rare, not many of Us are familiar with just what the word 'Analog' refers to when speaking of computing, thus the confusion over the role of the active devices, especially tubes (valves). Actually it's pretty simple: Digital computers operate strictly on numbers, and numbers alone. The allowed states in a digital machine are 1/0, on/off, yes/no, asserted/negated, etc. We then use patterns of these on/off states to stand for numbers, characters, quantities, what have you. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here. On The Other Hand: Analog computing devices use varying and measurable physical quantities to represent the data... i.e. if you need to know how much a 10-gallon tank weighs having 3 gallons initially and adding 4 gallons, you set up devices (usually 'Operational Amplifiers') whose parameters are related (are analogs of) these quantities... One Opamp can have it's initial quantity at 3 volts for the starting gallons, another can have a circuit configured to multiply the 'gallons' voltage by the factor required to turn 'gallons of water' into 'pounds', and a third can add the sum of these (plus, say, a fixed voltage of 40.5 volts to represent the dry weight of the tank itself) and direct the output to a meter, which reads from 0 -> 100 volts, but which we calibrate in "pounds". Now, having set up these amplifiers, we can use a knob with voltage on it to 'fill' the tank, and watch the resulting 'weight' change on the meter, in real time. This may sound cumbersome today, but consider in that in the mid fifties, digital computers were very, very expensive, fairly rare, and every single problem required much analysis and coding, and the expense of the CPU Time alone was huge. BUT: any electrical engineer worth his/her diploma could easily set up the equations to model all but the most difficult of simulations, and with most large-scale analog machines, could get meaningful and accurate results in a few hours or days, as opposed to the well-known "code your problem, punch your cards, submit your deck, wait for your print-out, debug your code, re-punch your cards, submit your deck....repeat, repeat, repeat..." Not to mention that analog circuit design was fully mature at that point, and analog computers are relatively simple to design and construct, having no 'specialized' devices like memory elements, digital mass storage devices, electromechanical I/O, etc. BTW: at least one list member with whom I corresponded was engaged in building his own modern analog computer, using today's advanced components. I wonder how that worked out? I used mine, and a friend uses his several large analog machines, in conjunction with our older electronic music synthesizers, to generate new and strange sounds based on obscure mathematical regimes... Cheers John PS: Anyone *really* interested in getting into analog computing might do well to consider scarfing up a Heathkit EC-1 when possible.. they are simple, small and portable, and have easily replaceable tubes, and having (IIRC) 9 opamps, one can get quite elaborate with them.

CORRECT! Give that man the prize... The trick was finding out the "magic number" that was their cutoff figure. When I actually measured one with a cheap school gauss meter and came up with 11,000 gauss, I called and gave them that figure. Gasp..and then dead silence.. " our maximum is .00525 Gauss". At that point I realized we were talking Apples & Oranges here..not even on the same page and asked to speak to a supervisor. They didn't have a clue how their max was derived or what it really was. At that point and now I'd have to agree...DHL..pohee--Bad! NONE of the other International shipping companies had ever heard of the requirement. The DHL shipment was prepaid by the purchaser and scheduled for that afternoon so no choice of shipper but never again. I can just imagine the hastle of shipping something really weird [like a huge OLD disc drive] with DHL! Craig Since this has drifted WAY off of classic comp...why don't we kill the thread with this post? Chuck McManis wrote:

On Mon, 6 Nov 2000, ip500 wrote: Just ask them what the acceptable range is and pick a number in the middle, then give it to them. Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org