I'd also be interested in hearing about places in the Chicago area, even as far out as Rockford and Milwaukee. Thrift shops in Chicagoland just aren't the same as the ones here in the Washington D.C. area, but for general hardware stuff an interesting chain to visit there is American Science and Surplus. I've been to the Chicago and Geneva stores in years past, and there's always something unusual or interesting -- but not necessarily computer-related. They have a website now, http://www.sciplus.com . Cheers, Dan http://www.decodesystems.com/wanted.html

I used to live at that store. The coolest computer they ever had was some sort of Naval fire control computer - a 3 foot cube of gears and cams. They sold it for $500 (that is CHEAP) about 15 years ago. Check out Maine Scrap metal in Des Plaines. I have seen some mighty fine things go thru that junkyard. William Donzelli aw288(a)osfn.org

In 79 I was 22 - she was just 23. She was a looker but acted too much like a hooker - she ran off with someone else, then someone else, etc, etc - I was her 2nd ex (she was my first and only ex) and now that we're back in contact I find that she's single again after 4 more (total 6 hubbies including me and the guy before) and 4 kids. Me cute? Hey you weren't t he guy in the drunk tank with me 5 yrs ago were you? :-) => -----Original Message----- => From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org => [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Chad Fernandez => Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 7:42 PM => To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org => Subject: Re: Interesting places in Chicago area? => => => Haha, thats too cool, to to find yourself on the web!! How old were you => and your ex then? => => Hope you don't mind me saying..... she was cute..... ok, you were cute => too :-) => => Chad Fernandez => Michigan, USA => => Russ Blakeman wrote: => > => > Holy crap - just looked at the site and under "human body => slices" I saw a => > pictue in BW of ME and my ex...that has to be from around => 1979, the last => > time I was at MSI...Weird to see that too. I'll have to send a => link to my ex => > and let her have a good laugh. => > => > http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/body_slices/index.html => >

Whoa, I thought you meant that you and your ex were the ones they used for the body slices?!? I bet that was weird to see, at least you could see what you ate that day. Sorry, couldn't resist. Thanks for the tip though, don't know if I'll have time to go, how far is it from Fermi? George On 12 Mar 2002 at 17:07, Russ Blakeman wrote:

Russ Blakeman said: Yeah...but don't go visit IIT. seriously. the museum is on the museum campus by the lake, which is pretty safe and nice, but you REALLY don't want to go much west of there, especially if you're not from the area... - Dan Wright (dtwright(a)uiuc.edu) (http://www.uiuc.edu/~dtwright) -] ------------------------------ [-] -------------------------------- [- ``Weave a circle round him thrice, / And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honeydew hath fed, / and drunk the milk of Paradise.'' Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan

Don't forget the U-505's computer... => -----Original Message----- => From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org => there, two of the exhibits I still recall and are more on topic as they => relate to computers. => => One exhibit was a little display about the size of a podium. It had an => exposed PC board on top with heavy gauge copper in an odd => pattern. A metal => "pen" was used to draw a digit from 0 to 9, and based on which => traces you => touched and the sequence you touched them in, it would display => what digit => you had written. On the front was the schematic of the thing, => containing => many dozens of transistors. Was it the first palm pilot? This was => probably around 1974 or so. => => The other display I recall vividly was the tic-tac-toe machine => implemented => as a clacking relay computer. You could see the relays => activating behind => the plexiglass. In 8th grade when I understood just the basics => of digital => logic I attempted to design my own tic-tac-toe computer using => transistor/diode/resistor logic. I didn't understand how => "state" worked, => so I had a massive tangle of combinational logic. I probably would have => had to feed 100V in to the inputs to get a measurable output => after so many => diode drops. In high school, I had access to a Wang 2200 computer, and => after a few warm up programs, I wrote a BASIC program to play tic tac => toe. My first implementation was along the lines of the combinational => logic -- just a lot of straight "if this and this and this then do that" => statements. => => I visited there about five years ago and it didn't hold the same => appeal. I => don't know if it was just that I had matured and the wonder of the world => has been lost, or if the displays just have a different flavor now that => doesn't appeal to me. => => Ah, memories. => => ----- => Jim Battle == frustum(a)pacbell.net => =>

How do you get in and out? Do they have a big hole cut in the side? Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA William Donzelli wrote:

To answer two questions, 1) Last couple of times on was on her you couldn't go up into the conning tower. That was one of the roped-off areas. I haven't been on board in several years, though. 2) Yes, there is a sizeable hole in the side to allow ingress/egress. Pretty amazing thing to see sitting there... was really something to see it towed out of the lake and across Lake Shore Drive and into place next to the museum....while I was too young, I've seen the film footage. 3) A friend of mine who was an optical man in the Navy rebuilt the periscopes when it came to Chicago....turns out, they used American scopes.... Paul Braun WD9GCO Cygnus Productions nerdware_nospam(a)laidbak.com "A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without a bunch of bricks tied to its head."