Saturday, April 16, 2011

#24) Help - Currently Lost Libravets

To update our master Libravet mail list, we've compiled a list of people that we have lost contact with and we need your help. If you have any information that may be helpful, including an e-mail address, phone number, or address, please let Georgine or myself know. My Gmail address is in the upper right hand corner of this Blog, and you already have Georgine's.

There are certainly many other lost Libravets, so please contact us if you know the name of anyone else that may not be receiving our mailings, or know about our web-sites. If they are not already on our active mailing list, we will add them to the currently lost list.

Please note that some of the "lost" Libravets are members of Facebook and/or LinkedIn, so you may be able to contact them for us in that way.

Click here to view the lost list. Note, this list is updated continuously, so it is always current.

Thanks for your help,
Carl

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

#23) News from Mark Derksen at Manassas

The other day, I received the following e-Mail from Mark Derksen at Manassas. As you can see, he has been busy working on some important and interesting programs.

Hello Carl,

I guess the few of us remaining here could be considered the “remnant of Librascope” because technically we are still the same company in a new location.  I think there are probably 10 – 12 of us still here.  Things are going well and I’m keeping busy.

I have been working International Submarines since 2006 and am the Weapons SME (Subject Matter Expert).  My main focus has been the Spanish S80 submarine and I have also been working the Brazil 209 upgrade that is now undergoing sea acceptance tests.  The S80 is still a couple of years from being launched.  I am also just now starting a weapons upgrade to the Walrus class submarine for the Royal Netherlands Navy.

I originally came here as the SME of the NBC (now called CBRN) programs and successfully completed the MICAD program in early 2001.  Subsequent to that the BAWS program gained new life internationally and I supported systems for the Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, and the largest by far, Japan.  I spent a fair amount of time in Japan training the Japanese soldiers.  I transferred back to International submarines when S80 started because of my previous weapons experience on U.S. submarines and the Australian submarine.

I hope you’re enjoying your retirement and are doing all the things you wanted to do before you retired.

Later,
Mark

Thursday, April 7, 2011

#22) Some Interesting Viewer Statistics

Now that the number of Pageviews for this Blog have just passed 5,000, I checked the Blog's viewer statistics and discovered the following:
1) Pageviews by Countries: Nearly all of the pageviews were from the USA; however, the number 2 was Iran with 130 pageviews or about 2.6%! Next was Malaysia with only 13 (0.26%), China 11, Canada 10, Sweden 9, UK 7, Germany 5, Austrailia 2, and Brazil with 2.
2) Pageviews by Browsers: Internet Explorer 75%, Safari 13%, Firefox 8%, Chrome 2%, and all others less than 1% each.
3) Pageviews by Operating Systems: Windows 85%, Macintosh 7%, iPad 4%, and all others less than 1% each.

Interesting!

Monday, April 4, 2011

#21) An Interesting LGP-30 Web-Site

John Gustafson recently discovered a web-site which documents some widely unknown early (1956-60) Librascope history related to the LGP-30 computer (which he worked on when he first came to Librascope in 1955). According to the web-site, an LGP-30 was the computer used by Ed Lorenz in discovering the Butterfly Effect which founded the science of Chaos (aka Chaos Theory). Here's the LGP-30 link, which includes or links to other Librascope related memorabilia:

http://hst250.history.msu.edu/wiki-online/index.php/LGP-30

You'll also be amazed to read of the LGP-30's contribution to so many early programming languges.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

#20) $10,000 for a Librascope Balance Computer in a Display Case?

An original Librascope Balance Computer, mounted in an attractive display case suitable for mounting on a wall, has been posted on Craig's List for $10,000 or best offer. You may see the posting at:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/clt/2292457359.html
 
The current owner recently acquired the unit from a friend who bought it at an auction about ten years ago.

More than one of these display units were built by Librascope. One is displayed at each of the Libravet Reunions, and another is said to be on display in Washington DC. Also, Libravets may remember there was one on display in the main lobby of Building 8. Others are unaccounted for.

#19) Librascope Now On Qwiki


View Librascope and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.