Tuesday, March 20, 2012

#60) A Response to the "Building 28" Bar Question - Post #57

Jim Conway, formerly listed on "Currently Lost Libravets" (click here), recently wrote us:

I worked at Librascope from 1957 until 1964. I was fortunate to have one of the best bosses, Lane Wolman, I ever worked for. I started at Librascope after graduating from UCLA, and I left to join Scientific Data Systems which was later purchased by Xerox.

As to "Building 28", it was actually called "Ken and Rod's", and it was located off of San Fernando Road. It was known for its cheap draft beer, hamburgers, and chili. There were baskets of peanuts to go with the draft beer, and the floor was covered with peanut shells. They also cashed checks on pay day.

We had many engineering meetings at Building 28!

Where do I register as a Librascope alumni?

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Saturday, March 17, 2012

#59) Mel Kaye, Legendary LGP-30 Programmer -

Anthony Cuozzo, a young (non-Libravet) defense industry programmer recently contacted me to request information about a Libravet. Anthony is a big admirer of the programming work Mel Kaye did on the LGP-30 during the 1950's. Mel's work is legendary and has been documented on the Internet. See "The Story of Mel" (click here), and the Wikipedia (click here). Note, Mel worked on the LGP-30 at Libascope in the 1950's prior to his work for Royal McBee. An LGP-30 story on the front page of the August, 1956 Librazette (click here) mentions Mel, and tells of the transfer of certain responsibilities to Royal-McBee, one of Librascope's sister divisions.

If possible, Anthony would like very much to interview Mel in person, but would also like to communicate with anyone that knew Mel or knows of his work. Anthony has been doing this research for the past four years and assures me his motivation is entirely altruistic, since he believes his work will further enrich the programming community.

If you can help Anthony in any way, please leave a comment below or send me an e-mail and I will forward it to him.
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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

#58) A Rare Tour of an Ohio Class Submarine (USS Nebraska)

Thanks to Don Tubbs for forwarding this very interesting slideshow tour of one of our Nation's Ohio Class fleet ballistic missile (FBM) submarines, the USS Nebraska; SSBN-726. Ohio Class submarines carry an arsenal of 24 Trident II nuclear missiles (discussed in the tour), plus assorted Librascope equipment.

A personal note - in 1992, Barry Commons and I were given a three hour tour of the USS Nevada, a sister ship to the USS Nebraska. This was also a very rare opportunity.

Click here to start the 53 slide tour.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

#57) Anyone remember eating at the "Building 28" Bar?

George Leiby (see Post #47) would like to know if anyone remembers the "Building 28" Bar, a favorite Librascope eating (and drinking?) place in the 1960's. Please leave a comment below, or send me an e-mail and I'll pass it on to George.
Carl


Hi Carl,

Back in the early 60's there was a local Glendale bar that, if I remember correctly, we called Building 28. They loved Librascope people, cashed our paychecks, and served a huge food conglomeration that was called "Chili Size" which consisted of, again if I remember correctly, a couple open faced hamburgers covered with chili. Their draft beer was good and I think that they gave a beer to you if you won a pinball game. Also I think they had an early home-made game of flip hockey which again, if I remember correctly, they said was a game idea they imported from their home country....Greece, Italy???

It would be great if someone out there could confirm my memories and maybe even provide a picture or two. It always fascinated me that a little old local bar would, on payday, have on-hand thousands of dollars just to cash paychecks and I don't think that they even charged a fee. Well, maybe they did.

I look forward to your Libracope Memories and appreciate the time you spend adding to and improving the site.
George Leiby

Thursday, March 8, 2012

#56) Librascope Memories Website Updated (Rev. #38)

The Librascope Memories website was updated recently to reactivate the 2012 REUNION COUNTDOWN counter at the very bottom of the Welcome page. See Figure 1.

Figure 1. Librascope Memories Reunion Counter Reactivated for the 2012 Reunion

Also note that on the bottom line of the above image, a link to "item #38" has been added. This links you to a Blog that summarizes all the significant updates made to the Librascope Memories website since the previous update (#37). This is the 38th update since the website was first released in April, 2009. See Figure 2.

Figure 2. A Summary of the Updates Made Since the Previous Update
IMPORTANT - Please note that five (5) URL's were corrected. They should now be accessable by everyone.