Decided at 0600 today to write to the FAA Admin & Brad Morse, our Congressman from the district we live in.

When I stopped for HS this morning he said he had decided to attend the Shockley lecture at MIT tonight, so would drive in himself.

Rewrote Bob Davis’ paper on Simulation, making it shorted and more precise. He has a good outline.

Clear, cold

Drove in; HS is going to the Shockley lecture tonight.

Went over to Lexington to Dr. & Mrs. [??] home to the Park Street area mtg. Dr. Ockenga answered questions, the discussion turning to Catholicism and related topics — including a few comments on Determinism by John Ossepchuck.

Harry’s and my offices were moved over the weekend to L275-77. They are quite pleasant — but have no windows!

JLV & JU worked thru the weekend to generate a draft of the Committee Report to Walt. I wrote a draft of the objectives and then proofread part of the writeup on system description. After some discussion with JLV & JU late in the afternoon, JLV started to rewrite the objectives.

40°F clear

Rode in with HS.

Put the side panels and 2 seats back in the jeep with LCH’s help. It is beginning to look quite good.

Warm, clear

Took family to SS & church. A few people were glad to see me, as an erroneous report that I was or had been in the hospital was put in the church calendar.

Went to bed quite early.

Warmer, clear

Sprayed Jeep floor in the afternoon. I got too much on some of the vertical surfaces. Also sprayed the window frames with aluminum paint from two spray cans.

Wrote up my contribution to JLV’s paper; it turned into 5 pp. of longhand, describing the data collection and reduced data output for Site 12. I took most of it from 3 BTL references, citing them.

This Koh-i-noor pen works quite well.

Clear, -5°F

Went home in PM, I still don’t feel good.

Cleaned my electric razor; after soldering a wire on and lubricating the bearings, it ran like new. I can now get a shave in about 8 minutes.

Had a conversation with JLV — in which he gave me this Koh-i-noor Rapidograph pen — in which he asked me to provide him the list of data to be recorded at Site 12, and the list of processed information with supporting comments. He is writing a report for WW on what to do at Site 12. He was asked for his opinions of the PA Project, and he said he didn’t think well of it. The “oldtimers’ here, those who stayed rather than going with MITRE, are getting the supervisory positions. The organization chart shows no staff at all; Wells & Nolan became line supervisors; Nedzel & Ward the “middle management.” It is odd that they don’t have any staff.

Had two tables typed up in draft form to show the data & processed information.

Clear, Cold

Went to work in PM.

Went to Abbott Spray to pick up the Toro Short block, going on into Elbery Mtrs for Ford parts & to Mantague-Brown at 124 Harvard avenue, Allston, for enamel for the Jeep. They were able to match it.

Put the Toro together and found that it runs.

LCH went in to Park Street to a SS dinner; Jim Peterson brought her home.

reported the $15 to Mr. Huntington so he can authorize a payroll deduction.

Clear +5°F

Went in to the Lab in the AM.

Went home after lunch.

Worked on 1961 accounts; I’ll try to start on income taxes tomorrow.

Started NJH on trying to learn to write decently.

Went to office in AM.

Dense fog – 25°F

There was ice on the streets this morning, making driving quite hazardous. Went home after lunch and to bed for the rest of the day. I feel quite shaky.

The Toro engine block will be available in about 2 weeks.

Made arrangements to go into the hospital on 25 January; I’ll stop first at Dr. Thomas office to get traction bars put on my teeth.

Clear – overcast – cold

LCH took the children to SS & church.

I listened to HJO on the radio; he had a good sermon on the 91st Psalm.

Wrote to Winchester, New Haven, John Legg re: insurance.

DCH stayed in so he could go to the youth group tonight; he wasted all of yesterday, and has done no studying since Thursday night. LCH picked him up at Concord at 0850 PM.

Clear – cold

Stayed in bed all day; the nasal discharges are decreasing; perhaps I’ll be able to go to the hospital on Tuesday.

My W-2 form came; $15,850.71 in come last year; this after the deductions for compensations from the auto accident; total income taxes were $2271.73.

LCH took the children skating in the afternoon before taking her Brownies to hear “Peter and the Wolf” at the Community Center.

Continued to read on Wisdom.

Home in bed.

It occurred to me that a MOE would be useful wherein, for example, the range given by the in-flight msg. would be the basis of comparison with that given by the TTR as follows:

[ed. small hand-drawn graph perhaps included at a later date!]

This would immediately show violent excursions from the in-flight by the primary tracking & acquisitions gate. It might be useful to compute “R” and the differences in the rates of change of the angles also; perhaps consideration should be given to display of these quantities for use by the operator.

Clear, cold

Stayed home in bed most of the day.

LCH took JAH in to the Cadets at Park Street, leaving on the 5:08 PM train.

I cleaned and put up the 2-lamp fluorescent fixture, and for the first time have adequate illumination over my work bench.

Read the IBM General Systems Simulator program; I don’t know whether the Army’s CCIS could be simulated or not; I suppose it could.

Overcast
Cold +10°F

Stayed home to work on the car and Toro. Changed the ignition points (used a set with a nylon brush); it runs much better. In taking the Toro apart, I found the flywheel key had sheared: this allowed the ignition timing to be completely off. I took it to the Central Garage in Stowe — a B&S agent — and had a new key and washer put on. It ran for a time, but when it ran against a bit of ice outside, it stopped again. I think I’ll not fool with it anymore but get a short block.

Put radio back in the car; it still cuts out. Fixed clock in car; its winding contacts were pitted.

Call from Mr. McKeown at AMS in Warick, R.I. They have had trouble in making the conversion from UTM to Lat-Long. I don’t have the origins. He spoke of support from Washington.

Told JLV I would delay going to the hospital unti I had done something about the comparison of pre- and in-flight data with the data we brought back from Patrick AFB.

Mailed a letter to M. N. Bradford of Liberty Mutual re: the $15 compensation to the Ellicott City Fire Department ofr ambulance service on 04 May 1961. Also mailed a copy to INA at Baltimore.

Turned in my Activity Report for December, including the proposal I made on 13 December in my trip report for a systems checkout or Operations & Training procedure. Site 12 had only 12 chances to lock on in the period July ’60 to June ’61; @ 3 min. each, this isn’t enough to learn how to operate the gear.

Call from McKeown:
SLat=7°54’25.254″
WLong=14°24’9.981″
Range 6,377,984.925 meters

Overcast

About 1/4″ of snow fell last night; storm warnings were up in most of the NE, but it bypassed us.

Rode in with HS.

Wrote a letter to Dave Cook re: his source of the single cyl. 110v 60 Hz generator.

Wrote to Willys Motors re: the correct color for Jeep.

Clear, 0°F

Took family to SS & church. HJO had an excellent sermon on John as the predecessor of Christ; he gave a most graphic and moving picture of John.

We took our lunch over with John & May as Mary is in New Hampshire on a skiing trip. We went in to the youth groups & then home for a quiet evening.

Read some on wisdom in Thomas Aquinas, who said that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.”

Snow is forecast for tomorrow night.

Cold

Took LCH to Marlborough to get a new agitator for the washing machine.

Put the Toro engine back together in the evening. It ran once, but not thereafter. It didn’t show any spark.

Readjusted the Ford ignition points; they barely opened as the fiber block was badly worn because of no lubrication. The car’s performance was improved greatly, tho. A new set should remove the rough engine operation. I’m glad to know that Lubriplate is used on the cam.

ai, the scope of life contracts to a point. to a pointed head. while the Chinook blows a gale down from the Flatirons.

Called Mr. Yingling at Warick Rhode Island at 0825. He was out for the day, but his assistant, a Mr. McCue (?) took the msg. His phone is VAlley 1-2500 Warick, RI. He will call back today.

Clear 29.60″ Hg

Maybe the storm in by-passing us; no clouds in the AM.

Went over to Douglas Ins’t in East Boston after the radio; it had a few burned parts in the output section I wired in a shorting jack in the output so removal of the output plug will short the output transformer. Did some other errands, arriving home about 5:45 PM.

DCH to an Explorer tobogganing party at Mr. Driscoll’s.

Laid out the TTR trajectory triangle. I need the distance between the TTR & minimal impact point. Tried to get it from the Corps of Engineer, but they had the tables for NE only. Those are the tables to convert UTM to Lat-Long. They referred me to a Mr. Yingling at Warick, Rhode Island, Chief of the AMS there.

Overcast, 29.69″ Hg

Left Toro gas tank at AMS on way to work so they can soak it in carburetor cleaner. They said the Central Garage in Stowe has Briggs & Stratton parts. I tried it later in the day, but they didn’t have the shaft. The points & condensers came, so I put them in, setting the gap at 0.020″.

I also timed the Ford; it was out a lot.

Dick Norris in — told him about the TTR problem; perhaps he will generate an idea.

Am working on problem of trying to get some of the data from Patrick AFB in form for machine processing.

Have UTM coord of TTR, but couldn’t find out today how to put this into Lat-Long.

Overcast, 29.90″ Hg

Eight inches of snow or 3/4″ of rain forecast for late today.

Left DCH at 0830 at the Sussman residence so he could shovel their driveway.

The Toro connecting rod was not at Milldam Supply, so I found a Briggs & Stratton dealer at Waltham Rd. & Concord Avenue, The Abbott Farm Eq. Co. I should have dug this firm up earlier. It is a B&S 294367 connecting rod & cost $2.05. In putting the rod in, I found the wrist pin worn and the crankshaft journals worn; I’ll have to get these parts also.

Requested two RCA Service reports and 4 Human Sciences Research papers via the documents room.

Had a lengthy discussion with Joe Halberstein, who brought over the IBM report on a program for a general purpose system simulator — cf. note re: JFN on 18 December. It looks good and I think it should be applied to the Army’s problem. Joe thinks that JFN wants him to apply it to the Army’s problem. I pointed out the correspondence between this and the control problems of large- & middle-sized businesses at some length.

Clear

Rec’d 2 dividend checks from American Security & Trust Co, 80¢/ & 20¢/share.

Talked to Joe Halberstein at length re: the Great Books. He is reading a paper by Whitehead on the great ideas.

Clear in morning

Fourteen inches of snow fell, but we didn’t try working on the driveway until the middle of the afternoon.

JCH was given the usual toys and for once he was quiet! I took some movies, but there wasn’t enough light for Kodachrome.

The ice & snow in the trees is breath-taking in the brilliant sunlight! I took a few feet outside and some 35mm color & B&W.

We all worked on the driveway. I’ll have to fix the Toro soon.

Overcast

DCH & I shoveled the driveway, getting to church & SS at 10:10, late.

We went to Mary’s for a buffet dinner, Al & Edith had to shovel their drive so they didn’t arrive until 4:30 PM. Aunt Helen was there, and we all had a most pleasant time.

It was snowing hard on the way home, but Rt. 2 was cleared, so we had no trouble.

Overcast

Went over to Hudson to get DCH’s coat; it is tan with a zip-in lining, short — above his knees. He selected it from the Sears catalog, but now doesn’t know whether he wants it or not!

A snow storm started in the late evening.

Finished the index of the classified data that we brought from Patrick AFB.

Overcast

Picked up some merchandise at Sears at noon.

Tried to buff Howard’s pewter plate. After working on it for 2-1/2 hours, it still has some marks on it. I’ll take it to the shop in the morning.

Read some in Aristotle re: Wisdom; he says the same things as Plato — that Wisdom is the knowledge of being.

Ordered set of points for the Toro via COD from Boston, also an instruction book. It has a Briggs & Stratton Engine 8B Type 905032 serial 3515.

Sat in a mtg. to hear Fred Schweppe tell about his program for Max Likelihood Linearization of Trajectory Parameters.

Worked out a basis of procedures in the Ascension Island case:

1) Regard the -16 & TTR in combination as a single system.
2 a) Assumptions:

-16 objectives (To produce traffic data by missile contractor.)

TTR objectives (Expressed by list of items of processed data.)

X) Defensive
Y) Offensive
Z) Scientific

2 b) Objects non-conflicting & non-complimentary due to different radar characteristics

2 c) The -16/TTR combination should assist each to attain their respective objectives.

3) Device O&T procedures that will provide routine overall system checking daily and prior to live test.

4) From DOD level publish a set of common objectives to those at Site 12.

Sat in mtg to hear John Williams report on his conversations with BTL on Monday last re; the RDPV logic. It was inconclusive.

Overcast, ice

Rode with HS today.

Worked on Jeep in PM — removed left front seat and fixed it so it will slide. Also took some rust off the right side of the floor in front.

Snow, overcast

A gray day.
DCH in bed.
Took the others to SS & church. Dr. Ockenga preached a good sermon on “The Birth of a King.”

Went over to VAN’s home in Weston for a party — it was quite pleasant — the usual cocktail party.

Started to read in the Great Books on wisdom. Plato’s Dialogues have portions on the kinds of wisdom. I should make notes on these readings

There was a freezing rain in the afternoon, making it necessary to clean the windshield twice on the way to the Nedzel’s house.

Cold, clear

The thermometer in the car indicated -5˚F this morning.

Took the girls, JCH & LCH in to their Christmas parties at the church in the afternoon. They were quite good. Ken Olsen mentioned that someone is needed to oversee the audio work at the church. A member of the Board of Trustees would be appropriate, but I guess no one is qualified.

DCH in bed. I had quite a time to get him to drink the mixture of vinegar & honey.

Put undercoating on the Jeep doors inside.

Had a discussion with the Travel Office Supervisor regarding the problem of payment for air travel insurance: he pointed out that MIT has a blanket policy on all travelers — by whatever means — of $50,000. This is in addition to the group insurance double indemnity for a total of $90,000 available from MIT sources; this has a vital bearing on the total amount of additional life insurance I should take out.

Sat in a disc. with JW, RD, & JLV re: what to do next. It turned into a disc. of organizational structure & where we fit in.

Had prior disc. with Bob Davis relative to what we should do; my opinion is in my trip notes as an item under “Afterthoughts” where I point out that what is needed is a systems operation and training test procedure that is carried out perhaps twice a day.

At JLV’s request, started to look at the ‘pounds” of data he brought from Patrick AFB.

Windy, cold

LCH has sore throat.

Took JAH to a party of her SS class that started at church at 7:35 PM. I attended prayer mtg.

DCH still in bed with a cold that is quite sticky.

Discussed the problem of corrective surgery on my jaw with Dr. Thoma. He said that Dr. Romanow was not able to see much opportunity of correcting the occlusion, so I either put up with it as is, or undergo corrective surgery. I’m to go in for an appointment on Monday at 1130 AM.

Sat in a meeting from 10 to 12 noon to talk about what to do next. Bob Davis put a diagram on the board to show what they had done on Project Mercury, and then another diagram to show the injection of signals into the -16 sub-system and the TTR. His presentation was devoted to hardware discussion with little attention to the broader aspects of systems analysis & check-out procedure design.

Tried to correlate -16 & TTR data on 3211, but it wasn’t possible as there was no -16 data.

Clear, cold

Rode with HS.

Took LCH & JAH to the annual Yuletide Banquet at the church. It was fine.

DCH’s temperature normal in morning.

The Baldwin Insurance Co. in Wayland has lost a check of ours for $83 that was for auto and house insurance. LCH stopped payment on it at the bank.

Rec’d letter from Howard Schuck. He turned down DR’s offer of a job in the Pentagon; asked if I would be interested in trying to return when he leaves.

Worked on trip notes all day. I put in a section on a proposed systems check-out procedure for VAN’s benefit, but I doubt that it reaches his attention.

Clear, cold

Went to Scout mtg; had to send a boy back for further study on 2nd class tests; he didn’t know how to use a compass.

DCH still in bed with fever.

JCH cold some better.

Mailed pen base & piece of polished orbicular diorite to Parker Pen Service Co. in Springfield; also sent samples of plastic screens to Dr. Wood in Washington.

Rain

Took family to SS. DCH & Janet are ill with colds, so we went home after SS. DCH has a temperature of 103.5°F. The Doctor at the clinic said it was probably due to the virus going around & to give him water. His fever was 99.5°F at 6:30 PM.

Clear

Took family to SS & church. DCH had to finish dressing in the car; he had 70 minutes between arising time and when we left!

Tom Erickson had an excellent sermon on “A Question of Authority.” He had a fine delivery.

Cleaned my desk in the afternoon.

Noted the Great Books Study Outlines — there is one for the 13-16-year-old high-schoolers. I look forward to readings in these books.

Clear

Put on about 2 gallons of undercoating; what a messy job! Put the right rear brake back together; I’ll delay the tires until the brakes have been bled. The lining was so thick I had to deepen the notch in the forward shoe. I’ll be glad when this job is done.

Rec’d classified documents back from Publications — these were used on making the illustrations for 22L-7095. Ret’d 6 originals, all Secret to SB for destruction; they are 4237-76, -77, -82, -83, -84, -& -86. I destroyed 3 confidential ones & two unclassified, Figures I-1, II-1, & III-1.

Joe Resnick in to discuss my paper — 22L-7095 — he found a typographical error on p. 30, and he questioned the altitudes cited on p. 19. (At least he read it!) The altitudes are probably ok if one does not specify the article or object. He said he was going out to BMD/Aerospace to hear Sperry report on their weapons system study. See entry for 03 August.

Overcast, warm

Rode in with HS today.

The accumulated deficit of sleep last week is catching up with me, and I have a bad cold.

Warm clear

Worked around the house some and on Jeep.

Took LCH, JAH, NJH, & JCH to Shoppers World so Janet could get her GS uniform.

DCH in bed with cold.

Removed the Jeep rear universal joint as Mr. Bayer said it was worn out. I’ll have to see a sketch of it in order to further take it apart. Put in new accelerator pedal at great trouble.

Put air in the Ford tires, and found it steered much easier; my hands are sensitive to holding the wheel.

Returned home, leaving Princeton at 0845 and arriving home at 8 PM after several stops.

Warm, clear

Left Princeton at 0845 after a good breakfast. Stopped at Eberts Auto Parts on Rt. 46 in Parsipanny, NJ, to get some Jeep and Ford parts. Arrived home at 8 PM.

Went down to Baltimore from Princeton arriving at noon.

Spent the afternoon in Session 2.2 on Aerospace Communications AJ Techniques. They were secret.

Had dinner with Carol Lea and Al Dunbar.

Rain

Took family to SS, picking up May and John, as Mary is in NH for the weekend. After a good dinner, left for Princeton at 1:28 PM, arriving at 9:30 PM. It was good to see Howard, Winifred, and Anne again. Howard may go back to Franklin College in Indiana.

Overcast

Took delivery of ’54 Willys SW, driving Mr. Boyer back to his place of business in Lincoln. The bottom part of the engine wasn’t cleaned, the rear universal joint is loose, and it wasn’t thoroughly cleaned and undercoated. Otherwise it is fine. Has 3 good tires.

Had the Ford worked on at AMS but it still bucks.

Rain

Took family to SS, picking up May & John, as Mary is in NH for the weekend. After a good dinner, left for Princeton at 1:28 PM, arriving at 9:30 PM. It was good to see Howard, Winifred and Anne again. Howard may go out to Franklin College in Indiana.

Took saws to cap shop to be sent to Cambridge for sharpening.

Studied astronomy all day.

Overcast

Another hurricane is passing NE about 600 miles SE of Nantucket; Bar this morning was 29.80; snow is expected in Vermont tonight.

Fishing for background mt’l.

Cool AM – Warm PM

Took washing machine pump out to find the rotor is worn out. Found a new one at Hall Electric Supply CO. The machine worked fine on putting it in — as far as the pump is concerned. It has a few knocks.

Deposited the $400 from the Credit Union in the bank, and then went to Lincoln Auto Service to pay for the Jeep but Mr. Boyer was not there. He was on the way back from undercoating ad cleaning it.

Made arrangements to get the Ford carburetor worked on at AMS Saturday morning.

JLV told me this morning that he is leaving tomorrow for Ascension via Rio & Recife — this should be a wonderful trip.

Read STL Document 7103-0019-RS-000. 15 May 61 — S. of PSA — I must be dull, as I don’t catch on to what it is all about.

Cool AM – warm later

The Willy’s SW has the ff numbers: 654 AA2 – 10,667.

Obtained $400 from the Credit Union to buy the Jeep with. Since I rode with HS today, I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to pay for it.

Passed two boys for Life Awards at the Board of Review — Steve Cornwall & John Banner.

Clear – cool

Picked up two storm sashes for the Library windows at Wilson’s but they didn’t fit!

Went over to Art Hirsh’s home for an Explorer’s Leader Training Course. The Scout Executive from Leominster was there.

Finished reading the WADD paper that reported the RW & DAC proposals on MIDAS.

Clear – cold

Phoned MLPF&S (!) to see when my Kingwood Oil stock would receive its dividend list; as of record of 10-5-61, so I had them sell the Kingwood and put it into the Penna RR. It bought 24 PRR @ 15-1/8.

Ordered two storm sashes from the Wilson Lumber Company in Concord to fit the Anderson windows in the Tunnel Room. This after going to the Newton Sash & Door Co. who, after two calls, finally didn’t have them in stock.

Tried to fix the washing machine — the pump must be worn out, as it doesn’t have enough head to force the water to the top of the machine. The cycle seems to be okay.

Rain – snow

Took family to SS & church, HJO had some choice remarks on science and religion, pointing out that they are entirely compatible.

DCH & JAH went to the Vetterlein’s for dinner and the afternoon.

Mr. Anderson, who is a missionary at Monterrey, Mexico spoke of his work there, noting the inroads of the Communists into the universities there.

Overcast

LCH, Mary, May & John arrived about 1030 AM, and we left for Monadnock Mountain Park about 1130 where we had lunch in the rain and drizzle. It was about 60˚F. We had a pleasant time.

Finally got to see WLZ re: his notes on data taking; he couldn’t find them but agreed to look so he could let me have them next week — he will be out of the office again next week.

Gave the material cited above on Wednesday 11 Oct. — to HS, and included to reference to the CRC Propagation Office.

Discussed with HS the reasons for the latitude of the observer being so, and also the altitude of the North Celestial Pole.

Fog – clear in PM

The car shifts much better.

Decided to buy Boyer’s ’54 Willys station wagon if he still has it. Stopped in at Boyer’s on the way home early — 3 PM — had a headache – probably due to yesterday’s work — one of his men went with me and took the tan Jeep back.

Made arrangements to borrow $400 from the MIT Credit Union for 2 years — total interest about $30 — 0.6 of 1% on the unpaid balance.

Took LCH & JAH to the South Acton RR Station so they could go in to church.

Mr. Boyer agreed to clean the Jeep engine up — it has a new clutch.

Worked with DCH on the Probability Lab in the evening.

HOLIDAY

Overcast

Readjusted shift linkage on the Ford and fixed the hand brake cable on the Jeep; this latter one was quite a job. I should have a good set of wrenches.

Purchased 4 red azaleas from a peddler who was by from the Western Nurseries. He seemed reliable. LCH & I planted them along the front of the home between the existing shrubs.

Worked with Joe Globus on the refractive index and velocity of light problems re: missile ranging, giving him Tom Rogers & JH Chisholm’s names, Dr. Booker/ASTIA, and NBS/Boulder as sources. He seemed grateful.

Obtained a copy – NR 186 – of the ADC Radar Evaluation Report. It was good to read it again.

Rec’d letter from Liberty Mutual re: the return of the forms relative to my claim through MIT arising out of the accident on 4 May. I have already sent them in — on 28 September. They will send out a new set.

Overcast

Went to Sears and then Lincoln Jeep Agent at lunch time, re: the ’54 SW. He will give me $80 for the tan one, wanting $300 in cash for his ’54 SW. He doesn’t want the 6 cylinder one. I put an ad in the Minuteman for the 19th to sell the green one for $260, and in the Beacon also.

At the Committee & Sponsor’s BSA mtg we decided to authorize Mr. Charbineaux to organize an Explorer’s Post for the older boys. Apparently Joe Hall’s campaign to “promote” Art Hirsch didn’t go over too well.

Rec’d a Secret document #97 from Picatinny Arsenal on NZ Warhead/Fuzing Studies, TM DW304, September 1960.

Read the WADD report on analysis of Douglas & R-W proposals on MIDAS.

Overcast, cool

Winds of 80 mph will hit Nova Scotia today.

Bled the Jeep brakes with help from JAH; the pedal goes down about 1/3 the total travel before stopping; there must be some air left in the system. It took about 3/4 of a pint of brake fluid.