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    Re: Slide rules in movies
    From: Gary LaPook
    Date: 2013 Jul 16, 02:11 -0700


    book
    Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game 2003 N/A description of Pete Palmer   "At least that's what he did for money, for love he sat down with his charts and slide rule ans analyzed baseball strategies."   Kale wfkale@hotmail.com
    Book e - The Story of a Number, Author: Eli Maor 1994 underlying general theory n/a. some bio details on napier, biggs, oughtred, etc. n/a n/a good, brief background on origin of logarithms, and evolution into common logs as basis for computing. Most of book on the natural log function and interrelationships with various math and nature topics. recommended read. Mike Bauer mjbauer001@yahoo.com
    Book The Nine Billion Names of God 1953   the lama "Gladly," replied the lama, readjusting his silk robes and carefully putting away the slide rule he had been using for currency conversions.     Matthew Lecin mijjil@gmail.com
    Book Sunday The Rabbi Stayed Home copyright 1969 none Morton Brooks "The wise son, may, might come in wearing glasses and reading a book or maybe fiddling with a slide rule." Explaining to the Rabbi how they can spice upthe Passover Seder. Even authors agree wise people fiddle with slide rules. Craig Kielhofer kielhofer@ync.net
    Book Podkayn Of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein 1963 unspecified Clark, Podkayn's younger brother   Calculating a deadline in Venus time page 145 Mike Konshak curator@sliderulemuseum.com
    Book Methuselah's Children By Robert A. Heinlein 1958 unspecified Andrew Jackson (slipstick) Libby   Crunches numbers in his head, thus the nickname   Mike Konshak curator@sliderulemuseum.com
    Book Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein 1958 20" K&E Log Log Duplex Decitrig and ten-inch polyphase Clifford (Kip) Russell I missed my slipstick. Dad says that anyone who can't use a slide rule is a cultural illiterate and should not be allowed to vote. Mine is a beauty - a K&E 20-inch Log-log Duplex Decitrig. Dad surprised me with it after I mastered a ten-inch polyphase. Trapped on Pluto, calculating Pluto's orbit to see how long he'd been a prisoner. pg 133 Mike Konshak curator@sliderulemuseum.com
    Book HaltinG StatE by Charles Stross 2007 n/a Jack They had pocket calculators back then, and I remember my dad showing me what they used before that -- books of tables, and a thing like a ruler with a log scale on it, a slide-rule. driving somewhere I don't recommend the book Kale wfkale@hotmail.com
    Book Revolt in 2100 - w/ Misfit , a short story by Robert A. Heinlein 1939, 1940, 1953 Circular Marine Gunner Larsen spun the dial on his slide rule You've multiplied where you should have divided Marine Gunner Larsen spun the dial on his slide rule, while Andre Jackson Libby watches. page 182 - This is the first appearance of "slipstick Libby" in Heinlein novels (see Methuselah's Children Mike Konshak curator@sliderulemuseum.com
    Disney Channel Movie Full Court Miracle 2003 10" log log duplex - Versalog perhaps? algebra teacher   estimating time an emergency generator would run with the available fuel Who takes a full size rule to HS basketball game!? Adam Coleman  
    Magazine Street & Smith Astounding Science Fiction Ca. 1955 Elaborate, two-cursor SR in the future ?? none Holding slide rule Cover illustration for story "Galactic Gadgeteers" Phil Stanley philstan@rcn.com
    Modern Marvels 70's Tech 2007 Deci-Lon (I believe)     Attempting a square root- comparison w/ calculator He was rather unfamiliar with it Will Norton mooseman67@comcast.net
    Movie Fantastic Voyage 1966 Pocket- white duplex bamboo Edmond O'Brien as General Carter too busy watching Raquel Welch to notice They were calculating how long the could stop the patients heart.   Craig Kielhofer kielhofer@ync.net
    Movie The Beast From 20 000 Fathoms 1953 Simple 10" white rule -- does NOT seem to be a duplex rule Professor Tom Nesbitt   Calculating results of a nuclear test There are sheets of paper that appear to be maps and what MAY be a circular rule (perhaps a Radiac?) on the table in front of Professor Nesbitt. Wayne Brown  
    Movie The First of the Few 1942 One or two simplexes and a Fuller     Fiddling around with the the simplex and someone else waving the Fuller around Character playing R.J.Mitchell (Spitfire designer) actually shot down and killed 1943. Rod Lovett  
    Movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb 1964 Circular (Probably with radio- isotopic half-lives) Dr. Strangelove (? Doktor Merkwürdigliebe)[played by Peter Sellers] Strangelove speaking: (notices circular slide rule in his gloved hand) ... aa... nn... Radioactive halflife of uh ... hmm.. I would think that uh... possibly uh... one hundred years. Calculating time until it would be safe to emerge from mineshafts and re-inhabit Earth's surface. Thanks to: http://www.movie-page.com/movie_scripts.htm wcroentgen  
    Movie Time After Time 1979 Thacher played by H. G. Wells   1st scene: a slow pan around Wells' workshop where he built the time machine. The Thacher is on a wall shelf. 2nd scene: In a museum in San Francisco the Thacher is displayed in a glass case as part of a collection of H. G. Wells artifacts.        
    Movie Voyage to the bottom of the sea 1961 white bamboo-duplex Admiral Harriman Nelson It checks out exactly Sitting at his desk making computations A young Barbara Eden appeared in this movie Craig Kielhofer  
    Movie 30 Seconds over Tokyo 1944 White Bamboo Duplex- looked like a good one at that. Bomadier (character name unknown)   Figuring time to bomb drop site   Craig Kielhofer kielhofer@ync.net
    Movie Revenge of the Nerds III 1992 Early white pickett duplex shown with newer (black cover) Pickett "How to manual" Pledges (voice over) "learn the instruments of your fore fathers" trying to figure out a SR while fellow nerd reads the manual shows you what kind of movies I like. Craig Kielhofer  



    From: Frank Reed <FrankReed@HistoricalAtlas.com>
    To: garylapook@pacbell.net
    Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 3:32 PM
    Subject: [NavList] Re: Slide rules in movies


    Andrew, you wrote:
    "Slide rule people have a database of slide rule appearances in the movies etc."
    Thanks. It appears the database is members only. I may sign up later to have a look. If you're a member, I hope you'll make sure they have this one in their database. It's an important 250 milliseconds in the film history of slide rules.
    You also wrote:
    "Also, the fact that slide rule in your picture is neatly aligned with latitude line means that either movie portrays person with moderate OCD, or, more likely, whoever set up the scene did not know what is this thing."
    Ha. Yes, it's probably the latter. The main characters (two strange children about 12 years old) would probably qualify for a diagnosis of OCD, but this is strictly a whimsical "scene setter" --a brief transitional image with no suggestion that anyone is actually using a slide rule for anything. It's just a prop.
    I said previously that this wasn't related to navigation, but there's always a way. The nautical charts that appear in this movie are modified from actual nautical charts. For example the movie's "New Penzance Island" is a somewhat modified version of Fishers Island, New York. The little chart image that I posted earlier has a compass rose that shows a variation of 13°00' West labeled "1940". That gives us a line of position. It passes west of Fishers Island aligned roughly along NWbN/SEbE (http://historicalatlas.com/mag/magframes.asp?indate=1940).
    -FER
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