Apparently in the same way that computer scientists worry about "bugs", rocket scientists have to be concerned with "rats":
But here an unexpected complication showed up. The peroxide
was to be stored aboard airplane carriers in aluminum
tanks. And then suddenly it was discovered that trace
quantities of chlorides in peroxide made the latter
peculiarly corrosive to aluminum. How to keep traces of
chloride out of anything when you're sitting on an ocean of
salt water was a problem whose solution was not entirely
obvious.
And there was always the problem of gross pollution. Say
that somebody dropped (accidentally or otherwise) a
greasy wrench into 10,000 gallons of 90 percent peroxide in
the hold of the ship. What would happen—and would the ship
survive? This question so worried people that one
functionary in the Rocket Branch (safely in Washington)
who had apparently been reading Captain Horatio Horn-
blower, wanted us at NARTS to build ourselves a 10,000-
gallon tank, fill it up with 90 percent peroxide, and then
drop into it—so help me God—one rat. (He didn't specify
the sex of the rat.) It was with considerable difficulty
that our chief managed to get him to scale his order down
to one test tube of peroxide and one quarter inch of rat
tail.
I thought this too at first, but it turned out to be just a problem with my browser's rendering (Opera). Saving it to disk and viewing with Preview on Mac produced the missing pages.
This is a great book that lots of people should read, and it is out of print... however, this is a copyrighted work. It probably shouldn't be shared like this.
Heh. Here's a story. The book is long out of print but sought after - the non-microfilm version from Rutgers University Press retails for several hundred dollars in the second-hand trade.
You call up Rutgers, and RUP tells you that they have no idea who owns the publishing rights. Copyright protection lasts far too long, and something really needs to be done about orphan works.
Yes, yes we should. When HN even has a feature made to bypass paywalls, it's absurd to then subscribe to a strict legalistic position which provides no benefit to anyone.
HN has a feature for bypassing paywalls? Well, it could at least be argued (I don't know how persuasively) that that isn't copyright infringement. This pretty clearly is.
Isn't this more or less what the DMCA safe harbor was actually intended for?
If a website that is not primarily engaged in massive copyright violation posts a link to a questionably copywritten work, then the onus is on the rights holder to notify.
It would seem like cases where the rights holder is unknown or has lost interest in the work (aka ophaned works) should be tailor made for this. HN has safe harbor, the rights holder has the possibility of protecting their work if they choose, and the public has access to a work that would otherwise be buried in a strictly pre-legally cleared system.
Where does our responsibility lie in determining whether something is legitimate or not? There are cases where it's obvious, and cases where it's not. What's the limit of due diligence for a casual reader?
It's available and it hasn't been taken down, that's some indication it might be legitimate.
I agree that it's unlikely. But it's possible, and certainly much more ambiguous than grabbing a torrent off some ad-laden site for a TV show you can buy on iTunes.
I read the book from the library. Great read though can be a bit technical with chemistry.
These chemical engineers were really courageous and inquisitive. They have tried so many different combinations to find the right propellant.
I would laugh thinking the book is worth more than my iPhone.
If I stole the book, I doubt I would find a buyer for the price you see on Amazon but for sure I would be asked to reimburse the library for that price!
This is a really fun and informative read for the history, the chemistry, the humor, and for the depiction of the arc of a technology from obscurity - to frantic exploitation - to exhaustion. The latter most of all.
