perm filename LETTER.TEX[MF,ALS]13 blob
sn#823628 filedate 1986-08-28 generic text, type C, neo UTF8
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C00009 00003 \stanford
C00065 ENDMK
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\def\sendingaddress{Arthur L. Samuel\par
The Sequoias\par
501 Portola Road, box 8214\par
Portola Valley, CA 94025\par
\up[415\up]\thinspace 424-4233\par}
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The Sequoias\par
501 Portola Road, box 8214\par
Portola Valley, CA 94025 USA}
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The Sequoias\par
501 Portola Road\par
Portola Valley, CA 94025 USA}
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Computer Science Department\par
Stanford University\par
Stanford CA 94305 USA}
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Stanford University\par
Stanford, California 94305}}
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\hskip3.9truein Bill Beatty
\nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein Joe Beck
\nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein Paula Burr
\nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein Leslie Dobbins
\nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein Richard Ives
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\stanford
\address
Dr.~Yoshio Ohno
Institute of Information Science
Keio University
1-1 Hiyoshi, 4-chome
Kohoku-ku, Yokohama
223 Japan
\body
Dear Dr.~Ohno:
While I am all in favor of seeing METAFONT used for the generation of a
kanji font, I am afraid that I have little to offer.
The only related work that I have done was to write a simple program to
generate GF font files, and the accompanying TFM files, for some old but
still potentially useful fonts that we had originally produced for use at
200 dots to the inch.
The procedure was to first generate bit maps at either 300 dots to the
inch or at 384 dots to the inch (depending on the printer to be used) by
applying some fairly simple expansion rules. I had expected to have to do
quite a bit of hand tuning but I was surprised at the effectiveness of the
expansion rules, so that very little hand tuning was needed. We then
generated the GF files from these bit maps.
I would be glad to send you a copy of the procedure but it would be of
very little use since the expansion rules were very Indo-European-language
specific and since the procedure was written in our old (now seldom used)
SAIL programming language, so that it could be made a part of an older
program that dealt with these fonts.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Miss Lani D. L. Finch
RFD \#2
Winsted, Conn. 06098
\body
Dear Lani:
Donna has reported in considerable detail on the problems you and she faced
in getting your L.A. affairs in order. These troubles will be behind you
by the time that you get back home, although I rather imagine that you will
need a few days to rest up from your travels.
From one point of view, I should have been the one to go to L.A. to help
you, being closer to L.A. and not being burdened with book dead lines,
but I am sure that Donna was of vastly more help than I would have been.
The one way that I can help is to send you the enclosed check to help cover
the costs.
Donna tells me that you are considering going to the Cape as soon as fall
rates become effective. From one point of view, this does seem like a good
idea, but you must not under estimate the problems that you will face in
living alone. However, you have had more experience than I have ever had
along these lines and it ill behooves me to offer any advice, although I
can offer some financial help. Just let me know the details of your
proposed long-term arrangements and I will see what I can do.
It would seem to me that you might like to be some place where you could
get part time work, when you reach this stage, and I rather doubt if there
would be anything along these lines at the Cape during the off season.
Would the place that you have worked be staying open during the winter
months?
As for my own activities, I have recently decided to go off the payroll
here at Stanford (I a being bothered more and more by arthritis in my
knees) although I am still coming in mornings as usual. I have, however,
signed up for a rather extensive Circle Pacific Cruise, 75 days from L.A.
to L.A. via Fiji, Perth, Hong Kong, Tahiti, etc.(some 21 ports in all, 11
of them being places that I have not been) leaving in January. If my
arthritis gets much worse, and I am sure that it will, I will soon not be
able to take such trips and so I thought that I would take this one while
I still could.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
\hsize=6.00truein
\body
If one really wants to preserve uniform spacing between words, then one
way to do this is to center each line of type in the column. I did some
work on this, way back in year one. This greatly improves the appearance,
as compared with ragged right and I once convinced myself that with time
one could learn to depend on the complementary shapes of the left and
right edges to aid one's eyes in going from the end of one line to the
beginning of the next line.
It may interest you to know that I even tried to sell IBM on this idea for
the then new executive typewriter. The way it was supposed to work was
that one would type the letter as usual. The line would appear on the page
as typed but it would also be stored on a magnetic drum (the preferred form
of storage at the time). On receiving a carriage return, the unused space
on the line would be split with one half of it (as close as possible in
units of 1/5 M) being stored at the start of the line. When the letter
was finished one could then insert a new sheet of paper and get a printed
copy of the letter, all beautifully centered.
The intent was more to make IBM typed letters appear distinctive than to
do anything about readability. I had experimented with right justification
on the executive typewriter and had decided that the 1/5 M unit was just
not small enough to achieve good looking right justification.
Neadless to say, the idea was not adopted, a good thing probably, as cheap
reliable storage devices were simply not available at the time.
\als \fin
Jiffy Seat
P.O.Box 5667
Dayton, Ohio 45405
\body
Gentlemen:
Would you please advise me as to where I should go or write to obtain one
of your Combination-Walking-Cane-and-Four-Legged-Seat Jiffy Seats. I had
been given one of your canes, which I unfortunately lost while travelling.
I do not seem to be able to buy another one locally, although I was able to
get an all-metal folding seat that I find quite unsatisfactory.
The Jiffy Seat that I had was obviously designed for carrying in the right
hand, as evidenced by the way the device bulged when closed. If possible,
I would prefer one that was assembled for carrying in the left hand.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Dr.~E.~J.~Webb
Webb, Brown, Fogel, Mack, Aaron
505 South Drive
Mountain View, CA 94040
\body Dear Dr.~Webb:
I was indeed sorry to learn from your 7/25/86 bill (account 254660 21)
that the missing insurance payment had still not yet been received.
Being quite unable to get a satisfactory reply from Metropolitan Life, I
finally called IBM. They called the right people in Metropolitan and with
a little prodding got them to agree to send you a check forthwith. As I
had surmised, the original check had been sent to the wrong Dr.~Webb.
If the check fails to arrive within the next few days, please have someone
phone me and I will go after IBM again.
\als
\fin
Bill Bouton 855-3000 or maybe 855-3926.
\personal
\address
International Business Machines Corp.
Armonk, New York 10504
att. Office of the Benefits coordinator
\body
Gentlemen:
I am enclosing a copy of a letter which is self explanatory. Perhaps
your office can see that this matter is properly handled.
My IBM retiree serial number is 480480 and I retired from IBM in August
1966.
I am currently nearing the end of a twenty year, post IBM, stint on the
faculty at Stanford University, originally as an Adjunct Professor of
Computer Science and more recently as a Research Professor Emeritus
Recalled to Active Duty.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Metropolitan Life
Claim Administrator
\personal
\address
P.O.Box 8770
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
\body
Gentlemen:
This is a duplicate of a letter that I sent you some time ago and to which
you have never replied either to me or by sending a check to the correct
Dr.~Webb.
I am writing in regard to the payment of \$160 to Dr.~Webb against account
254660-21 which,
according to the information that you sent me (your Identification Number
S03 D22, File Reference 6042850979-9), was processed by you on May 6, 1986
but which, according to Dr.~Webb's office, has never been received.
Is it possible that your check was sent to the wrong Dr.~Webb?
In discussing this matter with Dr.~Webb's office, a discrepancy was noted
between the correct name for the Dr.~E. J. Webb who did the work
for me, and whose office name is Webb, Brown, Figel, Mack, Aaron at 505
South Drive, Mountain View, CA 94040 and the name of E.~Dean Webb DDS
which you referenced in your Explanation of Benefits that you sent me.
I am sorry that I had failed to note this discrepancy earlier, but this
was my first account with Dr.~Webb and I had assumed that his office had
used the name you had referenced.
I want to assure you that I have always been pleased with the dispatch
with which you have handled my dental claims. This is the very first time
during the 20 years since my retirement from IBM that any question has
ever arisen. I am, however, somewhat distressed by the fact that you have
so far ignored my earlier letter to you regarding this matter.
In the interests of maintaining my own reputation, I am mailing Dr. Webb a
check for \$160 so please sent your check to me, if and when you get
around to taking care of this matter.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Arthur H. Bredenbeck
Carr,McClellan,Ingersoll,Thompson & Horn
Security Pacific Building
216 Park Road P.O.Box 513
Burlingame CA 94011-0513
\body
Dear Mr. Bredenbeck:
Thank you for the final Trust papers. I have started the process of
transfering all of my holdings to the Trust. As for other related
matters, my personal checking account is already a joint account with
Donna and the same holds for my safety deposit box, which no longer
contains any securities but which will now contain copies of the major
Trust documents.
As you know, I do have several other sources of income that will terminate
on my death. My pension check, my three annuity checks, and my social
security check are all deposited directly to my checking account. I do get
three different Pooled Income Trust Fund checks, which I would like either
to deposit in my checking account or to add to the Trust's money market
fund, as dictated by the cash needs of the moment. Do I need to formally
ammend the Trust document in some way when I make additions of this sort?
I also have one other question. Should there be some special provision to
allow Donna to handle all normal Trust matters without a big legal hassle
in the event that I should become incompetent? The broker saw no reason
why Donna's signature should not be allowed on the Trust's money market
checks and we are arranging to for this to be done, but questions might be
raised were it to become desirable to make major changes to the
Trust's holdings without my specific approval.
I want to thank you for your advice and for your patience in struggling
with the details of the final agreement. Obviously, I will not be around
to see how things actually work out but I feel that every thing is going
to be fine.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Internal Revenue Service Center
Cincinnati, OH 45999-2222
\body
Gentlemen:
Since my arthritic handwriting is no longer very legible, I am repeating
the explanation under Part II for items 7A and 7B and for the omission of
the figures called for by items 1 through 6 on form 1040X.
My 1984 return was corrected by your Fresno office (see copy of Feb. 24,
1886 notice, attached), and while the corrected tax was reported, they did
not report in detail the corrected values for my total income and the
other figures called for by items 1 through 6. Being somewhat in doubt as
to the corrected values for these figures, since I had made no less than
three different errors, I computed the Taxable Income shown in item 7A by
computing backward from the corrected tax of \$16165.48 as shown on the
Feb. 24, 1986 notice.
I trust that this procedure will be acceptable, since it should lead to
the same final result.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Metropolitan Life
Claim Administrator
P.O.Box 8770
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
\body
Gentlemen:
This is a duplicate of a letter that I sent you some time ago and to which
you have never replied either to me or by sending a check to the correct
Dr.~Webb.
I am writing in regard to the payment of \$160 to Dr.~Webb against account
254660-21 which,
according to the information that you sent me (your Identification Number
S03 D22, File Reference 6042850979-9), was processed by you on May 6, 1986
but which, according to Dr.~Webb's office, has never been received.
Is it possible that your check was sent to the wrong Dr.~Webb?
In discussing this matter with Dr.~Webb's office, a discrepancy was noted
between the correct name for the Dr.~E. J. Webb who did the work
for me, and whose office name is Webb, Brown, Figel, Mack, Aaron at 505
South Drive, Mountain View, CA 94040 and the name of E.~Dean Webb DDS
which you referenced in your Explanation of Benefits that you sent me.
I am sorry that I had failed to note this discrepancy earlier, but this
was my first account with Dr.~Webb and I had assumed that his office had
used the name you had referenced.
I want to assure you that I have always been pleased with the dispatch
with which you have handled my dental claims. This is the very first time
during the 20 years since my retirement from IBM that any question has
ever arisen. I am, however, somewhat distressed by the fact that you have
so far ignored my earlier letter to you regarding this matter.
\als
\fin
Carr,McClellan,Ingersoll,Thompson \& Horn
att. Mr. Arthur H. Bredenbeck
216 Park Rd. P.O.Box 513
Burlingame, CA 94011-0513
\body
Dear Mr. Bredenbeck:
Unfortunately, there are still some changes to be made to my trust
agreement.
In the first place, the provisions for retaining the shares of IBM stock,
allocated to Tahira Lee Hussain and Taj Arthur Hussain until their 30th
birthdays, that were contained in section 3.2 of the earlier draft, was
somehow omitted completely from the second draft. Unfortunately, I did
not specify that these be retained, in my phone conversation with your
secretary, so the fault my be partly my own.
Secondly, When I mentioned 500 shares in my phone conversation, I was
trying to make clear my original intention of giving each grandchild one
sixth of my total holdings of IBM stock and I certainly meant to including
the proportionate amount of additional shares acquired as a result of any stock
splits that might occur.
One way of wording all this might be to say: Five hundred shares of IBM
plus any additional shares acquired as a result of stock splits based on
these original 500 shares shall be assigned to each of the trustor's
grandchildren. If, at any time during the existance of this trust, the
required amount of IBM stock is allowed or caused to fall below this
amount, then the missing shares shall be made up for by the substutution
of other assets then remaining in the Trust of an equivalent market value
at the time the deficiency occurs.
In any case, selling the IBM stock would be a deliberate act on my part,
but I would not want the grandchildren to be done out of half of their
inheritance by the happenstance of a two for one IBM stock split, perhaps,
while I was on my death bed.
I note that section 7 of article III of the first draft, on physical
Division, was omitted from the second draft. The modifications that I am
suggesting may now make its inclusion again desirable.
\als
\fin
Miss Alexa Knight
The Sequoias, Portola Valley, CA
\body
Dear Alexa:
Thanke you for your note.
I will be quite willing to settle for a nearby perimeter space if this
will not prejudice my chances of getting a Carport B space sometime later
and hopefully before the onset of cold weather next fall.
Most people are quite unaware of the windshild icing problem at The
Sequoias on cars parked in the open. By 9 or 9:30 a.m. the ice will be
gone, but leaving, as I do, sometime before 8 a.m., icing can be quite a
problem.
\fin
I would like to switch my Carport assignment from Carport A to Carport B,
either by waiting untill a vacancy occurs in Carport B, or preferably,
by finding someone, perhaps someone in Building 1, who would like
to make a trade.
I know that this is just another headache for you, but I am finding it
increasingly difficult to go up and down steps and slopes of any sort. My
knees are giving out on me at quite an alarming rate.
Swimming and the jacussi seem to help, but sometimes, when I get home
early enough for a swim, I find that the climb up from Carport A to
Building 2 is just all that I can take so I don't go swimming after all.
In support of my request, I might mention that we used to have a stall in
Carport B and we made the switch to Carport A to help someone who was then
facing the same problem that I now face.
\als
\fin
\address
Carr,McClellan,Ingersoll,Thompson \& Horn
att. Mr. Arthur H. Bredenbeck
216 Park Rd. P.O.Box 513
Burlingame, CA 94011-0513
\body
Dear Mr. Bredenbeck:
I have thought through the complications that are involved if the proposed
Trust fund is broadened to include most of my assets and if the securities
held by the Trust are placed in a Brokerage Account.
To make my wishes clear, I have drafted the enclosed. I am sure that you
will be amused by my pseudo-legal phraseology but I do hope that I have
cleared up any possible ambiguity. You will have to put the ideas into
the proper legal form, leaving out matters that do not need to be
mentioned and adding those that do.
\als
\fin
\stanford
\address
Government Data Publications
1120 Connecticut Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20036
\body
Gentlemen:
I have just received your invoice, number V81080, which was routed to me from
Stanford University's accounting office, for some publications that I never
intended to order. Fortunately, I have no authority to authorize purchases
for Stanford and your letter was routed to me for clarification.
I am quite indignant about this matter, as I was fooled into initialing an
order form in the belief that you were only requesting the verification
that you had my name and address listed correctly. Your order form, as I
now see that it was so indicated at the top, is very misleading, to say
the least.
Furthermore, your action in sending you invoice directly to Stanford
University's Accounting Department, rather than to me, only confirms in my
mind that you were hoping that the invoice would be duely paid without my
being made aware of your trickery.
Please remove my name from your records as a subscriber and cancel any
records you may have that indicate me as ever having been a subscriber.
I have not reported this incident to the Better Business Bureau but I will
certainly do so if you do not inform me to the effect that you have
properly corrected your records and that you will take no further action
to collect for any literature that you may have mailed or will mail to me.
I would also strongly urge you to correct your order form so that others
will not be similarly mislead.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Explorama
701 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
\body
Dear Explorana:
I am enclosing a check for \$42 and a Explorama 1986/87 Subscription Order
Form for one Reserved Seat Series Ticket for the Redwood City Sunday
Matinee.
I am using an old 1985/1986 form, suitably marked up for 1986/1987 as I
was unable to locate a copy of the form for the 1986/1987 series.
Please note that I walk with a cane and I would prefer a seat located
toward the rear of the auditorium so that I will not have to go down any
more steps without railings that absolutely necessary.
\als
\fin
%\personal
\stanford
\address
Mr. Michael G. Harrington
Residence Life Office
Southeastern Mass.~University Dorms
N. Dartmouth, MA 02747
\body
Dear Mr.~Harrington:
Thank you for your letter of March 25th.
I am quite at loss to know what I can send you regarding the ``details''
of my checker program. The final version was written in the assembly
language for the DEC10 computer and would be quite unintelligible to anyone
not familiar with this computer and its machine code.
Also there is the matter of size.
The program consists of 4 main modules and a number of auxiliary files
that can be loaded in different combinations to conduct different
learning and playing experiments. The main part of the program contains
thousands of lines of code and it references a file of perhaps 30,000
stored moves of master play during certain kinds of learning. All of this
could be retrieved from our dump tapes, but I would have trouble
sorting it all out at this late date. If I were to return to programming
checkers, I would find it easier to start out from scratch, rather
than to try to extract anything of value from this old program.
It is, of course, relatively easy to write a playing program without
learning. I wrote such a program several years ago for a small game
playing machine that is no longer on the market. This program included
all necessary details to play at five different proficiency levels, to
accept joy-stick introduced moves, checking them for legality, and to
handle the board display, and it even played a joyful tune when it won and a dirge
when it lost. I was able to get it all into a 4k byte rom
unit. But this was also written in an assembly language, in this case an
obsolete language for an obsolete machine.
I am sorry to have to be so negative but you can see why.
\als
\fin
\parindent=0pt
\parindent 20pt
I was very disturbed, on returning from a vacation trip, to learn that you
are planning to install a palliative emergency warning systen rather
than doing something about a more effective scheme. This is all the more
distressing when one better solution has already been demonstrated to you.
Yes, I know that the Metal Strip scheme is used elsewhere but that only
means that others have adopted an ineffectual scheme rather than tackling
the real problem. An ineffectual scheme is worse than no scheme at all.
Consider a hypothetical situation, and one that is all too likely to happen:
{\parindent=35pt
\narrower
Mrs X wakes up feeling too sick to go into breakfast and so decides to get
the morning paper and come back to bed. Accordingly, she retrieves her
morning paper and in the process trips the Metal Strip.
Unfortunately, Mrs X is really unwell and so she faints on her way back to
bed, falls, and perhaps even breaks her hip. In any event, when she regains
consciousness, she is too weak to crawl to the phone. Now, I ask you, when
will she get help? Obviously it will not be until after 1:00 P.M. the next day,
some 30 hours later!
Without the confounded Strip, some of Mrs X's friends might well check up
on her but with the strip tripped they will decide the Mrs X is up and
about and so do nothing, at least not until the next day.
\smallskip}
An ineffectual scheme is worse than no scheme at all.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
The Bank of New York
UIT Unitholder Relations 9T
P.O.Box 11227
Church Street Station
New York, NY 10249
\body
Gentlemen:
I would like to take advantage of your offer to consolidate my two
accounts with Mutual Investment Trust Fund, that is, if the offer applies
to my accounts, one now paid by you and the other paid by The Chase
Manhattan Bank.
The two accounts are:
$$\vbox {\halign{\hfill#\hfill&&\quad\hfil #\hfil\cr
units& Account No.& Description& Paid by\cr
\noalign{\bigskip}
\tt 10&\tt 11232559-2& 4th California& The Bank of New York\cr
\tt 40& ? & 32nd California& The Chase Manhattan Bank\cr
}}$$
There seems to be no difference between the addresses under which
these two accounts are held except for the use of the longer Zip code,
94025-7606 in your records. The checks for both accounts bear the same
record dates and the same payable dates, although Chase Manhatten are usually
somewhat more prompt in sending the checks then The Bank of New York.
Both accounts carry my correct identification number which is 091-09-8617.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Ms. Pamela Whitney
Rasearcher, Understanding Computers
Time-Life Books Inc.
777 Duke St.
Alexandra, Virginia 22314
\body
Dear Ms. Whitney:
My first comment about the ``Understanding Computers'' manuscript has to
do with the very first page and possibly the preceding page which you did
not send me.
I am afraid that a wrong impression might be created regarding my part in
the entire University of Illinois computer project and regarding the
University's willingness to support the work. It is true that I had
trouble in getting support from the University for the purchase of a
computer. I had been able to get travel money to visit the Institute for
Advanced Studies at Princeton where John von Neumann was building a
computer and I had tried in vain to find some organization that would even
quote us a price for building us a computer similar to the one that the
group at Princeton was building. We had estimated that it would cost us
\$90,000 to build a computer on our own. For a while, the then Dean of
the graduate School had tabled a report that several of us had written and
the entire project was in limbo.
However, by the time that I proposed writing a checker program, the new
Dean of the Graduate School, Louis Ridenour, had gotten the University to
appropiate \$110,000 for the project. We had hired several new people and
I had started several graduate students on research projects toward the
development of some of the necessary computer components. This was an entirely
new field and I and my students were later to get quite a few patents on some
of the work done during this period.
It was because the early design work and this component development work
was progressing so slowly, and because the money was not lasting as long
as we had hoped, that I proposed building a small machine and of trying to
do something spectacular with it. This had little effect on the work actually
being done and there never was a `small computer that was never completed'.
Actually, my checker work took longer than I had assumed it would, since I
was new at programming, who wasn't, and since the programming had to be done
in octal without the aid of even an assembly language which had yet to be
invented. The programming job was also much more difficult than I had
anticipated and I had to modify the code each time we changed the
projected computer commands. Added to all this, I was not free to devote
much time to the task, being the director of an Electron Devices
Laboratory and deeply involved with the design and development of new
electronic and magnetic devices for use in the new computer and, of
course, carrying a full teaching load in the Electrical Engineerimg
Department.
Incidentally, I was not `newly arrived' by this time, having joined the
faculty in the summer of 1946, and I was certainly less newly arrived than
most of the members of the project, since I had had a hand in hiring most
of them.
My interest in computers deepened and I decided in 1949 to leave the
University where the computer work had to take second place to teaching
demands and go with IBM where I could work full time on computers.
The University continued to work on the design new components and circuits
for a computer. It was successful in getting outside support without the
help of my checker program, and it was able to develop and build the
computer that became known as the `Illiac' and that was the first big
computer of the `von Neumann type' to be gotten into operation in the
United States.
The insert page 2 line 7 material is essentially correct, except tha I was
born in Emporia Kansas. I never heard of ``KOMING PLACE'' (is it a real
place or is this a copy editors space holding convention or a literary
allusion that I miss). I rather doubt if your readers will be interested
in the details regarding my missed PhD. If this is to be left in, perhaps
you should insert the word `earned' in the phrase, `though he lacked the
earned PhD thet was commonplace...'. I do have an honorary ScD.
The insert Page 4, Line 6 is, I think, quite misleading. In the first
place, it gives undue prominence to Cambridge University, although the
work of Wilkes at Cambridge did rank high and I therefore went there
frequently. Actually, during a three year period when I spent roughly a
third of my time in Europe, I lectured at all of the major universities in
most of the major countries in western Europe, and at many governmental
and industrial laboratories and I was even invited to many industrial
laboratories. I lectured on Computers in general and brought to Europe
the first detailed information on IBM's first large computer, the 701,
which every one wanted to hear about during that period. I, of course,
also lectured on my checker program and this did give me entre'e to many
places.
I definitely object to the use of the expression ``valuable tips'' which
sounds like I was spying. I always made it perfectly clear that I worked
for IBM and that I was not after company secrets. Actually, most of the
worthwhile work on computers in Europe was being done at Univrsities and
it was being freely talked about. But it was one thing to hear about it
first hand and to actually see the experimental equipment, and quite
another thing to have to wait until the work was published.
I am quite at loss for the source of the statement ``but felt excluded by
what he perceived as clannishness among AI experts''. I do not remember
ever making such a statement. There may be an element of truth to this
clannishness, although I am not even sure that there is, and I was never
excluded although I may not always have been a joiner. In any event,
publishing such a statement would certainly not be conducive toward
promoting better relations. I am afraid that the part about my being sort
of a loner is certainly true, but I do not thing that anything is added to
your story by calling this fact to everyone's attention. I do feel
strongly about the damage done by exaggerated optimism but I have always
objected to this ``bane of AI's existance'' and it is not something that
`over the years' I `began to object to'. Why not say: ``Samuel has always
objected to what he labeled ...''.
Page 5 Line 3 replace `for many years' by `initially' in the corrected
text reading: ``As a result, the ability of the program was restricted,
initially, by Samuel's own limited knowledge and could play the game no
better than its creator''. Some years were involved, not many, but this
was because some year elapsed between the time I started working on the
program and the time when I could get fairly unlimited access to a 701
computer to test the program in detail, and it was not long after I really
got working with a running program that I started to add learning to the
program and so was able to greatly improve the play.
I hope that this overlong harangue will be of some help.
\als
\fin
\address
Miss Alexa Knight
The Sequoias, Portola Valley
\body
Thank you for loaning me the 1-2-3 program material.
I spent some time reading the manual. I did not touch the disks, both
because I believe that 1-2-3 will, unfortunately, be unsuited for the
Reasident's Council's needs and also because one must load a portion of
the operating system onto the disk before it is usable, just as required
by Visicalc. I was afraid that this would render the program unusable on
another computer, although I did not read the manual in enough detail to
be certain on this point. I just though it safer to do nothing.
1-2-3 is indeed considerably improved over Visicalc but in ways that
really do not make it very much more suitable for the Council's needs.
It now seems that the Council probably need some sort of data-base
program. Unfortunately, all the ones that I know anything about are much
too complicated for casual use. They are usually easy to use, once set
up, but the setting-up procedures can be quite messy.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Mr. Robert L. Hobson, Vice President
Endowment and Charitable Trust Services
Bank of America
P.O.Box 37121
San Francisco, CA 94137
\body
Dear Mr. Hobson:
I am sorry to have to bother you with the IRS matter that I called you
about this morning. It is quite possible that other contributors to the
same trust fund will have similar problems. I thought that you should know
about it.
As you suggest, I am enclosing copies of the information sent to me by the
IRS together with a copy of my letter to them.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Internal Revenue Service Center
Fresno, CA. 93888
\body
Gentlemen:
I am returning the first two pages of your letter dated 01/22/86
with an explanation of my view of the situation with respect to my 1983
tax return. I would greatly appreciate hearing from you on this matter
at your earliest convenience as I will be leaving on a trip on February 25th
and I would like to get this matter settled before I leave.
While I made some of the mistakes that you report, I believe that the major
discrepency is, if fact, due to a misreading in your office of a
Schedule K-1 (form 1041) reporting \$8613 in income that was for
the fiscal year beginning 6-01-83 and ending 5-31-84 and that was, therefore,
reportable and, in fact, was reported by me on my 1984 tax return. I am
enclosing a form from the Bank of America that supports this interpretation
for this first reporting of income from this newly established trust fund.
Apparently, this K-1 form, as submitted by the Northern California
Presbyterian Homes Inc. or by their agent, Bank of America, N.T. and S.A.
identification number 95-6785895, was mistakenly assumed by your office to
belong with my 1983 return, a natural enough mistake since a 1983 rather
than a 1984 year form was used for this reporting. The form does contain
a typed statement to the effect that the return was for the fiscal year as
noted above, but this could easily have been overlooked.
It is my hope that this matter can be settled by a phone call so that I
will be able to get a check off without further delay for the amount that
I actually owe.
I can be reached during normal working hours on (415) 497-3330 or on
(415) 723-3330, and on (415) 851-2943 at other times.
\als
\fin
\personal
\address
Professor P. Masani
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
\body
Dear Professor Masani:
I am rushing to meet your deadline with the material that only reached me
on Wednesday.
Actually, everything seems to be in very good shape. The only corrections
that I might want to make are so trivial that I am disposed to ignore
them. I really do not agree with the modern trend to use a minimum of
punctuation and I am happy to see that some badly needed commas were
actually added. These more than offset those that were removed.
So you can heave a sigh of relief and accept my portion as it now is.
\als
\annotations
enclosure: documents from your letter of June 26th.
\fin