Dromes, Phones and Graphs

Early in September in this year of quadrennial madness, I had written to Dr. H.K. Wombat at his retreat in the Alpujarras in Spain for his prediction of the outcome of the Reagan-Mondale contest. Weeks elapsed without an answer, and I supposed that the worthy marsupial had either gone walkabout or was again engaged in the matters of international intrigue which had taken him to Spain in the first place

\u27Or\u27 Son Visits The Escorial

I wended my way down the walk to The Wombat\u27s winter wickiup overlooking the Wrapahammock River. It had stormed the night before and the landscape was covered with what Iranians (the whilom Persians) call barf, but when we English-speakers more sensibly refer to as snow. The Wombat\u27s chatelaine, Pocahontas-like in a feather chaplet, purringly raised the weighty woolen blanket serving as a door to admit me. Gazing on her feline svelteness and chrysoberyl eyes I reflected that my friend must be a secret Encratite or Hieracite not have married this direction descendant of the Marquis de Carabas\u27 right bower

High quality Gaussian basis sets for fourth-row atoms

Energy optimized Gaussian basis sets of triple-zeta quality for the atoms Rb-Xe have been derived. Two series of basis sets are developed: (24s 16p 10d) and (26s 16p 10d) sets which were expanded to 13d and 19p functions as the 4d and 5p shells become occupied. For the atoms lighter than Cd, the (24s 16p 10d) sets with triple-zeta valence distributions are higher in energy than the corresponding double-zeta distribution. To ensure a triple-zeta distribution and a global energy minimum, the (26s 16p 10d) sets were derived. Total atomic energies from the largest basis sets are between 198 and 284 (mu)E(sub H) above the numerical Hartree-Fock energies

Preparing NASA for the 21st Century: OCT Perspective on EDL

NASA’s Chief Technologist, within the Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT), is the principal advisor to the NASA Administrator in matters related to Agency-wide technology policy and programs and is responsible for the planning, advocacy and coordination of technology development activities within NASA to meet future mission needs. OCT works with the Mission Directorates and mission planners to infuse new technologies into future missions and with other Governmental Agencies to coordinate technology development efforts of mutual interest. In addition, OCT manages NASA’s Space Technology Program (STP), which also includes the SBIR and STTR programs. In this presentation OCT’s role within NASA; the organization of STP; and OCT’s investments in EDL will be discussed. These STP EDL related activities range from low TRL to flight demonstration, with a clear infusion path to future Agency needs

Ronald Reagan and the Fateful L

The 1980 presidential race was going to be close, they said -- too close to call. To obtain a logological view of the outcome, I paid a visit in September to my friend Dr. H. K. Wombat, an ologist in everything having to do with words and tongues. The diminutive authority received me in his study, the Marsupium, seated behind a wide desk piled high with Pauly-Wissowa, Du Cange and other arcane volumes. His tiny, sharp eyes belied the bluntness of his face. I knew that he had no mental fur except upon his chin

Medes in the Marsupium

The ancient world had to deal with its Media, that savage land whence came barbarians to ravage the neighboring empires. We, in turn, have our Media with their unstories celebrating sweat-freaks charged with carrying or propelling balls of differing sizes and shapes from an improbable point of departure to an even more improbable destination, detailing drug busts of jet-setters and car makers, and chronicling the concubinages, miscarriages, and splits of movie and TV facemakers distinguished primarily by busts of another kind. Therefore on a recent warm and oppressive afternoon in an attempt to escape for a time the attacks of the modern Medes I availed myself of a standing invitation from Dr. H.K. Wombat to visit him in his study, The marsupium, to discuss amphibologies

Ad Memoriam Demetrii

The Wombat was, I could tell, in a somber mood when he recieved me in his rural retreat in Fauquier County, Virginia. His dark clothing seemed to reflext his frame of mind; and on the Florentine credenza stood, not the colorful array of comestibles which I was wont to see there, but a large bedewed pitcher of nearly black liquid, a silver plate of black chocolate confections, and a platter, likewise argent, of delicate sandwiches of some black bread

A Comber Comes a Cropper

It was along toward the autumn of the year that I found Dr. Wombat, the learned logothere, lying reading under the spreading cover of a beech, a picnic basket at his side. Surveying his classic pose I remarked that he should be reading Virgil\u27s Eclogues

Gypsy Hobby Gry

As I dismounted from my mule in the courtyard in front of the low two-storeyed gray-stone farmhouse, the windowless door opened and out stepped a besmocked Dr. Wombat. Greeting me and my mule with equal cordiality, he ushered the latter into a spacious room on the ground floor and me to a cozy parlor on the second where Mlle, de Carabas was roasting chestnuts. Soon we were all seated before the grateful fire, drinking eggnog, and exchanging news. The masia was about twenty miles inside Spain from Port d\u27Oo

Word-Crossed Characters

It was with great anticipation that I entered Dr. H. K. Wombat\u27s study through the door held open for me by his attractive housekeeper. I found the learned marsupial seated behind his desk, a scalret beret on his head and a recent newspaper in his hand. Glancing at me, he signaled me to sit in the comfortable Louis Quinze fauteuil where he is accustomed to seat his guests. Finishing his reading, he tossed the open paper down, and as it fell open across his desk I could not help noting that the article he had been reading dealt with the status of women in Sweden