>>Unlike the more learned people here, I'm cursed with a practical nature and I tend to seek knowledge only if I have an immediate problem to solve.
>
>The curse works just fine for me. More like a benediction, as that's how I learned most of the stuff, in the years when I worked in general practice software companies and the kinds of problems I had to solve were spread from infrared to ultraviolet and beyond, all over the spectra.
>
>Back then we were under sanctions and we still managed to get a couple of books for the office - one from YAG, about CodeBook IIRC - and even that was hard to procure.
>
>OTOH, I have a folder of messages on UT with problems interesting and worthy of investigating... and it goes years back. And I never look them up - theoretical problems will be interesting, perhaps, when (if) I retire :).

Sounds familiar. Do you like to work my UT folders too?