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"Or maybe the universe is a snake eating its own tail!"

nonono, you don't understand at all. You see, the universe is like a giant loaf of bread.
http://www.amazon.com/NOVA-Universe-Michael-B-Green/dp/B0000ZG0TA/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_i/102-0161043-9516150

The inside of a modern malware system.

What's also interesting is that payload smuggling (there's a name for this in security field, but I can't recall it at the moment) was taking place in France - a couple of brother traders used to bribe telegraph operators to make "errors" in which they encoded their own messages that were essentially giving them the opportunity to do arbitrage trading between Bordeaux and Paris. When they were discovered they were exhiled from France and went to Monaco to set up the gambling business. Details on this and many more interesting things can be found in "Introduction To Financial Technology" http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Financial-Technology-Complete-Services/dp/0123704782

It is not very suprising that this system was ultimately replaced soon after electrical telegraphs had become available.

Tom Standage's book covered this quite well.

Erm, you misunderstood. You don't need a "digital" TV as in LCD or Plasma. Any old CRT will do. You'll just need a receiver that's capable of receiving digital television, since the analog one that's built into most old TVs won't work anymore. These are available in any store that sells electronics for a few bucks. Here's a cheap one from Amazon.

Is this it?

Koyaanisqatsi or at Amazon.

*You get what you pay for (Prices that are really low indicate the CD is pirated)

When I encounter a price that is REALLY low, to me it means the CD has hit the CD cutout bin, where it just so happens I bought much of my music from.

*Too good to be true (Compilation Cds that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan)
I've bought many a legit compilation CD, some good some bad.

In fact, cheap comp CDs are an excellent form of advertising. Some are designed to be silly like Grunge Lite featuring elevator versions of Nirvana, Perl Jam, and Mudhonny. "Grunge Light creates a relaxing mood, bringing sparkle and magic to your dinner parties and tranquilized moments at home" See the news on you tube.

*Suspicious Packaging (pirated products often look amateurish)
In this age of lasers and inkjet printers, home equipment can put out something pretty decent. However, to me a truly amateurish CD is one which comes from one of those record clubs, you know the type buy 12 for the price of 1, which near as I'm aware they duplicate in house which can result in amateurish results. Come to think about it, often commercial double classic rock albums, back when a release was less than 40min, look the most amateurish.

*Sold in unusual places (street corners or flee markets - legitimate producers DON'T sell CDs there)
In the late 1990s, not only did the indy record stores start to shut down, but also some seriously big names such as Tower records. Guess where legitimate albums got dumped? Not to speak of indy artists at the time.

In the 21st century I can't really imagine buying something in a store unless it's 2nd hand or a cutout bin.

*Trust your ear

As others have pointed it, it's digital. However there were issues with real pressed music with the reflective layer coming off or suffering CD rot. You would expect at the level of profit on a CD they would use the best materials and not cut corners.

But as we all know, most albums are mastered by some yahoo using pro-tools.

So my revised list

* You don't get what you pay for
* Cheep compilation CDs are a great way to expose your self to a many artists.
* Suspicious Packaging means jack squat
* Trusting your ear is pointless
* The RIAA should be investigated for anti-trust violations.

The company wants investors. In my opinion, the investors page is written in a curious way, giving the impression that some of the companies listed may not actually be investors, but associated as suppliers, or not associated at all.

Slashdot has a long history of running articles about risky or even fraudulent companies that want investments, in my opinion. I think Slashdot editors should be required to run conflict-of-interest disclaimers, to give legal assurance they were not paid to run an article.

The easiest way to make money is to steal it from investors who don't really have the capacity to understand technology. That's what happened in the year 2000 market crash. That "crash" was largely theft, and pre-planned theft, in my opinion. Others share my opinion: Blood on the Street: The Sensational Inside Story of How Wall Street Analysts Duped a Generation of Investors, an excellent book.

Here is an questionable statement from the article referenced by Slashdot:

"Unlike HD DVDs, which use blue lasers to record and read data off a reflective surface on top of a polymer substrate, Mempile's TeraDisc drives use more powerful red-laser technology to write and read."

Since red light is of a longer wavelength, it has a lower resolution. The power is not relevant. All systems use the power that is necessary to make them work.

Here is another quote that seems ignorant and crazy, or deliberately dishonest, to me:

"Over the next 10 years, both studio and consumer HD products will multiply by 10 times the current resolution."

That statement tries to invent a situation in which the "new technology" would actually be needed for other than making backups. However, even the present NTSC resolution is enough for most TV watching. It seems doubtful that displays with more resolution than HD DVD will become common.

Also, HD displays are far more expensive. Would people actually want to pay more again, for resolution that is so great they cannot see it unless they are very close to the display? I think not.

Mathematical Models: Mechanical Vibrations, Population Dynamics and Traffic Flow
Richard Haberman, Author
Prentice Hall, published 1977.

• Flow Equals Density Times Velocity
• Conservation of the Number of Cars
• Experimental Observations
• Traffic Density Waves
• After a Traffic Light Turns Green
• Wave Propagation of Auto Brake Lights
• Stationary Shock Waves
• Effect of Red LIght or an Accident

I imagine that this is meant for people who, back in the day, learnt Pine because there were no other choices available on their university computers and will just keep going with that because of inertia. People who want to change to a powerful e-mail client that doesn't require a GUI now would probably do better with something that can be used in Emacs, because then you get not only CLI-reachable e-mail but all the other powerful tools Emacs provides. I would therefore recommend O'Reilly's Learning GNU Emacs to get started with Emacs in general, and then the Gnus reader for e-mail and news.

(Any post recommending Emacs will probably be challenged by a call to use Vi, but does Vi have e-mail clients? I'm really curious to know.)

Just because you have an image of a nude child doesn't mean that the child was molested. Or are children not allowed to be photographed in the nude? Better let this guy know about that. What about the children that posted for the Cherubs in that painting?

There's a good review of the Kindle by Steve Gibson of GRC.com and Security now titled "Why and how the Kindle changes everything". One thing to note is that he believes in the success of ebooks in general which is a good thing for someone reviewing an ebook reader. He basically gives the Kindle a big thumbs up but mentions the typical issues of a first generation device.

Nobody can sell you a used e-book.
You can't sell an e-book you bought.

Beyond diminishing the value of your property (by keeping you from truly owning anything), this also means that if a publisher quits selling a particular ebook, tough luck, you have no way to get it. How much would human knowledge have withered if you could only ever get something from the original source, forever?
Books should last centuries, not merely years. Supporting this licensing idea, and losing the doctrine of first sale, is bad for human knowledge.

Kindle license: "Restrictions. You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content."

Can't readily find the same document for the Sony books, but I'm sure it's similar.

Steve Gibson of Spinrite fame, wrote ar eview of the Kindle here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3R24QH3CDS83N/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm Walt

Yes, but you are trying to say it is expensive compared to what? A red laser pointer? I hate to burst your bubble, but green lasers are much more expensive and have a totally different set of uses, one of which (sky pointing) they could have legitimately been doing and the chopper was dumb enough to fly into the bright green beam. (Hint, on a clear night, if they were continuously shining it, that beam would be rather visible from the ground or the sky.)

I really like the Sansa e280 running Rockbox. The stock Sansa firmware is gimpy and Rockbox is so easy to install and customizable. The 4GB version is the e260 which you should be able to find easily for under $100. Pros: the best sound quality I've ever heard from a portable (though you need Rockbox to get the best sound); about the same dimensions as the Nano but thicker (it feels very comfortable) and is significantly cheaper. Cons: not an iPod; scrollwheel is not touch-sensitive, but rather a piece of moving plastic (which doesn't bother me, but bothers some people); you have to use Rockbox to get better sound quality than the stock firmware.

I really like the Sansa e280 running Rockbox. The stock Sansa firmware is gimpy and Rockbox is so easy to install and customizable. The 4GB version is the e260 which you should be able to find easily for under $100. Pros: the best sound quality I've ever heard from a portable (though you need Rockbox to get the best sound); about the same dimensions as the Nano but thicker (it feels very comfortable) and is significantly cheaper. Cons: not an iPod; scrollwheel is not touch-sensitive, but rather a piece of moving plastic (which doesn't bother me, but bothers some people); you have to use Rockbox to get better sound quality than the stock firmware.

Wait till we reach the diamond age, then everything will be valued in Carbon.

I agree that ink cartridges are too expensive and that gasoline is too cheap. But comparing the two is stupid. Printer ink is a complicated formulation, is used in very small quantities, and has to be packaged in a cartridge that is not only a container, but also a print head. Gasoline is just a commodity item, except for minor variations in additives.

Next, you'll be complaining that ordinary aspirin costs $242 a pound!

Mandatory reading on this subject: How to Lie with Statistics. A must read: the author an illustrator have a combined age of 85 years!

Nobody (read, the existing big launcher establishment) really believed Phoenix, and to the extent they did, they realized it threatened their rice bowls. Phoenix saw some interest but never got sufficiently funded to build hardware.

Many of the people pushing Phoenix went on to get the SSX program started (with Jerry Pournelle and Max Hunter pitching such a program to Vice President Quayle), that got designs from McDonnell-Douglas (the Delta Clipper) and General Dynamics (the Millenium Express -- a design that I played a small part in naming). The GD design was closer to Phoenix, with an aerospike nozzle and base-first reentry. McD-D's design was chosen, with the DC-X being built as a 1/3 scale flying prototype. After a number of highly successful flights (most 'piloted' remotely by Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad) conducted by SDIO, the vehicle was turned over to NASA who managed to leave a hydraulic line to a landing strut disconnected on their first flight of it. On landing the gear collapsed, the vehicle fell over, caught fire, and was destroyed. There was no budget for repair or replacement. (The original DC-X was done on a shoestring, with avionics and engines pretty much off the shelf parts. The engines (P&W RL-10s) were modified by reducing the engine bell for operation at sea level, they were originally designed for vacuum operation).

Gary Hudson (who hadn't been part of the DC-X program) went on to found Rotan. Some ex-Rotan folks went on to create/work for XCOR Aerospace, which is doing rather well in its niche. I'm not sure what Hudson is doing currently, I've kind of lost touch with folks.

The Phoenix design itself lives on (in mutated form) in Blue Origin's New Shepard (note spelling - this is how Alan Shepard spells his name, the sheep herder is shepherd; I have no idea if this is significant). That's financed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

I've been fascinated by the design concept since I picked up a copy of Gatland & Bono's book as a teenager back in '69 or '70. I hope I live to see a version make orbit and back.

Well, not entirely. You see, if the source material contains frequencies above 22.05kHz, they will end up "aliased" onto another part of the frequency spectrum. In short, the extra high-end becomes noise. Information is lost.


Aliasing is noticable on most CD players I have tested. It is measureable and is most common in the range of 14KHZ to 22KHZ. To test it yourself, get a DDD created sweep test CD and play it. As as the sweep goes up, the diffrence frequencies come down and is plainly heard as decending tones in the sweep. It is quite visiable in a scope display. I know this from years in the consumer electronics industry. I used to sweep systems. I could not use the test CD for a pro sound studio setup due to the artifacts in playback unless the studio was for vocal range only from 100HZ to 12 KHZ. For recording brass instruments, I had to use a digital sweep source for certification other than a CD as a CD player was not up to par for pro studio work.

This is one of the best test CD's produced. It is all digital except the live samples.
http://www.amazon.com/Denon-Audio-Technical-Various-Artists/dp/B0000034ME
List all tracks to get to track 65, the sweep tone.

You can listen to the sweep signal online. The artifacts are fun in the online compression. This is one of the few test signal CD's that start at 5 HZ.

Just watch the limited bandwidth and compression eat this test signal alive online. Remember, this is a digitaly created source signal. Any dropouts and roll-off and artifacts is in the compression and playback. Check out track 65 for a 5 HZ to 22KHZ digitaly created and ruller flat in amplitude. This will acid test your equipment.

A FLAC of this CD is lossless and has the same response as the original CD.

Yeah, we have the most dysfunctional state legislature in the union. (http://www.amazon.com/Three-Men-Room-Betrayal-Statehouse/dp/1595580328)

My apartment is a few blocks from Joe Bruno's office and I stopped in to give him a piece of my mind, for all the good that will do.

That said, all you down state bastards need to do your part too. Us folks in the sticks can't do it alone. http://www.nysut.org/cps/rde/xchg/nysut/hs.xsl/contactelectedofficials.htm

There is no reason that (networks of) humans can not be 'social engineered' (in fact society is, IMHO); equally, in a network of small enough nodes that rely on each others resources, feedback must emerge if not pre-designed.

Check this out. I just bought one of these today. I told myself that I would never ever buy an MP3 player.

This one supports FLAC out of the box.

http://www.amazon.com/Cowon-I7-08RD-iAUDIO-Portable-Player/dp/B000TB0RY4

Nathan

it can't be denied that an intelligent designer could have come up with much better designs than the ones you see. Attributing evolutionary designs to an intelligent being is practically an insult when you look at some of the shoddy work evolution has come up with. Our testicles, for example, hang from our undersides dangerously exposed, just because some protein denatures at core body temperatures.

About life, well, I believe the best definition of life so far, is the replicator definition. Basically, if it replicates, it is alive. Viruses (carbon based) would, under this definition, be living creatures. And, honestly, I don't see why wouldn't they... They seem pretty alive to me.. As for computer viruses I would put them in a zombie state. This is because, although they do replicate, they basically clone themselves which is not exactly the same thing at least for life as we know it. The problem resides in the fact that carbon viruses infect other phenotypes replicating machinery with their own genotype. Computer viruses don't. The analogous thing would be, I believe, for a computer virus to somehow inject it's source code into a victim compiler and make it compile it and execute it. I don't know if there is already something like this. I remember of code injection on forms and similar attacks secure-code guys are always worried about and I wonder if it possible... Anyway I'm not a specialist, and everything I said here is from what I've learned in college and from reading... But for anyone interested I seriously recommend Richard Dawkins's books, especially The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker and The Extended Phenotype. They're written in fairly common language and, with a couple exceptions, can be easily understood by anyone minimally intelligent (I like to believe that that applies to everyone that reads /.). Well, if you're a creationist you'll probably not going to like them.. But then again, you're not minimally intelligent... For CS guys well take a course on AI and your life will change... You'll start wondering what's the point of actually program something... Why not evolve the damn thing?..

it can't be denied that an intelligent designer could have come up with much better designs than the ones you see. Attributing evolutionary designs to an intelligent being is practically an insult when you look at some of the shoddy work evolution has come up with. Our testicles, for example, hang from our undersides dangerously exposed, just because some protein denatures at core body temperatures.

About life, well, I believe the best definition of life so far, is the replicator definition. Basically, if it replicates, it is alive. Viruses (carbon based) would, under this definition, be living creatures. And, honestly, I don't see why wouldn't they... They seem pretty alive to me.. As for computer viruses I would put them in a zombie state. This is because, although they do replicate, they basically clone themselves which is not exactly the same thing at least for life as we know it. The problem resides in the fact that carbon viruses infect other phenotypes replicating machinery with their own genotype. Computer viruses don't. The analogous thing would be, I believe, for a computer virus to somehow inject it's source code into a victim compiler and make it compile it and execute it. I don't know if there is already something like this. I remember of code injection on forms and similar attacks secure-code guys are always worried about and I wonder if it possible... Anyway I'm not a specialist, and everything I said here is from what I've learned in college and from reading... But for anyone interested I seriously recommend Richard Dawkins's books, especially The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker and The Extended Phenotype. They're written in fairly common language and, with a couple exceptions, can be easily understood by anyone minimally intelligent (I like to believe that that applies to everyone that reads /.). Well, if you're a creationist you'll probably not going to like them.. But then again, you're not minimally intelligent... For CS guys well take a course on AI and your life will change... You'll start wondering what's the point of actually program something... Why not evolve the damn thing?..

it can't be denied that an intelligent designer could have come up with much better designs than the ones you see. Attributing evolutionary designs to an intelligent being is practically an insult when you look at some of the shoddy work evolution has come up with. Our testicles, for example, hang from our undersides dangerously exposed, just because some protein denatures at core body temperatures.

About life, well, I believe the best definition of life so far, is the replicator definition. Basically, if it replicates, it is alive. Viruses (carbon based) would, under this definition, be living creatures. And, honestly, I don't see why wouldn't they... They seem pretty alive to me.. As for computer viruses I would put them in a zombie state. This is because, although they do replicate, they basically clone themselves which is not exactly the same thing at least for life as we know it. The problem resides in the fact that carbon viruses infect other phenotypes replicating machinery with their own genotype. Computer viruses don't. The analogous thing would be, I believe, for a computer virus to somehow inject it's source code into a victim compiler and make it compile it and execute it. I don't know if there is already something like this. I remember of code injection on forms and similar attacks secure-code guys are always worried about and I wonder if it possible... Anyway I'm not a specialist, and everything I said here is from what I've learned in college and from reading... But for anyone interested I seriously recommend Richard Dawkins's books, especially The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker and The Extended Phenotype. They're written in fairly common language and, with a couple exceptions, can be easily understood by anyone minimally intelligent (I like to believe that that applies to everyone that reads /.). Well, if you're a creationist you'll probably not going to like them.. But then again, you're not minimally intelligent... For CS guys well take a course on AI and your life will change... You'll start wondering what's the point of actually program something... Why not evolve the damn thing?..

Peter Jackson and New Line playing nice again?!? Maybe this means that we will actually see a Blu-Ray set of LOTR at some point. They must have heard me desperately clicking the reload button with the hope that one day it would be real

If the defendant pleads a counterclaim prior to the plaintiff's motion to dismiss the complaint, the action cannot be dismissed against the defendant's objection unless the counterclaim remains pending for independent adjudication by the court. . . . As a practical matter, it is possible for a plaintiff to have its complaint dismissed, but have to defend against a counterclaim.

I swear last week I had to resort to using yum search to figure out just which k* program was a no-frills command line picture viewer because doing an ls /usr/bin/k* gave me a ton of stuff I had no clue what was for

The main problem with Linux is that many distros seem to follow the adage "choice is good, let the user choose". That is all fine and dandy, but the programs have cryptic names. It pisses me off too. However, a Linux system setup with only one application for each task and a menu that says "Office" - "Word Processor" is clear. The "real" program name needs to be hidden, of course. Of course this assumes a well setup Linux. I'm still trying to do it with my choices, but it's hard. For example Ubuntu insists on keeping Evolution. I want Thunderbird. Alas, even after removing/changing many references to Evolution, I can still launch it by clicking on the calendar. I don't want that: it's too easy for a normal user to get confused by that.

I'd love that distro creators read "The Paradox of Choice, Why more is less" by Barry Schwartz... Or at least Watch this video

That tale truly is too didactic to be true:

http://www.amazon.com/000-Marbles-Little-Something-Precious/dp/0740715534

Donald Norman observed it takes about 6 attempts for new technologies to materialize in a form that the market accepts ("The Design of Every Day Things" ). This is simply because good design is hard.

As for the many versions of ebook-readers running around the market lately, I would suggest that 1) the LCD version's don't count (non-starter as a paper replacement), and 2) there have only been two or three iterations of eInk models (e.g. numerous models from various companies, but few generations overall).

Once e-ink resolution has about doubled, I'll be moving my reading from paper to bits. The other posts about reading entire series (aka Diskworld), or textbooks, or technical books are valid and sound. Just lately, I was intrigued by a title in another article ("The Killing Star" as mentioned here in Does Active SETI Put Earth in Danger? ) and I have been unable to find one of thse "Ohhh-paper-is-the-ultimate! versions at all (or at least any price point I would pay for - the last one on Amazon I saw was a used copy for about $200 (Yeah, I wish I was kidding too.))).

Anyway...
Paper books will join pay-phones in the Obsolescence Hall Of Fame; of this I am sure.

Donald Norman observed it takes about 6 attempts for new technologies to materialize in a form that the market accepts ("The Design of Every Day Things" ). This is simply because good design is hard.

As for the many versions of ebook-readers running around the market lately, I would suggest that 1) the LCD version's don't count (non-starter as a paper replacement), and 2) there have only been two or three iterations of eInk models (e.g. numerous models from various companies, but few generations overall).

Once e-ink resolution has about doubled, I'll be moving my reading from paper to bits. The other posts about reading entire series (aka Diskworld), or textbooks, or technical books are valid and sound. Just lately, I was intrigued by a title in another article ("The Killing Star" as mentioned here in Does Active SETI Put Earth in Danger? ) and I have been unable to find one of thse "Ohhh-paper-is-the-ultimate! versions at all (or at least any price point I would pay for - the last one on Amazon I saw was a used copy for about $200 (Yeah, I wish I was kidding too.))).

Anyway...
Paper books will join pay-phones in the Obsolescence Hall Of Fame; of this I am sure.

Average price right now for a Wii is Almost 500 dollars, I live in a small town and there were 40 people waiting for 5 Wii at Gamestop yesterday. I have never seen anything like this for a game console. Half of the people waiting were over 60.

Nokia N810
and/or
ASUS Eee PC
and/or
OLPC Give One Get One

Pleo

Arduino
iPod Touch 16GB (jailbroken)
Apple Tablet (will have to wait for January. Or when hell freezes over.)

Nokia N810
and/or
ASUS Eee PC
and/or
OLPC Give One Get One

Pleo

Arduino
iPod Touch 16GB (jailbroken)
Apple Tablet (will have to wait for January. Or when hell freezes over.)

Memory Alpha is a fan site. A useful resource, to be sure (every time I google some Trek Trivia I end up there), but it doesn't serve the purpose of startrek.com, which is to help sell the franchise. Problem is, the franchise is pretty much dead, which is why startrek.com is shutting down.

I can't resist the chance for some finger pointing. The most popular pointee is Rick Bermann, who ran the franchise during its worst shark-jumping days. But the sad fact is, all that went wrong with ST originates with the same guy who started it Gene Roddenbery. He probably invented the basic concept, but beyond that there's all kinds of stuff he managed to take credit for that really belonged to other people. (If you can find the pre-Trekkie book The Making of Star Trek, you'll find it an eye-opener.) Worst of all, he consistently screwed over his writers (this recent interview with David Gerrold is revealing). When Star Trek was really good, it was mainly due to the writing. Yet Roddenberry and Bermann both made it a policy to antagonize the people who did the actual writing.

Good buy, good riddance.

Thanks for posting that. After seeing the kindle I thought that all hopes of having a nice looking, stylish e-book reader had been lost.

Okay, so let's say I drop gmail and stop using google. What about all the other products I buy that send money to China? Something like 80% of the goods in Wal-Mart are made in China. All I'm wearing from China at the second is a pair of shoes and maybe the watch (Timex, but doesn't say origin on the back). But I know that many of my clothes are made in Malaysia, the Philippines, India, etc, and I have no idea what labor or environmental practices are behind these products. Let's not even start on my computer, mp3 player, dvd player, LCD TV, and so on. Plus I spend about $230 a month on gasoline, much of which which goes to large oil companies and Wahaabi fundamentalists, neither of which embody moral values I'm happy with.

How do you go about delineating which areas of your shopping life can be seen in a moral context? I know many people who are horrified at even adult prostitution in Thailand, but sweatshop workers working 14-hr days at 13 cents a shirt doesn't cause their moral compass to even tremble. How is that? Why don't I see exposes on the people worked to death in the sugar-cane fields to get the sugar to go into my coffee, or the people killed in Guatemala by thugs financed via the bananas that go into my banana pudding? How do you choose?

Again, I'm not saying that you're wrong, and I'm not even challenging you to defend yourself. My question is largely rhetorical. I consider myself personally complicit in a very wide variety of daily atrocities. If you watch the documentary The Corporation you'll find that it is the corporte entity itself, not just Microsoft or Google (or even Haliburton) that is evil, or at best sociopathic. What's more, the moral problems are so widespread that you'd be hard pressed to live a morally uncompromised life as a modern consumer.

You could, I guess, wander off and live off the land, but I doubt many of us could manage that. The compass in my backpack is made of plastic dependent on the entire petroleum industry and all that it entails. Eyeglasses as well. My jeans, underwear, socks, and shirt could've been made in sweatshops (though I hope they weren't). My shoes--China. This whole "do no evil" thing isn't easy to live up to. I'm certainly an abject failure at it.

Actually one of the reasons Microsoft took over from IBM is that IBM was mainframe centric, and mainframes imply that users have a lack of control of their data. So ironically Microsoft was on the pro privacy side from the beginning. It reminds me of a remarkable quote from Systems Programming for Windows 95. Walter Oney describes in great detail the protection system implemented by the 80386. At the end he says "by now you must be wondering how you can subvert this stuff. It's too easy to bother. You can make a trap gate to get to ring 0, but there you'll crash and burn because you don't handle interrupts correctly. It's your personal computer after all and you're free to do this, just like you're free to run your car without oil until the engine seizes up".

The Internet put paid to that philosphy of course as Windows NT and successors got progressively hardened against malware. Even when I read it back in 1995 it seemed a bit questionable. But back then there was an assumption that the only software on peoples machines was stuff that they bought and if it made them unstable they would not buy from the same company in future. So those companies had an incentive to make it reliable.

I don't know why no one has mentioned "Mindless Eating" a book written from experiences in a US "Research Restaurant" exactly like this. Among their findings: Free wine from a bottle labelled "NEW from California!" caused people to eat more, and longer, than the same wine in a bottle labelled "NEW from South Dakota". People ate less when the Superbowl peanuts and popcorn were distributed in small bowls, versus the same quantity distributed in fewer large bowls. We are more satisfied by a small serving on a small plate, than by the same serving on a large plate. Fascinating book!

http://www.amazon.com/Mindless-Eating-More-Than-Think/dp/0553384481/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197873149&sr=8-1

Thanks for the links! That actually looks interesting. Maybe there are some possibilities after all.

I'm in Sweden, and didn't find anything in Swedish shops, and I didn't think of ordering abroad over the Web. Stupid of me. I'll look into this a bit more next time it's time for gifts. Thanks!

From the pictures I get the impression that in these kits the components are in fixed places, and you connect them with wires crisscrossing the kit. But I'm not sure because the pictures aren't very big. My childhood kit was a bit better as a teaching tool, in that for every project there was a circuit diagram on thick paper, with holes where you put fixtures for connecting the components. You fixed this paper diagram on a board, attached one fixture in each hole, and then fixed each component over its diagram symbol. Thus the circuitry looked just like the diagram.

If they had only included explanations about electronics it would have taught me quite a lot.

From this teaching viewpoint maybe this kit is better. Unfortunately it looks toyish, a silly and unimportant detail, but it can be very important for ticklish youngsters of a certain age. I wish toy manufacturers would design their stuff to look a bit more adult than their intended audience, because children will accept stuff that looks more adult than their age, but youngsters will be offended by stuff that looks more childish than their age.

Been so long that I posted here, I almost forgot that I can make real HTML links... Sorry about that.

Radio Shack
Amazon

You can still get them, though possibly not in Radio Shack stores. RatShack still sells them online (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102913) and Amazon has an even better selection (such as http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Sports-Cards-Inc-MX-906/dp/B00005K2SY/). They're also considerably more advanced then the ones that we used as kids. Unfortunately, the one big thing that hasn't changed from the older models is that the instructions still don't cover any theory on how your circuit works. Once you've built the example projects, you're pretty much on your own from there, and for most kids that means that these kits will be lost in the closet before too long...

http://www.amazon.com/Reversible-Logic-Synthesis-Anas-Al-Rabadi/dp/3540009353 (November 5, 2003)

All about what you can and can't do with quantum computing (and how to implement it)
If you don't want to wade through everything, skip to Chapter 11.

http://books.google.com/books?id=0e8LbxngITsC&pg=PA229&dq=reversible+logic+synthesis&sig=l1bT9QLXAuEkhqLlmnU8gopwndY

Though I don't have a copy of either in front of me at the moment, I believe this topic is covered in either The Electric Sky by Don Scott or The Electric Universe by Wal Thornhill and Dave Talbott. You might want to pick up a copy. Other interesting reads include Lerner's The Big Bang Never Happened, and Arp's Seeing Red. Though they're on slightly different topics.

My understanding is that there is a drift of electrons toward the sun. Yes, a drift. It doesn't take much. Electrical motion is often a very slow process (especially in "dark" currents; IE, currents not in "glow" or "arc" mode) on the order of a few centimeters per hour?

But, in the meanwhile, here are some links to a few abstracts / articles that deal with various bodies as unipolar inductors.

From links found at Plasma-Universe.com:

(Cosmic electric currents and the generalized Bennett relation)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988Ap%26SS.144...73C

(Unipolar Induction of a Magnetized Accretion Disk around a Black Hole)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AstL...29..153S

(A force - free field theory of solar flares I. Unipolar sunspots)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1981ChA%26A...5...77Y

(Electric current in a unipolar sunspot with an untwisted field)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990GeoRL..17.2273O

(Sheath-limited unipolar induction in the solar wind)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975Ap%26SS..36..177S

(Establishment of a Lunar Unipolar Generator and Associated Shock and Wake by the Solar Wind)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967Natur.216..340S

(Unipolar Induction in the Moon and a Lunar Limb Shock Mechanism)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969Moon....1....7S

(The Earth as a unipolar generator)
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0022-3727/11/5/020

(Io, a jovian unipolar inductor)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969ApJ...156...59G


I might also point out a great repository of peer-reviewed papers on various subjects related to plasma cosmology:

http://public.lanl.gov/alp/plasma/papers.html

Plasma Physics from Laboratory to Cosmos--The Life and Achievements of Hannes Alfvén
Cosmology in the Plasma Universe: An Introductory Exposition
Introduction to Plasma Astrophysics and Cosmology
Birkeland and the Electromagnetic Cosmology
The Evidence For Electrical Currents in Cosmic Plasma
The Role of Particle Be

Though I don't have a copy of either in front of me at the moment, I believe this topic is covered in either The Electric Sky by Don Scott or The Electric Universe by Wal Thornhill and Dave Talbott. You might want to pick up a copy. Other interesting reads include Lerner's The Big Bang Never Happened, and Arp's Seeing Red. Though they're on slightly different topics.

My understanding is that there is a drift of electrons toward the sun. Yes, a drift. It doesn't take much. Electrical motion is often a very slow process (especially in "dark" currents; IE, currents not in "glow" or "arc" mode) on the order of a few centimeters per hour?

But, in the meanwhile, here are some links to a few abstracts / articles that deal with various bodies as unipolar inductors.

From links found at Plasma-Universe.com:

(Cosmic electric currents and the generalized Bennett relation)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988Ap%26SS.144...73C

(Unipolar Induction of a Magnetized Accretion Disk around a Black Hole)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AstL...29..153S

(A force - free field theory of solar flares I. Unipolar sunspots)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1981ChA%26A...5...77Y

(Electric current in a unipolar sunspot with an untwisted field)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990GeoRL..17.2273O

(Sheath-limited unipolar induction in the solar wind)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975Ap%26SS..36..177S

(Establishment of a Lunar Unipolar Generator and Associated Shock and Wake by the Solar Wind)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967Natur.216..340S

(Unipolar Induction in the Moon and a Lunar Limb Shock Mechanism)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969Moon....1....7S

(The Earth as a unipolar generator)
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0022-3727/11/5/020

(Io, a jovian unipolar inductor)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969ApJ...156...59G


I might also point out a great repository of peer-reviewed papers on various subjects related to plasma cosmology:

http://public.lanl.gov/alp/plasma/papers.html

Plasma Physics from Laboratory to Cosmos--The Life and Achievements of Hannes Alfvén
Cosmology in the Plasma Universe: An Introductory Exposition
Introduction to Plasma Astrophysics and Cosmology
Birkeland and the Electromagnetic Cosmology
The Evidence For Electrical Currents in Cosmic Plasma
The Role of Particle Be

Though I don't have a copy of either in front of me at the moment, I believe this topic is covered in either The Electric Sky by Don Scott or The Electric Universe by Wal Thornhill and Dave Talbott. You might want to pick up a copy. Other interesting reads include Lerner's The Big Bang Never Happened, and Arp's Seeing Red. Though they're on slightly different topics.

My understanding is that there is a drift of electrons toward the sun. Yes, a drift. It doesn't take much. Electrical motion is often a very slow process (especially in "dark" currents; IE, currents not in "glow" or "arc" mode) on the order of a few centimeters per hour?

But, in the meanwhile, here are some links to a few abstracts / articles that deal with various bodies as unipolar inductors.

From links found at Plasma-Universe.com:

(Cosmic electric currents and the generalized Bennett relation)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988Ap%26SS.144...73C

(Unipolar Induction of a Magnetized Accretion Disk around a Black Hole)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AstL...29..153S

(A force - free field theory of solar flares I. Unipolar sunspots)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1981ChA%26A...5...77Y

(Electric current in a unipolar sunspot with an untwisted field)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990GeoRL..17.2273O

(Sheath-limited unipolar induction in the solar wind)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975Ap%26SS..36..177S

(Establishment of a Lunar Unipolar Generator and Associated Shock and Wake by the Solar Wind)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967Natur.216..340S

(Unipolar Induction in the Moon and a Lunar Limb Shock Mechanism)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969Moon....1....7S

(The Earth as a unipolar generator)
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0022-3727/11/5/020

(Io, a jovian unipolar inductor)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969ApJ...156...59G


I might also point out a great repository of peer-reviewed papers on various subjects related to plasma cosmology:

http://public.lanl.gov/alp/plasma/papers.html

Plasma Physics from Laboratory to Cosmos--The Life and Achievements of Hannes Alfvén
Cosmology in the Plasma Universe: An Introductory Exposition
Introduction to Plasma Astrophysics and Cosmology
Birkeland and the Electromagnetic Cosmology
The Evidence For Electrical Currents in Cosmic Plasma
The Role of Particle Be

Though I don't have a copy of either in front of me at the moment, I believe this topic is covered in either The Electric Sky by Don Scott or The Electric Universe by Wal Thornhill and Dave Talbott. You might want to pick up a copy. Other interesting reads include Lerner's The Big Bang Never Happened, and Arp's Seeing Red. Though they're on slightly different topics.

My understanding is that there is a drift of electrons toward the sun. Yes, a drift. It doesn't take much. Electrical motion is often a very slow process (especially in "dark" currents; IE, currents not in "glow" or "arc" mode) on the order of a few centimeters per hour?

But, in the meanwhile, here are some links to a few abstracts / articles that deal with various bodies as unipolar inductors.

From links found at Plasma-Universe.com:

(Cosmic electric currents and the generalized Bennett relation)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988Ap%26SS.144...73C

(Unipolar Induction of a Magnetized Accretion Disk around a Black Hole)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AstL...29..153S

(A force - free field theory of solar flares I. Unipolar sunspots)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1981ChA%26A...5...77Y

(Electric current in a unipolar sunspot with an untwisted field)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990GeoRL..17.2273O

(Sheath-limited unipolar induction in the solar wind)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975Ap%26SS..36..177S

(Establishment of a Lunar Unipolar Generator and Associated Shock and Wake by the Solar Wind)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967Natur.216..340S

(Unipolar Induction in the Moon and a Lunar Limb Shock Mechanism)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969Moon....1....7S

(The Earth as a unipolar generator)
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0022-3727/11/5/020

(Io, a jovian unipolar inductor)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969ApJ...156...59G


I might also point out a great repository of peer-reviewed papers on various subjects related to plasma cosmology:

http://public.lanl.gov/alp/plasma/papers.html

Plasma Physics from Laboratory to Cosmos--The Life and Achievements of Hannes Alfvén
Cosmology in the Plasma Universe: An Introductory Exposition
Introduction to Plasma Astrophysics and Cosmology
Birkeland and the Electromagnetic Cosmology
The Evidence For Electrical Currents in Cosmic Plasma
The Role of Particle Be