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The US could, by legislation, prohibit U.S. companies from assisting with censorship in selected countries. There's an analogy to the Arab boycott of Israel [us-israel.org], which led to lobbying by Israel for U.S. laws prohibiting American companies from cooperating with the Arab boycott.

You are absolutely right. Legislation should quickly pass the law to cease the operation of immoral companies whom allow keylogging software from spying citizens' activities. Also, American companies should also join the boycott of the oppressive Government who creates a big database monitoring citizens' emails.

Oh wait.

My first PC was a non-portable version of the Trash 80, the Tandy Color Computer 3. The CoCo 3, as it was lovingly called came with a new fangled version of the Tandy/MS BASIC called Extended Color Basic, with advanced features such as color output, lowercase characters (WOW NOW I CAN WRITE BASIC THAT WILL OUTPUT IN LOWERCASE TOO?!?! W00T!) and a eye-killing nuclear green screen with a unique, wild cursor. Very wild layout compared with the calm CLIs of today.

I liked the dual-monitor CoCo that was linked on your page...now that's a hack. The choice of graphics chip was interesting (said by someone who has a TI-99/4A and a CoCo 2, among other machines). Who says you need new hardware to do that? :-)

only 222, sean.a.barnes@att.net? I'm surprised, I would've thought it'd be at LEAST 223!

And if you're running OS/2, you can use Cumulus with their WMR 968 Weather Station.

I submitted the original story and I really think a lot of people are missing the point. It's about risk management.

I was not comparing people's lives to a camera smart card, I was trying to get people to think about the health consequences of low-wage, badly trained employees using particle beam weapons in confined spaces, and the dangers to mail recipients from irradiated letters and denatured packages leaking toxic gases.

The economic fallout is of course tremendous as well. Fundamentally, we are talking about a terror campaign that succeeded due to a classic media panic about a rare scare.

Perhaps we need to start irradiating all paper money at points-of-sale, to prevent them carrying pathogens? Yeah, that makes sense as well. Right.

I worked in the same building for a time. The law office I worked for was on the 49th floor, at the top of the keyhole. Here's a picture of the Chase Tower (formerly known as the Texas Commerce Tower). Arguably, space at the top of the keyhole was more prestigious than the floors above, including 54, where you couldn't even see the keyhole space. Maybe that was part of their problem. Their office space wasn't cool enough.

Another point of view regarding the Ion Storm office space was written up in 1998 here.

Coincidentally, the lawyer I worked for had a thing for style and appearance. He spent too much time worrying about that and not enough about his cases. As a result he ended up losing a HUGE case, filed for bankruptcy, lost his house and his wife and Mercedes, and had to move to a low-rent district in Dallas. Lawyers seem to always land on their feet, much like cats, however, so now, 3 years later, he's doing quite well again. I wish the Ion guys the same good fortune.

I Wish I had written it. Enjoy!

As an enlightened, modern parent, I try to be as involved as possible in the lives of my six children. I encourage them to join team sports. I attend their teen parties with them to ensure no drinking or alcohol is on the premises. I keep a fatherly eye on the CDs they listen to and the shows they watch, the company they keep and the books they read. You could say I'm a model parent. My children have never failed to make me proud, and I can say without the slightest embellishment that I have the finest family in the USA.

Two years ago, my wife Carol and I decided that our children's education would not be complete without some grounding in modern computers. To this end, we bought our children a brand new Compaq to learn with. The kids had a lot of fun using the handful of application programs we'd bought, such as Adobe's Photoshop and Microsoft's Word, and my wife and I were pleased that our gift was received so well. Our son Peter was most entranced by the device, and became quite a pro at surfing the net. When Peter began to spend whole days on the machine, I became concerned, but Carol advised me to calm down, and that it was only a passing phase. I was content to bow to her experience as a mother, until our youngest daughter, Cindy, charged into the living room one night to blurt out: "Peter is a computer hacker!"

As you can imagine, I was amazed. A computer hacker in my own house! I began to monitor my son's habits, to make certain that Cindy wasn't just telling stories, as she is prone to doing at times.

After a few days of investigation, and some research into computer hacking, I confronted Peter with the evidence. I'm afraid to say, this was the only time I have ever been truly disappointed in one of my children. We raised them to be honest and to have integrity, and Peter betrayed the principles we tried to encourage in him, when he refused point blank to admit to his activities. His denials continued for hours, and in the end, I was left with no choice but to ban him from using the computer until he is old enough to be responsible for his actions.

After going through this ordeal with my own family, I was left pondering how I could best help others in similar situations. I'd gained a lot of knowledge over those few days regarding hackers. It's only right that I provide that information to other parents, in the hope that they will be able to tell if their children are being drawn into the world of hacking. Perhaps other parents will be able to steer their sons back onto the straight and narrow before extreme measures need to be employed.

To this end, I have decided to publish the top ten signs that your son is a hacker. I advise any parents to read this list carefully and if their son matches the profile, they should take action. A smart parent will first try to reason with their son, before resorting to groundings, or even spanking. I pride myself that I have never had to spank a child, and I hope this guide will help other parents to put a halt to their son's misbehaviour before a spanking becomes necessary.

1. Has your son asked you to change ISPs?

Most American families use trusted and responsible Internet Service Providers, such as AOL. These providers have a strict "No Hacking" policy, and take careful measures to ensure that your internet experience is enjoyable, educational and above all legal. If your child is becoming a hacker, one of his first steps will be to request a change to a more hacker friendly provider.

I would advise all parents to refuse this request. One of the reasons your son is interested in switching providers is to get away from AOL's child safety filter. This filter is vital to any parent who wants his son to enjoy the internet without the endangering him through exposure to "adult" content. It is best to stick with the protection AOL provides, rather than using a home-based solution. If your son is becoming a hacker, he will be able to circumvent any home-based measures with surprising ease, using information gleaned from various hacker sites.

2. Are you finding programs on your computer that you don't remember installing?

Your son will probably try to install some hacker software. He may attempt to conceal the presence of the software in some way, but you can usually find any new programs by reading through the programs listed under "Install/Remove Programs" in your control panel. Popular hacker software includes "Comet Cursor", "Bonzi Buddy" and "Flash".

The best option is to confront your son with the evidence, and force him to remove the offending programs. He will probably try to install the software again, but you will be able to tell that this is happening, if your machine offers to "download" one of the hacker applications. If this happens, it is time to give your son a stern talking to, and possibly consider punishing him with a grounding.

3. Has your child asked for new hardware?

Computer hackers are often limited by conventional computer hardware. They may request "faster" video cards, and larger hard drives, or even more memory. If your son starts requesting these devices, it is possible that he has a legitimate need. You can best ensure that you are buying legal, trustworthy hardware by only buying replacement parts from your computer's manufacturer.

If your son has requested a new "processor" from a company called "AMD", this is genuine cause for alarm. AMD is a third-world based company who make inferior, "knock-off" copies of American processor chips. They use child labor extensively in their third world sweatshops, and they deliberately disable the security features that American processor makers, such as Intel, use to prevent hacking. AMD chips are never sold in stores, and you will most likely be told that you have to order them from internet sites. Do not buy this chip! This is one request that you must refuse your son, if you are to have any hope of raising him well.

4. Does your child read hacking manuals?

If you pay close attention to your son's reading habits, as I do, you will be able to determine a great deal about his opinions and hobbies. Children are at their most impressionable in the teenage years. Any father who has had a seventeen year old daughter attempt to sneak out on a date wearing make up and perfume is well aware of the effect that improper influences can have on inexperienced minds.

There are, unfortunately, many hacking manuals available in bookshops today. A few titles to be on the lookout for are: "Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson; "Neuromancer" by William Gibson; "Programming with Perl" by Timothy O'Reilly; "Geeks" by Jon Katz; "The Hacker Crackdown" by Bruce Sterling; "Microserfs" by Douglas Coupland; "Hackers" by Steven Levy; and "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric S. Raymond.

If you find any of these hacking manuals in your child's possession, confiscate them immediately. You should also petition local booksellers to remove these titles from their shelves. You may meet with some resistance at first, but even booksellers have to bow to community pressure.

5. How much time does your child spend using the computer each day?

If your son spends more than thirty minutes each day on the computer, he may be using it to DOS other peoples sites. DOSing involves gaining access to the "command prompt" on other people's machines, and using it to tie up vital internet services. This can take up to eight hours. If your son is doing this, he is breaking the law, and you should stop him immediately. The safest policy is to limit your children's access to the computer to a maximum of forty-five minutes each day.

6. Does your son use Quake?

Quake is an online virtual reality used by hackers. It is a popular meeting place and training ground, where they discuss hacking and train in the use of various firearms. Many hackers develop anti-social tendencies due to the use of this virtual world, and it may cause erratic behaviour at home and at school.

If your son is using Quake, you should make hime understand that this is not acceptable to you. You should ensure all the firearms in your house are carefully locked away, and have trigger locks installed. You should also bring your concerns to the attention of his school.

7. Is your son becoming argumentative and surly in his social behaviour?

As a child enters the electronic world of hacking, he may become disaffected with the real world. He may lose the ability to control his actions, or judge the rightness or wrongness of a course of behaviour. This will manifest itself soonest in the way he treats others. Those whom he disagrees with will be met with scorn, bitterness, and even foul language. He may utter threats of violence of a real or electronic nature.

Even when confronted, your son will probably find it difficult to talk about this problem to you. He will probably claim that there is no problem, and that you are imagining things. He may tell you that it is you who has the problem, and you should "back off" and "stop smothering him." Do not allow yourself to be deceived. You are the only chance your son has, even if he doesn't understand the situation he is in. Keep trying to get through to him, no matter how much he retreats into himself.

8. Is your son obsessed with "Lunix"?

BSD, Lunix, Debian and Mandrake are all versions of an illegal hacker operation system, invented by a Soviet computer hacker named Linyos Torovoltos, before the Russians lost the Cold War. It is based on a program called "xenix", which was written by Microsoft for the US government. These programs are used by hackers to break into other people's computer systems to steal credit card numbers. They may also be used to break into people's stereos to steal their music, using the "mp3" program. Torovoltos is a notorious hacker, responsible for writing many hacker programs, such as "telnet", which is used by hackers to connect to machines on the internet without using a telephone.

Your son may try to install "lunix" on your hard drive. If he is careful, you may not notice its presence, however, lunix is a capricious beast, and if handled incorrectly, your son may damage your computer, and even break it completely by deleting Windows, at which point you will have to have your computer repaired by a professional.

If you see the word "LILO" during your windows startup (just after you turn the machine on), your son has installed lunix. In order to get rid of it, you will have to send your computer back to the manufacturer, and have them fit a new hard drive. Lunix is extremely dangerous software, and cannot be removed without destroying part of your hard disk surface.

9. Has your son radically changed his appearance?

If your son has undergone a sudden change in his style of dress, you may have a hacker on your hands. Hackers tend to dress in bright, day-glo colors. They may wear baggy pants, bright colored shirts and spiky hair dyed in bright colors to match their clothes. They may take to carrying "glow-sticks" and some wear pacifiers around their necks. (I have no idea why they do this) There are many such hackers in schools today, and your son may have started to associate with them. If you notice that your son's group of friends includes people dressed like this, it is time to think about a severe curfew, to protect him from dangerous influences.

10. Is your son struggling academically?

If your son is failing courses in school, or performing poorly on sports teams, he may be involved in a hacking group, such as the infamous "Otaku" hacker association. Excessive time spent on the computer, communicating with his fellow hackers may cause temporary damage to the eyes and brain, from the electromagnetic radiation. This will cause his marks to slip dramatically, particularly in difficult subjects such as Math, and Chemistry. In extreme cases, over-exposure to computer radiation can cause schizophrenia, meningitis and other psychological diseases. Also, the reduction in exercise may cause him to lose muscle mass, and even to start gaining weight. For the sake of your child's mental and physical health, you must put a stop to his hacking, and limit his computer time drastically.

I encourage all parents to read through this guide carefully. Your child's future may depend upon it. Hacking is an illegal and dangerous activity, that may land your child in prison, and tear your family apart. It cannot be taken too seriously.

This is probably the kind of thing you're talking about; this is definitely NOT the right size to put into a projector, but it could be adapted. The advantage of this one, being RGB as opposed to white, is that it's very easy to achieve the right color balance. The manufacturer would probably need to get a custom run of the LEDs to match the LCD wavelengths, but that wouldn't really be all that difficult... just a matter of changing the doping materials in very minor ways...

Scientists in Africa, for the betterment of the world, would best be encouraged to leave. Their talents would be better spent in a country that can use those talents -- a country like the USA.

The following are the average IQ's of the polulations of sub-Saharan African nations. The upper limit for mental retardation is IQ 85. Every sub-Saharan African nation's population has an average IQ below this threshold:

Zambia 77
Congo (Brazz)73
Uganda 73
Jamaica 72
Kenya 72
South Africa 72
Sudan 72
Tanzania 72
Ghana 71
Nigeria 67
Guinea 66
Zimbabwe 66
Congo (Zaire)65
Sierra Leone 64
Ethiopia 63
Equat. Guinea59

These are not developing nations. They are incapable of developing. These nations can contribute nothing to the information economy and those few talented individuals who live in them would be helping themselves and the world if they would leave for a nation with a modern infrastructure that can support the kind of work they are capable of.

-nukebuddy

Dave Bowman wrote:
Yes, thankyou, but I still don't know which measurment scale is used :) A person with an IQ of 153 on Cattel has an IQ of "only" 135 on Stanford-Binet ;) (Text repeated here because of moderation abuse. --Chris)

Cattell and Stanford-Binet are not measurement scales. IQ tests are normed to various standard deviations. The usual SD is 15 points and they all use a mean, as far as I'm aware, of 100. The Stanford-Binet is normed to an SD of 15 and the Cattell is normed to an SD of 24 (so IQ 124 on the Cattell = IQ 115 on the Stanford-Binet; both of those scores mean your raw test score is above exactly 84.13% of those of the sample population because both of these scores mean your raw score is exactly one standard deviation above the mean).

Since the table of national average IQs Richard Lynn published in his book, _IQ and the Wealth of Nations_, uses a mean of 100 points and a standard deviation of 15 points (i.e. the SD Stanford-Binet tests are normed to), the difference between the national average IQ in Belgium (100 points) and the national average IQ in Slovenia (95 points) is 1/3 standard deviation.

This means there is very little difference in numbers of average IQ (IQ 100) citizens between the two nations. The average Belgian has an IQ higher than that of 50% of the world population -- the average Slovenian has an IQ higher than that of 38% of the world population. 50% of Belgians have an IQ above the world average -- 38% of Slovenians have an IQ above the world average.

These are not important differences. The important differences lie towards the high and low scoring extremes of the populations. The most capable members of the world population are those who score 3 standard deviations (IQ 145 on the Stanford-Binet) or higher above the world mean. 0.13% of Belgian score this high or higher while only 0.05% of Slovenics score this high or higher. These highly capable Belgians outnumber their equally highly capable Slovenian compatriats (per-capita-wise) by a ratio of over 5 to 2 (a bit more than 5 highly capable Belgians for every 2 highly capable Slovenians -- if we draw equally sized random samples from the two populations).

This extreme difference in numbers of highly capable persons per equal unit of population could be an important factor in explaining the difference any differences in technological advancement between the two nations.

-nukebuddy

JavaPriest wrote:

Here in Belgium government is serious about e-government. As from next year, businesses will be able to file tax returns via the web. We already can contact government officials *and* get an answer (most of the time, anyway). A lot of official law-related stuff (including new law publishing) is done via the web. Some government contracting is done via e-commerce.

Well, it's no wonder. You Belgians have a 5 point average IQ advantage over the Slovenians. (Scroll down to see country IQ table.)

Belgian average IQ: 100
Slovenian average IQ: 95

-nukebuddy

And I've written a fairly angry analysis of what I saw there. A Few Thoughts on NASA's Problems describes some of the management (or is it manglement) problems I saw there. While I've toned it down a bit, NASA people might want to put on their asbestos underwear. Then again, independent thinkers who still manage to work in aerospace might see reflections of their own disorganizations.

Hitler took a supermajority in the 1929 plebescite. The German people voted him chancellor. The fact that he was previously appointed does not change the fact that he was democratically selected by the voting public.

Um, Hitler didn't even become Chancellor until 1933. As late as 1928, the Nazi party had only 12 seats out of about 600 in Germany's parliament; and in the 1930 elections, the Nazi party pulled in a mere 18 percent of the vote. In fact, in 1932 Hitler lost the election to Paul von Hindenburg, by a decisive 53 percent to 37 percent margin. Hitler never had enough popular support to be democratically elected Chancellor.

OSS isn't socialist at all. Socialism is a system where private property is owned by "the government" and its use is allocated by legislative decree.

*sigh* This is exactly the sort of "'red scare' propoganda" the original petitioner was talking about. You're describing Stalinism, not socialism.

OSS isn't socialist at all. Socialism is a system where private property is owned by "the government" and its use is allocated by legislative decree.

*sigh* This is exactly the sort of "'red scare' propoganda" the original petitioner was talking about. You're describing Stalinism, not socialism.

Anonymous Coward wrote:
IQ is an outdated method of determining intelligence,
IQ is a well-developed, statistical scale of wide-spectrum social-outcome prediction. It is a measurement of deviation from a given population mean according to the to the measure "g". g is the ability to educe relations and correlates. g is highly heritable. As far as non-heritable factors influencing the development of g, the most important is early-life nutrition, both pre- and post-natal. One of the least important factors (if it even has any effect at all -- this is currently still being debated) is institutionalized education.

Normally, the g mean is set to 100 and the standard deviation is set to 15. According to these settings, 68% of the given population lies within one standard deviation of the mean (between IQ 85 and IQ 115). IQ 115 means you are above 84% of the population and below the remaining 16%. IQ 85 means you are above 16% of the population and below the remaining 84%. IQ 120 means you are above 90%, IQ 126 means you are above 95%, and IQ 130 means you are above 97.7%.

and is biased towards the west,
Which explains why the top five nations on my list are Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore.

remember IQ tests were created in the USA
The first IQ test was created in France:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/1
234/binet.html

when ppl were also using shock therapy to treat schizophrenia, that puts the relevance of IQ tests in perspe
ctive huh...
Exactly. I think "huh..." is the perfect response to that statement.

there are countries that dont even recognise IQ as a measure of intelligence.
Well. That's pretty interesting.

if you had the serious impediments to education that nepalese children have, do you think you would score anything close to what you would on your IQ test?
I do. However, even for those who do not, the recommendation for eugenics is still valid. In that type of eugenics program, breeding would be restricted at the least to those families capable of providing a stimulating intellectual environment for their children. If you are arguing for lifting the most serious impediments to education, then you are arguing just as vociferously as I am for hard-line eugenics.

ever had to trek 3 days over mountains and then catch a helicopter to get to school???? (thats a true story
btw)
No. Have you ever considered that encouraging uncontrolled breeding by the mentally retarded won't necessarily put a stop to this madness?

given those figures you quoted,
These ones here?:
http://home.att.net/~eugenics/lynn.htm

the higher IQ's appear in the wealthier countries...
That is 1) an astute observation and 2) why the title of Dr. Lynn's book is _IQ and the Wealth of Nations_:
http://info.greenwood.com/books/0275975/027597510x .html

theres already a $300 US billion flow from the third world to the first each year.. by your logic we should further increase the lead of the first world at the expense of the third world? thats more flawed than the IQ tests themselves =p
Since dollars are vouchers for economic resources, and value in the economy is founded on the bedrock of a)nuclear power and b)other advanced technologies, you must mean that the U.S. is robbing the illiterate retardates of the third world of 1)their proprietary advanced nuclear power plant designs and 2)the other advanced technologies they single-handedly develop.

id feel a lot more comfortable with you espousing your elitist -BS- if it actually had some scientific basis
Prepare to get nice and comfy, then:
ht
tp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275961036/ qi d=1003792538/ref=sr_11_0_1/104-6231499-6599137

other than flimsy tests
Have you ever seen a Raven? Have you ever studied the reasoning behind its creation? See the above book for a history of the Raven. Take a test very much like a Raven, here:
http://www.queendom.com/tests/iq/culture_fair_i
q.html

which were developed by, and for, Americans
A people who collectively do relatively poorly on these tests compared to orphaned South Korean children with no exposure to U.S. culture.

in a time when people considered themselves safe under a nuclear umbrella
Isn't the average American dumb? World-class scientists must not know anything.

and sprayed DDT around like it was water.
DDT was sprayed because it was a relatively safe way to save millions of lives that would otherwise have been snuffed out by malaria.

-nukebuddy

I'd guess that we would store the bulk of the processor hardware in a pocket dimension (a la a tesseract, or a superstring dimension). Essentially the only thing you would need in the Real world would be the interface, and whatever hardware is needed to provide the dimensional interface.

Your analogy is one of the worst I have ever seen. There are more holes in it than I wish to address, but I will point out a few:

* A single person commiting an act of unprovoked violence is not comparable to a complex political situation that sometimes involves violence.

* The US is the puncher, not the receiver of the punch. Our cold war and oil interests cause us to meddle in the affairs of almost every country in the middle east. We aided Osama Bin Laden and put the Taliban into power. They used to be called "freedom fighters" in the past. Our sanctions in Iraq have caused the deaths of over 500,000 CHILDREN. We sponsored and trained terrorists in Nicaragua that resulted in over 30,000 civilian deaths. The list goes on. Now who is the aggressor here?

* A true pacifist is willing to die before hitting back. If someone thinks violence is evil, how can you combat evil with violence?

* And why would anyone take advice and learn lessons from an asshole who punches peaceful people in the face?

Turn your radio dial away from Rush Limbaugh and start finding out the true story, instead of knee-jerking off.

Apparantly AT&T:

traceroute to www.mpaa.com (216.217.160.183), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 207.149.244.1 (207.149.244.1) 17.148 ms 33.000 ms 15.192 ms
2 router.inetarena.com (206.129.216.3) 33.016 ms 15.767 ms 56.093 ms
3 at-1-2-317.ussttl3-j20c.savvis.net (64.242.127.97) 21.450 ms 20.780 ms 34.566 ms 4 500.POS2-0.GW10.SEA1.ALTER.NET (157.130.191.61) 24.304 ms 20.673 ms 43.967 ms
5 122.ATM3-0.XR2.SEA1.ALTER.NET (152.63.105.254) 42.023 ms 31.879 ms 21.024 ms
6 194.at-0-2-0.TR2.SEA1.ALTER.NET (146.188.200.118) 28.649 ms 24.882 ms 31.065 ms
7 * 110.at-6-1-0.TR2.SAC1.ALTER.NET (146.188.140.13) 41.351 ms 50.155 ms
8 0.so-7-0-0.XR2.SAC1.ALTER.NET (152.63.3.198) 49.494 ms 35.993 ms 47.665 ms
9 0.so-0-0-0.XL2.SAC1.ALTER.NET (152.63.54.1) 35.704 ms 40.110 ms 36.923 ms
10 * 184.ATM7-0.BR4.SAC1.ALTER.NET (152.63.52.213) 42.812 ms 36.069 ms
11 204.255.168.10 (204.255.168.10) 41.345 ms 41.608 ms 41.114 ms
12 c2-pos10-0.snjsca1.home.net (24.7.76.82) 54.857 ms 44.503 ms 51.297 ms
13 c1-pos2-0.slkcut1.home.net (24.7.65.138) 96.155 ms 93.494 ms 95.119 ms
14 wbb1-pos2-0.pop1.ut.home.net (24.7.75.142) 88.055 ms * 120.956 ms
15 10.253.92.34 (10.253.92.34) 81.110 ms 81.002 ms 82.484 ms
16 attsbh.com (216.217.160.183) 81.686 ms 82.358 ms 81.374 ms

Somewhere along the line, they have to connect to the Net, just like us.

Only if you consider DSL/cable/dialup "just like" leasing a dedicated server (probably server cluster) in a massive data center.

What if a bunch of people just started accusing them of copyright infringement and getting their service cut?

1. Since their service is a decicated server, you'd be accusing them of unauthorized distribution from their server... an unlikely circumstance that's easily verified to be a false accusation.
2. MPAA members own the copyrights to nearly mainstream all movies, and they license rights to a great portion of the mainstream recorded music, so it's hard to imagine what you'd accuse them of pirating... software or books ??

From the pilot's own account of the Nagasaki bombing:

We removed our glasses after the first flash but the light still lingered on, a bluish-green light that illuminated the entire sky all around. A tremendous blast wave struck our ship and made it tremble from nose to tail. This was followed by four more blasts in rapid succession, each resounding like the boom of cannon fire hitting our plane from all directions.

If that's what a bomb at 1640 feet feels like from 30000 feet and after turning away and hauling ass out of there as fast as possible, then there's... well... to be blunt, I see no effing way a B-29 could deliver a high-altitude demonstration burst and have survived, slide rule or not.

(By way of reference, the service ceiling of a B-29 is around 33000 feet. Flying to 60000 feet simply wasn't an option with the technology at the time - and the B-29 was the only aircraft capable of lifting something as heavy as a nuke and flying it the required distance.)

War isn't pretty. War isn't supposed to be pretty. The day war becomes pretty, we've all got problems.

/me raises a glass to all veterans and all who supported them for jobs well done. Thanks.

From the pilot's own account of the Nagasaki bombing:

We removed our glasses after the first flash but the light still lingered on, a bluish-green light that illuminated the entire sky all around. A tremendous blast wave struck our ship and made it tremble from nose to tail. This was followed by four more blasts in rapid succession, each resounding like the boom of cannon fire hitting our plane from all directions.

If that's what a bomb at 1640 feet feels like from 30000 feet and after turning away and hauling ass out of there as fast as possible, then there's... well... to be blunt, I see no effing way a B-29 could deliver a high-altitude demonstration burst and have survived, slide rule or not.

(By way of reference, the service ceiling of a B-29 is around 33000 feet. Flying to 60000 feet simply wasn't an option with the technology at the time - and the B-29 was the only aircraft capable of lifting something as heavy as a nuke and flying it the required distance.)

War isn't pretty. War isn't supposed to be pretty. The day war becomes pretty, we've all got problems.

/me raises a glass to all veterans and all who supported them for jobs well done. Thanks.

Pic1
Pic2

You might say that it's not worthwhile running multiple applications at once due to the small screen. I agree that it isn't practical to run two full applications at once. But how about a spellchecker/dictionary that has a small UI running at the same time as your typical Notes application. Or a search box that looks up names and email addresses for you.

-Sean

Pic1
Pic2

You might say that it's not worthwhile running multiple applications at once due to the small screen. I agree that it isn't practical to run two full applications at once. But how about a spellchecker/dictionary that has a small UI running at the same time as your typical Notes application. Or a search box that looks up names and email addresses for you.

-Sean

"Right, because we were still recovering from the Great Depression. The DJIA did not regain its 1929 high until sometime in the 60's (I've got a chart at home, but not with me). Then, through the 70's we had stagflation, the worst possible combination in an economy, where the only options are even higher inflation, or an even worse economy."

Um... what? By the end of the war, the US was *not* recovering from the depression. Unemployment and poverty levels were not at a low. The DJIA hit nearly 700 during that peroid (the 1929 levels were, what, 140?). So, I have to ask: are you just making this up?

"Isn't more tax money the whole point of taxes? And aren't more elite a good thing? I'm confused about what you're objecting to here."

1/5th of 1% is an insignificant measure. The whole point of taxes is not about money, that's too narrow of a view. The whole point of taxes is to increase the american standard of life and safeguard for its future. By taking away 65% of upper class charitable contributions for a nominal increase in living standards is certainly *not* a good thing.

"Maybe so, but the poor have, on an inflation adjusted basis, been getting steadily richer. So, I wouldn't worry too much about whether or not the
top 1% is getting richer FASTER. Why begrudge another man his success if you are still better off than you were?"

At the end of the reagan era, the average poor family had less *non-inflation-adjusted* income than the beginning of Carter's presidency, let alone inflation-adjusted. The middle class was about equal. The big increases in standards of living for the poor and middle class came from the 40s to the 60s. They've been slowing, and in some cases, reverting, in recent years. Hardly desirable, to say the least.

"This is a lie. America is richer (yes, on a per capita basis), has higher employment, and a more economically mobile society (which is to say, those below the poverty line stay below the poverty line for a shorter period of time). If you like Europe so much, then move there and leave those of us who enjoy keeping the fruits of our labors alone"

What's a lie? Back your claim up. Here are my numbers. Where are yours?

And, don't be ridiculous. Saying "move elsewhere" is like telling a somalian to solve his hunger by going to the nearest grocery store and stocking up on food. The reason we have our current system is that it can adapt and change - taking into account the best policies that others are using, and coming up with our own new ones. It is every citizen's responsibility in this country to try to make it the best country that it can be.

And don't get into this "taxation=theivery" argument you're heading towards. You'll only shoot yourself in the foot, m'dear.

-= rei =-

My apologies. I've seen so many people quoting that "tax income doubled" argument that it gets old after a while. Additionally, your post didn't make sense with the parent, if you'll look at it - what does it matter, the percentage of tax income from a particular group, when the overall money into the government was the critical issue? Yes, the amount of people making over 500,000$ notably increased, which raised the top tax bracket - but even after this increase, they were still only 1/5th of the 1% of the population. The middle class stagnated, and the poor lost ground. Thats why overall tax increases were relatively poor - as was mentioned in the previous link, Reagan's tax gains were tied for 6th and 7th of the previous 10 presidents (statistics compiled before Clinton)

So, I completely miss the point of your showing that, by helping 1/5th of one percent of the population, giving poor overall tax returns, and hurting the majority of the rest of the population, that this was a good thing.

This link goes into more detail on the percentage breakdowns.

-= rei =-

You obviously listen to Rush Limbaugh, he's the one who publicized that faulty statistic. Here's the truth on the issue. There's some other statistics there too - they had one similar to what the US could do if it taxed like Germany there (abolising the US poverty line in addition to paying off the national debt).

-= rei =-

And here's more info with links about how raising speed limits doesn't make drivers drive faster, and most speeding deaths are due to drunk driving.

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Check out John's pages at http://home.att.net/~john1701a/. He's had a Toyota Prius since 9/09/2000, and he lives in Minnesota. How does -13F sound? http://home.att.net/~john1701a/prius/prius-album7. htm

The Prius has no starter. The 270v NiMH battery pack directly starts the engine, not the usual 12v lead-acid car battery you're thinking of. Actually, the Prius battery performs better (retains its charge better) in the winter. The car has electric heaters, besides the usual heaters that steal waste heat from the engine, so you start receiving heat the moment you turn on the car, and you don't have to wait 10min for the engine to warm up for the cabin to toasty. Your actual mileage will be a bit less in winter (like all cars suffer in winter), because the engine will need to warm up the emissions-related components (like the catalytic converter) so that the car retains its SULEV status.

Also remember, you do not charge the Prius with a plug! The car generates its own electricity from using the gas engine as a generator, and also regenerates electricity when you are coasting or braking. The Prius enjoys the slow driving brought on by traffic, lights and stop signs, and from slow-going snowy weather!

Check out John's pages at http://home.att.net/~john1701a/. He's had a Toyota Prius since 9/09/2000, and he lives in Minnesota. How does -13F sound? http://home.att.net/~john1701a/prius/prius-album7. htm

The Prius has no starter. The 270v NiMH battery pack directly starts the engine, not the usual 12v lead-acid car battery you're thinking of. Actually, the Prius battery performs better (retains its charge better) in the winter. The car has electric heaters, besides the usual heaters that steal waste heat from the engine, so you start receiving heat the moment you turn on the car, and you don't have to wait 10min for the engine to warm up for the cabin to toasty. Your actual mileage will be a bit less in winter (like all cars suffer in winter), because the engine will need to warm up the emissions-related components (like the catalytic converter) so that the car retains its SULEV status.

Also remember, you do not charge the Prius with a plug! The car generates its own electricity from using the gas engine as a generator, and also regenerates electricity when you are coasting or braking. The Prius enjoys the slow driving brought on by traffic, lights and stop signs, and from slow-going snowy weather!

You need some of these. Get a large array of true RGB LEDs and you're set. Of course the cost would probably be super expensive since I think they are still around $8/each in large volumes and you'd also have to build all the hadrware to control them.

On the same topic (LEDs) here is a site that was (to me) pretty impressive. Lots of LED info if you are into that sort of thing. And this guy also evaluates flashlight....LEDs in particular :)

Socialist, no. That's the state ownership of the means of production.

No, that's Stalinism. Socialism is the ownership of the means of production by workers. Yes, Stalin did misleadingly describe his system as "socialist" or "communist, which has, as you say, led to these terms being widely, if incorrectly, used as "free floating negative words roughly comparable to 'bad' or 'satanic'."
--
#/usr/bin/perl
require 6.0;

Socialist, no. That's the state ownership of the means of production.

No, that's Stalinism. Socialism is the ownership of the means of production by workers. Yes, Stalin did misleadingly describe his system as "socialist" or "communist, which has, as you say, led to these terms being widely, if incorrectly, used as "free floating negative words roughly comparable to 'bad' or 'satanic'."
--
#/usr/bin/perl
require 6.0;

Socialist, no. That's the state ownership of the means of production.

No, that's Stalinism. Socialism is the ownership of the means of production by workers. Yes, Stalin did misleadingly describe his system as "socialist" or "communist, which has, as you say, led to these terms being widely, if incorrectly, used as "free floating negative words roughly comparable to 'bad' or 'satanic'."
--
#/usr/bin/perl
require 6.0;

for more info

I think most ISP's (like mine) will disconnect you anyway after enough dead time - I can't think I've ever seen the connection still up in the morning.

It's not just dead time. I know that at the very least my ISP explicitly states that they will disconnect based on connection time, not on usage level, when they feel the need to disconnect people. I'd strongly recommend looking at your TOS to find out.

The family trying to live on $20,000 of taxable income per year [...] get an extra $1000.

But don't forget to factor in the inevitable cuts in government services due to the lost revenue.

It's true that when you cut taxes, the people who pay the most taxes save the most money. In what way is this bad?

Let me try an analogy: say we buy something together and split the payment 60-40. Then we get a partial refund, and I try to claim 90 percent of it, arguing that "Of course I should get more back, I paid more in the first place."

"But not that much more," you'd rightly object. And that's exactly our objection to Bush's tax cut: after everything is factored in (like the estate tax repeal that you skated around), the rich are getting back a bigger slice than they put in.

Is there any tax cut ever that you would approve of?

Hmm, how `bout a cut in the payroll tax? Funny how that never seems to get mentioned in tax-cut discussions, even though the large majority of Americans pay more in payroll tax than in income tax.

Aren't the Democrats supposed to be the party that is the friend to the poor, the party that cares?

Yes, which is why they, and I, object to the rich trying to shift more and more of the tax burden off their backs and onto the backs of the poor and middle class.

Oh, one last point: when Reagan got a tax cut passed, the economy revved up enough that tax revenues increased.

No, they didn't. Inflation-adjusted tax revenues were down for several years after Reagan's 1981 tax cut -- and that in a growing economy, when inflation-adjusted tax revenues would be expected to increase.
--
#/usr/bin/perl
require 6.0;

Saying this for the third time doesn't make it any more true. Legal precedent refers to prior decisions that fall under the realm of case law. In other words, if your ISP sues someone over a particular TOS violation and wins or loses, that decision may under certain circumstances be used as a template for subsequent decisions. Usually that entails the decision being published in a law journal of some kind. However, if your ISP *doesn't* sue someone, there is no decision, there's nothing about it in the law journal, and therefore there is no precedent. Got it?

You might want to check out this Worldnet TOS agreement, where it says, in part:

You agree that AT&T, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password, account (or any part thereof) or use of the Service, and remove and discard any Content within the Service, for any reason

Our decision not to enforce a particular provision of this Agreement does not mean that we waive the right to enforce it.

Really the whole idea is absurd on its face. If someone beats the crap out of you, they can get away with it if they can prove that you let your girlfriend get away with smacking you last week? If you get a speeding ticket, you can beat it by pointing out that the State of California has failed to fine some other speeding driver within its borders? Try that one in Traffic Court!

Simply using a public Library as an example of fair use would have made napster fall well withing legal bounds. Either the lawyers don't know, or don't care. You're welcome to take your pick.

Let's see. Napster's million-dollar legal team couldn't figure out this blindingly obvious defense, but you can, sitting in your dorm room wearing dirty tube socks. Can I pick that you are a moron?

Transmit power:

Spike: mW 0.75 mW

Bluetooth: Class 1: 1 to 100 mW
Class 2: 0.25 to 2.5 mW
Class 3: 1 mW

>Didn't some company come up with a chip that increases Bluetooth range?

The higher powered devices are supposed to be capable of up to 100 meters.

You can check to see if there are any Qualified Products in that classification.

Bill Austin
Bluetooth (tm) News and Discussion
Best Bluetooth (tm) Sites

And as a final note:

I think it looks COOL. Looking at the two picture links Picture 1 and Picture 2.... you can see that in the second one... no light is coming from the screen.


David Byrd
CEO - 21st Century Tech., Inc.
URL: http://www.nite-surfer.com

And as a final note:

I think it looks COOL. Looking at the two picture links Picture 1 and Picture 2.... you can see that in the second one... no light is coming from the screen.


David Byrd
CEO - 21st Century Tech., Inc.
URL: http://www.nite-surfer.com

ÕÕ

In my experience, unless your ISP artificially throttles back your available bandwidth, most people will find cable to be significantly faster than DSL

See this link for more details...

"What is not generally well-known is that the upstream cap can also affect the downstream speed -- if the upstream is saturated by uploading (e.g., sending a large PowerPoint file to the boss, or running a Napster or other public service), the downstream will drop to about the same speed. This is due to a weakness in the basic TCP Internet protocol, not Cable or DSL per se, and not the service provider.

Cable Internet is more vulnerable to this problem than DSL. Unlike DSL, where each subscriber has a dedicated connection to the head-end (DSLAM), the Cable Internet upstream path to the head-end (CMTS) is shared by all subscribers on a given cable segment. If that upstream gets saturated, which might be caused by only a relatively few subscribers, downstream speeds take a big drop for all subscribers on that segment."

Buy Internet? What is that?

We were giving away Internet for free by 1994. We are still doing it today.

People ask me "Why is it free?" and I tell them (really slowly) ... "Because it doesn't cost anything." (source)

• http://navasgrp.home.att.net/tech/sch-8500/
• http://www.interpug.com/npug/articles/sprint2.htm
• http://store.yahoo.com/cellularaccessorycom/datcab samsch.html

I was told once, and I now think it a lie, that GSM worked by communicating to low orbit satellites and hence was global. I don't know if that's true, but I'd hope that either sprint pcs, or GSM would be widely available over the entirety of your course.

Don't ask about the camera, I wouldn't really suggest that sony picture book. But the cam for the clie is no longer an option it seems; and things like this never seem to be real. Although the visor eye module may be what you'd want in that case.

Blue leds are generally extremely sensitive to being put in backwards. They are even sensitive to being looked at backwards.

See the blue led articles at the http://ledmuseum.home.att.net. This quote from http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ledblu2.htm is about the Radio Shack blue LED:

This LED would appreciate being fed 3.4 to 3.8 volts DC at 20 milliamps, and would thank you to the stars if you did not hook it up backwards. Like most LEDs using this new technology, connecting them backwards is very often fatal to them.

Slashdot covered this site before.

Blue leds are generally extremely sensitive to being put in backwards. They are even sensitive to being looked at backwards.

See the blue led articles at the http://ledmuseum.home.att.net. This quote from http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ledblu2.htm is about the Radio Shack blue LED:

This LED would appreciate being fed 3.4 to 3.8 volts DC at 20 milliamps, and would thank you to the stars if you did not hook it up backwards. Like most LEDs using this new technology, connecting them backwards is very often fatal to them.

Slashdot covered this site before.

I have to believe that most all of the numbers that are floating around out there are based on hypotheticals and conjecture (as well as a little hopefulness [is that a word?] to sway people into thinking that the figure has some sort of real significance).

Or maybe ma bell was telling the truth

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