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The difference is that we're more concerned about efficiency now, for a variety of reasons. And in Africa, there's not a lot of fuel lying around. In fact this is why the rocket stove was invented; so that people could make better use of available fuels so they could stop cooking their food over plastic fires and such. Where they're using solar panels, they are STILL making use of centralized energy - it goes into the construction of the panel. Where they're using wood, they'll probably try to burn it as efficiently as possible.

"Environmental groups have given this plan a lukewarm reception. They feel Australia should sign on to the Kyoto protocol first."

So Australia does something concrete, something difficult, by itself instead of signing on to a flawed international agreement with limited enforceability. And "environmental groups" are upset.

By "flawed", I think you mean "utterly worthless and retarded". Permitting developing nations to pollute out of proportion is to teach them bad habits. It's not necessary. Even using wood as a fuel you can cut your emissions (save for carbon) down to next to nothing, using the rocket stove. (Hopefully I will not murder that webserver...) You can use a modern understanding with ancient materials in order to achieve high efficiency. It is not necessary for the developing world to be the worst polluter.

Speaking of worthless and retarded, that's what banning incandescents is. If you want people to save energy, increase energy costs by increasing energy taxes. That encourages conservation and efficiency. Also, how are they dealing with the mercury content of the CFLs? CFLs must be recycled because of their heavy metals content. Incandescents only should be recycled because it is possible, and reduction of nonrecycled waste is always a good thing.

With many blogging sites, some of which are critical of corporations especailly by their employees concerning their policies. There are many instances and examples of this. Freedom of speech should be based on the Zenger Case from 1732 which you have the right to say anything as long as it is the truth.

It is interesting that the workplace considers your outside of work behavior/activities as a part of the "picture" when you get your annual review or when they decide to discipline you. In my previous job I left, my manager and I did not exactly get along to say it nicely. When it was determined who will get pay raises and who won't, I did not get one. The main reason mentioned was a I received a very big speeding ticket out of state - in Wisconsin while on vacation. The fine was more than $150. Since the company I work for is a government contractor, I was required to disclose the ticket to management. Traffic tickets have no bearing on job performance, therefore, should not be "counted". The group I left, many of the managerial people were former IBM employees.

On schools, many of them especially at the collegiate level dish out punishment for infractions outside the "school yard". Here in Colorado, if you get convicted of rioting and you go to a state supported school, you will get suspended for at least a year. This is in response to the riots in Boulder where University of Colorado is located. Another school, Southern Illinois University also applies off campus offenses towards campus punishment. The motivator of this is because of the Halloween parties in the Carbondale area has gotten out of hand such as riots. The high school I went to Indiana - BTW private started to crack down on many things after I graduated in 1985. At the time, many of the students were potheads. The school started to apply their discipline system to off campus incidents such as getting arrested for marijuana. The year after I graduated, the school got a new Dean who was previously an administrator at one of Indianapolis' inner city schools. One student got jugged (Catholic school term for after school detention) for passing the dean on the highway. The dean recognized the person and car.

This is wonderful!! There is a current trend where schools think they have authority outside of school hours/property. As a parent I feel that it is NONE of the schools buisness what my child does outside of school period. If threatening comments are made they of course have the right to call the police who DO have authority outside of school. However it is NEVER appropriate to levy a school punnishment (like detention or removal of privilages) for an activity outside school. It's just a power grab to make the administrators feel more important than they are. Worry about education and keeping kids safe while at school. Leave the parenting to me and any criminal punnishments to the police.

I'd like to get off the grid in a different way... one that still lets me use /.

I've found Yurts to be an interesting architectural endeavour, and very affordable... not to mention the interesting psychological/environmental changes that one would experience living in a round building.

In a few years I plan to take advantage of Composting toilets, solar and exercised charged deep-cycle battery power, Solar Cooking, Efficient wood cooking and heating and whatever other kinds of natural/off-grid lifestyles I can find...

Let's not forget Intel's WiMAX technologies that should let me get my /. fix out in the sticks...

Luckily I should be aquiring 5 acres of land for free or cheap in the next few years, which makes this whole thing much more feasible.

I do not really know what to exactly think about the discussion.

Then, I broke down and got a Leading Edge IBM clone in the mid-80s or so, and life got a lot more interesting.

Yeah, we really need more collaboration on the making of bonsai babies.

KFG

Depending on your fabrication skills and facilities, you might also want to look into a truss dobson (probably not necessary at 8"), or a split ring mount. The split ring mount is an equatorial mount, making it easy to add a motor to track objects against the earth's rotation. Even if you want to learn the sky for yourself (rather than use a goto system), tracking is very very useful, particularly when sharing the views with others. The split ring also avoids field-rotation at the eyepiece allowing long exposure astro-photography using film or digital cameras.

I started out with a 10" meade starfinder dob, rebuilt it as a truss scope (goto), then rebuilt it as a split ring (motorized but not goto). The Meade starfinder design is very similar to the one you referenced, and is by far the easiest to build.

Be aware that astronomy is a disease, I don't know anyone who uses a telescope regularly and only owns a single telescope.

Dean

I ain't heard it, but my guess is that the sound from this device pales in comparison to a good pipe organ. It ain't about power, it's about a very complex sound waveform that may or may not be reproducible. Go listen to a top-notch organ sometime, then tell me whether you'd be interested in hearing a digital simulation. (I don't mean to be disparaging to these guys, though--they're welcome to try.)

My first mouse was in ~1985 and was OPTICAL!It was for my PCjr and came with ColorPaint, and connected to the computer via both the proprietary LightPen port and a serial port. This complemented the PCjr's WIRELESS keyboard, all to make a package well ahead of its time.

Here's a pic.

The PCjr was the first IBM to come with a 16-color display, which Sierra used in the King's Quest games and others, with 3 channel sound, and a noise generator that Sierra used for crashing waves and running streams and could be used to generate (very remedial) speech.

As with most of you, when you turned this computer on without any disk (or PCjr cartridge) it popped into basic. ~15 years later, and I'm a professional programmer :)

Yet more PC jr links.

Lastly, if you've ever played any of Sierra's Xxxxxx-Quest games (King's Quest, Space Quest, etc)., thank the PCjr. The first, King's Quest, was designed on request from the PCjr boys to show off the machine. :)

Depends on the problem and how long it would take me to do it myself. I work 10 hours a night, four or five nights a week, having to fix my bike ends up being something of a major event I have to plan around on short notice when it happens. Back when I worked days and had weekends off, I did everything I have the tools for on my own.

So your saying that 80% of the bicyclists on the road, you know... that kind that don't have to money to pay for a Trek 800 are riding on garbage.

Round here, 80% of the bikes I see on the road are BMX types who are willing to put up with the pain and discomfort of riding a tiny-ass bike and they're willing to put some money into it. Yeah, it's the rice-rocket or lowrider factor being applied most of the time, but still, they're not on a Segway. The rest are usually Trek 800 or equivilent with various amounts of accessories on them which, other than the nearly ubiquitous headlight and rear reflector, seem to be directly proportional to the mileage one rides daily. Other than most kids who will outgrow the frame roughly around the time they trash the thing, you're just not seeing trash bikes on the roads here. It rains, for one; rainy weather is hard on bikes, especially ones that do not have at least fenders, preferably mudflaps (I need to get these, keep the road grime from washing into my bottom bracket daily).

After all, even a full suspesion, pimped out Trek Y-90 may be around the price of a used car, it still beats the TCO. Though these are even less common than the trash bikes, most people seem to shoot for the $300 to $750 range from what I've seen.

I still fail to see why people are being so defensive of trashy, shit bikes. If you put a little money out up front, you'll have an easier to maintain, longer lasting bicycle that will give you years, if not decades, of fairly reliable service.

And for the record, a Trek 800 retails for $250 for this year's model, or anywhere between $140 and $175 for last year's model depending on how late into the following year you wait, assuming they're still available. Just because it's last years model doesn't mean it sucks. Plus you have the used option: I put 6500 miles on a 1998 Trek 800 that I got in October 1997, sold it in July 1999 for $75, fairly well maintained. I needed a larger frame as I had started to outgrow that one.

You don't have to settle for a piece of crap if you're on a budget, just check the classified ads in your local bicycle newspaper (check your friendly neighborhood bike shop).

Going non-profit could keep costs down. The Eugene Free Network(EFN) is run this way, and it seems equitable and beneficial to all involved.

dominik@schnitzer.at, mozparty-at-subscribe@relax.ath.cx, dominik@schnitzer.at, david_markvica@web.de, johannes_richter@gmx.net, kairo@kairo.at, rossi@chello.at, markush@world-direct.com, cbiesinger@web.de, jenskager@gmx.net, jo-at-mt@gmx.net, johann.petrak@gmx.at, dviper01@gmx.net, simon@simonschwaighofer.net, dreckskerl@glump.at, wt-lists@trexler.at, dusty@strike.wu-wien.ac.at, kasparhauserjr@hotmail.com, b.schallar@gmx.net, mutato@libero.it, phil@goli.at, diddalick@gmx.net, studio@paw8.com, croco@utanet.at, petru@paler.net, jlemmerer@node.at, bigkub@time2change.at, patrick@seher-it.at, ronald@hartwig.at, mozilla_party@webterminate.com, stefan@kleinhans.it, horst.jens@gmx.at, jjan@gibts.net, mjahn@agency.at, gpoul@gnu.org, green@eggs.ham, gerhard.hipfinger@openforce.at, mailto:moz@moz.org>, florianweinwurm@yahoo.com, christian@precht-jensen.dk, Bill_Gates@microsoft.com, Tux_the_penguin@linux.rules.microsoft.sux.open.sou rce.is.the.way.to.go.net, domi@schnitzer.at, joe_ringmaster@gmx.at, sifu@isohypse.org, dk@perm.ru, nobandwidth@bigpond.com, nobandwidth@bigpond.com, luke@strangemonkey.com, mrundataker@optushome.com.au, mcgarry@tig.com.au, chris@think.net.au, Mathias.Burbach@Bigfoot.com, acuteparanoia@optushome.com.au, syzh401@cse.unsw.edu.au, maillist@jasonlim.com, ram@digitalmethod.org, jason@sydneypubguide.net, geek@digitalone.com.au, curious@ihug.com.au, bill@maidment.com.au, kristof@staesis.org, bill@microsoft.com, belle@netset.net.au, ksosez@softhome.net, jruderman@hmc.edu, andyed@surfmind.com, down8@yahoo.com, mozparty@sigkill.com, bulbul@ucla.edu, gavin-mozparty@doughtie.com, roger@digitalfountain.com, matt@linuxschooltorrance.com, mozparty@ventura.nu, rombouts@compuserve.com, ian@freenetproject.org, tristanreid@yahoo.com, groovefx@yahoo.com, jj@lacasabonita.com, gmoudry@hotmail.com, eyezero@yahoo.com, ian@primewave.net, jlawson7@adelphia.net, el_arturo@att.net, janie@freenetproject.org, 145371217@numenor.net, infinite_8_monkey@yahoo.com, charshman@divus.org, mozparty@shadowlurker.net, john@marinapacific.com, ilanterrell@yahoo.com, aafes@psu.edu, bustamam98@yahoo.com, mozparty@myunixbox.com, yaten@sbcglobal.net, joelinux@pacificnet.net, dgc@penguino.net, poserskater69@yahoo.com, lheartb@hotmail.com, ncmother@zimage.com, daniel@likeicare.com, digital.evil@lycos.com, cjeburke@yahoo.com, jblow@hotmail.com, zachary.anthony@verizon.net, boogah@23.org, mebelost@yahoo.com, nickkricheff@netscape.net, mikemcg@ucla.edu, gogomozilla@denofslack.net, mike@mm1.com, seanmcoleman@attbi.com, jsm@bigfoot.com, hoarycripple@crippl3.net, mozparty@nslu.x.myxomop.com, mozparty@camworld.com, mozpartyNYC@isoga.net, ccarlen@netscape.com, h@rediffmail.com, lefever@rcn.com, tedjackson@accounting.org, darren@ny.com, marlon@nyc.com, plui@hyperreal.org, dzeluff@zeluff.com, joel@natividads.com, ken@bigbadapple.com, treebeard@treebeard.net, florent@nyc.com, chad@macristy.com, spud@montelshow.com, gbman_of_gvill@yahoo.com, eam-mozparty@learningpatterns.com, pkrause@primavera.com, tossoffus@yahoo.com, ryan@pantz.com, nichomof@eecs.tulane.edu, billg@microsoft.com, DevilsRejection@msn.com, petergunn@hotmail.com, bagerj@sullcrom.com, isaac@structuredsystems.net, bobk@panix.com, ngellner@hotmail.com, luke@sigterm.org, vivake@yahoo.com, jon@mediavortex.com, groovefx@yahoo.com, brendan@sighup.net, jds@panix.com, bluerose@bluerose.com, chris@allermann.net, dimkal@yahoo.com, preppyl@yahoo.com, blujoker@blujoker.net, nowell_h@hotmail.com, aragorn@cs.stanford.edu, treed@cpr.com, brt204@nyu.edu, andreas@antonopoulos.com, dj@randomwalks.com, lists@pote.com, mike@mhudack.com, reliable57@yahoo.com, jared@geek-boy.com, ondadl@mac.com, floss@myrealbox.com, xod@thestonecutters.net, mozilla@sectae.net, tywonm@screamingmedia.com, Odin_NT@hotmail.com, crooney@panix.com, bg25222@binghamton.edu, eugenem@brainlink.com, dave@downneck.net, romspace@mac.com, sdaejo@yahoo.com, masseo1@yahoo.com, jim@fearandloathing.net, mike@mjoy.us, miles@openly.com, LuciferSD@hotmail.com, nsdilwor@intertechmedia.com, chrisdowden@yahoo.com, pgs10@columbia.edu, sbrennan@ovid.com, lthomiso@rcn.com, paralox@paralox.ath.cx, Jester_458@yahoo.com, jsadove@beltion.net, stuehmke@yahoo.com, mike@realfx.com, alex@risky-roosky.com, shava@efn.org, kra10@columbia.edu, saihung@ix.netcom.com, gropo@mac.com, scottnym@yahoo.com, shaas@vibe.com, roon_toon@hotmail.com, ajaygautam@yahoo.com, jhdaly@mindspring.com, manuel@sphinx.ms, very_itchy_rash@yahoo.com, emeldrum@drew.edu, jeld@mindless.com, as867@columbia.edu, slams@penguin.rutgers.edu, wassa@columbia.edu, tony@vegan.net, zilla@bibliotrack.com, zeno_lee@hotmail.com, fosh@fishnet.cx, linux@gpl.us, jblow@hotmail.com, dkrook@hotmail.com, ivesti@yahoo.com, arek@arekwyderka.com, bljoechang@yahoo.com, brian@tribrothers.com, sparky@marklife.org, charles@softwareprototypes.com, scottkundla@hotmail.com, ccharabaruk@meldstar.com, ian@pottinger.ca, netdemonz@yahoo.com, diatribe@mailcity.com, nick@tomkinet.com, shawnlin@yahoo.com, sculley@pathcom.com, herd.killing@rogers.com, dave@renouf.com, aliyamin@hotmail.com, aswitzer@ispgn.com, netm0nkey@ispgn.com, hyakugei@hotmail.com, geduggan.mozparty@peri.csclub.uwaterloo.ca, lwhite@darkfires.ca, jorel@the-wire.com, js@tap.net, davew@tap.net, tmh@whitefang.com, vid_mozillaparty@zooid.org, anon@foolswisdom.org, morris_mk@yahoo.ca, colinmc@idirect.com, marcus.brubaker@utoronto.ca, akish@kishcom.com, nconway@klamath.dyndns.org, jason@thegeekcave.com, rampaging_simian@hotmail.com, garret@sirsonic.com, piowie@myrealbox.com, m5m5m@yahoo.com, ivan.brovko@net-sweeper.com, returnofthedorks@hotmail.com, axxackall@yahoo.com, tednye@sympatico.ca, darren.fuller@bell.ca, jbailey@nisa.net, swangeo@yahoo.ca, Hercynium@yahoo.com, cinetron@passport.ca, jotaroh@hotmail.com, aghajani@principle.com, fzv@yahoo.com, rocketmail_com@rocketmail.com, foo@bar.com, wolfe@alt.net, drew@xyzzy.dhs.org, jimmiejaz@nixhelp.net, bofh@swma.net, nilesh_mehta@email.com, mslack@rogers.com, m-cahill@rogers.com, tworkowski@sympatico.ca, george@openlight.com, irina@openlight.com, ilia@lobsanov.com, rjs@tao.ca, paul-mp@it.ca, alvarolists@aycuens.com, xan@dimensis.com, ike@lab.org, miguel@asiinfo.net, marevalo@marevalo.net, iolalla@yahoo.com, peluz0n@justice.com, weeddeveloper@yahoo.com, alfonsobugs@terra.es, sgala@apache.org, z_gringo@hotmail.com, santiz@madritel.es, murphy@litio.net, fox@mozilla.gr.jp, party@mozilla.org.uk, danj@fledgeling.com, fun@thingy.apana.org.au, moz@the-allens.net, onelists@hotmail.com, joel@fysh.org, simon.mozilla-party-if-its-in-central-london@rumbl e.net, bigboyjim@excite.com, andrew.and.friends.iff.central.london@sent.freeser ve.co.uk, itwillbecentrallondon@mozilla.org.uk, noahsark2x2@tiscali.co.uk, mmm-central-london@smileyben.com, jonathan-for-central-london@peepo.com, dave-Party-in-Central-London@dgta.co.uk, DJGMOL@netscape.net, srick@europe.yahoo-inc.com, moz-party@zpok.demon.co.uk, moz-party-central-london@trickofthelight.org, marc@brosystems.com, party@budge.net, rillian@telus.net, uphillsurfer@hotmail.com, edward@debian.org, mozilla@robertbrook.com, reagan@technomoose.com, lew@saltbeefsandwich.co.uk, osama@afghanistan.com, barking@insaneworld.org.uk, john@billabong-media.com, leith@cs.bu.edu, mozparty@noseynick.org, jonasj@jonasj.dk, bugzilla@kenneth.dk, chr_damsgaard@hotmail.com, alring@email.com, hp.grondal@get2net.dk, martin@marquentein.dk, Lovechild@foolclan.com, Kim@schulz.dk, kl@vsen.dk, mbendix@dunghill.dk, schnitzer.at@tange.dk, tommy@svindel.net, moz10@pbb.dk, dezral@despammed.com, nick@tioka.com, ask@fujang.dk, gecko@c.dk, spam@deck.dk, bugzilla@gemal.dk, b@bogdan.dk, kenneth@gnu.org, jee@email.dk, daniel@rtfm.dk, umfalvo@yahoo.com, christian@ostenfeld.dk, xor@ivwnet.com, Jason@screaminweb.com, alex@spamcop.net, dustym@riseup.net, rmcgee1@earthlink.net, dr_zeus@hotmail.com, chris.lozano@myrealbox.com, looney_binn@yahoo(dot)com, apendell@attbi.com, dantrevino@wrevolution.org, fireball1244@mac.com, tommyo@hargray.com, natas@redtailboa.net, emmett_in_dallas@yahoo.com, razzbuten@yahoo.com, igdavis@truculent-telephone.org, foobar@null.net, bob@kludgebox.com, cgrimland@yahoo.com, ghamlett@swbell.net, bgood@inceptual.com, slot0k@pogox.org, kwhudson@netin.com, jimjamjoh@softhome.net, jimmys@utdallas.edu, charlesv@mfos.org chris@focus2.com jest6r@hotmail.com steve@ncc.com, usrg@mail.utexas.edu, steve@deltos.com, alex@avengergear.com, mkoenecke@alum.haverford.edu langley@hex.net mordred@inaugust.com swapan@yahoo.com drosoph@hotmail.com, goulash1@mac.com, ean@brainfood.com, vj@vj.com lpret42@hotmail.com bugoff@hotmail.com chad@digitaltriage.net, stewart@digitaltriage.net scottvr01@yahoo.com adam@dfwuptime.com dsaint@gnumatt.org naltrexone42@yahoo.com, webmaster@bast.net, tommyo@hargray.com, ladd@kryp.to, jtaylor5@bayou.uh.edu, jgschmitz@linuxmail.org, enslaver@enslaver.com edfierro@yahoo.com, moz@photonsphere.com, rayw@fuckmicrosoft.com, rfmobile@swbell.net, kevin@unif.com trident5@bigfoot.com Erik_Osterholm@ieee.org, tmunson@houston.rr.com, alessi_brand@hotmail.com, rballa1@lsu.edu, wasted@kewlhair.com, jofficer@martinapparatus.com, idiot@mylinuxisp.com, j0sh01@ev1.net faust@wintermarket.org bouncer@hotmonkeyporn.com tk-mozparty_@perljam.net janisch@students.zcu.cz, aha@pinknet.cz kuzi@atlas.cz scat@reboot.cz, petr@dousa.cz, ruzicka@core.cz, roman@management.cz, hojan@students.zcu.cz, tille@soti.org, cas.tuyn@hetnet.nl, aeon@pandora.be, sensi_millia2000@yahoo.com, crypto@shiftat.com, jan.fabry@vsknet.be, monkeyboy@fruru.com, adulau@foo.be, johan@linux.be, karu@pobox.com, soggie@soti.org nick@tomkinet.com, why_are_you_too_lazy_to_drive_1_hour_to_toronto@yo u_lazy.com try_grammer_class_a_while@get_a_life.com john@interlynx.ca asharp@axo.cc, unionstation@ryder.ca, prade@hotmail.com, 2600@hamilton2600.ca, chris.lozano@myrealbox.com, dantrevino@wrevolution.org, jksteinhauer@netscape.net, i_love_junk_email@yahoo.com, cmiller@surfsouth.com, jan@bestbytes.de, me@phillipoertel.com, sebastian@pixelsalon.de, ccozan@andtek.com, ben@itlib.de, martin.ament@gmx.de, pulsar@highteq.net, muid@gmx.de, cedi@zooomclan.org, soapy@soapy.ch, deep_blue_ocean@gmx.ch, stamp@zooomclan.org, hans@switzerland.com, milamber@zooomclan.org, mtettea@switzerland.com, cylander@zooomclan.org, duke@zooomclan.org, pegirun@gmx.ch, pilif@pilif.ch, mlati@yahoo.com, Mozillzooom@holophrastic.com, erichiseli@yahoo.com, la_burdet@yahoo.com, rkoerber@gmx.de, dotzmasta@hotmail.com, B.Eckstein@cli.de, rtfm@linux.de, info@phosmo.de, gz@disintegrated.de, byronbay@gmx.de, stiwi@mac.com, mage@koeln.netsurf.de, mozilla@portfolio16.de, wrede@fh-aachen.de, ilikemozilla@html.de, cloud@final-fantasy.de, sfricke@sfricke.de, info@flossbau.de, no@dom.de, julian.suschlik@gmx.net, omero@m4d.sm, lapo@lapo.it, alcor78@email.it, info@fuelcat.it, mutato@libero.it, ildella@inwind.it, a.marabini@spinthehumanfactor.com, uomoman@criticalbit.com, thefl74@netscape.net, elbardo@libero.it, clem131@libero.it, t-i-e@bigfoot.com, gng74@libero.it, moz.party.20.gnes@spamgourmet.com, ema.cerqui@libero.it, ubertob@tin.it, mozparty.20.anagoor@spamgourmet.com, gianpaolo@preciso.net, ian@deepsky.com, marco@porciletto.org, planetx2100@hotmail.com, billabong@tiscalinet.it, piofree@libero.it, skunkyboy@tiscalinet.it, vincenzo@mondopiccolo.net, macmatteo@interfree.it, contreras@jce.it, hereandnow@libero.it, pza@students.cs.mu.oz.au, caedwa@students.cs.mu.oz.au, mgi@students.cs.mu.oz.au, bah@humbug.net, mfp@cs.mu.oz.au, nospamplease@indevelopment.org, peter@simplyit.screaming,net, pmj@users.sf.net, xanni@sericyb.com.au, agh@kalcium-is.com, felicityconsult@ozemail.com.au, lucas@lucaschan.com, andrewg@nopninjas.com, andym@abnormal.com, ts@meme.com.au, jasonpell@hotmail.com, syngin@gimp.org, mhammond@skippinet.com.au, szutshi@devraj.org, rmoonen@bigpond.net.au, fawad@fawad.net, ufs@softhome.net, kotrade@yahoo.com, ben@benscorp.com, stevesmith@columbus.rr.com, kkimmelosu@yahoo.com, neal.lindsay@peaofohio.com, pat@linuxcolumbus.com, chrisbaker@iname.com, hiroki2c@yahoo.com, seth@remor.com, jsohn@columbus.rr.com, ross@nanonet.net, mark@cushman.net, swinghammer.2@osu.edu, roberto.12@osu.edu, farhat@hotmail.com, pgunn@dachte.org, jwagner@gcfn.org, bp@osc.edu, joepletch@postmark.net, dsherman@iwaynet.net, glenn@uniqsys.com, bernstein.46@osu.edu, trent_reznor@nothing.com, erikniklas@bobanddoug.com, walters@gnu.org, timo@bolverk.net, annek25@aol.com, jlamb@leader.com, bart@osc.edu, jason@mcvetta.org

I work for a freenet that's been around for quite a while. It's the Eugene Free Network and it started off back in '92-'93 as basically a single box under the stairs at clif's house. Nowadays we serve approximately 16,000 members.

A few years ago, (before I joined) the IRS came in and gave the organization a bunch of grief for providing internet access as a non-profit, basically their stand was that since EFN was providing a service (internet access) it was competing with other businesses and could not qualify as a non-profit organization regardless of whether it was a money-making operation or not. The end result was that we ended up with two organizations OPN (Oregon Public Networking) which is a 501c3 charitable organization which owns EFN (Eugene Free Community Network) which is a not-for-profit business.

OPN is involved in a variety of efforts that would interest the more public-spirited slashdot members, including internet access for the blind and disabled; hosting the local LUG and most recently an ongoing effort to encourage the local school districts to adopt the LTSP.

If you're ever in Eugene, come check us out 43 w. Broadway

dobplans

Build Your Own 4 Inch Dobsonian Telescope

Telescope Making

Dobsonian Evolution

Small Dob Web Site

I built my own Dobsonian!!

It's very interesting and enjoyable. Try it! Maybe you'll discover a comet too someday.

True, to purchase an 8 inch reflector isn't that bad anymore, but with the skill you gain from building a small telescope you would become able to build a much larger telescope affordably; to buy one, say a 20 inch, would be beyond the financial reach of most working people, but you could reasonably build one. Many people do.

The amateur telescope making mailing list will be glad to help you out. Mel Bartels has a lot of telescope making links.

A great U.S. source for recumbent trikes and other non-traditional human-powered vehicles is HumanPowered Machines in Eugene, Oregon. The Triton (US$1900), which i rode several years ago, is just a joy to ride, and as the inventor pointed out to me, "You can have five beers and get this thing home." Also note-worthy is the Long Haul, which can carry a couple hundred pounds, and is used by Pedal Express in Berkeley (and many other cities).

mahlen

A great U.S. source for recumbent trikes and other non-traditional human-powered vehicles is HumanPowered Machines in Eugene, Oregon. The Triton (US$1900), which i rode several years ago, is just a joy to ride, and as the inventor pointed out to me, "You can have five beers and get this thing home." Also note-worthy is the Long Haul, which can carry a couple hundred pounds, and is used by Pedal Express in Berkeley (and many other cities).

mahlen

A great U.S. source for recumbent trikes and other non-traditional human-powered vehicles is HumanPowered Machines in Eugene, Oregon. The Triton (US$1900), which i rode several years ago, is just a joy to ride, and as the inventor pointed out to me, "You can have five beers and get this thing home." Also note-worthy is the Long Haul, which can carry a couple hundred pounds, and is used by Pedal Express in Berkeley (and many other cities).

mahlen

We are going to start a serious war that IMHO will have very little effect on stopping future terrorism from happening again on American soil. Take out Bin Laden and who is left? Tons more...

I read an article by Tamim Ansary where he stated "I do believe that suffering and poverty are the soil in which terrorism grows. Bin Laden and his cohorts want to bait us into creating more such soil, so they and their kind can flourish."

I encourage everyone to read this essay in order to gain some perspective. We need to implement some sort of "marshall plan" to make sure we rebuild Afghanistan and replace the Taliban with a just government, much like we did with Japan in WW2. The Northern Alliance comes to mind as they have been fighting the Taliban for quite some time now. If we don't do this, we are going to create an environment where new terrorists will inevitably grow.

We cannot and should not look at this as a short term solution. We have to work with countries that may not be in our best interests financially. Kuwait made sense financially, but Afghanistan does not, however, we are now seeing the effect of such an environment. If the US government is wise, it will be working out a plan while the conflict is ensuing. We must follow through and rebuild, educate, finance, and empower the Afghan people to be more than drug dealers or victims of the Taliban oppression.

All kidding aside, you can't scorn the Betamax. It was, and arguably still is, leaps and bounds ahead of VHS.

Remember, Sony failed only because their license fees for the technology were so expensive. The reason? The MPAA sued Sony over the VCR and how it would cut into movie royalties. Sony was therefore at a disadvantage, trying to finance both their lawsuit and a possible verdict against them with the royalties on Beta VCRs.

JVC came in with VHS in 1977, which was a cheapo rip-off of Beta that was just different enough to not infringe on any of Sony's patents. The MPAA lawsuit was won by Sony, but the battle for the shelf under peoples' TV sets was won by VHS.

Betamax is simply a 1/2" version of Sony's legendary 3/4" U-Matic format. U-Matic was designed as an industrial format for TV stations and the like. To this day, if you have a 3/4" U-Matic videocassette, I'd be surprised if there are many TV stations in the world that couldn't play it.

Factoid: "Beta" means "closer" in Japanese; Beta VCRs were so-named because the video tracks laid down by the rotating head assembly were closer than those of the bigger and older U-Matic predecessor.

U-Matic was eventually replaced by Betacam, which is a Betamax VCR mechanism that runs the tape a lot faster for better picture quality. Betacam and Betacam SP have been *the format* for TV stations, ENG cameras, editing, etc. Finally, the torch has now mostly been passed to the D-Betacam, a digital version of the venerable Betacam which shares its heritage with the home Betamax and the U-Matic before.

And, of course, before those, was the Sony AV-3600 and other open-reel 1/2" VTRs. (I'm the proud owner of a 1975 AV-3600. Razor-sharp picture, though the AV-3600 was a low-end black-and-white model.)

Most importantly, though, if you're upset by the impotent plastic noises that your $200-at-Fry's VCR makes, you can take a look at how Ed Cushman watches TV. Sadly, I don't think you can rent a Quadruplex videotape at Blockbuster. (As recently as 1988, when I was in high school and volunteering at a low-budget community TV station, we had a Quad. It was loads of fun.)