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This reminds one of Arthur C Clarke's 3001 - A Space Odyssey .

He talks about large needle-like towers, extending into space.. Commander Frank Poole just takes a inertia-less space drive to wander through space..

Well we're still a 1000 years back .. but i guess we're in schedule for Arthur C's vision..

I am not named after the capital of Tasmania, nor am I named after an industrial dough mixer brand.

I am named after one of the two protagonists from The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh trilogy by Brian Daley, who died on Feb 11, 1996. He wrote the novelization of Tron. He also wrote many Han Solo novels, and Robotech novels under the pseudonym "Jack McKinney". The trilogy is a pretty decent read, it includes:
REQUIEM FOR A RULER OF WORLDS
JINX ON A TERRAN INHERITANCE
FALL OF THE WHITE SHIP AVATAR
Unfortunately I believe all three are out of print. It'd be nice if Del Rey or someone would release never-to-be-reprinted novels on the 'net under some free license :-P

Further history: Upon getting a modem in 1985 at age 11 for my Atari 8-bit, the first handle I used with any regularity was Asmodeus, then The Shadow. When I signed on to DiversiDial #6 (DDials were a 6-line 300 baud multiuser chat system run on Apple IIs with all 6 slots filled with modems! They were networked to each other like some giant realtime Fidonet!) which was "Silly Chat", I ran into "Alacrity" who was already a user (and I think another Atari user). He pretty much said that there were several other "The Shadow"s, and suggested Hobart. The name stuck.

For the record, I've also been using the nick on EFNet since 1990, and I am not the alternative-lifestyled gent from Australia. ;-)

Yea, because everyone knows that Atlas Shrugged is the greatest book ever written.
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Bush's assertion: there ought to be limits to freedom

Yes, it is bullshit, but at least my bullshit is looking outwards, towards the world as it exists (and could be), and not inwards towards some constructed fantasy called the human condition.

If anything, nihilism that has given me this outlook, for I see no intrinsic difference between Pro Wrestling and "great literature", except the scope of the portrayed conflict and the competance in the fiction's execution. Since my values are an aesthetic choice, and my reason is simply the attempt to reconcile those values (prejudices) with what I perceive, I choose the fiction that does the most to challenge my preconceptions, since that is the way things stay interesting.
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Bush's assertion: there ought to be limits to freedom

Very effective troll, mister.

For the record, they were preparing to publish GURPS Cyberpunk, a worldbook for roleplaying in the cyberpunk genre. A small part was devoted to a fictional and rather undetailed description of cracking and security. It was no more a guide to cracking than Green Eggs and Ham is a guide to cooking.

The Feds took a very brief look at it, declared it "a handbook for computer crime," and confiscated it. SJG later filed suit, accusing the government of prior restraint, among other things, and won.

Words related to the English f*ck are found in a number of Germanic languages, including Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, and (probably) German. These words all have sexual meanings as well as meanings like 'to strike' or 'to thrust'. There have been various attempts made to connect these words to words in other, more distantly related languages, but none of these attempts have been convincing, due to complicated linguistic factors beyond the scope of our discussion.

The first example of any of these words is actually in English itself, in the late fifteenth century (thus well past the Anglo-Saxon period), when f*ck appears, encyphered, in a brief English passage in a Latin satirical poem. The cypher suggests that the word was already considered taboo.

Definitely Dave Barry.

He is not exactly a geek, yet his writing is often very interesting (hilarious) to geeks. If you don't know about this, go back and read "Read This First!," (it's in the sci.electronics FAQ) his review of Independence Day (pointing out, in a humourous manner, the one part that made geeks everywhere groan loudly), "Dave Barry's Guide to Guys," and many other interesting-to-geeks writings.

He even tackled EULAs. Check out this link for a good geeky laugh.

I'm doubt Slashdot would actually hire him, though... Maybe they can, with all of that IPO money. It would definitely attract readers and he would be a good guy to have "on our side." He's made fun of M$ before, for the same reasons we tend to hate them.

Man, would that ever be cool...

You can see the effects of a 150-foot piece. It's called Meteor Crater. Crater 2.4 miles in circumference.

I agree with the previous poster. Read The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress for the classic rocks-from-space show. Follow it up with Footfall.

It's fantasy, not SF, but the Running with the Demon trilogy from Terry Brooks is excellent, and the main character/heroine is a teenaged girl. I also think it's his best series (compared to the innumerrable Shannara books and the Landover series) See the publisher's web site for the Demon trilogy for excerpts, reviews, and more info.

A wrinkle in time. by Madeleine L'Engle
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - (Note: get a copy of The AQnnotated Alice by Martin Gardner
The hobbit. by J.R.R. Tolkien
Anything by Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Alan Dean Foster, or Piers Anthony
Darkover (any of the books) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orsen Scott Card
The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis.

A decent collection of Science fiction, mostly suitable for children

Also, Please attend the Worldcon, this year it's in Chicago followed by Philadelphia, PA, then San José. We have a lot of things for you and your children.

of course, our little one is only 6 months old. Mostly he's an excuse to reread Harold and the Purple Crayon

I aplogogise for any redundancies. This list took awhile to compile and find the links, especially as the co-author was breastfeeding at the time...

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A wrinkle in time. by Madeleine L'Engle
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - (Note: get a copy of The AQnnotated Alice by Martin Gardner
The hobbit. by J.R.R. Tolkien
Anything by Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Alan Dean Foster, or Piers Anthony
Darkover (any of the books) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orsen Scott Card
The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis.

A decent collection of Science fiction, mostly suitable for children

Also, Please attend the Worldcon, this year it's in Chicago followed by Philadelphia, PA, then San José. We have a lot of things for you and your children.

of course, our little one is only 6 months old. Mostly he's an excuse to reread Harold and the Purple Crayon

I aplogogise for any redundancies. This list took awhile to compile and find the links, especially as the co-author was breastfeeding at the time...

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