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The reason for that was not so the high g force. The problem was that the high g force started and stopped immediately. Modern (or better well designed) coasters are build so that the forces gradually build up and gracefully go down without aprupt changes.

That's why the loops in modern coasters are more elliptical than circular and don't have straights before and after the looping. Actually a looping in a modern roller coaster consists of two spirals (clothoids) joint together in the highest point.

Read more about the roller coaster maths/physics here (with great picutres ;-), here or here if you are interested.

Of more interest are the early BBS systems. Wonder when the first menus came along to make things easier. Another poster also mentioned something called NOTES that would be nice to take a look at.

Oh man. You just keep proving how stupid you are. I was never talking about sticker price. I have always been talking about fair market price. That is what Ebay is.

Instead of arguing with you anymore I am just going to post links to Economics sites. I have neither the time nor the energy to ague with someone who can't comprehend something this simple:

Link 1

Link 2

That first one has even a neat little graph that shows you how price goes up as supply goes down.

I leave you with this, though. Is a Babe Ruth baseball card worth a lot because of super high demand or because of super low supply.

Seriously...its been done. And Slashdot covered it.

What was the first macrovirus called? The Concept virus. I imagine thats not really a coincidence. It was proof that you can implement a fairly complex algorithm on a fairly simple system.

If viruses weren't so destructive, it'd be pretty darn impressive - and it probably is for the sociopaths who design viruses. Its like putting a 3-d rendering engine on a TI-85 calculator. As it is, I wish they'd just make the viruses and keep them to themselves as theoretical ideas except when they can serve some useful purpose.

So...how about some useful flash stuff? I'd like to see some of these fairly difficult ideas implemented in flash:
A 3-d polygon based fighting game
A C compiler (or some other high-level language compiler)
A database
An emulator of some old, archaic system

Those would be way more newsworthy than a virus, IMHO. Anybody heard of any of those in Flash?

"In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -
...

• (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;

SECTION 107: FAIR USE EXEMPTION

• Educators are allowed exemptions under the "Fair Use" doctrine, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use) and scholarly research.

NOTE: This is a controversial idea that has grown out of 200 years of court rulings in U.S. history. When Congress passed the 1976 Copyright Act, it was loathe to define FAIR USE, saying, "there is no disposition to freeze the (fair use) doctrine in the statute, especially during a period of rapid technological change." However, Congress did provide certain basic "criteria" to determine what use was "fair." The 1976 Copyright Act set forth four "provisions" by which copyrighted materials could be used in non-profit educational settings. Remember, these are guidelines only; the Copyright Act doesn't set quantitative limits on what can be copied. In determining if "fair use" has been violated, courts try to answer the following four questions, based on the four provisions of the law:

1. Is the purpose or character of use commercial or non-profit (i.e., educational)?
   
2. Is the nature of the copyrighted work creative or informational (i.e., factual)?
   
3. What is the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole? (Rule of thumb: use no more than is necessary. For small poems, perhaps the entire work; for larger works, only a small amount; but NEVER copy the "heart" or "creative essence" of a work -- that's infringement!)
   
4. What is the effect of this use on the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work? (This is the most important question of the four; did the copying or use deprive the copyright holder of a sale? Copying should not harm the commercial value of the work.)

SINGLE COPIES FOR CLASSROOM USE
Fair use guidelines allow teachers to make single copies of the following:

• A chapter from a book.
  
• An article from a periodical or newspaper.
  
• A short story, short essay, or short poem, whether or not from a collective work.
  
• A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture from a book, periodical or newspaper.
  

...
MULTIPLE COPIES FOR CLASSROOM USE
Fair use guidelines allow teachers to make multiple copies with the following limitations:

• The copying MUST be done at the initiative of the teacher (at a moment of inspiration, when it is unreasonable to get permission from the copyright owner). NOTE: If you have time to seek a publisher's reprint, or get permission, you are obligated to do so. It is only if you do NOT have time that "fair use" allows you to make copies for students.
  
• Only one copy is made for each student.
  
• No charge is made to the student except to recover the cost of copying.
  
• The copying is done for only one course.
  
• The same item is NOT reproduced from term to term.
  
• No more than one work is copied from a single author.
  
• No more than three authors are copied from a single collective work (e.g., an anthology).
  
• No more than nine instances of multiple copying occur during a single term or semester.
  
• For an article, the limit is 2,500 words.
  
• For a longer work of prose, the limit is 1,000 words, or 10% of the work, whichever is less.
  
• For a poem, the limit is 250 words.
  
• For a longer poem, an excerpt of no more than 250 words.
  
• For a chart, diagram, cartoon or picture, the limit is no more than one from a book, periodical or newspaper.
  
• "Consumable works," (e.g., workbooks and standardized tests) shall NOT be copied.

COURSEPACKS
The practice of creating "Coursepacks" of selected readings for students to use in their coursework is surrounded by controversy. It's probably an
issue that falls more properly under the category of making multiple copies. In any event, under the law, coursepacks may be:

• Limited for brevity.
  
• Limited to one semester or term.
  
• Limited to non-profit educational settings.
  
• Subject to acquisition of permissions or licensing.

OK, maybe these guys cheated, maybe they didn't, but there seems to be a pattern here--transfer out already!

Japanese companies have solved the problem of straying senior citizens -- track them by satellite. Local governments in Tokyo and Kikuchi City plan to test the device

Read about it here.

There's also a book on it Building Portable C++ Applications with YACL isbn: 0201832763

Just thought I'd throw that one into the pot too.

-C

i found these two links from the A-Infos Radio Project:

this is an MP3 interview with the Professor

and this is his essay on Nanosocialism

basically he talks about the social aspects of nanotechnology, building on some of the promise resident in the molecular and massively mirco scale.