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and we lost all the plans for Apollo and the Saturn 5 from what I understand,

Urban legend. http://tafkac.org/science/saturn_v_blueprints.html

They're on microfilm at the Marshall Space Flight Center

sexist assumption noted

A woman (wo'man) is a man with a womb. Mankind includes both sexes.

A lovely bit of etymology, but, alas, not quite correct. It's from wif-man, where 'wif' originally meant 'female' (the word 'wif', of course, became 'wife'). 'Man' originally had both meanings (male and female), but lost the female sense over time, hence the newer - although still pretty outdated - 'mankind' for both sexes. There's a good discussion of it here.

PS always liked that about Star Trek myself...m'am never sounds right, for some reason.

Actually, your wrong slightly. They didn't pass the law, someone tried to pass a law saying PI was 3.2 but it failed to become a law.

And interestingly, the bill didn't actually say PI was 3.2 in those bold of terms. It attempted to compare the differences between a square and a circle and explain the differences in a way that you could determine the area and value of pi which when you worked the math out, came to 3.2.

Out of idle curiosity, what would they do to people who continued to use the 3.14... value? Throw them in jail?

Actually, your wrong slightly. They didn't pass the law, someone tried to pass a law saying PI was 3.2 but it failed to become a law.

And interestingly, the bill didn't actually say PI was 3.2 in those bold of terms. It attempted to compare the differences between a square and a circle and explain the differences in a way that you could determine the area and value of pi which when you worked the math out, came to 3.2.

Actually, it was the Gulf War at the Pentagon with the 'za:
http://tafkac.org/politics/pentagon_pizza.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Texas

"The resolution did, however, include two unique provisions: first, it gave the new state of Texas the right to divide itself into as many as five states (a proposal never seriously considered). Second, Texas did not have to surrender its public lands to the federal government. Thus the only lands owned by the federal government within Texas have actually been purchased by the government, and the vast oil discoveries on state lands have provided a major revenue flow for the state universities."

-----

http://tafkac.org/politics/texas_secession_rights.html

"Texas does not have the right to secede, any more than any other state does. Which is not to say that Texas, or any other state, can't secede if it has a mind to; after all, 11 states did back in 1861. Many modern Texans have the vague idea - as did most secessionists - that because Texas entered as a former republic, it retained the right to leave the Union if it saw fit. However, no such clause appears in the congressional act authorizing Texas to join the Union. Because it was once independent, because it at one time did secede frmo the Union, and because its ideology is far different from that of the rest of the US, Texas has always clung to the idea of a guaranteed right of secession as a mark of its specialness and as a source of reassurance in case all else fails.

One privelege Texas does reserve, and a condition that appears in the resolution approving its statehood, is the option to subdivide itself into as many as four states (a total of five). But Texas is more likely to leave the Union again than to fragment its identity and its land. "

-----

http://www.texassecede.com/faq.asp

Q: Doesn't the Texas Constitution reserve the right of Texas to secede?
            A:

"No such provision is found in the current Texas Constitution[1](adopted in 1876) or the terms of annexation.[2] However, it does state (in Article 1, Section 1) that "Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States..." (note that it does not state "...subject to the President of the United States..." or "...subject to the Congress of the United States..." or "...subject to the rest of the United States...")

Neither the Texas Constitution, nor the Constitution of the united States, explicitly or implicitly disallows the secession of Texas (or any other "free and independent State") from the United States. Joining the "Union" was ever and always voluntary, rendering voluntary withdrawal an equally lawful and viable option (regardless of what any self-appointed academic, media, or government "experts"--including Abraham Lincoln himself--may have ever said)."

---------

I wonder if NorCal would consider liming the water it sends downstream to LA, hehehe. I bet SoCal would divide and then try to CONQUER (or, KONK-WAR) NorCal.... Seems the Peripheral Canal is in the news/on the talk show circuit, again...

Not a Snopes link but good enough: http://tafkac.org/faq2k/compute_86.html I'm sure there's a Snopes article on this that I'm too lazy to find. Now to put to rest this idea of "bugs" originating as actual bugs.

"If you dropped a pop bottle onto Earth from a great height, say a million miles, it would splat (air resistance excluded) at about 25,000 MPH."

Nope. The bottle has so little mass in relation to its volume that even the "air" 50 miles up would start to slow it down. This is why, for example, no matter how high you jump out of a plane, you can't fall much faster than 125 mph unless you "streamline" yourself.

The earth gets about 10 to 100 tons of material from space every day - much of this is dust that remains suspended in the upper atmosphere for years before it finally drifts down to the surface.

Dr. Drew suffered fatal injuries in the wreck. Despite the immediate attentions of the three other physicians who were with him (two of whom were substantially uninjured), and prompt attention at a nearby mixed-race (segregated) hospital, where he was attended by three other physicians, one of whom was the co-owner of the hospital, Dr. Drew died from the massive injuries. Included in the treatment was the administration of "at least one blood transfusion" - the hospital stocked both whole blood and plasma.

...

But the story lives on. A McGill University publication, the _McGill Reporter_, repeated it in its December 1981 issue. Fortunately, it brought a vigorous denial from Dr. Edward Bensley, professor emeritus of medicine at McGill, [...]. Part of the evidence that Dr. Bensley had was a copy of a letter written by Dr. Ford [another black physician who was with Dr. Drew in the accident], in which Ford tried to lay the 'bled to death' canard to rest.

...

[Dr. Ford stated that] Doctor Drew's cause of death was that of a broken neck and complete blockage of the blood flow back to the heart. Immediately following the accident in which he was half thrown out of the car, and actually crushed to death by the car as it turned over the second time, the doctors who were were able to, got out of the car quickly and came to Doctor Drew's rescue, but it was of no avail because even at that time, it was quite obvious that his chances of surviving were nil.

The size of the porn industry was totally irrelevant in the format war between VHS and Betamax because, as I said above, porn was readily produced for BOTH formats. The whole idea that it was not is an urban legend.

Please read through http://tafkac.org/products/beta_vs_vhs.html which is a thorough description of exactly what transpired.

Finally, just in case you think for some reason Sony had some kind of "standards" that didn't allow porn to be produced on betamax, I point you here as an example I found after all of 5 seconds on google: http://www.vintagesleaze.com/vids-supercharger.html

it is illegal to drive barefoot.

Alabama:
Barefoot Driving: Operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with bare feet is permitted. Exception: motorcycle rider.

Ohio:
Barefoot Driving: Operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with bare feet is permitted but not recommended.

California:
Barefoot Driving: Operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with bare feet is not prohibited.

Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming:
Barefoot Driving: Operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with bare feet is permitted."

http://tafkac.org/

This dated 1994, but the laws probably haven't changed since then.

It sounds like they speed up and slow down a lot, which may be fine on the open road but not as traffic becomes denser.

Although not quite the same pattern, in heavy traffic, you have no choice but to speed up and slow down a lot. Thus the term "stop-and-go traffic". ;-)



A minor point is that in most of the United States, at least, it is illegal to drive barefoot.

Absolutely false. Not a single US state actually has laws against driving barefoot, except Alabama and only for Motorcyclists.

Another related odd little "law" that doesn't exist, no law prevents customers (OSHA does address employees in certain environments, but not customers) from entering any place of business, including food preparation and medical-oriented establishments, barefoot. (Just to avoid the obvious "liability" response, business owners who post signs requiring footwear in their stores for "liability reasons" might be opening themselves up for "duty of care" lawsuits).

This is what I have always been told, but I just googled it to check, and it looks like it is an urban myth in terms of black-letter law. The police often consider it dangerous and may ticket you for reckless or negligent driving, which you could then dispute in court. In some states it IS illegal to ride a motorcycle barefoot. Driving barefoot is illegal in some other places, such as Hong Kong.

Like the now-legendary '640k' remark

A better description would have been the "mythical '640k' remark", because he never said it.

Nobody can ever cite a source for this alleged quote, and in the absence of such a source, you have to take his word for it. It's impossible to prove a negative; that's how urban legends start in the first place.

(If he did say it, don't you think someone would have figured out the where and when?)

Bill Gates did not say that, I wish people would stop spreading this urban legend.

http://tafkac.org/celebrities/bill.gates/gates_mem ory.html

Not sure about American law versus British or elsewhere, but there have been convictions without bodies, yes: http://www.sclomax.co.uk/glynrazzell.htm http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s18119 08.htm http://tafkac.org/legal/no_body_not_no_murder.html One of the links seems to be saying that Texas is the only state where you aboslutely have to have a body. I recall reading about a case a while back (can't find cite now, sorry) whereby there was no body but the cops found prosthetic body organ parts of some sort (heart valve? or similar) in a vat of acid. It was enough to convict the main suspect of the murder.

Just as Gates couldn't imagine what anyone would want with more memory than 640KB

Ok, just for the record, this is an urban Myth, Gates never said this...

http://tafkac.org/celebrities/bill.gates/gates_mem ory.html

I know this is SlashDot, but seriously, I can't believe people still repeat stuff like this...

In reference to your point, I agree that we should never limit our thoughts to anything ever being enough when it comes to technology, especially regarding repeating cycles of hitting the ceiling of a technology that the industry has witnessed many many times.

For people that argue we are abusing the power in computing already available to us, I suggest they look at an MMO and realize the UI and GUI potential that worlds like these could lead to with increased computing power for AI and graphics.

Key takeaway (at least according to some random internet source, ha ha):

Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, the Saturn V blueprints have not been lost. They are kept at Marshall Space Flight Center on microfilm.

The problem in re-creating the Saturn V is not finding the drawings, it is finding vendors who can supply mid-1960's vintage hardware (like guidance system components), and the fact that the launch pads and VAB have been converted to Space Shuttle use, so you have no place to launch from.

By the time you redesign to accommodate available hardware and re-modify the launch pads, you may as well have started from scratch with a clean sheet design.

How they get the coke for testing?

It's simple. Somebody whips out a twenty dollar bill out of their pocket, because ten out of eleven bills have cocaine on them.

I know you're going for a funny mod, but gates actually never said that.

The way I understood it back then was Apple used a Cray for modeling heat flow in Mac cases and then for designing those case's injection molds. The result was Apple was able to quickly test out various case designs and layouts, keep their Macs fanless for a significant cost, reliability, and noise advantage, and then expedite construction of those cases. Considering Apple then had up to 48 Mac variations out on the market at once back then they probably made good use of the Cray(s).

I remember my Mac IIci made thusly quite fondly - two easy clips on the case and a single screw held everything together, it lifted apart in neat layers. That was fantastic compared to the NEC, Zenith, Honeywell-Bull & Compaq PCs that I was working with that required prying them apart with a screwdriver inserted in just the right obscure spot, then another on the other side, pulling open the case open with a third, and invariably the sacrifice of knuckle-skin to some insanely located screw on some internal component or other.

Just for some perspective."

For some more perspective ;)

Did Gates Really Say 640K is Enough For Anyone?
Urban Legends Archive

The funny thing is that even he said, when comfronted with the quote;
"I've said some stupid things and some wrong things, but not that."

(link [2] from Wikiquote)

Leave the Kennedy family out of this.

I've been working as a substitute teacher lately, and one of the challenges its getting kids to focus on *Anything* I think you're also overestimating the usefulness/reliability of non-google teaching material. http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/liesmyteachertoldme/li esmyteacher.html http://tafkac.org/books/legends_lies.html

Yeah, Robbie...I remember when it was difficult for Bill Gates to imagine a computer program that required more than 640K of memory...

That would be funny if he actually said that but he didn't fucking say it.

Now please take your trolls somewhere else.

Gates never made that famous "640K is enough" quote. It's an urban legend.

http://tafkac.org/celebrities/bill.gates/gates_mem ory.html

Glass does not "flow" or "melt": http://tafkac.org/science/glass_flow.html

Furrfu

Betamax was limited to one hour record time, and couldn't be used to record entire moviews. Sony misunderstood how important a use that would be for the device. The myth of Betamax's superiority has to do with the area it was better at: it was able to produce a slightly better quality picture. Given how many TV sets I saw in those days where everyone looked sunburned, I think the average viewing audience just didn't notice the difference. There's more on the history of that format war here: Betamax vs. VHS

Betamax was technically far superior to the alternative

I think that is an urban legend

No, it's an amorphous solid. Furrfu!

How many times is the VHS/beta battle going to be misused as an example of better technology winning?

VHS won because it could fit a film on one tape while beta couldn't.

If pop tart sales go up, head for high ground? :-)

For some reason that statement reminded me of the theory (urban legend?) about Domino's being able to predict major events based on their pizza orders to the Pentagon and the White House.

Try Googling for some combination of "Domino's pizza pentagon desert.storm" without the quotes. Here's a sample: (emphasis mine)

Earlier this year we reported that Domino's Pizza claims it can predict when the government is about to undertake some sort of major activity based upon the increase in pizza deliveries to the Pentagon and the White House. Pizza orders increased substantially just prior to troop deployments to Grenada, Panama, and the Middle East.
According to The Washington Times of August 21, 1991, during the early hours of the abortive Kremlin coup in August, Domino's "Pizza Meter" registered 102 deliveries to the Pentagon, breaking the Gulf War record by one; the White House ordered 52 pizzas, breaking its Gulf War record by seven.
The CIA, by contrast, learned its OPSEC lesson: There were only two orders, and they were quickly cancelled.[9,10]

:-)

That's still not a link.
This is the link.

Seems a couple other people beat me to rebuking this, but I figured I'd throw another link in just in case there is any lingering doubt.

Glass is not a liquid. Glass is an amorphous solid.

However it spawned a popular story about how "Cray designs on Apple and Apple designs on Cray" (see link.)

And now for the REST of the story:

Did you know that Macintoshes are designed on PCs!? That's right--PCs running WINDOWS. You see, nobody makes software to burn eproms or design printed circuit boards that runs on MacOS, so the hardware group has a bunch of Windows PCs!.

So now you know the *rest* of the story!

However it spawned a popular story about how "Cray designs on Apple and Apple designs on Cray" (see link.)

And now for the REST of the story:

Did you know that Macintoshes are designed on PCs!? That's right--PCs running WINDOWS. You see, nobody makes software to burn eproms or design printed circuit boards that runs on MacOS, so the hardware group has a bunch of Windows PCs!.

So now you know the *rest* of the story!

Urban legend alert!

The term was actually coined by Grace Hooper:

The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found".

The closest I've been able to come is a court case--Ohio v. Carroll, in which a judge ruled that payment in pennies was an "unreasonable" tender and did not have to be accepted in payment of a debt. IANAL, so I don't know how far this extends in terms of precedent.

"Speaking of quality, you will often hear Betamax fans claiming that Beta was technically better than VHS. However, on closer inspection this turns out to be something of a myth; an advantage Beta might have had was quickly matched by VHS, and anyway was only apparent using sophisticated test equipment. In fact, independant tests of picture quality at the time actually put VHS ahead, the scores over four tests being VHS: 2, Beta: 1, No difference: 1. This urban legend probably reflects Sony's marketing rather than any actual quantifiable difference. "
-- http://www.hypernova.co.uk/total_rewind/sidebars/F _beta.htm

"In any case, for a year Sony had the VCR market to itself, selling 30,000 Betamax VCRs in the US. [2] But when JVC came out with the VHS format VCR in 1976, the stage was set for the format wars. JVC had a machine that already doubled Sony's recording time of one hour, and that difference would prove crucial."
-- http://www.tafkac.org/products/beta_vs_vhs.html

urban legend FAQ on Bill's 959

This is actually an urban legend. The QWERTY keyboard was not designed to slow down the writer.

It was however, as you say, designed to spread out the commonly used letters so that the bars wouldn't get stuck in each other. This does in fact speed up your writing as you want to alternate hands with each keystroke in order to write as quickly as possible.

People repeat it because it's humorous. It isn't things like this which have created our carefully scripted politicians, it's the ubiquitous TV cameras, the population's nearly non-existent attention span, and the combination of those which produce damning out-of-context sound bites.

What, an urban myth?

It's not just for chickens any more - 7 Hz has been urban legendised in a lot of different forms. 7 is a number that gets a lot of that, of course. It would be an interesting coincidence if the same resonance were lethal to both chickens and studio musicians.

TAFKAC has it as false, but without a full explanation. Not that it really needs one.

But hey, don't take my word for it - you can pretty easily create a 7 Hz pattern just by tapping your finger on something thumpy. If this is your last post, we'll know it really is dangerous to people. If instead you post from KFC, well, good for you. Personally I'm vegetarian so I'll hold back on risking any poultricide...just in case.

Sigh.... Another link to alt.folklore.urban FAQ coming right up...
Let's see, where did I leave it? Ah yes, right about here

That's an urban legend.

http://www.tafkac.org/misc/patent_office_ul.html