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At first their office and server were together in a windowless closet in downtown Santa Cruz, California, just on the other side of the wall (and a short ethernet run) from Scruz.Net, the first commercial ISP in Santa Cruz.

They later expanded to about twenty-five employees and a nice office. I worked there for a time as a web programmer.

Chris and Thomas sold out to Verio. Chris' take was six million dollars. Thomas invested his share in two new dot-coms that failed, so that he wound up looking for sysadmin jobs again.

Chris did what most would say was the smart thing and retired. I didn't see him for a long time, until I came across him riding a mountain bike when I was hiking in the woods at UC Santa Cruz. I envied him for his apparently happy life.

One day, Chris was turned away from a psychiatric hospital because he was considered not sick enough to hospitalize. This is actually a very common problem - mental health is a popular victim of budget cuts, so there are never enough beds for all the potential patients.

The next day he blew his brains out.

It is thought that he was an undiagnosed manic-depressive.

As the owner of a 50-year slide rule that is still in great shape, I can say they are cool, at least. But what is even cooler (and a lot more expensive) is the Curta: http://www.webcom.com/calc/Curta_text.html and http://www.vcalc.net/disassy/ !

>The same is true in every other field of scientific enquiry. Are you also dragging your feet on superconductors

Make your own high temperature superconductors with the resources of a high school science lab

And before that, your sliderule stuck. And before that, your Da Vinci Calculator: http://www.webcom.com/calc/leonardo/leonardo.html rusted.

http://www.webcom.com/sknkwrks/subphoto.jpg what an ugly u-boat.

Atari VCS: Atari, Spectravideo, and Perphial Visions Inc. all tried to create a keyboard for it. Only the Spectravideo keyboard made it to market. Only the Spectravision keyboard made it to market. It flopped.

Intellivision: Mattel promised from day 1 that the Intellivision would be able to be turned into a full computer by adding a special keyboard component. Unfortunately, the component proved too expensive to manufacture. When Mattel was finally forced to release the product due to an FTC fine, nearly every unit was returned as broken or defective. Mattel then shifted gears in a hurry and released the Entertainment Computer System, a quick hack produced by a secret project that was intended to get Mattel out of hot water. Predictably, it flopped in the market.

Odyssey 2: Magnavox actually integrated a keyboard into this console, but gave no thought to an OS, tape drive, or printer. There was a BASIC kit released for the European version, but otherwise this console's potential as a computer was sadly underutilized.

Coleco Adam: Coleco had the bright idea of creating a computer that could play Colecovision games. Consumers couldn't decide whether or not it was a game machine or a serious "home computer" system. Combined with its odd design (the power was routed through the printer) it flopped in the market.

Atari 5200: This actually WAS a computer packed into a game system case. Unsurprisingly, no peripheral components were produced to prevent competition with the Atari 400/800 systems.

Atari 7800: Again, a keyboard component was created, but never marketed. With Nintendo deciding NOT to ship the Famicom Floppy Disk Drive in America, Atari may have finally realized that trying to make a game console into a computer wasn't such a good idea.

PlayStation 2: Sony tries to make the PlayStation into a generic computer with a keyboard/mouse attachment, a harddrive, and a copy of Linux. Sony kills the product citing poor sales.

PlayStation 3: Sony tries to differentiate their console by claiming that "it's a computer". Welcome to the 1980s.

Atari VCS: Atari, Spectravideo, and Perphial Visions Inc. all tried to create a keyboard for it. Only the Spectravideo keyboard made it to market. Only the Spectravision keyboard made it to market. It flopped.

Intellivision: Mattel promised from day 1 that the Intellivision would be able to be turned into a full computer by adding a special keyboard component. Unfortunately, the component proved too expensive to manufacture. When Mattel was finally forced to release the product due to an FTC fine, nearly every unit was returned as broken or defective. Mattel then shifted gears in a hurry and released the Entertainment Computer System, a quick hack produced by a secret project that was intended to get Mattel out of hot water. Predictably, it flopped in the market.

Odyssey 2: Magnavox actually integrated a keyboard into this console, but gave no thought to an OS, tape drive, or printer. There was a BASIC kit released for the European version, but otherwise this console's potential as a computer was sadly underutilized.

Coleco Adam: Coleco had the bright idea of creating a computer that could play Colecovision games. Consumers couldn't decide whether or not it was a game machine or a serious "home computer" system. Combined with its odd design (the power was routed through the printer) it flopped in the market.

Atari 5200: This actually WAS a computer packed into a game system case. Unsurprisingly, no peripheral components were produced to prevent competition with the Atari 400/800 systems.

Atari 7800: Again, a keyboard component was created, but never marketed. With Nintendo deciding NOT to ship the Famicom Floppy Disk Drive in America, Atari may have finally realized that trying to make a game console into a computer wasn't such a good idea.

PlayStation 2: Sony tries to make the PlayStation into a generic computer with a keyboard/mouse attachment, a harddrive, and a copy of Linux. Sony kills the product citing poor sales.

PlayStation 3: Sony tries to differentiate their console by claiming that "it's a computer". Welcome to the 1980s.

It's not even clear that you could create something similar for *NIX given that MSH is build on .Net so actually has lots of Objects to script whereas an Object-based shell and *NIX would be lacking any Objects to script. Actually, UNIX is an OO system in a very limited fashion, be it one with only one interface: File.

I asked James Gosling whether the Solaris team at Sun was doing anything with Java to add MSH-like capabilities to Solaris. To make a long answer short, he basically said "no".

Many of the high-order functional programming aspects of MSH remind me of a UNIX shell from around 1990 called "Es". You can read about it here: Es: A shell with higher-order functions.

For those of you who were born stupid, the emission of radiation by spark gaps was first discovered by Heinrich Rudolf Hertz - the same one that the Hertz in megahertz is named after - back in 1887. It was Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen who discovered that this phenomenon could be used to produce X-rays in 1895 Here is a paper on building an Xray tube USING SPARK PLUGS. http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServ let?prog=normal&id=RSINAK000072000010003983000001& idtype=cvips&gifs=yes Here are several scientific papers on the production of X-rays by spark gaps in various gaseous media. http://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/icfa/fall97/pape r2/paper2.pdf http://www.webcom.com/sknkwrks/xray.htm http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/_PatentLibrary /_FischerXRaySparkGap/index.htm Morons.

These companies instead utilize simpler hydraulic-actuated motion platform systems, which are basically a platform held up by multiple hydraulic cylinders, and upon this platform is mounted the simulator cockpit (sometimes installed inside a large back-projected sphere, as well). For a homebrew system, you will probably not want to mess around with hydraulics. They tend to be messy and corrosive, not something I would want in my house. I would instead look into using larger pneumatic cylinders. These have a drawback in that they tend to be "springy", but they should work out OK. You will also need to set up a position feedback system to these cylinders (and oscillation dampening, etc) so that the platform moves exactly how/where you want it to move.

If you want to find out how to do all of this, there are a few people out there who have done exactly what you are aiming to do - interfacing and building a full flight simulator with motion using a PC - on the internet. Most of them have pictures and details of their system on their websites. You might also look into how various real-world simulators look and work - the history behind aircraft simulation is fascinating, to say the least - it is the birthplace of modern simulation and VR.

Another interesting bit of kit is something called the Rock and Ride - it is basically a two-axis (roll and pitch) gaming chair that you sit in and mount your monitor on. Something like this could be built very cheaply (way cheaper than various asking prices I have seen - plus, I don't think the company that made it is in business anymore).

Also check out Omniscience Futureneering's Joyrider simulator - basically a very homebrew version of the "Rock and Ride".

Before you complain that none of these systems allow full spherical movement, remember that these type systems are similar to what is used commercially. Commercial developers (I am thinking corporations like Honeywell, Rockwell and McDonald-Douglas) decided on motion platform systems not only because of the engineering reasons, but also because they found through testing that full spherical movement wasn't necessary - in a simulation, if you get the physical movement right and in time with the movement of the display, your brain fills in the rest - tilt the cockpit back steeply while performing a loop, and it will feel like a loop! Of course, keep in mind that just like any other simulation, simulator sickness is a very real thing. If you add in a motion platform of any kind, it becomes even more acute of a problem. If your motion doesn't match what is being seen on screen (or in an HMD) - prepare to BARF!!!

Good luck on your project, it is a very ambitious one, certainly!

You can write in lots of nice languages for it, wheras Java afaik only has Java and Ruby.

No offense, but I guess you don't know much. Here are just a few of the available languages for the JVM:

• Smalltalk
• Pascal
• Modula-2
• Oberon-2
• Lisp
• Schema
• Python
• Perl
• TCL
• Logo
• Prolog

You can write in lots of nice languages for it, wheras Java afaik only has Java and Ruby.

No offense, but I guess you don't know much. Here are just a few of the available languages for the JVM:

• Smalltalk
• Pascal
• Modula-2
• Oberon-2
• Lisp
• Schema
• Python
• Perl
• TCL
• Logo
• Prolog

You can write in lots of nice languages for it, wheras Java afaik only has Java and Ruby.

No offense, but I guess you don't know much. Here are just a few of the available languages for the JVM:

• Smalltalk
• Pascal
• Modula-2
• Oberon-2
• Lisp
• Schema
• Python
• Perl
• TCL
• Logo
• Prolog

CAPULET:
But saying o'er what I have said before:
My child is yet a stranger in the world;
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years,
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.

...

LADY CAPULET:
This is the matter: --Nurse, give leave awhile,
We must talk in secret: --nurse, come back again;
I have remember'd me, thou's hear our counsel.
Thou know'st my daughter's of a pretty age.

NURSE:
Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.

LADY CAPULET:
She's not fourteen.

NURSE:
I'll lay fourteen of my teeth,--
And yet, to my teeth be it spoken, I have but four--
She is not fourteen. How long is it now
To Lammas-tide?

CAPULET:
But saying o'er what I have said before:
My child is yet a stranger in the world;
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years,
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.

...

LADY CAPULET:
This is the matter: --Nurse, give leave awhile,
We must talk in secret: --nurse, come back again;
I have remember'd me, thou's hear our counsel.
Thou know'st my daughter's of a pretty age.

NURSE:
Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.

LADY CAPULET:
She's not fourteen.

NURSE:
I'll lay fourteen of my teeth,--
And yet, to my teeth be it spoken, I have but four--
She is not fourteen. How long is it now
To Lammas-tide?

He meant gnosticism. Have a link about PKD and gnosticism or look at wikipedia.

Based on their knowledge and belief, the Hamiltons [William and Nancy, owners of Inslaw] have alleged that high level officials in the Department of Justice conspired to steal the Enhanced PROMIS software system. As an element of this theft, these officials, who included former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Deputy Attorney General Lowell Jensen, forced INSLAW into bankruptcy by intentionally creating a sham contract dispute over the terms and conditions of the contract which led to the withholding of payments due INSLAW by the Department. The Hamiltons maintain that, after driving the company into bankruptcy, Justice officials attempted to force the conversion of INSLAW's bankruptcy status from Chapter 11: Reorganization to Chapter 7: Liquidation. They assert that such a change in bankruptcy status would have resulted in the forced sale of INSLAW'S assets, including Enhanced PROMIS to a rival computer company called Hadron, Inc., which, at the time, was attempting to conduct a hostile buyout of INSLAW.
- Source

you sure he wouldn't be better as petrified? this joke will be even (funnier/sadder) when he's gone...

What, you don't think they've updated PROMIS to install crapware on the users' machines?!!!

Popular Science had an article about super-sonic torpedoes. They ride a shock wave through the water and can actually use less fuel then ICBMs. Only trick is trying to steer them.

But this missile defense will only be good against one or two missiles from a known source. Like the parent post pointed out--only good for last desperate attempts by a "liberated" country.

The point here about Cocaine doesn't make sense. Most of the Cocaine arrives in this country at landing strips designated "no inspection" by the CIA. One of these places was used by the 9/11 terrorists for training how to fly a plane but not land it.

Yeah, I know, sounds like another conspiracy theory. But you can look at the Kerry Commission Senate probe into the issue. They found that the CIA was smuggling cocaine into California. Its the same investigation that found a link with Iran-Contra and the BCCI bank in Florida. This is all on a record you could read, if you want. HERE or this link. The original source may be hard to find, since the past is fading into mist these days.

Note, that if the CIA didn't control drug shipments, you would have had a lot more assasinations purchased by foreign countries like we've seen in the USSR and other countries that did not control drug trade. There is a consistent steam of arrests of smugglers, but they only represent the upstarts and competition to those blessed with government support so long as they support the government. Pretty tidy, huh?

It's a lazy Sunday and I'm a little bored, so I thought I'd respond to your post a little.

First off, it'd be nice if you were to include where you got your information. Most people don't have copies of the Journal of Gastroenterology lying about their house, from 1976 or otherwise. I imagine you instead got the Journal of Gastroenterology reference from here or some other creationist site without ever reading the primary citation yourself--this is disingenuous on your part. Second, you are salting your post with a demonstrably false and slanderous attack on scientists by accusing us of keeping the population ignorant of the appendix's role in the immune system, when it is clear that it was scientists who reported appendix functionality in the first place in academic and medical journals. Third, the appendix is indeed vestigial. Creationists are fond of redefining the word "vestigial" to be synonymous with "useless" but this is not the proper definition of the word in biology: "An organ, serving for two purposes, may become rudimentary or utterly aborted for one, even the more important purpose, and remain perfectly efficient for the other. Thus, in plants, the office of the pistil is to allow the pollen-tubes to reach the ovules protected in the ovarium at its base. The pistil consists of a stigma supported on the style; but in some Compositae, the male florets, which of course cannot be fecundated, have a pistil, which is in a rudimentary state, for it is not crowned with a stigma; but the style remains well developed, and is clothed with hairs as in other compositae, for the purpose of brushing the pollen out of the surrounding anthers. Again, an organ may become rudimentary for its proper purpose, and be used for a distinct object: in certain fish the swim-bladder seems to be rudimentary for its proper function of giving buoyancy, but has become converted into a nascent breathing organ or lung. Other similar instances could be given." This quote comes from chapter 13 of Darwin's Origin of Species from 1859. In my "Penguin Classics" edition published in 1985, the above quote is on page 429. All the way back to Darwin: vestigial does not necessarily equate to useless.

The human appendix appears to have an immunological function, albeit a nonessential one--removal of appendix has no ill effect and people have been born without the appendix at all. Regardless, we still correctly call it vestigial. We do so because of comparative anatomy: humans are classified as mammals and as primates, and so we compare the human appendix to structures found within other species. The human appendix is homologous to the end of the mammalian caecum, which normally functions in the digestion of cellulose, which is something that we humans cannot digest. Digestion is of course the primary function of organs in the digestive tract, so therefore the human appendix is vestigial even though it may have an immunological function. You are free to consider talkorigins biased if you wish, but it represents the scientific mainstream. They have an excellent article in their archives on anatomical vestiges with a hefty dose of discussion on the human appendix. I suggest that you read it so you know what the mainstream view of science actually is, not what the creationists like to claim it is.

As for the flagellum, you are badly mistaken on one major point (yet another reason to read up on evolutionary biology as written by biologists, not creationists). There is absolutely no requirement that the evolution of the bacterial flagellum requires that each step must be linked, directly or indirectly, to flagellar motility. For instance, it is now known that the flagellum is related to the type IV pilus (J Mol Microbiol Biotechnol. 2004;7(1-2):41-51). This page

Homemade Radio-Controlled Lawn Mowers

Hybrid Remote Control Lawn Mower

Radio Control Lawnmower

Robo-Mower

If Diebold machines get in the 2004 primary election, we're all screwed if we're not voting for Bush. Think about it. If by some chance, Kerry wins the election...and the media going apeshit because Bush has been dethroned

I think this is a good time to remind everyone that Bush's dad used to be head of the CIA.
I would be much more afraid that Bush wins (despite the "mission" being "accomplished"), with the help of some help from the same type of folks who brought us Iran-contra.

I would definately not put it past a memeber of the Bush family to break the law for politcal gain, so long as they think they won't get caught.

Fine, have it your way. Text from the BofC website, links from elsewhere, unless too numerous to list, so I default to Michael Moore's page, full of links from government sources and the like.

1953: U.S. overthrows Prime Minister Mossadeq of Iran. U.S. installs Shah as dictator. Declassified CIA report, same uncensored report linked from a slashdot article.

1954: U.S. overthrows democratically-elected President Arbenz of Guatemala. 200,000 civilians killed. CIA documents from 1954 pertaining to Guatemala as well as book excerpt and newspaper article.

1963: U.S. backs assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem. President Johnson once called him "the Churchill of Asia" in 1961. Wikipedia and two books

1963-1975: American military kills 4 million civilians in Southeast Asia.

September 11, 1973: U.S. stages coup in Chile. Democratically elected president Salvador Allende assassinated. Dictator Augusto Pinochet installed. 5,000 Chileans murdered. Common knowledge, its in a ton of books (excerpt)and movies

1977: U.S. backs military rulers of El Salvador. 70,000 Salvadorans and four American nuns killed. (Chomsky) and full reports (another), and a piece by William Blum

1980's: U.S. trains Osama bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill Soviets. CIA gives them $3 billion. --Reagan invited Afghani leaders to the white house, and said they were like the US' "founding fathers."

1981: Reagan administration trains and funds "contras". 30,000 Nicaraguans die. --Orchestrated by Oliver North from the White House

1982: U.S. provides billions in aid to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians. Sworn affadavits by members of National Security council. Photo of Tariq Aziz at White House with Reagan. More evidence.

1983: White House secretly gives Iran weapons to help them kill Iraqis. --Part of Iran-contra

1989: CI

Wow, he must be only twenty or thirty feet away, in a crowd, no less.

If anyone reads anything into that pic, they're really reaching.

Of course the guy's at a peace rally. Unlike the majority of the people there, Kerry had an actual understanding of war, and actual combat expiriences that led him to protest the war after his return.

The realness of the other photo in no way discredits Kerry as a candidate, or as veteran. He was one of many Viet Nam veterans who had the balls to speak out against the war when he returned.

A lot of crap is comming out from the right-wing chickenhawks who are beginning to realize that this is a candidate who served in some of the worst combat zones any vet has seen, and earned a Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and Presidential Unit Citation while doing so. The guy has a dislike for the intelligence community and has gone after them before.

Real or not, I'm pretty sure those pictures are not going to make a whole hell of a lot of difference.

The Republicans have never been about keeping government out of your life. Whether the subject is obscenity, abortion, "family values", or smoking pot, the Republicans have been there to offer legislation to regulate the minutia of your behavior. They do claim to be all about reducing government, and they do talk about reducing taxes, but it has been the Republicans that have obscenely increased government spending since Nixon, and it has been the Republicans who have proposed new powers for federal, state, and local law enforcement that infringe upon our first and fourth amendment rights, and it has been the Republicans who have bypassed US laws (proposed by Republicans) to support foreign terrorists and dictators (Including Osama Bin-Laden, Saddam Hussein, Augusto Pinoche, Francios and Jean-Claude Duvalier, Manuel Noriega, Anastasio Samoza, Alfredo Cristiani, Mobuto Sese Seko, Samuel Doe, P.W. Botha, etc, etc, etc,) and murdered democratically elected leaders of other countries (Patrice Lumumba) incited coups against Democratic governments (Chile in 1973, Congo in 1964, Liberia in 1980, and a failed coup attempt in Venezuela this past April).

Many Americans choose to be ignorant this historical record because of the Republicans talk of lowering taxes, in spite of the obvious connection between increased government spending and a need for increased revenues.

Many Americans are aware of the historical record, are aware of the continuing illegal activities of our intelligence agencies (both abroad and at home), yet they choose to act as if blind to these things, will argue in favor of these actions, and will contrive to make life difficult of anyone who dare speak of them (if you do not produce documentation you are "crazy", if you do produce documentation then you are "dangerous").

TIA and ARDA are little more than our intelligence agencies and the current Republican administration conspiring to behave a bit more like the dictators they have traditionally backed. The intelligence agencies and the industries that are supported by them would like to see a return to the more lucrative days of the Cold War. They feel they are under threat as more and more people are scrutinizing their history using collections of documents released by the Freedom of Information Act, like those at the National Security Archive, EPIC.org, the Federation of American Scientists, the EFF, and probably more that I am unaware of.

Read this stuff, it is an amazing way to gain insight into the hidden workings of our government. Read about "the Church Commission to learn how the CIA breaks the law, hires the mob, and manipulates the media while harassing and murdering US citizens that they beleive hold "un-American beleifs". Read about the Iran-Contra affair to learn how little respect for the law our current Administration's Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Poindexter (among others) really have, and read about the cocaine importing that they participated in to fund their pet terrorists.

The current mood seems to support giving our Federal Law Enforcement and Intelligence agencies increased freedoms to invade our privacy while reducing oversight of their actions in hopes that this will increase national security and make our lives a little safer. The problem is that when you look at the record of their history, it appears that the opposite is much more likely to result, and that allowing the FBI and CIA increased freedom and power, might just end the

Moreover, wouldn't a criminal be more willing to do something nefarious if the source was closed rather than if it was open ?

What is probably the most famous case of nefarious code being inserted into an app, the Promis Software / Inslaw case, was exactly that. This successful trojaning of a database system for prosecuting attourneys was possible only because the application was propietary, and the source could not be inspected by those receiving the trojaned app (from DEA, and CIA agents, no less.)

Comments: _A Stor 's a Storin_ says "A spring song in praise of St.
Bridget, one of Ireland's national saints. To the ancient Celts spring
began on February 1st - St. Bridget's Day. That day was named Imbolc."
This is a great song! It has a beautiful melody, and the words are
simple enough that a learner should be able to understand them easily.

What's INTERCAL++ supposed to mean?

A unary increment program in INTERCAL can be found here. I don't see no lousy ++.

Does anyone remember the PROMIS debacle?

Far from outrageous, I think this should be a basic principle for all national security/mission critical projects.

I am not opposed to out sourcing per se, but not to the exclusion of basic common sense and self preservation.

Q.

Iran Hostage crisis ---> Started under Carter. Ended under Reagan.

Actually it started in 1953 when Eisenhower ordered the CIA to overthrow the popularly elected (as in a real democratic election) prime minister of Iran, Mossadegh, by pushing Reza Pahlava, the Shah, to expel him. Riots ensued, the Shah fled, the CIA put the riots down, brought the Shaw back, and trained SAVAK; who went on to earn Amnesty International's award for "worst human rights record on the planet" in 1976. That's the year Carter was elected, he didn't take office 'till 77. I'm not sure how you can imply he was responsible for the revolt in 79 to overthrow a brutal and repressive regime.

As for Reagan's illustrious involvement in the hostage crisis: He traded weapons to the Ayatollah Khomeini, the forces of darkness, to secure their release. Even Reagan admitted it. A very clever move, now known as the October Surprise, which was significant in defeating Carter.

Star Wars ---> Dreamed up in the 70's continues today. Even Clinton continued to fund it.

"When President Reagan first issued his challenge to America's scientific community to find a defense against ballistic missiles..." Clinton did continue funding, but then Clinton governed as a moderate republican, unfortunately.

Grenada ---> Warehouses full of Soviet weapons seized just before the 'rebellion' was to start. Talk to 82nd airborne vets about what they found and saw before you think it was a joke.

Greneda was no joke for the Grenadines. They had made the mistake of electing Maurice Bishop who, alas, was mildly socialist. CIA destabilization began shortly thereafter under Carter in '79, actually, but given the animosity and outright betrayal of Carter by the UberRight in the defense organization (Ollie et al, see above), it's not clear he knew anything about it. Given that Grenada was a managed news event, you should be careful of any "news" you read about it, and the dangerous weapons they had. Remember pfc Lynch's "Rescue."

War on drugs ---> Bush Sr., Nancy was "Just say No to drugs." Not to mention drug use DID decline through the end of the 80's and early 90's. The war is 'lost' because we (people and government) lost focus not because it could not be won.

US prohibition has quite a long history, all of it embarrassing. Reagan did declare the "War on Drugs," but what that really meant, and continues to mean is difficult to ascertain. One thing is for sure, it is not about helping people. Mentioning Gary Webb's careful and exceptionally well documented journalism runs contrary to the charade, but the evidence is strong that under Reagan the CIA was supporting the sale of cocaine in the US to fund the Contras after congress confronted the CIA's arms sales underwritten funding.

Central America ---> What part? And no fair bringing up Nicaragua. You already have Iran-Contra on the list. And if you thing the Sandinistas were better than the Contras you're frikin' nuts.

The difference is the Sandinistas were the popularly elected government and the Contras were the private army of Samoza, evacuated, rearmed, retrained, and reinserted

Dammit, twice in one day I forget the sumbitch LINK! (Notice that link starts with an excerpt from our government's finding on the affair.)

(Mods : I know it's off-topic, and a reply to an AC, but I just have to bitch.)

But what about the vast majority of the marijuana bought in the United States? It comes from drug cartels in Mexico and Latin America.

Wrong. The vast majority comes from within the US.

That money goes (indirectly, through your dealer)... ...to pay for rent, snacks, and a PlayStation.

Since we're talking about funding drug cartels and supporting terrorism, I suppose it's only fair to bring up Iran-Contra.

It's heroin that's the real killer. ... a good deal comes from Southern Asia and Asia Minor, and is sold specifically to fund terrorist organizations in those parts of the world ... So yeah, by buying drugs you really ARE supporting terrorism

Well, our government
did pay those same terrorist organizations in hopes that they wouldn't sell drugs. Of course, being 'evil-doers', they didn't. Nor did they stop being terrorists.

Nevermind the fact that for the poor farmers of Afghanistan, it's easier to buy food with money from poppy fields than it is to grow food for your starving family. Funny how that still hasn't changed, dispite being 'liberated' by the US.

I don't care one way or another who uses drugs, but I do care when people believe the bullshit our own government spouts. The drug-money that reaches terrorists is a pitance next to the amount of pork in our anti-drug budget.

-dr.badass

He's ok for now, but they're not letting him have any smokes. He hasn't even been given his entry processing interrogation yet.

So quit whining, or you're next!

Hunting isn't illegal. Gun shops in those areas are not illegal either. Anecdotal proof:

Los Angeles Gun Club Indoor Pistol,1375 E 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. Phone: (213)612-0931.

listed on :

http://www.webcom.com/gun_guy/rangesca.htm

Determining intent in a purchase is extremely difficult, and generally doesn't get you anywhere. The "if guns are illegal, only criminals will have guns" argument is at least plausible. Making emulators illegal will guarantee that only criminals have emulators, obviously harming the market.

Don't agree? Consider every CD ripper being illegal. Isn't that a harm?

-Zipwow

BTW - check out the other experiments on there - cool stuff...

BTW - check out the other experiments on there - cool stuff...

Lets see...

Take off the tinfoil hat my friend. I don't know if you've been exposed to much government, but let me tell you, they don't have the desire, motivation, or courage to be part of any grand design like that. Government workers are, by and large, very poor, unmotivated, and won't do anything to jepoardize their meager existence. Grand designs like these are right the hell out.

Ok, so finding some evidence of "grand design"
effectively moots your point on this one.

Iran Contra
Kangaland Spills The Beans

I could go on but I don't see the point.
Ok, that's one for me. They don't seem like lazy
Govt workers fearing for their jobs now do they.

Then you said:
Maybe you'll then say that it's not the goverment but the wealthy fueling your conspiracy. Well, considering that of that 1% you're talking about, only 10% of their children will manage to do anything but piss that wealth away, I don't see a successful continuation there either. And what you're talking about implies generations of development.

Ok. Got a little creative with some numbers you
can't possible produce anything to back up. Lets
see what I can produce other than the obvious
trend for a whole bunch of presidents coming from
the same families that have had a ton of money
since the beginning of this USA experiment:

The Breakdown

The best part of all this is that my "this makes
sense" post was kinda sort supposed to be taken
as a joke. Shameless flamebait to stir up the
nuts. I never assumed I'd hook someone from the
other extreme. I seriously don't understand you
guys. Is it a "white guilt"? I mean, I made a
bundle the past 15 years. That doesn't change the
fact that I know things are heavily skewed in
favor of "pretty white people". Hell, I've counted
on it a number of times when negotiating with
venture capitalists. But I mean, how many evil
dictators that just happened to be funded/trained/
put in power by the USA do we have to pick a
fight with in an election year to clue you in?
Does another president have to be publicly
executed to raise your suspicions that there just
might be things going on that nobody in their
right mind would want to know about?
As for my URL, why not try actually going to it
and see what it is. Understanding it's more in
character for you to exert all your energies into
crafting a high quality "flame" instead of
actually taking the time to know what you are
talking about. :) As an AC said already, you
should feel pretty stupid.

The phone system actually supports hex dialing. It's not hard to find rants about it. It wouldn't be so hard to put just one digit into use, say for modem numbers which the average human never needs to remember (and those who do memorize modem numbers will be able to comprehend hex). Just adding 1 digit nearly doubles the number of 7 digit permutations (11^7 / 10^7 ~ 1.9).

Either that, or use a DNS like system to assign names to number/extension pairs.

Why do I get the nasty idea that the some people in the military/CIA had thought of the Total Information Awareness program some time ago and were just waiting for a problem to propose it as a solution ?

I mean the horrendous events of Sept 11th didn't slip past the security services because there wasn't enough information available, they slipped past because none of the analysts connected the dots between known associates of terrorists in the USA + money being sent to these people from Saudi + lots of odd(*) people wanting to learn how to fly jets = big friqin problem.

Increasing the amount of detail that the analysts have to deal with would not solve any of the problems that allowed Sept. 11th to happen, but would make the governments job of cracking down on US dissidents easier.

It's the same in the UK. The civil service seem very eager for there to be a national identity card, and keep proposing it as a solution for a variety of different problems.
One year it can be used to combat terrorism, the next it can be used to crack down on asylum seekers. ooh how about we use to prevent identity fraud ? Every time the public refuses to accept this government monitoring of them, but still the civil servants keep suggesting the same plan over and over.

* Odd people = Students who come to the US on a visa, then are allowed to drop the studying and start learning how to do a job (breaking the terms of their visa), and who then act suspiciously enough during the lessons, so that the instructors call the FBI to warn them they think the students might be terrorists wanting to fly the planes into buuldings

Forget those, try Intercal

The most extreme, fun way is to use pyrometric cones - just wait for these cones to droop and move the joystick, and you'll find out the temperature! Here's how to use the cones when upgrading the wiring of your computer.

A much more practical way is to use the Dallas Semiconductor (now bought by Maxim, and not the magazine)

Dallas has a demo application you can use as an example - a weather station and some good application note examples. It uses the DS1820 or the DS18S20 and you can get up to 2 free samples of each. This device is digital, so no calibration is needed for the accuracy you need. They have a lot of other temperature sensors; some even have alarm outputs, so once you program it, reading only one bit will tell you if the temperature is out of limits. It has a well-written and complete datasheet. They've got software for win32, linux, beos, java, and 8051. If you write your own software or modifiy theirs, you don't really need a serial port adapter; just a wire on the parallel port will do (and it will power the device, too!!)

If anyone's interested, I can dig up some c-code that I used - it works with the parallel port under dos.

The most extreme, fun way is to use pyrometric cones - just wait for these cones to droop and move the joystick, and you'll find out the temperature! Here's how to use the cones when upgrading the wiring of your computer.

A much more practical way is to use the Dallas Semiconductor (now bought by Maxim, and not the magazine)

Dallas has a demo application you can use as an example - a weather station and some good application note examples. It uses the DS1820 or the DS18S20 and you can get up to 2 free samples of each. This device is digital, so no calibration is needed for the accuracy you need. They have a lot of other temperature sensors; some even have alarm outputs, so once you program it, reading only one bit will tell you if the temperature is out of limits. It has a well-written and complete datasheet. They've got software for win32, linux, beos, java, and 8051. If you write your own software or modifiy theirs, you don't really need a serial port adapter; just a wire on the parallel port will do (and it will power the device, too!!)

If anyone's interested, I can dig up some c-code that I used - it works with the parallel port under dos.

Here are some links that you may find helpful and/or interesting:

The JoyRider Virtual Flyer

Homebrew Flight Sim Cockpit

Full Motion Flight Simulation Platform

Homemade Flight Simulator

3 Axis Flight Simulator

Also, look for something called the "Rock-N-Ride" - it was a commercial low-cost motion platform, that interfaced to a serial port and used a airbrush compressor for power. It wasn't cheap, but it was cheaper than a real 3 axis platform. I have also seen real 3 axis platforms sold on eBay, but be prepared for hydraulic behemoths (in weight, if not size) that will set you back some.

Now, granted, none of these sites will probably answer your question about what to do in regards to all of the lights, switches, etc. For that, I would suggest looking into PIC or BASIC Stamp interfacing over a "single-wire" serial interface or similar. You could probably also do it with logic circuits and shift register-based systems (to effect a parallel to serial to parallel interface), or use a MAX232 for comm. There is also a guy out there that sells an ethernet -> uPU interface (people have used it to hook old C64's to ethernet, etc).

You could also hook up to the joystick port - in theory you could hook resistors up to get input from both axis's, a different resistor per switch, two joysticks - plus all of the buttons - that is a lot of buttons!

There is also the possibility of using the joystick port as a MIDI port, and comm'ing over that. Also, look up joystick info, there is a method of toggling a bit or so on the joystick port to actually gain a certain low-speed output over the joystick port to allow you to "clock" data from the port - supposedly some "digital" joysticks have done this.

There is always USB - check out Nuts and Volts magazine - there have been articles in the past on the chipsets, etc needed to interface using USB.

I hope this helps...

I much prefer the PROMIS/Inslaw case.

It's a lot geekier conspiracy.

Hm, that's not actually an arcade game. O well.

If this poster had read the original article more closely, he would have noticed a link to this page, which is the work of someone who actually took the time to closely analyze everything on the list at the site that the poster provided a link to.

A closer inspection of this list at tu-berlin.de reveals that the vast majority of the items listed are not actually claiming to be compilers that produce Java byte-code. They are merely tools or compilers or interpreters written in Java. Of the few which claim to produce Java byte-code, even fewer are actually available for use (some were abandoned before completion) or have any additional information available about them.

A handful of items in the list translate source code from language subsets into Java source code first, which you can then run JAVAC on to build actual byte-code. (For example, Canterbury claims to have such a thing for Pascal, Oberon-2, and Modula-2. There is also one for translating C code to Java code, and Fortran code to Java code. Perhaps the most promising and truly byte-code producing tools on the entire page are the assemblers at the bottom.

It is worth pointing out that this still doesn't make the JVM a language-neutral platform. (Again, see the discussion at http://www.objectwatch.com/issue_33.htm.) While there are ways of producing Java byte-code from other languages, you've still got to write all of your code in whatever single language you choose. For example, there's no good way on the JVM to implement a class in Modula-2 code and derive from it in Pascal code, or throw an exception in C code and catch it in Fortran code. i.e. You've still got to have language affinity on the JVM. Not so on the CLR.

D

For a very good article on multiple inheritance please look at here. This is an excellent paper and a historic paper, too.

To the other critics of .net, Meyer explains that Eiffel# itself implements generics and design-by-contract. In other words, programmers of compilers will still have to implement features. VM's (at least for the time being) can't do everything. This is an issue which is brought up in the javalobby.org article.

I don't think .net is good but everyone here should take a very close look at nonsense that is surrounding it. The javalobby.org article was brought up by several people in the threads about Joy's take on C# two days ago. And while the javalobby.org article is well researched, the reviewer (Osvaldo Pinali Doederlein) has not shown (yet) to be on the same level technically as Meyer. Meyer is a great researcher. Eiffel is an important language, even though very few people who read /. have ever programmed in it.

Meyer is a credit to computer science and I doubt he will become a Tony Hoare. Tony Hoare did lose touch with modern language development when he wrote his famous ACM Turing Award acceptance lecture, "The emperor's old clothes." (Communication of the ACM, Feb. 1981) This was a biased opinion, just read it.

Meyer doesn't use history to predict the future, instead he uses insight and technical ability. The Meyer article is very well done, everyone should read it...twice!

Gee, when the shadow government wants a piece of software, they usually steal it. (Can you say Inslaw?)

Northernlights is so insecure. Someone's already found a backdoor. You can find more information about the 'sploit here.