See the website to get an idea if this can be of interest to you...

And here is my own review (from anobii):

I love the smell of simplex in the morning...

Red Plenty is pretty difficult to categorize. As the author explains, this is about history, but at the same time most of the characters are either fictional, or are shown thinking and saying things that, while plausible and based on actual historical recordings, have been made up by the author.

And even most importantly, the various characters, some recurring, some briefly sketched never to return in the narrative, are just different ways to talk about the real "hero" of the story. Except that this hero is not character, either real or fictional. The main character, you see, is an Idea.

The idea that by using maths (especially Linear Programming) first, and applying computers later, you can run a centralized, planned economy and make it grow at amazing rate till it takes you, and all your citizens, to a sort of materialistic utopia.

Of course, we all know that history took a different turn, but up to the 80s the Soviet government really tried, and (for an admittedly shorter time) believed that this was possible, and that the "red plenty" of the title would really benefit the whole Soviet Union, and show the USA that Capitalism was inherently less efficient.
We see the whole dream unfold (and sadly turn into a nightmare) through the eyes of low-level citizen, Party members, scientists, criminals.

I am amazed by the technical tour de force that this book represents: it explains very complex (and probably dull and boring) events and theories in a clear and entertaining way - I do have a bit of experience with the specifics regarding the math theory used in here, but I was very ignorant in terms of Marxism, Russian history, Economy, how people gets cancer and a slew of other issues... so if have been entertained (and educated) about the latter themes, I suppose I can say that Marxism experts who don't don't know much about Cantor will find the book equally entertaining, and interesting.

Please understand that the book is a gripping read even if you really don't care about any of this. I can't really think of another example of a book that entertains so much while explaining so well... but I really hope to find another two or three in the future.

I suppose that the original post should have included at least two things:

a) Apart from the harmless prank, Google is actually moving towards sane aliases for G+ profiles: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/13/google-plus-custom-url/
b) For the impatients, there is a sort of "url shortener" providing the service now: http://iplus.im/

Apologies if someone else mentioned this already and I missed it in the discussion.

I have used, in the past, Teamatic (http://www.teamatic.com) and http://www.elementool.com/ - their offering may have changed in the last few years so check exactly what you can do for "free".

Also: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/966404/does-anyone-know-of-a-decent-free-online-bug-tracker-for-web-development-purpose

Have you tried posting this same question on stackoverflow.com?

I have a similar problem (even if it looks way milder than those described here and in the OP).

I use an iPhone app called NatureSpace (http://www.naturespace.com/) - even just the free soundtracks included in the basic version help me focus by covering human conversation (when I am trying to read during a commute, for example).

Are you Alan Perlis?

Honestly, this is way too complicated to properly explain here, and it's also offtopic - I just wanted to remark how the fact that cell phones can be used to track your (past) location is prominent here, too.

Actual trial starts on April 6th. But the coverage of the whole affair has been far from "minimal"...

In the most recent Berlusconi trial - here in Italy - the prosecution is working not just on the actual recording of the voice conversation over cellular phones, but the case rests at least in part on the fact that a minor spent one or more nights inside Berlusconi's villa... as demonstrated by checking what cellular repeater was covering the minor's cellphone over the night.

And this had been under scrutiny for at least six months.

Congratulations Sir! (or Madam!!!)

Can someone vote this "funny", at least? ;)

Yeah, right.

Cruise ships use a satellite link. Which is used both for Internet connection and cellular phones (assuming you are so rich or desperate that you don't mind the bill, which is really not cheap).

For the parent who suggests trying to "steal" a bit of bandwith from cruise ships using wifi... do you have an idea of how close you should be to the ship? (hint, hulls are made of steel... and wifi repeaters are set up in the main halls, casinos and other common areas, not outside the hull) so even if you were close enough to touch the hull with your hand I doubt you'll get much (in fact, wifi coverage is a problem even inside the ship itself).

And if you think that you can actually just "trail" a cruise ship with a sailboat you are either joking or have no idea of what you are talking about.

I think that this quote comes from Gen. Patton.

Even if this was invented for a movie, it would still not be Wayne (I think Patton was played by George C. Scott)

See also www.stackoverflow.com and other similar sites: and I admit that the idea of "being good at something real and gaining experience points" has some appeal to me, too.