LIke most folks in the MSDOS world we used word perfect. When we went to Windows 3.1, obviously before 95, we tried various WYSIWYG word processors. Word worked ok, AMIPRO was fine (and my favorite) and WP for windows was just awful. Word had the advantage of being developed for the MAC which gave MS a significant headstart. I would assume the same for excel. The seamless tie-in of word, excel and powerpoint made if difficult for anyone else to compete. The better product won.

As an aside I believe word perfect for dos cost several hundred dollars and lotus 123 was $495. Now this buys you the office suite.

Don't we "program" our brains in English using English or whatever is your native language with no initial bootstrap compiler? Yes, I know linguists have studied how much of language ability is hardwired into our brains.

John Fenn won the Nobel prize in chemistry for work he did in his 60's.

If you were a TSA agent and overlooking something like this could cost you your job, what would you do? When my daughter flew to Costa Rica she had two Jaguar radio tracking collars in her luggage. We put a note by each one explaining what they were and a picture of a Jaguar wearing one the note had my phone number asking to please call me to get them if they wouldn't be allowed. As it turned out the xray machine was at the baggage check and I told the agent if there was a problem to let me know. Result no problem. If I were taking something for work I would probably Fedex it to bypass the issue.

Yep, it is truly impressive to see these trains. I play golf at a course next to the rail lines that head out from LA to Cajon Pass. The trains have 4 diesels in front and two in the rear and all working hard to make the grade that has begun.

At that time the best often went to study in Germany at many of its great universities. This situation didn't change much until the Nazis and WWII. Thus being able to communicate in German would be far more useful for most academics that either Greek or Latin.

I used it there in Feb on the buses up to the ski resorts. My son works for a bank and test used a swipe phone two years ago. When people behind him in line saw it, they all asked, "Where can I get one?" Expect it will be the norm in a few years.

The fight over the laser patent was over the idea not a working model. See for example, http://tc.engr.wisc.edu/uer/uer97/author5/content.html

Lots of big bucks overseas looking for a place to spend it.

If you are just "recycling" it for a fuel, it should be more efficient to burn it in a power plant.

Definitely non-linear. Air resistance increases with the square of the speed. Time decreases with the speed. Thus power increases with the cube of the speed.

Corporations are legal entities defined by law and their rights should also be defined by law. Of course the Congress will do what is right for their contributors. So the people lose either way.

I used to go to several useful groups for advice on things like home repair, puzzles, folk music. The folks from the dark side of the web took it over. I gave up on it like many other folks. I still miss the good groups. Too bad.

Read Soul of a New Machine about a team at Data General developing a computer to compete with the brand new VAX computer. Similar stategy of getting group of young engineers to work long hours on a project. Personally I think Job's genius is producing a product when the technology is ready that really appeals to people. He also has the dictatorial power to push back the release date if he feels that some aspect of the product is unacceptable to him and must be changed.

Finally one quirk of his design for the Mac that I dislike is the one button mouse. I much prefer the way the two button mouse use has evolved for most Windows stuff namely right button=show options and left button=perform something.