So, a conspiracy, you reckon? (reaches for tinfoil hat...)

In the following example:
"Mother" is the Chief of Staff
"Uncle James" is the head of state,
"Maisie's house" is the UN building
"Fishing" is 'discussing nuclear limitations'>br> "Peeling Plums" is 'advising of invasion plans for country xxx

Message starts: "Mother and Uncle James are on their way to Maisie's house to peel some plums. After that they hope to go fishing, then see a movie. Have a lovely weekend. Cousin Sam"

Message is indecipherable without a code book.

Gives "getting a wedgie" a whole new meaning.

I was a stutterer, and strongly blame psychological reasons (ever meet my mother?). I suspect some of us have psychological problems, some neurological (so this research says).

I'd be interested if psychological problems caused neurological issues.

This sounds like one of those "Listening to Mozart makes your kid smart, while listening to heavy metal makes them dumb" articles. As in, it's targetted to appeal to the audience. I'm guessing the majority of /. are hopheads? (no offence)

And no, I didn't RTFA.

The same as there are in any other field. IT isn't full of science nerds. We have all sorts in this profession.

Example - when I started programming ages ago, one of my fellow programmers was working on an Astrological program. Another was developing something that would enable him to pick winners on the horse races. I suspect the latter was more scientifically based than the former.

Personally in my spare time I transmute base metals into gold. And vice versa.

My new start-up, Jupiter Zero, will soon replace Mars Zero in the news anyhow

(Actually, this is probably what's going to happen...)

The scene: two years from now:
Me: TV- turn on and switch to "The X-factor: pro-wrestling special"
TV: I'm sorry ...Dave, I can't allow that to happen.

Just hope that the TVs don't learn to lipread,,,,

And I don't know why either. I still enjoy a good novel (Charles Frazier/Susannah Clarke...) and read a bunch of Dickens about a year ago (try 'em out! There's a reason why they're called 'classics'. And what's more, they're free...).

But I read some computing subjects, some Astronomy subjects, some philosophy (I guess you call it - Sam Harris?). Whatever turns my crank.

One of the joys of being older is that you can read what you want - and by and large you know what you like. I joined a book club to avoid getting stuck in a rut... that's a danger...

I, for one, welcome our new Intelligent Omnipotent Toaster overlords.

Now, pass me a waffle.

Say 'Curiosity' tracks down a weird-looking fossil on the rocks of Mars.

We'd look inwards to see what this means to us as a species. We're not alone. We're not special. Where there's one there be hundreds. Thousands. Will they be friendly. Will we be friendly? Can we hide? Can we opt out? What will they think like? Will they be smarter than us? Suppose they are, what can we do?

Sort of like the thoughts that go through the mind of an ex-only child when mum and dad come back from the hospital with a little bundle....

and that's enough 'Fermi' to worry about today.

[ducks]

Wouldn't any programmer worth their salt identify themselves in the comments, or (if not) be logged as the last guy in that code on such-and-such a date, while working on such-and-such a patch number? (E,.g 'kittenman was here, 1/Jan/15, fixing Steve's crap').

But I hope my code is easily recognizable. I'm proud of it. It may not be the smartest, slickest, quickest there is, but it's mine. And it works.

[Citation needed]. Though I suspect if there weren't spies among 'em when they were interned, there were when they were released.

There's also the 'Trent Affair'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... . The US stopped a British ship mid-Atlantic to take off a couple of confederate politicians. That got pretty heated, until Lincoln handled the incident (read the article...).