After I read the summary and all the links, they could have just put up http://semiaccurate.com/2012/11/14/microsoft-has-failed/ and a period!

You say that like it's funny, but their Bay Area office had an explicit "no Linux installs allowed" policy. Maybe they've changed that now (I got sick of it and left), but developing iOS was a nightmare.

And you wonder why the commands are so brutal...it's nearly impossible to write them.

Ok, never mind about the AOAKN: http://www.ciphermysteries.com/2012/11/02/dead-pigeon-sparks-ww2-cipher-mystery

And decryption efforts are being coordinated here: http://en.reddit.com/r/cryptography/comments/12jipi/ww2_pigeon_carried_an_encrypted_text_here_it_is/.

(Thanks, by the way, for the info about all WWII German spies in the UK.)

http://www.bletchleypark.org/news/docview.rhtm/675670 says the red capsule attached to the pigeon is an Allied capsule, so if the code is German the message is from a German spy.

It's more likely the code is British. It has "AOAKN" twice - once at the start and once at the end, and from the digraph frequency (below), "AO" "FN" and "AK" stand out. I think that rules out any Enigma-based codes (e.g. the British TypeX), as well as the US SIGABA - the AOAKN would not be repeated at the beginning and end. I haven't found a description of BAMS yet.

Digraph frequency:
2 AR
2 DJ
2 GH
2 JR
2 ME
2 RZ
2 UA
2 OA, 2 AK, 2 KN (this is AOAKN twice)

3 AO
3 FN

If it is either of these ciphers, that means it was a message encoded using a German encryption scheme.

I think that means the message was from a German spy in England or for a British spy in Axis territory. (And the pigeon's number on the band was an "unregistered" number.) Either way, it should be a very interesting message.

Can I ask --

What good books? I'm always looking for good recommendations!

Just out of curiosity: have you ever wanted to go sneak a power cable to the repeater and surreptitiously charge the battery? :-)

That's funny... I recall the judge cleared that all up. What kind of stretched strawman are you trying for here?

The kernel devs already have a legally tested copyright to the Linux kernel source. This is NVidia trying to license their API and failing. Why defend them? Oh and it's rich for you to call Alan Cox a hypocrite while you incorrectly tell him what his chosen license means.

Apple is very complex. I like personal simplicity. I like to do what I'm good at, which is enjoying technology. I don't honestly feel I could do better than anyone reading this at a role in Apple. Jobs had the drive to run things and influence things. If there was something for sure where I'd be a great help to Apple, I'd be there in an instant, as Apple is #1 in my heart.

There are too many answers to this. I have put a lot of time and energy and money into practical jokes. Different people would enjoy some more than others. I had some great ones with Jobs too. But I'll go back to one that I hadn't thought about for 45 years that came to me recently. As electronics club president in high school I would submit notices for the daily announcements, read at the start of each school day. I submitted a phony one, sure it would be caught, but it got through. Something like a meeting at 3:00 PM in room B25 - Stanford's head janitor will speak on higher custodial education. The students would laugh and the teachers would tell them it was serious.

Tons of possibilities.

What was my favorite toy? Probably my erector set, but it might have been a toy gun when we were young and played cowboys and indians. It was fantasy and i was fun.

I am so much a pacifist.

But once when I was very young, and I don't remember it directly, there was a bully and he chased me off or hit me. My mom said to fight my own battles. I misunderstood and came up and punched him. I did wind up with a black eye. I did not learn any important life lesson.

I believe in using brain to influence people, not braun.

Since my youth, I can't even remember having animosity toward any person. If we disagree, that's all. I can think my own way but never have to convince others. Dave Mason sang "there ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy, there's only you and me, and we just disagree." That means a lot to me. A lot of my personality and values comes from songs. Dylan sang "you were right from your side, I was right from mine, we're both just one too many mornings, and a thousand miles behind."

My greatest happiness is in my feelings about all people of this planet. I'm not part of any religion but life is very happy and the greatest experience of life (word play intended). But the worth of my life, especially conflicts and resolution, would not be possible without every single person who plays a role in this game of life. I walk through airports and look at everyone there, smiling, knowing that their existence somehow is part of the greatest thing to me. Even if someone came up and robbed me or killed me, I know that I'd consider that part of this great game of existence.

But this game would be nothing without a lot of jokes!

Mine too. I had never worked with any disk drive of any type nor any operating system. A chance popped up that if I had a working floppy disk in 2 weeks I could go to the city of Las Vegas. Having no idea how they worked I put my head together and thought out a simple scheme with some clever parts (state machine) and it truly was a miracle. Today I have no idea how you create things in such a way. They couldn't have motivated me with money or stock, but getting to Las Vegas was worth it.