We've had the Shoe Bomber. The Underwear Bomber. And now the Alphabet Soup Bomber.

If this level of genius keeps surfacing I think they'll crack the mysteries of Invisible Ink any day now!

My experience has nothing to do with the era; I was 3 years old when that book was originally published. Matter of fact, the only reason I brought up the BBS era was because the other responder to this thread had mentioned doing a "bologna on the hood of a car" prank -- something that was not published in the original book. Stunts like that weren't even in the spirit of what the original book was about. And the fact that he mentioned a 1998 date kinda illustrates that he's probably not that old, either. The mention of the digital era was solely to show how the Anarchist Cookbook took on yet another life of its own outside the published version.

Excellent point!

Derek,

While it's true that (1) all kids more or less grow up doing the same s**t (based on the technology of the day) and (2) I appreciate the fire in your response, I'm pretty sure you completely missed my points. I wasn't trying to claim any credit or validate ANY version (or variation) of the Anarchist Cookbook in any era.

My points:

• The Anarchist Cookbook doesn't go away because it has become a runaway brand name unto itself -- regardless of the fact that it contains a ton of inaccurate information.
• The most dangerous information in the Anarchist Cookbook was (and still is) available in any well-stocked library or military munitions manual. People have been making black powder for over 1500 years. There's nothing new with most of those basic formulas, only the applications.
• The FBI dedicating all that time to "investigating" the Anarchist Cookbook was a huge waste of time and taxpayer dollars. What they did was like investigating a book like "The Joy of Sex" because of issues related to STDs and teen pregnancy.

...and that was one of those things that came from the digital extention of the Anarchist Cookbook, not in the original published book. My crew and I were among that crop of underground types that had converted the Anarchist Cookbook to a [Apple] disk-based archive back in 1984. By 1986 we had moved on to the Kurt Saxon's books (Poor Man's James Bond, etc). All in all, once the digital version of The Anarchist Cookbook hit the 90s it had basically been stripped of all the original anti-Vietnam War and anti-government rhetoric. It was just a collection of how-to articles for pranks, expensive revenge stunts, a few munitions, and occasional drug-related info. My point -- real knowledge is a only dangerous thing depending on the brain that possesses it. Once the feds stick to that notion they'll be better off finding the real threats instead of archaic books that won't go away.

The true power of The Anarchist Cookbook has almost nothing to do with its contents. Matter of fact, if it were Mexican Cuisine, the Anarchist Cookbook would be day-old Taco Bell. The thing that William Powell (the original author) managed to do was accidentally come up with one of the underground's most powerful BRAND NAMES, one that could single-handedly ignite the imaginations of a typical teenager so much that it got out of his control. Once the publisher saw that it was such a money-maker, they refused to let it die. Eventually, the early crop of computer underground "anarchists" on the BBS scene took the book concept and created digital extensions of the information in the form of "G-Files" and early 8-bit graphics. By the time the Anarchist Cookbook made it to the Internet, it was no longer a book. It was a movement, one without direction or guidance or measurable intent, all loosely bound together by a set of files that had been slapped with the same Anarchist Cookbook brand name. Most of the people who downloaded the Cookbook, in whatever form, probably never tried much beyond a smoke bomb or two. The thrill was in the power of the potential of the information itself, even if it was incorrect. For the FBI to dedicate this much time studying it makes me sit back and scratch my head. Truth be told, the Central Library in any given city is far more dangerous... it just doesn't sound anywhere near as appealing to the typical kid.

That's exactly what I was thinking. It was too irrational and too staged, like an outtake of Sandra Bullock in "The Net".

Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where if you have to ask that question, you're not ready. If your company doesn't have the numbers to show nor the business track record, more than likely the only takers you'll get are corporate raider pimps who will come in, stroke your egos and financially milk your company for as long as they can see the magic twinkle in your eyes (or a more profitable scam comes up). Sometimes the scam is as basic as reimbursing those restaurant tabs and first-class flights as they push your wares on the money trail. Other times "they" will do a Dog-n-Pony show of your products to one or more ACME Incs., larger companies who will, in turn, string you along over several meetings -- long enough to where their inhouse techs can reverse-engineer what you're offering and do it without you. if the Barrier-to-Entry is not high enough with your product, you can bet you'll get banged out Tiger Wood style with each "promising" encounter. And, no, things like Non-Disclosures don't work in those arenas; they'll always claim their company is too large and no one will sign off on it. Bottom line -- if you're not going to grow it yourself to where the real players come to you, expect to get played like a prostitute -- and, no, that's not Hair Gel.

In a word, the big determining factors for your brother's path are "Curiosity", "Desire" and "Time". If he's got all three, he can start out with pretty much any language as long as he's got a tutorial or book that's simple enough for him to read, a simple development environment or testbed. Having some sort of project or goal in mind helps out, too. I was about 10 or 11 when I started out with Apple BASIC then I took on 6502 Assembly language (a must for any aspiring protection-cracking software pirate back then) and eventually took QBasic and Pascal once it was available in school. Most of my friends that had an interest in programming took a similar path except they started out with C64 BASIC or whatever came with their computer. As far as what languages to start with, I've seen some fun introductions to Python. With all sincerity, if your brother doesn't have at least two of those three factors working for him -- particularly the desire to learn -- then you'll probably be wasting your time. If your brother doesn't have the desire, you won't be able to teach him how to program a microwave oven.

To make a long story short, nobody cares. If you weren't ever prosecuted and the body was never recovered, why would your prospective employer care about the deed? If that job requires a Top Secret Security Clearance and your employer is willing to spend up to $20,000 to do a deep-tissue background check, chances are that brief mention in that silly little zine will be among the last of your worries. The next thing you should acknowledge that you're not going to be able to erase all traces of yourself and that zine. Aside from being a waste of time pondering it, you don't have the money or resources. There are people who have been trying to erase parts of history since the beginning of civilization. Everybody has at least one sexual encounter in their past that they regret whether it was with a snaggle-toothed woman, confused drunk man or thoroughly startled livestock. That's part of life. Own the f*** up or it will PWN you. All that said, the real lesson here is to Control Your Press – and it's never too late to start. Whether through the posting of blogs or articles, it's very possible to generate enough content of your choosing. By putting your name on it, Search Engine spiders will eventually come to embrace those links more than the ones connected to some ancient g-files from the 80s and 90s. Good luck and next time use protection.

Ugly Lesson #1: If a product or service is truly your baby and you're that emotionally attached to it, do NOT sell. Business is all about consumption and, just like food that gets consumed, it will never maintain the same state even minutes after it begins to get processed. Megacorp isn't interested in acquiring your company because you're a great bunch of guys. They want your product or some component of your product and they will do a great job with the foreplay to convince you to sell. More often than not they don't care about your vision or company mission; they want to incorporate your product into THEIR vision and they are only bringing your team along solely for the brain trust to further develop and act as the kernel of the future support structure for the product. Megacorps are also not into allowing the little guy to get leverage on them so, rest assured, they will do their best to make sure every inch of your product is documented to insure that you or anyone on your team can be replaced or "downsized" at will.

Ugly Lesson #2: If the offer is enough to satisfy you and your partners, consider selling the product and not the entire company. Use the infusion of capital to grow the business or, if it's that much money, take up a new career sport fishing off the coast of the Caribbean island of your choice.

Ugly Lesson #3: If you decide to sell, you are going to need to adjust your expectations. Any kind of merger or acquisition is a lot like a marriage. The early foreplay and sex is phenomenal but once the honeymoon is over, Megacorp will stop with the romance and start acting real because they now have what they wanted. Throw any idealistic impressions of how things âoewill beâ out the window because now you are working for them. You will abide by all their policies (not just the ones you like). You will go along with whatever they say, regardless of how much it might bother you, and if you protest too much they won't think twice about throwing you out like a javelin. Even Steve Jobs got fired from Apple once upon a time. Unless they have somehow breached the contract, you can't take your company or your product back once the deal is done.

If you want to love and nurture a baby, do yourself a favor and go ahead and have a baby. Don't make the mistake of loving a business like a baby because, quite candidly, you never know if that child is going to die young (which happens most often) or it will grow up to find a cure for Cancer or become Frankenstein's Monster. A business is a business, a vehicle to make money by providing a product or service (and hopefully its something you love to do). My advice -- if you are going to sell your company, sell it, walk away and don't look back. A quote comes to mind: "Remember Lot's Wife".