P.S. Another chapter in the saga of AC 767s, this time over metrification: Gimli Glider

When the moon hits you eye like a big pizza pie... That's Air Canada...

Science fair gold medalist, 17, invents better way to search Internet

Watch out, Google: When it comes to Internet search, there's a new competitor in town.

Seventeen-year-old Nicholas Schiefer has found a better way to search small documents, such as tweets and Facebook statuses - all for his Grade 11 science fair project.

The Pickering resident created an algorithm to filter through, and find relevant information. Created using linear algebra and discrete math, his algorithm is named "Apodora" after a python species with extraordinary search capabilities.

Not only did Mr. Schiefer win a gold medal at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, but he also earned the attention of students who dubbed him the "next Mark Zuckerberg," said science and mathematics teacher Nina Dolgovykh.

>The basic model IBM PC, launched that year, had 64k expandable to 256

Nope. The first version of the IBM PC had a motherboard that came with 16k expandable to 64k. See e,g. http://computermuseum.usask.ca/articles/IBM-5150-Specifications.pdf

A revised motherboard used denser chips that allowed for 64k base, expandable to 256k. You could also get adapter boards that would take you to 512k and even 640k (which at the time was all you'd ever need according to a certain visionary of the era.)

And for the rest of us, CRTC willing in some cases, http://thepiratebay.org/search/nova%20smartest/0/99/0

What an incredibly dumb design. A pair of plastic hooks would likely be cheaper and work better.

As I understand it, Amazon stands firmly behind their reviewers. If you don't like a review Amazon will refund twice what you paid for it.

...cut off your nose to spite your face.

> any patents that may have been around for it at the time no longer exist.

Those patents still exist but they've long since expired ;)

e.g. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/biography/10068.wss

[In case their scrubbers find this bio] "Robert W. Moffat, Jr.
Senior Vice President and Group Executive, Systems and Technology Group

Full biography

Robert W. Moffat, Jr. is senior vice president and group executive, IBM Systems and Technology Group. Named to this position in July 2008, Mr. Moffat is responsible for all IBM hardware offerings as well as the microelectronics division, which translates IBM research and development into semiconductor solutions for IBM systems and OEM clients. In addition, the company’s integrated supply chain operations, which include global manufacturing, procurement and customer fulfillment, report to him.

Mr. Moffat was senior vice president, Integrated Operations. In this cross-functional role created in July 2005, he led an initiative to transform and integrate the company’s supply chain and service delivery operations globally, leveraging new business process designs and advanced technology to achieve greater levels of efficiency while improving IBM's market responsiveness.

Prior to that, Mr. Moffat was senior vice president and group executive of IBM's Personal and Printing Systems Group, where he was responsible for worldwide sales, development, manufacturing and marketing of Personal Computers, Printing Systems and Retail Store Solutions. Before that, he was vice president, finance and planning for the Enterprise Systems Group.

Mr. Moffat has held a number of executive positions at IBM, including general manager of manufacturing, fulfillment and procurement initiatives for the PC business. He led the team that pioneered the Advanced Fulfillment Initiative, and channel collaboration initiatives, which were awarded the 1999 Franz Edelman Award, the highest recognition for achievement in operational research and management sciences, and supply chain management.

His other positions at IBM, since joining in 1978, included assistant general manager, finance, planning, and business support for the IBM PC Company in Europe, and vice president of finance and planning.

Mr. Moffat is a member of the IBM Performance Team and the IBM Corporate Operations Team. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Manufacturing Institute, an educational and research affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers. He is also a non-voting observer on the Board of Directors of Lenovo Group Limited.

Mr. Moffat is a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York, with a B.S. degree in Economics. He also holds an MBA in Management Information Systems from Iona College in New Rochelle, New York.

July 2008"

The other way to initiate a shutdown, the three finger salute, was an IBM innovation. As Dave Bradley modestly put it, "I may have invented Control-Alt-Delete, but it was Bill Gates who made it famous"

Derek K. Miller on digital executors "Derek blogs about all aspects of his life, from his hometown of Burnaby B.C., to his kids, to his cancer. At the beginning of 2007, he was diagnosed with cancer and he's currently fighting stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer. One of the things that Derek has been thinking about his digital legacy, and what should happen to our web presence when we die. Do we need to appoint a digital executor to oversee our online belongings? Someone who would know all of your passwords and keep up the payments for your domain name, for example, so your site would live on even after you have gone?"