RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Broadband besides DSL or cable

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Tue, 1 May 2001, Finn, Michael wrote:

> We have lost the ability to manufacture the guns (16" variety) used on the
> now mothballed Iowa class battleships. We no longer have the knowledge,
> equipment or skilled workers to do it. Now that given, we could easily
> "relearn" it, so we haven't forgotten the base knowledge, just some
> specifics... 
> 
> And though we can build a pyramid, we aren't sure exactly how it was done...
> again, close, but not quite fitting your quandary.

The only things I could come up with on short notice that fit were all
very artsy-like and trade secrets.  So, everybody agrees that part of the
"sound" of the Stradivarius violin derives from the strange lacquer that
was used to finish them, but nobody has the recipe or figured out what the
secret is.  That one is amenable to solution, maybe.

Human languages and cultures die out, of course, but that's not quite
right, either.

Now, I was *shocked* to find out the other day that today's undergrads
were never taught how to perform the procedure we were taught as "casting
out nines".  In other words, consider the following arithmetic problem:

      238943
    * 423423
     -------
101173861889

I can tell that this is the wrong answer in about 4 seconds without
a calculator of any kind.  So much for "progress".

jking


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