CliffStoll

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Aah - thank you. Maybe I'll check it out. When I have free time. Uh right... Cheers, -Cliff

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Once upon a time, MoneGator, things posted to the internet were assumed to be true unless proven otherwise. Oh, how things have inverted!

CliffStoll

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Thank you Miraclemaker. By luck and coincidence, I've had a lot of fun fooling with the early networks, astronomy, radio, teaching, and topology.

Now, as I hear that distant bell tolling, it's time to pass the torch: it's your turn to take over and make this world a better place. You can't do much worse than my generation...

Warm wishes, -Cliff

CliffStoll

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  Yikes - Yep, I remember your visit -- what a hoot to see that photo.  

  And yep, I'm working on a new quilt: it'll be a recursive design.

CliffStoll

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Thanks! I've submitted a paper to Black Hat / DefCon; I don't know if it'll be accepted. If so, I'll have fun doing a talk there.

I'm volunteering around the Bay Area (up at the Steam Trains at Tilden Park on Sunday afternoons), show up to the intro-classes at Berkeley Folk Dancing, and speak to schools and professional groups.

And, of course, I'm still operating this Klein bottle business. I have only one employee (who is a lazy, good for nothing sloth). Management is very thin and incompetent: there's only one boss (who is an oppressive taskmaster always trying to get me to do more work than I want to).

CliffStoll

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Thanks DJ of the East. It's strange to have written a book aimed at grownups and find that astute kids picked up on it.

  Now, of course, the book's antique: Arpanet?  1200 baud modems?  Phone booths?  If you know what those are, then you're probably worrying about 401(K)'s and Medicare.

CliffStoll

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Sure - if you can buy a few hundred Klein bottles, you'll help my kids with their tuition and whatnot...

CliffStoll

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Naw, I answer all my emails (and HN postings) by hand, using this trusty Mac. Well, usually trusty.

And yep, the dozen or so people who ordered Klein bottles this morning received photos showing that either I'm alive or someone's doing a good job of imitating a 75 year old hacker...

CliffStoll

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Thank you Two-Bee. I'm happy to report that aside from insomnia, I'm doing well.

Needless to say, this silly incident has a serious subtext for me.

CliffStoll

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Thanks, oh unclothed robot.

What brought it all home was when I sent a copy of the almost-finished manuscript to my mom. She called long-distance (an absolute luxury for her) and said, "I really like it -- I couldn't put it down"

I've received accolades and awards, but there's nothing like hearing praise from your folks. Forty years later, that phone call still echoes.

CliffStoll

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I'm grateful to be OK as well. Close call there...

CliffStoll

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Thank you -- one of the joys of running this zero-volume business is meeting visitors to the Bay Area. Every few days, someone stops by. Much fun! Cheers, -Cliff

CliffStoll

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And yep, there was a huge bump in sales today. Almost a dozen orders. I'll have to buckle down and stop reading Hacker News.

CliffStoll

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Not me, Jeff! Smiles, -Cliff

CliffStoll

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Not ripped. Torn.

CliffStoll

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Oh Jeez, Don! That nuttiness still haunts me five years later. I still cannot sell Klein bottles on the Canadian Amazon site -- the Amazon hijacker somehow held onto the listing for my klein bottle listing for Amazon/Canada.

CliffStoll

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Thank you Andrew - I will pass along your condolences to my family, especially to my wife, Pat, who passed away a year ago.

CliffStoll

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You betcha, Brudgers: I'm a member of the tribe.

CliffStoll

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Legitimate answer: Maybe someone has stolen my account on hacker news. Maybe someone has researched who I am, even looking at sources unavailable online. Perhaps they stopped my my home (while I was alive) and noticed that I like Apricot decaf tea. Perhaps they attended a talk where I quoted chess master, Arthur Bisguier. In that case, maybe it's a real person simulating me. But counting my fingers (five on each hand), I'm fairly convinced that I'm not an AI simulation.

Having said that, it was just three weeks ago that I spoke at OpenAI in SF. Maybe they did a whole-body substitution. (counting my fingers again...) Cheers, -Cliff

CliffStoll

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Makes me feel even older, Benji. I wrote it when I was 38.

Now, at 75, I'm astonished at how much has changed online. When I first started fooling with the Arpanet in the early 1980's, I calculated that I probably knew around 0.01 percent of everyone on the net. (where "knew" meant something like "have heard of" or "saw at a meeting") ... that number impressed me with how big the network was.

Today, what percent of the network users does a person know? 1 / 10^-7 or so?

CliffStoll

Submissions

Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

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