01 Jan 2002 A.8.7 How do I pronounce PuTTY? Exactly like the normal word "putty". Just like the stuff you put on window frames. (One of the reasons it's called PuTTY is because it makes Windows usable. :-) Putty Faq http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/faq.html#A.8.7 comps 30 Dec 2001 The most brilliant case of forgery in wartime was that of the Nazis against Britain in the second world war. The Germans used skilled counterfeiters in prison, notably in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. They also manufactured superb paper (the paper that goes into a banknote can be the hardest thing to forge: Warnerke was a master paper maker). When the notes started to appear, the Bank of England was deeply worried by their quality. It is said that the only distinction between the best German forgeries and the real thing was that the former were perfect: genuine notes all had blemishes. Economist http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=883585 finance 26 Dec 2001 In November of 1993, Ahmad Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, an opposition group devoted to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein,.... Chalabi, who is fifty-six, was born into a wealthy Iraqi Shiite banking family and earned a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Chicago. RRE http://www.newyorker.com/FACT/?011224fa_FACT math 12 Mar 2002 According to Thomas Bushnell, BSG, the primary architect of the Hurd: `Hurd' stands for `Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons'. And, then, `Hird' stands for `Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth'. We have here, to my knowledge, the first software to be named by a pair of mutually recursive acronyms. The GNU Hurd http://www.fsf.org/software/hurd/hurd.html#name comps 05 Sept 2003 Bank Routing numbers (first 9 digits at the bottom of your check) in the US have a simple Error Correcting Code check. If you dot product those 9 numbers with "371371371" (Multiply the first number by 3 and the second by 7 and so on and then add up all the answers) the answer is divisible by 10. I knew about these kinds of checks on ISBN numbers and credit card numbers but not on bank routing numbers. Javascript code on securebills.com https://ebill.securebills.com comps 27 Mar 2005 Oh, still wondering about the world's busiest airport, O'Hare International, and its ORD code? Well once upon a time, before the editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Colonel Robert McCormick suggested a name change as tribute to pilot Lt. Cmdr. Edward "Butch" O'Hare, USN, there was an airstrip well to the northwest of Chicago with a quaint, peaceful name -- Orchard Field. Airport codes history - Skygod.com http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html 7 Apr 2005 To keep to their published timetables, trains cannot leave a station before the scheduled time. So when the clocks fall back one hour in October, all Amtrak trains in the United States that are running on time stop at 2 A.M. and wait one hour before resuming. Overnight passengers are often surprised to find their train at a dead stop and their travel time an hour longer than expected. At the spring DST time change, trains instantaneously become an hour behind schedule at 2 A.M., but they just keep going and do their best to make up the time. Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time by David Prerau http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/k.html 4 May 2005 An additional $0.12 is required for items weighing 1 ounce or less with any of the following criteria: [SNIP] f. It has an address parallel to the shorter dimension of the mailpiece. USPS - Simplified Domenstic Rates and Fees http://usps.com/consumers/domestic.htm#H1