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The cost of a CD should be exponentially higher, according to the RIAA

The Recording Industry Association of America hasn't been making too many friends these days. I guess I should say that the organization does have many friends inside the music industry, because that's who makes up the the RIAA.

I'm not here to argue whether it's right or wrong to download free music where it's available, or whether it's OK to listen to your friend's "Beach Boys Greatest Hits Album." I'm just here to point out what the RIAA wants you to believe about the cost of music and CDs.

Book review: 'Digital Fortress' by Dan Brown

For decades, the U.S. government has had the ability to encrypt and decrypt email messages. But now, a man claims he has rewritten the book on cryptography and can make messages perfectly undecipherable. At what lengths will the United States government go to keep the lid on him?

Change your canvas with the paintbrush

Coloring is a favorite past time of mine, as it is for probably many people under the age of 4. Besides being useful to keep track of the difference between midnight blue, cornflower and periwinkle, coloring is an extremely relaxing activity. That means that if you wanted to have a completely balanced evening, trying coloring while watching professional wrestling.

Find 'The Developers' at a library near you

I just recently found an interesting site that combines library listings from across the world. While it's not a comprehensive list of every single library, WorldCat promotes itself as having "Over 1 billion items in more than 10,000 libraries worldwide.

That's a lot of books!

Older than the UNIVAC

Most people understand that computers have technically been around for about a half century or so. But there have been multiple reports of computer-like items before that time, depending on your definition of a computer.

Then there's the Ancient Moon computer, which is about 2,000 years old. According to a recent article published in the journal Nature, this device may have been used to predict eclipses of the solar and lunar variety.

From the Archive

Book review: "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Writing a review for Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is sort of Catch-22. If I don't tell you enough about it, you probably won't be interested in the book. But if I tell you too much, you won't have to read it because you'll already know what it's about.

But I suppose I should try.

World War II cipher solved

Humans have tried for years to figure out this World War II encrypted cipher:

"NCZW VUSX PNYM INHZ XMQX SFWX WLKJ AHSH NMCO CCAK UQPM KCSM HKSE INJU SBLK IOSX CKUB HMLL XCSJ USRR DVKO HULX WCCB GVLI YXEO AHXR HKKF VDRE WEZL XOBA FGYU JQUK GRTV UKAM EURB VEKS UHHV OYHA BCJW MAKL FKLM YFVN RIZR VVRT KOFD ANJM OLBG FFLE OPRG TFLV RHOW OPBE KVWM UQFM PWPA RMFH AGKX IIBG"

Google Fight is interesting, at least for 17 seconds

Everyone these days is interested in whether or not their sites are listed in Google. OK, maybe it's just me, a handful of companies and search engine optimization people. Nevertheless, there's a simple way to find out how search keywords compare to one another. At Google Fight, you have the ability to compare two sets of search terms and see which one has more results.

Time to get a handle on your spam

It's difficult for me sometimes to understand why spammers do what they do. Do they really expect that the millions and millions of emails sent will provide income from the products they are selling? Do they enjoy intentionally slowing down the Internet to a relative crawl for email users? Do they have any idea why even non-watchers of Country Music Television have noticed that Shania Twain seems to be on an endless loop infomercial on that station?

What are fireworks salespeople up to now anyway?

(This column was originally published in the Crawfordsville Journal Review on July 9, 1999)

Nomads have wandered through cities during the last two weeks, sold their goods and departed for lands of milk and honey.

They don't leave a trail, but their wares do - usually ashes, perhaps a foul-smelling odor but always a glowing experience.

Fireworks salespeople have rigorous lives. I recently caught up with one such seller, Smokin' Joe Romancandle. What follows is his normal day:

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