Roger P. Kovach of Bolinas, California, writes to say that my description of MRML ("mind reading markup language") filled him with nostalgia. "Back in 1959 when I was programming a Philco Transac 2000...the necessities of programming and debugging mothered my invention of a new instruction, mnemonic code RPI, Read Programmer's Intention. Obviously, this saved many an hour of agonizing effort."
Students of the history of computing may remember Kovach as the inventor of Kovach's Bit Squeezer, which created narrower bits so that more stuff could be stored in limited memory.
A lot of readers sent in their favorite vanity net addresses, real and imaginary, but while there were some decent tries (lunatic@fringe, god@heaven.gov, thebestcar@thebestprice, editor@large, not@home, FWIW@LeastITried), nothing really inspired came over the transom.
The reason may be, as Mark Clouden suggests, that, "unlike a vanity license plate, the vain one is not restricted to a handful of letters/numbers. In an email name there is nothing to make you look twice, think a bit, then smack your forehead (ow!) in recognition." Mark's address: iCode@dfm.com. Which he does.
Many readers submitted their own net addresses in my no-contest for shortest net address, including Tony Godshall, (eight characters, counting the @ and the period) and Rickard Lind (seven characters). Tony matches, and Rickard beats, the previous record, so they will be receiving their no-prizes in no-time. But I'm sure Rickard's address is not the shortest. Any more entries?
After coming across his own name in this column, Mike Morton wrote, "I hadn't realized you considered me a no-prize winner in that anagram contest a ways back. Perhaps you should officially notify winners that they've won no prize? But I think you could encourage more people to enter your contests if you got more specific about what prize they won't get if they win. Not giving them a bell would allow you to offer a 'no-bell prize'. It wouldn't come with a large sum of money, wouldn't get you a trip to Sweden, and wouldn't require you to give a speech to some stuffy academy. I think your readers would go wild...."
Mike's name was mentioned on the same NPR program on which Will Shortz (the puzzle expert who wrote the riddles for the Riddler in Batman Forever) appeared. "My near-association with Will Shortz," Mike goes on, "hasn't gotten me near a share of Batman Forever's eight trillion dollars, so if you can get me a deal for a cut of that, I'll gladly share with you."
Done, Mike. Glad I could help. While you're waiting for the check to arrive, I'll add to your fame and commemorate one of the most absurd IPOs ever by publishing your Top Ten Anagrams for "Netscape Communications," along with the copyright notice you've taken to insisting on since I made you famous by publishing your earlier anagrams:
(Copyright (c) 1995 by the author, Mike Morton <mike@morton.com>. All rights reserved. You may reproduce this, in whole or in part, in any form provided you retain this paragraph unchanged.)
10. Companies can't consume it.
9. I cannot compute sans mice.
8. Can't access 'net...I'm on opium.
7. Um, options scam can entice.
6. Net's uncommon capacities.
5. Connect communities, ASAP.
4. Mosaic IPO, etc., can stun men.
3. Optimum 'net access: An icon.
2. Connect it up; amass income.
And the number one anagram for "Netscape Communications":
1. Mosaic, minus neat concept.
Michael Swaine
editor-at-large
MikeSwaine@eworld.com
Copyright © 1995, Dr. Dobb's Journal