Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!cbnews!lvc
From: lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM (Lawrence V. Cipriani)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Soviet Access to Usenet
Message-ID: <2456@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 4 Dec 88 16:39:22 GMT
References: <8081@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <2672@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <348@kps.UUCP> <2304@ficc.uu.net> <957@tank.uchicago.edu> <274@lloyd.camex.uucp> <2409@cbnews.ATT.COM> <227@taniwha.UUCP>
Reply-To: lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM (Lawrence V. Cipriani)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 41

In article <227@taniwha.UUCP> michael@taniwha.UUCP (Michael Hamel) writes:
>Aha. I wondered what it was. Larry, you really shouldn't let one persons
>writings do this to you. I wouldn't ever believe everything I read in a book
>about a highly-charged subject like the USSR. People have been known to lie
>and exaggerate about subjects that they feel strongly about. I get my views
>on the USSR from an average of a *lot* of books and articles, and I still
>wouldn't claim to know whats really going on over there. I certainly wouldn't
>let one book put me in a position where nothing short of "fundamental changes"
>could change my views. Why not read another book? Or two?

I've read several authors on the USSR and even an occasional issue of Soviet
Life (gag).  Like you, I don't claim to understand the USSR completely.  I got
some mail from former Russians living in the west.  Basically, they agree with
the goals I advocate but not the means.  Okay, we can discuss what the best way
to promote change in the USSR is, but not in comp.misc.  I don't think I ever
claimed that I was omniscent, I only wanted to point out that a USENET
connection could possibly have a negative effect on promoting fundamental
change in the USSR.  What I think a USENET connection will do is to prolong
the current system, even though it might make life better in the short run.
I could be wrong.  I have some strange, even radical, ideas but I'm really
a nice guy.

Now, lets talk comp.misc!

This is from a sci.math article I posted this past week.  It might be of
interest here.

On Dec. 6 a "human computer" will make an appearance here.  Her name is
Shakuntala Devi, or something close to that.  She holds the Guiness world
record for multiplying two large numbers in her head.  So, I was wondering
if anyone could think of some problems that would be particularly hard for
such a person.  Any 100 digit numbers need factoring :-)

One of the best problems I got so far was: Find the smallest integer n such
that:

	1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + ... + 1/n > 20

-- 
Larry Cipriani, AT&T Network Systems, Columbus OH,
Path: att!cbnews!lvc    Domain: lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM