We are now running on the new server

[iandrewmartin]

OK Scotty you can slow to impulse power now. Thanks Packey, job well done!

Just coasting now until the replacement beryllium sphere that we order off the Internet shows up.

Geez Don;

You gotta be careful ordering those things. I have a buddy here in Australia who wanted one because of the movie, so he orders it off Ebay and it never arrives. Unfortunately the guys in the black suits turn up at his house and ask him why he wants one. And this is serious stuff, cause the state police, and the Federalis are there and a whole other circus of law enforcement.

He never gets the sphere mind you, but he gets the lecture about how these things are used as an initiator for nuclear weapons, and so on. This mate of mine is an electronics guru and clock maker of some repute so he takes them on a tour of his clock workshop (since they've dropped by and he loves to tweak the law a little) and shows them the GPS clocks and stuff he is working with to accurise his hand built clocks (we're talking about < 20 milli-seconds per decade accuracy for his old fashioned clocks - which is cool - I'm getting one for my 50th this year) and all of the parts are ex mil-spec GPS boards from HARM, SLAM and other long distance terrain followng missles, and ex Israeli stuff he uses in his full time gig and stuff.

So you can imagine that the Federalis go nuts, and the guys in black suits go nuts, and the State Police go nuts and he shows them the import docos are all legal and so on and they go away. They don't like it but they go.

The motto of this whole story is: don't joke about the beryllium spheres.
Regards