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I never knew this:

5.5 What is the Asimov-Clarke treaty?

The Asimov-Clarke Treaty of Park Avenue, put together as Asimov and Clarke
were travelling down Park Avenue in New York while sharing a cab ride,
stated that Asimov was required to insist that Arthur C. Clarke was the
best science fiction writer in the world (reserving second best for
himself), while Clarke was required to insist that Isaac Asimov was the
best science writer in the world (reserving second best for himself).
Thus the dedication in Clarke's book Report on Planet Three reads "In
accordance with the terms of the Clarke-Asimov treaty, the second-best
science writer dedicates this book to the second-best science-fiction
writer".

-- Isaac Asimov FAQ, via PC Authority.

This gorgeous case by Jeffrey Stephenson is beautifully crafted in cherry wood and aluminium for a look that is as timeless as it is stunning. Taking its inspiration from the Thermaltake Level 10 this houses a tiny Pico-ITX board, hard drive, slimline DVD and power supply. The VIA P820 Pico-ITX powering this is capable of full speed 1080p video playback.

Be sure to read through the build log to see the skill that went into this build.

Ars Technica has coverage of a Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) report which examines the value of Fair Use to the US economy. Nate Anderson writes:

The CCIA report's numbers are staggering. The "fair use economy" accounted for 23 percent of all US real economic growth between 2002 and 2007. Fair use industries (core and non-core combined) generated $4.7 trillion in 2007. And "about one out of every eight workers in the United States is employed in an industry that benefits from the protection afforded by fair use."

It is pretty much a forgone conclusion that GST will soon raise to 15%, and much has been written about possible impacts to the low-income worker, pensioners and small businesses I occurred to me yesterday that this could impact anybody like me, who imports gadgets or anything else from overseas.

Under current importing regulations GST is calculated on all imports (based on the value of the item imported and shipping), but will only be collected if the GST exceeds $50. This means that we can import items up to $400 without being taxed. If GST raises to 15% and the $50 GST limit remains the same, we will be able to import items no more than $333.33 without attracting GST.

Bother.

(Picture by Don Solo. / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Last weekend I acquired my first (and possibly only) arcade cabinet. It appears to be a custom cabinet (i.e. not the original manufacturer's cabinet) from the early 1980s.

Uniwar S looks like a conversion of the Galaxians PCB, and has very similar gameplay. It is not a particularly well known game and is probaly not especially collectable. Nonetheless, I will be trying to restore the original PCB and monitor if possible. I will also be doing a MAME conversion, but hope to run them both in the same cabinet. The game is from Irem, the company that later released Moon Patrol and R-Type which are two of my favourite arcade games.

Links:

• KLOV (Killer List of Videogames) Game information
• VAPS (Video Arcade Preservation Society) collector info
• Solarfox's Uniwar S info page
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