The Cantrip Corpus

Welcome.
cantrip: (kän´ tRip), n. (Chiefly Scot.)
1. a magical charm or enchantment; 2. an elaborate deception or prank.
corpus: (kôr´ pus), n., pl. -pora,
1. a complete set of writings; 2. a dead body.
This is a Nathan Myers publication.
Find here articles and essays I have published, links to odd places and people, and things you might not know you needed to know.


(Draft) Standard C++ and C++ Library Architecture.
I've participated in the ISO/ANSI C++ Standard committee since 1993, and designed the components found in Chapter 22, Localization. I've worked on most other chapters of the library as well, and am also to blame for one new keyword in the core language: explicit.
More about C++.

Unschooling
An essay, The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher by John Taylor Gatto in the Whole Earth Review finally clarified for me why the American way of schooling is necessarily such a spirit-crushing experience, and suggested what to do about it. If you are a parent, you need to read this before it's too late.

Here is another essay by the same author offering an historical perspective, and a recent interview. A later issue of WER [issue #64] had an article by Mary Pride and reviews of books on how to get kids out of the system and onto the alternatives. One such alternative is home-schooling, which (despite what you may have read) is not just for wackos. It's not the most interesting alternative, but it's well-documented. A little imagination and research reveals the others.


Consensus Trance
Many years ago (c. 1976-78) I used to experiment with hypnosis. I had since wondered how such a thing could be possible -- how could a capacity for hypnosis evolve? The solution appeared, finally, in an interview with Charles Tart. (Charles Tart is a Professor Emeritus of the University of California at Davis.)
Essentially, hypnotic trance is not so unusual; it's the usual condition of almost everybody, almost all the time. A hypnotist only nudges you from one trance to another. What most people describe as "awake" (and thinking about money, football scores, the drug/ terrorist menace, or TV), consciousness researchers call "consensus trance" -- a common agreement about how to interpret the world. We don't notice we're hypnotized because people around us are hypnotized the same way.
So why not really wake up? Easier said than done, but better said than forgotten. Read.

GNU/Linux-Equipped Astronauts Project
Here is the GNU/Linux-Equipped Astronauts Project (LEAP) page. The project goal is to get all the astronauts' software ported to GNU/Linux so that they can use GNU/Linux on their laptops in orbit. (Guess what it would replace.)

Note: The project is currently suspended pending necessary coöperation from NASA or ESA personnel. If you can help fix that, please do.


Free Software
When Richard Stallman first published the GNU Manifesto, promising a complete free system, everybody thought he was crazy. Now GNU/Linux is out, a complete, free, reliable Unix-like operating system with thousands of utilities and applications, and millions of people use it, yet somehow some people still think that's the end of it.

Anything we need, we can build.


ActiveX is a built-in virus.
If you have it enabled in your browser, it allows any web page you look at to take over complete control of your computer and extract any information or insert any instructions the web page maintainer wants. Is that what you want? More...

Microsoft Code Has No Bugs!
In this interview, Big Bill gets distracted and reveals his contempt for you, his loyal customer. (Also in Italiano, Español, and Japanese. (Here's the funniest clueless response I've had.)

A detailed, sober analysis of Microsoft's worldwide monopoly plans will give you the shivers.


Here are some Damned Facts.


Here's a treat: "Oswald Sings the Blues".
And another: Building the Bomb on a Budget.


Anything wrong? missing? interesting? Send email: ncm-nospam@cantrip.org
Copyright ©1996 by Nathan Myers. All Rights Reserved. URL: <http://www.cantrip.org/>
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