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Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

kleinbottle.com

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Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#61

Post by xjwm »

I just ordered one of these recently! Last week, I finished reading "The Cuckoo's Egg,"[0] about a computer espionage case in the late 1980s (great book, by the way.) Afterwards, I was looking up the author's information, and found the klein bottle website, and videos with Numberphile.

Cliff actually sent photos of the klein bottle I ordered as it was being packaged up for shipping! Lots of humorous tidbits hidden all around the website. Worth taking a few minutes to explore around.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#62

Post by andor436 »

sp332 wrote: post #15
jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an episode of Nova about it as well, that's up free online various places. Cliff is such a unique and energetic personality it's really entertaining to watch.

The episode is called "The KGB, the Computer, and Me". Here's one on YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hTx9h3Sm29I

Oh wow thank you, I’ve looked for this for years. I am pretty sure this story and King’s Quest are the two major reasons I ended up in computer engineering.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#63

Post by CliffStoll »

phobosanomaly wrote: post #17
ampdepolymerase wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://archive.org/details/ProceduresInExperimentalPhysics

Very cool! Quality on that scan is great. It's birdwalking a bit, but you posting that also made me check to see if Internet Archive has early editions of Vogel's Practical Organic Chemistry, and they do! Another really cool blast from the past. https://archive.org/details/Practical_Organic_Chemistry_Voge...

From Goldstein's Mechanics textbook, Jabberwocky of

  "The polhode rolls without slipping on the herpelhode in the invariable plane"

   (did I remember it right?)

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#65

Post by kazinator »

edoceo wrote: post #20
areoform wrote: post #18

This man has just given me half an hour of pure delight. I haven't laughed this much with unadulterated joy since I was a little girl. His enthusiasm and happiness and weltanschauung are contagious!

To help others: Welt·an·schau·ung: a particular philosophy or view of life; the worldview of an individual or group.

Also:

speicherverwaltung -- memory management.

Learned it from the "spvw" abbreviation in CLISP sources.

Hmm, how can I tie this ridiculous digression back to the topic? Oh, I got it: the original author of CLISP is also named Stoll.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#66

Post by v64 »

Cliff, if you're still hanging around the thread, I want to thank you for this Klein bottle I got over a decade ago, back when I was a mere math undergrad. [1] Despite a number of close calls and myriad stories about strange objects getting trapped in it, it's maintained its structural and multidimensional integrity over the years. Thank you again!

[1] https://i.imgur.com/vlkIcKu.jpg

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#67

Post by notdang »

turdnagel wrote: post #64

Wonderful low tech website, wonderful business and idea, wonderful sense of humor. Very tempted to order.

Just buy one. I guarantee you that it will be the most delightful online purchase ever (and if not, I'll reimburse you, just send a piece of glass from the bottle).

After I bought it, I kept everything, even the packaging.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#68

Post by quelsolaar »

CliffStoll wrote: post #52
quelsolaar wrote: post #45

I sell software and have for many years, and I dont advertise it but I always give 100% money back to any unhappy customers (granted there is very few of them, for the last 2 years I have had one). Usually if someone mails me expressing unhappiness, I start by giving them a full refund even if they dont ask for it, then I mail them to tell them that I have refunded them, usually i let them keep the license, and then…

Oh, but I understand what you're saying, Solaar. You make your software to solve problems and make situations better and people happier -- if that doesn't happen, you'd way rather simply refund their money.

Yes. I think its 3 fundamental objectives:

-I want people who use my product to be happy with it.

-If they are not, I dont want them bad mouth me.

-When someone is unhappy, that an excellent opportunity for me to learn, so I want to incentivize my customer to engage with me in a productive and not antagonistic way.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#69

Post by psanford »

I bought one of these the last time this was on HN.

If you are on the fence about buying one I would recommend doing it for the following reasons:

- Klein bottles are cool

- Klein bottles are great conversation pieces

- Buying things from Cliff is an experience unto itself

Seriously, if only all retail experiences were as personalized and enjoyable as buying from ACME Klein Bottle is.

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