Yep, I'm the same guy. Almost 40 years ago, I chased down those German hackers in my unix boxes; not knowing a thing about writing, I wrote Cuckoo's Egg. (a long story there - how to write a book)

Since then, I've lowered my periscope: my wife, Pat, and I decided to stay home together and raise two kids. They're now fledged - hooray! During that time, I started this micro-business of making Klein bottles - much fun!

Alas, but this past December, my wife left this vale of toil and tears. During the day, staying busy helps keep the grief under control; other times I'm in deep sadness, trying to find my way without her.

To all my friends & acquaintances on HN: my deep thanks for your kindness & support across decades. It's a joy to be considered a member of the tribe.

His NOVA episode on the same subject is worth a watch as well https://youtu.be/Xe5AE-qYan8

I think most younger readers will be familiar through his videos on the Numberphile YouTube channel.

The first time I lived in Italy, back in the mid nineties, with expensive phone service and no home internet connection... I had a copy of that book and I think I read it like 10 times.

This is amazing. I was literally reading the 3rd chapter of the book "Machine Beauty" in bed, saw the baby Clifford Stoll mentioned and looked it up because it sounded familiar. Of course I've seen the beautiful glass bottles here on HN before, so I went back to my book. After putting it down and hopping on HN, of course I see an article referencing this exact topic! Such a small world.

I just saw him give a talk at Thotcon in Chicago about catching one of the first hackers and it was by far the best talk I've seen in quite a while. He's eccentric, animated, and an amazing storyteller.

>how Hacker News deals with someone registering a famous person's name

I registered as britneyspears, but dang got mad and made me change it. :(

I thought the absurdity of Britney being on HN was amusing.

I think that was the book that I read on my Palm Pilot. But it's been a while.

I had the klein stein at one point, but got rid of it when downsizing. It was hard to clean, so not practical for drinking, and not as pretty on the shelf as a classic klein bottle. I'd recommend one of those if you're thinking of getting one.

Reminder that there's also a film/dramatization/documentary of the events from the cuckoo's egg, with Cliff playing himself.

"The KGB, the Computer, and Me".

It can be found online, and it's worth a watch just because of him.

The man exudes good humor and niceness.

Wow! One of my all time favorite books and authors and the reason I got into this field. Thanks for that info.