Home Page for Kellogg Booth
Photo of me on a good day
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Kellogg S. Booth
Professor Emeritus, Department of Computer Science
a.k.a. the Rev. Prof. Dr. Dr. Kellogg S. Booth
BS (mathematics), Caltech (1968)
MA (computer science), UC Berkeley (1970)
DMph (metaphysics), Universal Life Church
(1974)
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PhD (computer science), UC Berkeley (1975)
CONTENTS
Contact Information
Biographical Information
Teaching Activities
Read
this
before contacting me about the CPSC 491 UBC/MDM Capstone
course.
Read
this
before contacting me about the SCIE 113 First Year Seminar
in Science course.
Research Activities
Read
this
before contacting me about undergraduate internships
Read
this
before contacting me about admission to a graduate program
Read
this
before contacting me about postdoctoral positions
Pick Hits
Errata for my research publications.
FEATURED QUOTE
A number of people have gotten mad at me
for coining the term "cybercrud," which I define
as "putting things over on people using computers." But as long as it goes on we'll need the word. At every corner of our society, people are issuing pronouncements and making other people do things and saying it's because of the computer. The function of cybercrud is thus to confuse, intimidate or pressure. We have all got to get wise to
this if it is going to be curtailed.
-- Ted Nelson in his must-read book from 1974, Computer Lib> (page 8).
more favorite quotes...
MAILING ADDRESS
Department of Computer Science
201-2366 Main Mall
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 CANADA
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UBC OFFICE
Room X461, ICICS/CS Building
2366 Main Mall
(directions)
604-822-3061 (reception)
604-822-5485 (fax)
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(former) GRAND OFFICE
Centre for Digital Media
577/685 Great Northern Way
(directions)
778-370-1001 (reception)
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HOME
1145 McLean Drive
Vancouver, BC V5L 3N5 CANADA
604-872-3577 (voice)
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ELECTRONIC
e-mail:
ksbooth@cs.ubc.ca
Web:
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~ksbooth
(you are here now)
Web:
https://www.cs.ubc.ca/people/kellogg-booth
ERDÖS NUMBER
2 (the same as my Knuth number).
I do not have a Bacon number,
so my Erdös-Bacon number is not defined.
Contact me with a cash offer to co-author a paper with you
if you desire an Erdös number of 3.
RÉSUMÉ
CV (pdf)
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Google Scholar
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ACM DL (free access to my ACM papers)
ORCID
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Pedigree (my oldest known academic ancestor is Nathaniel Bowditch)
The cornerstone of UBC's faculty retention plan is its CV format. -- Dinesh Pai
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Official diploma attesting to my first doctoral degree, from the
Universal Life Church
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Hitting the spot! -- photo taken Summer of 1948 near Aliso Creek in Laguna Beach, CA
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69 years and counting -- photo taken Summer of 2015 at Seton Lake, BC
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Kellogg S. Booth is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at The University of
British Columbia, Adjunct Faculty at the
Centre for Digital Media,
and a Board Member and Secretary for the
Computer Science Canada / Informatique Canada.
He is the former Director (1990-2002) of
MAGIC, the
Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre at the University of
British Columbia, and the former Scientific Director (2009-2015) of
GRAND, the Graphics, Animation and New Media
NCE,
a former Canada-wide network of centres of excellence in digital media.
He has worked in the fields of computer graphics and
human-computer interaction since 1968.
Prior to UBC, he was a faculty member in the Department of Computer
Science at the University of Waterloo (1977-1990), and before that a staff
member at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1968-1976).
Research interests include
human-computer interaction,
user interface design,
collaboration technology, visualization, computer graphics,
and analysis of algorithms.
He has been involved in a number of interdisciplinary research projects at
UBC and elsewhere over the past five decades.
(Alternate biographical information is available
here.)
I am retired, so I do not have regular
undergraduate or graduate teaching duties.
I do still engage in the following non-course
activities, but at a reduced level. Further information on research supervision is in the next section.
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I am a liaison for CPSC 491, the
UBC/SFU Digital Media Practicum course.
This is a 6-credit directed studies course in which undergraduate
students are embedded in project teams with master's student in the
Master of Digital Media program at the Centre for Digital Media.
Details are available via the link above.
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From time to time, I might consider supervising
Undergraduate internships,
but only for specific projects the match my research interests.
There are currently
No
internships available.
-
I have very limited engagement in
Undergraduate
honours thesis supervision,
graduate
thesis and dissertation supervision,
and
postdoctoral
supervision by arrangement.
There are currently
No
openings for new students.
You can see a list of the graduate students I have
supervised in the past and their
thesis and dissertation titles.
-
You can more read about my research interests,
but please do
not contact me about internships or supervision.
(I am retired!)
UBC students interested in computer graphics, visualization,
or human-computer
interaction may wish to consider one or more of the
following courses that are offered various terms.
I am not teaching any of these courses.
Contact individual instructors for additional information concerning
the courses, including course syllabi, days and times, and course
prerequistes.
Course descriptions are in the UBC Calendar, but apparently there are
not entries for individual courses so you will need to look on the
departmental website or do a search to find more detailed information.
Here are links to
CPEN,
CPSC,
EECE,
and
EPSE
Computer Graphics Courses
-- Undergraduate courses
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CPSC 314 (3)
Computer Graphics
Human vision and colour; geometric transformations; algorithms for
2-D and 3-D graphics; hardware and system architectures; shading and
lighting; animation.
[3-2-0]
Prerequisite:
CPSC 221 and one of MATH 200, MATH 217, MATH 226, MATH 253 and one of MATH 152, MATH 221, MATH 223.
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CPSC 424 (3)
Geometric Modeling
Digital representation of curves and surfaces, including splines,
subdivision surfaces and meshes.
Principles, algorithms and mathematical foundations for geometry
representation in computer graphics, computer vision, fabrication, CAD/CAM,
and medical imaging. Algorithms for acquisition, creation, representation,
and processing of 3D shapes.
[3-0-1]
Prerequisite:
CPSC 320 and one of MATH 152, MATH 221, MATH 223 and one of MATH 200, MATH 217, MATH 226, MATH 253.
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CPSC 426 (3)
Computer Animation
Motion in computer graphics for characters and their environments.
Keyframing, inverse kinematics, particle systems, rigid body dynamics,
contact and collision, controller-based active motion, motion capture.
[3-0-0]
Prerequisite:
CPSC 314.
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CPSC 427 (3)
Video Game Programming
Video game programming techniques and technologies, including rendering,
animation, interaction, game AI, real-time software development for games;
start-to-finish simple video-game design and implementation.
[3-0-1]
Prerequisite:
CPSC 221 and one of MATH 200, MATH 217, MATH 226, MATH 253 and one of MATH 152, MATH 221, MATH 223.
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EECE 478 (3)
Computer Graphics
Physical and virtual graphics I/O devices. The GKS standard Interactive
graphics. Transformations, modelling, rendering algorithms for 2-D and
3-D graphics. Curves and surfaces.
[3-0-0]
Prerequisite:
CPSC 260.
-- Graduate courses
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CPSC 514 (3)
Computer Graphics: Rendering
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CPSC 524 (3)
Computer Graphics: Modeling
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CPSC 526 (3)
Computer Animation
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CPSC 533d (2-6)
Topics in Computer Graphics
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EECE 541 (3)
Multimedia Systems
Theoretical and practical issues in designing multimedia systems.
Interactive multimedia, digital video broadcasting and streaming, media
asset management, video indexing and retrieval, content protection,
and design of multimedia middleware.
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EECE 570 (3)
Fundamentals of Visual Computing
Computational and mathematical methods for data driven processing and
model-based analysis of digital images and other visual data: perception,
capture; representation, modelling; enhancement, restoration;
registration, fusion; feature extraction, segmentation; recognition;
practical applications.
Visualization Courses
-- Undergraduate courses
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CPSC 436v (3)
Topics in Computer Science
-- Graduate courses
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CPSC 547 (3)
Information Visualization
HCI Courses
-- Undergraduate courses
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CPEN 441 (4)
Human Computer Interfaces in Engineering Design
Practical issues for interfaces for modern software. Task analysis, user
modelling, usability engineering, representations, metaphors, prototyping
tools. Applications: interactive multimedia systems, engineering,
scientific visualization, engineering design.
[3-1-2]
Prerequisite:
One of CPSC 260, CPSC 221 and one of EECE 210, CPEN 221, EECE 309, CPSC 210, EECE 314, CPEN 333.
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CPSC 344 (3)
Introduction to Human Computer Interaction Methods
Basic tools and techniques, teaching a systematic approach to interface
design, task analysis, analytic and empirical evaluation methods.
[2-2-2]
Prerequisite:
One of CPSC 210, EECE 210, EECE 309, CPEN 221.
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CPSC 444 (3)
Advanced Methods for Human Computer Interaction
Design and evaluation methodologies and theories; formal models of the user
including visual, motor, and information processing; advanced evaluation
methods including laboratory experiments and field studies;
HCI research frontiers.
[2-2-2]
Prerequisite:
All of CPSC 310, CPSC 344 and one of STAT 200, STAT 241.
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CPSC 491 (6)
Interactive Digital Media Practicum
Design and implementation of interactive digital media systems using
modern processes and tools. Projects provided by external clients or
vetted entrepreneurial pitches are developed by interdisciplinary teams
composed of one CPSC 491 student and multiple Master of Digital Media
students.
Prerequisite:
All of CPSC 221, CPSC 310, CPSC 344 and Third-year standing.
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EECE 418 (3)
Human-Computer Interfaces in Engineering Design
Design and implementation of interactive digital media systems using
modern processes and tools. Projects provided by external clients or
vetted entrepreneurial pitches are developed by interdisciplinary teams
composed of one CPSC 491 student and multiple Master of Digital Media
students.
Prerequisite:
All of CPSC 221, CPSC 310, CPSC 344 and Third-year standing.
-- Graduate courses
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CPEN 541 (3)
Human Interface Technologies
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CPSC 543 (3)
Physical User Interface Design and Evaluation
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CPSC 544 (3)
Human Computer Interaction
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CPSC 554d (2-6)
Topics in Human Computer Interaction
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EPSE 592 (3)
Experimental Designs and Analysis in Educational Research
Students interested in a master's degree with a focus on human-computer
interaction should consider the
DFP CREATE cross-disciplinary
graduate training and research initiative in interactive computer technology.
Almost all of my recent research has been in the field of
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
Areas of research include the following:
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Collaboration technology
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Educational technology
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Structured annotation techniques for co-authored documents
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Selected areas of interactive computer graphics and virtual and augmented
reality
A list of
previous topics
that I have supervised in the past will give a snapshot of the range
of my interests.
I am not currently starting any new reseaerch initiatives or projects.
My research is limited to finishing existing projects for which I have funding.
(I am retired!)
Selected research initiatives in which I have been involved are the
following:
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Much of my recent research has been related to
GRAND (2010-2015),
the former Graphics, Animation and New Media
network of centres of excellence. GRAND promoted highly cross-disciplinary
digital media reserach and knowledge mobilization
across Canada.
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The IDEASS (2011-2015),
is part of a multi-year collaboration looking at various aspects of the
built environment that focuses on how digital media technology can enhance
our ability to plan, construct, and manage the urban landscape.
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NECTAR (2004-2009)
was a research network
funded by NSERC that focused on collaborative technology.
Much of my research over the past five years was
centred on NECTAR projects and most of the graduate students I
supervised were affiliated with NECTAR. I am still actively
working on a number of projects related to collaboration technology,
especially tools for supporting collaboration on large, wall-sized
displays and tabletop displays. Students interested in
research opportunities in this area should contact me.
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The
EVHL Enhanced Virtual Hand Laboratory (1995-2003)
was a multi-year interdisciplinary research project at
Simon Fraser University that examined a number of aspects of
augments and virtual reality, as well as hand-based interaction
techniques. I still have on-going interest in applying the results
of that research, and more recent work in the field, to analyze and
extend current interaction techniques,
especially for table top and wall-mounted displays for collaborative
systems where augmented reality techniques are employed to integrate
physical objects with virtual objects.
A fairly complete list of my publications
and summary of research activity is contained in my
CV.
There is also a list of some of my publications that are available (for free)
in the ACM DL.
This list is updated periodically. For a more complete list, you can look at
my ACM DL home page.
These are some links that I have found interesting or fun, but
some (such as the first three) have serious content.
Disclaimer:
Links go stale over time, so there is no guarantee that all of the links
below still work. If you see any that are broken, please let me know
and I will try to fix them.
Stuff I think every computer scientist should read
-
I. D. Hill
(1972).
Wouldn't it be nice if we could write computer programs in English
-- or would it?
Honeywell Computer Journal 6(2):76-83.
This is a marvelous paper, but it doesn't seem to be available on-line
anywhwere (contact me if you want to find a copy). It was originally published in the Computer Bulletin
16(6):306-312 in June, 1972. It was re-printed by Honeywell.
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Richard A. De Millo, Richard J. Lipton, and Alan J. Perlis (1979).
Social processes and proofs of theorems and programs.
Commun. ACM, 22(5):271-280 (May).
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Roy Levin and David D. Redell (1983).
How
to write a systems paper.
ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review, 17(3):35-40 (July).
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Software bloat is
real, and coming to a neighborhood near you.
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Normally I am not a big fan of claims made by the AI community, but this new
anti-theft system
looks like it might really work!
(Link currently broken, perhaps because of embarrassment.)
Stuff about digital media (graphics, visualization, HCI, etc.)
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If you don't think
this teapot demo
is funny, you are not old enough to appreciate the history of computer
graphics.
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If you are not sure whether you want to buy a new [sic] Sharp
quad pixel
display, you may want to just update your current monitor to full color by
downloading the
Squant plug-in instead.
Less serious stuff
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Do you ever get tired of those meaningless management-speak terms?
Here is an
Action Item comic strip (circa 2000'ish) that has it all!
This has been in my list for years, but only in 2020 did I follow the
link at the bottom of the comic to see Neil McAllister's more serious web pages,
including writers' tips.
There is a more recent ‘unpacking’ of management-speak in the
The Atlantic
that ‘drills down’ in an ‘impactful’ way.
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On the World Wide Web there are all kinds of situations in which an Error 404
can occur, such as
this.
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Pick a
card, any card!
(Thanks to Ron Rensink for showing me this.)
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This is the best
T-shirt I've seen so far.
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Here's the real truth behind all of that bizarre
spam e-mail
you get with the weird characters inserted into normal words and seemingly
meaningless literary text embedded in what appear to be advertisements.
-
Although many people thought that Dan Savage's favorite
anti-shrimp website
was just a joke, recent events in the Gulf of Mexico have proven this to be
hardly a laughing matter.
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There are powerful
Demotivators (R) you will enjoy,
including some new topical T-shirts related to the recent Gulf of Mexico
crisis.
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When all else fails, call the
Internet Help Desk for a good time.
-
Lest we forget how blessed we are to live in Canada, think about how simple our
food security problem is compared to the rest of North America.
Really serious stuff
-
The
Oxford comma
and the
apostrophe
are two things you need to beware of.
Check out the
Guidelines
related to academic writing
on my web page for students who are interested in working with me, and
more about commas if you aren't convinced they are important..
This paper is reasonably well written, and you would think the
authors would know how to spell "Fitts' law", given that they used
this paradigm for evaluating their work. The term is spelt
"Fitts's Law"
several times in the paper.
-- comment by R4 (expert) in a review of a paper submitted to UIST 2015
(see previous link about the apostrophe)
I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone.
My wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my
telephone.
--
Bjarne
Stroustrup
Education is what, when, and why to do things. Training is how to
do it. In science, if you know what you are doing, you should not be
doing it. In engineering, if you do not know what you are doing, you
should not be doing it.
--
Richard
Hamming
If your experiment needs
statistics,
you ought to have done a better experiment.
--
Lord
Rutherford
Any problem in computing can be solved by adding another level of indirection.
-- David Wheeler, according to Roger Needham, according to
Butler
Lampson et al.
There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors.
-- Leon Bambrick, according to
Tim Bray who credits my former Caltech classmate Phil Karlton for the original two-item list.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
-- Plutarch
Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
-- Tom Lehrer
(more
and
more)
On my income tax 1040 it says 'Check this box if you are blind.' I wanted to put a check mark about three inches away.
-- Tom Lehrer
Age and guile beat youth, innocence, and a bad haircut.
-- P. J. O'Rourke
The Democrats are the party that says government will make you
smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The
Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then
they get elected and prove it.
-- P. J. O'Rourke
Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of
society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't
test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance,
greed and love of power.
-- P. J. O'Rourke
Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.
-- P. J. O'Rourke
I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
-- Lawrence Peter Berra
Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.
-- Lawrence Peter Berra
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.
-- Lawrence Peter Berra
Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house.
-- Rod Stewart
Surely if God had meant us to do yoga, he would have put our heads behind our knees.
-- Rod Stewart
Do not compute the totality of your poultry population until all the manifestations of incubation have been entirely completed.
-- William Jennings Bryan
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
-- Frank Zappa
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.
-- unattributed
You know in many countries like North Korea or Iran a citizen does not
have access to information like this.
-- Country Joe McDonald commenting
on his secret FBI file that he obtained through a Freedom of Information Act
request.
Fifty-five years ago these
photographs were part of a study for "The problem we all live with"
that appeared in
Look
magazine, January 14, 1964.
--
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978).
More about Rockwell and this image appears in a 2020 Vox article that includes a passing reference to
“Officer Obie”.
A trivia tidbit about how some Border Patrol and Bureau of Prison officers were deputized by RFK
to serve as federal marshals protecting civil rights activists during the 1960s appears in a 2020 Politico article.
Why the Pepsi logos on this web page, you ask? Good question!
Source file:
index.shtml
Last modified:
Wednesday, 16-Sep-2020 21:13:15 PDT
More information:
ksbooth@cs.ubc.ca
Disclaimer: No
animals
were abused or mistreated during the production of this Web page.
May contain traces of peanuts.
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Taxes and shipping not included.
Void where prohibited by law.
Passports,
driver's licenses, and birth certificates not accepted for voting;
gun owner permits OK.
Apology: My disclaimer pales in comparison to
Doug Dyment's disclaimer.