If you check the following link you'll find a plethora of Apple II emulators for Mac OSX.

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Emulators/Apple/Apple_II/

Similar should be available on the Windows platform. Wouldn't these allow you to run BASIC software without buying old hardware?

I had the great fortune of first self-learning programming (in the early 80s) by playing around with simple programs. In my case the tools was HyperCard, whose HyperText language is very similar to BASIC. In fact HyperCard still runs on my Mac (OSX 10.3.9) under the Mac Classic emulator, even though the software is probably 12 years old now.

Thanks for the interesting article.

Tom

As of now, all but one of the video clips referenced in Glenn's story are "no longer available". I guess this speaks volumes about the American press and pretty much proves the point. The Tucker Carlson interview was still available, and made chills run down my spine. Are American media people so clueless about their responsibility? Has anyone read the First Amendment lately, and understood how short the life of American democracy will be if the press and the elite become cozy with each other, at the expense of all the "common folk" who depend on a free press? I am horrified...

"The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the “politics of personal destruction”. - Sarah

fightthetheocracy commented: "Would someone please explain to this woman the concept of irony! Starting with this sentence!"

No, fight, it is actually the most perfect example of hypocrisy. This is the woman who spent her speech to the Republican National Convention (after introducing her wonderful family and telling us how much of a hero John McCain is) delivering the most slanderous pack of lies about Barack Obama, insulting everyone outside her conservative base with insinuations that we don't love America, and avoiding any hint of a vision for what she or McCain were planning to actually do in office.

Being so myopic and irrational as to engage in the most extreme hypocrisy, any irony would obviously be lost on her. The politics of personal destruction are her bread and butter, but it's "no fair, they're picking on me" when the media or liberals respond in kind. Why do you think she is so adored by her conservative base, hypocrites all. She truly is a lot like them, someone they can relate to.

-L

The intelligence of Senators has seemingly declined in recent years. These buffoons appear be confusing empathy (necessary for thoughtful understanding of both sides of a case) with pity or subjective sympathy, as well as confusing prejudice (unfair subjectivity based on stereotyping) with decisions informed by one's background, perspective and life experience. When was the last time empathy or life experience did not influence the decision of a competent white male judge? The blindness of conservatives to their own bigotry is starting to make sense, they really don't understand the difference!