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To: buccaneer81

I always thought the part about HAL computer company was in Urbana, IL. I wonder if it was because the university or because he could not use IBM and it was sort of in the same northern middle America like Armonk/Binghampton, NY area.


18 posted on 11/16/2009 5:33:46 PM PST by Frantzie (Judge David Carter - democrat & dishonorable Marine like John Murtha.)
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To: Frantzie
he could not use IBM

Of course, that's the story behind the acronym "HAL," each letter one before "IBM." But, if you look at the flight deck controls on the shuttle Dr. Floyd takes from the space station to the moon, the instruments are clearly labeled IBM.

23 posted on 11/16/2009 5:41:23 PM PST by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: Frantzie
Of course, H-->I, A-->B, and L-->M.

One version of the movie soundtrack had the inventor's name as a "Doctor Chandra." Amusingly, there was a Doctor Chandra at UIUC at the time. (Imagine that! A professor at a major university named "Chandra!" ≤]B^) However, when interviewed he explained that he was not involved directly in any type of computer science. Just the same, he opined, perhaps there was some mystical communication force that caused Clarke to choose his name.

Some time subsequent to the movie, there was for several years a "HAL Communications" in Urbana.

35 posted on 11/16/2009 6:40:53 PM PST by Erasmus (Sid's oxymorons: Journal of Non-Verbal Communications.)
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