private String physReadTextFile(File file) {
   // physically read text file
   try {
     BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream(file)));
     StringBuffer tmp = new StringBuffer();
     while (input.ready()) {
       tmp.append(input.readLine());
       tmp.append("\n");
     }
     return tmp.toString();
   } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
     // not sure how this can happen
     showErrorDialog("Unable to load \"" + file.getName() + "\" (file not found)");
   } catch (IOException e) {
     // This happens if e.g. file already exists and
     // we do not have write permissions
     showErrorDialog("Unable to load \"" + file.getName() + "\" (I/O error)");
   }
   return new String("");
 }