[vinnie]

The argument to the Thread constructor takes a Runnable. To start the Thread use the start() method, not run() (If you call run(), it won't be threaded at all).

I usually write a separate class that implements Runnable, then creates and starts a thread in the constructor. Take this simple class for an example:

public class ThreadedHello implements Runnable{
    public ThreadedHello(){
        new Thread(this).start();
    }

    public void run(){
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    }
}

Then, to use this class I would just do this in another class:

ThreadedHello hello = new ThreadedHello();
//if it were a real object I would do something else besides create it