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Monster and Dice are just meat markets. Relatively few people actually get jobs there, at least in IT. The real way you get a job is to know someone and have a good network of people. That's how I got my job, Monster and Dice never helped me. They're more like "cattle calls" for movie parts. Who knows, maybe Monster and Dice sell the email address lists to spammers...for the right price?

Speaking of spammers, this is for you spambot email harvesters.

Ogg Vorbis is totally open for *anyone* to implement. Apple could've done that, since the specification was ready many moons ago. Ogg Theora (the video part) took a little longer, but it, too, is ready. Both of the Ogg formats are of exceptional quality, especially compared to MP3/MPEG4, at similar bit rates.

Not that I'm qualified to actually do any, other than look through a telescope and go "ooh, pretty, that's Venus", but it's still cool. Any time we can get more knowledge about The Unknown, that's a very cool thing.

Yes, I've gone back to cold, hard cash. Sure, I keep a credit card for emergency purposes (road break-downs and such), but I don't really use it much. I don't buy things over the Internet, and yep, I check my listed credit history with the credit bureaus.

We got DDoS'ed by some script kiddie who apparently didn't like the grade that his teacher gave him (the kid had a botnet). He DDoS'ed us, but we put a stop to it and did (thank goodness!) track him down. Thankfully, our WAN link is big enough that it didn't cripple us; his botnet apparently isn't one of the mondo-huge ones. The kid got expelled.

Were the kernel Linux licensed under the BSD license, MS wouldn't consider Linux a threat. It's because of the *license* that the kernel Linux has that Microsoft is scared silly of it. That goes for anything else that's released under the GPL--Samba, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla/Firefox, KDE, *anything*. Why? Because they can't just lift GPL code without providing source. That's why their Services for UNIX is based on BSD, not GNU/Linux. It's also why Apple used a lot of FreeBSD code for the core of Mac OS X (the non-GUI parts).

Microsoft has made it clear, many times, that they consider the GPL a "cancer" and "Communist". They've also said that "we're not against 'open source'. We like BSD, that's fine. What we don't like is the GPL."

The GPL is their enemy because the GPL proactively defends our freedom. Is the BSD license a Free Software license? You bet! But it doesn't proactively defend our freedom like the GPL does, and it is that characteristic of the GPL that frightens Microsoft to its core. That's also why they're fighting so desperately against the OpenDocument file formats; to Microsoft, actual, true Freedom for users is a very, very scary thing.

Looks to me like these companies hadn't *sufficiently* bribed^H^H^H^H^H^Hcontributed sufficiently to the campaigns of certain key politicians. This little cartel got ratted out, while Halliburton, DynCorp, and Bechtel get left untouched. Kinda like what happened with Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Jack Abramoff. The only reason anybody took action against the Enron folks is because it made international news and screwed over a bunch of people. Even then, deals were cut which lessened the penalties for the Bush-family-faithful. Clinton was just as bad, BTW (the pardons at the end, Tyson's Chicken at the beginning).

Heh heh, watch all those Windows PC's becoming part of not just a botnet, but a *P2P* botnet! Wow....

Well, thanks to two things...

1.) OpenBSD's spamd
2.) GNU/Linux on my other boxes ...I'm immune!

And no, it's not because "Linux isn't used as much," as all the little MCSE's like to whine. Rather, it's because GNU/Linux and OpenBSD are simply fundamentally better platforms than any version of M$ Windows. FOSS is simply BETTER.

And here's how you can help stop spammers:

http://applications.linux.com/applications/07/03/2 8/1631206.shtml?tid=115

Yes, I'm the author, and yes, there is a spamtrap address hidden somewhere in this email. Humans won't see the fake address, but spambot email harvesters will. Here on Slashdot, it's easy for humans to see *where* I've done it, though. Think of it as my contribution to helping rid your mailboxes of spam from crap like this Storm Trojan. Please help join me; consider implementing the above in front of your mail servers, too, if you can possibly do so.

We can't put a total stop to spam, but we sure can misdirect the spammers, and thus hurt their pocketbooks.

--TP

Heh heh, watch all those Windows PC's becoming part of not just a botnet, but a *P2P* botnet! Wow....

Well, thanks to two things...

1.) OpenBSD's spamd
2.) GNU/Linux on my other boxes ...I'm immune!

And no, it's not because "Linux isn't used as much," as all the little MCSE's like to whine. Rather, it's because GNU/Linux and OpenBSD are simply fundamentally better platforms than any version of M$ Windows. FOSS is simply BETTER.

And here's how you can help stop spammers:

http://applications.linux.com/applications/07/03/2 8/1631206.shtml?tid=115

Yes, I'm the author, and yes, there is a spamtrap address hidden somewhere in this email. Humans won't see the fake address, but spambot email harvesters will. Here on Slashdot, it's easy for humans to see *where* I've done it, though. Think of it as my contribution to helping rid your mailboxes of spam from crap like this Storm Trojan. Please help join me; consider implementing the above in front of your mail servers, too, if you can possibly do so.

We can't put a total stop to spam, but we sure can misdirect the spammers, and thus hurt their pocketbooks.

--TP

That's one reason, perhaps, why his project has trouble getting funding.

Check it out here:

The Damn Small Machine!

This guy is the same guy who produces the distro Damn Small Linux. The distro is basically Knoppix cut down to fit within a 50MB CD. Well, he decided, being a tree-hugger California type, to build fanless and low-power boxes for people to buy. They use VIA's low-power (8 watt peak) x86 "Eden" CPU's and are actually pretty good.

There are now even newer ones by other folks which use the VIA C7; I saw a couple of models at TigerDirect. The C7, while requiring a fan for the highest CPU speeds, goes up to 2.0GHz and uses 20W at full tilt, max. If I didn't already have a bunch of computers (I'm an IT consultant), I'd have bought one already. Matter of fact, my next one will indeed be one of these.

Ever see a somewhat-recent VW Jetta TDI (i. e. Diesel) take off from a stoplight? The utter lack of a big black plume of smoke is great! Oh, and the 46 combined miles per gallon (41 in town, 53 straight highway) don't hurt, either. :-) Disclaimer: I have a 2006 Jetta TDI, and I love it. What a fun, efficient, and surprisingly peppy car to drive! I look forward to seeing Honda's Diesel engine in the States in a couple of years (it's already in Europe since 2003--the lucky bastards).

*Old*, *ancient* diesel engines put out that plume of smoke. Modern diesels don't do that, and that includes all American pickup trucks made since oh, say, 2000 (Chevy/GMC stuck with a slight smoke-maker until the 2001 model year, Ford's Power Stroke and Dodge's Cummins were both fairly low polluters by 1994). Bringing up those ancient semis is like comparing a 2006 Toyota Corolla to that 1973 muscle car with the 9 miles-per-gallon, pollutin' dog big-block that so many seem to still love these days.

As for sulphur dioxide, yes, that was true back in the day. Petroleum does contain sulfur in it, and it was in gasoline, too. Several years ago, we went to Low-Sulphur Diesel (yes, "LSD"), which cut that problem down a lot. As of January 2007, we're now on Ultra-Low-Sulphur Diesel (ULSD) in the USA, so that problem is now pretty much gone in this country, and that's for *all* diesel engines, even the 20-plus year old, sooty big-rigs. Oh, and if you use B100 Biodiesel, you have *ZERO* sulphur emissions. Virtually all modern Diesels can use Biodiesel with no problems.

Time, it appears, for you to update your knowledge on Diesel engines. They've come a loooooong way in the last 20 years.

mailto:spitz@cmosnetworks.com

Remember that this is the same Apple that has a history being, if anything, even more proprietary than Microsoft. The problem is that the "Cult of Mac" tolerates this. They don't care if their operating system or apps "phone home" to either Steve Jobs or Steve Ballmer. There's something wrong with that.

I use GNU/Linux, yes, even on a couple of Apple G3 and G4 boxes. I see no reason--no benefit for me--with using any version of either Windows or Mac OS. With a F/OSS platform, I have a much higher level of assurance that my computer isn't being instructed to "phone home" to corporate HQ, reporting on whatever I do. With a F/OSS platform, it's much easier for me to fix things on those rare occasions that something breaks (usually because I was tinkering with something). I personally don't give a rip about QuickTime and Windows Media movies; if it's not in either MPEG2 and Ogg Theora, then I don't need it, or even want it that badly.

No, I'll stick with GNU/Linux and F/OSS. I'm far, far too pragmatic to give up my freedom for "a little temporary convenience." The freedom is far more important.

mailto:spitz@cmosnetworks.com

This is very cool technology. When the price comes down, man, we'd be crazy not to go for it. I'd love to have a laptop with this kind of "hard disk" in it; it's way more shockproof than a Winchester hard disk.

Technology is so cool.

mailto:swalker@cmosnetworks.com