Slashdot Mirror

And that is what legislators and the media seem to largely ignore.

The hijackers weren't here using stolen passports and identification. They came to North America legally, and lived seemingly normal lives.

If the government can come up with an "Ideology Scanner" to prevent terrorism, then huzzah! But until then, they're just implementing more ineffective bureaucratic red tape that not only costs more, but provides a false sense of security as well.

--
Affordable domain hosting, starting at $6.97US a month

Vinny: "Watcha do that for?"
Tyrone: "I didn't see it there."
Vinny: "It's a four tonne truck Tyrone, it's not as though it's a packet of peanuts is it?!"
Tyrone: "It was a funny angle."
Vinny: "It's behind you Tyrone. Whenever you reverse things come from behind ya!"
Best British movie ever.

(President Scroob is having a pee when the wall in front of him becomes a video screen)
Officer: "President Scroob"
President Scroob: "Aargh. I told you never to call me on this wall."
(He gets his pecker caught in his zip)
Listen to it!
Other Spaceballs quotes

(President Scroob is having a pee when the wall in front of him becomes a video screen)
Officer: "President Scroob"
President Scroob: "Aargh. I told you never to call me on this wall."
(He gets his pecker caught in his zip)
Listen to it!
Other Spaceballs quotes

I agree. Last Christmas I asked for Settlers Of Catan (the basic 3-4 players box) and I've never regretted it. It's quite an expensive game, and some of the pieces (all the roads) were missing right at the start (factory screw-up?) but the very friendly people of 999games sent me the pieces, I had to wait 2 months but it was worth the wait.

Me, my girlfriend, my brother and his girlfriend regularly play a game of Catan and it's always fun. It takes some time before you get a good insight in the game mechanics, but as soon as you develop some tactics it gets more and more fun every time.

What is especially intriguing about the game mechanics is the balance between luck and tactics. You need to understand the bell curve for 2d6, and the factor of luck is almost totally out of the equation.
If you haven't played it yet, try the Java online version of Catan or find a copy of the cheap but crappy CD-ROM version in Dutch (I think the original was German, so you might find that on CDROM too), details here.

Nope, that's the competition. And they've got you fooled.

Notice that "Skrenta" is an anagram of "Skarnet". Skar=grace, graceful, or a bird (like a hawk). And where do birds fly?

Now why is this "Rich Skrenta" pointing an accusing finger at Google? Maybe to get us to "look the other way"? Hmmmmmmmm?

I say we nuke Holland just to be safe. Or feed it to a giant space bug.

If some Vegan on a glacially slow Crosswinds account that can't even proofread his site inbetween making childish MS Paint illustrations say it's true, then it quite simply must be! +5 Informative!

In fact, this site is a wellspring of health information. According to the Vegan Children site, meat is nothing but child poison and milk is not only child poison, but also contains "bovine leukima viruses"! After reading this, I've also come upon the shocking truth that I died at least seventeen years ago and that you are actually reading the typed words of a long decayed child zombie! I would now begin moaning "Braaaaaaains!!! BRAAAAAAAAINS!!!" at you while stumbling menacingly in your direction, but brains are poisonous and evil meat, so instead of I must politely ask for whatever leftover celery or tomatoes you have sitting in your fridge. Preferably evil celery and tomatoes, Tomatoes Of The Dead you might say, but I'll take what I can get.

Michael Robertson compared Lindows to Flouride in the water??? He should have used a better comparison, if he was looking for positive impact. Flouride in the water is viewed as a severe health risk. He should do his homework before using analogies to make his point.

I actually read quite a bit on these devices a few weeks ago when the cold fusion article came up on /.
One of the things I came across was Fusor, which is essentially a site for people who do this as a hobby.
The most interesting thing I found was a link to the work of a gentleman named Eric Lerner. He actually has a workable, scalable, power-generating reactor. His is based on "dense plasma focus". Thing is, he's already got the thing to 1 billion degrees - and he's going for the big time - the aneutronic p-B11 reaction. That only generates alpha particles - which can be directly converted into electricity. No nasty turbines or steam! Pretty amazing.

I found a baby crying WAV at http://ladywing.crosswinds.net/wavs.html.

Without editing it, you can play it backwards in the Quicktime Player by pressing ctrl-[left arrow], and ctrl-L will loop it.

Anyway, it actually sounds pretty much the same played both ways.

>TNG had a "gay rights" plot in disquise, BTW.

Accessing... Accessing... Accessing.

You mean this one, right?

Man, trek trivia is fun.

[warning... popups] Helms Deep and Isengard

I haven't played them, but friends tell me the Helms deep one is great.

The biggest hint, of course, is the fact that an entire sector of space is named after Mr. Niven.

The only super hero I care for is Tux. I cannot comment on the classic super heroes, as the site could not bear the load. Since there are several tux sites, they will probably survive the load better. Check here, here, here, here, here, here or here.

The only super hero I care for is Tux. I cannot comment on the classic super heroes, as the site could not bear the load. Since there are several tux sites, they will probably survive the load better. Check here, here, here, here, here, here or here.

I don't know about elementary school, but it looks like a They Might Be Giants Song. http://www.crosswinds.net/~lyricsarchive/round7/gr eg7.html

"Five hundred years ago, military officers would upend a drum on the battlefield, sit at it, and dispense summary justice. Decisions were quick, punishment severe, appeals denied. Those who came to a drumhead were doomed." --Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Drumhead"

"Five hundred years ago, military officers would upend a drum on the battlefield, sit at it, and dispense summary justice. Decisions were quick, punishment severe, appeals denied. Those who came to a drumhead were doomed."
--Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Drumhead"

For one thing all this prior art.

customers will be forced to sit through 120 hours of non-stop commercials followed by back-to-back reruns of My Two Dads and Hart to Hart.

SONNY: Yeah, boob-tube... you know. I'd like to find out how the Braves are doin' after all this time. Probably still finding ways to lose.
DATA: (to Riker) Oh -- I think he means television, sir.
SONNY: Or maybe catch up on the soaps.
DATA: (to Sonny) That particular form of entertainment did not last much beyond the year Two Thousand Forty.

I'd say we might even be a bit ahead of the 2040 schedule.

Haven't read the book in its entirety, but it seems like a great sleaze revival. Check out this interview.

Fate, chance, karma, whatever you wanna call it -- when Miss Fortune spreads her legs for you, you're already in over your head. Believe me, I know.

Bunny LaFever looked like a dame with more curves and venom than Reggie Peeler's Land O' Snakes. But she wasn't a real dame. She was a she-devil. That golden bush of hers was nothing but a welcome mat to hell.

But now I'm getting way ahead of myself. Bunny had a way of doing that to jerks like me. She twisted us inside out and turned our heads around so we couldn't think straight anymore. So lemme begin at the beginning ...

Carnies got a word for a crooked game operator like me. They call me "Flattie" cuz I'll flat-out rob you and make you like it.

My name's Randy Everhard and I've got a million ways to take your money. One of my personal favorites is the "hopper shot." It's tossing softballs into toilet seats, which you've seen on every midway in your life. I could gaff the joint to make it impossible to win.

But where's the fun in that? I work it so any chucklehead can win all night long. Cuz once I've hooked a live one into thinking he can take me for a ride, that's when I nail him with the "build-up." Caught up in the excitement of winning game after game, the rube's built up to play twenty games at two bucks a pop. And the only prize he's going home with is a teddy bear that cost me three shekels per, wholesale. You do the math, Einstein.

The problem with selling three-dollar plush for forty scoots is that the build-up only pays off if you've got a steady string of suckers. And that night was turning out to be a real larry. The Laff Riot carnival was a flattie's wet dream. The grab joints and flashy rides were a front for the real action: flat stories, alibi and percentage joints, crap tables, slot machines, fortune wheels.

The show was running wide open. Everybody crooked and every joint gaffed and nobody doing a damn thing to stop it. I figured the cops were greased slicker 'n Liberace's asshole. It should've been like shooting trout in a barrel. Too bad nobody was taking my bait. I was up shit creek without a paddle to piss on.

My first goddamn night with the show, and already I was itchy for a new angle.

I can't remember which one of them I saw first: the blonde come-on dressed like she had an exhibitionist streak a mile wide or the square in the coke bottle glasses who was eyeballing her like she was nothing but something to look at. Of course, that Coppertone beauty really was something to look at. She was turning heads and raising dicks all over the place. But I didn't like him getting his eyes all over this piece of 100 percent corn-fed cocktease.

She was stacked like a double-decker Ferris wheel with nipples that could cut glass. The red double-O's stenciled on her football jersey were stretched over humongous hooters. She looked like a shooting gallery, bursting at the seams. You couldn't miss those twin titty targets. I'm talking knockers so big you could still see them when she turned around. And believe you me, she was one woman who looked as good going as she did coming.

She wore a pair of daring Daisy Dukes that were so short and tight her crotch sucked them in. The denim over her ass was thread-bare, blown out like a retread. And if that wasn't enough, she was doing a number on a grape Popsicle to make your peter wish it was frozen on a stick. That girl was one carnival ride I wanted to jump on quick, and I didn't care how many tickets it cost.

In my racket, though, business comes before pleasure. And this looked like a golden opportunity to work the key scam. It's the oldest con in the carny book.

I jumped the counter and made my way over to the chump with the steamed-up glasses. I was like, "Hot enough for ya? And I ain't talking about the weather, fella." At first he didn't buy it when I told him I was the "manager" of this fine talent. He just stood there mopping his brow with a hanky.

"I don't fuck chickens and I don't shit feathers," I said, "and I wouldn't lie about a piece of ass like that, neither." I gave myself a hard-on feeding him the fast talk: screwing her would make a man think he died and gone to heaven, where the streets are paved with solid gold snatch.

"She's a sight for sore eyes, ain't she? And if you think I'm giving you lip, you oughta see her go to town on a dick. Life-transforming, friend. Life-transforming." I pulled out an old key I kept for just such an occasion. Dangling it before his bug eyes, I spieled how it was the key to her room at some motel outside of town. "I'm talking once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, pal. She's the reason hard-ons were made."

He swallowed it all -- hook, line and sinker.

Chuckling over what he was going to tell his wife when he came home minus his paycheck, I made my way over to the sultry sex kitten. She was throwing heat like a furnace. Melting chocolate bars at twenty paces. It was too hot to fuck, but next to her, that scorcher felt like a cool, seaside breeze.

"I just made you twenty bucks, and all you had to do was stand here looking gorgeous, Gorgeous." She didn't say anything, just looked me up and down and blinked those big baby blues. The sheen of sweat on her face glowed under the neon lights. She'd sucked all the flavor out of the end of the Popsicle, so the tip was white.

I fished out a crisp, new bill and passed it over. She let it rest in the palm of her hand as she stared at it, confused. She tried giving it back to me, but I stopped her. "See that guy over there?" I asked, stepping aside to give her a glimpse. "He just paid me a lot of money to sleep with you."

He what?" she goes, insulted. She threw down what was left of her Popsicle and took a step closer. Her eyes burned like a butane flame. Like most women, she looked better when she was steamed. But I didn't want her making a scene. She was liable to blow the act.

"Don't get yer panties in a bunch," I said, shutting her cakehole with my hand. I told her about the con and then nervously took my hand away. I was sure she was gonna blow up again. But she kept quiet. I told her we had to scram and didn't give her a chance to say no. I just put my arm around her waist and steered her toward the exit gates. I gave Pops a back-handed wave as we booked outta there double-time.

My dick is long and my cons are short. Cop and blow, that's my motto -- take the money and run. Otherwise things got a way of getting ugly.

Two minutes later, we were hauling ass down the highway in my supercharged Chevy Menace. It was an acid green two-door with cheetah seat covers, four on the floor and dual exhaust. Twin cams and 440 horses under the hood.

"Say," I said, "what's your name, anyway?"

I was hoping to get to know every inch of her better. She smelled like coconut oil. Her tanned skin gave off heat like asphalt that'd been baking in the sun all day.

"Bunny," she goes. "Bunny LaFever." She was a real piece, too. I couldn't wait to do all sorts of dirty things to her. "How much you take him for?" she asked. "Two-fifty." In actuality I scored three-fifty. But if there's one thing I know about women, it's never tell them exactly how much money you've got.

Back at my room at the God bless America Truckstop Motel, she showed me that that sweet and innocent show was just a put-on. I was glad, though. I prefer a girl with some experience under her belt.

Before I knew it, she was all over me like stink on shit. Purple from the Popsicle, her tongue sprung to the back of my throat and then snaked all over the inside of my mouth like she was mining the gold fillings out of my teeth. Despite all the tongue wrasslin,' her hands were nowhere near where I wanted them to be.

My dick had been so hard for so long I thought it would blast off like a rocket, but she kept her distance. The teasing was cute at first but enough was enough. I grabbed her hands and planted them on the tent pole in my pants.

She pulled away and took a few steps back.

"You trying to insult me? You think you can have this body for free?" Bunny squeezed her 'lopes together, serving them up for my hungry eyes: "These tits alone cost five bucks to look at."

I chuckled nervously. "C'mon," I go, "quit screwing around."

"I'm totally serious. Five bucks or I'm gone."

I started laughing for real, digging the little swindler. What else could I do but pay up? She had me right were she wanted me.

This was one of those times in a man's life when he knows his dick's doing the brainwork but he doesn't care. Whatever the dick wants, the dick gets. That right there's the whole story of my life.

I plucked a five-spot from my wallet and waved it like a flag of surrender. She just looked at it. "I don't want your money now," she goes. "Pay me later."

"Whatever you say." And I just eased back on the bed to enjoy the show.

She peeled off her T-shirt and out bounced those giant, all-natural juggs. She had razor sharp tan lines from the sling of a skimpy bikini top. You could tell from her nips that the air-conditioning was on full-blast.

Bunny danced around the room, wiggling and shaking everything her momma gave her. I looked her up and down until I could've guessed her weight. She had all the right parts in all the right places and then some.

She neared the bed and leaned over me to let those massive, all-American melons swing inches above my face. "Wanna taste them?" she goes. As if she had to ask.

I lifted my head to suck the tantalizing titties into my mouth, but she snatched them away.

"Five bucks," she goes.

"All right, five bucks."

"Five bucks each, big spender."

"You got it."

"Pay me later," she cooed, and moved closer to bury me beneath her treasure chest. "Mmm," she purred, "you suck real good."

"Damn straight," I mumbled. "You're getting my money's worth."

She only laughed as her fingers spider-walked down to my crotch and unzipped my fly. "You'd like a tit-fuck, wouldn't you?"

It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact. Some girls are mind readers, but Bunny LaFever was the first dick reader I ever had the pleasure to meet.

"Twenty bucks," she barked.

I was like, "A bargain at twice the price. Pay you later?"

"That's right, bright boy."

We switched places on the bed so that she was on her back. I kicked off my shoes and pulled down my pants and underwear. This dick of mine's got its own zip code and time zone.

When she gripped the shaft, her fingers didn't reach all the way around. She was like, "Lucky for you I'm still in my size-is-everything phase."

"Me, too," I said, dropping to my knees to straddle her. My hard-on slipped between her cleavage like a hot dog in its steamed bun. She pressed them together to make the sandwich good and tight as I began my strokes.

I humped her hooters harder to push my dick closer to her succulent mouth. She stuck out her pink tongue and tickled the tip. Back and forth it fluttered over the head.

"There's a freebie," she giggled. "But I won't take one in the mouth for less than twenty."

"How much to swallow?"

She had to think that one over. "Thirty," she answered. "And that's only cuz I like you."

I dismounted and stood beside the bed. She sat on the edge of the mattress to let her mouth get better acquainted with my cock. Her tongue twirled over my shaft until it looked like a monument of polished marble.

She blew me good and slow, repeatedly bringing me to the edge of orgasm and then stopping until the urge melted away.

The build-up felt so good it hurt. I never begged anyone for anything before. But tortured by her talented tongue, I was actually begging for mercy.

After some more tongue lashing, she finally let me fill her mouth. She swallowed, too, and it felt like my whole body was sliding down with it.

Anybody ever watch that anime movie, "Galaxy Express"?

May I kindly suggest that you research the facts more carefully before you accuse others of heresy?

The earth is flat.

Voilà, I give you The Flat Earth Society - quote: "Deprogramming the masses since 1547". Granted, those dudes are a little short on evidence right now, but I'm sure they'll come up with something as soon as they find a way to escape their comfortably padded cells.

The moon is cheese.

Green cheese, to be exact. Here's the scientific evidence, complete with lots of important looking numbers.

Pi is 3.

"Scripture (I Kings 7:23) clearly declares that the value of pi (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter) is 3, not the secular humanist value of 3.14 taught in every school in Lawrence." Source: this page. (I believe the author might be counseling the prestigious Kansas Education Board. He also has something to say about that ridiculous round earth theory)

By the way, in my day we didn't have those newfangled processors with floating point units you kids have today, so we had to make do with "PI EQU 3" and we got along with it just fine, thank you very much.

And whales are fish.

Yeah, and spiders are not insects, right? Let me quote from this page: "Pure nonsense. Either whales are fish or sharks aren't. I'd say whales are fish." There are more interestings facts to be found on this page, but I have to take my medication now.

Have a look at this guy:

Home Simpson Doll

and the linux SW to run it!

Now, THATS cool.

Although I haven't read it, I've heard this book on python (Learn to Program Using Python) is useful. It is an expanded version of this web tutorial. Although it's hard to see things from a newbie perspecitve when you've been programming for a while, python does have a reputation for being easy to learn. The syntax is nice and clean, not too verbose, and the language is coherent and well designed. And the best thing is you don't have to throw it away when you graduate from newbiehood. Save the Knuths for later on in their programming journey.

Things change. I don't compile to P-Code from Fortran anymore, and code isn't freely shared anymore.

Oh, wait. I guess things don't change...

Get an emulator or abandonware copy, and play with it for awhile - enjoy yourself. Nostalgia in moderate quantities is fun, and it might spark a few new ideas that apply to today's technology.

--
Evan

I've heard of this kind of scheme before - the biggest unanswered question is:

"Where is the money?" (reference to Psygnosis' 'Blood Money' intended)

First, a personal opinion: I believe that learning how to program is so valuable because through it, one learns problem solving skills.

On that note, if you want to teach programming, here are some ideas. I have use none of these for teaching, but I am intrigued:


Scheme/LISP - I learned Scheme from The Little LISPer (the most recent version is called The Little Schemer ), a great book! I already knew how to program when I learned Scheme, but this might be a good way to learn.

Other resources for learning programming through Scheme (with which I have no experience, but sound interesting):

http://www.cs.rice.edu/CS/PLT/Teaching/
http://www.cs.rice.edu/CS/PLT/packages/drscheme/
http://www.teach-scheme.org/ (doesn't seem to be working right now)


Starlogo is very cool, you might also want to look at the book Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams by Mitchel Resnick, the creator of StarLogo (in the book he talks about working with kids on StarLogo projects)

I don't even know Python, but I have read several things about using it as a teaching language:

Article at O'Reilly on Python as a first language
Computer Programming for Everybody - a proposal by Guido van Rossum
The Official Python Tutorial
Why Python? - by Eric S. Raymond
Learning to Program - uses Python


I hope this is helpful!!!

but this quote:

death is no good. You become a soul which has no body

is remeniscent of the good ol' confusion of the mind/body (or Spirit/Ghost etc vs physical reality (whatever THAT is)) split, which is itself a ghost and purely a fabrication of the rational mind artificially confined to the realm of symbols and speech, which are necessarily dualistic.

If you want your computer to make your kid smarter, track down an old Infocom game - no hack and slash, no brain dead point-and-grunt puzzle solving, no pictures, no sound, just text descriptions expecting free-form text responses. It's all up to the child's creativity (and spelling, and to some extent grammar) to get through the game. That's the way to foster creativity and rational thinking.

Planetfall is a great game for kids to start with, if you can get your hands on it. here is a good place to start looking...

One service that took this approach is Crosswinds.net which hosts free email addresses (POP3/Webmail hybrid) and gives unlimited homepage-space (I only use the mail). They have an absolute no-SPAM policy which is why I stick to them even with the occasional outage.
Last year they started to have financial trouble due to the lost of revenue in ad-sales and they did a "plead" during christmas time. Needless to say, I was one of the first that contributed... If I had waited 2 weeks longer, I would have gotten a T-shirt, but what the heck.
Anyway, if they keep in bussiness, I'm pretty sure I will donate again around christmas next year.

So perhaps in your case donations are the way to go. I wish you good luck on with your website (I'll check it out when not at work).

Learning Python is not hard (remember how long it took you to learn Perl?) -- you can do it in an evening by reading any one of these free (and Free) online books:

• Dive Into Python - written for the Slashdot crowd, it assumes you know one real language (like Perl, Java, or C++) and takes you from there. Steps through real code to teach you the language basics (and not-so-basics), and makes frequent comparisons to the language(s) you already know.
• How To Think Like A Computer Scientist (Python version) - better for those with less programming experience. Not as detailed, but gentler.
• Learning To Program - for those with no programming experience whatsoever who want to learn Python as their first programming language.

Once you've read any or those, you'll want to dig into some real code, so head over to the Python Knowledge Base for tons of real code examples, and Vaults of Parnassus for tons of free third-party modules and libraries.

-M

*clears throat* That would be an Interoceter, Earthling.

it's fantastic for the people working at H2G2 that they have financial stability, and now can actually be paid etc. I'm happy for them :)

but... and I'm probably being needlesly cynical, doesn't this remind anyone of AOL-Time-Warner?

at least this time it's the Old Media company acquiring the New Media one. I wouldn't be surprised to find the BBC trying to "integrate" other communities to try and build up a strong user base. I wonder if one reason a huge content/media company like the BBC (which resembles Time-Warner more than CNN) is interested in "online communities" is to create "captive audiences" for its content produced in-house.

The BBC may not be a traditional profit-oriented corp but it has had problems with censorship. For example, will they allow any articles on "BBC Sucks!" on H2G2 ? Will they demand that user comments be edited?

I'm just expressing the hope that the BBC will give H2G2 the creative, artistic, and administrative freedoms that they promised. A public pledge/statement by BBC Online reps would be more binding than a press release.

For the BBC, acquiring H2G2 is quite a coup. I hope they have the wisdom to see that it's value stems directly from its independence. I think there are reasons to be critical of the BBC (for example, 1, 2, 3)

So, I wanted to just post the above one-liner, and I got this:

Preview Comment
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted.

Reason: PLEASE DON'T USE SO MANY CAPS. USING CAPS IS LIKE YELLING!
april fool! (Score:)
by vrmlguy on soon
http://home.crosswinds.net/~samwyse/

2001-04-01 0 2:30:00

The bit where he talks about the "book of the future" seems to ignore the impracticality of having to have a power source in the book. That is unless that when you open the book the dark areas that would probably be words/etc start to generate power using teeny solar cells. Now that would be neat.

Frankly IMHO they are taking the wrong approach by integrating electornic circuits into this e-paper stuff.

The main application I see for e-paper is where data on paper is extremely temporary like printing assignments/reports for school/uni/the boss.

Here is a rant I wrote in 1999 before I even knew about the efforts at Xerox & E Ink

We'll miss you guys there. Last year we had a blast as the Slashdot booth, and especially the Slashdot party at the China Club. Hope to see tons of the Slashdot community at Linux World! You'll know me, I'll be the only one wearing sun glasses in doors and my associate will prolly be wearing his (tinted yellow) aswell.

We'll miss you guys there. Last year we had a blast as the Slashdot booth, and especially the Slashdot party at the China Club. Hope to see tons of the Slashdot community at Linux World! You'll know me, I'll be the only one wearing sun glasses in doors and my associate will prolly be wearing his (tinted yellow) aswell.

Seriously. It was filtered as ASCII art. I uploaded a copy onto my Crosswinds account. http://www.crosswinds.net/~kreeblah/slashCII.html

I dig Crosswinds the most. These seem to be similar services.

from the article: when was the last time you saw an ad banner you WANTED to click on to find out more information?
this is one of the biggest problems on the web. with or without demographics, you should have a general idea of what your clients are like. if they're computer savvy, it's pretty stupid trying to trick them with the "catch the monkey" mentality...

from post#143: What does advertising give us?
Advertising CAN support otherwise free services on the web. Not all services make money, some of them DO pay for it out of their own pocket. But some don't have anything in their own pockets. And that's not counting all the people employed to work with all the advertising stuff, including those IT folks who write scripts for trackers. What advertising gives you might not be something you want, but it DOES give you something.

from post#38: /. kind of has it right as most of the ads are very targeted
I have to agree with that, as in fact the last I saw that I *did* want to click on, was right here at Slashdot. Banners that get to the point, and are even on occasion funny...

many people filter ads, with programs, or just turning images off in their browser. this is your right as a consumer, and also in the best interests of the seller, as if you don't want the ads, you're hardly going to click on them.

from post#56 (a guy with several clues): Part of the problem lies with the complete saturation of our lives with advertising.
A very large part of consumer apathy when it comes to advertising of all kinds.

from post#23: Today's ads don't just inform us of a product's existence; they also prey on our minds with flashing text, glitzy graphics, buzzwords by the dozen, and little white lies.
Today's consumer is not waiting to be impressed, they're waiting for information. true information. they can certainly do without the sirens and blinding lights, they know you're there, if they're ignoring you, there's probably a reason.

from post#27: Anywhere else except on the web, if a company wants to get money by annoying people, and those people blatantly ignore the company, it's the company's fault.
generally speaking, it's very stupid to annoy a potential customer, a seller wants them to do them a favour by buying from them... so putting them in a negative mood is against their own best interests... but there's plenty of stupid to go around... just look at all the spam... (and funnily enough, living in Australia I have no use for your $10 off doctors appointments in the USA... learn how to target your market people!)

from post#29: Why do they even HAVE to advertise on the Internet?
advertisers don't HAVE to, but there's always someone out there short of money, who'll rent their portion of cyberspace... supply and demand are important...

from post #32: Macromedia is trying to promote shockwave to make adverts more compelling.
more compelling? or slower to load? big mistake. I'm sick enough of all the flash-only entries on websites already, I see one flash ad and I'll be closing that window quicker than ya can say "annoyed". I speed read, I speed scroll, but I can't speed flash up, and I won't wait for it.

from post#78: The real change of how ads work on the internet will come when a third party non-computer related company begins to take market share away from the market leader through effective web ads
We're still waiting on effective web ads, so we may be waiting awhile for this one. But if it happens, it will make a huge change. The biggest problem with all advertising is the ROI (Return on Investment)... are they really worth the money you pay? and according to the figures, no. A click-through ad is relying on you stopping what you are doing right now, and to pay some attention to something that wants you to give it money.

from post#86: how are all these little sites going to survive?
all little businesses go through this. if you're not a business, maybe you could look around for free hosting, there's a lot of it around on the web, even for small commerical ventures. you don't sound like you want to make money, just get free hosting, maybe you can find a so-inclined ISP who'll host you for free in exchange for making your site part of their "internet resources" area. or find a company that's willing to flat out sponsor you, with no other ads, just like a sports team. be creative and you'll find a solution. One free hosting service asks their users to click on the banners or the hosting service will not survive, and their community responds. Including to the point where they had to buy new servers, and asked people to "pledge" money so they could upgrade the system. They got a hell of a lot of money that way, a lot more than I thought they'd get.

from post#92: I for one will be freakin happy when animated gifs go away - and the same guys who make those funny commercials on TV get involved with the online phenomenon.
Advertisers take note, this guy is giving you a clue, so pay attention! He wants something more entertaining than "catch the monkey".
from post#147: And please ... stop thos friggin' ads that look like system notifications, and pop-up windows. That's what's souring net users on Ads. yet another clue for those smart enough to use it.

from post#101: If people see a banner more then one time chances are high that they'll remember the name/site and may even tell others (who may need a place to buy a product) about it.
Most of the banners I see never actually show a site address or name, which is totally useless for recognition, yet another waste of resources.

from post#121: it is just a matter of time before the government cracks down on all this illegal software that blocks web ads.
Governments (plural!) should be very careful about what they term legal or not with the net. If blocking is illegal, so is NetNanny and the porn filter in the workplace. Blocking content can't be both ways.

from post#147: Advertisers don't get to charge the TV station per "click-through", so why should the net change that? Click-through should be treated like commission.
Advertisers CAN'T use the click-through method with TV stations, believe me if they could, they sure would! Click-through tracking does give a bit more of an idea on ROI (Return On Investment) for ads. The net is very easy to track, unless print media or television.
(still same post) If you're not getting click-through, it doesn't mean that the web host isn't doing their job ... they shouldn't have to BEG for clicks just to pay the bills. It means your AD isn't doing it's job this is a very good point, low clickthoughs are NOT just the responsibility of the host, take a good hard and objective look at your own ads.

from post#154: Advertising has been "found out" by the internet.
*laughing* this i so true it's almost not funny.

from post#158: Forgot to mention that all the search engines would be gone too.
This tweaked my curiosity, exactly where does the funding come from for Google? (my favourite for it's accurate results, and lack of ads - hence, fast loading)

and this person who wrote post#169 has some great tips for those looking for good ad networks.

this guy (post#170) has a great idea: Just click on a gap dancer to by her jeans. this is totally doable right now. None of this banner nonsense... paid links for static images, not a random banner, something that's relevant to the content!

from post#34: People have complained about advertising since the dawn of electronic media.
(please excuse any marketing jargon in the following... a consumer IS a person, I am using it for convenience)
business evolves over time, and advertising will never again have the hold it had during the 1950s...
business evolution so far:

industrialisation --} advertising --} marketing --} future?

now industrialisation brought us mass production (you can have any colour, as long as it's black... thanks Mr Ford), and advertising brought us post-war information on new products (new products were very important as credit appeared, houses were mortgaged, whitegoods were purchased, credit became the middle-class way of life), marketing has more recently has given us targeting by demographics... consumer feedback (of a kind) and shown us that advertising is merely one piece of the promotion puzzle... and business puzzle come to think of it.

So what's the next step in business evolution? I believe it will be social marketing. Companies (in addition to their business work) will have to give something back to the community to get the attention or goodwill of their consumers. Whether it's good work conditions for employees, respect for the environment, working for the greater good of mankind, or simply sponsoring the local little league team.

Consumers are the only reason companies exist, without them they will sell nothing. As consumers come to realise this, they will begin to ask for more. What they will ask for is anyone's guess, but if you don't listen, you won't hear it.

This won't happen next week, or the week after, but a shift will slowly take hold, and if you don't get a clue about what your consumer wants, you'll be out of business.

this is really quite long enough as it is, rant stops here...

A quick search on Google found information about this patent on the letter 'e'. Looks like eBay will have to change their name now...

Sites like Crosswinds.net have their own updates page where they give up-to-date information on what's right and wrong about their service. I haven't seen any other websites/services which give such up-to-date information.

On a related note, I'd like to add that managing your own mail is the cleanest solution, rather than depending on different ISPs' POP3 and SMTP servers. This of course requires a permanent connection in most cases, but is the best. This way you manage your own e-mail, and move it around, when you move. You obviously need to know how to setup and manage such a server yourself at home/office, but it pays you back.

Sites like Crosswinds.net have their own updates page where they give up-to-date information on what's right and wrong about their service. I haven't seen any other websites/services which give such up-to-date information.

On a related note, I'd like to add that managing your own mail is the cleanest solution, rather than depending on different ISPs' POP3 and SMTP servers. This of course requires a permanent connection in most cases, but is the best. This way you manage your own e-mail, and move it around, when you move. You obviously need to know how to setup and manage such a server yourself at home/office, but it pays you back.

Here are a few facts I dug up:

• Something like 150 computers become obsolete every minute.
• A typical 60-pound computer contains 35 pounds of currently unrecyclable substances of varying toxicity.
• More than a tenth of those 35 pounds are typically of lead.
• Lead attacks the nervous system, blood system and kidneys in humans. It has a well-documented and deleterious effect on children's brain development.

I've collected some information on computer recycling (the link to documentation of lead's effect on children's brains is bad; here is a better one).

"the so-called "pro-life" [highly ironic since people have been killed in the "pro-life" battle] movement wants to impose their will on all others. pro-choice does not. "

FYI, Pro-Choicers Are not Innocent in the Violence Issue

Insane Abortionist

Dr. Bruce Steir, Abortionist, Charged With Murder

before you continue basing your opinion in the misconception that the pro-choice side is any less violent to grown-up people (as they are already are encouraging the killing of the unborn from 2 weeks to 9 months).

We here at Anarchists for Life took a stand against violence when we adopted this as part of our faq that "We do not support violence inside or outside of abortion clinics. We do support peaceful protest." We are hardly alone on the issue

Pat Goltz's Pro-life and Feminist Writings

Leftout: A Haven for Progressive (Liberal) Pro-Lifers

Pro-Woman, Pro-Life: Stop Abortion

What A Wonderful World

"A Life Is..."

Serena & Semira's Home

Check Your Stereotypes At the Door

neon goddess page

Idle Hands Productions

MaeFlowers

Straight Edge Power!

Christian Morality

Tree of Life Pro-life Page

Human Life is Sacred

Vox Crying

Laura's Homepage

Respect Life Ministry

Rennaissance Suffragettes (Pro-Life Feminism)

Star Angel's Pro-Life Page

Lutherans for Life

DazedHippie's Causes

Atheist and Agnostic Pro-Life League

RightGrrl: Conservative Pro-Life Women

Life Links

Linkie's Place

Sweet Pain's Causes

An American Patriot's Page of Thanks

Diogenes's Friends

Anarchists for Life

(( apprehension ))

Versailles Artists for Life

Matt Wallace: A Pro-Life/Anti-Violence Secular Humanist Atheist

BroPeace's Page: Shalom!

Carol's Pro-Life Page

Mallory's Owner's Page

Jim Sieffert's Page

Military Spouse Club

Rebecca's Pro-Life Page

Reality Check-Canada

Rochester Area Right To Life Committee (Rochester, NY)

Joel's Journey

Indiana University Students for Life

Consistent Life Ethics

Electric Cheetahland

Central Truths

Linda's Lair

David Horne's Gay Pro-life Christian Homepage

Roy and Joanna's Beliefs

In Susan B. Anthony's Footsteps: Pro-Woman, Pro-Life! Webring

The New Abolitionists (or "Funny, I Don't Feel Like A Conservative!")

STAAR: Standing Together Against Abortion Rights (Canada)

Do Babies Have a Choice?

Weird Politik: Because Politics Can be Very Strange Sometimes

Elizabeth's Place

Sehlat's LifeLinks

Sleepless in Atlanta

Bill Samuel's Pro-Life Links

Pro-Life Activities in Maryland / Washington DC

Daweena's Political Page

Glitched

Doubet Family Page

Hello, Mr. technos.

I am the head of the Slashdot chapter of 'Paranoid E-mail People Anonymous'. We can help you with your irresponsible use of such interjections as "crosswinds.spam.net," and "hotNOSPAMmail."

In the event that we need to contact you further, may we reach you at technos@crosswinds.net or too_much_punct@hotmail.com? After all, if you're going to sound all pompous, you might as well have the good graces to post your real e-mail address(es) for people like Mr. xtermz to use!

I also may be able to put you in touch with my counterpart at 'alt.recovery.e-mail.paranoia.' She'll probably be able to help you fully grasp the fact that very few people want to e-mail you. If they do want to e-mail you, it's best not to make them jump through hoops to avoid spam.

I hope you have found this helpful.

1. http://xgov.net/dvd/DeCSS.zip and http://xgov.net/dvd/decss.tar.gz
   
   
2. http://www.2600.com/news/1999/11 12-files/DeCSS.zip/ and http://www.2600.com/news/1 999/1112-files/css-auth.tar.gz
   
3. http://douglas.min.net/~drw/css-auth/
   
4. http://www.devzero.org/freecss.html
   
5. http://www.chello.nl/~f .vanwaveren/css-auth/css-auth.tar.gz
   
6. http://www.geociti es.com/ResearchTriangle/Campus/8877/index.html
   
7. http://www.angelfire.com/mt/popefelix/
8. http://www.vexed.net/CSS
   
9. http://members.brabant.chello.nl/~j.vr eeken/
   
10. http://www.dvd.eavy.de/css-auth.tar.gz and http://www.dvd.eavy.de/DeCSS.zip
    
11. http://www.eavy.net/stuff/dvd/css-aut h.tar.gz and http://www.eavy.net/stuff/dvd/DeCSS.zip
    
12. http://frozenlinux.com/local/decss/in dex.html
    
13. http://www.unitycode.org/
    
14. http://dirtass.beyatch.net/decss.zip
    
15. http://decss.tripod.com/index.html
    
16. http://www.free-dvd.org.lu/
    
17. http://www.angelfire.com/in2/mirror/
    
18. http://batman.jytol.fi/~vuori/dvd/
    
19. http://www.zpok.demon.co.uk/deCSS/CSS.ht ml
    
20. http://plato.nebulanet.net:88/css/
    
21. http://www.logorrhea.com/main.html
    
22. http://people.delphi.com/salfter/LiVi d.tar.gz
    
23. ftp://193.219.56.32/pub/dvd/LiVi d.CVS-11.06.tar.gz and ftp://193.219.56. 32/pub/dvd/LiVid.CVS-11.06.css-stuff-only.tar.gz
    
24. http://merlin.keble.ox.ac.uk/~a drian/css/index.html
    
25. http://www.dvd-copy.com/
    
26. http://www.zip.com.au/~cs/dvd/css /css-auth.tar.gz and http://www.zip.com.au/~cs/dvd/css/DeCSS .zip
    
27. http://www.sent.freeserve.co.uk/css -auth.tar.gz and http://www.sent.freeserve.co.uk/DeCSS.zip
    
28. http://www.lemuria.org/DeCSS/
    
29. http://members.theglobe.com/avoiderm an/dvd.htm
    
30. http://humpin.org/decss/
    
31. http://www.twistedlogic.com/htm l/tl_archive_map.htm
    
32. http:/ /munitions.polkaroo.net/software/algorithms/stream ciphers/decss.tar.gz
    
33. http://muni tions.dyn.org/software/algorithms/streamciphers/de css.tar.gz
    
34. http://uk1. munitions.net/software/algorithms/streamciphers/de css.tar.gz
    
35. http://muni tions.firenze.linux.it/algorithms/streamciphers/de css.tar.gz
    
36. http://www.irgendeinedomain.de/decs s/index.html
    
37. http://therapy.endorphin.org/DVD/
    
38. http://killer.discordia.ch /Politics/Copyprotection.phtml
    
39. http://linuxvideo.org/
    
40. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconV alley/Port/3224/
    
41. ftp://ftp.one.net/pub/user s/dmahurin/files/software/dvd/
    
42. ftp://ftp.charm.net/pub/usr/home/dutch/ or http://www.charm.net/~dutch/
    
43. http://dsl129.drizzle.com:2001/downlo ads/DVD/
    
44. http://perso.libertysurf. fr/ortal98/dvd_rip/decss_12b.zip
45. http://users.drak.net/bem ann/software/css/css-auth.tar.gz and http://users.drak.net/bemann/so ftware/css/DeCSS.zip
    
46. http://www.angelfire.com/movies/decss
    
47. http://www.angelfire.com/myband/decss/
48. http://josefine.ben.tuwien.ac.at/~davi d/dvd/
    
49. http://www.c0ke.com/DVD/
    
50. http://rockme.virtualave.net/
    
51. http://amor.rz.hu-berlin.de/~h0444t2v/
52. http://www.quintessenz.at/q/index.html
53. http://www.dvdlinks.co.uk/css/
    
54. http://www.fortunecit y.com/tinpan/tylerbridge/679/dvdcss.html
    
55. http://www.crosswinds.net/~valo/DeCSS/
56. http://members.home.com/christopherlee/ dvd/
    
57. http://members.xoom.com/freedecss/
    
58. http://63.225.181.97/decss/
    
59. ftp://alma.dhs.org/pub/DVD/
    
60. http://www.dynamsol.com/satanix/DeCSS.zip and http://www.dynamsol.com/satanix/css -auth.tar.gz
    
61. http://mun itions.cifs.org/software/algorithms/streamciphers/ decss.tar.gz
    
62. http://www.able-towers.com/~flow/
    
63. http://www.cgocable.net/~jdionne/css/
    
64. http://people.mn.mediaone.net/bojay/s lashdot/
    
65. http://www.capital.net/~mazzic
    
66. http://24.108.23.121/DeCSS/
    
67. http://ananke.hack.pl/
    
68. http://www.geocities.com/donotsueme/
    
69. http://members.tripod.com/donotsueme/
    
70. http://donotsueme.homepage.com
    
71. http://www.homestead.com/donotsueme/ index.html
    
72. http://donotsueme.freeservers.com/
    
73. http://www.angelfire.com/punk/donotsueme/
    
74. http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~marsie/
    
75. http://209.178.22.9/protest/
    
76. http://www.bard.org.il/~marc/dvd
    
77. http://www.geocities.com/RainFor est/4360/decss.zip
    
78. http://www.altern.com/tfagart/decss.zip
    
79. http://www.itouch.net/~jm/dvd.html
    
80. http://ils.unc.edu/inls183/resources .shtml#DVD
    
81. http://avdira.cc.duth.gr/~kkonstan/css/
    
82. http://www.multimania.com/sxpert/decss/
    
83. http://www.posexperts.com.pl/peopl e/wrobell/css/
    
84. http://www.koek.net/dvd/
    
85. http://www.cyberchrist.org/freecss.html
    
86. http://www.ozemail.com.au/~cybe rchrist/freecss.html
    
87. http://www.planet.net.au/~coram/
    
88. http://www.geek.co.il/css/
    
89. http://www.datacomm.ch/adrien/decss/ index.html
    
90. http://home.rmci.net/bert/fuckthelawyers/
    
91. http://unimatrix.dyndns.org/fucklawyers/
    
92. http://www.isn.net/~dsimeone/DeCSS.zip
93. http://logical-solutions.com.au/DeCSS.zip
    
94. http://www.sarahandcasey.com/decss/
    
95. http://www.fsp.com/
    
96. http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~echerry/dvd
    
97. http://www.mafkees.com/dvd
    
98. http://dB.org/dvd/
    
99. http://dcwi.com/~wench/decss
    
100. http://dvdcss.newmail.ru
     
101. http://www.subcor.com
     
102. http://www.frankw.net/decss
     
103. http://danger-island.com/~dav/any.lawyer.who/quote s.this.url/gives.permission/for .his.residence.to.be.searched/any.bootleg.audio/vi deo/tape.found/nullifies.legal.and.moral .standing/
     
104. http://www.fortunecity.com/vi ctorian/parkwood/95/DVD/
     
105. http://www.asleep.net/dvd
     
106. http://members.xoom.com/NiKeX
     
107. http://www.geocit ies.com/ResearchTriangle/Station/2819/index.html
     
108. http://www.execpc.com/~unicorn/dvdmirr or.htm
     
109. http://members.xoom.com/chapter3/Mamma No.htm
     
110. http://wiw.org/~drz/css/
     
111. http://merlinjim.freeservers.com/dvd/
     
112. http://www.visi.com/~adept/liberty
     
113. http://mikedotd.penguinpowered.com/deccs
     
114. http://www.ct2600.org/2600-DVD.html
     
115. http://magic.hurrah.com/~fireball/dvd/
116. http://www.jonhanson.com/dvd
     
117. ftp://ftp.foon.net/pub/decss
     
118. http://osiris.978.org/~brianr/css/
     
119. http://earnestdesigns.com/dvd
     
120. http://www.satl.com/~satlpop6/
     
121. http://xempt.darpa.org:81/decss/
     
122. ftp://cm-d0415.resnet.ucsc.edu/p ub/css-auth.tar.gz
     
123. http://www.mit.edu/afs/sipb/user /mycroft/css-auth/
     
124. http://www.eyrie.demon.co.uk/derek/dvd/c ss
     
125. http://ananke.hack.pl
     
126. http://budice.ancients.net/www.free -dvd.org.lu/
     
127. http://defiance.darktech.org/decss/
     
128. http://kesagatame.tripod.com
     
129. http://www.angelfire.com/pokemon/decss
130. http://www.gnosis.cx/download/DeCSS.zip
     
131. http://bone.powersurfr.com/DeCSS/
     
132. http://wakeupthe.net/dvd/
     
133. http://everest.yooniks.org/dvd
     
134. http://cubicmetercrystal.com/decss/
     
135. http://analyzethis.acmecity.com/triboro /90/
     
136. http://homepages.together.net/~ib nzahid/DeCSS.zip
     
137. http://www.save2600.8m.com
     
138. http://people.ne.mediaone.net/dantepsn/
     
139. http://members.xoom.com/mxpxguy/dvd/
     
140. http://decss.fall0ut.com
     
141. http://vedaa.tripod.com/decss.html
     
142. http://members.xoom.com/iox
     
143. http://www.hackunlimited.com/dvd/
     
144. http://hem.fyristorg.com/police/css.htm
     
145. http://elknews.netpedia.net/dvd/
     
146. http://www.idrive.com/decss/web
     
147. http://quintessenz.at/q
     
148. http://www.clug.com/~vodak/dvd/
     
149. http://www.nacs.net/~vodak/dvd/
     
150. http://ny2600.iwarp.com
     
151. http://www.wpi.edu/~nassar/dvd/
     
152. http://www.glue.umd.edu/~castongj
     
153. http://www.geocities.com/cold_dvd/
     
154. http://www.projectgamma.com/deccs/
     
155. http://members.xoom.com/mogreen/decss/
156. http://thrash.webjump.com/decss.zip
     
157. http://www.angelfire.com/de2/decss/dec ss.htm
     
158. http://www.krackdown.com/decss
     
159. http://www.ithink.org/dvd/
     
160. http://www.fortunecit y.com/skyscraper/motorola/1415/decss.htm
     
161. http://chaz.fsgs.com/misc/DvD/
     
162. http://www.linuxstart.com/~kv ance/projects/decss.html
     
163. http://www.darkkingz.com/DeCSS.zip
     
164. http://come.to/intelex
     
165. http://ebmedia.net/dvd/
     
166. http://www.geocities.com/decss_forever/
     
167. http://revolution.3-cities.com/~spack/dv d/
     
168. http://www.geocities.com/Sili conValley/Software/8762/
     
169. http://members.xoom.com/s_o_sam/help.html
     
170. http://smokering.org
     
171. http://www.sent.freeserve.co.uk/css -auth.tar.gz
     
172. http://dlsf.org
     
173. http://home.rmci.net/bert/dvd
     
174. http://thrash.webjump.com/decss.zip
     
175. http://linux.uci.agh.edu.pl/~outlaw/ decss.html
     
176. http://debian.mps.krakow.pl/mirror/css/
     
177. http://www.fission.org/~mangino
     
178. http://212.187.12.197/decss/
     
179. http://www.clarkson.edu/~andrixjr /decss/DeCSS.zip
     
180. http://www.geocities.com/Capitol Hill/1583/dvd.html
     
181. http://members.xoom.com/freedecss/
     
182. http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/dvd.htm
     
183. http://www.members.home.net/normanlorrai n/
     
184. http://home.swipnet.se/~w-18931/decss/
185. http://home.soneraplaza.nl/qn/prive/v alhalla/
     
186. http://www.robotslave.net
     
187. http://www.angelfire.com/punk/freedom/
188. http://www.corova.com/dvd/
     
189. http://2600.dk/mirrors/css/
     
190. http://dvdcrack.homepage.com
     
191. http://www.copkiller.org
     
192. http://www.worldcity.nl/~frank/dvd
     
193. http://members.xoom.com/iamkeenan/master/
     
194. http://www.adulation.net/css/
     
195. http://homepage.interacces s.com/~mycroft/decss/DeCSS.zip
     
196. http://underground.pl/dvd/
     
197. http://members.xoom.com/nyc2600
     
198. http://zerosoft.hypermart.net/warez/ DVDcrK.txt
     
199. http://www.deforest.org/CSS
     
200. http://nickd.org/decss
     
201. http://www.xenoclast.demon.co.uk/main.ht ml
     
202. http://www.ctol.net/~ross/css-auth.tar.gz
     
203. http://www.xenoclast.demon.co.uk/main.ht ml
     
204. http://www.ctol.net/~ross/css-auth.tar.gz
     
205. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconV alley/File/3635/
     
206. http://members.xoom.com/a1010_2000/
     
207. http://decss.globalservice.hu/
     

Upon entry into the Martian atmosphere, a parachute would deploy to slow the spacecraft down, and then airbags would inflate to cushion the landing.
The spacecraft would bounce about a dozen times and could roll as far a [sic] half-mile before coming to a stop. Then the airbags would deflate, the petals of the spacecraft would open, and the rover would position itself to roll onto the surface.

Still, I'm glad to see them doing something. It's depressing to think that after all this time, Mars is still such a pipe dream. As a child, I was expecting men to walk on Mars by now; I was hoping Gloria Steinem would get to bitch, "Mars needs women!"

2003. Airbags. Roll a half-mile. Sigh.

....

i was the first one to find that page(and change it), before it was /.'ed. I still have an exact replica if anyone wants it. and check out www.cyberia200o.org My hits were crazy for the time the site survived. -cyberia