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Coolio's record company said it was all right without asking Coolio. At least, that's Coolio's story. See here, page down to The Coolio Fiasco.

parodies are NOT protected.

Weird Al asks out of politeness, not necessity. Parodies are protected, but as with everything else in the world, enough money can buy a measure of injustice. Buy enough lawyers and you drown the other side in legal proceedings.

Rob Malda caught in circle-jerk--kills self

I just read this on a news site. It doesn't mention many details but says Slashdot's founder Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda (AKA Stewart Denton) has been found dead. Murdered himself after being caught in a ----------- scandal with fellow Slashdot editors (using aliases). Whether or not you were a fan of his openly gay attitude and right wing political views, you cannot deny his contributions to the alternative sexuality community. As a memorial, he will be ass reamed one last time before his pasty white body is burried. It is indeed a black day as he will be sadly missed by his former turd-burglars (for The Turd Report). Truly a homo-geek icon.

Do your homework Just like you apparently did in this post. Yes Ma'am. http://cartalk.cars.com/Mail/Electric/-another good kneejerk reaction http://michele.usc.edu/105b/electrochemistry/batte ry.html-Problems with using batteries & fuel cells http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Shop/3589/effic iency.html-Maybe Stanley had it right to begin with... As for the lead acid batteries, almost all are recycled now Ah, yes they go to that happy, magic place where batteries go in dead and come out alive, and leave absolutely no pollution in the air or water. Again, I'm not saying electric cars and recycling are bad- just there's more to being 'environmentally friendly' than riding around in over-blown PowerWheels.

(for the lazy, the G4 is slower than the Athlon in all the tests, except the RC5 benchmark)

Actually, a GeForce card can be converted into a Quadro card by just changing a jumper. Then, all you have to do is install the Quadro drivers and there you go, you got yourself a cheap pro-card with hardware accelerated rendering in 3dsmax.
Go here for instructions:
http://www.geocities.com/tnaw_xtennis/G-Quadro/E-G -Quadro.htm

Section 1 - Trolling techniques

There are techniques used by successful trolls to elicit the maximum amount of responses from unthinking /.ers. This section is dedicated to explaining how to use these in the course of your trolls. Remember though, a great troll can break any or all of these and still be successful...

• Timing

  Because you're posting as an AC, your troll will generally be ignored in favour of posters using their accounts, and so getting in early is essential. A good guideline is to get into the first 20 posts, so that people reading the article will see the troll before it is swamped out. One way of increasing the speed with which you get your troll into play is to prepare them beforehand, and then quickly customise them for the current article. This is easier than it sounds since /. typically repeats stories with small variations and runs lots of similar stories.

  Note that this is why Jon Katz stories are pretty worthless as trolling material - by the time you've found the article and prepared a troll there's already 50+ posts on it, most of them flaming Jon Katz anyway :)

• Exposure

  Once you've got your troll in, you need people to actually read it. You also want replies - /.ers are more likely to read your troll if it starts a large thread. You also want to remember that some people have set their comment thresholds to values higher than 0 - to get the attention of these you either want to get your post moderated up (see Style, below) or get a reply which gets moderated up to 4 or 5, in which case your troll becomes visible to all.

• Accounts

  An alternative to the time-honoured tradition of AC trolling is that of creating a "troll" account. This gives you the advantage of posting at 1 rather than 0, and slashbots are more likely to take you seriously, especially if you at least sound reasonable. If you do this, try to avoid posting stuff where it is obvious you're a troll under the account - post it anoymously instead - some slightly more canny readers actually check your user info before they reply. Not many though :)

  The ultimate goal of the troll account is to secure the +1 bonus, which is currently received once you hit 26 points of Karma. To get there, employ the techniques of karma whoring that we see every day on /. and watch the karma roll in. And of course once you get the +1 bonus, the world is your oyster in terms of /. Posts made at a default of 2 hit even those people with the threshold of 2, are more likely to get moderated up even further if they are at all coherent, and people tend to lose their critical thinking abilities in the face of the +1 bonus. Milk it for all it's worth.

• Layout

  To get people reading it a troll needs to be easily readable. Make sure you break it down into easily digestible paragraphs, use HTML tags where appropriate (but always make sure you close them properly) and use whitespace appropriately.

• Size

  Generally a troll shouldn't be too short, otherwise it'll get lost in the crowd. A workable minimum is a couple of medium paragraphs. Conversely, it shouldn't be too long, or no-one will bother to read it. Keep it to a happy medium.

• Spelling

  Whilst spelling is important if you want the troll to be taken "seriously", key spelling mistakes can draw out the spelling zealots, especially if you mis-spell the name of a venerated /. hero, like Linus Torveldes or Richard Strawlman (thanks dmg). Related to this is the use of the wrong word, explaining an acronym as being something it isn't or making a word into an acronym even when it isn't.

• Subject

  The subject line needs to draw attention to your post without making it obvious that it is a troll. A simple statement of the main point of your argument can work here.

• Style

  Once you realise that most moderators don't bother to read past the first paragraph or two, you can use this fact to craft trolls that can be moderated up as "Insightful" (note that I mean this in the /. sense rather than the real-world sense). Start off fairly reasonable, making statements that are /. friendly and not being too controversial. As the troll goes on, make it more and more controversial, building it up for the coup de grace in the final paragraph.

• Linking

  As we all know, a post with links is considered "informative" by the /. crowd. Moderators love it, and they rarely check the links, so be sure to include as many as possible. And make them wrong - a link to the Perl website should instead point to the Python website instead, and vice versa. The other alternative to incorrect links is "useful" links to places like www.linux.org and www.microsoft.com i.e. places /.ers could never have found on their own :)

• Feeding

  The ideal troll requires no feeding - it runs on its own, generating flamewars between clueless /.ers for your amusement. But often a troll requires some help and so you should consider feeding it. Feeding is best reserved for people making either completely clueless responses, people making responses with holes in, or those wonderful people who write a 2000-word point-by-point rebuttal of your troll.

• Know your audience

  Always keep in mind the kind of things advocated on /. so that you can play on and against them. This is why anti-Linux, creationist, gun-loving, pro-corporation trolls work well - the vast majority of /.ers hold the opposite viewpoints. And if a few people agree with you, so much the better - it merely validates your viewpoint in the eyes of readers.

• Arrogance

  Be arrogant. You, as a troll, know that you're right. No other explanation could exist. The wronger the "fact", the more assertively you should state it. Make it clear that you are better than everyone else - you know the truth and they are just too stupid to realise it. Use plenty of sarcasm, and use "quotes" to show it to people too dumb to realise.

• Offensiveness

  Being offensive in your initial troll can be counter-productive - it causes moderators to mark you down as flamebait in general. But if you're feeding, then you can get away with calling /.ers all kinds of things. Make broad generalisations about /. readers - call them "long-haired Linux zealots", "socialist open-source bigots" or whatever. Stereotyping is encouraged - people always want to think that they're an individual, and will point this out to you given half a chance.

• Indifference

  Great for articles with a political or social bent, this kind of troll expresses complete indifference to the topic at hand, wondering who on Earth cares about it. An alternative method is to say that the topic only concerns a certain group of people - criminals, idiots, hackers (always use this instead of crackers) or whatever group you want to offend.

• Sympathy

  Appear to take the same stance as the people you're trying to troll - claim you're as much a fan of Linux as the next man, but... This way you can make all kinds of claims in the sure knowledge that you actually know what you're talking about. A great phrase to use here is "In my experience". Remember to act like all the things you're pointing out are unfortunate but true.

• The common touch

  Always accuse /.ers of being elitist. This is an easy thing to do seeing as a lot of them are. Claim that is their grandmother couldn't use it, then they are just into it to feel better than Joe Sixpack rather than "doing it for the average user". This is always great for working into anti-Linux trolls - attack command-line tools and poorly designed desktops.

• The 31337 touch

  The opposite of the above. Claim that technology or whatever is only for the elite of society and that any attempt to open it up for everyone is wrong, an attack on intellectualism and possibly even dangerous. If people were meant to understand these things then they would, and it's their fault if they're too stupid to learn.

• Contradiction

  Never be afraid to contradict yourself, even in the space of a single sentence. The phrases "I am a top programmer who codes in VB" or "I am a supporter of open source who uses NT at work and 95 at home" will be sure to get a response from some weenie smugly pointing out the contradiction. Confuse the issue more by engaging in contradiction when you are feeding - this will confuse /.ers who will then make even more stupid replies, leaving them even more wide open for response.

  Clues

  If you're feeling brave, give the reader clues that this is an obvious troll. The classic example here is dmg's stock phrase "I am often accused of trolling (whatever that is)", but also feel free to use phrases like "I have not read the article, and I don't know much about XYZ but I feel I must comment". If anyone responds to a troll with these kinds of clues in it, feel free to bask in the glow of knee-jerk /. responses.

• Denial

  If you're unlucky someone will accuse you of being a troll (surely not!) and try and ruin it for you. If you don't want it all to end there, then be sure to counter it by accusing them of being small-minded and petty, saying that it's easier for them to say it's a troll than to accept that people have different opinions. Be sure to say this in the subject line, especially if their subject was the infamous "YHBT. YHL. HAND."

• Claiming credit

  Given that /. has its community of regular trolls (hi guys!), it's only polite to publish your troll on one of the so-called "hidden" forums for all to see and admire. This way, you get to bask in the praise of other trolls, they get to contribute to your's if they want to, and you get an easy way to find the troll later on when you want to check on its progress :)

  As for when to post it, that's a matter of opinion really. You can either post it straight away or leave it will after people start biting. Remember that the troll forum is also frequented by non-trolls, and sometimes you may get a self-declared "troll-buster" try and expose you. But remember, /.ers always post before thinking, and often it doesn't matter at all.

  There is no real current forum at the moment thanks to various spammers hitting the sids, but try trolltalk, the original troll sid started by 80md and osm way back in the day. Generally all postings are done there as an AC, with your name at the end of the post. Include a link to the troll somewhere in the text, which ideally will be directly to the post and its replies - click on the #XX link in the thread to get there.

• Ending the troll

  Sometimes you just get bored with a troll, or people start posting genuinely thoughtful stuff in reply (it does happen). When this happens it might be time to own up to the troll with a helpful "YHBT. YHL. HAND." post. Sometimes people will carry on a discussion of the issue, and if you're really lucky (and it was a great troll) they will completely fail to believe you and carry on arguing. If that happens, pat yourself on the back for writing a great troll :)

• The cheap $3 crack

  Finally, when all else fails and your troll gets moderated down to (-1, Troll) within ten seconds of you posting it, the only honourable thing to do is to accuse the moderators of smoking the cheap $3 crack (again) and give up :(

Section 2 - Types of troll

1. The Maniac

   Probably the most popular kind of troll, the Maniac holds an opinion on something, and won't budge from that opinion no matter what evidence to the contrary is presented. If challenged, the Maniac will simply get more and more agitated and abusive, deriding his opponents as "idiots", "wrong-thinking", "dangerous" and "subversive". Generally the Maniac takes a position that opposes the prevalent /. beliefs, but a similar effect can be achieved by taking a typical /. viewpoint and pushing it to ridiculous extremes.

   Maniacs can be crafted for practically every article /. posts, although some are more obvious targets than others. Civil liberty articles, especially on things like censorship, DMCA, UCITA that really get /.ers riled up, are usually extremely fruitful grounds for a well-crafted maniac. The other obvious type of article is anything which could possibly involve religion, especially evolution :)

   Here are some fruitful avenues to explore:

   • The right-wing

     Always popular, the right-wing maniac (RWM) is a God-fearing, gun-toting, flag-waving American, and proud of it. They don't care about the rest of the world, unless it's to "prove" that America is better than everything else, and they cannot stand liberal whining over civil rights. They hate the moral decay of America and want it to revert into a nation of heterosexual, Christian whites like it was meant to be. Woe betide anyone that dares to suggest otherwise.

   • Religion

     There are two ways to approach this kind of maniac. The harder to pull off is the militant atheist, but this is quite common amongst /. posters and you would have to be very offensive to get this to work. Of course with religion trolls, the argument can go on for ever once it's started... The more common approach is the Christian fundamentalist. They are ignorant, intolerant and bigoted in the extreme. For them the Bible is the inerrant word of God revealed to man - it contains no flaws and no contradictions. Thus they are strict Creationists - mentions of evolution or cosmology will set them off on vitriolic rants. Flaming denunciations of anyone daring to contradict the "Word of God" are the way to go, and any kind of proof can always be ignored by appealing to "secular humanist brainwashing". And let's not forget, the USA is the greatest nation on Earth because it has the righteous power of Jesus Christ behind it.

   • Ideology

     Pick a philosophy, any philosophy. This troll is a troll with a cause - they have found some kind of ideological truth, and are out to expose every other philosophy as a sham. Whether it be libertarianism, objectivism, communism or capitalism, this troll will point out the obvious "flaws" in any other philosophies, whilst spouting dogma about their own. And the best thing is - you don't even need to know that much about what you're spouting - making doctrinaire mistakes will get both sides of the argument flaming you, adding to the fun.

   • Software

     This is an old favourite and crops up in many forms, covering the gamut from OS maniacs (Linux zealots, MS-apologists or embittered BSD fanatics), language maniacs (Pascal vs. C, C vs. C++, C++ vs. Java, Perl vs. Python, VB vs. everything), application maniacs(GIMP vs. Photoshop, Netscape vs. IE, vi vs. emacs) and also includes people who complain about how technology should only be for the 31337 hackers.

   • Guns

     Americans love their guns, and will always fight passionately for their Constitutionally guarenteed rights to bear arms and shoot people. Even the slightest hint of criticism of this will bring down the wrath of a thousand and one enraged gun-owners on you, so it's always a great point to work into a troll :)

2. The Expert

   The Expert is someone who is "savvy" in their particular field, and is perfectly willing to give their opinion on any topic even vauguely related to their field. The Expert is most likely to be from a field which /.ers as a rule despise - the classic example is dumb marketing guy, but try consultants, lawyers, politicians, lobbyists, executives, journalists (just think Jon Katz). With this kind of troll sweeping statements with little content are the norm, along wire dire portents of future catastrophe and dark hints of "insider knowledge".

   Some possible angles to exploit:

   • Industry knowledge

     The expert knows the computing industry from the inside - as a long-term pro, they can dispense knowledge knowing that they can "speak for the industry". Their smug self-satisfaction is bound to annoy, as is any suggestion that things aren't the way that /.ers would like it - saying "Linux requires the rock-solid guarantee of a trusted company like Microsoft" or "Apache cannot be trusted for mission-critical enterprise platforms" is guaranteed to get you denials explaining exactly why you're wrong, in excruciating detail.

   • Helpful hints

     With their tech-savvy (or law-savvy or whatever) experience, the expert is obviously the best person to point out what's wrong with things or to give out useful "factual" information. In fact this probably works best with lawyer trolls - for all that /.ers protest "IANAL", they certainly seem to think they could be, and any mistakes you make will send them rushing to prove themselves by correcting you.

3. Offtopic Trolls

   Not really a "troll" in the strict Jargon File sense of the word, but they certainly should be included here :) This category includes parodies, offtopic weirdness any all kinds of amusing stuff. Not really my area of expertise, this stuff is mainly done by gnarphlager and opensourceman. Thanks to gnarphlager for this section.

   Offtopic trolls, like any other, come in almost as many colours as an iMac, but generally not as cute. But then again, a good offtopic "troll" can affect more people than a repulsive little gumdrop on your desk, because you need to have someone SEE your desk before they can react. Simple? Moreso than even my overblown prose could indicate. Some basic examples:

   1. The serial troll

      Write a story. Keep expanding it. It doesn't matter what article you post it under, so long as it's high up. If you want people to recognize you, pick a couple themes or symbols, and carry them on throughout the story. Other alternatives include back linking or including the entire story, but adding more each time. Be funny if you want. Or if you don't feel like being funny, just be really weird. Someone will react.

   2. The random troll

      This has nothing to do with anything. Be it a stream of consciousness rant, or a description of the corner of your desk. Another favorite is a monologue, read as if spoken from any one given entity to another. The more outlandish, the better (a pair of socks talking to a mousepad, for example). If you really wanted to be artsy, work in an actual metaphor or legitimate meaning behind it, but it's not necessary.

   3. The vaguely related troll

      Start out with a comment about the article. Have a definite opinion of it. Then, after a little while, disintegrate into randomness. All roads eventually can eventually lead to cheese (yum), Natalie Portman, cannibalism, toasters, squirrels, futons, you name it. All it takes is a little bit of creativity. Oh, and feel free to use other trolls' motifs. Open source and all that ;-)

   General tips:

   • If it's funny for a fleeting moment, then it's worth posting.
   • Puns. Puns are only less vile than mimes, but it's hard to mime on /. So feel free/obligated to litter your offtopic and random bits with puns. Hurt the bastards. And if they're sick enough to laugh at them, then they'll eventually end up here ;-)
   • Obscure cultural references and injokes are always good. SOMEONE will get them eventually.
   • Several drafts of a serial or random post are common, but true elegance is being able to come up with something on the spot that still makes the top 40 posts (on a post-heavy article)

Section 3 - Useful trolling links

The following links contain background information useful for trolls needing quick quotes and "expert" opinions to include.

1. General purpose links
   • ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html - How to deal with USENET trolls - learn your enemy :)
   • www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html - A List Of Fallacious Arguments - Learn them and use them liberally
   • www.altairiv.demon.co.uk/troll/trollfaq.html - USENET troll HOWTO
   • www.baiting.org - Baiting.org
   • www.fieldingtravel.com/df/index.htm - Fielding's DangerFinder - A guide to what and where's dangerous
   
   
2. Religious links
   • www.godhatesamerica.com/ - God Hates America
   • www.chalcedon.edu/creed.html - The Creed of Christian Reconstruction
   • www.demonbuster.com - How to cast out your demons and do spiritual warfare
   • riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Sciacademy/riggins/thi ngs.htm - Things Creationists hate
   • www.icr.org/ - Institute for Creation Research
   • www.xenu.net - Operation Clambake - The fight against Scientology on the net
   • www.hom.net/~angels/ - Citizens for the Ten Commandments
   • www.bju.edu/rcnbc.html - The difference between Catholics and Christians
   • www.geocities.com/prazske00/biblequotes.html - Bible quotes by category
   
   
3. Political/economy links
   • www.aynrand.org - The Ayn Rand Institute
   • www.reason.com - Libertarian site
   • www.freerepublic.com - Right-wing stuff
   • www.jbs.org - Excellent site for all kinds of right-wingery
   • www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html - Web economy bullshit generator
   
   
4. Crackpot science links
   • www.fixedearth.com - The Earth Is Not Moving
   • www.jir.com/index.htm - The Journal of Irreproducible Results
   
   

It must be enormous, but how enormous? Anyone?

Using the Angular size calculator (beware: Excel xls file), given a distance of 1.700 light-years, and an apparent width of about 6 x 4 arc-minutes, we have that the nebula is roughly 3 x 2 light-years across.

It doesn't sound much, but it's almost 30,000,000,000,000 kilometers tall, with a width of 20,000,000,000,000 kilometers. The 3rd dimension is not known, but probably on the same order of magnitude.

It's unfortunate that Red Hat has not offered this service sooner. I moved my home systems to FreeBSD only last week as it's much easier to upgrade to the latest release version (or even to the latest CVS version) or to get a package of a recently-released application. Similar benefits can be obtained from Debian GNU/Linux as well. Both can be upgraded at no cost.

From my experience of Red Hat, even if I did want to upgrade to a more recent version of Red Hat Linux, I wouldn't trust it to an automated system. I upgraded a Red Hat 6 production server to Red Hat 7 last year, and so many things broke I was quite disappointed.

I guess this service will be useful for those home users who want to automatically pull down the latest security patches, tho.

(For those who don't know, the quote is from Red Dwarf, a British comedy.)

keep posting stuff about cmdrtaco, it gets modded down quickly.
here is an example.....


Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda caught in circle jerk--kills self

I just read this on a news site. It doesn't mention many details but says Slashdot's founder Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda (AKA Stewart Denton) has been found dead. Murdered himself after being caught in a circle jerk scandal with fellow Slashdot editors (using aliases). Whether or not you were a fan of his openly gay attitude and right wing political views, you cannot deny his contributions to the alternative sexuality community. As a memorial, he will be ass reamed one final time before his pasty white body is burried. It is indeed a black day as he will be sadly missed by his former turd-burglars (for The Turd Report). Truly a homo-geek icon.

Here's a link to a mirror of the original image that he used to make his ASCII mosaic.

I have a cache and this is all I have to post it to [geocities...]:

http://www.geocities.com/wirelesstap/lego.html

For a moderately retro look, try painting the case in a gloss finsih, preferably black, have all your drives painted black, and lots and lots of chrome!

Plus of course the fins on the back like the late 59 cadillacs

I've had a bit of a go at capturing this look, but this guy's done much better.

Where's that guy with the sig about his website, resume, and skill set?

Do you mean this guy?

I think I remember hearing that Crowe and Nash have never actually met

No, they did meet, as this story shows.

Version 8 of UBASIC has the high precision real and complex arithmetic (up to 2600 digits) of previous versions, but adds exact rational arithmetic and arithmetic of polynomials with complex, rational, or modulo p coefficients, as well as string handling and limited list handling capabilities. In addition UBASIC has context-sensitive on-line documentation (read ubhelp.doc for information).

Yeah, SC2 ruled big time. It is still one of a kind.
I have seen no more games that would combine

* Strategy (real time?)
* Role-playing
* Arcade
* Quest/adventure

And would have such well balanced character (ship?) development. Damn, the game industry REALY went down hill. There were rules how to write good games. Why doesn't anyone read them.

Check it out here or here
I think the best games of all time will have mixed categories. f.e. RPG/RTS mix, or RPG/3Dshoot'em up or RTS/3Dshoot'em up. Why there are so few attempts to make such games?

--Coder

43% of Canadians support Québec separating? It'll be a cold day in hell before support reaches that level. And within Québec, it's LESS THAN HALF, otherwise they would have separated by now, since it's still a democratic country. Sure, it was a small margin last referendum, but still a greater margin than some people take to win. Interestingly, in the same way that Al Gore lost the US presidency, the current Québec provincial government won the last election due to the electoral system, even though they did not receive the most votes.

I imagine if you're all for Québec's right to self-determination, you're also supportive of the separation of the Second Republic of Texas, of Alaskan Nationhood, the restoration of the Sovereign Kingdom of Hawaii, the California Republic, Puerto Rican independence, and the formation of Cascadia from what's left of the United States of America.

Well usually Roblimo takes the highest-moderated comments and sends them to me, but I guess this will do.

1. In 1983, the GNU Project was first announced. One of its main goals was ownership of my anus. Being a man of the heterosexual persuasion, I was forced to go underground to avoid falling prey to Richard Stallman's anal invasion.

2. You probably read that on the Baseball Prospectus. Much like Slashdot, they are devoted to promoting the homosexual agenda through lies.

3. Once David Glass sells the Royals and the whole front office gets fired for gross incompetence, I'll have all the time in the world.

4. To cite either of those texts would violate copyright laws such as the DMCA and SSSCA which I and all law-abiding Americans hold very dearly.

5. Trick question, you aren't wearing pants. But your dick doesn't look big at all.

6. With a little investigation, anyone can realize that as long as Enron held to the good solid Christian values of Texas, they had a strong business. However, in the midst of the late 90's boom, they fell prey to the dark machinations of VA (Vaginas Away!) Software, Slashdot.org, and Apache. It was only a matter of time.

VA Software executives have been photographed frantically applying for MCSE classes, but most certification schools do not accept used condoms and old pizza boxes as payment. The writing is on the wall.

7. If by "that" you mean CowboyNeal's shriveled cock, forget it. I have enough karma already.

8. Everything was going well in China until Linux came along. Will they ever turn around and behold the warm sun of capitalism?

9. You're lucky I only have one question left.

10. In today's Washington Post Classifieds, I noticed an ad from a gentleman in Michigan who seeks some sort of Sodomite rendezvous. Clearly this man has visited the "Geek Compound" and tasted its dark delights. One can only assume this man supports the Kyoto Protocol and other anticapitalist government programs, and has not read The Kyoto Killers.

Now, I'm off to put on my full-body armor and watch Chuck Knoblauch practice his throwing.

Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda caught in circle jerk--kills self

I just read this on a news site. It doesn't mention many details but says Slashdot's founder Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda (AKA Stewart Denton) has been found dead. Murdered himself after being caught in a circle jerk scandal with fellow Slashdot editors (using aliases). Whether or not you were a fan of his openly gay attitude and right wing political views, you cannot deny his contributions to the alternative sexuality community. As a memorial, he will be ass reamed one final time before his pasty white body is burried. It is indeed a black day as he will be sadly missed by his former turd-burglars (for The Turd Report). Truly a homo-geek icon.

-Metrollica

I'm convinced this story was published specifically to discredit free energy research in the public eye. They KNOW this shit works and they are keeping it from you.

Here is a working explaination of how to extract energy from permenant magnets. And here is a $75 mechanical demonstration of it. Incidentally, that "cold" current stuff lets you run semiconductors below room temperature, or reverse the aging process. Think overclocked 4ghz p4 with no heat sink. Might also want to look at this developing solid-state implementation of the same thing. That "4.03" means the sampled output power is 403% larger than the sampled input. This stuff is really almost trivial, but people are too blind to see things for themselves. Millions have already paid the price for our ignorance and greed. May God have mercy on us all.

I'm convinced this story was published specifically to discredit free energy research in the public eye. They KNOW this shit works and they are keeping it from you.

Here is a working explaination of how to extract energy from permenant magnets. And here is a $75 mechanical demonstration of it. Incidentally, that "cold" current stuff lets you run semiconductors below room temperature, or reverse the aging process. Think overclocked 4ghz p4 with no heat sink. Might also want to look at this developing solid-state implementation of the same thing. That "4.03" means the sampled output power is 403% larger than the sampled input. This stuff is really almost trivial, but people are too blind to see things for themselves. Millions have already paid the price for our ignorance and greed. May God have mercy on us all.

Go and buy a X-Box, PS2 or N-Cube, 'cos that's the only place that the majors will pour dev money into in the future, esp as these games get more and more complex, ie approaching Hollywood $$ levels of investment to deliver.

Why ? It wouldn't surprise me if M$oft stop developing DirectX etc on the Windoze PC platform and only dev/push it on the X-Box in order to drive sales towards the X-Box.

From the end user POV, with gaming on PC's - why should I spend 2x or 3x as much for a souped up games PC that can play modern games.

I did that analysis , then went out and bought a PS2 with GT3 - works for me :- )

Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse

I just read this on a news site. It doesn't mention many details but says Slashdot's founder Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda (AKA Stewart Denton) has been found dead. Murdered himself after being caught in a circle jerk scandal with fellow Slashdot editors (using aliases). Whether or not you were a fan of his openly gay attitude and right wing political views, you cannot deny his contributions to the alternative sexuality community. As a memorial, he will be ass reamed one final time before his pasty white body is burried. It is indeed a black day as he will be sadly missed by his former turd-burglars (for The Turd Report). Truly a homo-geek icon.

-Metrollica

. . . and the Queen is hawt!

I agree. And guess what? Slashdot does delete comments.

Hmm. Maybe look at corporations as virtual persons. If we do that, then we can judge their character. Will you grant me that for a sec?

Ok. Imagine a guy who got drafted into the Army and manages to live a tidy disciplined life--governed only by his desire to stay out of trouble. For people who respect being tidy and disciplined, they offer the fella no special credit for his moral character.

My point is this: When you're forced into a situation that compels you to do the right thing, a moral judgment of you, if objective, should take that into account. I vote "morally neutral".

The same goes with some of AOL/TW's properties. Could you imagine what would happen if Time Magazine published complete crap (say, FUD) to disrespect Newsweek or its owners? As an attempt to gain a form of marketshare, Time Magazine would screw itself, and it would squander important capital assets: whatever respect the public had for the company, which translates into sales just as readily as cash registers in a lumber yard.

Because of its vast and diverse holdings, AOL/TW merits a complex moral judgment. Much of it is a wash--neither breathtakingly virtuous nor downright evil. In many ways--most of all while truly competing in relatively mature markets--AOL/TW's divisions have no recourse but to work for a living. In that case, they are just adequate soldiers so to speak.

hey, it's the Australians. you just never know.

That's right. Newcastle, which is not far from Sydney, already has one, the Big Donger.

I wouldn't be surprised if a few other brokerages will get nailed pretty soon, for similar kinds of shennanigans. Disclaimer: I have no direct knowledge of any regulatory investigation of ETrade, but we all know that they pretty much played the same games with RHAT.

At least with CSFB did in fact give a handful of shares to everyone who applied for the friends-in-family deal - AFAIK - while ETrade tried to come up with every excuse in the book to kick out as many people as they could in their friends-and-family program. Although some of us did eventually get our pound of flesh (see my website: E*Trouble to revisit those exciting times) it would be icing on the cake to see EGRP whacked on the balls, again.

I have been thinking of writting about this and today one slashdotters question has prompted me to finally take it up.
I am doing M.Sc.Information Technology at the Uni of Stuttgart. Its a very good program as it includes technical subjects like IP Networks, Telecomm Networks,Distributed Systems, Mobile Communictions, DSP, Embedded Systems, etc etc as well as non-technical courses such as Law, Business Management, Innovation and Technology Management, etc.
The whole program is in English!!!! Infact there are many universities here which are offering such programs. for more info this website . Check out the "free Education" link. Yes, the education is totally free here.
In our course on Law, there was a very strong emphasis on "Digital Signatures". You can say that it has been taken up consciously on all levels and its not an overnight decision. A long well thought out process.
Thoughts on One-Way Authentication : As far as i know the E-Card + PIN code combination is the only secure solution, otherwise all one-way authentication schemes can be hacked. I dont about other banks but atleast Deustsche Bank is using a combination of same technique for their internet banking. You have log-in/password to login onto your account, but to make the actual transaction one has to enter a unique id which is sent by DB through regular mail( you get 50 transaction ids ). This is again a hybrid solution.
Of all the countries, i think, Germany has made the most secure and wise use of technology.

you are only right on this:

they add their own tech too, which is why they get different results.

quote

Now, the Athlon processor is made by a rival company, AMD. They have
basically reverse engineered the Intel processors and tried to make a
processor that operates just like Intel's processors, and then sell them
cheaper than Intel does.

This makes it a little more difficult to compare them to the Pentium
processors. Some things the AMD Athlon actually does faster than a Pentium
III, some things it does a little slower, and some things it can't do at
all, while other things the Intel can't do, the Athlon does do.

quote

Had AMD had a design ready when Intel released their Pentium, their market share
wouldn't have dropped to 10%. In the days of the 286, 386, and 486, AMD, Cyrix, and other "clones"
reverse-engineered the Intel chips. In a sense, it was Intel's design (with maybe a few improvments),
but it was reverse-engineered so it did not violate patents.

quote

But nothing lasts forever. The companies that had built Intel chips under license eventually reverse-engineered the chips and built them license-free. Intel copycats including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Cyrix (a division of National Semiconductor) used the courts to validate their right to copy Intel's chip architectures. And PC manufacturers like Compaq and IBM used these clone chips as a weapon to force Intel prices down. Now the best way for Intel to stay ahead is to simply run faster. Running faster means shrinking product cycles from three years to 18 months by running parallel product development teams and spending more money faster than the other guys. Since Intel has more money to spend, this keeps them in command, but shorter product cycles mean less time to recoup R&D expenses. Hence, those lower margins.

someone better mod me up for all my work

No, it's the other way around. The Matrix draws a great many inspirations from anime. In fact, the Wachowski brothers copied several scenes from Ghost in the Shell verbatim. check it out

"You are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here

If you have never played these fantastic text based adventures, do yourself a favour , and download a free copy !

Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse

My guess is that the government is too embarrassed to show how pitifully few sites have been taken down for the money expended

Refer to this EFA report : Government Net Censorship Reports - Facts or Fallacies? 7th September 2000
The censorship regime is highly costly in view of its ineffectiveness in protecting children using the global Internet. The explanatory memorandum to the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999 states the total ongoing cost to the Commonwealth of the regime was estimated at AUD$1.9 million per annum.

Graham remarked "If the ABA has only received 201 complaints in six months as the government report states, and the government's cost estimate of $1.9 million was correct, it's costing taxpayers around $4,700 per complaint. Only 93 of those complaints resulted in a finding of prohibited content, a small fraction of the billions of pages on the Internet, and less than 20 concerned pages hosted in Australia."

Fantastic value for money there , AUD$100,000 per page....

You need to remember that Alston et all are only really interested in pandering to the popular press, and not in actually making any real changes.

Also, now that the balance of power has changed in the senate (ie Senator Harradine has gone) , the Libs will now be pandering to the Democrats, so we may see an end to these silly, unenforceable censorship laws

As far as I can make out, I still have unrestricted access to everything I have ever had

I say this because:

I have NOT been forced to install blocking software

My ISP is not running blocking software (nor any others to my knowledge

If the ABA has taken down a site, I'm sure it's just popped up again overseas

It's probably just more boring pr0n anyway ..

ho , hum , back to work...

Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse

I have attempted a subtle improvement to "Tux", the linux mascot. The results can be seen here. Feedback appreciated.

Read this

The point is not whether the laws are enforced, but rather that they're on the books.

I honestly can't see that point. In so far as Gays face discrimination, it is rarely by being prosecuted for sexual acts. Gays and their supporters would better spend their time fighting real sources of discrimination rather than moribund statutes.

In any case, only 16 states have sodomy laws. The rest have repealed them.

if the guy that made this sleeps just a little sounder knowing that his work is protected now.

Why would the US be spying on CANADA?

Conversely, why would Canada fear US spying?

Dave Foley (as Newsradio's Dave Nelson): "Excuse me, listen if you are insinuating that I am a spy or that any member of my family is a spy then you're way off base! Look, just because we're Canadian does not mean we are spies"

Newsradio Dave sounds

I lived in Ukraine for a year and have visited there several times, including recently.

Yes, I've bought a lot of cheap CD's, but believe it or not very few American CD's. The Russian/Ukrainian CD's come with license stickers, so I suspect they are legit.

The big problem is not with entertainment CD. Yes, there are pirated videos everywhere, but the dubbing is usually terrible. While a lot of foreign CD's are probably pirated, again, they are not a lot of sales, if you look at it from an international perspective.

The real problem is with software piracy, which is a big problem. Many legit businesses use pirated copies of Windows and other expensive applications, but there is widespread acknowledgement that there is a problem. Also, there is a pervasive fear among businessmen of "inspectors" coming and finding unlicensed software. Mention the word "inspector" to businesses or schools, and you will strike the fear of God in people. Perhaps the enforcement of software licenses is lackadaisical at best, but the medium to large firms are probably unwilling to risk being caught with unlicensed software.

Yes, it's probably true that a lot of offices for small companies have illegal copies of Office and Windows, but the bigger companies have more incentive to comply.

I should mention also that the "culture of piracy" persists in America almost as much as in Ukraine. It's a little disingenuous of the US government to single Ukraine out for such treatment.

Robert Nagle, idiotprogrammer, Austin, Texas
idiotprogrammer

...and spirit. It should allow no barriers, such as Windows or Gates. The mind should be free to explore. That is why this has already been done.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it :-)

I installed GNU Sourcerer on a box for a graduate Parallel Processing class I'm taking right now.

I'll post results on my web site as are updates warranted.

My thinking is, why not optimize your OS to integrate with your system board, especially in an experimental/research setting? At the least, we students now have a NACHOS-esque* OS for parallel theory.

Ah! But you can! Go here and you can download a fully functional Apple ][+ emulator for your PocketPC. It's great stuff and I believe the current version even works with the Targus stowaway keyboard.

Ouch. today I had a telephone interview with a defense contractor. They were planning to fly me up but I had to pass a preliminary security checklist. When asked about whether I had dual citizenship, I replied that no I hadn't, but I was in the process of seeking Irish citizenship for sentimental reasons.

The security officer said that was enough to disqualify me. Although I was disappointed, the interviewer was even more so.

The job concerned pretty secret stuff, but it's hard to imagine what kind of security risk I posed. It's not as if Ireland lacks extradition treaties with the US!

On another note, I should mention that in the tech writing field, a good 50% of the openings are government jobs requiring security clearance.

Robert Nagle, Idiotprogrammer , Idiotprogrammer, Austin, Texas, Technical Writer

About a year ago I began work on a novel about a newspaper reporter exiled into the Obit Department after inadvertantly tampering with evidence for a murder in a story he is following. The columnist decides to follow leads on an "accidental death" which he suspects is actually a botched murder of a rock star.

At one point, he begins reflecting on the possibility that someday his job will be eliminated by soul-less AI agents to write obits for his employer.

Feel free to read the unfinished manuscript here (someday I'll get around to finishing this)

...there are laws passed to prevent people from "tweaking" search engine results so their page comes up with or even before one of the "big guys." I mean, what if more people link to a Ford sucks page than Ford?

Am I the only one who remembers The Centurions?

Didn't they have some sort of exoskeleton that joined to them when they wanted to kick some ass? I seem to remember they had bikes and planes that attached themselves to their exoskeletons as well.

Poweeeerrr Xtttrrrrrreeeeemmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

-- The_Messenger, IPID-banned for exposing Malda's terrible secret.

I sincerely don't think almost any law should be applied extraterritorially, because each country has its own culture.

Suppose you are Spanish and have sex with a 14 year girl in Spain. Should you be arrested for pedophily next time you travel to US ? Considering the legal consent age in Spain is 13.

Should you be arrested for being a druggie addict if you smoked pot in the Netherlands, in a place where it was allowed?

Should an American who is homosexual be sentenced for 6 years in jail and 2,600 lashes next time he travels to Saudi Arabia, as homosexual acts are illegal, and subject to a maximum penalty of death?

This is crazy. The law that should prevail is the local law. I think that if a person does something another country doesn't like (like Dmitry vs US), then he should be considered persona non-grata in that country. Dmitry's entrance to US should have been refused in the airport immigration and he sent back to Russia. But not arrested.

... according to Bart Sibrel :D

To sum up: "we never went to the moon, hence there are no reflectors on the moon."

Moderators: Put down the crack pipe and the mouse. Step away from the keyboard. Take a DEEP BREATH and READ. This is not a troll. I repeat. This is not a troll.

No, I don't believe the "moon hoax" loonies. Anyone with an above-kindergarten education can easily refute the "moon hoax" loonies claims.

For your amusement, this is the gallery of the 'barking mad'...

Some anonymous kook
Bill Kaysing
Ken Overstreet
"mpeeters"