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Re:A little more info by kzinti · 2002-07-30 07:07 · Score: 2 · on Scramjet Success in Australia

Of course, we could build a fusion pulse rocket right now. Just get a huge bowl, with shock absorbers and a spaceship above it, and explode a few hydrogen bombs underneath.

Actually, this is an old concept known as Daedalus and was invented by the British Interplanetary Society...

Readers of Niven/Pournelle's Footfall will recognize this as Orion, which was used as part (first stage?) of the Daedalus project's craft.

--Jim

Re:That's just like the RIAA to go after their mar by homer_ca · 2002-07-17 09:20 · Score: 1 · on Broadcasters Appeal Royalty Ruling

"On an aside: Anyone know of a list of recording labels that do not belong to the RIAA?"

I found this through a little gooogling. There's also a link on the page to fake indies.

Re:That's just like the RIAA to go after their mar by homer_ca · 2002-07-17 09:20 · Score: 1 · on Broadcasters Appeal Royalty Ruling

"On an aside: Anyone know of a list of recording labels that do not belong to the RIAA?"

I found this through a little gooogling. There's also a link on the page to fake indies.

Re:Do it yourself UPS? by jx100 · 2002-05-30 15:00 · Score: 1 · on Do-it-yourself UPS

or build one of these

Re:Quantum-like Storage by red_dragon · 2002-05-29 06:36 · Score: 2 · on Improving Unix Mail Storage?

The BOFH had already thought about it about four years earlier. It landed him an award, even.

Re:Aliens TC by lpontiac · 2002-04-16 05:58 · Score: 3, Informative · on Mods: "Lifeblood of Gaming Industry"?

Anybody else remember the Doom II Aliens total conversion?

Well, it originally came out for the original Doom. When Doom II came out, someone kindly hacked the files about so they'd work with the new game.

Incidentally, if anyone feels like giving it a spin for old time's sake and has a copy of the DOOM wad files, go to Doomworld and download an OpenGL-enabled version of Doom, grab a copy of Aliens TC that's been modified to work with modern versions of Doom and let her rip :P

I still tip my hat off to those copyright infringing guys.

The term "foxed" was coined when Fox shut down the Alien Quake project. :/ Somehow, Aliens TC for Doom has managed to survive without any action being taken.

C-H == carbohydrate == life like us? by leonbrooks · 2002-02-23 11:43 · Score: 2 · on Water on Mars - Clues to Life?

If you look at Mars' atmosphere, you see a 50x higher concentration of carbondioxide compared to earth.

Well... not exactly. The CO2 is about 50x more common in proportion, but remember that there is also 100x less pressure (7-10 millbars versus roughly 1000 millibars) so the total amount of CO2 around on Mars is about 1/2. Low atmospheric pressure complicates things even more by boiling off most of the volatiles which would generally be considered useful for quite a big stretch along the putative road to life.

After an initial flurry of excitement, the original Miller-Urey experiments which produced some amino acids also highlighted a number of problems on the way along said road.

The experiment was highly artifical, not at all a good representation of putative early Earth conditions
despite this, we would expect some amino acids to form anyway, due to the chemical potentials involved (there is a dip in the road to life, into which some chemical processes will roll with very little pursuasion)
the dip in potential has another side, and that looks kind of like the roads you see in some cartoons, which lead up to the base of a cliff, then trundle straight on up the face of it; what this means in real terms is that not only do some simple atoms/molecules find it relatively easy to become amino acids, but also more complicated molecules find it much easier to relapse to aminoness and it's very unlikely that aminos will self-assemble into anything much more complicated
the acids formed were racemised, that is, about half of them were twisted the wrong way; with one exception, amino acids in living beings are twisted left-handed (are said to have left-handed chirality)
the putative primitive conditions also destroy even the simple amino acids formed by the experiment very quickly
the early conditions involve a heck of a lot of chemicals unlikely to exist in useful amounts on Mars
for that matter, there is much evidence that Earth did not have a reducing atmosphere like the one used in the experiment, or at least did not have one for very long.

I think it's more important that the presence of water enables us to create colonies on Mars in the near future

Agree. And let's do it properly, by building a Beanstalk now that it is technically feasible. Or is that the mistake the Babelians made? (-:

Re:BOFH - 1st USENET posting ... by Eil · 2002-02-06 17:17 · Score: 3, Informative · on Bastard Operator from Hell II (Son of the Bastard)

Nope, this was:

Irregular Striped Bucket #1

BOFH Archive by ratguy · 2002-02-06 04:08 · Score: 4, Informative · on Bastard Operator from Hell II (Son of the Bastard)

A little early morning Karma Whoring....

If anyone is interested in reading the old BOFH posts, there is an archive available.

Windows XP by cpeterso · 2001-11-12 09:44 · Score: 1 · on AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Review 6 Weeks Before Release

XP = chi rho = "Cairo"

well i dont know how you did it... by dagashi · 2001-11-09 12:59 · Score: 1 · on How Did You Become a UNIX Administrator?

...but i just read BOFH
(Sysadmin handbook)

Things to do in Perth by leonbrooks · 2001-10-29 12:12 · Score: 2 · on Linuxconf.Au Needs Papers & Join In

What *else* is there to do here in Perth

Surf, snorkel, chase rats around an island, attend PLUG meetings (you slacker!) and help organise conferences, rock climbing and abseiling, caving (or combine sports), bushwalking (do the Bibbulman if you're bored) including tall timber country, the vineyards, visit the animals at one of the many wildlife parks or the zoo, play golf, heaps of other stuff.

Of course, home is even better.

The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain by mobiGeek · 2001-09-10 03:27 · Score: 1 · on Creative Games sans Violence?

One game I got with a computer package back in 1996 is "The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain" by Sierra.

The game is dated from a graphics standpoint, but the playability and the problem-solving in it are fantastic. Even most adults will find the advanced level challenging.

I found this review of the game, but there seems to be a lot of webpages devoted to this topic.

Hope this helps.

Great trebuchet reference page by Rogerborg · 2001-09-06 22:11 · Score: 2 · on Fling-A-Keg

Grey Company

I crew a trebuchet on a regular basis, and they really are fun pieces of machinery. Check out the "tabletop trebs" on the Grey Company pages and have a go at making your own mini "cheese chucker". ;)

Re:The "Dilbert" wall... by fobbman · 2001-08-16 07:14 · Score: 2 · on How Can I Make More Of My Cubicle?

"...and also giving people reasons to stop by and linger"

I'm guessing that you aren't a Network Administrator, are you?

People, THINK for a minute! by Tofuhead · 2001-07-03 09:29 · Score: 3 · on Killustrator Author Required to Pay Two Grand

Adobe is in the right here! It's called KIllustrator, for God's sake! Any impressionable kid could take that to be a contraction of Kill-You Castrator.

Bravo bravissimo, Adobe. Thanks for Thinking About The Children (TM).

< tofuhead >
--

Run Ultima 7 in Win9x and Win2K! by BadmanX · 2001-05-18 11:07 · Score: 2 · on Garriott Brothers Return to Gaming

I've noticed that a lot of people here enjoyed playing Ultima 7 and Serpent Isle, and that some of them have tried to play the game again only to have trouble getting the game running in modern operating systems.

The problem was the custom memory manager Origin wrote in order to get around the limitations of EMS. It performs BIOS-level memory access, which Win9x and Win2K simply won't allow.

The solution is a new executable for these games that uses modern memory management techniques and also incorporates a frame limiter so the speed problems are also solved! I've personally tried this patch out and trust me, it's a REAL kick running Ultima 7 in a window!

You can find more info and get the patch at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U7inWindows.html. The author even makes the source available, and is encouraging someone to do a Linux port. Now how cool is that?

Designing to go down.. by lpontiac · 2001-02-17 08:45 · Score: 2 · on Web Standards Project: Upgrade, Or Miss Out

Is there a guide to writing for old browsers out there, while sticking to standards?

For instance, I hear IE3.0 claims to support CSS1, but a lot of CSS breaks it. And browser blah version 5.2 is in common use and is ok, except this HTML 4 element breaks it...

It seems that some of these older browsers will happily support a 'subset' of HTML4 (or XHTML for that matter) and CSS1, so has anyone written a guide to this minefield? I'd like to be able to validate a page as HTML and know that if it's valid by the standards, and avoids list of tags we know break older stuff then it'll work on IE 3.0. I'm not a web designer by any means, but I knock up the occasional page, so while I'm willing to put in a bit of effort to do this I don't have the time or inclination to do my own research regarding rendering on the old browsers.

By the way, the last page I did was my timetable for this year. Anyone in a non-IE/Mozilla (the two browsers I check in, both recent versions) care to flame me down if it doesn't work in their browser?

The BOFH has thought of this before by red_dragon · 2001-02-08 20:39 · Score: 1 · on Optical Fiber Storage

Simon Travaglia has gone over this idea previously in his BOFH series.

Re:Attitude by denshi · 2001-01-30 04:09 · Score: 2 · on Extreme Programming Installed

Anyways, if there's one thing you should probably get from XP it's an agressive mentality when programming.

I tried punching co-workers who held back design specs, but that didn't go over so well. Then I told the architect that she could review my schema, "but first she must defeat me in hand-to-hand combat." That didn't go over too well either; moreover, I'm treading the edge of a sexual harrassment lawsuit for that one.

After deciding to back off physical agression for my programming, I channelled my XP agression into non-physical approaches; soon after, one of our directors resigned after "experiencing" a code review I coordinated - he said something about 'the breadth and extent of my profanity offended his religious beliefs in a very deep way'; which is funny, because I'm sure he was agnostic before the meeting... On the other hand, marketing gave me an award for the meeting, calling me "an inspiration for glibness" and thanked me for the (sizeable) additions to their dictionaries.

Things looked good until I made our largest client break down in tears while reviewing case studies over the phone. Meanwhile, the BOFH, the only person with the will and ability to Pair Program with me, is moving on since he feels that my new attitude is infringing on his "turf". They keep "random" drug testing me, under the assumption that my XP energy has an ... illicit chemical component, but I'm clean.

With my XP Energy &tm, my productivity, and thus worth to the company, has skyrocketed; meanwhile, so has my company's liability. Things look tense. Could you recommend my next course of action??

However by Sheeple+Police · 2000-11-06 23:13 · Score: 2 · on The UNIX Systems Administration Handbook

I think it goes without saying that the Ultimate *Nix Systems Admin Handbook, heck, the Ultimate Systems Admin Handbook period, is the BOFH. (Also available here and here)

I think all of us can relate

jello rocks by Phexro · 2000-11-05 04:38 · Score: 2 · on Jello Biafra's H2K Keynote

for those who like DK and jello in general, go check out LARD (cdnow link).

lard is an industrial rock group with jello biafra and al jourgensen from ministry. they have the same sort of anti-establishment views dk and biafra have pushed, with a slick metal sound.

go check it out. :)
--

That wasn't a coffee maker by Greyfox · 2000-11-01 17:16 · Score: 2 · on Slashback: Duality, Mosaic, G-Men

It was a Model 2 Terminal. Lucky they missed the Model 3 Terminal (The Waffle Iron)

HTML Version of the Treaty by lpontiac · 2000-10-24 23:01 · Score: 2 · on 'Hacking' To Be Declared Illegal

It's right here

Note that I just ran it through Word97 and exported to HTML, so don't expect the markup to be anywhere near half-decent.

On another note, does anyone else have a problem taking seriously a treaty originating from the "COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON CRIME IN CYBER-SPACE"? ;oP

Mirror (au) by lpontiac · 2000-10-21 00:32 · Score: 2 · on Microsoft's First Ad Targeting Linux

http://members.iinet.net.au/ ~lo cust/mirror/msad.jpg

Australian DeCSS Mirror by lpontiac · 2000-10-16 23:37 · Score: 2 · on 42 ways to Distribute DeCSS

Sitting at my ISP.. http://members.iinet.net.au/~locust/ dec ss.c

As a locust.... by lpontiac · 2000-10-08 18:04 · Score: 1 · on When Locusts Attack

I was quivering in my shoes the second I saw this. And the story's title seemed so positive as well :/

-------------
Andrew Francis locust@iinet.net.au

Mirror (au) by lpontiac · 2000-10-01 10:34 · Score: 1 · on TrustedBSD Interview in Boardwatch

Since the site itself seems slashdotted to an extent.

http://memb ers .iinet.net.au/~locust/iw-mirror/bw/sep/Unix_Flavor .htm

Here's my recent attempt by Kris_J · 2000-08-09 16:03 · Score: 2 · on Broadband Net Access Down Under?

In Perth there is a wireless network option called "CitySpan". It works in an 8km radius from a couple of the buildings in the, rather small, CBD. (My home falls within the footprint!) We are almost next door to one of the buildings (but far enough away and tall enough to still be able to use it). For an about 768kb/s symmetrical link with no service restrictions and 3 static IP addresses it will cost A$325 per month (for 500MB, extra traffic at A$0.17/MB) but the installation was originally quoted at A$5,691. about A$3,000 of that was because we're more than 100m from the roof, as the cable crawls, and would need to use a fibre link from antenna to hub. We got the install cost down to by using UTP and a repeater/hub to around A$2,500.

We did not go with this option, I'm getting more quotes in over the next few weeks...

All I can say is... by Jon+Shaft · 2000-07-27 06:32 · Score: 3 · on Sys-Admin Appreciation Day Tomorrow

All I can say is The Bastard Operator from Hell

Oh what memories... :~(

Re:Oxygen is for more than just breathing... by muldrake · 2000-05-31 12:37 · Score: 1 · on NASA Prototype: Could It Make Mars Breathable?

Where to get the hydrogen from? Either bring it along, or collect it along the way.

You could use a modified Bussard ramjet to collect hydrogen along the way. I'm not sure how much you'd get within the solar system, but probably more than in interstellar space.

Finally... a story where this is *not* offtopic... by Anonymous Coward · 2000-05-19 20:38 · Score: 5 · on Oxford Yanks Student Page Over Spoof DeCSS

and I'm asleep at the keyboard. Doh!

Oh well... here it is.
Add your own, and spread this far and wide:

This announcement brought to you by the DeCSS Polar Bear.

Time for Slashdot to take a stand... by Anonymous Coward · 2000-04-05 03:12 · Score: 4 · on MPAA Files Another Injunction Against 2600

The following is a list of all the mirrors from the 2600 site.

Re:And if you have magnetic media by SpaceCadet · 2000-02-19 13:11 · Score: 1 · on Massive Sun Flare This Weekend

Two links:

The older stuff, including the one this is quoted from

The NEW BOFH stories, still by Simon Travaglia

For a second, thought it was BOFH's by ch-chuck · 2000-02-01 03:09 · Score: 2 · on BSD BOF at LinuxWorld

like this having a meeting.

Zen Master Jack

Um, I think that's microwave, not GPRS by evilandi · 2000-01-24 00:16 · Score: 1 · on UK to get 100kbps+ over cellular phones in June

If you're talking about http://www.iinet.net.au/products/netw ork.html, then the only wireless service they offer is "Wireless links to the QV.1 tower" which I very much suspect is a microwave job.

Wolverhampton University (home of the classic WITCH 1948 historic computer) has had a similar microwave Internet connection since the early 1980's.

--

It's available in Perth (I think) by TRS-80 · 2000-01-24 00:07 · Score: 2 · on UK to get 100kbps+ over cellular phones in June

From what I've heard, an ISP in Perth offers a similar service, and although it's apparently rather expensive compared to modem access, if you need the speed it's worth it. For more info try iinet.general or their homepage. NB This is Perth, Australia, not Perthm Scotland.

Rather easily. by Zwei · 2000-01-01 18:32 · Score: 1 · on Do You Buy Into Management Methodologies In IT?

You could learn from the best admin around, the B.O.F.H.. He always seems (Unlike some other ITs) to find the easiest way around!

Eric Schmidt: BceOFH? by Effugas · 1999-12-02 22:49 · Score: 4 · on Novell CEO Attacked by Cookie Monster

A user rings

"Do you know why the system is slow?" they ask

"It's probably something to do with..." I look up today's excuse ".. clock speed"

I'm feeling very uncomfortable here. I mean...I've grown up worshipping the BOFH...and now...what doth my eyes detect, but...

A Bastard Chief Executive Operator From Hell?

You know, some strange part of me wants to see this as a complement.

The odds that Mr. Schmidt purchased something from such a fly by night operation that the credit card number was embedded in the cookie so low, that it stretches the imagination beyond repair to consider the idea that that same operation would ever have the technical desire or even knowledge to use Novell's new DigitalMe software!

Of course, he could have just been tricked by a *real* BOFH... "GEEK! HOW DID MY CREDIT CARD NUMBER GET TAKEN!" "Mmmm. Cookie." "I knew those things were trouble!" "Mmm. Oreo. Chips Ahoy. Yum."

Seriously, there's a gigantic amount of irony embedded in Novell proposing that their DigitalMe system would improve consumer privacy. Consider: Most sites that require state don't require your identity, pretty much because it takes time to get somebody to reveal who they are, and attention spans are small. Look how much traffic The New York Times loses from people too lazy to even lie on a form--MTV may have done more for consumer privacy than any other company in history.

Novell's DigitalMe changes that. Assuming the infrastructure is such that any site that wants to do trustable-state transactions(which is really what Schmidt and Novell is trying to sell) actually has enough DigitalMe access to not have to worry about Yet Another Single Point of Failure, DigitalMe lets the user disclose every piece of information the user could possibly expose in the click of a "OK, tell 'em whatever they want to know."

Heh, Novell--Suddenly everyone's finding out a hell of alot more about you!

And the worst part? Unlike that paltry $50 liability had, you'll never know what people are doing with your personal information. I find it interesting that in a place that espouses freedom and individuality so much, people don't own their identities.

Yours Truly,

Dan Kaminsky
DoxPara Research
http://www.doxpara.com

BOFH by hbruijn · 1999-04-11 09:40 · Score: 1 · on The Life of the Sysadmin

Anyone remember these?
Looks like the authors of this article missed the beautifull descriptions of the agony true sysadmins experience with (l)users.
Read this and never trust your sysadmin again!
The final collection of BOFH stories!

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