Slashdot Mirror

Erm... that last missing link was supposed to point to Mike Rotch. Heh.

Is taking this guy seriously with a name like THAT.

We might as well have this guy lead UnitedLinux. Or this guy. An Oriental guy would be good for diversity. This guy too.

That should do for now.

Is taking this guy seriously with a name like THAT.

We might as well have this guy lead UnitedLinux. Or this guy. An Oriental guy would be good for diversity. This guy too.

That should do for now.

Is taking this guy seriously with a name like THAT.

We might as well have this guy lead UnitedLinux. Or this guy. An Oriental guy would be good for diversity. This guy too.

That should do for now.

Yea, umm WinAmp visualisations. fine.

But the most impressive vis plugin I have ever seen is for the (discontinued) Sonique player, and is called THe Rabbit Hole.
Truly amazing how it reacts to music, and even to non-technoid one. (Which is the major drawback of most vis plugins IMO, that they work best with technoid sounds.)

Try it out if you have some spare time & bandwidth ;)

Remember what the dormouse said...

Yea, umm WinAmp visualisations. fine.

But the most impressive vis plugin I have ever seen is for the (discontinued) Sonique player, and is called THe Rabbit Hole.
Truly amazing how it reacts to music, and even to non-technoid one. (Which is the major drawback of most vis plugins IMO, that they work best with technoid sounds.)

Try it out if you have some spare time & bandwidth ;)

Remember what the dormouse said...

Believe it or not, this doesn't seem to work with the newer builds of Mozilla.

By this I mean you can set the user agent pref (See prefs.js and edit/create user.js to set your own) and the about:mozilla page reports the correct faked agent. But go to any web page that reports your user-agent string back to you (such as here near the bottom) and it still gives the old built-in user agent string. Since I have no real reason to fake my string, (and this therefore doesn't affect me) I haven't filed a bug report.

Curiouser, an outdated mozilla.org page reports the correct values. (Scroll down to "Profile of Your Browser".

Another thing is that navigator.appVersion string cannot be changed other than modifying the source... it won't get changed with a faked user agent string. There's an entry in bugzilla for this.

So what gives? I dunno, other than there seem to still be a few quirks of Mozilla that won't likely be worked out for a few more versions.

dominik@schnitzer.at, mozparty-at-subscribe@relax.ath.cx, dominik@schnitzer.at, david_markvica@web.de, johannes_richter@gmx.net, kairo@kairo.at, rossi@chello.at, markush@world-direct.com, cbiesinger@web.de, jenskager@gmx.net, jo-at-mt@gmx.net, johann.petrak@gmx.at, dviper01@gmx.net, simon@simonschwaighofer.net, dreckskerl@glump.at, wt-lists@trexler.at, dusty@strike.wu-wien.ac.at, kasparhauserjr@hotmail.com, b.schallar@gmx.net, mutato@libero.it, phil@goli.at, diddalick@gmx.net, studio@paw8.com, croco@utanet.at, petru@paler.net, jlemmerer@node.at, bigkub@time2change.at, patrick@seher-it.at, ronald@hartwig.at, mozilla_party@webterminate.com, stefan@kleinhans.it, horst.jens@gmx.at, jjan@gibts.net, mjahn@agency.at, gpoul@gnu.org, green@eggs.ham, gerhard.hipfinger@openforce.at, mailto:moz@moz.org>, florianweinwurm@yahoo.com, christian@precht-jensen.dk, Bill_Gates@microsoft.com, Tux_the_penguin@linux.rules.microsoft.sux.open.sou rce.is.the.way.to.go.net, domi@schnitzer.at, joe_ringmaster@gmx.at, sifu@isohypse.org, dk@perm.ru, nobandwidth@bigpond.com, nobandwidth@bigpond.com, luke@strangemonkey.com, mrundataker@optushome.com.au, mcgarry@tig.com.au, chris@think.net.au, Mathias.Burbach@Bigfoot.com, acuteparanoia@optushome.com.au, syzh401@cse.unsw.edu.au, maillist@jasonlim.com, ram@digitalmethod.org, jason@sydneypubguide.net, geek@digitalone.com.au, curious@ihug.com.au, bill@maidment.com.au, kristof@staesis.org, bill@microsoft.com, belle@netset.net.au, ksosez@softhome.net, jruderman@hmc.edu, andyed@surfmind.com, down8@yahoo.com, mozparty@sigkill.com, bulbul@ucla.edu, gavin-mozparty@doughtie.com, roger@digitalfountain.com, matt@linuxschooltorrance.com, mozparty@ventura.nu, rombouts@compuserve.com, ian@freenetproject.org, tristanreid@yahoo.com, groovefx@yahoo.com, jj@lacasabonita.com, gmoudry@hotmail.com, eyezero@yahoo.com, ian@primewave.net, jlawson7@adelphia.net, el_arturo@att.net, janie@freenetproject.org, 145371217@numenor.net, infinite_8_monkey@yahoo.com, charshman@divus.org, mozparty@shadowlurker.net, john@marinapacific.com, ilanterrell@yahoo.com, aafes@psu.edu, bustamam98@yahoo.com, mozparty@myunixbox.com, yaten@sbcglobal.net, joelinux@pacificnet.net, dgc@penguino.net, poserskater69@yahoo.com, lheartb@hotmail.com, ncmother@zimage.com, daniel@likeicare.com, digital.evil@lycos.com, cjeburke@yahoo.com, jblow@hotmail.com, zachary.anthony@verizon.net, boogah@23.org, mebelost@yahoo.com, nickkricheff@netscape.net, mikemcg@ucla.edu, gogomozilla@denofslack.net, mike@mm1.com, seanmcoleman@attbi.com, jsm@bigfoot.com, hoarycripple@crippl3.net, mozparty@nslu.x.myxomop.com, mozparty@camworld.com, mozpartyNYC@isoga.net, ccarlen@netscape.com, h@rediffmail.com, lefever@rcn.com, tedjackson@accounting.org, darren@ny.com, marlon@nyc.com, plui@hyperreal.org, dzeluff@zeluff.com, joel@natividads.com, ken@bigbadapple.com, treebeard@treebeard.net, florent@nyc.com, chad@macristy.com, spud@montelshow.com, gbman_of_gvill@yahoo.com, eam-mozparty@learningpatterns.com, pkrause@primavera.com, tossoffus@yahoo.com, ryan@pantz.com, nichomof@eecs.tulane.edu, billg@microsoft.com, DevilsRejection@msn.com, petergunn@hotmail.com, bagerj@sullcrom.com, isaac@structuredsystems.net, bobk@panix.com, ngellner@hotmail.com, luke@sigterm.org, vivake@yahoo.com, jon@mediavortex.com, groovefx@yahoo.com, brendan@sighup.net, jds@panix.com, bluerose@bluerose.com, chris@allermann.net, dimkal@yahoo.com, preppyl@yahoo.com, blujoker@blujoker.net, nowell_h@hotmail.com, aragorn@cs.stanford.edu, treed@cpr.com, brt204@nyu.edu, andreas@antonopoulos.com, dj@randomwalks.com, lists@pote.com, mike@mhudack.com, reliable57@yahoo.com, jared@geek-boy.com, ondadl@mac.com, floss@myrealbox.com, xod@thestonecutters.net, mozilla@sectae.net, tywonm@screamingmedia.com, Odin_NT@hotmail.com, crooney@panix.com, bg25222@binghamton.edu, eugenem@brainlink.com, dave@downneck.net, romspace@mac.com, sdaejo@yahoo.com, masseo1@yahoo.com, jim@fearandloathing.net, mike@mjoy.us, miles@openly.com, LuciferSD@hotmail.com, nsdilwor@intertechmedia.com, chrisdowden@yahoo.com, pgs10@columbia.edu, sbrennan@ovid.com, lthomiso@rcn.com, paralox@paralox.ath.cx, Jester_458@yahoo.com, jsadove@beltion.net, stuehmke@yahoo.com, mike@realfx.com, alex@risky-roosky.com, shava@efn.org, kra10@columbia.edu, saihung@ix.netcom.com, gropo@mac.com, scottnym@yahoo.com, shaas@vibe.com, roon_toon@hotmail.com, ajaygautam@yahoo.com, jhdaly@mindspring.com, manuel@sphinx.ms, very_itchy_rash@yahoo.com, emeldrum@drew.edu, jeld@mindless.com, as867@columbia.edu, slams@penguin.rutgers.edu, wassa@columbia.edu, tony@vegan.net, zilla@bibliotrack.com, zeno_lee@hotmail.com, fosh@fishnet.cx, linux@gpl.us, jblow@hotmail.com, dkrook@hotmail.com, ivesti@yahoo.com, arek@arekwyderka.com, bljoechang@yahoo.com, brian@tribrothers.com, sparky@marklife.org, charles@softwareprototypes.com, scottkundla@hotmail.com, ccharabaruk@meldstar.com, ian@pottinger.ca, netdemonz@yahoo.com, diatribe@mailcity.com, nick@tomkinet.com, shawnlin@yahoo.com, sculley@pathcom.com, herd.killing@rogers.com, dave@renouf.com, aliyamin@hotmail.com, aswitzer@ispgn.com, netm0nkey@ispgn.com, hyakugei@hotmail.com, geduggan.mozparty@peri.csclub.uwaterloo.ca, lwhite@darkfires.ca, jorel@the-wire.com, js@tap.net, davew@tap.net, tmh@whitefang.com, vid_mozillaparty@zooid.org, anon@foolswisdom.org, morris_mk@yahoo.ca, colinmc@idirect.com, marcus.brubaker@utoronto.ca, akish@kishcom.com, nconway@klamath.dyndns.org, jason@thegeekcave.com, rampaging_simian@hotmail.com, garret@sirsonic.com, piowie@myrealbox.com, m5m5m@yahoo.com, ivan.brovko@net-sweeper.com, returnofthedorks@hotmail.com, axxackall@yahoo.com, tednye@sympatico.ca, darren.fuller@bell.ca, jbailey@nisa.net, swangeo@yahoo.ca, Hercynium@yahoo.com, cinetron@passport.ca, jotaroh@hotmail.com, aghajani@principle.com, fzv@yahoo.com, rocketmail_com@rocketmail.com, foo@bar.com, wolfe@alt.net, drew@xyzzy.dhs.org, jimmiejaz@nixhelp.net, bofh@swma.net, nilesh_mehta@email.com, mslack@rogers.com, m-cahill@rogers.com, tworkowski@sympatico.ca, george@openlight.com, irina@openlight.com, ilia@lobsanov.com, rjs@tao.ca, paul-mp@it.ca, alvarolists@aycuens.com, xan@dimensis.com, ike@lab.org, miguel@asiinfo.net, marevalo@marevalo.net, iolalla@yahoo.com, peluz0n@justice.com, weeddeveloper@yahoo.com, alfonsobugs@terra.es, sgala@apache.org, z_gringo@hotmail.com, santiz@madritel.es, murphy@litio.net, fox@mozilla.gr.jp, party@mozilla.org.uk, danj@fledgeling.com, fun@thingy.apana.org.au, moz@the-allens.net, onelists@hotmail.com, joel@fysh.org, simon.mozilla-party-if-its-in-central-london@rumbl e.net, bigboyjim@excite.com, andrew.and.friends.iff.central.london@sent.freeser ve.co.uk, itwillbecentrallondon@mozilla.org.uk, noahsark2x2@tiscali.co.uk, mmm-central-london@smileyben.com, jonathan-for-central-london@peepo.com, dave-Party-in-Central-London@dgta.co.uk, DJGMOL@netscape.net, srick@europe.yahoo-inc.com, moz-party@zpok.demon.co.uk, moz-party-central-london@trickofthelight.org, marc@brosystems.com, party@budge.net, rillian@telus.net, uphillsurfer@hotmail.com, edward@debian.org, mozilla@robertbrook.com, reagan@technomoose.com, lew@saltbeefsandwich.co.uk, osama@afghanistan.com, barking@insaneworld.org.uk, john@billabong-media.com, leith@cs.bu.edu, mozparty@noseynick.org, jonasj@jonasj.dk, bugzilla@kenneth.dk, chr_damsgaard@hotmail.com, alring@email.com, hp.grondal@get2net.dk, martin@marquentein.dk, Lovechild@foolclan.com, Kim@schulz.dk, kl@vsen.dk, mbendix@dunghill.dk, schnitzer.at@tange.dk, tommy@svindel.net, moz10@pbb.dk, dezral@despammed.com, nick@tioka.com, ask@fujang.dk, gecko@c.dk, spam@deck.dk, bugzilla@gemal.dk, b@bogdan.dk, kenneth@gnu.org, jee@email.dk, daniel@rtfm.dk, umfalvo@yahoo.com, christian@ostenfeld.dk, xor@ivwnet.com, Jason@screaminweb.com, alex@spamcop.net, dustym@riseup.net, rmcgee1@earthlink.net, dr_zeus@hotmail.com, chris.lozano@myrealbox.com, looney_binn@yahoo(dot)com, apendell@attbi.com, dantrevino@wrevolution.org, fireball1244@mac.com, tommyo@hargray.com, natas@redtailboa.net, emmett_in_dallas@yahoo.com, razzbuten@yahoo.com, igdavis@truculent-telephone.org, foobar@null.net, bob@kludgebox.com, cgrimland@yahoo.com, ghamlett@swbell.net, bgood@inceptual.com, slot0k@pogox.org, kwhudson@netin.com, jimjamjoh@softhome.net, jimmys@utdallas.edu, charlesv@mfos.org chris@focus2.com jest6r@hotmail.com steve@ncc.com, usrg@mail.utexas.edu, steve@deltos.com, alex@avengergear.com, mkoenecke@alum.haverford.edu langley@hex.net mordred@inaugust.com swapan@yahoo.com drosoph@hotmail.com, goulash1@mac.com, ean@brainfood.com, vj@vj.com lpret42@hotmail.com bugoff@hotmail.com chad@digitaltriage.net, stewart@digitaltriage.net scottvr01@yahoo.com adam@dfwuptime.com dsaint@gnumatt.org naltrexone42@yahoo.com, webmaster@bast.net, tommyo@hargray.com, ladd@kryp.to, jtaylor5@bayou.uh.edu, jgschmitz@linuxmail.org, enslaver@enslaver.com edfierro@yahoo.com, moz@photonsphere.com, rayw@fuckmicrosoft.com, rfmobile@swbell.net, kevin@unif.com trident5@bigfoot.com Erik_Osterholm@ieee.org, tmunson@houston.rr.com, alessi_brand@hotmail.com, rballa1@lsu.edu, wasted@kewlhair.com, jofficer@martinapparatus.com, idiot@mylinuxisp.com, j0sh01@ev1.net faust@wintermarket.org bouncer@hotmonkeyporn.com tk-mozparty_@perljam.net janisch@students.zcu.cz, aha@pinknet.cz kuzi@atlas.cz scat@reboot.cz, petr@dousa.cz, ruzicka@core.cz, roman@management.cz, hojan@students.zcu.cz, tille@soti.org, cas.tuyn@hetnet.nl, aeon@pandora.be, sensi_millia2000@yahoo.com, crypto@shiftat.com, jan.fabry@vsknet.be, monkeyboy@fruru.com, adulau@foo.be, johan@linux.be, karu@pobox.com, soggie@soti.org nick@tomkinet.com, why_are_you_too_lazy_to_drive_1_hour_to_toronto@yo u_lazy.com try_grammer_class_a_while@get_a_life.com john@interlynx.ca asharp@axo.cc, unionstation@ryder.ca, prade@hotmail.com, 2600@hamilton2600.ca, chris.lozano@myrealbox.com, dantrevino@wrevolution.org, jksteinhauer@netscape.net, i_love_junk_email@yahoo.com, cmiller@surfsouth.com, jan@bestbytes.de, me@phillipoertel.com, sebastian@pixelsalon.de, ccozan@andtek.com, ben@itlib.de, martin.ament@gmx.de, pulsar@highteq.net, muid@gmx.de, cedi@zooomclan.org, soapy@soapy.ch, deep_blue_ocean@gmx.ch, stamp@zooomclan.org, hans@switzerland.com, milamber@zooomclan.org, mtettea@switzerland.com, cylander@zooomclan.org, duke@zooomclan.org, pegirun@gmx.ch, pilif@pilif.ch, mlati@yahoo.com, Mozillzooom@holophrastic.com, erichiseli@yahoo.com, la_burdet@yahoo.com, rkoerber@gmx.de, dotzmasta@hotmail.com, B.Eckstein@cli.de, rtfm@linux.de, info@phosmo.de, gz@disintegrated.de, byronbay@gmx.de, stiwi@mac.com, mage@koeln.netsurf.de, mozilla@portfolio16.de, wrede@fh-aachen.de, ilikemozilla@html.de, cloud@final-fantasy.de, sfricke@sfricke.de, info@flossbau.de, no@dom.de, julian.suschlik@gmx.net, omero@m4d.sm, lapo@lapo.it, alcor78@email.it, info@fuelcat.it, mutato@libero.it, ildella@inwind.it, a.marabini@spinthehumanfactor.com, uomoman@criticalbit.com, thefl74@netscape.net, elbardo@libero.it, clem131@libero.it, t-i-e@bigfoot.com, gng74@libero.it, moz.party.20.gnes@spamgourmet.com, ema.cerqui@libero.it, ubertob@tin.it, mozparty.20.anagoor@spamgourmet.com, gianpaolo@preciso.net, ian@deepsky.com, marco@porciletto.org, planetx2100@hotmail.com, billabong@tiscalinet.it, piofree@libero.it, skunkyboy@tiscalinet.it, vincenzo@mondopiccolo.net, macmatteo@interfree.it, contreras@jce.it, hereandnow@libero.it, pza@students.cs.mu.oz.au, caedwa@students.cs.mu.oz.au, mgi@students.cs.mu.oz.au, bah@humbug.net, mfp@cs.mu.oz.au, nospamplease@indevelopment.org, peter@simplyit.screaming,net, pmj@users.sf.net, xanni@sericyb.com.au, agh@kalcium-is.com, felicityconsult@ozemail.com.au, lucas@lucaschan.com, andrewg@nopninjas.com, andym@abnormal.com, ts@meme.com.au, jasonpell@hotmail.com, syngin@gimp.org, mhammond@skippinet.com.au, szutshi@devraj.org, rmoonen@bigpond.net.au, fawad@fawad.net, ufs@softhome.net, kotrade@yahoo.com, ben@benscorp.com, stevesmith@columbus.rr.com, kkimmelosu@yahoo.com, neal.lindsay@peaofohio.com, pat@linuxcolumbus.com, chrisbaker@iname.com, hiroki2c@yahoo.com, seth@remor.com, jsohn@columbus.rr.com, ross@nanonet.net, mark@cushman.net, swinghammer.2@osu.edu, roberto.12@osu.edu, farhat@hotmail.com, pgunn@dachte.org, jwagner@gcfn.org, bp@osc.edu, joepletch@postmark.net, dsherman@iwaynet.net, glenn@uniqsys.com, bernstein.46@osu.edu, trent_reznor@nothing.com, erikniklas@bobanddoug.com, walters@gnu.org, timo@bolverk.net, annek25@aol.com, jlamb@leader.com, bart@osc.edu, jason@mcvetta.org

Not to mention what happened to Australia after Cane Toads were introduced.

Many more examples can be found at this site and using this database

Pronunciation: (ku-närd'; Fr. ka-nar'), [key]
--n.,
--pl. -nardsPronunciation: (-närdz'; Fr. -nar'). [key]
1. a false or baseless, usually derogatory story, report, or rumor.
2. Cookery.a duck intended or used for food.
3. Aeron.
a. an airplane that has its horizontal stabilizer and elevators located forward of the wing.
b. Also called canard' wing". one of two small lifting wings located in front of the main wings.
c. an early airplane having a pusher engine with the rudder and elevator assembly in front of the wings.

These are legislators solving a problem that doesn't exist

I'd say they are taking a very small problem that has already been reported and nipping it in the bud. This reminds me--the very same people who are now saying that Bush knew about 911 are the very same people that would probably have sluffed off a hijack warning before then. So, what we have here are some politicians who are actually demonstrating forsight, and getting blasted by comments like yours. Would you prefer to see a statisticly significant uptick in brain damage incidents at New Jersey hospitals before action is taken?

It is a really good thing that the court has protected the movie studios by stopping people from linking to DeCSS!. I mean what kind of chaos could ensue if people could link to and find a copy of this evil program? I mean even companies like Disney would go out of business if people kept distributing this program! I am so glad that linking to DeCSS is a crime! I feel much safer now.

Actually they're getting resistant to both, a few seconds on Google found this link: WebMD

http://www.weeklywire.com/ww/02-16-98/chicago_cove r2.html
http://www.artscope.net/VAREVIEWS/StampArt0201.htm l
http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago2/1102.html
http://hotwired.lycos.com/gallery/96/33/jpeg.f.htm l
http://www.badpressbooks.com/mhdl.html

Starlink.
Since we can't eat the stuff, why not package our food in it?

I hate those full page ads as much as you, but I also recognize some of the incredible creativity that Flash can facilitate. Take a look at the Remedi Project for some examples of what I'm talking about. Let us not forget little gems like Shinji-san, or Joe Paradise.

At least take a look at what's being done with the medium before you condemn it.

Google gives us the following interesting results:

3,840,000 [google.com] sites contain the word Cheese.

1,640 [google.ch] sites contain the words CowboyNeal and Cheese.

Therefore, 4.27083333333333333333333333333e-2% of cheese related sites contain a reference to CowboyNeal.

leads us to the following conclusions:

1) His methodology is at least as sound as the original article's, which seems to be the seminal article in this rapidly emerging field of crap.

2) Google returns very different results from one search to another. Consider that I found about 405 hits for CbN and cheese, while BoBaBrain found about 1600. There seems to be justification for Google's using about to qualify their results.

3) As a consequence of item 2), we should view results based upon Google searches with some scepticism.

4) We all have far too much time on our hands.

If you do why not submit it to Web Monkey?

Of course, Lycos has been doing this for ages, well before Google did their first Zeitgeist...

Of course, Lycos has been doing this for ages, well before Google did their first Zeitgeist...

Acording to Lycos:

Dutch Courage: Sometimes Offensive. courage inspired by drunkenness or drinking.

I love the context-menu's in Opera... You can select a word and then search for it, translate it, or look in the dictionary/encyclopedia.

Prof. Denning used to be one of the chief supporters of the government's Clipper key escrow system:

Click here to read a letter she wrote at the time.

Sure about that? I ran across this article the other day on Google explaining how to degrade websites and it makes several references to IE 1.0. The article is from 1997.

I'm astonished. I use google for generic searches, but any time I need a specific answer, google is the one I definitely would not use, as it never returns the link I want in the first 3 pages.

So I have a list of twenty-something search engines I use for specific purposes as they all have their sweet spot.

Here are my top 7:

ask.com
altavista.com
findlaw.com
lycos.com
metacrawler.com
alexa.com
alltheweb.com
etc etc

It is well understood that the more times you see an image, the more likely you are to purchase its related product when you are wandering down the store aisles, wondering what to purchase. You've had the moment when you're standing in front of seven different brands of raisin brans, and you opt for one or another, little calculating that the one you purchased was simply imprinted upon your brain more times in recent advertising.

Google strides like a valiant and noble knight, a Don Quixote on a mission from heaven, to clear the mindscape of all those lurching, fragmented thoughts: "buy me!" "buy me!" "buy me!"

Like a gift from another universe, where things are cleaner, and evaluated by merit rather than popularity, Google presents an elaborate algorithm for sorting websites into fields of clarity. So insightful is their methodology, other larger search engines have bowed to this upstart. Even the mighty Yahoo, the first big engine on the 'net, has Google under the hood. So do a dozen other search engines, and thousands of sites who have turned their proprietary search functions over to the agile Google churner. AltaVista, Lycos, metacrawlers, and a few other great ones keep the American principle of competition solid, yet here we behold the miracle of Google.

We programmers watched Google come from behind, for we needed a relevance-based engine long before anyone else did: we had to have it so we could put it in the hands of others who needed our services; we were developers: we knew the information was out there, and were willing to spend hours tracking it down. Somewhere along the way, we'd stumble across this small search engine called Google, and discover that it turned up amazingly relevant searches, time and time again. No advertising. Quick.

So we bookmarked it, then we earmarked it, and finally we began to deliver the most precious kind of advertising which can be earned: we told our friends about it. And we delighted in the lack of advertising. Truly a geek's machine; sleek and relevant.

We watched the Internet bubble come crashing down around its own self- exuberance; we all know at least one programmer humbled by the rapid withdrawal of venture capital.

And so we watch Google carefully now, knowing that it is still bearing fruit for its venture capital investors, yet also knowing that our economy is continuing to draw inward, and as carefully as we form our sentences regarding the future of our welfare... we hold our breath when we visit Google each day for its wealth of free, friendly, and advertising-free three billion interrelated facets of information.

We watched Google handle the September 11 tragedy, worried that it might spark them into becoming a news portal, since their cache ability made them compete with sites like CNN which were swamped with 50,000 hits per second... and we saw Google come out cleanly, building on the crisis in a noble, not-capitalizing-on-the-crisis, manner. Now you can visit Google and find current information; it's a portal, yet ever so quietly, since there are no advertisements. Portals have become synonymous with a barrage of advertising, so what do we call this gallant creature who will not stoop to capitalism?

It's just a humble search engine: A search engine which points the way into a future with a clean mindscape. We may not all make it there; spammers prove that they'll come into such a future kicking and screaming for attention, and since we know that we all have to arrive together or else we none of us can arrive, we tolerate them.

Yes, we hold our breath each time we visit Google, lest they make that sad plunge into our noisy world instead of rising above it. And we are continually surprised by the improvements which they are making. These are not trivial improvements, simple cosmetic additions; one by one they have expanded our notion of how powerful a search engine can be, how it can nimbly reach into the deepest crevices of the Internet and produce a slew of relevant information on obscure topics. Search within groups. Search for images. Search only for images which are wallpaper sized from sites in Europe and are black and white.

The essence of the Internet, the information revolution, has somehow been bestowed upon the novel minds working for Google. We look at their job offerings, and yearn for the day when we can deserve such benevolence as to work for Google. Certainly only the best of the best work for Google (or id). They play hockey in their parking lots, and eat catered food every day. Ah, there we begin holding our breath. We like to have fun at work, but too much fun is a sign of venture capital.

How do they do it, how do they keep going, and going, and going without losing integrity by selling ads or trying to do too much? Google quietly inspires us to consider a world without advertising. Oh, they take advertising alright, yet look at it: it's extremely targeted, intended to be relevant to the searcher. With a thick black line separating advertising and content. No advertiser images. None of this irrelevant barrage. Looking for a new ISP? Here's twenty links, and over here in the corner, ten folks who've paid us money to be listed when you search for ISPs. Google drew a distinct line between the advertiser content and their own content. And they steadfastly looked toward our needs when they tolerated no images. Text- based. Get the information into the hand of the gentleman while he needs it, and trust that he will come back later with a thank-you note in hand.

Well, here is one thank you note. I hold my breath each time I visit Google, and I use it extensively, and have for years. I was Googling when Google wasn't yet cool, and I'm delighted to see it surviving. I hope they remain solid in their condition of accepting no image-based advertisements, and pray they will continue to inspire us with clarity on the concept of what it means to serve.

The cache concept, now firmly entrenched in the way we conceive of the Internet, is perhaps the greatest aspect of the information revolution: You once published a site, but now it is defunct. Or your site is presently being slashdotted or DOS'd. No problem, visit the Google cache for the site, and there's your info, as clear and sometimes quicker than the original version. The folks at archive.org have taken this idea and run with it, yet I must admit the first time I realized how profoundly differently we were going to be processing information in the future came when I understood what Google was doing with their cache. I prayed then, and the prayer was answered, that the cache would not be shut down because of re-publishing rights issues. Now Google has enough momentum that it would take an act of Congress to shut off their caching.

Take a look at Google. Unlike most companies with bold pretty mission statements hiding inner corruption, Google somehow matches their ten operating principles with immediate proof. They do it right; they work hard for their money.

Undocumented Google Commands

Google Time Bombs

Google Science-Fiction

The article says that his online handle was dan7, which was a name that I remember quite well from the Raging Bull boards. Dan7 was a short, plain and simple. His whole purpose for posting was to cause the stock to go down so that he could make money. In my opinion, he got what was coming to him. Do a search for his postings and see for yourself.

• AOL search for 'linens' - "recommended sites" then "sponsored sites" then "matching sites"
• MSN search for 'linens' - actually, this one has "featured sites", then "sponsored sites", then real links. The "featured sites" are numbered along with the search results, and are apparently hosted on MSN.
• Yahoo search for 'linens' - Category matches, then Sponsor Matches, then website matches.
• Lycos for 'linens' - Sponsored Matches, then "from the lycos network" listed as a result, then real results.
• AltaVista for 'linens' - "Products and services" (links to overture, definitely NOT clearly marked), then a "shortcut" to dealtime, also not clearly marked, then real results.

When I say "we", I mean citizens of countries outside of the U.S. of A. who approve of the Kyoto accord, even though it isn't perfect. When I say "you", I mean citizens of the U.S. of A. who support Bush's decision not to sign the Kyoto treaty because it would allegedly cost the U.S. more than it does China...

Never mind that, with a fifth of its population, the U.S. pollutes twice as much as China. Also, while China's economy has increased much faster than that of the U.S. over the past few years, CO2 emissions have actually decreased...Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

No wonder people outside of the U.S. often believe that you Americans have "set in you minds an evolutionary gulf that has somehow made you superior to the rest" of the world. Lord knows your government acts as if it had a "Darwinian right to rule" over the entire globe.

Wired had an article about this way back in '97.
They called it mipsucking. The idea was to skim off CPU cycles when someone visited a web site. They even had a sample java-script app.

Here is an old article discussing the above.

Balancing the Load (HotWired).

The big difference would be that the NAT server would have to communicate with the MOSIX nodes whenever a process migrates from one node to another.

Each node would have to have a range of ports to be used (since, for example, many programs may want to use the same TCP or UDP port to operate).

Routers.
Scientology links.
Open protocols.
Free music.
Post-9/11 web responses.
Chat hosts and BBS admins.
Ancient packet switchers.
Executive buzzwords.
Open Source.
Online directories.
Cyber greed.
That guy who just fragged you in Wolfenstein.
The Imperial Domain Droids.
Well-meaning POW/MIA industry dupes.
The Hamster Dance.
Paranoid cartoon fantasy diagrams.
War, damnation and hypertext.
Swedish fiber stations.
Statutory IRC.
Beepstalkers.
Geeks.

The story that Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet has been thoroughly debunked by Phil Agre in http://commons.somewhere.com/rre/2000/RRE.Al.Gore. and.the.Inte.html and rebutted further later
That meme was a creation of Declan McCullagh, a "reporter" for Wired News who is politically a dogmatic Libertarian so extreme that he managed to get a book chapter using him as a poster-boy for Libertarian ideologues, and a different book chapter using him as Libertarian joke-fodder.

If you think this is flame-bait, the aspect of his fabricated story being a Liberatarian hit-piece on Al Gore was extensively discussed in a debunking by Salon

After Declan McCullagh was repeatedly taken to task for his hatchet-job, over more than year, by everyone who was there, from Dave Farberto Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, Declan finally grudgingly retracted the "story"

But people still repeat it, because urban legends never die.

Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

Here you go

Lycos holiday console sales

Nemesis Online

Slashdot

La Times

Now that this is happening to commercial films, I bet Taiwanese politician Chu Mei-Feng wants to file for copyright herself...

This is one of those quotes that EVERYBODY knows he said. The problem is, he didn't. Just so I don't pick up any karma, I will link to an old Jon Katz article:

http://hotwired.lycos.com/netizen/97/02/katz3a.htm l

Well, let's see, AOL pulled Gnutella.

WinAMP sticks an AOL icon on your desktop, although it is left mostly alone, no noticeable AOL branding elsewhere. But I'd still rather be using Sonique.

Netscape. Um. Why should I use Netscape when I've got this or this instead?

ICQ, which has just recently overtaken Yahoo Messenger as the most invasive instant messenging client, with its own: Internet Explorer toolbar, Outlook integration, AOL icons in 3 or 4 different places (not optional), and a bootload of "ICQ Services" icons on the desktop.

Indeed, this is the coolest stuff on the Net.

Actually, they're pretty sure it does.

That's the least of your worries. Live anywhere near a gas storage facility? Toxic dump? Or even a gas filling station? How about within several states of a nuclear power facility?

The slightest thing going wrong with the containment at any of these places and you can kiss your ass goodbye.

How about Tooele, Utah (about 40 miles from Salt Lake City), home of a somewhat leaky nerve-gas storage and incineration facility? It's quite high on my list of places to avoid.

Try this link: http://auctions.lycos.com/HTML/Cat22397/Page1.htm? CatNo=114

And here's link more likely to survive the slashdot effect.

Pirates kill...

I know people have have sailed with
Peter Blake who was recently killed by pirates in Brazil.

What the SBA calls piracy is simply misuse of software.

So now it's that much easier for litigation-happy idiots like Don Henley to sue over sites such as donhenley.com and eagles.org

Remember way back when VA (then called VA Research) snapped up Linux Hardware Solutions? They were acquired at the same time as "Enlightenment Solutions." Afterwards, they changed their name to "VA Linux Systems," probably because nobody knew what the hell "VA Research" meant.

A few months later, they announced their IPO. Folks there must have felt drunk when they saw their stock valuation vault to - well, it was the biggest first-day pop in history, let's just put it that way. Even Eric Raymond piped up about the windfall (salient points for the busy: "Wow. Thanks, Linux hackers. I'm buying a new gun. Charities can go fuck themselves.")

All this was only two years ago. How time flies. I'm looking at my comparatively antediluvean userID and feeling all nostaligic.

Incidentally - VA's stock has been doing not-so-badly since November. Interesting.

You concern about the self-serving nature of the post though is well founded. When I wrote the submission (the first of many of the years to ever be posted) I though that it did sound very pretentious. I rewrote it a few times and almost didn't submit. The fact that Dragon Spirit (which has really interesting 'niche' articles IMHO, a nice url - dragon.org - which is easily stumbled upon and a fairly good user interface) had already closed its doors led me to think it wouldn't hurt to list it rather than the many other still operational sites. Belfry is a very good source of web comics and keeps regular information on sites that are abandonded. (If you hadn't noticed or set you user preferences to exclude them, Slashdot has a box dedicated to a selection of geeky comics.)

Frankly, of all the things I said, I didn't expect it to make the cut let alone generate the discussions it did. I was really impressed with the comments on the dillution of Linux mindshare by a profusion of Linux sites (something similar happened to the local LUG while I was secretary - too many user groups, not enough members in any one to sustain them.)

If I wanted to generate traffic for the sites without consideration for the greater theme I believed this this exepmlifies (sorry, more bad spellin') I could have just tried for a submission in the Quickies department. To illustrate the point I was trying to make, see the CensorSheep animation (sorry, yet another Wired link - it's amazing how usefull some 'old' data can be) and pay attention to who is censoring the artwork at the end.

BTW - I am neither affiliated nor deriving benifit from any of the sites I have listed (besides being able to browse and enjoy them. ;)

"I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter."

- Blaise Pascal(UselessKnowledge.com)

Check out Tipping Jakob's Ladder by Julie Meloni. She has some interesting responses to Nielsen's "Flash: 99% Bad" essay.

It pretty much boils down to Nielsen saying Flash is bad because it encourages bad design, and Meloni counters that this is the fault of bad designers.

I have to go with Neilsen on this one. He points out that part of the reason most Flash is bad is that producing usable Flash is expensive. Meloni mentions all sorts of workarounds, like simulating links that change color once you've clicked on them. This only proves Neilsen's point: producing usable Flash is possible, but it's a lot more expensive that producing usable HTML. This point seems to have gone right over Meloni's head.

There are cases where Flash does make sense, but 99% of the cases where it's used are bad. The best way to correct that is to make web designers realize that they should only use Flash if they really have a good reason, and they're willing to expend all of those extra resources to make it usable.

I've found myself becoming gradually annoyed with Jakob Nielsen as well.

That's not to say that he doesn't have some excellent things to say about the usability of web sites, because he does... but he says them over and over again, and what bugs me is that he seems unwilling to even consider the possibility that there might be a way to incorporate post 1996 technologies into your site and keep it usable.

Check out Tipping Jakob's Ladder by Julie Meloni. She has some interesting responses to Nielsen's "Flash: 99% Bad" essay. From the article:

Flash is not bad. Flash designers are bad when they don't know any better.

The same can be said for plain old HTML designers, for that matter. -Andy

You can still find evidence of the posts/sites in question!

The ComputerXpress Raging Bull forum was the message board used by the bulk of the defendants in this case. Undestone and Ogravity, still active, were defendants. Most of the offending posts have been removed, but there are some interesting posts by the defendants in the first 100 messages. Ogravity also set up a site about ComputerXpress and penny stock scams here. This site was mentioned in the appelate court opinion [pdf].

Keep in mind that ComputerXpress changed its name from Stop-n-Sock [nasd-otc:USAV], and used the domain CostPlusFive.com.

You can still find evidence of the posts/sites in question!

The ComputerXpress Raging Bull forum was the message board used by the bulk of the defendants in this case. Undestone and Ogravity, still active, were defendants. Most of the offending posts have been removed, but there are some interesting posts by the defendants in the first 100 messages. Ogravity also set up a site about ComputerXpress and penny stock scams here. This site was mentioned in the appelate court opinion [pdf].

Keep in mind that ComputerXpress changed its name from Stop-n-Sock [nasd-otc:USAV], and used the domain CostPlusFive.com.