Ants Invade iBook

that was quick by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:24 · Score: 0

damn, already slashdotted..

That's funny. by Mahtar · 2002-11-15 16:24 · Score: 3, Funny

Funny because a colony of Ants is kind of like Mother Nature's Beowulf Cluster.

Also, please don't mod me into oblivion for making a lame joke =)

Re:That's funny. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:58 · Score: 0

yeah like beowulf cluster of nand gates maybe...how much processing power does an ant have anyway?
Re:That's funny. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:17 · Score: 0

Well, in a difference sense, a hell of a lot more than any current processor has.
Re:That's funny. by KingKurly · 2002-11-15 18:21 · Score: 1

...except nobody dies if the moron moderator fouls up?

--
It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
Re:That's funny. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:25 · Score: 0

heh. most original "beowulf cluster" reference I've seen ever. Bravo!
Re:That's funny. by Lars+T. · 2002-11-15 18:37 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Umpf. Why not? "That's Funny", funny I say. If some moderators want to see that as Karmawhoring, and that as trolling, why not? Mod this post as Insightful!!!! (Just to make a point)

--
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
Re:That's funny. by spike+hay · 2002-11-15 19:17 · Score: 5, Funny

I've been telling those mac weirdos the whole time that apple was buggy. Never believed me.

--
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
Re:That's funny. by Puu · 2002-11-15 22:07 · Score: 0

Plus the design really has legs.
Re:That's funny. by AndroidCat · 2002-11-16 02:04 · Score: 2

Plus they have ability to reconfigure processing width on the "fly".
The ants go marching two by two... hooray! hooray!

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:That's funny. by Directrix1 · 2002-11-16 03:59 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Man this article is wicked relevant. In other news I just spilled my fucking coke on my keyboard. Who the hell cares.

--
Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
Re:That's funny. by sootman · 2002-11-16 14:10 · Score: 2

OT/Correction: Is the quality of this cocaine satisfactory, Mr. Delorian?

That should be DeLorean.

--
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Re:That's funny. by spike+hay · 2002-11-16 16:28 · Score: 2

Yeah. I've been meaning to change it.

--
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.

fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:24 · Score: 0, Troll

apple is just another explotation scheme, er corporation, just because they aren't microsoft and make cutsy poosty little computers doesn't mena they deserve respect.

Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:29 · Score: 0

Nice troll.

How many computers have you ever seen that weren't built by a corporation? Eh, wise guy?
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:00 · Score: 0

Then you should be a lawyer or businessman.

Technology workers only get table scraps of the capitalists.

When you get laid off while the CEO and the company lawyers are partying in the virgin islands then yes ask yourself why indeed?
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:34 · Score: 0

Ok, wise guy, where can I buy me one of those, eh?

Oh wait, it was an obscure product in a country whose backward, totalitarian economy couldn't produce enough of them, and whose starving workers couldn't afford them?

Well, never mind, then...
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:38 · Score: 0

Oh, right, and the workers in the Soviet Union were so much better off, eh?

And the party leaders weren't off, well, partying, in their Dachas?

Eh, wise guy?
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:49 · Score: 0

No, without big profit hungry corporate beasts, we all have to wait on bread lines .......

I'll take getting f_cked by The Man if it means I can provide for my family, thanks.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 05:09 · Score: 0

Tchnology for the advancement of man as a species. No need to make a profit from that.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 05:38 · Score: 0

The only reason that communism failed as a system (and resulted in the situation of the leaders living inequitably to the poor) is that humans are by nature, greedy, selfish and frightened animals. This is the same reason that capitalism is doomed. Look around you, there are colossal failures (ENRON for example, all the "dotcoms" that died, etc...)that prove that capitalism is just as succeptable to greed and selfishness as communism was. Ponder:

1. Communism was a failure because an increasingly small segment of the population (The leaders of communism - typically the bureaucrats) was living off the backs of the rest (The workers). This was a direct result of greed.
2. Capitalism will fail because an increasingly small segment of the population (The leaders of capitalism - typically the executives of large corps) is living off the backs of the rest (The "worker bees"). This is a direct result of greed.

Communism didn't fail because it was a flawed system, and neither is capitalism failing because it is a flawed system... they are both unworkable because humanity is flawed. The only thing that separates communism and capitalism is that one is ethically better than the other:

1. In communism, everyone is supposed to be an equal with all resources evenly divided. This is an ideal that would only work in the absence of human greed and selfishness. It is morally a decent system.
2. In capitalism, the drive to succeed is the unrealistic promise of personal gain. It is a very self-centered approach that fails in the face of human greed and selfishness. It is morally questionable. When you analyze as the level of "the commomns" you see that there are not enough resources to go around and guarantee everyone an equal slice. Thus one aspect of the "tragedy of the commons" is exposed more blatantly in capitalism and less so in communism.

Face it, there is no such thing as freedom. We are no freer in America than anyone anywhere else is. We have been duped into thinking that profit is important, but it is not. The survival of man and his eventual evolution into something better is important. That has nothing to do with profit. Instead we are imprisoned in the labyrinth of capitalism that lies to us at every turn by saying that everyone can succeed if they only work hard. This is untrue. Unless you are willing to work hard AND trample over others, you cannot succeed. Witness:

1. Microsoft and their monopoly: No need to say more here.
2. Pharmeceuticals vs. natural remedies: The big pharmaceutical companies keep outlawing the use of certain natural remedies only to make their own synthetics and PROFIT! Look up info on L-Tryptophan and its ban if you are curious.
3. Multilevel marketing: Amway for example requires that you coerce others into joining. If you can't, you don't profit. And they require this even if it means your friends and family will hate you.
4. The oil industry: Why do hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in the middle east have to be extinguished so that we can have oil? The money spent on the defense being sent over there would be better spent on retreading the auto industry to make better automobiles that don't use petroleum based fuels. Imagine that, we could tell the middle east to go kiss our asses, wouldn't that be something!?

There are many other examples of the fallacy that we are totally free in America. We are not. If we were truly free, we wouldn't live in fear of losing our paychecks because of layoffs, cutbacks and downsizing. If we were truly free, we wouldn't be under the thumb of corporate fascism at every turn (DVD DeCSS, Palladium, HMOs and the massive restrictions on your health coverage, Utilities such as gas and electric that can inflate prices on a whim, arbitrarily fluctuating gas prices, etc...). I will paraphrase Noam Chomsky: Fascism is fascism no matter who is preaching it. It's still opression. The only other difference between capitalism and communism is that the capitalists have a much better PR machine. They make you think you are free. They make you think you can be wealthy. It's all an illusion. Check yourself folks. It's time to wake up.

Communism and capitalism are both systems that cannot work within the society of humanity since neither one has checks or balances to prevent a single group from controlling the system to the detriment of others. We need a new system. One that will prevent the abuses that we saw in communism and the ones we are currently experiencing in capitalism. A system that will always raise awareness to the fundamental flaws of humanity. We need to be made aware at every turn how humans are greedy, selfish, fearful and illogical, and encouraged to fight those flaws. Or we will never be free of opression...
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 06:45 · Score: 0

So you admit that communism could never work with actual human beings, eh? Okay, we're making progress here, wise guy.

Sure, you try to balance this by claiming that capitalism also `cannot work', but since you fail to explain why, if this is so, capitalism has provided so well for all levels of society while communism produced nothing but misery and tyrrany, you're not too convincing, wise guy.

Your troll has grown tiresome. Now is the time on slashdot when we DANCE!
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 06:57 · Score: 0

I am not the original poster dilhole. I am someone who agrees with the statement that capitialism is not the end all and be all system that idiots like you think it is. And... if you were paying ANY attention with that sheep mind of yours, you would have seen that the reason capitalism will fail is that same reason that communism did: greed and selfishness. Of course, since your brain has been addled by capitalist PR (ie. propaganda), you read it and it didn't click. You are obviously an idiot drone. If capitalism is so great, then how come everyone in this "free country" doesn't have a good life? That is the ideal that any decent system should strive for. Of course you probably believe the lie that people are poor because they want to be. Dumbass.

There are plenty of people who think like me, and plenty more people in the middle who would easily be swayed to my way of thinking once the conservatives have proven how ineffective they are at making people's lives better. THAT is the goal you dumbfuck... to make everyone's life better. Capitalism will never do that, since that would make the capitalist system stop working. Capitalism relies on the needy. Quite immoral if you ask me.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 07:59 · Score: 0

Getting fucked by "The Man" and fucking the "little guy" beneath you. Yes... the true "American Way". You are an embarassment to humanity.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 08:01 · Score: 0

Hey! America is THE GREATEST country in the world!! I will defend this country without even thinking for a minute!! Because that's what a real American would do! No one messes with us and lives to talk about it.
Re:fuck you by Disoculated · 2002-11-16 18:23 · Score: 1

Although I'm not going to discount Soviet scientists, who definetly did have a really great grasp of higher mathematics, I don't see how you can say that a "design bureau" is functionally different than a corporation. Both are driven by greed, one for money, the other for power (which might as well be the same thing). That's not the same as a computer being made by "the people". If you want to talk about computers made by people, check out this list, and don't drag out something that's really got nothing to do with freedom.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 05:39 · Score: 0

Heheheheheh. Looks like the anti-capitalist won this round. The capitalist ran away with his tail between his legs. Sorry Mr. capitalist, but your response to this poster was pretty lame. It was almost a "just cause we're right and you're wrong, so nyahh!" approach. No meat to support whatever it is you believe. You didn't address his assertion that both communism and capitalism can fail because people who are too selfish/greedy accuse both to break down. And your "this troll has grown tiresome" statement shows that you have no answer to what he said. I think what he said is true, and it was well stated. It points to the fact that innevitably, the average person who is being cheated by the rich will want revenge. It's happened over and over time and again throughout history. There will be a revolt since the system is pretty much out of whack right now and only getting worse. I would give it 25-50 years.
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-17 05:54 · Score: 2

Umm, hello? Are you really claiming that capitalism doesn't make everyone's life better, wise guy?

In a country where even the `poor' have cars, spacious apartments or houses, refrigerators, air conditioning, computers, and so forth?

In a country where even the `poor' have a standard of living which no other society has provided even to it's `rich'?

Nice try, wise guy.
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-17 05:56 · Score: 2

(and yes, I'm posting non-AC now. Posting limit per day and all.)
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-17 05:59 · Score: 2

What those of you who claim that capitalism is `breaking down' miss is that capitalism continues to deliver improvements at all levels of society, unlike any other system out there.

To give a clear example, the bottom 20% of society in the US in 1990 had, consumed, and spent as much (after adjusting for inflation) as the middle 20% had done in 1950.

No other system provides growth like that. That's why while you whine and complain, the `workers' (if such a term even makes sense in a society with as much social mobility as ours) aren't on board with your tyrranical ideas.
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-17 07:07 · Score: 2

What he's saying is that the closest anyone in this country comes to being `fucked' is to have one car instead of two, two bedrooms instead of four, or a pentium II instead of a pentium IV. Even the `poor' have that much, plus refridgerators, air conditioning, cell phones, and all the other things that the poor in a non-capitalist system such as the Soviet Union could only dream of.

So if you want to call that `fucking over the little guy', go ahead -- just don't expect people to take you seriously.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 10:02 · Score: 0

What fantasy world do you live in? Many of the poor in my city (Cleveland Ohio) don't have cars, or decent housing, and definitely don't have computers, not even a 386.

I see plenty of poor people in the public library I work at, every day. I can tell you that they have no computers, or cars or air conditioning. They don't even have decent heat, water or electric in some cases. They don't have much food in their fridges and their fridges are maybe 40 years old. I've actually spolen with them and interacted with them so I can speak from experience.

In my previous employment as an alarm installer, I used to install alarm systems in low rent apartments in the inner city. I saw the roaches that had infested the walls of these so called, "spacious apartments and houses", you speak of.

I also ran into someone as clueless as you when I was installing a system in a very rich area (homes of $800,000 and up). She was complaining about how the workers that her father employed were going to put them in the poor house because they were demanding $1.00 more per hour. This was just threatening to put them into complete poverty, so they moved from Canada to the US so that they could freely exploit their employees and pay them less. God bless America.

I think people who grow up being taught capitalist values are in much the same kind of denial that non-vegans are. They ignore the fact that something ugly has to happen to keep the comfortable.
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-17 12:05 · Score: 2

Your kidding yourself -- there's no one in this country who couldn't have a computer (or a car, or a house), if those were there priorities.

If people choose to spend their money on other things instead, well, unless you're telling us that you have a right to tell them where to spend their money, well, that's how things end up.

The only thing sad about the situation is that it's exactly those who listen to idiots like you and blame others for their problems instead of working to make their lives better who suffer.

Fortunately for everyone, that's not very many, though it must burn you up that that's the case, eh?
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 13:48 · Score: 0

You are totally clueless. Go live in the real world for a while and see how awful life is when you don't have enough money to pay for everything you need.

I never said that a person should be told what to spend their money on. I am saying that EVERYONE should be guaranteed a baseline quality of life, and that capitalism cannot achieve this. This is because people are selfish and greedy.

YES. There are people who can't afford to buy cars, houses, computers or TVs. They have to make choices between buying next week's groceries and paying the electric bill. Again, why don't you go spend some time getting to know REAL poor people. I have, and it's an eye opener.

If you think ANYONE can afford cars, houses, etc... you are sorely out to lunch. With decent cars starting at $15,000, even *I* had trouble getting a car. Sorry, but $213/month is too much to pay for an auto. This just goes to show you how far out of whack our system is. And I'm NOT poor. I am lower middle class.

Your world view is so far out of whack with reality, that there is little I can do to help you. Live with your fantasies and deny the truth as you seem to prefer to do. I know the truth can be ugly. Some of us are just strong enough to actually accept it and try and do something.

By the way... what have you done to help your fellow man lately? And I'm not talking about flying your american flag on your auto or contributing to a conservative politician. I'm talking about helping the bums in your town who have no meals for this holiday season. I'm talking about the inner city kids who don't have access to decent education, housing or computers. I'll bet you ahven't done a damn thing. I can say that with a clean conscience because I HAVE. Besides the work that I do to maintain a large network for a metropolitan library system that reaches out to the the inner city, I've also donated to the local city mission for the holidays. That's what this all comes down to. Who really cares about their fellow man? Not the capitalist. That's for sure. I care and do far more than you ever have or will.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 14:18 · Score: 0

Hehehe... you're kidding yourself if you think your "facts" burn me up. They don't because I see that you have chosen the path of ignorance, denial and irrelevance as most capitalists do. Ride on the wave while you can... it won't last. You will be clawing with everyone else eventually, unless you are totally morally bankrupt and just walk over your fellow man. Which in your case is highly likely... as you seem to be extremely uncaring.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 14:37 · Score: 0

Hey you American! You are an asshole!
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-17 17:10 · Score: 2

Actually, you're sounding like a spoiled kid -- unlike you, I have lived in this world for a while, raised kids, and the whole lot.

I understand that you're pissed that your father made bad decisions. Really, I do. But it's sad that you extend this into calls for changes which would only make everyone suffer.

The fact is, capitalism, as practiced here, has done very well at providing a baseline. All socialism has ever accomplished is to set a ceiling -- and to show how low the floor could go, as the system dragged everyone down.
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-17 17:16 · Score: 2

You can hurl insults all you want, but `uncaring' would be pursuing a system which has already been proven bankrupt by history, instead of the system which has brought more people more liberty, prosperity, and democracy than any other in the world's history.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 18:13 · Score: 0

I have yet to personally see this prosperity of which you speak. All of my friends and family live in fairly economically depressed states. There is plenty of wealth in the US, but it's only dispersed among a small percentage of the population. Why is it that a system that "works" allows for so much hardship to such a large segment of the population and very inequitable distribution of wealth to a very small portion of the population? Would you say this is fair? Because if you think it's fair, then I am embarassed to share the world with someone like you.

Maybe you and your immediate circle have been lucky enough to escape being screwed over and over by this system, but my friends, family and myself have not. When I graduated from college, I have to beg for two years before I got even one job offer. And when I did, it was for a pathetic job installing alarms for $6.00/hr. The job constantly put my safety in jeopardy as they were unwilling to provide decent training for working with live electricity and they expected me (a person with a fear of heights) to climb a 40 foot ladder on a regular basis. I had no choice. I had to climb that ladder or get fired. Is that a good thing? I consider my time working for that company the hugest screwing that the capitalist system has yet provided me with. Very little pay, no dignity and a lousy work environment.

I finally got a break and got a gig producing a multimedia CD-ROM after working the alarm job for a year and a half. But it was a one shot deal. Sure, I got $5,000 for one month's work, but I couldn't live off of that if it was an infrequent occurence. And I found that it would be an infrequent occurence because people don't need that kind of work done that much. So, again there is no hope of "creating wealth" by doing honest work.

Maybe that's the problem that my friends, family and I have though... Maybe we make the mistake of being honest and not screwing over our fellow man? Maybe the answer to succeed in capitalism is to have blatant disregard for others underneath us and just stomp our way to the top to make the most profit? I suppose you would be an advocate of that approach? I haven't the stomach for it. My fellow man is too valuable for me to treat that way. I would rather help them out and try to get them up from out of their misery in the vain hope that maybe someone with a good heart will do the same for me. Of course I know better... the most successful capitlists don't have good hearts are happy to ignore and deny the fact that the only reason they are at the top is because someone else died in some small way to put them there. That is why I don't like the capitlist system. It's not a fair system. It doesn't guarantee a baseline quality of life. It's sole purpose is souless profit with no regard for the humans that are in the system. Even at some higher level than you, you are only a number to be easily squashed in the system. And you could probably do the same to me. No... I will never see the capitalist system as a good thing. Never. No one can convince me since it has done nothing but cause grief for all the ones that I love. I don't know... maybe you are lucky somehow. Maybe you escaped the abuse? Either that or you are just too willing to ignore the flaws. I am not.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-18 03:21 · Score: 0

My father didn't make bad decisions. He did what he knew how to do. And he tried, he really did try to get the system to work for him. But the systems doesn't work for everyone. This system just about requires you to actually care about money. No one should have to care about money, they should have a guaranteed baseline standard of living. There are enough things to worry about in one's life without having to think about money. You have apparently never been through difficult financial times. Maybe that's because you're lucky, or maybe you're a financial wiz. but we aren't all financially secure and a lot of us certainly have no telent when it comes to money. I'll be the first to admit that I don't have that ability. A system that requires you to have that ability to succeed is unfair. Imagine if it worked differently. Imagine if the system required that you be an IT wiz to be successful. Think about the number of people that would fail in a system like that. This is no different. Some of us just have no ability with money and need systems to take care of things like that for us.

By the way, you keep avoiding the questions I've asked. Here is another one:

My wife and I both work for public libraries and have money going into the public employees retirement service. This is supposed to guarantee us a decent retirement. However, that guarantee is currently in doubt because the great capitlists at Enron decided they were going to play with OUR money. They essentially stole it! We weren't made aware of it, and even if we were, we would have had no idea how crooked they were. This is exactly the kind of misery that capitlism brings us.

Mind you, I'm not saying that I live a horrible life in this system, I'm saying it should be better. A lot better. And not just for me, but for everyone.

I'd also like to note, that... I DO give my money away to people who need it. Friends, family and strangers. I'll gladly buy a homeless person a meal or two. But there is no way I could evenly divide my resources with everyone if no one else will do it.

Sorry, but you haven't convinced me that capitlism is good since it hasn't been good to me or my family and friends. And I'm not alone. There are plenty of peoplpe who feel the same way.
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-18 04:22 · Score: 2

Or maybe because you take for granted all that you have, you don't realize that you're already living better than the citizens of any socialist system ever have or ever will. Now you claim that you're not living better than you are now because `the rich people have all the wealth', but that claim doesn't make any sense:

See, let's take it for granted that the claim that people like you make is true, and the top 5% or so of society control 50% of the wealth (what this means when the top 5% is a constantly changing group isn't clear). So let's do what you'd seem to like, and kill them outright and `redistribute' (it sounds so much better than `steal') their hard-earned wealth.

Well, if that's 50% of all wealth, than that's enough to take everyone else and double their holdings. Now ask yourself honestly -- if your wealth was doubled tomorrow, how long would it take you to spend this money and be back where you started? A couple of months? A year? Two years?

And then what? The new top 5% doesn't hold nearly as much as the last one, so you're not going to get very far by killing them too, and in the meantime, you've destroyed an enormous pool of investments which had been hard at work creating jobs, growing new technologies and so forth, so everyone is doubly hurt by your plan.

Sure looks to me like you haven't thought this through all the way...
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-18 04:26 · Score: 2

You argue that capitalism `hasn't been good' to your family, even as they enjoy a standard of living unheard of in the world's history, and miles beyond that enjoyed in any socialist state ever.

And then you suggest that we dismantle the engine which got us this far, and is getting us farther with each generation (you live better than your father ever did, and your children will have more than you do) in search of some pie-in-the-sky `redistribution' scheme, whose results history has already shown us a dozen times over to be tyrrany and disaster.

I guess you haven't really thought about this too much, have you?
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-18 04:29 · Score: 0

Sorry, guy, I don't have time to look at your family pictures right now. Why don't you email them to me?
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-18 04:55 · Score: 0

At this point, our discussion has become fruitless. Hopefully, people have read and learned alittle of both views and can make up their own minds aboutt what they believe. I firmly believe that my view is the kinder view and I will not be swayed. I also accept that you have apparently benefited from the current system. So be it. I still fail to understand why you constantly bring up socialism since I have never implied that I believe in that system. Must be some knee-jerk tick of yours when someone counters your precious capitalism. At any rate, I don't say that my views are right, nor do I accept your's as correct either. They are just opposite sides of what every reational human wants deep down: a happy life, filled with loving, caring and respect for all fellow humans. It's just a shame that no system to date has been able to prevent abuse. Capitalism fails in this regard just as much as any other system. This is why there are so many people with terrible lives in this country. You can turn a blind eye to it, but it doesn't make it go away.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-18 07:28 · Score: 0

That's ok, I e-mailed them a picture of your mother's face.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-18 17:15 · Score: 0

I've been watching this thread and dude... the other guy is right. You are seriously out to lunch man. What did the people with the wealth actually do to earn it other than make other people work for them? And pay them with crap wages too. I work in a coffee house and I know I'll never make a decent living there. My shithole apartment isn't spacious. But I'll say this... I'd love to have whatever you've been smokin' dude. If it makes me think that everything is peachy keen, it must be pretty hard stuff.

Rich people don't usually get there with hard work. Rich people use other people to get there. In general, the rich don't work at all. BTW, you aren't rich in my book unless you are makin $100 thou a year or more. Less than that and your just middle class. But I can't even claim to be middle class since I'm only makin $12,000 or so *before* taxes. Until I'm done with college there isn't any way I'm gonna make more. I'll be very surprised if I make more than $20,000 after college anyway. So I still won't be in the middle. According to my econ teacher the current accepted definition of middle classness is $45,000-75,000. I might see the low $40s by the time I'm too old to appreciate it.

I'm probably going to wind up being an English teacher and you know how little Americans value teachers. The pay for teachers is way lower than it should be. Teachers provide much more of a useful service to Americans than any bastard CEO. We should get more pay, but that's just not in the cards unless some serious changin goes down. Can your fuckin talk old man. The other dude is right, you need to shut the fuck up. And he needs to stop responding to you. It's obvious your just a fucked up old dude.
Re:fuck you by neocon · 2002-11-19 04:53 · Score: 2
First off, a lot of rich people do indeed get there with hard work -- the number of millionaires in this country, for example, has been growing by leaps and bounds for years now, and even the fortune 500 has a fair amount of recent wealth in it.

But that's completely beside the point -- by obsessing on the idea that someone, somewhere might have more than you, you are both a.) ignoring the opportunities and wealth which you have in this society which you wouldn't have in any other society, and b.) ignoring the fact that this society, unlike others actually uses the wealth of the rich to produce wealth at all levels of society.

In short, you're laboring under two misconceptions:
- Belief that economics is a zero sum game -- that is belief that someone having more necessarily means that you have less. In real life it doesn't work this way -- the total amount of wealth in circulation is constantly growing, and the standard of living at all
- levels of society has been improving by leaps and bounds.
- Belief that the wealthy just `sit on' their money -- in real life someone who just `sits on' his money doesn't stay wealthy very long. What rich people actually do (and why they stay rich) is invest their money. And that investment puts their money to work creating jobs, developing new technologies, and generally making everyone's life better.
Re:fuck you by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-19 08:42 · Score: 0

Yeah. Right. Where can I get one of these newly created jobs that the wealthy are making for us lower and middle class people? I mean something that pays more than minimum wage. Not K-Mart or Shoneys. I'm not going to go work at the local convenient store just because a job is there. I'm not going to go from having made nearly 40,000 dollars a year at 37.5 hours per work week to making $7.25/hr. at 50-60 hours per work week just because I lost my job due to some extenuating circumstances. So far I've had to take a pay cut of 5,000 dollars a year because I had to move. That puts me at just a little over 33,000 dollars a year.

If there is a job that some wealthy guy with a big heart created out there for librarians in the New York state area, would you please contact me, because so far you haven't been advertising those jobs anywhere? I would like to believe that what you say is true, but it isn't. Sounds to me like someone didn't take his reality pill this morning.

Sometimes a rich person WILL do something nice with their wealth that genuinely benefits others. Rarely will they do anything without expecting something in return. Those people who do that are the exception and not the rule. For someone at my income level who is a single woman, a $5000 a year pay cut is not very easy to live with. I actually had a decent savings before my move, but now I've had to cut into it just to pay the bills. None of this can be blamed on me although I am sure you're going to give it the old college try aren't you dear? The move was necessary and unavoidable, and the job was the only thing available in the area.

I also want to point out that you sound like someone parroting things you've read from a book or possibly the internet. You don't seem to have any original ideas of your own. neocon, as I've been reading your responses it seems like you keep saying the same thing over and over again with no new choice of words. You accused the other poster of not having thought things through, but I think you're just calling the kettle black you old pot you! :) I don't think you've though about anything you've said. You've only looked up handy quotes from somewhere else to parrot here. Oh well. My life might be difficult in the current economy but I have been endlessly entertained by the buffoons that march in line with no original thought of their own. At least the other poster seems to have a brain even if he/she is a little radical.

I knew it all along... by slantyyz · 2002-11-15 16:24 · Score: 3, Funny

OS X is full of bugs.

Re:I knew it all along... by EaTiN+cOfFeE+bEaNs · 2002-11-15 16:32 · Score: 3, Funny

Shouldn't ants be infesting machines running Win XP. That surely has more bugs than OS X.

--
No TiVo and no caffeine make me something something...
Re:I knew it all along... by slantyyz · 2002-11-15 16:35 · Score: 3, Funny

Ants know better. The 1985 Apple Lemmings ad is genetically implanted into their insect DNA.

They'd get fried by the heat of the x86 chips. PPC chips run cooler.
Re:I knew it all along... by c1pher · 2002-11-15 16:38 · Score: 1

" Shouldn't ants be infesting machines running Win XP. That surely has more bugs than OS X."

what an eXPerience that would be, eh?

--
The Adult Happy Meal - "I'm lovin' it!"
Re:I knew it all along... by cicatrix1 · 2002-11-15 16:50 · Score: 2

Wasn't having ants around enough? Now you are inviting crickets. . .

--

I know more than you drink.
Re:I knew it all along... by yerricde · 2002-11-15 16:59 · Score: 3, Funny

Now you are inviting crickets

Not really. They're all too busy acting as consciences to little wooden children.

--
Will I retire or break 10K?
Re:I knew it all along... by Ponty · 2002-11-15 17:39 · Score: 3, Funny

Is that really such a big gig? Surely there are a few crickets to spare. I can't imagine the deceitful wooden kid job market is all that large.
Re:I knew it all along... by Qrlx · 2002-11-15 17:40 · Score: 3

Okay, I have no idea what this means. Crickets are the consciences of little wooden children?

What aspect of my liberal arts eductaion has been severely neglected to the point that I have no idea what you're talking about??

By the way, I was gonna make a dumb joke about Macsbug, but that looks pretty pointless now.
Re:I knew it all along... by broken · 2002-11-15 17:56 · Score: 2

Does the name Jiminy Cricket ring any bells?
Re:I knew it all along... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:57 · Score: 0

he means the cricket sound that follows a joke nobody laughs at
Re:I knew it all along... by Killall+-9+Bash · 2002-11-15 18:00 · Score: 2, Funny

That would explain all the Hive Failure BSODs i've been getting lately.

--
"Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
Re:I knew it all along... by Jucius+Maximus · 2002-11-15 18:26 · Score: 1

" Okay, I have no idea what this means. Crickets are the consciences of little wooden children? What aspect of my liberal arts eductaion has been severely neglected to the point that I have no idea what you're talking about??"
I suggest you watch the Disney animated moveie called "Pinnochio" .
It's a movie about a wooden puppet who becomes animated and conscious by the workings of a magical fairy. Through various adventures and lessons about right and wrong, he eventually is granted his wish of becoming a real boy. In these adventures, there is a cricket called "Jimminy Cricket" who always tries to steer Pinnochio into not being influenced by people who wanted to take advantage of him and instead let his consience be his guide.
Re:I knew it all along... by Drassk · 2002-11-15 18:57 · Score: 2, Funny

Actually, XP is already at capacity for bugs...the ants like some room for growth.
Re:I knew it all along... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:58 · Score: 0

right on
Re:I knew it all along... by Yottabyte84 · 2002-11-15 20:04 · Score: 1

"eXPerience" always brings the image of being analy raped to my mind...
I don't think ants would infest my computer. Too hot, and too much noise.
Re:I knew it all along... by Yottabyte84 · 2002-11-15 20:15 · Score: 1

Hives refer to NTFS files, actualy.
Re:I knew it all along... by Ravenscall · 2002-11-15 20:53 · Score: 2

That explains volumes about M$'s corporate mentality

--
You say you want a revolution....
Re:I knew it all along... by Afrosheen · 2002-11-15 21:42 · Score: 1, Redundant

I always knew ants loved apples, but not this kind.

*ducks*

Sorry but I thought someone would beat me to this for sure.
Re:I knew it all along... by Killall+-9+Bash · 2002-11-15 22:26 · Score: 4, Funny

thank you for explaining that to me Mr. SmartyMan. you're deffinately smarter than me, cause i didn't know that. teach me more about teh computar.

--
"Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
Re:I knew it all along... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 23:21 · Score: 0

No ants have some taste, XP is definitely not edible
even for these tough little beasts. So imagine
the harm it can cause to humans...
Re:I knew it all along... by AndroidCat · 2002-11-16 02:11 · Score: 1

But what about wooden operating systems that want to become real operating systems?

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:I knew it all along... by cmeans · 2002-11-16 05:44 · Score: 2

So now maybe we can think of the Intel chips that run at a higher temperature as a benefit in this case...I would imagine that it could be too hot in some notebooks for ants to feel comfortable.

--
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
Re:I knew it all along... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 05:52 · Score: 0

Are you sure? I thought hives had something to do with the registry.
Re:I knew it all along... by Yottabyte84 · 2002-11-16 08:35 · Score: 1

Eh, I just looked up.
"A section of the registry that is saved as a file."

I guess some parts of the registery get savet to seperarte files, or something. The password database is a seperate file, for example. I have used a boot disk to edit the password database, and it asks if you want to "write the hives (files) to the disk" so I figured that was just what NTFS called files, sort of like ext2's inodes.
Re:I knew it all along... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 08:39 · Score: 0

What, from your computer being anally raped all day?
Re:I knew it all along... by Yottabyte84 · 2002-11-16 09:17 · Score: 1

I don't know what kind of comuputer you have, but mine does not have an anus. It's hot and loud inside because it has 5 hard drives.
Re:I knew it all along... by ModernGeek · 2002-11-16 09:50 · Score: 0

The first time the term "computer bug" was when the computers used big tubes and moths were attracted to it, and would get caught in them, causing the computer to mess up. I guess ants are now the problem.

--
Sig: I stole this sig.
Re:I knew it all along... by CableModemSniper · 2002-11-16 11:26 · Score: 3, Funny

See guys, this is our idol! He truly doesn't buy anything form the MPAA

--
Why not fork?
Re:I knew it all along... by aWalrus · 2002-11-16 22:09 · Score: 1

"I have a a liberal arts degree... would you like fries with that?"
Sorry... couldnt resist. And its from Pinochio =)
--

--
Overcaffeinated. Angry geeks.

hmm... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:24 · Score: 0

talk about a computer bug

seen this before first hand by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:25 · Score: 0

gal i worked with always ate lunch in front of her laptop... ants decided to move in... it was pretty gross, the only way to get rid of them was to take the laptop apart and q-tip all the crap outta there. luckily it ended happily (for the gal not the ants)

Re:seen this before first hand by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 04:06 · Score: 0

did it end happily for you?

what? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:26 · Score: 0

The Java development tool? The animated movie? A new type of virus ?

Oh, the insect. Hmph.

So are they called... by NeuroManson · 2002-11-15 16:26 · Score: 3, Funny

iAnts? *rimshot*

--
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!

Re:So are they called... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:47 · Score: 0

iAnts?

i Am not t... s...?
Re:So are they called... by cicatrix1 · 2002-11-15 16:53 · Score: 0

3) ??? 4) Profit

--

I know more than you drink.
Re:So are they called... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:06 · Score: 0

i Am not that stupid.
Re:So are they called... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 01:57 · Score: 0

holy crap, that was lame
Re:So are they called... by Des+Herriott · 2002-11-18 02:56 · Score: 1

iNsects.
Re:So are they called... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-18 12:17 · Score: 0

We could say that "They might be iAnts..."

hmmm by the_other_one · 2002-11-15 16:26 · Score: 2

It seams that the server is infested also or is it /.

--
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!

Re:hmmm by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:00 · Score: 0

umm... what?

Re:Well by wd123 · 2002-11-15 16:26 · Score: 1

Your pants were buggy before the ants showed up though.

--
"question = (to) ? be : !be;" --Shakespeare

What would Ellen Feiss say? by digital_milo · 2002-11-15 16:27 · Score: 5, Funny

I looked down and saw the ants on my computer.

I was like... hnuh...

The ants de-voured my computer.

It was a really good computer.

---

Ellen, once you feel the ants crawling on your skin, darling, it's time to seek help.

Re:What would Ellen Feiss say? by Myco · 2002-11-15 16:31 · Score: 5, Funny

It was kind of a...
...
(wait for it...)
...bummer...

--
My deviantArt site
Re:What would Ellen Feiss say? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:28 · Score: 0

Looks like she smoked her iBong.
Re:What would Ellen Feiss say? by bugnuts · 2002-11-15 23:33 · Score: 2

She already said it in the original.

"I was like, Ew ew ew ew ew ew!"

picture? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:27 · Score: 0

where's the picture? I really wanna see it

not all that funny by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:27 · Score: 1, Interesting

i had ants eat my alarm clock once, went right past the pizza and infested my clock (was fun drowning them later, but thats a different story)
something about the electric hum that attracts them i belive.

Re:not all that funny by The+Snowman · 2002-11-15 17:47 · Score: 2, Funny

I had a friend who had to throw out an alarm clock because he couldn't get the ants out of it. Of all the electronics in his room, they infested that. He had a nice line of ants going to it too, like they were harvesting or something.

It was even better when he called his leasing office and told them ants infested his alarm clock, and he wanted them to do something about it. They gave him some advice, including "move your alarm clock."

--
24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
Re:not all that funny by Jucius+Maximus · 2002-11-15 18:22 · Score: 1

"I had a friend who had to throw out an alarm clock because he couldn't get the ants out of it. Of all the electronics in his room, they infested that. He had a nice line of ants going to it too, like they were harvesting or something."
What could ants possibily be harvesting from in an alarm clock? Fungus that was growing from the constant heat source of the electronics?
Or could capacitor electrolytics be yummy?
/me quickly examines my alarm clocks...
I found a spider but no ants ... whew.
Re:not all that funny by Lars+T. · 2002-11-15 18:35 · Score: 5, Funny

Maybe they were stealing his time?

--
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
Re:not all that funny by Puhtronium714 · 2002-11-15 20:53 · Score: 1

The reason that ants will infest electronics is because they are attracted by the heat generated.

Why they seek out heat is a question I don't know the answer to, but that they do is the reason that iBooks, alarm clocks, etc... get infested.

I understand that the "laser" mice are especially likely to attract an ant swarm.
Re:not all that funny by gaspar0069 · 2002-11-15 21:40 · Score: 1

I took photos of ants infesting my power tap once. It was really strange at the time. I kept shaking them out, but they kept going back. I ended up having to spray inside the thing with Orange Clean to get them to stop coming back.
Check out the photos, I used them to scare my girlfriend about my ant-attracting messiness before I moved in with her.
...and then there was this one time I was going to school and I bent down to pick up the newspaper and a scorpion fell off my backpack's shoulder strap...but I didn't get a photo of that one...
Re:not all that funny by ninthwave · 2002-11-15 22:42 · Score: 2

Ants do not have the sense of hearing so the hum would need to carry through material well for the ants to feel it. I don't think the vibrations from a clock would carry enough for ants to notice. Though they have amazing senses of smell, some people speculate that ants are attracted to the small amounts of ozone produced by electronics, others believe it is the insulating in the wires. It may be a combination of many factors that bring them there but any electrician can tell you stories of infestation. Just one of those things bugs are bugs.

--
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said: "I drank what?" - Chris Knight (Val Kilmer)- Real Genius
Re:not all that funny by grub · 2002-11-16 01:27 · Score: 3, Funny

The reason that ants will infest electronics is because they are attracted by the heat generated.

Excellent! Now all I need to do is put electric baseboard heaters around my outside walls and the li'l bastards will march right into fiery death!

--
Trolling is a art,
Re:not all that funny by mwolff · 2002-11-16 06:32 · Score: 0

A couple of years ago a friend of mine had his N64 infested with ants. They crawled in the little cooling vents.
Re:not all that funny by Jonny+290 · 2002-11-17 04:14 · Score: 2

Now THAT's a fucking cool power strip. Screw the three dollar Walmart specials. Give me a junction box and some outlets!

--
Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...

Ants and electronics by erik+umenhofer · 2002-11-15 16:28 · Score: 4, Interesting

Ants are supposed to have a strange sense of magnetic fields and electric fields. Electronics give off a lot of stuff, animals are especially attuned to it. They have been known to short out traffic lights etc., by crawling inside and bridging connections. They use these fields for navigation and stuff. They are pretty precise.

Re:Ants and electronics by NeuroManson · 2002-11-15 16:41 · Score: 5, Informative

Not to mention that to some insects, the materials used to laminate circuit boards and some plastics that compose the electronics, are amazingly tasty... There was/is a lot of problems, for example, with cockroaches eating the plastic in wiring and circuitry...

--
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Re:Ants and electronics by Exiler · 2002-11-15 17:56 · Score: 2, Funny

They are pretty precise.

Precise? You know, when ants wedge themselves between active leds they tend to DIE, precision now scares me...

--
Banaaaana!
Re:Ants and electronics by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:58 · Score: 2, Interesting

Actually, you are partly right. Cockroaches and rodents love to nibble on wiring because they are rolled in dried milk solids. This keeps the plastic from fusing together as wire is spooled. That's why wiring has that distinctive feel to it. But a little bit always remains and so for rodents and other pests it's like string cheese running every which way.
Re:Ants and electronics by inyercells · 2002-11-15 18:04 · Score: 5, Funny

Never open a burglar alarm panel box in any food establishment if you're the slightest bit squeamish.
Re:Ants and electronics by dasunt · 2002-11-15 18:37 · Score: 2

Should be easy enough to freeze them out of an laptop though.

No, no, don't worry, it should be safe. Since I'm from up north, I've seen laptops delivered in unheated vans. I've also left my laptop in my car overnight. The trick is, give the machine _plenty_ of time to warm up - the cold will start to slow down the LCD display if you don't, and could damage it.

As a related story, I know a guy who had a mouse colonize his computer. That's why we put slotkeys in all the empty slots. :) (Well, actually, the normal reason for slotkeys is to improve air flow, but...)
Re:Ants and electronics by goon+america · 2002-11-15 19:06 · Score: 5, Funny

I have a hub that apparently runs at the ideal temperature for incubating ant eggs. At least 3 times ants have come in and tried to build an ant-nursery underneath this hub, which is just sitting on the floor.
Maybe they were feeding the babies my lost packets?
Re:Ants and electronics by cervo · 2002-11-15 19:27 · Score: 5, Interesting

Report Has a report from the department of Engineering Technology at Texas Tech about ways to stop fire ant damage. The first few pages discuss the problem: Basically it says that the alternating magnetic fields generated by and within the electronic equipment attract the ants from short distances. When the ant dies the electricity causes strange reactions, including the release of pheromones which attract other ants. And it seems that in some places this is a serious problem as was said with some figures quoted. However this report is about fire ants and I am too lazy to research more to see if it generalizes to all aunt species so good luck :)
Re:Ants and electronics by nelsonal · 2002-11-15 19:43 · Score: 1

Also the cool temps can hurt your hard drive. If you ever get one delivered, and it sits out side, let it warm up to room temp before you fire it up.

--
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
Re:Ants and electronics by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 20:34 · Score: 0

and I am too lazy to research more to see if it generalizes to all aunt species so good luck
Thanks, cervo! Now I have a way to keep those pesky relatives away! No more overcooked turkeys for Thanksgiving...
Ah, the joys of typos.
Re:Ants and electronics by Ravenscall · 2002-11-15 21:02 · Score: 2

Actually, It would not kill the ants, but it would make for a wicked cool cryogenics demonstration.

Now watch as they begin to move again! They are alive! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Although it may make it easier to shake them all out, and put them oputside if you are squeamish about killing the little buggers.

--
You say you want a revolution....
Re:Ants and electronics by baryon351 · 2002-11-15 21:23 · Score: 5, Funny

From time to time I've found myself chewing on anything I can find. Pen lids and pencils are one thing, and I caught myself nibbling the corner of a NIC a few months ago. I can't exactly describe the flavour. It wasn't offensive, more "interesting". "Interesting" might just be enough to sucker ants in. -b.
Re:Ants and electronics by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 23:23 · Score: 2, Informative

I'm not sure that should be modded as funny, more like disturbing (though I suppose there's no moderation for that...). I remember when someone took a picture of rats walking over the doughnuts in a DunkinDonuts in NYC.

Caption was something to the effect of "don't eat the chocolate sprinkles."
Re:Ants and electronics by bani · 2002-11-16 00:40 · Score: 2

at work we've had several APC UPSes destroyed by overnight ant infestations. I always wondered why they were so attracted to them.
Re:Ants and electronics by sadtrev · 2002-11-16 01:31 · Score: 1

Some ants definitely like electricity.
I lived for a few years in an old house in Singapore where there were a number of wires about the place that we didn't know what they were connected to. I found that the ants tended to follow the cables that werelive - either AC, telephone or speaker cables.

I had a Laptop computer in that house and had to throw away one floppy drive and the CDROM when they got infested by ants (eggs and all).

Just one of the facts of life in the tropics.
Re:Ants and electronics by grub · 2002-11-16 01:34 · Score: 1

Actually, It would not kill the ants, but it would make for a wicked cool cryogenics demonstration.

I tried a homebrew cryogenics experiment with a fly.

It was a dismal failure.

--
Trolling is a art,
Re:Ants and electronics by i_need_no_nick · 2002-11-16 02:28 · Score: 1

They are pretty precise.
How can they be called "pretty precise" if they mis-navigate into a laptop?
Co-pilot: That transformer station down there is making a pretty big impression on our compasses.
Pilot: It must be the north pole, lets aim the plane at it!
Co-pilot: Uhm...
Re:Ants and electronics by GigsVT · 2002-11-16 03:17 · Score: 2

As a wannabe inventor/tinkerer, I often find myself with wires to strip, and no implements of stripping. Luckily the gap between the tops of my front teeth is exactly 22/24 guage. Perfect for stripping phone wires/cat5/small wires of all kinds. (God forbid you get that stuff stuck between your teeth, if you ever had spacers put in by an orthodontist, you know the feeling)

Actually, certain insulations do have a slightly sicky sweet taste/smell, especially if they have broken down due to ozone exposure, it's sort of the way amyl or benzyl alcohol smells. Probably aromatic compounds that are byproducts of the manufacturing process, or breakdown products with ozone.

I could see myself thinking that was a tasty lunch if I were an ant.

--
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Re:Ants and electronics by julesh · 2002-11-16 04:16 · Score: 1

Did it taste of almonds? I've heard two facts that I've never been able to substantiate... the green stuff they coat circuit boards with contains cyanide, and cyanide tastes like almonds (at least to some people). Dunno if any of this is true, though...
Re:Ants and electronics by Hubert_Shrump · 2002-11-16 05:16 · Score: 3, Funny

Just set up a RAID and you'll be fine.

Thank you! I'll be here all night!

--
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
Re:Ants and electronics by rhombic · 2002-11-16 05:40 · Score: 1

Safer solution maybe? Put it in a big ziploc bag with a couple of chunks of dry ice-- it won't cool things down much, and is totally dry (no condensation). I'd love to see an ant survive a day without oxygen.

--
1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.
Re:Ants and electronics by Starbuck · 2002-11-16 06:57 · Score: 1

tamu.edu IS NOT TEXAS TECH!!!! ITS TEXAS A&M! You insensitive clod!!!
Re:Ants and electronics by Jucius+Maximus · 2002-11-16 07:07 · Score: 2

"I have a hub that apparently runs at the ideal temperature for incubating ant eggs. At least 3 times ants have come in and tried to build an ant-nursery underneath this hub, which is just sitting on the floor."
Putting any computer related stuff directly on the floot is not so good of an idea. It makes it easily accessible for insects. It allows dust to collect a lot faster. If there was ever flooding, your stuff would get wet.
Ever since the 80s, I have always put my computers on some sort of riser, even if it is 1 1/4" high piece of wood.
Re:Ants and electronics by cervo · 2002-11-16 08:15 · Score: 1

At no point did I assert the site was Texas Tech I only asserted the report was from Texas Tech which it is if you look on the first page of the report. Sorry for the confusion.
Re:Ants and electronics by MyHair · 2002-11-16 10:50 · Score: 2

Not to mention that to some insects, the materials used to laminate circuit boards and some plastics that compose the electronics, are amazingly tasty...

I've seen ants in electronics before, but I didn't know they like the plastics in there. That might explain my wierdest and experience: they established a colony, complete with queen and larvae, in my 3-ring bound paper reference manuals (about computers and electronics). These manuals were in milk-like plastic crates in the back of my van, away from anywhere that might have traditional food such as crumbs (I never ate back there) or anything organic. They were, as best as I can tell, eating the white plastic 3-ring-bound card in front of the pages (you know, the thingy to keep the pages from getting caught funny when you close the binder). They only liked the white one, though, not the black ones or the vinyl in the binder cover.
Re:Ants and electronics by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 12:57 · Score: 0

it would have been funnier if you'd'a' said "dropped packets", which, incidentally, more idiomatic.
Re:Ants and electronics by cristofer8 · 2002-11-16 14:02 · Score: 1

Somewhat related (but somewhat not),

I also like to chew on things. Once I had a phone cord on my desk, not connected to anything. I started chewing on the connector, but it pinched my tongue. Looking at it, I couldn't figure out what had pinched me. So, of course, I just stuck it back in my mouth. This time, it pinched me a lot harder, and I hadn't done anything. This was about the time that I noticed the phone cord *was* in fact plugged into an active outlet. Oops.

(For those wondering what the hell I'm talking about, active phone cords carry electricity. When an active electrical wire touches something wet and conductive (such as a tongue) it causes a shock, which often feels a lot like being pinched)
Re:Ants and electronics by devinjones · 2002-11-17 09:29 · Score: 0

That's just oral stimulation.
My autistic 3yr old chews on any/everything as a means of self regulation.
Re:Ants and electronics by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-20 10:58 · Score: 0

I laughed hard when I read the bit about the ant babies. thank you.

Ants like Apples . . . by CyberSlugGump · 2002-11-15 16:30 · Score: 5, Funny

big deal. What's next in the news: Birds fly into Windows server?

Re:Ants like Apples . . . by zapfie · 2002-11-15 16:33 · Score: 2

big deal. What's next in the news: Birds fly into Windows server?Please turn your attention to the foot icon next to the story.

Now point to it until the tool tip pops up.

Now proceed to hit yourself over the head with your keyboard. :)

--
slashdot!=valid HTML
Re:Ants like Apples . . . by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:41 · Score: 0

Re-read the parent post. Maybe re-read it again. Did you get it yet?

Ants like apples. Birds fly into windows. Get it yet? No?

How simple can I make it? .....ok, hows this?

If you leave a piece of cut apple on a plate, ants tend to congregate on it. Hence, ants like apples. Next, if you clean your windows so that they look see-through and leave the curtains open, a bird could fly into it.

Now you must get it....no? I give up. Proceed to hit yourself over the head with both your keyboard and monitor. Do it hard and do it often. There isnt going to be any side-effects. Trust me, theres nothing in there to damage.

ps, I didnt write the parent post. I just thought it was actually quite clever.
Re:Ants like Apples . . . by Xenographic · 2002-11-15 16:47 · Score: 4, Funny

Not until recently--it wasn't so very long ago that windows finally got transparency in windows :] Only MS could get away with selling windows that weren't transparent for as long as they did ;]
Re:Ants like Apples . . . by tunah · 2002-11-15 18:08 · Score: 2

Read his comment again.
Look at the moderation.
Now go and put a plaster on that poor guy's head.

--
Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
Re:Ants like Apples . . . by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:06 · Score: 0

Uh... Nice try, I guess. Please don't try to be funny ever again though.
Re:Ants like Apples . . . by bugnuts · 2002-11-15 23:18 · Score: 2

I HOPE NOT.

I don't want to imagine what gets caught in my Zip drive.
Re:Ants like Apples . . . by Mr.+Fusion · 2002-11-16 04:43 · Score: 1

I don't want to imagine what gets caught in my Zip drive.
Yeah, but then the Click of Death takes on a WHOLE new meaning.
-Mr. Fusion
Re:Ants like Apples . . . by Jucius+Maximus · 2002-11-16 07:11 · Score: 2

"big deal. What's next in the news: Birds fly into Windows server?"
Birds flying into windows are a big problem! We actually had a window destroyed when a sparrowhawk did a hunting dive into it when it was trying to kill the wooden life size replica duck that we had on the table just inside the window. (The halk was dead after this, btw.)
We have a large room on the back of the house which has 3 walls totally made out of windows (the halk thing btw happenned before this room was built) and every month a few birds get dazed or killed by flying into the glass. We reduce this by putting sparrowhawk sillhouettes on the glass or other dangling things in the windows to prevent the birds from seeing an open path.
Re:Ants like Apples . . . by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 17:46 · Score: 0

Shouldn't you be selling comic books in Springfield?

Ants by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:30 · Score: 0

Most infestations with geeks on Slashdot are far more disgusting (i.e., of the anal mucosa variety)

It would seem that the Web Server is infested also by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:30 · Score: 0

Or maybe that's just the /. effect.

Moore Ants? by Senator_B · 2002-11-15 16:31 · Score: 1

Could they be Moore's Ants [slashdot.org]?

Re:Moore Ants? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:36 · Score: 0

Unfortunately, that would require that the number of transistors on Apple's microprocessors double approximately every 18 months.

Question... by kdgibson · 2002-11-15 16:31 · Score: 1, Funny

How would one "debug" this? I know, that was really lame...

Re:Question... by eth00 · 2002-11-15 17:32 · Score: 2, Insightful

I know even though the debug seems lame thats how it all started in the end anyways. Bugs would crawl into the "supercomputer" short the vacume tubes and the tech would go searching for it.

Bad joke, but we are going full circle lol

hmmm by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:32 · Score: 0

Somewhere in cupurtino, CA, an Xserve is giving off wisks of designer-blue smoke in evenly-spaced columns, while deep crimson flames burn the internal wires in a lovely yin-yang pattern.

"It even melts beautifully"
- steve jobs

-1 Redundant by PDHoss · 2002-11-15 16:32 · Score: 4, Funny

Come on, editors, watch those duplicate posts.

--
======================================
Writers get in shape by pumping irony.

Mac lovers admit it--this iBook is gross! by EnlightenmentFan · 2002-11-15 16:32 · Score: 2

(At least, it is when it's full of ants.)

(Spooky voice)"Wait, Captain--these are no ordinary ants. Your iBook has... Java ANTS!".

Well, that's okay then.

--
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...

Someone needs to calm down by cicatrix1 · 2002-11-15 16:32 · Score: 5, Funny

All I have to say is ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!!!

It's ok, you can get down off of the chair now, Daisy.

--

I know more than you drink.

Re:Someone needs to calm down by klparrot · 2002-11-15 17:24 · Score: 1

It's ok, you can get down off of the chair now, Daisy.
I dunno, man. We're talking about a whole colony of ants here. In an iBook. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you're the exception to the rule if you're not thinking "ew! ew!"
Re:Someone needs to calm down by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:45 · Score: 0

Only queer mac users would say such things.
Re:Someone needs to calm down by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:00 · Score: 0

Aren't all mac users queer?
Re:Someone needs to calm down by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 20:41 · Score: 0

Dude, it's an iBook. Of course he's a daisy.
Re:Someone needs to calm down by Random+Addict · 2002-11-16 00:03 · Score: 1

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you're the exception to the rule if you're not thinking "ew! ew!"
Nah, I don't think so. Ants don't "bug" me either. Now the posts about cockroaches are the ones that made me go "Ew! ew! ew!" I don't understand why people put up with them to the point of infestation. I hate those *uckers, and immediately take steps for their removal whenever I move into a new place. They are not that hard to get rid of after all. It just takes a little time, patience and plenty of spray and boric acid powder.

--
__
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this may be true.

The iBook is SWEET! by seebs · 2002-11-15 16:33 · Score: 1, Offtopic

Dude!

--
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/

Re:The iBook is SWEET! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 20:02 · Score: 0

does anybody know what happened to cowboyneal?

Alternative explanation by Myco · 2002-11-15 16:33 · Score: 4, Funny

Maybe the iBook was just on acid.

--
My deviantArt site

Re:Alternative explanation by autocracy · 2002-11-15 23:41 · Score: 2

No, acid would have indicated a termite problem...

--
SIG: HUP
Re:Alternative explanation by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 04:40 · Score: 0

This was the first "funny" post to actually make me laugh...having seen the effects of LSD first hand, I can just imagine an iBook doing that..."Oh god! Oh god! The ants are everywhere! Get them off me! GET THEM OFF ME! AHHHHHHH!" Good times....

damn by imsirovic5 · 2002-11-15 16:33 · Score: 4, Funny

Thats one rotten apple!

At least it's not as bad as windows by GoatPigSheep · 2002-11-15 16:34 · Score: 1, Flamebait

In macs, the bugs infest the computer casing. In windows, the bugs infest the software!

--
GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups

Re:At least it's not as bad as windows by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:41 · Score: 0

and in Linux, the bugs infest your crotch hairs.

Beats roaches by MacAndrew · 2002-11-15 16:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

True story -- I remember a report a dozen years ago of a person who took in her buggy Macintosh SE. It was full of cockroaches, eggs and everything. I have no idea how that could happen, or what the owner's concept of hygeine was. Maybe she left too many muffins sitting on top to warm.

Re:Beats roaches by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:18 · Score: 0

I once worked for UPS in the Technology Support Group. Once I had to visit a customer site because their UPS Online PC wasn't working. I get there are notice that the machine is not booting, though the fan was coming up. Weird. I open the thing up and dozens and dozens of roaches started spewing from it. I hate roaches.
Re:Beats roaches by hype7 · 2002-11-15 17:21 · Score: 5, Funny

I once had a Beige G3 300, and a spider of some description decided that the ethernet port seemed like a pretty attractive living space.

One day, I could not for the life of me figure out why the ethernet port wasn't working. I got round the back of the computer, and noticed a little bit of what appeared to be plastic thread hanging out. I pulled, and pulled and pulled, and I swear I pulled out the longest fucking piece of spider web you'll ever see.

-- james
Re:Beats roaches by Myco · 2002-11-15 18:03 · Score: 5, Funny

You think you were surprised -- I'm envisioning the world's most alarmed spider as you pull thread out of its ass as fast as it can produce it. Now there's an image for ya.

--
My deviantArt site
Re:Beats roaches by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:37 · Score: 0

god damn thats funny

omg I can't stop laughing

hahahahha
Re:Beats roaches by the+way,+what're+you · 2002-11-16 06:35 · Score: 2

I can hear it - vvviiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

--
example.org - powered by Linux!
Re:Beats roaches by mwolff · 2002-11-16 06:44 · Score: 0

Someone brought me a computer that they said no longer worked. They were right, it didn't even turn on. Upon opening it up, I found what appeared to be rat/mouse urine stains and feces on everything. Everything had dried up. The feces were hard and rattled, that was the sound I heard when I was moving the machine initially. I thought there were lose screws or something, but NO! :(
It was VERY disgusting. I scrubbed my arms like a surgeon for like 30 minutes.
Re:Beats roaches by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 07:13 · Score: 0

"You think you were surprised -- I'm envisioning the world's most alarmed spider as you pull thread out of its ass as fast as it can produce it. Now there's an image for ya."
loooooooooooooooool!!!!! You deserve that +5 funny.

Something like this... by Brigadoon · 2002-11-15 16:35 · Score: 5, Interesting

I heard once about a problem like this before. A few cities in the southern US were having. Apparently, red ants would get into traffic lights' circuitry and completely destroy the stuff, costing a great deal of money.

It turns out that a few ants had got in there and fried. Upon their deaths, their bodies released pheremones, attracted more ants, who promptly got fried, releasing even more pheremones, attracting more ants... You get the idea.

Re:Something like this... by isorox · 2002-11-15 17:15 · Score: 5, Funny

So traffic lights support genocide? I'll use that next time I go through one on red
Re:Something like this... by Stubby · 2002-11-15 18:20 · Score: 2, Interesting

Traffic Cabinets also frequently have bits of paper like Log books, Instruction Manuals, and Labels in them that Ants and Rodents find as nice food and bedding sources. Traffic cabinets in the Northern States also have small space heaters, to keep the electronics above NEMA specs. This makes them like Rodent hotels, especially if you have lazy contractors that like to use "spray foam" instead of good Duct seal to seal conduits. There are more fiber hits in the US from Rodents then back hoes.
Re:Something like this... by repetty · 2002-11-15 18:49 · Score: 1

It's happened to me more than once in Austin, Texas. Ants kept climbing into my air conditioning compressor, outside my house. The like to get into the power solenoid and would get fried. They liked the ozone, I was told by the service technician.
Re:Something like this... by GMontag451 · 2002-11-15 18:59 · Score: 2

Its not genocide, its insecticide :D
Re:Something like this... by tulare · 2002-11-15 19:23 · Score: 2

Hey, uh, you wouldn't happen to be German, would you? Your comment was interesting, but I couldn't help but notice the way you used a capital Letter for most of the Nouns in your Comment :)

--
political_news.c: warning: comparison is always true due to limited range of data type
Re:Something like this... by ninthwave · 2002-11-15 23:16 · Score: 2

It is a problem that they are researching to find out what attracts ants to electricity.

The Institute

Ars News Network

A 5 year old wired article very similiar to this story

--
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said: "I drank what?" - Chris Knight (Val Kilmer)- Real Genius
Re:Something like this... by BlueUnderwear · 2002-11-16 00:08 · Score: 0

Apparently, red ants would get into traffic lights' circuitry and completely destroy the stuff, costing a great deal of money.
Would they only go into red lights, or also into the green ones?

--
Say no to software patents.
Re:Something like this... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 02:20 · Score: 0

That has to be the worst survival mechanism ever. "Uh oh, I'm dying from an unknown cause, I had better call the rest of the ants over!" Of course the rest come along and promptly die just after sending out the same message.
Re:Something like this... by Monoman · 2002-11-16 03:43 · Score: 2

I live in Florida and in a previous career I came across this more than one would think. Typically it was "fire ants" (these little b4st4rds carry quite a sting) filling up an eletrical panel of some sort. I used to think of it like a ant suicide in mass ... they all pile into the cabinet, hold hands, and POOF! Toasted ant colony.

--
Keep the Classic Slashdot.

Killed my pentium. by uberstool · 2002-11-15 16:35 · Score: 5, Interesting

I use to keep a P133 out in the garage workbench. I One day, I went out and the screen was black. I powered down for a hard reboot and got a few odd beeps and nothing else. I live in the middle of the Arizona desert and expected dust would eventually kill the machine. Turns out a fat ass black widow spider decided to melt her fat self on my processor.

Re:Killed my pentium. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:41 · Score: 0

That's nothing... I once had a dual Athlon 2200+ overclocked to 3500... thousand... megahertz man, it was cool.. so anyway..
Re:Killed my pentium. by tireg · 2002-11-15 18:46 · Score: 0

Heh, better your pentium than you, right?
Re:Killed my pentium. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 03:29 · Score: 0

or your mac! :-)

Sloppy programming by www.sorehands.com · 2002-11-15 16:35 · Score: 0, Troll

If they did their programming better, they would not have such a problem with bugs.

--
Fight Spammers!

The original post by DarkSkiesAhead · 2002-11-15 16:35 · Score: 5, Informative

from the apple discussion board:

Has anyone had this problem? I hope not . . . After the first rain of the year, the ants outside were restless (and homeless). My wife had left her ibook on the mantle charging overnight. The next morning we noticed a large number of ants milling around it. Upon inspection we discovered ants crawling in and out of every hole in the computer. I grabbed my can of compressed air and started blowing! To my horror hundreds of ants started pouring out carrying eggs! I knew this was bad. I took the computer out to the garage and completely disassembled the thing layer by layer . My stomach turned when I exposed the main circuit board and saw thousand of ant and eggs (and a queen or two), writhing across every inch! Argh! After several hours with a vacuum and a can of air I finally got the thing clean. I put it back together (only a few extra screws) and luckily it works fine. Any theories on why ants would decide to move an entire colony into an ibook? Warmth? Sweet circuit boards? I think they were attempting to colonize the ultimate frontier: cyberspace.

Re:The original post by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:16 · Score: 0

Any theories on why ants would decide to move an entire colony into an ibook? Warmth? Sweet circuit boards?

Semen.
Re:The original post by rampant+mac · 2002-11-15 17:38 · Score: 2, Funny

Does anyone find the irony of this and Pixar producing "A Bug's Life"
I can see it now...
"A Bug's FRIED Life"

--
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
Re:The original post by kenthorvath · 2002-11-15 17:39 · Score: 1

Other than the fact its an apple (haha), could it be that the ants were attracted to a warm moist space while it was charging? Could it be that the computer was emitting a high pitched frequency that attracted the ants? Lots of things... Lastly, did this guy mention that he ate while using the laptop and dropped crumbs around the keyboard area?
Re:The original post by klparrot · 2002-11-15 17:39 · Score: 2

Disclaimer(s): Okay, maybe this is a little offtopic, but I'm not trying to sidetrack the discussion of the story, just want to drop my two cents on an issue. DarkSkiesAhead, I have nothing against you. I hope it doesn't sound otherwise.
If people are going to just copy and paste the original article into /., I think it should be practice to only mod up when it's posted anonymously. I just think that in general, it's not especially fair for people to get karma just for posting what someone else originally wrote.
Re:The original post by CSG_SurferDude · 2002-11-15 18:04 · Score: 2

But then it wouldn't be

Wait for it....

KARMA WHORING!!!!

--
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
Re:The original post by DarkSkiesAhead · 2002-11-15 18:26 · Score: 2

If people are going to just copy and paste the original article into /., I think it should be practice to only mod up when it's posted anonymously. I just think that in general, it's not especially fair for people to get karma just for posting what someone else originally wrote.
Honestly I can't help but feel a bit dirty when I simply copy, paste, and post. You do make a good point.

I think the post was worthwhile because I was able to view the article when a number of people said they couldn't. Should I have posted anonymously? Perhaps, but an Anonymous Coward's post can take much longer to mod up and is ignored by more people. So, it might be less helpful. Besides, I have plenty of karma so I'm clearly not whoring.

But, I do see your point as well, I didn't do much to earn the good score. I'm always appreciative when someone posts content I can't view, but do they deserve karma for it? Is it better not to give them the karma and thereby leave it less visible? Hard to say. I guess I'm still in favor of modding up anyone who posts helpful content, but perhaps next time I'll try using the lowly AC.
Re:The original post by repetty · 2002-11-15 18:52 · Score: 1

Yes, I've had to chase ants out of my Lombard. They also got into my rather expensive high-end fax machine.
Re:The original post by bluFox · 2002-11-15 19:55 · Score: 1

Shouldn't he been more careful about "removing the ants" part?
He knew that it was after the rains and these creatures were in dire conditions,
even if it was her ibook , he could have still made the cleaning action a little less drastic , and perhaps have provided them with a little time to evacuate themselves.. Surely keeping the lid open for 1/2 hr more wouldn't have mattered,,..

--
~561
Re:The original post by bluFox · 2002-11-15 20:05 · Score: 1

Perhaps it is just designed to work that way,, Karma is the only system of reward in our dimension, and it sure is a lot better to read just the important content and the comments about it in one place.
I do agree that it would be better to summarise , but in this one , summarising it would have made it loose its charm

--
~561
Re:The original post by Yottabyte84 · 2002-11-15 20:24 · Score: 1

Ants don't have feelings.
Re:The original post by coolgeek · 2002-11-15 21:51 · Score: 2

I dunno man. Ants already outweigh human beings by something like about 140 times. IMO, he's done us a great service by offing a few of them without using pesticides that they will adapt to. Although it is just a drop in the bucket...So get out there and /. some ants.
I also have to add as a side comment, man I have never seen a topic get utterly ripped to shreds like this out here.

--

cat /dev/null >sig
Re:The original post by Black+Copter+Control · 2002-11-15 23:57 · Score: 4, Funny

Does anyone find the irony of this and Pixar producing "A Bug's Life"
If they get together with The guys from Mainframe, I think we might have a hit.
Bob! Bob! We've got bugs in Mainfraime!
Slow down mike. How many of them are there?
Millions! And some of them all over the diner. -- I can just see the headlines now:
"Bugs slash Dot's." It'll be the biggest scandal in miliseconds!

--
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
Re:The original post by gvonk · 2002-11-17 16:54 · Score: 2

Whatever-- If I post nothing but a link and that post gets modded up, I didn't do anything. ANYTHING BUT FIND THE LINK AND POST IT!!!
Information is everything, but it's nothing if you can't find it.

--

El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)

I got nothing. by TellarHK · 2002-11-15 16:35 · Score: 1

I had something I thought was funny to post, but it turned out not to be so funny on reflection. So I'm just posting instead to say I'm really, really, really hyper about the TiBook I replaced my iBook with today. I'd let the ants have my iBook, but that has a new home next week. :)

What kind of discussion on-topically is even -possible- with this post? Aiee. :)

--
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page

Re:I got nothing. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:16 · Score: 0

Did you get the 1 GHz with slot-loading DVD-R/RW drive? Damn, that thing is sweet.
Re:I got nothing. by REDNOROCK · 2002-11-15 19:27 · Score: 0

Thank you for not posting something stupid. I appreciate it. Seriously, thank you.

--
Even if I say something insightfull or inteligent, it doens't matter cause I'm an ass.

Apple Discussion Boards slashdotted by darco · 2002-11-15 16:37 · Score: 5, Funny

Heh, I was browsing the apple discussion boards when things slowed down to a halt... So I thought, hell, I'll just read slashdot while I'm waiting for this to clear up... Lo and behold, I found the reason. ;)

--
— darco

Re:Apple Discussion Boards slashdotted by The+Ancients · 2002-11-15 17:50 · Score: 5, Funny

You and me both - looks like /. are running their own 'Switch' campaign.

--
The Mothership
Re:Apple Discussion Boards slashdotted by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · 2002-11-15 21:25 · Score: 4, Funny

It seems like the ants are the ones running their own 'Switch' campaign.

Re:attn slashbots: by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:38 · Score: 0

so, to continue in your clearly fulfilling life, you feel it necessary to bag 40,000 people, which by you posting here, thus includes yourself?

Re:Insert Obligatory BUG Comment Here... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:39 · Score: 0

TROLL?? That was humor, you fuckwit of a moderator.

Or Maybe Apple Can Change Their Ads To: by NeuroManson · 2002-11-15 16:39 · Score: 3, Funny

iMac: Colonize Different.

--
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!

Re:Or Maybe Apple Can Change Their Ads To: by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 03:28 · Score: 0

iMac: Colonize Different.

So my colonly was like, building a nest in a PC and it was a nice nest but it crashed and we like had to build another nest and it like, wasn't as good. So we built another nest in a Mac, and it was ok.

My name is Bala, and I am Queen of a colony of ants.

Pentium Bugs by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:40 · Score: 0

I once found a bug in my Pentium computer.

ANY MORE APPLE SPONSORED STORIES TODAY? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:41 · Score: 0, Flamebait

For a second there I thought one day was going to go by without Slashdot posting any Apple advertising on their main page. I guess the editors must be running out of ideas if this is the best they can come up with. Stuff that matters... yeah, right.

Re:ANY MORE APPLE SPONSORED STORIES TODAY? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:47 · Score: 2, Funny

Dear Anonymous Coward:

If you like to live your digital life on the go, I have great news for you.

Did you know that Apple just introduced the fastest iBook models yet? And they're
now even more affordable! Even a poor college student like me can get one.

They feature a supercharged PowerPC G3 processor running at speeds up
to 800MHz and a blazing ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics
accelerator with up to 32MB of dedicated memory. This new iBook
delivers all the power you'll need to manage your digital photos,
create MP3s, edit your movies, or chat online with your friends, or browse Slash Dot!

But perhaps the best news of all is that you can now take your
digital life on the road starting at only $999.

Like to learn more about Apple's new iBook computers?

Visit: http://www.apple.com/ibook/

It's really great!
Re:ANY MORE APPLE SPONSORED STORIES TODAY? by tuxracer · 2002-11-15 17:17 · Score: 1

Click "Preferences", check "Apple", click "Save" and stop your bitching. Yes, it is a big conspiracy to advertise Apple products. Hell until I knew that someone's iBook got infested with ants I wasn't going to buy an iBook. rofl So you're what, 12, 13 years old maybe?
Re:ANY MORE APPLE SPONSORED STORIES TODAY? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:35 · Score: 0

Oh yeah, then how come everytime CmdrTaco posts a story about Apple he says how great his TiBook with Mac OS X (a mostly proprietary OS, by the way) is? He's obviously converted to Macintosh and is taking Slashdot with him. Heck, he's even speaking at a Mac convention. Plus I really notice a lot more Apple articles now than there were before.
Re:ANY MORE APPLE SPONSORED STORIES TODAY? by tuxracer · 2002-11-16 06:01 · Score: 1

Then do as I instructed as above and stop your bitching.
Re:ANY MORE APPLE SPONSORED STORIES TODAY? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 13:54 · Score: 0

nah, i modded it and voted as anonymous coward cause i wanted to participate. it was going down anyway.

better than roaches. by macsox · 2002-11-15 16:41 · Score: 5, Funny

i used to have a 7200/120 that housed a roach family. that was pretty fucking gross.

i eventually had to take everything in my house and shake it out over a plastic tarp that i ringed with roach killer. some stuff had to be submerged.

moral of the story: never pay $180 a month in rent, anywhere.

--
go get it

Re:better than roaches. by dalassa · 2002-11-15 18:48 · Score: 2

I've gotten some ants in my Thinkpad once but I cleared those out by moving it to another (antless) building and attacking it with a can of compressed air. When I was younger I was stupid and left a half full coke can next to my Apple IIsi. Thankfully no ants colonized it but EW EW EW EW. We had thousands crawling everywhere, in the keyboard, in the moniter, in the printer, under the manuals in the computer itself. It took me a week to de-ant that entire room and another week to properly clean out all the corpses.

--
Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.
Re:better than roaches. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:06 · Score: 0

never pay $180 a month in rent, anywhere.

So we should be paying less?
Re:better than roaches. by ZaphodCrowley · 2002-11-15 19:23 · Score: 5, Funny

Well, when I was younger, I left a coke can on my dresser. The next day, I had another coke, put it down somewhere, got the two confused. Next thing I knew I had a mouthful of ants. Ew.
Re:better than roaches. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 00:38 · Score: 0

insightful? wtf???
Re:better than roaches. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 05:52 · Score: 0

A can of coke has 14 teaspoons of sugar, that's why.
Re:better than roaches. by Jucius+Maximus · 2002-11-16 07:16 · Score: 1

"Well, when I was younger, I left a coke can on my dresser. The next day, I had another coke, put it down somewhere, got the two confused. Next thing I knew I had a mouthful of ants. Ew."
Oh gawd, I was just about to eat breakfast too.

Finally got as far as the story by the_other_one · 2002-11-15 16:42 · Score: 1, Redundant

Original Message (Posted Nov 12, 02 8:46 pm) bookmark* mail* reply* New Posts: 2 iBook 600mhz Mac OS X (10.0.x) Has anyone had this problem? I hope not . . . After the first rain of the year, the ants outside were restless (and homeless). My wife had left her ibook on the mantle charging overnight. The next morning we noticed a large number of ants milling around it. Upon inspection we discovered ants crawling in and out of every hole in the computer. I grabbed my can of compressed air and started blowing! To my horror hundreds of ants started pouring out carrying eggs! I knew this was bad. I took the computer out to the garage and completely disassembled the thing layer by layer . My stomach turned when I exposed the main circuit board and saw thousand of ant and eggs (and a queen or two), writhing across every inch! Argh! After several hours with a vacuum and a can of air I finally got the thing clean. I put it back together (only a few extra screws) and luckily it works fine. Any theories on why ants would decide to move an entire colony into an ibook? Warmth? Sweet circuit boards? I think they were attempting to colonize the ultimate frontier: cyberspace.

--
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!

Could be worse... by isomeme · 2002-11-15 16:42 · Score: 4, Funny

Imagine if it were infested with nmake!

--
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.

Ants? by angelo · 2002-11-15 16:43 · Score: 1

I prefer my ants to be of the marching variety bred by Adobe, thankyouverymuch.

--
Lowmag.net

Why a mac? by nukey56 · 2002-11-15 16:43 · Score: 1

Because it's an apple!

(yea i read the post about the other laptop having the same problem, sue me)

Bugs by patrick0brien · 2002-11-15 16:43 · Score: 1, Funny

-Bugs?!?

If anything OS X dosen't have enough!
Sets a bad example.

Go ants go!

--
-"I ate what?"

Seen it before... by breser · 2002-11-15 16:44 · Score: 5, Interesting

I had something like this happen once before to me to a cordless phone charging stand that was in my kitchen. Something with sugar in it got underneath the charger and the ants made the charger their home. I'd guess someone left something sweet was around the computer. I haven't seen the comment since Apple's site isn't responding.

I just take the charger apart. Sprayed it with Lysol (yes this will kill ants). Put it in a plastic bag and left it. Next morning lots of dead ants. Then came cleanup followed by lots of drying. I also had to keep spraying for ants
until eventually they quit coming back.

However the charger is still working nicely for me. :)

Re:Seen it before... by dsb · 2002-11-15 17:40 · Score: 1

My me too post once again.
We had a cordless phone that was invaded by ants and upon further inspection we found that they were homing in on the circuit boards inside the phone. We just figured it was something that was used in the manufacturing of the circuit boards that attracted these ants.
Re:Seen it before... by schatten · 2002-11-15 18:03 · Score: 1

interesting solution. I grew up around the sugar ants - they were everywhere from skinks to kitchen appliances. also, in the microwave too! and when you turn on the microwave, they can move at 3x's speed, but then again, so would I if I was being microwaved.

we used to put powdered boric acid all over the place, sometimes it worked. but difficult to leave out all over the place.

You'd think this would happen by Travoltus · 2002-11-15 16:44 · Score: 1

to a windows-based notebook, instead of a macintosh based one. :)

--
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!

Re:You'd think this would happen by myov · 2002-11-15 17:07 · Score: 2

to a windows-based notebook, instead of a macintosh based one. :)

Even the ants are switchers!

--
I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
Re:You'd think this would happen by knugfjunk · 2002-11-15 19:37 · Score: 1

How many fuckin' lame-ass comments can one thread have!!!??? Honestly, these are some of the most unfunny comments EVER.

Wasn't joking! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:46 · Score: 0

So Steve Jobs wasn't joking when he said you could lick it!

Instant Karma! by NeuroManson · 2002-11-15 16:47 · Score: 5, Funny

I just remembered, the second (or was it third?) big game released by Maxis on the Mac, long before the PC, was "Sim Ant"...

Revenge is a dish best served with mandibles and insect appendages...

--
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!

Re:Instant Karma! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:05 · Score: 2, Interesting

Dude, that was the greatest game! I remember ganging up and taking out much larger spiders and centipedes, and the ultimate goal was to take over the house by driving the people out. You could end up spending a lot of time digging out elaborate tunnels underground for your colony. I played it all the time on the old Macs (ironically) they had in the school computer lab.
Here are some screenshots.
And, it has its own (albeit small) category in the Google Directory.
Re:Instant Karma! by BigWhale · 2002-11-15 19:35 · Score: 1

I played the game on PC...

Now go figure... :)

--
The Sig, the sig

Is the site on that laptop? by uberstool · 2002-11-15 16:48 · Score: 1

eom

A theory! by Cyph · 2002-11-15 16:48 · Score: 3, Funny

Maybe the ants were in fact PC enthusiasts, set out to destroy every Mac in sight. Thank god this guy was able to stop the invasion in time, or this would have been the end of Apple.

VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

why "ew"? by g4dget · 2002-11-15 16:49 · Score: 2, Insightful

I don't see why this kind of thing should cause revulsion. Ants are extremely useful and interesting and they are usually harmless. If there is anything disturbing about this it's that such useful critters needed to be destroyed.

Re:why "ew"? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:00 · Score: 0

cow shit is also useful but I generally keep it out of my PC.

at least since I uninstalled XP.

*rimshot*
Re:why "ew"? by tunah · 2002-11-15 18:18 · Score: 2
If there is anything disturbing about this it's that such useful critters needed to be destroyed.
Yeah! I was just reading list of 101 uses for ants! It begins
1. Infest enemy's iBook
2. News for slashdot on slow day
3. Subject for list
4. ...
5. Profit!
--
Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
Re:why "ew"? by 2muchcoffeeman · 2002-11-15 19:23 · Score: 1

I don't see why this kind of thing should cause revulsion. Ants are extremely useful and interesting and they are usually harmless. If there is anything disturbing about this it's that such useful critters needed to be destroyed.

Ever meet fire ants? If you had, you'd understand -- but in fire ants' case, it's more like "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

--
Prevent Windows piracy. Use Linux instead.
Re:why "ew"? by blincoln · 2002-11-15 21:01 · Score: 2

If there is anything disturbing about this it's that such useful critters needed to be destroyed.

I agree that it's sad when living things need to be killed, but on the other hand I can sympathize with the ant-infested person as well.

While I've never had any computer hardware turned into an insect nest, one of the apartments I lived in while I was going to university did, and it was horrible. One or two ants are cool to watch. A whole river of them moving across your kitchen floor 24x7 is not. It's an invasion of your space, and there's nothing you can do to reason with them or control them other than to wipe them out. I tried all of the regular hippie ant-genocide-less tricks, and nothing worked. Hundreds and hundreds of them kept coming. That's what's gross - seeing a living alien mass take over something you use on a regular basis. I'd feel the same way if I discovered a bunch of mold stalactites in my fridge.

In the end, the only way I was able to get them out of my kitchen was with a couple of the traps that contaminate the worker ants with poison that they take back to the queen, which kills her off and stops the population production.

--
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
Re:why "ew"? by Vuarnet · 2002-11-15 21:06 · Score: 2, Funny

Apparently uses number 6 through 101 on the list were so covered with ants as to be unreadable. Or maybe after getting to the 5. Profit! part, everything else is just redundant.

--
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I
Learning to fly, Pink Floyd.
Re:why "ew"? by Zonekeeper · 2002-11-16 07:36 · Score: 0

Oh lord another tree hugger. You probably pick up spiders and put them outside don't you. You could NEVER kill enough ants to dent their population. Ever. Sheesh.

Transformed Geckos by frankthechicken · 2002-11-15 16:50 · Score: 1

I remember when I used to work for Ikea, Singapore in their electrical dept, we used to get about a customer a week bringing back their power transformer to fix, and in nearly every case there was a gecko and her nest of eggs residing within.

The first time I opened one of those puppies up and got savaged by those viscious little buggers I was surprised to say the least, considering they have no teeth, or claws, or any aggresive instincts whatsoever.

Re:Transformed Geckos by geek · 2002-11-15 16:57 · Score: 3, Funny

" The first time I opened one of those puppies up and got savaged by those viscious little buggers I was surprised to say the least, considering they have no teeth, or claws, or any aggresive instincts whatsoever."
No they just try to sell you car insurance.
Re:Transformed Geckos by spun · 2002-11-17 13:23 · Score: 2

They have claws and teeth! Geckos are insectivores, they are vicious little hunters. I used to live in Hawaii, we had hundreds of geckos all over the house. The would climb all over the place, but they loved window screens, because screens are where the bugs go. They would fight each other for the best hunting spots. Sometimes they would crawl on the ceiling and fight each other. I've had them fall on my head. My roommate's daughter hated them. When they climbed on the outside of the window screens, she would flick the screen with her finger, sending them sailing.

--
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton

This is a good thing by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:50 · Score: 1, Funny

An Apple clear-case iBook could double as an ant farm. You'd be the envy of the office!

Re:This is a good thing by frankthechicken · 2002-11-15 16:59 · Score: 1

Mmmm, paperweight and an ant farm combo, nice, combine that with those lovely, sparkly coaster CD's and you've got a beautiful kitch desk.

Dude! by NeuroManson · 2002-11-15 16:50 · Score: 5, Funny

You're getting an infestation!

--
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!

Been there... by K8Fan · 2002-11-15 16:51 · Score: 2

Most disgusting tech support job I've ever done was cleaning ants out of an Epson ink-jet printer. This lady ate a lot of meals at her computer. Some food crumbs, like bits of jelly from her PB&J sandwiches, had fallen under the printer. The ants found this nice, warm place with a ready food source and moved in. And I had to get them out. Bleagh!

--
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb

Re:Been there... by Jucius+Maximus · 2002-11-15 18:14 · Score: 2

"Most disgusting tech support job I've ever done was cleaning ants out of an Epson ink-jet printer. This lady ate a lot of meals at her computer. Some food crumbs, like bits of jelly from her PB&J sandwiches, had fallen under the printer. The ants found this nice, warm place with a ready food source and moved in. And I had to get them out. Bleagh!"
OK, it's not computer related but still nasty:
Last summer some wasps built a nest on the face of the air-vent for the bathroom fan on the side of the house. It was pretty smart because the vent had a guard over it so the nest was shielded from weather and you couldn't throw a rock at it. Removing that one was ... shall we say ... a hit and run job.
And a computer related one:
I once had a healthy fungus colony on my mouse pad because I had been habitually eating chocolate and computing. Gross.
Re:Been there... by coolgeek · 2002-11-15 21:55 · Score: 2

Dude, just a suggestion, raise your rates. It should cost more for you to perform that task than to buy a new printer, especially an Epson.

--

cat /dev/null >sig
Re:Been there... by K8Fan · 2002-11-16 09:52 · Score: 2

Dude, just a suggestion, raise your rates. It should cost more for you to perform that task than to buy a new printer, especially an Epson.

Yeah, I know. I'm too cheap. But I got caught in that old trap, working cheap for someone early on. We all know how hard it is to raise rates once people get used to one rate. Easier to find new clients and charge them a fairer rate. But this was one of the most expensive, 6 ink Epsons, if that's any defense.

--
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
Re:Been there... by coolgeek · 2002-11-16 13:25 · Score: 2

fair enough then. i've got one of those clients that has the low rate too...and i do think "cheap" by default when i hear Epson. the top of the line Epsons are probably worth saving. yuk!

--

cat /dev/null >sig

ants in an ibook... by Falconpro10k · 2002-11-15 16:51 · Score: 1

well, thats why mommy says not to drink juice whilst using one... its not a creamsicle!

Reminds me of a movie by cuteduo · 2002-11-15 16:52 · Score: 3, Informative

Anybody see the independent movie PI? The mathematician's "super computer" gets infested with ants in the beginning and prompts him to make a deal with someone for the best chip out there in return for research into the magic number (sort of like the unified theory but different).

Re:Reminds me of a movie by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:19 · Score: 0

Yup, great movie. Got it on DVD in fact.

You can check out the website here.
http://www.pithemovie.com
Re:Reminds me of a movie by Freiheit · 2002-11-16 03:42 · Score: 1

Didn't Actually get infected, the basis of the movie was that the number he was trying to find was the number of god, and it created life in his computer.

--
"Welcome to america, where we drive on parkways and park on driveways."

Try this! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 16:53 · Score: 0

This should take care of the ants (and the Apple).

Pi? by [null] · 2002-11-15 16:54 · Score: 3, Funny

Was this guy looking for order in chaos? Did it spit out a 216-digit number before the ants infested it? Does he have intense migraine headaches?

Re:Pi? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 22:44 · Score: 0

And of course, the most interesting question; did he also do brain surgery on himself with a power drill?

No, not my laptop... by ToasterTester · 2002-11-15 16:56 · Score: 2

But it does sound like some of the people in tech support. Between the human Bio-Hazards and the Goth's walking through the support department is quite an experience. customers are lucky it phone support.

Maybe by r_arr · 2002-11-15 16:58 · Score: 1

Maybe MS has hired any of ants to take over competitors os's leaving only wink2k and xp unharmed.

Re:Maybe by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:37 · Score: 0

Guess they felt lonely being the only ones with swarms of bugs in their OS.

Obviously... by PortWineBoy · 2002-11-15 16:59 · Score: 4, Funny

the ants saw the Switch ads.

and I was building a new colony in this Thinkpad, and, uh, like someone put a floppy disk in and it was like, beep boop bop, and our colony was, like, gone...

--

this sig deleted by another sig

Re:Obviously... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 21:06 · Score: 0

bummer :(
Re:Obviously... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 08:04 · Score: 0

these ant's were marching to a different beat...

Comment removed by account_deleted · 2002-11-15 17:01 · Score: 2

Comment removed based on user account deletion

you obviously don't live in southern CA by geek · 2002-11-15 17:02 · Score: 2, Informative

The ants outside my house measure in inches, they're red and they bite like a mother fucker. Did I mention they number in the trillions? On a hot day in september you can't see the ground.

Hippies in the 60's and 70's often recal tripping quite hard on the "moving ground" that happened to take their picnic away with them.

Mybe you like an ant farm. Sure they are cool to look at when they are a little 12x12 inch plastic picture frame type farm. However it's a very different thing when your entire 10 acres of land are swarmed by the fuckers who eat your horses alive.

Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by user32.ExitWindowsEx · 2002-11-15 17:17 · Score: 1

Have you considered napalm?

--
"Evil will always triumph because good is dumb." -- Dark Helmet
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by /dev/trash · 2002-11-15 17:25 · Score: 1

yeah but I doubt that thousands of inch long anst took up residence in his Mac.
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by DAldredge · 2002-11-15 18:08 · Score: 5, Funny

Napalm, daisy cutters, nukes, bio and chem weapons have no effect on Fire Ants. You can't kill them, you can just make them move. It's almost like they are natures version of lawyers.
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by The+Tyro · 2002-11-15 19:05 · Score: 1

You want to see something impressive? Watch fire ants when a hurricane comes ashore and brings the storm surge with it (8-10ft of water) or you get some localized flooding from heavy rains... you'd think they'd drown, right?

Nope... they get together into a big living ball and float on top of the water. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

Of course, the really cool thing (as a kid) was to wade around and find other stranded insects and animals, and bring them into proximity with one of these floating ant-balls. Those things can kill other creatures amazingly quickly... they earn your respect pretty quickly if you watch them...

--
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:57 · Score: 0

thank you that post just made my day
haha
its the funniest thing ive read all day
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · 2002-11-15 21:32 · Score: 2

I hear over on some pacific islands (maybe Christmas Is.), they're a real problem, killing all the native crabs etc (the crabs that make that big trip the sea each year, and turn the ground into a red carpet because there are so many of them, or atleast there used to be so many).
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by Sponge+Bath · 2002-11-16 02:03 · Score: 1

You can't kill them, you can just make them move.
By broadcast spreading Diazinon on your entire lawn you can make them move to your neighbors yard. Problem solved :-)

Unfortunately they recently outlawed Diazinon. Must be toxic or something.
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by AndroidCat · 2002-11-16 02:46 · Score: 1

All problems in the universe can be solved with enough Duct Tape and WD-40!

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by Reziac · 2002-11-16 03:58 · Score: 2

Hmm. Maybe diazinon would work on lawyers? Cuz I can tell you from firsthand experience, it definitely kills fire ants. -- Lessee, two tablespoons of diazinon granules to one hill of fire ants... how many fire ants does it take to equal one lawyer??

As to peculiar beasties in wrongheaded places -- trust me, nothing quite beats the experience of walking down a dark hallway in your bare feet -- and stepping on a live snake!!

--
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 05:43 · Score: 1, Funny

Try pouring a cup of Kerosene into the openings of their mound. If that alone doesn't kill them, light it!
Re:you obviously don't live in southern CA by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 08:16 · Score: 0

In Texas where I lived, we used to pour like a gallon of gasoline into the fire ant mounds and light it.

The ants always came back.

They're not bugs... by mtec · 2002-11-15 17:03 · Score: 5, Funny

they're features.

--
Cake or Death? Cake Please!

Re:They're not bugs... by JMax · 2002-11-16 06:42 · Score: 1

Come on, mod this up -- of all the millions of dumb obvious jokes on this topic, this has to be THE ONE.

News For Nerds. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:04 · Score: 0

News For Nerds. Stuff that matters.

Hardly.

Re:News For Nerds. by MoneyT · 2002-11-17 19:41 · Score: 2

Sure it does, do you know how many geeks live in unsanitary conditions with soda and cookies all arround their computers? And since there is no help section for "My Computer is Infested" someone has to report on it.

--
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984

They should have... by dethl · 2002-11-15 17:04 · Score: 1

downloaded the new update to OS 10.2.2!

--
"Some fight for law. Some fight for justice. What will you fight for? One day, you will see."

Racist? by fruity1983 · 2002-11-15 17:04 · Score: 1

All I have to say is ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!!!

<Ali G voice>

Now, isnt dat bein a littul racialist?

--
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.

Re:Racist? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 23:40 · Score: 0

unfortunately Ali G is not really big in this ameri-centric board dude...
Re:Racist? by fruity1983 · 2002-11-16 07:05 · Score: 1

Uncultured American pig Dogs.

--
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
Re:Racist? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 12:33 · Score: 0

dude Ali would have said...

"is that not racialist?"

"is you da ant?"

"so the ants are at a meeting?"

Plastics? by z84976 · 2002-11-15 17:05 · Score: 2

I dunno, but for what it's worth, there's a green plastic $3 chair I got at Target that I keep out on my back deck. It's clean (plus I've cleaned it several times just in case) but for whatever reason, it has ALWAYS got ants running all over it. It's like they're attracted to the plastic or something, and it's really weird. I've always got a few ants on me after I sit in it. It's not like they're trying to set up shop there (it is, after all, a plastic molded chair and there's nowhere to hide)--- it's more like they just like to cruise around on the stuff. Weird.

Re:Plastics? by TrinSF · 2002-11-15 18:11 · Score: 5, Informative

Oooo! I know the answer to this one, because it happens to some kinds of dolls, too.

The answer many common plastics make use of "food" components, including corn solids and syrup. Here's a listof things made with corn, including plastics.

Plastics "separate" over time, with components migrating to the surface. It's the organic parts of plastic that cause problems like mold/fungus on plastics, as well as make them tasty for bugs.
Re:Plastics? by z84976 · 2002-11-15 18:34 · Score: 2

cool! edible furniture! (if you're an ant)
Re:Plastics? by Reziac · 2002-11-16 03:33 · Score: 4, Informative

Mice are also attracted to aging plastics, probably for the same reason -- after a certain stage, the plastic smells like "food" again.

One guy on the Apple forum was wondering if he should remove the ants or just kill 'em in place (by freezing or whatever) -- definitely remove them. Ants are quite acidic, and a pile of dead decomposing ants WILL corrode susceptible components. I've also seen computer cases pretty well rusted from accumulations of dead cockroaches.

--
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?

Better than ... by Eros · 2002-11-15 17:06 · Score: 4, Funny

Better than finding a worm in your Apple.

Or half a worm for that matter.

Ba bum bump

I've witnessed something similar... by aussiedood · 2002-11-15 17:06 · Score: 2, Interesting

... about 10 or 11 years ago I was working for a large hotel chain. And I recall there being an ant infestation in not one telephone but most of the telephones on a particular floor it was something like 25 of the 30 or so rooms on that level that we affected.

The interesting thing was they must have been using them for quite a while because many of the phones had damaged circuit boards in them which caused the phones to stop working, this is how the infestations were discovered initially. We had recieved no reports of ants in guests rooms from guests or housekeeping staff prior to the failures. A coincidence, perhaps. But very strange just the same.

They colonized the wrong Mac by sunspot42 · 2002-11-15 17:07 · Score: 2

They should have taken over a Graphite iMac. Then the owners would have had a combination computer / ant farm.

mac bait by shaitand · 2002-11-15 17:10 · Score: 1

ok so now we know ibooks emit emf signals that enchance the neurological processes of ants. But will these super-ants get infested with ibooks?

exactly by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:11 · Score: 0

because everyone knows gay people are smarter.

Re:exactly by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:31 · Score: 0

Than ants?

for anybody wondering who ellen feiss is by klparrot · 2002-11-15 17:15 · Score: 3, Informative

Take a look at her switch ad. The second I read the parent, I was LMAO. Oh, if only I had points to mod it (+5,Funny).

Re:for anybody wondering who ellen feiss is by aardvarkjoe · 2002-11-15 18:44 · Score: 5, Funny

I don't get it. What's so funny about a button that says "Get Quicktime" on it?

--

How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Re:for anybody wondering who ellen feiss is by MeatMan · 2002-11-16 00:50 · Score: 1

I'm Ellen Feiss and I'm............ stoned out of my gourd Is it just me or does that girl look totally blitzed?

--

"It is essential that justice be done
Re:for anybody wondering who ellen feiss is by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 01:17 · Score: 0

Should've known better than to click that link... just a warning to others. Unless you think mancock="insightful comment against the parent's parent", then I wouldn't click on it if I were you.
Re:for anybody wondering who ellen feiss is by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 10:43 · Score: 0

I don't have any idea what you're talking about. /me polishes mozilla's image blocking capability.
Re:for anybody wondering who ellen feiss is by Ricardo+Dias+Marques · 2002-11-16 11:31 · Score: 1

Hi,

MeatMan wrote:
> I'm Ellen Feiss and I'm............ stoned out of my gourd > Is it just me or does that girl look totally blitzed?
I don't know if she was stoned or not, but I found an interesting Wallpaper in one Ellen Feiss fan site ( yes! there are some Ellen Feiss fan sites - which also amazed me too. Do a Google Search for "ellen feiss" )

Anyway, check the image gallery, namely the third wallpaper ;-)
Re:for anybody wondering who ellen feiss is by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 09:24 · Score: 0

Ah, the Giver. Brings back memories. Well, nightmares, anyway...

Just like in PI by failrate · 2002-11-15 17:16 · Score: 1

Oh, he should have saved all that jelly stuff and used it to decode the secret name of god. Maybe the Hassids got to him first.

--
Voodoo Girl is the bomb!

Well I glad it's not a Linux unit... by nlinecomputers · 2002-11-15 17:16 · Score: 1

...with this problem. I really didn't want to read the flame war over the GNU/Ants vs Ants name. And If I use a patented bug spray to kill the ants will RMS refuse to speak to me? And if it was Microsoft we'd have Visual Ants, AntXP, .ANT OK...I'll shut up now...

--
Slashdot, home of supporters of free software, free music, and free speech.Except for Moderators that disagree with you.

PI by Shymon · 2002-11-15 17:16 · Score: 1

Anyone else reminded of that scene from PI when he opens up his computer to find that goo and ants?

A first by droopus · 2002-11-15 17:16 · Score: 3, Funny

Probably the first time a bug-induced crash was fixed just by turning on the Raid, rather than vice versa.

Come on, it's funny. I hear you snurfling...

--
"The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."

Re:A first by antiher0 · 2002-11-15 21:06 · Score: 2

you kiddin'?

you need to catch up on your geek lore.

this stuff's been happenin' since the dawn of computing!

no problem now by The+Tyro · 2002-11-15 17:20 · Score: 1

By the looks of the dead, slashdotted link, any ants inside the server are no longer a problem...

A significant geeky improvement on the ole' magnifying glass

--
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.

What are the odds? by vandelais · 2002-11-15 17:21 · Score: 5, Funny

Another Steve Jobs company attacked by Antz.

Is Dreamworks responsible?

What are the odds?

--
Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.

Re:What are the odds? by MsGeek · 2002-11-15 17:42 · Score: 2

No, just a visit from Flik and his buddies. Pure Pixar. Katzenberg had nothing to do with it.

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Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.

MacOSX has been Slashdotted by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:25 · Score: 0

Don't get me wrong, I love the Macintosh and want to buy a new one ASAP, but why is the server not responding? I thought that it would have been better able to have stood up to the incredible force known across the Milkyway galaxy as "the Slash".

-krash

xbox roaches by paradesign · 2002-11-15 17:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

the first shippments of xboxes had roaches in them. my girlfriend works at funcoland, and when they cut into the boxes to unpack them roaches came skittering out and scared the shit out of them.

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I want 2D games back.

Re:xbox roaches by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:57 · Score: 0

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

I love it when girls get freaked out like that by bugs.
Re:xbox roaches by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:59 · Score: 0

yep you are rigth!!! microsoft sucks hahaha i made a funy joek!!! hahaha
Re:xbox roaches by rworne · 2002-11-16 09:44 · Score: 2, Funny

Wow, roaches leave Microsoft factory and infest Funcoland...
That proves even roaches have standards...

--
I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit

Ummm... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:31 · Score: 0, Insightful

Slashdot: News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.

Uhh, since when did nerds prefer Apple computers? The whole idea of being a nerd is that you like seeing how stuff works. So naturally they prefer an open source system like Linux over a proprietary system from Microsoft and the just as evil but less powerful Apple.
Personally if i was a nerd, i wouldn't call myself one after i found out i fit in the same category as those losers on the mac commercials.

On a side note, please remember the slashdot motto. This "stuff" doesn't matter. so please don't put it on a website of which several thousands of people read every day.

Pudge (Score:-1, Troll)

Re:Ummm... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:36 · Score: 0

Preach on mofuckin AC brotha.

hacker and the ants by e**(i+pi)-1 · 2002-11-15 17:31 · Score: 2, Informative

there is an easy explanation:

read Ruckers Book: "The Hacker and the ants"
see also http://www.fourmilab.ch

Mod this up! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:31 · Score: 0

Dammit!

I can beat all the insect/reptile takeover stories by Derg · 2002-11-15 17:31 · Score: 5, Interesting

I had a buddy of mine ask me to take a look at his computer. It had begun to make thumping/ticking noises when he would turn it on, and would not stop till he turned it off. I cracked the case, to find a quite dead and petrified rat inside his case, that thumped against his cpu fan. fuckin sick.. how it got in, and died in such a way to not stink to high heaven, I will never know, though I suspect someone put it there..

--
I'm a little tea pot.

Saw it on Saturday Night Live by vandelais · 2002-11-15 17:32 · Score: 3, Funny

Mike Myers was introducing another segment of "Germany's most disturbing home videos" when his computer was found inoperable, lying on the ground. He turned it over to find....Ants!

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Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.

Ants and Eating Computers by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:36 · Score: 0

This whole thread reminds me of the manual for a Magitronic lunchbox (how appropriate!) XT that I purchased back in the dark ages of 1986. Apparently the computer and manual were both made in Korea or Taiwan or someplace similar. The manual was some of the most worthless broken English I've ever read --- about three pages into the manual was the dire warning, all in caps: CHILDREN NOT TO EAT COMPUTER!

/. so I can't see... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:38 · Score: 0

I see visions of numerous XML files for cross compilation. The ew, ew, ew comment is because it relates to java code?

How about Omniview switchboxes? by antdude · 2002-11-15 17:40 · Score: 4, Interesting

Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 09:07:26 -0800
From: TechSupp
To: ...
Subject: RE: ants in omniview switchboxes

Thanks for the feedback. This is a new one to us. If you have any problems
down the road let us know and we will replace them. I have forwarded this
info to the President of Belkin and the Product Managers.

Technical Support Manager
Belkin Components

-----Original Message-----
From: ...
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 10:24 AM
Subject: ants in omniview switchboxes

came back to work from the holiday weekend. noticed a stream of ants
going up the cables in the back of a rack in the server room. oddly, this
stream of ants was carring larva up the omniview cables, and appeared to
be entering the omniview via the dip switch hole, and then exiting withot
the larve. I traced the stream out of the building, then traced a smaller
stream down a hallway and to another room with another system with an
omniview. here as well ants were streaming in from outside with larve,
depositing them in the omniview, and exiting. I took both omniviews
outside and opened them. hundreds of ants and hundreds of tiny white ant
larve were in each omniview, apparently storing and guarding the ants
under the bottom circut board. nothing was hurt, so I shook/knocked/blew
the ants out, dissasembled the omniview, coated the case with ant spray,
let dry, reassembled, reinstalled, everything works fine.

it dosen't appear the ants were after food in either case. I think
something about the omniview gave them a home they felt compelled to store
their larva in. I just can't explain why they would pick those, and how
the so effectivley found the only two omniviews on that side of our
building. the omniviews involved are both SE 4 port, and are still
working fine.

-J.R.

--
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).

Ants like apples? by Malicious · 2002-11-15 17:41 · Score: 1

More like a bunch of choir boys start toting Unix.

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01101001001000000110000101101101001000000110001001 10000101110100011011010110000101101110

Happened to me, too... by Sivar · 2002-11-15 17:42 · Score: 2

Not exactly the same thing.

I had stopped using my Kenwood portable CD player for a few weeks, and a rather large spider made its home just inside of the CD viewing window.
I remember thinking, "What a terrible place to hunt for insects," but apparently I was wrong.

The spider was quite surprised when I pressed the play button...

--
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra

Good time to clean out the keyboard by DatAsian · 2002-11-15 17:42 · Score: 1

Hiya. Just wanted to let you know that this can happen to anyone...all ya need is some food stuck in the keyboard. This happened to me a couple months ago...I was typing till I noticed a couple of black ants on my finger. I was wondering where they came from and looked around. I finally saw a small stream of black ants under the keyboard keys. They were after the food pieces that accumulated there after months of usage by various people. Popped the keys out, unscrewed the keyboard, then washed the food pieces offa the plastic cover. The ants never came back afterwards. Keep your keyboard clean guys! Ya never know what'll come to get that piece of food stuck in there ;)

We've been themed! by Qrlx · 2002-11-15 17:44 · Score: 2

As is "aqua" or "carbon" or whatever it's called.

Those Evil Geniuses at slashdot have "themed" this thread so that it has the visual look-and-feel of a Mac!

Nice work, lads.

Re:We've been themed! by k_187 · 2002-11-16 09:29 · Score: 2

dude, its been like that for a while. All the posts under apple.slashdot.org have that theme, just like yro., apache., developers. on and on

--
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 Race
12112
Re:We've been themed! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 13:08 · Score: 0

You are an idiot.

Isn't this another "urban legend"? by King_TJ · 2002-11-15 17:45 · Score: 2

I recall reading a story about something quite similar, only years and years ago. Supposedly, a college/university student had one of the original Mac powerbooks, and it suddenly died. Upon inspection, it turned out it was infested with thousands of ants that entered when it was in use outside, on the grass, someplace on the campus.

It just seems suspiciously familiar that this basic story has come back again, only this time with an Apple iBook notebook. (Statistically, you'd think you'd hear about this with a "Wintel" laptop, wouldn't you? Or do ants only like to eat Apple branded notebooks?)

I'm starting to wonder if this one's completely true, or just a rehash of an urban legend.

Re:Isn't this another "urban legend"? by Grail · 2002-11-15 19:51 · Score: 1

The magnetic noise of a Motorola chip (68k or PPC) is much more aesthetically pleasing to ants than the harsh screeching of an Intel.

Kinda like the way humans prefer waterfalls to jackhammers. Same power levels, different styles of modulation.
Re:Isn't this another "urban legend"? by AndroidCat · 2002-11-16 03:03 · Score: 1

So you think that ants are big endian?

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.

Webs and nests collect moisture. by drowsy · 2002-11-15 17:50 · Score: 3, Interesting

Back when I was a Mac hardware repair guy, this person came in with an SE30 that would fail "only in the mornings". We thought it might be an odd time-sensitive extension like an anti-virus app, but we opened it up, and it had some big bug habitat in there. Even though the bugs seemed absent, their nests would collect the morning dew and short out the board.

This is a public service announcement by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 17:55 · Score: 0

The ants outside my house measure in inches, they're red and they bite like a mother fucker.

Mother fuckers don't bite; they fuck. In fact, that is why they're called mother fuckers.

my infestation by kraksmoka · 2002-11-15 17:55 · Score: 1

i had an old apartment that i moved into, not suspecting the truth. the ants lived under the shoddy foundation of the place. infested the whole damn bedroom, found my liquor. but they stayed away from my mac!

--
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel

Ive had worse... by rosewood · 2002-11-15 17:56 · Score: 5, Interesting

So, I was doing my time, paying my dues and doing what I could to bring quality to the lifeless void that is a Best Buy black shirt technician (well, we became black shirts while I worked there). Anyhoo, this "woman" brought in a very old packard bell that was covered in yellow dust. A smoker. Some of the worse shit comes from smokers. As soon as she walked in the door, the AV tech told me to tell her to go away. My manager heard this and got pissy. She later recanted.

She brought her computer up and slapped down her PSP that had 20 or so days left and demanded a new computer because this one would no longer turn on. So I said okay, checked it in and put it in the back. When we opened it, a whole cock-a-roach family came running out. I almost vommited right then and there. It took WEEKs to get rid of those fuckers, adn even then we knew they were not gone.

Aparently about two months earlier this same nasty lady came in to the av area with a vcr for a "cleaning." When the AV tech opened it he found a dead mouse and silverfish. To this day you can find silver fish in that best buy :

--
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!

Re:Ive had worse... by DeltaSigma · 2002-11-15 20:18 · Score: 2

Hey, us geeky smokers don't let that shit happen. I clean out my comp on a regular basis. I'm yet to have a single fan or other component containing movable parts, fail on me. Smoker or no, your computer, like any personal posession, is not going to stay in top-shape if you don't take care of it. There's no reason to go around promoting baseless stereotypes.
Re:Ive had worse... by rosewood · 2002-11-16 04:50 · Score: 2

Ive seen more then one abused computer from smokers. The key is the yellow dust. When its yellow, you know its from a smoker.

--
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
Re:Ive had worse... by Billly+Gates · 2002-11-16 07:16 · Score: 2

Silverfish are a pain in the ass to get rid of. I use to live in New York and got an infestation. I am not a slob by any means so I have no idea how they got in. They especially loved my underwear and socks which repulsed me more then anything else about them. I spent one long weekend cleaning the closet drawers, dresser, and floors with about every cleaning solution I could think of. They would vanish for a few weeks and come right back. I ended up washing my clothes every other day because they kept coming back from hidden eggs.

Eventually I moved to Las Vegas and the intense heat of the desert when I moved here in July must of killed them. I havn't seen them since and glad they are gone. I have carpet here and it would be a nightmare to get rid of in my current apartment. I feel sorry for you and advise you to never and I mean never leave any work uniforms at work. I believe this is how i got them myself. You do not want them in your home. Once they are in they will stay for life.

--
http://saveie6.com/

That's what happens... by ttyp0 · 2002-11-15 17:57 · Score: 3, Funny

when you leave an apple laying around.

"Ants Ate My Hub!" from Paul Lujan by akiy · 2002-11-15 18:23 · Score: 4, Interesting

This reminds me of the November 4th entry (scroll down a bit) on Paul Lujan's site entitled, "Ants Ate My Hub!". Pretty funny(?)...

--

--
http://www.aikiweb.com - AikiWeb Aikido Information

Simple Extermination Procedure by Alu3205 · 2002-11-15 18:25 · Score: 5, Funny

1) Power on laptop
2) Wait for smoke and insect screams to die down
3) Ventilate Area

--
Slashdot comments can be accurate, highly modded, or posted quickly. Pick two.

Re:Simple Extermination Procedure by distributed.karma · 2002-11-16 03:27 · Score: 2

Your example might work with a P4 radiator, but now with one of those _cool_ Macs.

--
--
If you moderate this, then your children will be next.
Re:Simple Extermination Procedure by Spuffin · 2002-11-16 07:33 · Score: 1

1) Power on laptop
2) Wait for smoke and insect screams to die down
3) Ventilate Area

4) PROFIT!!!!!
Re:Simple Extermination Procedure by ilyag · 2002-11-16 09:19 · Score: 1

I feel a great disturbance in the force... Something terrible has happened.

All your.... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:27 · Score: 0

iBook are belong to us!

They were just searching by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:30 · Score: 0

They were just searching for the apple.

/. own 'Switch' campaign by The+Ancients · 2002-11-15 18:30 · Score: 1

After attempting to visit Apple Discussions and failing (now /.ed), where else do ya go? Must be infestious - oops infectious...

--
The Mothership

ummm.... Pinocchio? by yerricde · 2002-11-15 18:31 · Score: 1

Crickets are the consciences of little wooden children? What aspect of my liberal arts eductaion has been severely neglected to the point that I have no idea what you're talking about??

You'll find it between the "1880s Italian century children's literature" section and the "1940s American feature animation" section.

Have you ever read the story of Pinocchio?

--
Will I retire or break 10K?

funny by fractaltiger · 2002-11-15 18:32 · Score: 2

Wan't this a problem with that Pumpkin-puter that ran linux in halloween? I'm surprised that it's the second year I see this on /. without bug complaints. Other than OS bugs, that is ;)

By the way, it looks like we'll have to replace that old kernel panic comment... "Penguin on the Bus?" to a more realistic "Pathway bug?" ;)

--
"Wireless : LAN :: Laptop : Desktop"

Re:Germany's most disturbing home videos...ANTS! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:37 · Score: 0

I think that was the same one where the fat naked guy was running around the sprinkler and the one where the guy vomited after getting kicked in the testicles.

New switch commercial by UncleOlethros · 2002-11-15 18:41 · Score: 2, Funny

"So, I tried colonizing a regular PC laptop, but, you know, they're so fragile. And I have a reputation to uphold, you know, as hero, and husband of Princess Bala, and special envoy to the Queen.

"But what a disaster that laptop was. My god. I mean, it was near biblical proportions. Well, maybe not as bad as that, and certainly not as bad as the whole big thing with, you know, General Mandible, but still, it was pretty bad. I mean, we couldn't do anything we wanted, it was like the whole thing was fighting us. When we tried to build something it would crash down on us, and the whole thing was far too hard to defend. It was totally unsecure and just about anyone could waltz right in and make themselves at home. It was just, you know, bad.

"So we tried a new iBook. We love it. It's warm, and clean, and dry, and everything just works. It's the best, really. It's saved my butt. We moved the whole colony in there last week, and we're never going back.

"My name's Z and I'm an ant."

Yuk! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:47 · Score: 0

Once I let a half-finished box of cereal with dried fruit sit too long in the pantry. I poured a bowl and saw little dark dots but thought it was ground up gourmet grains or something. Then I poured milk onto it and proceeded to munch on a spoonful. While I was chewing away, I looked down again at the dots in the bowl and saw some of them moving around and I thought.. huh? So I pulled the plastic liner out of the box, and looked at the bag: there were thousands of little brown bugs hopping around and tons of little white larvae squirming in the bag and in my bowl!

Re:Yuk! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:13 · Score: 0

that's why they're called mealworms

Treatment question by JasonSkywalker · 2002-11-15 18:50 · Score: 2, Funny

So when insects infect a Mac, can you just use ordinary Raid, or do you have to wait for Apple's soon-to-be-released xRaid? Do I detect the start of a sales campaign? 8^)

---

--
I have Unix underpants.

Re:Treatment question by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 11:07 · Score: 0

The correct treatment is to add a RAID array...

wow by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:52 · Score: 0

This story was stupid! I guess /. readers will read anything nowadays and think that a stupid story is better than no story. I feel like my IQ dropped 15 points after reading through the story and the resulting stupid posts. Uh, ants in an iBook - ummm, what? OK??

Well, I think it's finally time for me to Quit Slashdot. You should, too.

Germany's Most Disturbing iMovies by Dr.+Cody · 2002-11-15 18:52 · Score: 1

Karl-Heinz: The next video was sent in by Geurgud Gardner from Baden-baden. Here they have come across the an iBook, which in itself is not so disturbing. Until its case is opened to reveal.... ANTS! ANTS! ANTS!
Dieter: Now that's an ant farm of a different color.

uhg by geek · 2002-11-15 18:55 · Score: 2

just imagine what her car is like. i bet she cleans her house once every 6 months or so, but honestly, would a person like that EVER clean their car? not likely

I've seen outrageous shit in peoples cars. Used condoms, doggy bag dinners from weeks earlier forgotten in the back seat, roachs (the ones you smoke and the ones you dont).

These are the same people that shit on the floor at gas station restrooms. Natural selection hasn't quite caught up with them yet.

Re:uhg by rosewood · 2002-11-15 19:26 · Score: 1

I saw a car at the university not to long ago. It was kinda queer. A page from my journal...

I witnessed the world's messiest car ... EVAR. I didn't stop and check for the make and model but its an early 90s. There were signs of a few minor wrecks, probably no insurance. The outside also looked like it had not even been in RAIN for years.

However, it was the inside that was HORRIBLE. The back seat and the front passanger seat were FILLED with trash/clothes. The clothes were vissably soiled (dirt, one shirt had a big brown stain probably from pop of some sorts), and the trash ranged from crumpled up fast food bags, papers (one school paper dated July 2000 sun faded in the back window) and produce (orange peels). The trash was stacked above the seats. It looked like it had been packed down in the seats just low enough to allow the driver to see out of the mirrors. The crap in the front seat was pouring over into the driver seat, which had a few current newspapers on the seat. The dashboard was covered with trash, bottles, and dust. The radio was gone and in its place there were newspapers. There was a noticable stench from 5-6 cars away and it was parked very crooked, almost in 2 places.

It was HORRIBLE, and I wanted to CRY that I did not have a camera w/ me... so I shall keep an eye out for it. It had a student parking pass...

--
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!

The ants go marching one by one by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 18:58 · Score: 0

Resistance is futile
You will be asimilated

looks like someone's gunning for the Microsoft graphic

Similar story by GMontag451 · 2002-11-15 19:04 · Score: 2

I had a similar thing happen to me about a month ago. My brother's iMac started smelling really funny and then stopped booting. I pulled out the hard drive and saw a dime sized patch of melted surface mount chip material stuck to the hard drive carrier. Upon further examination, I found the head of a termite sticking out of a crevasse in the drive.

Well, finally Macs have it too! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:07 · Score: 0

Anthill inside, that is!

This happened to my roommate sort of: by cappadocius · 2002-11-15 19:10 · Score: 1

... an ant got into his 22-inch cinema display. We couldn't figure out how it got in there. At first we tried to scare it out by stalking it with the mouse. It quickly learned, however, that the moving mass of black pixels could not hurt it.

Then we tried the visualizer, which really freaked it out. it was running all over trying to get away from the waves of color. We didn't see it again after that, so either we had finally coerced it into leaving or it dropped dead of a seizure.

Either way, Ant: 0, iTunes Visualizer:1!

--

omnia tua castra sunt nobis

Re:This happened to my roommate sort of: by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-17 10:15 · Score: 0

Ummm...I don't think ants have eyes...just antennae.

What would be even more funny.. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:12 · Score: 0

Is that if the mac was full of Australian bull ants, which come in 3 sizes, quater, half and inch long.

They would not appreciate being desturbed with conpressed air.

And are capable of taking revenge..

whatever by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:15 · Score: 0

Excuse me while I browse through my rejected submission list.

Will Wright Strikes Again! by PipianJ · 2002-11-15 19:16 · Score: 2, Funny

Maybe they were just looking to play SimAnt against the computer AI?

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. by William+R.+Dickson · 2002-11-15 19:17 · Score: 2, Interesting

I'd like to remind them that as a trusted web personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

Re:I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 05:05 · Score: 0

GO SIMPSONS!

Re:Insert Obligatory BUG Comment Here... by REDNOROCK · 2002-11-15 19:18 · Score: 0

Actualy, no. No it didn't need to be said. In fact it would have been nicer if you hadn't said it. You and half the others who did.

--
Even if I say something insightfull or inteligent, it doens't matter cause I'm an ass.

What is it with ants and electronics..? by zcat_NZ · 2002-11-15 19:20 · Score: 2

Last week a friend of mine's electronic gate stopped working. Ants had built a nest inside the control box shorting a bunch of stuff out. Just now I cleaned out about a quantrillion baby ants from under my BSD box.. Must've been some food crumbs under there or something. I first noticed them 'cos there was a trail of ants going from under the computer up to my modem and back. I can't see any food on the modem either so I have no idea what they were doing there!

I think they just like warm dry places to nest, and inside electronic devices is usually warm and dry.

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455fe10422ca29c4933f95052b792ab2

You think ants are a gross thing for an iBook.. by 1019 · 2002-11-15 19:31 · Score: 3, Funny

I fix iBooks in the computer store for Brown Uni and we had someone bring in an iBook that apparently had been vomited on copiously at some party. ALL over the keyboard, and inside the circuits. For some reason, it wasn't working! And they brought it in about 3 days after it happened....

--
shame on us / for all we have done / and all we ever were / just zeroes and ones

Re:You think ants are a gross thing for an iBook.. by yomegaman · 2002-11-15 19:35 · Score: 1

Maybe someone got tricked into clicking a goatse.cx link?

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...wearing a skin-tight topless leather jumpsuit, with cutaway buttocks and transparent crotch panel.

Dude you just made me laugh out loud for real by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:32 · Score: 0

That was one of the funniest things I've seen lately. Thanks for the laugh :)

what the fuck? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 19:36 · Score: 0

why is slashdot reporting this idiotic story? if the same thing happened to a pc, it would not be considered for posting, but if any stupid shit happens with a mac everybody scrambles to know about it. first it was wired that turned into a semi-mac-addict, now slashdot

They're not bugs... by Grail · 2002-11-15 19:40 · Score: 4, Funny

They're undocumented creatures.

Worms from Apple by i1984 · 2002-11-15 19:43 · Score: 2

I kid you not...

I once worked as a tech for an Apple Authorized Service Provider. One day we received a box from Apple containing a PowerBook we had sent in for service earlier in the week. Nothing unusual about that, we usually got one or two every other day.

Upon opening the box, however, we noticed something very unusual: something was moving...then another one, and another...the box had several huge worm like larvae crawling around in it! The buggers were a good inch-and-a-half long, a quarter inch in diameter, looked sort of shiny and soft, and they were just racing around the bottom of the box. Top speed looked to be around an inch per second... Fortunately they were too big to actually get inside the PowerBook. (How would we explain that to the customer?: Sir, your PowerBook is fixed, please come pick it up ASAP because it's full of huge shiny nasty worm-like larvae and we want it out of our shop...)

The closest we could figure out was that they came from Apple, unless they grew inside the PowerBook in less than three days (turn around time from Apple). Also, presumably someone at Apple would have noticed larvae while fixing the computer if the bugs had been living in the PB.

For the next few weeks we were kind of careful opening those boxes...

How about Roaches in an IBM by Hardwyred · 2002-11-15 19:57 · Score: 3, Interesting

When I was doing my time as a bench tech, a guy brought in his IBM desktop, complaining that it had turned itself on, smoked and will not work anymore. We figured lightening. When he brought it in, it had the yellow staines of a smoker, but nothing else to tip us off. I opened the box and dozens of roaches came pooring out. We had to bag it up and call the guy, telling him that we couldn't work on his PC under warranty because IBM refused to pay for bug bomb! The roaches had curled up in his power supply, nested there and started eating the cables. To this day my skin still crawls when I see one of those IBM desktops.

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www.linux-skunkworks.com

My dorm has ants by anotherone · 2002-11-15 20:01 · Score: 2

My dorm has ants everywhere, they've been spraying but the building is like 150 years old so it's unlikely that anything will clean it. Anyway, I got ants in my keyboard the first week I moved in. damned things were EVERYWHERE. disgusting. I tried to clean it, but the keyboard was getting kinda old anyway so I just bought a $10 replacement at staples.

only problem is the dumb thing has those retarded "sleep" and "wake" buttons.

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Clean them out? Wha? by Jeremi · 2002-11-15 20:05 · Score: 2

Any real computer geek would have put them to work.

--

I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.

Re:I can beat all the insect/reptile takeover stor by Arandir · 2002-11-15 20:06 · Score: 1

I used to work in a floorcovering store. We pulled out a roll of carpet during the winter and discovered dozens of LIZARDS within the wraps. Eww! They crawled in there for the winter and were alive but dormant in the cold.

--
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned

mmmmm candy by LuxFX · 2002-11-15 20:07 · Score: 1

aha! I knew it -- they really are big gumdrops!

oh wait, or maybe it was all the eyecandy in OSX?

--
Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'

Eliminate the ants by... by thumbtack · 2002-11-15 20:10 · Score: 1

1) Boiling at least 2 qts. water.
2) Open iBook
3) Pour boling water in any available opening until it runs out another opening, preferably on the other side.
4) Call insurance agent to recount story of horrific bathroom incendent.
5) Go shopping for new iBook and Boric Acid

no its not... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 20:13 · Score: 0

and i know you're checking back to see if anyone replied to your stoopid joke.

Pratchett was right all along ... by DreaminChild · 2002-11-15 20:13 · Score: 1

Hex lives !

If you think that is gross.... by Tokerat · 2002-11-15 20:24 · Score: 2

...then imagine a Beowulf cluster of these.

*ducks and runs*

--
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?

Re:If you think that is gross.... by Mr.+Fusion · 2002-11-16 05:15 · Score: 2

*ducks and runs*
*steps on red ant mound*
-Mr. Fusion

Re:I can beat all the insect/reptile takeover stor by Cyno01 · 2002-11-15 20:27 · Score: 1

Eww? C'mon, any self respecting nerd thinks lizards are cool.

--
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."

I fingered Ellen Feiss by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 20:32 · Score: 0

And I made her cum good!

In another part of the world... by Slime-dogg · 2002-11-15 20:37 · Score: 1

Some kid is crying because his SimAnt game just wiped out his entire colony with Bottled Air. He didn't even think that something like that would even be in the game.

--
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.

Solution by ColaMan · 2002-11-15 20:48 · Score: 2

I had a logitech ScanMan color - one of those sheet feeding scanners - it was great.
One day , though I noticed it had a trail of ants going to it... sure enough it was full of ants , nesting. They had completely covered the inside of the scanner window and were having a great time.
Solution? I unplugged it and took it outside and left it in the sun for a few hours (this was in summer, so it was about 30 degrees C). I just left it out on the grass in the sun.
The ants decided that roasting in a scanner wasn't good, so they packed up house and moved out. They did a pretty good job of tidying up, I just had to clean the optical path a bit, but all the eggs (and ants) were gone. Beat the hell out cleaning a bunch angry (or dead, after spraying) ants out of inaccessible scanner insides.

--

You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.

New Switch Ad by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 20:57 · Score: 0

[switch ad music starts]

Our hive used to live in a PC...

Re:Yahoo biology section by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 21:02 · Score: 0

Damn, I fell for it.

slashdotted? by howlingmoki · 2002-11-15 21:04 · Score: 1

..or maybe their server got infested with ants as well?

Re:I can beat all the insect/reptile takeover stor by antiher0 · 2002-11-15 21:08 · Score: 1

mmmmm.... unexplained petrified rodent... *drool*

Re:I can beat all the insect/reptile takeover stor by danamania · 2002-11-15 21:10 · Score: 2

My sister used to work in a fabric store, and quite a bit of product from India was sold there. Rolls would arrive all bound up tightly in hessian and card, and need unwrapping/rerolling to remove the inevitable kinks in the rolls from shipping. In the middle of a roll of cream fabric were dark red stripes - which sometimes happens when ink is spilled, and that part is marked and avoided when it comes to selling. At the end of the red marks however, was a 2" sliver of finger, complete with partial fingernail and bone. ugh. At least it had dried up enough not to stink out the place.

My own personal worst was an eBay buy - a Mac IIcx that was bought "as is" as the seller had no way of testing it. No wonder, as it had been through a flood, was packed up with silt, and had a mouse nest up under the power supply, with lil mousey droppings n pee all over the place.

It worked after a (very thorough) cleaning :)

a grrl & her server

Hacker and the Ants by MikeFM · 2002-11-15 21:15 · Score: 2

Ever read The Hacker and the Ants by Rudy Rucker? Covers this sort of thing exactly though his ants were a lot harder to kill.

--
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.

Ants: Why You Will Like My Computer. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 21:23 · Score: 0

==== DUAL MDD G4 FOR RENT ====

* Dual Heating!
* Powerful Air Conditioner!
* Huge Radiator Combs!
* Firewalled for Your Privacy and Security!
* 60 + 80 GB Disco!
* Large Amount of Browser Cookies!
* Apple Flavor!
* Gigabit Ethernet: No Traffic Jam!
* Double Data Rate Memory!
* Steve Jobs doesn't Eat Ants!
* Comb-o Drive-In!
* Low Administration Fee!
* Optional Honeypot for Hackers!

CALL 800-ANT-HOME NOW !!

Related story by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 21:26 · Score: 0

They set up colony in my friend's cordless phone, and he drew some nifty little pictures. It's kind of interesting. http://www.alexis-barrera.com/ants/

Why is this a story? by gordgekko · 2002-11-15 21:27 · Score: 0

Outside of giving every mouth breather a chance to make a cute "I always knew OSX was buggy" comment, why is this a posted story?

--
You want to know who isn't running Firefox 2.x? They spell it "definately" and "rediculous".

Ants and other bugs and electronics by RockClimb · 2002-11-15 21:35 · Score: 1

Ants are attracted to the heat and dry conditions inside of electronics. Ants are not the only bugs that like electronics. I used to work as an electronic technician for a company that did rent to own. The nastiest things I ever had to deal with were VCR's that were full of roaches, and by full I mean getting a quart jar or more in them. Any guesses as to why they needed repairs? :)

isn't it obvious? by UnixRevolution · 2002-11-15 21:56 · Score: 5, Funny

I think it's pretty obvious why the ants went for the iBook. Whenever i go on a picnic, the ants always go after the fruit first, especially APPLES. I'm going to get modded off the board for this.

--
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.

Killing ants by fearlezz · 2002-11-15 21:58 · Score: 1

Ants don't like hot water. Really hot I mean. Pour some water in the holes of the computer to kill them all.

--
.sig: No such file or directory

F i l t h by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 21:58 · Score: 0

Look at the state of your floor, no wonder you had bugs in the house, you filthy bastard.

Re:F i l t h by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 08:30 · Score: 0

On the contrary, obviously the floor is too clean.

My room is a total pigsty and I never get ants. I can have candy sitting out for weeks and nothing. The bathroom across the halls gets 'em, the kitchen gets 'em, but not my lovely mess.

Cockroaches in a Clock by jck2000 · 2002-11-15 21:59 · Score: 1

While a student I had a cruddy job and one day was watching the clock waiting to be able to leave, when the clock (which had a second hand) just stopped (mindblowing enough by itself). I picked up the clock to shake it and about 1000 cockroaches fell out -- I imagine one or more roaches or their excrement jammed the clock's gears.

Bugs! by Seahawk · 2002-11-15 22:19 · Score: 1

See - Macs have just as many bugs as Windows machines...

(Know it - too bad a joke to be posted - but i just got out of bed and dont think clearly :))

Jakarta Ants? by koinu · 2002-11-15 22:31 · Score: 1

I only have one ant installed on my box.

Now you can rename the computer "Hex" by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 22:36 · Score: 0

"Hex is activated by initialising the GBL, which Stibbons reluctantly admits stands for "pulling the Great Big Lever". This releases millions of ants into a network of glass tubing, hence the sticker on Hex that reads "Anthill inside". And it is all powered by a waterwheel covered with sheep skulls. That is, male sheep. In other words, ram."

Hogfather, Terry Pratchett. Check out this interview.

Pheromones by minkwe · 2002-11-15 22:55 · Score: 1

Manufactorers have been known to put pheromones in their products. It attracts people (and insects) to it. Perfumes and cosmetics have had them for ages. I wont be surprised if Apple tried that trick also.

--
"Fighting terrorists with millitary might is like killing a mosquitor on your Dad's forehead with a rifle."

Maybe it's a metafor ? by SlowCoder · 2002-11-15 22:58 · Score: 1

"The ants were crawling all over the laptop like slashdotters on a poor server"

Err... by doru · 2002-11-15 23:12 · Score: 1

Where the ants migrating from Windows, by any chance ?

Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-15 23:36 · Score: 0

Damn thing was slashdotted.

So much for OSX as a reliable server OS.

Kinda like a College of Business by Blingin'+AMD · 2002-11-15 23:37 · Score: 1

Wow.. iBook: $ 2300 Ants who saw the ads and decided to do their own "switch": free For the price of an iBook, you should start charging rent for those squatters. It's heated, AND it has a large supply og organic plastic compounds. Damn ants...

--
Now watch this drive.

"All I have to say is ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!!!" by stephanruby · 2002-11-15 23:50 · Score: 2

"All I have to say is ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!!!"

This sounds like girl-talk. Since when girls started posting headlines on Slashdot?

Re:"All I have to say is ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!!!" by Vegeta99 · 2002-11-16 06:00 · Score: 2

Dude, I'd be fucking grossed out if I had a laptop colonzied by aunts too, but my reaction would be like "get that the FUCK away from me!"

Maybe... by vile7707 · 2002-11-16 00:12 · Score: 1

Maybe Kompressor had something to do with this.

This story is probably fake by Nos9 · 2002-11-16 00:18 · Score: 2, Insightful

couple of things:
1) The person states that multiple queens were in the I-Book strike number 1, the only time you have multiple queens is when they are immature larval stages, the Princess kills off her compentition, finds herself a nice young hunk of a male, gets pregnant then flies off to start her own colony.
2) queens don't move, so they couldn't be in the machine... A queen ant is freaking huge compared to all of her subjects, it is highly unlikely that it could get into the guts of the machine itself.
3) He dissasembled his I-Book layer by layer... um (this may be old info) but notebooks don't really come in layers.

there were more but its late and I do not want to reload the story up, especially considering it is most likely fake.

Re:This story is probably fake by Squidgee · 2002-11-16 02:26 · Score: 1

Heh, actually the iBooks are in layers. They're packed freaking tight, too.
There's a video of Chris Breen taking one apart to install a new hdd on an old MacWorld disk (Last month's). There are maybe 4 layers inside of each iBook, which seems very odd to me, but I saw it with my own two eyes.
Re:This story is probably fake by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · 2002-11-17 12:05 · Score: 2

1) Maybe this person is like most people and doesn't really know jack about ants, and only thought they were queens.
2) See 1.
3) I'd like to see a laptop that isn't assembled in layers. The iBook must have atleast 5 if you include the keyboard and the airport slot tray etc.

books on ants by danny · 2002-11-16 00:35 · Score: 2

I'm just reading Holldobler and Wilson's massive tome The Ants. That won a Pulitzer prize, but it's basically a comprehensive review of everything known aout ants (when it was writte in 1990), so it's not light reading - and it's a whopping heavy book, too!

There's a popular book by the same authors called Journey to the Ants.

Danny.

--
I have written over 900 book reviews

Marching Ants by javajawa · 2002-11-16 00:50 · Score: 1

Now you can have your iBook fully loaded with photoshop and real marching ants!

--

Meh

Sprockets by rirugrat · 2002-11-16 00:53 · Score: 1

"Now that's an art farm of a different color!" - Dieter

Chris

No, Houston TX by Mandelbrot-5 · 2002-11-16 00:57 · Score: 1

I just moved to Houston a month or so ago, and didn't know a damn thing about what fire ants looked like. from what people had said I expeced something like the huge red ants we had in Colorado. I have to go out side every hour or so for my breathing treatment (read smoke) and got in the habbit of taking little bits of cookies and candy to the little cute ants out side... low and behold they are fire ants, and I've been feeding them...

to correct my mistake I got an air compresser out and started blowing the hill away... its been 3 days and there aren't any ants around the house still... hum... perhaps I should patent this..

--
Math is like sex. People who get it are popular in class, people who don't are not.

ants by frodoze · 2002-11-16 01:19 · Score: 1

yeah ants, little black ones seem to be the worst, I have them in an old cd player, a portable tv, the stereo, and the microwave, they made a mistake when they invaded the microwave, just stuck a cup of water inside and nuked them ;)

USB Camera by Kashif+Shaikh · 2002-11-16 01:21 · Score: 1

With all these rat and ants infestation stories, I guess I better buy usb cameras and stick them inside my computer.

That way I can monitor ants and other little creatures getting into my computer! It a "live" insect scanner!

Has anyone else tried doing this?

canned air not good enough by SubtleNuance · 2002-11-16 01:40 · Score: 2

Ants leave a pheromone scent-trail so their colony-mates can find them. Its like an invisible highway -- have you ever seen a trail of ants travellign two or three 'shoulder to shoulder' in both directions? -- bottom line, disincect (well) the entire area and dont put the ibook back there for some time... theve 'marked-up' the inside already.

Oops... by AndroidCat · 2002-11-16 01:55 · Score: 2

After several hours with a vacuum and a can of air I finally got the thing clean.

Hopefully he realizes that his vacuum cleaner is now infected and disposes of the bag ASAP.

This reminds me of Rudy Rucker's SF book, The Hacker and the Ants. Go SquidBoy!

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.

Hmmm... by Squidgee · 2002-11-16 02:42 · Score: 2, Informative

There are actually some other stories on this, Here and here.

Now, I'm off to get some of those ant cups for my iBook; do you think plastic will do well on top of my processor?

Ants in my Cinema Display by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 02:45 · Score: 0

I had a similar issue with a Cinema Display... Needless to say Apple was more than happy to exchange it for a display without a resident insect population.

Thank you so VERY VERY much by Hektor_Troy · 2002-11-16 03:02 · Score: 2

I'm laughing so hard, I'm actually crying :-D

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

--
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.

Re:Thank you so VERY VERY much by Myco · 2002-11-18 01:00 · Score: 2

Damn, looks like my sense of humor had an "on" day. Or at least, an "on" thread. See also:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=45059&threshol d=0&commentsort=3&tid=133&mode=thread&cid=4683 571
Glad you all enjoyed it, anyway. Special thanks to the person with the sound effect. Hee hee, that one had me near-maniacal in a public computer lab. :)

--
My deviantArt site

Cell Phone by tlh1005 · 2002-11-16 03:16 · Score: 1

The samething happened to me with a cell phone I left on a dugout bench during a softball game. When we were leaving the field I saw that my phone was surrounded by ants and coming in an out of every whole he damn phone had. I could never figure it out because I didn't see anys anywhere else in the dugout. I wonder if they were attracted to the signal the phone was emmitting????

Re:Cell Phone by mtec · 2002-11-16 07:01 · Score: 1

They were calling pizza hut.

--
Cake or Death? Cake Please!

Desktop = mouse habitat by fustar · 2002-11-16 03:24 · Score: 1

Just like any other lazy pc do-it-yourselfer I failed to place the covers on the eisa card slots on an old 486 that I had in my basement

One morning it wouldn't boot up and I decided to open it up to see what was going on. It could only be described as a nest with the owner nowhere to be seen. Dryer lint had been formed into a cozy area over the cpu and memory. The power supply cables where turned into makeshift chewsticks.

Needless to say, I inspected the components, replaced the power supply, and replaced the modem which seemed to have shorted out due to mouse urine. Power on -> Post -> login:

Moral of the story: those card slot covers make good mouse deterrents.

I caught another critter last month but, that's another story

Certain MP3 files are an attract-ant by TarPitt · 2002-11-16 03:40 · Score: 1

I don't think it was the warmth or even the tasty aroma of the wiring that attracted them. You must have been playing some "classic" 1980s music in order to attract the ants.

--
If your children ever found out how lame you are, they'd murder you in your sleep

Re:I can beat all the insect/reptile takeover stor by Reziac · 2002-11-16 03:42 · Score: 2

This "odorless decomposition" can happen if a small animal dies of dehydration, particularly after eating certain types of poison bait. And a rat can get in anywhere its head can fit -- that's a hole about fingertip-sized (so a missing slot plate or a fan gap at the bottom of the front panel would be big enough). If there wasn't any chewed wiring, I'd guess it was already 3 parts dead when it arrived, albeit under its own power.

Unless, of course, you noticed this guy's roommate (if any) walking around with the most peculiar smile.. ;)

--
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?

and in other news ... by devleopard · 2002-11-16 03:43 · Score: 1

my cat was standing on my wireless router.

--
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.

Re:and in other news ... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 06:36 · Score: 0

Eww, Linkshit

Some things are best left undiscovered... by nothing+safe · 2002-11-16 03:46 · Score: 2, Funny

What he doesn't know is, his marquee selection tool is realling a bunch of ants square-dancing.

Ant prevention by Reziac · 2002-11-16 03:50 · Score: 3, Informative

For those being invaded by streams of ants (who most often enter a building looking for water):

Ants will NOT cross a swath of diazinon granules (corncob-base *only* -- the newsprint-base type like Ortho doesn't work) and the few that try it won't survive the attempt. Also, two tablespoons of diazinon granules dribbled around the entrance to a hill is enough to kill the ENTIRE colony overnight -- and this even works with those aggressive mound-building fire ants. You can also use it to block their path thru cracks in concrete floors, etc. (Not recommended for any unventilated spaces where warmblooded creatures sleep, tho the weird smell goes away after a day or two.)

Borax is also reported to work, tho I can't attest to that one personally.

I like ants.. fried or in chocolate or anywhere OUTDOORS!!

--
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?

Ants... not the worst I've encountered.... HP320 by coldnight · 2002-11-16 03:51 · Score: 2, Interesting

I worked at a Field Force Automation specialist - we supported users with laptops and printers. We would swap out 2-10 items a week - new machines, new printers because the sales people in NYC were really hard on thier machines.

So, we replaced a printer - an HP320 portable inkjet. We got the old machine back and as we unpack it, there is a light brown dust falling from it. My Co-worker (and wife) passed the box to me and said "I don't want to know" ... well... It was finely ground bits of cockroaches! All the nice paper pinch rollers in the printer also kill roaches dead! So, we just tossed it into the dumpster including the shipping box. I think we marked it in inventory as "Scrapped for parts".

Coldnight

Should I be worried? by pseudochaotic · 2002-11-16 03:52 · Score: 1

I've noticed a few ants around my computer, but I thought they just came for the warmth.

--
And the l33t shall inherit the 34r7h.

Two Words: by anaesthetica · 2002-11-16 03:58 · Score: 1

Lickable Interface.

It looks like Steve's reality distortion has reached new levels (and new species).

--
The Rise and Fall of Online Community

I hardly looked at the power tap... by joto · 2002-11-16 04:28 · Score: 2

The floor, man! The floor! It is so damn ugly! Where in the world did you get that kind of floor panel from?

How he could have gotten rid of them by wazzzup · 2002-11-16 05:00 · Score: 2

He should have just fired up Mozilla and watched as the Gecko started to eat them. Problem solved.

slow news day ? by dJOEK · 2002-11-16 05:17 · Score: 1

and this is news, why ?

--
Exercise caution when modding this message up: the author acts like a jerk when his karma is excellent.

FoxTrot did a spoof of Ellen Feiss by knightf0x · 2002-11-16 05:20 · Score: 2, Informative

You can find it here

Get a little advice from Jeff K then. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 05:21 · Score: 0

weLL u c@me tu teh rite place. IM GONNA MAKE U KNOW ALL TEH COMPUTAR STUF cuz I aM tEh SMARTIMAN!!!

1! tEH coMPUTAR iS a BIG box Which has a MONKEY iNsIDE iT. tEH monkey iS gUd aT mATH, but Is st00pid, so ur computer mite go ALL: "Boom boom AH!" like that ELLNE CHICK warnes US.

2!!!!! tEh MONKEY cAn gET u tOns of Stuff! Like pr0n, or WAREZ! yeAH, if YOU get kaazAHHHHH!!!!! u Can GET aLl tHaT StUFf!!!!!!!!!111111

3? buT rEmber. tEh MeAN h0xx0rs Cnn taek Your COPN UETR off teh NEt iFf yOU DoN'T gET a FiReWAll! bUt Be Carefull, bcuz teh moneky cAN gET bUrnt ANd Then U gOTZ nO COpmutetr.

It's not just computers... by doctorfun · 2002-11-16 05:26 · Score: 1

There's a guy on saabnet.com who's complaining that ants are eating his Saab 9-3. David

Ants eating my car (where can I find the relays)

This is what happens... by timeOday · 2002-11-16 05:28 · Score: 3, Funny

When you ask a Mac user to set up a "honeypot" machine.

Damn! by bgarcia · 2002-11-16 05:30 · Score: 2

The baby's sleeping, I'm trying to be quiet, and your post put me into uncontrollable fits of laughter! God, I'm still wiping away the tears!

That's one hell of an image. Thank you!

--
I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.

IIS by orcaaa · 2002-11-16 05:31 · Score: 1

My Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server came in a box full of ants, some of which died on Windows update. Can i sue Microsoft for killing those ants ?

--
-- Reality is just an extended dream.

I had a mouse once by DoctaWatson · 2002-11-16 05:33 · Score: 1

A couple winters ago I had a mouse living in my home computer. He never really caused any problems and he was really cute so I let him stay. After all, it was probably the warmest place in the house.

A few weeks later, my landlord put out poison and I got to enjoy two months of rotting carcass stench in my apartment. He must've died in between the walls.

Urgh by Coke+in+a+Can · 2002-11-16 05:34 · Score: 2, Funny

This got me thinking about my laptop. I got it for free from a government project (take obselete computers from companies, give them to schools), so I have no idea who owned it. And I'm getting paranoid about the thing now. What if the fan doesn't work because of dead insects blocking it? What if ants have been eating away at the speaker cables, causing really bad screeching noises to come from it? What if my friend's CD drive is locked shut by a corpse?

Uggggh.

Re:Urgh by Coke+in+a+Can · 2002-11-16 11:08 · Score: 1

Oh, FYI, All that does happens. The speakers will emit a high-pitched, distorted scream every few hours, the fans don't work on my or my friend's laptops, and the CDs in 2 of his 3 are dead.

And I've got a question, the fans, is it normal or not for the fan on the Compaq Armada 1550DMT to never turn on?

not ants but close by NeedASun · 2002-11-16 05:47 · Score: 1

I was called to a restaurant once to look into why their electronic time clock wasn't working right once. Upon opening the unit, I found the local cockroach clan had set up shop and wigged it out. Real life computer bugs...

Rudolph Von Bitter Rucker by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 06:08 · Score: 0

Has nobody here read the truly excellent cyberpunk/transrealist science fiction novel by the great Rudy Rucker titled "The Hacker and the Ants?"

The whole book is about ants and code and computers and ants. You think that somebody on this board would have mentioned it by now.

Its not an infestation it is feature ! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 06:13 · Score: 0

Haven't You guys ever heard of Unseen Universities High Energy Magic Building (HEM), where the cream of Ankh-Morporks scientists are working on a computer called HEX. And the source of its calculating power are, yes right, ants. So finally Apple has obviously found a blueprint of this machine (probably in the L-space) ...

I had a similar problem by guacamole · 2002-11-16 06:35 · Score: 2

Some time in 1995, hudreds of ants invaded my Texas Instruments notebook. My laptop never was able to fully recover from this since the ants have created an nest on the other site of the LCD. Although the ants were gone, the mono LCD screen looked pretty damaged.

California Ants Love Matika Battery Chargers by lanner · 2002-11-16 06:39 · Score: 2

This happened to me several times when I worked in California doing comercial and residental construction related stuff. Ants would come in over night and get into my Makita cordless power pack battery charger when I left it in charging. Other people at my construction site reported very similar things with their battery chargers. I never experienced the ants trying to nest in the chargers because I never found eggs, but they definitely liked being in there. It seems that the ants like the high frequency voltage, which gives them a buzz. I suspect that the ants like to get high, go figure.

I discovered a sort of rule to it some time later. In general, if you can hear it buzzing while it is charging, bugs might take a liking to it.

For those who don't know, Makita makes power tools, especially professional grade cordless power tools. Their signature is that they use a turquoise/blue plastic or paint housings.

http://www.makita.com/

Big Deal by alernon · 2002-11-16 07:08 · Score: 1

So what I've had Ant Running on my apple laptop for months. I didn't get any slashdot press.

Ants Invade a Toshiba notebook/laptop by antdude · 2002-11-16 08:08 · Score: 2

Story.

--
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).

Sugary GUI? by genmanath · 2002-11-16 08:21 · Score: 1

Caveat: IANAMacUser Maybe it was the sugary interface which attracted them?

--
G. M. Manath

Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both 'Yes' and 'No.'

Discworld 2 by bbtom · 2002-11-16 08:31 · Score: 1

Anyone play Discworld 2 on PC or PSX?
D'ya remember 'Skazz' from the High Energy Facility?

"They're not ants, they're bugs!"
"You've like, de-bugged it, man... You've broken it!"

--
catch (HumourFailureException e) { e.user.send("You, sir, are a humourless idiot."); }

Re:Instant Karma! - Ant Attack by Steve+Cox · 2002-11-16 08:51 · Score: 2

Had Ant Attack for my ZX Spectrum around 20 years ago. It was cool.

Steve.

now I know where they went! by Creepy · 2002-11-16 09:05 · Score: 2

Last summer I had a colony move into my mailbox. I opened the box and there they were, moving in right on top of my mail, but mostly towards the back of the box. I dusted the queen, workers, and eggs off my junk mail and closed the box after getting over my initial repulsion (at least there weren't any fliers). The next morning I was going to evict them with a hose before the mailman arrived, but they had already moved out.

Did the bugs leave a forwarding address? They still owe me rent :)

Ladybugs by torenth · 2002-11-16 09:43 · Score: 1

This reminds me of the time that ladybugs took over a window in my bedroom. I don't know why they did that or why they kept living there. Eventually I got used to them there, and the sad thing is, that I actually missed my 'pet' ladybugs when they just suddenly dissappeared one day...

--
'Phone-jacking: Give someone a ring, they'll have to answer to find out who it is!' - Threni

Bah, you've got an ant/bug problem??? by freeschwag · 2002-11-16 09:49 · Score: 1, Interesting

I used to work at San Clemente Island, where they have waves of growing things, first the grass grows 20 feet tall then the earwigs eat all the grass,(fast forward to comments below), then the mice eat all the earwigs and we have a serious rodent problem, rinse, repeat.

Back to the earwigs, they aren't as "smart" or organized as ants, but I've had to SHOVEL dead ones, and even filled a 15 gallon ShopVac(tm) FULL of the damn things. Amazing how heavy 15 gallons of dead bugs can be. Plus the end all get all is, they loved to huddle together inside some of our test equipment, they seemed to prefer Oscilloscopes. I had a guy bring one to me to repair because it "smoked" when he turned it on. Well, in my experience, a power supply failire isn't all that uncommon, however, I wasn't prepared to have my boots covered in crawly things when I slid it out of the case. That's the one and only day I had appreciation for the Navy requiring me to wear boots.
~~Thank god there's not a surveillance camera out there to get a shot of the heebie jeebie, I got the willy's jump-a-thon dance I did at that point, it was a Kodak Moment(tm) I'm sure.

--
Tweet, tweet, all id10t's out of the gene pool, open swim is over.

Vacuum cleaner by torenth · 2002-11-16 10:00 · Score: 1

Almost forgot too. I hope he put some diasonon or something in the vacuum cleaner, otherwise they'll escape into the house. :(

--
'Phone-jacking: Give someone a ring, they'll have to answer to find out who it is!' - Threni

Why do the ants invade a computer? by Syrcam · 2002-11-16 10:08 · Score: 1, Funny

When do ants invade a computer?

When they know it doesn't have RAID hard disks.

Mice by Foxxz · 2002-11-16 10:20 · Score: 2, Interesting

My cousin had a mouse living in his pc. he left one of the slot plates (the things that go over unused pci slots) and the mouse went through that. packed his pc full of dogfood. it pissed and corroded the metal. The reason he asked me to look at it was the mouse chewed the ide cable.

-Foxxz

Similar story by mrcutrer · 2002-11-16 12:39 · Score: 1

The old company I worked for used macintosh, ack! Anyway, one day I noticed a lot of ants coming in through a hole or break in the window. To my surprise all of the ants were filing into the macintosh G4 cube that I had been using below my desk. I wonder if the power supply or any other piece of hardware inside the bos uses are weird frequency that the ants are attracted to??

I'm not that surprised that this has happened to another person. Needless to say, that day I had alot of fun inventing ways to off ants with office supplies.

--
"When I look back, my life is not a foreign country, it's more like a library book returned long ago." - ????

I've seen the like before. by Infirmo · 2002-11-16 12:51 · Score: 3, Funny

A friend's old Powerbook (500 series) became a hive. They didn't know it, but all of the ants that had been infesting their kitchen were roosting in their laptop set up on the kitchen counter. When the machine finally died from the generations of life that had lived in their machine, they had another friend open it up and discovered that it was packed full of ant-hive. The ants themselves had moved on by the time they had the machine looked at, as it had been turned off since it began to malfunction.

Further, I myself have a power supply for my speaker system that from time to time becomes infested with the tenacious little bastards. This thing is packed with them, I tell you. To get rid of them, I always just unplug the power supply for a few days.

someone has to say it.... by ethanms · 2002-11-16 13:23 · Score: 1

could this be how the borg started?

If they vaporize after you kill them, you should run.

Harrison Ford gets ant named after him by AndroidCat · 2002-11-16 13:35 · Score: 2, Informative

Here.

A US scientist has named an ant after Harrison Ford.

Edward Wilson has called a Central American ant, Peidole harrisonfordi, to honour the actor's conservation work.

Ford is Vice Chairman of the American society Conservation International.

Wilson, a Harvard University scientist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has also named a shiny brown ant from Mexico, Pheidole mooreorum, after Intel Corporation co-founder Gordon Moore and his wife Betty.

The Moores are leading environmental philanthropists.

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.

Re:Harrison Ford gets ant named after him by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 13:41 · Score: 0

So should I get a "Harrison Ford Inside" sticker?

Sprockets flashback by jbuhler · 2002-11-16 13:42 · Score: 3, Funny

[Cmdr Taco] The next posting was sent in by Lucas Bamberger of Mac-baden. Here he has come across an Apple Powerbook, which in itself is not so disturbing. Until it is turned over to reveal... ANTS! ANTS! ANTS!

[Cowboy Neal]
Now that's an ant farm of a different color!

and my mom said I was just lazy... by ethanms · 2002-11-16 13:45 · Score: 1

This is why I leave old pizza boxes and half full cans of soda everywhere... to attract the ants and keep them off my precious computers and other electronics... that... and I'm a fucking lazy slob.

POWER TO THE INSECTS by sexecutioner · 2002-11-16 13:50 · Score: 1

I guess cockroaches are different... but maybe they're not.

I live out in the bush here in Australia and there is just no way we can keep any kind of insect life out of our house, so we just don't bother. The floors are wooden, but 100 years old, so there are cracks that all kinds of spiders and beetles and critters come up through.

It's easy to live with we just:

a) NEVER leave food out and keep all the cupboards closed at all times.

b) NEVER leave clothes that we are planning on wearing again on the floor because pretty much everytime this happens I find a spider of some description hiding underneath.

c) ALWAYS check under the dunny seat for spiders.

d) DON'T even bother to spray around fly spray or similar because it just won't work.

Apart from that it's fine, relatively hygenic, and doesn't bother us at all, in fact I quite like having little spiders living in the window frames and critters and stuff living down the back of the couch.

I only wrote this because everyone is posting: "found heaps of horrible bugs so I killed them with xxx."

Maybe you should give them a second chance?

Tourist Mecca by MacAndrew · 2002-11-16 14:44 · Score: 2

Um, sounds great, we'll, er, be sure to visit, uh, real soon.

My wife would have a stroke at more than one spider at a time. I've talked her down a bit -- I kind of like them because they eat things I really don't like, and are beautiful -- but they are still escorted outside. Here, inside and outside are still distinct, though there was that raccoon I had to chase off a few days ago....

really slow "modem" by Tablizer · 2002-11-16 14:48 · Score: 2

And they carried all my data to the neighbor's PC byte by byte.

--
Table-ized A.I.

Not ants in my case, roaches by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 15:21 · Score: 0

I was out on a warranty call, fixing a fax machine. This woman's house was a dump, and I wasn't comfortable staying there, so I took her fax back to my shop.

When I opened it, I found that it was literally PACKED, TIGHT, with cockroaches. I had to have the shop fumigated.

I figure it was the warm, dark environment inside that did it. Needless to say the warranty company wasn't willing to cover the repair, but they paid me for the trip.

A similar thing happened to me. by Erpo · 2002-11-16 17:43 · Score: 2

I lent a joystick (an MS Sidewinder 3D Pro) to a friend. It sat at his house for a while, during which time I sorta forgot about it, and two months later I got it back. At this point I was really itching to play some Descent II, so I brought it in, hooked it up, and launched the game. Everything loaded fine and the game recognized it without a hitch, so I started playing a game I saved before I lent him the joystick. I was able to ignore the crunching noises every time I bent the stick for a few minutes, but when I looked back at the joystick, I saw ants crawling all over the joystick, my hand, and the computer desk. Of course I promptly shut down and removed the infested device, but the horror (and odor) I experienced when I first opened it up cannot be described.

Are you listening, Evan?

They're not bugs... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-11-16 19:47 · Score: 0

They're British. Kill the Queen!

wow! by izm · 2002-11-17 03:40 · Score: 1

Ants in a computer...I remember that... One time at work, an entire classroom's computers were infested with ants (the teacher left the room extremely messy, with bits of food all over). They almost did some damage...lol...

--
izm

Try having your apartment infested sometime by bugiled · 2002-11-17 06:42 · Score: 1

I HATE ANTS.

I too live in SoCal, and our apartment was infested with ants a couple of weeks ago, after the first rain. The bastards were crawling around our brand-new iMac, were in every cabinet in the house (including the one where we store only clean dishes, no food) and were even crawling on us. My fiance and I went to war using Avon Skin-So-Soft as a weapon. Ants hate the smell of that stuff, so we sprayed it all over the apartment.

Luckily, they were not fire ants, but they are disgusting!!!

I've seen it before by basslineshift · 2002-11-17 11:48 · Score: 1

Our company has had the exact same problem you described only with a tape backup. We are in the Pacific NW and ants are common. One day we went to do a backup of a machine and ants were crawling around like crazy. Upon using the canned air we showed the same result, ants carrying white eggs from the tape drive. We actually ended up scraping the tape drive and getting another one. I just think it's funny that someone else had the same situation. Maybe it's the heat generated, who knows.

I've had a similar problem by anarkhos · 2002-11-17 14:24 · Score: 2

In the winter, field mice are attracted to the warmth of the building. One of them decided to build its nest under the speaker of my AppleII! It was eating cough drops (wel, licking them) and leaving black poops all over the place. I took the machine outside in a plastic bag and let it out only to see it run back in the building within a second.

D'oh!

--
>80 column hard wrapped e-mail is not a sign of intelligent
>life

That Poor Mac! by flameflash · 2002-11-17 17:12 · Score: 1

I'd almost feel tempted to shed a tear for the poor sap!

Especially if it was one of those bulletproof iBooks... it just seems kind of ironic that it's not ant proof.

--
I'm not conceited, conceit is a fault and I have no faults.

I know why by gigsvoo · 2002-11-17 18:16 · Score: 1

Because Apple == apple... means food and sweet... dun your just get it??? Luckily Linux is using Penguine but not donuts...

--

Thanks
Neo Gigs
"Follow the white rabbit..."

That's nothing... by macraig · 2002-11-17 19:07 · Score: 1

More than a decade ago, when I was working at a repair shop, I serviced a Toshiba laptop that was infested with a small colony of tiny spiders! The owner was a woman, a freelance journalist, from the Maldive Islands, and the spiders were native to the Maldives. They had stowed away in the nice, warm, comfy laptop's innards and made the trip to California with her. Did any of them escape my big squishing thumb, to naturalize in sunny SoCal? Only time will tell....

Mark

TiBook WiFi signal loss debunked! by danielmaui · 2002-11-17 20:22 · Score: 2, Funny

iBooks have more ant_ennas :-)

roaches chomp chomp Re:Ants and electronics by johnpaul191 · 2002-11-18 05:37 · Score: 2

i have always hear that you could lock a coloney of roaches in a tank with a TV and they could thrive... they may just need a lil water and air, but the TV is enough nutrition for them. maybe we should take big (escape-proof please) tanks of roaches and dump in all those old computers that are going to infect landfills.

Re:This story is not necessarily fake by Urox · 2002-11-18 13:28 · Score: 2

The only time you have multiple queens is when they are immature larval stages, the Princess kills off her compentition, finds herself a nice young hunk of a male, gets pregnant then flies off to start her own colony.

I'm guessing you haven't lived in California where they are all just one big huge colony. I had the garbage bin under my sink infested once. I counted around 5 queens. They *were* huge compared to the rest of the thousands of worker ants. Granted, they didn't move that much (compared to the workers). They will not attack each other if you shovel one colony onto another.

--
"Would you rather have a playstation addicted dork wearing a star wars t-shirt?"

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