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HDD Assault Cannon

Anonymous Coward writes "Check out what these crazy fools have done. One has to ask, exactly how much time these people have on their hands? Got a couple of old 2GB Hard drives. You too could join in on their madness. Hard Drive Assault Cannons for all!"

440 comments

  1. broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny


    "Anonymous Coward", the submitter, says "Check out what these crazy fools have done. One has to ask, exactly how much time these people have on their hands?"

    Apparently you have enough time to speak in the third person about yourself. If you're going to astroturf your website at least make sure your machine and bandwidth can handle the load, idiot.

    To those that couldn't load it: all you missed was a very slow loading gallery with 50 pictures and Quicktime movies of someone taking apart a hard disk and attaching shit to it.

    Next story, please.

    1. Re:broken already (it's lame) by djb6 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Do SATA drives make for faster cannons?

    2. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      It's a new hi-tech psycological condition, related to self-mutilation. Submitting your tiny (and inadequate!) pipe for slashdotting. OUCH BABY IT HURTS SO GOOD!

    3. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Tsk. What a waste of hard drives. Someone could have put Linux on them and set up a firewall.

    4. Re:broken already (it's lame) by elwell642 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Amen... whoa to the website that gets /.'d!

      No amount of bandwidth can withstand the power of a swarm of geeks...

      --

      <insert witty linux comment here>

    5. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I've received email on how to increase my pipe.

    6. Re:broken already (it's lame) by spamtest · · Score: 1

      Super Slam!

    7. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Interesting
      No amount of bandwidth can withstand the power of a swarm of geeks...

      At least not the outgoing bandwidth on a standard ASDL connection. Are they that crazy or was this just a publicity stunt from day one? How did it get by the editors? How many ACs will reply with "Your new here right?" now that I've made a comment about the editors not catching stuff like this?

      Again for laughs and giggles:

      (104):tim@pigeon:{11:45}:~# host hddcannon.kicks-ass.net
      hddcannon.kicks-ass.net has address 202.0.40.113
      (105):tim@pigeon:{11:45}:~# host 202.0.40.113 113.40.0.202.IN-ADDR.ARPA domain name pointer 202-0-40-113.adsl.paradise.net.nz
      (106):tim@pigeon:{11:45}:~#

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    8. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 4, Funny

      The logical thing to do with an egg is cook it and eat it, but throwing it at someone is much more fun :D

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    9. Re:broken already (it's lame) by sydb · · Score: 4, Funny

      Woe, not whoa.

      I don't mean to be a Nazi but the difference is so fundamental is must be elucidated.

      "Woe" means, in this context, distress or affliction, misfortune.

      "Whoa" (also spelled "wo", "woa" or even "who") means "slow down horsey".

      No links, 'cos my Oxford English Dictionary does not support HTTP.

      --
      Yours Sincerely, Michael.
    10. Re:broken already (it's lame) by samhain_tm · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah... but I have about 50 2 gig harddrives... how many firewalls should I set up for myself?

      --
      I'm the root of all that's evil, yeah, but you can call me cookie.
    11. Re:broken already (it's lame) by elwell642 · · Score: 0

      You are very right! I stared at that for a good minute before submitting, cause it just didn't look right. Feel free to Nazi my grammar anythyme ;)

      --

      <insert witty linux comment here>

    12. Re:broken already (it's lame) by gbjbaanb · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but my dictionary does have a link for Whoa

      The OED, good book, requires subscription though :(

    13. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could build a wall of harddrives.

    14. Re:broken already (it's lame) by BlackHawk-666 · · Score: 1

      Are they SCSI? I could do with at least one or two of those. Perhaps selling them on ebay might be a better option. And for the record, it would be for my Kurzweil synth that can only address drives up to 2GB.

      --
      All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
    15. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What kind a loser needs a harddrive to setup a firewall for crissakes?!!!

    16. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but I have about 50 2 gig harddrives

      Give to Google for their email service? That's enough for 100 customers.

    17. Re:broken already (it's lame) by The+Ultimate+Fartkno · · Score: 5, Funny


      Yeah! You *should* build a wall out of them! And in the middle of the wall you should put one 3-gig drive instead of a 2. Then put a brightly colored sticker on the drive. Then, when your friend points to that drive and asks if it's special, you can answer...

      "No, it's not special."

      "So what is it?" he'll say.

      "All in all, it's just another gig in the wall."

      The same joke will probably work with a pile of NIC cards, but either way you're probably going to get the shit beaten out of you.

    18. Re:broken already (it's lame) by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

      omfg, your post should be +10 funny. I only laugh once a week on slashdot, and 90% of those are laughing *at* the person. Bravo man, bravo.

    19. Re:broken already (it's lame) by breon.halling · · Score: 1
      Woe, not whoa
      (snip)
      "Whoa" (also spelled "wo", "woa" or even "who") means "slow down horsey".

      But slowing is exactly what that webserver's going to do!

      --
      "Yeah, well, Dracula called and he's coming over tonight for you and I said okay."
    20. Re:broken already (it's lame) by randomblast · · Score: 1

      Assuming you have the rest of the hardware required to build 50 working boxes, you should build all 50 firewalls, put various OSes, firewalls, packet filters, antiviruses, and spam killers on them, all with different configurations, and chain them all together.

      Aside from the decreased security of having loads of boxes forwarding packets to your main network, at least one of which is bound to have a vulnerability, you get to dig through 50 config files when you want to start a server :D

      --
      ...these aren't my real teeth.
    21. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 5, Funny

      Then, you could use that wall with the 3 gig as a bull's eye for target practice. When you hit it, you would send it to "the great gig in the sky".

    22. Re:broken already (it's lame) by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful
      "Whoa" (also spelled "wo", "woa" or even "who") means "slow down horsey"


      Or, in Keanu-speak, it is merely a response to any event happening around onesself, expressing shock, dismay, humour, joy, or any of a bunch of things which can happen to a person.

      =)
      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    23. Re:broken already (it's lame) by bugnuts · · Score: 5, Funny

      The OED, good book

      The plot is pretty thin. I had already guessed the ending by Chapter Q.

    24. Re:broken already (it's lame) by RailGunner · · Score: 3, Funny

      The Slashdotting of his pathetic little box is probably enough, but if we want to get really nasty we can always fark him. Not that I'm advocating piling on even more pain on this astroturfing goof.. oh wait.. yes I am.

    25. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 1

      I know Kung-Fu.

      --
      True story.
    26. Re:broken already (it's lame) by PaxTech · · Score: 2, Funny

      >> The OED, good book

      > The plot is pretty thin. I had already guessed the ending by Chapter Q.

      Yep. The zebra did it.

      --
      All movements for social change begin as missions, evolve into businesses, and end up as rackets.
    27. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My My! Are you upset that your Natalie Portman mosaic made out of keys from Apple II keyboards wasn't featured instead?

      And yes, I do have alot of free time. Especially since I'm working all these extra hours because I don't get paid overtime at the call center anymore :(

    28. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Arthur+Dent+'99 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      I get emails almost every day showing how to increase my pipe, but they usually get caught in the spam filter. :-)

    29. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Jackal82277 · · Score: 5, Funny

      8MB HDD - $27

      1ft long piece of PVC - $17

      A can of hair spray - $4.50

      2 idiots with a 2004 version of a potato gun - Priceless

      2 idiots getting there whole ISP DOS'ed by /. - utterly fucken priceless

    30. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obviously you need a ... come on, I can't be the first person to point this out? ... beowulf cluster of them!

    31. Re:broken already (it's lame) by cant · · Score: 1

      'Money can't buy you happiness' - Poor people Keep telling yourself that money is related to happiness and eventually you'll believe it. No sense in having higher standards. Ahhh, the American dream. It's just that easy.

    32. Re:broken already (it's lame) by LedZeplin · · Score: 3, Funny

      the zymurgist did it in most editions.

      mmm brewing beer.

    33. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, not all happiness comes from money and not everything can be bought with money. However, money can buy you happiness because it buys you freedom and choice. Say your girlfriend phones you up at work and dumps you. You can go home to a shitty one bedroom apartment with a leaky roof or go home to a nice warm house with nice food to cook for dinner and maybe a few beers. The only difference here is money. Propose that situation to all those 'money can't buy you happiness' people and see if they say that they would be happy either way. After all, it's only money right? If money isn't related to happiness then why do people play the lottery, or why do they get excited over a 5 dollar discount? I'll say again, although money isn't the be all and end all, I'll be damned if it doesn't make life a lot easier. These people can keep telling themselves that working 12 hours a day just to exist on bread and water is 'a living' and eventually they'll start to believe it.

    34. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Wow, way to go. You see, what you've done is take a subtle joke that most of us already got and explained it to death so that it's no longer funny. Very interesting. Do you do this often?

    35. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMFG, that was the funniest followup I've seen... a rare case of actually managing to improve on the original! Well done, sir!!

      (me picturing vertical hard drive launchers, Great Gig in the Sky playing...)

    36. Re:broken already (it's lame) by kevcol · · Score: 2, Insightful

      2GB disks command about $10 on ebay. The time it takes to prepare the auction, run it (communicate with buyers usually), pack then ship the item is probably about 60-120 minutes of work depending on how close you are to a post office. It's less work if sold in a lot, but when sold one by one, I found it was a waste of time unless you have a lot of volume and are set up for it.

    37. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Jackal82277 · · Score: 1

      Anonymous Coward huh ? Grow some sac and post like a real man. Anybody can stand in the street and throw a rock from a distance but a real man stands in the street and welcomes death with his head high. Your a scriptkitty ass is trying to run with the big dogs dude, stick to posting on Atari forums about how great the old days were and leave the intelligent posting to the /.ers

    38. Re:broken already (it's lame) by djh101010 · · Score: 1

      Wow, way to go.

      Now you've gone and done it, ArthurDent, you've annoyed an AC who may or may not be the astroturfing submitter. OH, the horrors...

    39. Re:broken already (it's lame) by FreakWent · · Score: 1

      The distinction here is subtle; we're talkinag bout happiness as opposed to pleasure -- cash buys lots and lots of pleasure, that's what marketing is all about.

    40. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the difference is so fundamental is must be elucidated.

      You mean you are going to tell me what the definition of "is" is? ;)

      live/sword/die

    41. Re:broken already (it's lame) by kyhwana · · Score: 2, Informative

      Oh man! That guy is so screwed, since dsl in NZ has data caps, and you pay per meg once you go over that cap. And it's EXPENSIVE. It ranges from 10-20cents per MEG.

      --
      My email addy? should be easy enough.
    42. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because Jackal82277 is soooo much less anonymous...

    43. Re:broken already (it's lame) by gurumeditationerror · · Score: 1

      Whoa

    44. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Rexdude · · Score: 1

      That is one hell of a misquoted proverb... it should read 'The LOVE of money can't buy you happiness' It is targeted at misers, those who hoard money instead of spending it on the things that can make them happy

      --
      "..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."
    45. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Hanzie · · Score: 1

      I really don't care that I burned my mod points an hour ago.

      You were already at 5, and I couldn't bounce your comment higher.

      It definetly deserves the +10 funny, though.

      And my wife thinks so too.

      hanzie.

      --
      ********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
    46. Re:broken already (it's lame) by child_of_mercy · · Score: 1

      Plus an unfortunate number of women are attracted to money.

      So if you have lots of it then you get more love without spending a penny.

      Sad but true.

      --
      'There is a Light that never goes out.'
    47. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Wolfrider · · Score: 1

      ' apt-get install webmin-lvm '...

      --Buy a few cheap Ultra-66 IDE controllers (if you can still find them), LVM the drives together. Then run ' badblocks ' on the LVM device. Just be sure to invest in another powersupply as well...

      --
      .
      == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
    48. Re:broken already (it's lame) by BlackHawk-666 · · Score: 1

      That's how I was thinking the day before I decided to bundle up my shit and sell it on e-bay instead of heaving it into the bin. I made 160 from listing my old CPU/motherboard/etc, money that went straight into purchasing a really cool synth. It took maybe 3 hours of my spare time to package up the stuff, and a short trip to the post office. Easily worth the price.

      --
      All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
    49. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and they really do charge. I saw a bill for over 5000$ some guy ran up on ADSL. These teenagers are going to have alot of explaining to do to their parents.

    50. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Jackal82277 · · Score: 0

      So I guess its the same deal as before, you are unable to come up with anything original so you just stick with anonymous coward. Nice...I would estimate that 95% of /.'ers post intelligent, funny, insightful, interesting, and original comments...then there are the 5% of jerk offs like you that have no imagination and cling to the only thing they have going for them...Picking apart every little minute detail and making yourself feel like you are better than the guy next to you. Guess what dude, your not, your actually worse of than that dude cause when he posts I'm sure he has the balls to identify himself in some way. But you know what dude, your a looser, and I'm done wasting my time with you when I could be reading the thousands of good posts on /. Now, if it makes you feel any better I'm sure there are a couple of run-on sentences and punctuation errors that you can pick apart, so have fun and "may god have mercy on your soul"

    51. Re:broken already (it's lame) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      95%? If your talking about posting off of the front page. useful comments on the /. frontpage articles are more like 25% the rest are just karma whores waiting to repeat what someone else said earlier.

      apart from the AC who trolled you for spelling that shit is stupid. fucking cock holsters.

      i post AC on the frontpages because more often than not some mod is pushing an agenda or being a flaming dick. why F up my karma?

    52. Re:broken already (it's lame) by kevcol · · Score: 1

      It all depends on the market rate for the hardware being sold. Your CPU/mobo combo was clearly more attractive a purchase to someone. You can see right now what a 2GB drive commands if you check completed auctions. 7-10 bucks US. I've sold a lot of used computer equipment on ebay. I always checked out market rate for the used item first. If it was less than a certain amount, I would donate it to the computer recylcing center before spending time on an auction. You just have to figure out how much your time is worth and if you are going to cover it in the sale. That's all I'm saying.

  2. Sweet!! by hookedup · · Score: 4, Funny

    We have boxes of old drives that we need to get rid of here at work, but have to drill holes into them then have them melted down or buried in a landfill. This would be way more fun..

    *Emailing boss the link*

    1. Re:Sweet!! by Forge · · Score: 5, Funny

      You work for the Department Of Deffence or a related agency right?

      The DOD rules for HDD disposal.

      1. Triple Overwrite security erase.
      2. De-gauze with a powerful electro magnet.
      3. Crush drives with a cement roller.
      4. Melt fragments into slag.
      5. Bury Slag in a secure waist disposal site under a minimum of 6' of cement.

      --
      --= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
    2. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since you seem to be the only one who got a chance to read the article, would you mind telling us what it's about?

    3. Re:Sweet!! by Auntie+Virus · · Score: 1

      Imagine a Beowulf cluster of HD cannons!

      --
      Why yes, I *AM* new here. Why?
    4. Re:Sweet!! by robslimo · · Score: 1

      NO! Send your old HDDs to me! Or at least save the neodymium head servo magnets for me.

      I'm only half kidding, as I'd like to have a couple of hundred magnets for various projects. Mostly projects related to the link in my sig.

      -RatOmeter

    5. Re:Sweet!! by RetroGeek · · Score: 5, Funny

      6. Take backup tape home
      7. Profit!!

      --

      - - - - - - - - - - -
      I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
    6. Re:Sweet!! by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 1

      Just the other day I destroyed the 2GB HDD from our old family PC. Can't beat the feeling of putting the claw end of a clawhammer through those shiny platters, a great stress reliever!

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    7. Re:Sweet!! by hookedup · · Score: 1

      Close, different country though :)

      And once it's been melted into slag, more often than not, that's the end of it's life. No 6' of cement on top, which is just too tinfoil hat for me.

    8. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Finally! The missing option!!

    9. Re:Sweet!! by pjwhite · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'll take the platters. They make great wind chimes.

    10. Re:Sweet!! by robslimo · · Score: 1

      Been there, done that.

      The only trouble is finding platters of different sizes to avoid a monotone. Also some of the platters are some kind of plastic and don't ring at all.

    11. Re:Sweet!! by exhilaration · · Score: 1

      I've got an open hard drive (purely decorational) next to me - where's the magnet? Is it big enough to be fun?

    12. Re:Sweet!! by AndyRobinson · · Score: 1
      5. Bury Slag in a secure waist disposal site under a minimum of 6' of cement

      Waist - noun - the part of the human trunk between the bottom of the rib cage and the pelvis.

      If the DOD guys dispose of the waists how to they keep their pants from falling down?

    13. Re:Sweet!! by Infinite93 · · Score: 5, Funny
      5. Bury Slag in a secure waist disposal site under a minimum of 6' of cement.

      Isn't burying it under a liposuction clinic a little extreme?

    14. Re:Sweet!! by Metallic+Matty · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or you could do what two of my good buddies did in high school a couple of years ago. They were in a robot competition (much akin to Battlebots, but smaller.) Somehow (I wasn't part of the building process, but I did see the final product,) they mounted a hard drive platter and used it as a type of spinning buzz-saw weapon. While I was not lucky enough to see it in action, I heard it was very successful in the early rounds but broke at some point.

      Incidentally, another funny idea we once had was, we were just sitting around playing with a 1.25 floppy drive, popping a disk in and out. Somehow this lead us to replace the ejection springs so that when you popped out a disk it would fly out at a pretty good clip. Disk wars became the game of the day.

    15. Re:Sweet!! by WyrdOne · · Score: 1, Informative

      Magnet is at the back of the R/W arm. (The arm moves when the control board induces a current in a coil of wire held between two rare-earth magnets. This causes the arm to move. By varying the current used you can precisely move the arm.)

      Harddrive magnets make the best fridge magnets.

    16. Re:Sweet!! by welsh+git · · Score: 1

      As someone recently trying to source a 2Gig hard disk due to a failure with my trusty 486 router/firewall, this article is a particular punch in the gob...

      --
      Sig out of date
    17. Re:Sweet!! by robslimo · · Score: 4, Informative

      They're kinda small on newer drives, but are quite strong, neodymium-iron-boron magnets.

      OK, you see head assembly? At the opposite end from the heads, past the pivot point, there will be a plastic molded part with a coil of copper wire. You may not see it well 'cause it'll be obscured by the magnet assembly (a flat metal bracket with mounting flanges on each end).

      Remove any fasteners on the magnet assembly; they're probably small Torx head screws. You'll also need to remove the head assembly by unscrewing it at the pivot point (or if you don't care about wrecking it more, just pry vigorously at the magnet assembly with a medium screwdriver).

      Now, the magnets are epoxied to the metal brackets. To remove them with the least likelihood of breaking them, grip a flange end of the bracket with ViseGrips (locking pliers) or similar. Holding the pliers, strike the other flange end against a hard (concrete preferably) surface, gently at first and increasing in force until the magnet(s) pop off. If your using just enough force, they'll pop off and then snap back to the bracket.

      Have fun!

      -RatOmeter

    18. Re:Sweet!! by twoflower · · Score: 2, Informative
      2.De-gauze with a powerful electro magnet.

      That's degauss, actually. To de-gauze something would be to remove an outer covering or wrapping made of thin, absorbent silk or cotton material.

      Spelling is important.

      --


      --
      Twoflower
    19. Re:Sweet!! by Jerf · · Score: 1

      "Break the law" always seems to be the first choice for filling in the "???" part of the Underpants Gnome's plan, doesn't it?

    20. Re:Sweet!! by jhagler · · Score: 1

      Imagine a cluster of Beowulf cannons.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -RAH
    21. Re:Sweet!! by flink · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't drilling different sized holes in them work?

    22. Re:Sweet!! by RetroGeek · · Score: 1

      "Break the law" always seems to be the first choice

      Nah, just the lazy-man's choice.

      It takes work to produce value. Criminals want the easy way out.

      Disclaimer: Yes I know some criminals put a lot of effort into planning and executing a crime. BUT, they are not producing value.

      Of course it is doubtful whether some C level people produce value either, but that is another thread...

      --

      - - - - - - - - - - -
      I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
    23. Re:Sweet!! by UberDeveloper26 · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't "Break The Law" be a prequel to "Steal Underpants"? Because even intent is a crime. These damn Gnomes are breaking several laws: Breaking And Entering Criminal Mischief Possession Of Stolen Property (With Intent To Sell) Burglary And I'm pretty sure that the one Gnome that got caught was smokin' the reefer.

      --
      Tim Myers Senior Programmer Accenture
    24. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      De-gauze with an electro magnet? Is that sort of like de-gaussing with an electromagnet?

    25. Re:Sweet!! by MrNonchalant · · Score: 1

      Even simpler, send them here.

    26. Re:Sweet!! by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Funny
      Out of curiosity, what does the 1.25 in your floppy drive indicate? DSHD 5.25" floppies were 1.2MB. DSDD 3.5" were 720kB, 800kB or 880kB depending on format (PC, Mac, and Amiga respectively.) DHHD 3.5" are 1.44 (Mac, PC) or 1.7-something (Amiga). I've never seen a 1.25" floppy disk, though I guess they could exist.

      Aw crap I just found a note saying that there was a 1.25MB format used in Japan. Oh well, guess that's what I get for not websearching first. I think I'll go ahead and hit submit anyway to save someone else the trouble of going through this :)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    27. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No DOD and DSS require tapes and magnetic media be sent to NSA for destruction.

    28. Re:Sweet!! by Feztaa · · Score: 1

      Who are you to say that they don't wrap their HDD's in gauze, which then needs to be removed?

    29. Re:Sweet!! by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      6. Look up definition of the word homophone. (gauze=Gauss, waist=waste)

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    30. Re:Sweet!! by photon317 · · Score: 1


      The real DoD rules are public knowledge. The data overwrite is seven times over with various patterns designed to make for a fairly secure erase. A defense contractor I once worked at also required that outgoing HDD media (dead media returning to vendors or going in the trash or whatever) had to be degaussed before exiting the datacenter.

      --
      11*43+456^2
    31. Re:Sweet!! by RollingThunder · · Score: 3, Funny

      secure waist disposal site

      Is that another name for an exclusive gym?

    32. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Over half of our DOD drives go back to gateway or dell when the tech comes out to do a repair or replace.

      Govt. Security? Be afraid, be very afraid.

    33. Re:Sweet!! by dedalus2000 · · Score: 1
      Your right the platters are very musically talented.

      --
      My keyboads not woking popely.
    34. Re:Sweet!! by Ctrl-Z · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure about you, but for me Gauss and gauze don't sound alike at all (except they both start with G).

      --
      www.timcoleman.com is a total waste of your time. Never go there.
    35. Re:Sweet!! by Wingie · · Score: 1

      Once upon a time I made a software pirate costume for Halloween. My trusty pirate sidearm was a floppy drive that shot a disk out at medium velocity. It's very effective against drunk people and/or eyes.

    36. Re:Sweet!! by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      I agree, but they apparently do to the original poster. Accidentally misspelling a word is one thing; using the wrong word, especially a homophone or near-homophone, is a crime.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    37. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aiee... you missed the essential ??? step for a /. business plan. Now this could lead to very unexpected results. Consider this:

      8. Use your profit to get tickets to Vanuatu
      9. Get arrested just before boarding by FBI
      10. Get your ass to federal death row for treason
      11. Personal net loss: 100%

      (sorry that I'm posting as an AC, I already moderated here)

    38. Re:Sweet!! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      And I'm pretty sure that the one Gnome that got caught was smokin' the reefer.

      Yo, I'm gonna make a run for it, B!

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    39. Re:Sweet!! by Nogami_Saeko · · Score: 1

      Neodymium-iron-boron magnets are also extremely brittle. You need to be very careful when removing them (especially flat magnets from inside HD assemblies), or they'll snap/fracture. The chrome plating usually flakes-off quite easily too (some people dip them in that rubberizing stuff from the hardware store to protect them.)

      You can also buy them from www.wondermagnets.com fairly cheap (I got a bunch a few years back and have them all over the place).

      Here's a short link to the goodies:

      http://tinyurl.com/cm6s

      Some of their BIG magnets are very dangerous and need to be handled with gloves on - put two of the big #72s together and they'll crush your fingers flat. Another website (I forgot the link) also has even more powerful magnets - over 40,000 Gauss (owch).

      N.

      --
      "Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
    40. Re:Sweet!! by d34thm0nk3y · · Score: 1

      you know, 1.25 meg, the amount of data you could actually fit on those crappy 3.5" disks

    41. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, that's why you need to remove the gauze first!

    42. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      malapropisms are fun!

    43. Re:Sweet!! by Garridan · · Score: 1

      I did that in high school, too... I got mine to fly a maximum of 7' (2m) or so. Whenever I tried to outfit the drive with more or bigger springs, it'd warp the casing to the point that the disk wouldn't eject.

    44. Re:Sweet!! by U.I.D+754625 · · Score: 1

      Just drop some screws in there, they'll stick to the magnet.

      --


      //Blessed are they that run around in circles, for they shall be known as wheels.
    45. Re:Sweet!! by Lost+Race · · Score: 1

      I've only taken apart one HDD -- a 340 MB Conner IDE from about 1993. I found its actuator magnet assembly to be held together entirely by the force of the magnets. No glue or fasteners at all, just two magnets attracting each other with a small non-magnetic bracket separating them. At first I thought they were glued on, the magnetic force was so strong.

    46. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1.44mb formatted biatch

    47. Re:Sweet!! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      You mean on oddly-formatted DSDD? DSHD 3.5" disks have an unformatted capacity of "2.0 MO" which I take to mean real Megabytes (2*10^6 bytes) which is considerably more than 1.25MB.

      DSDD are 1.0 MO unformatted, but format (real world) to 720kB on a PC etc etc as stated in my prior post.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    48. Re:Sweet!! by Forge · · Score: 1

      1/5 dozen spelling flames and this is the 1st one that gives the correct spelling.

      It never occured to anyone else that I just can't spell properly. So anything that's at valid word and is pronounced correctly will slip by me. I.e. I use the wrong "here" a lot and I am not sure about "occored" in the previous sentence.

      --
      --= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
    49. Re:Sweet!! by Forge · · Score: 1

      Guilty as charged. This happens when you use a computer spell checker to mitigate the effects of my particular variant of dyslexia.

      The upshot is that I don't misunderstand what I read. :)

      --
      --= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
    50. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're going to go to the trouble of tinyurl, you could at least use A tags.

    51. Re:Sweet!! by MemoryAid · · Score: 1

      Actually, around here, spelling is impotent.

      --
      Language students: Don't try to learn English here. This ain't it.
    52. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My Zip drive did that straight from the factory!

    53. Re:Sweet!! by loose+electron · · Score: 1

      Suggested option, put the metal that the magnets are glued to in a vise, and bend the metal with vise grips. this breaks the glue mount. That then allows you to take the magnets off. They make great refrigerator magnets, or holding a book to a refrigerator as well.

      --
      www.effectiveelectrons.com "chips that work" Analog, RF, Mixed Signal
    54. Re:Sweet!! by Captain+DaFt · · Score: 1

      5. Bury Slag in a secure waist disposal site under a minimum of 6' of cement.

      Isn't burying it under a liposuction clinic a little extreme?

      Ehh? I thought he was talking about EATING it!!
      (Disposed of *many* burritos that way, seems fairly secure as I can't seem to shed the extra weight!) };->

      --
      The U.S. really needs an English to Wisdom dictionary.
    55. Re:Sweet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, but please explain how a "powerful electro magnet" could help removing the layer of gauze.

      Unless you have a very powerful electro magnet, which would pull the HDD through the gauze or would be powerful enough that the dielectric properties of the water contained in the gauze would start to have some effect.

    56. Re:Sweet!! by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      I'm lucky - I only swap lower case 'b' and 'd'. I certainly don't condemn those who have a cognitive reason. The folks I rail against are those who have never read words they use in speaking. To me it is evidence of a dumbing down of the populace. Some favorites:

      • Two Whit -> to wit
      • persay -> per se
      • ayee -> i.e.
      • faint -> feint
      • all the other homophones
      I guess they don't realize that words have meaning beyond their sound when written.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    57. Re:Sweet!! by UID1000000 · · Score: 1

      i can hook you up with one (closer to 4GB) but i'm not sure if there are taxes/duties to the UK. I'm in the US. Let me know. Thanks.

      --
      UID 1000000 is just around the corner.

  3. Too bad... by TopShelf · · Score: 3, Funny

    I guess they could have used a more defensive tool to withstand the inevitable slashdotting...

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
    1. Re:Too bad... by rwiedower · · Score: 1

      Yeas, the only ass being kicked right now is that of their pitiful webserver.

    2. Re:Too bad... by vanyel · · Score: 1

      What's worse is that it was slashdotted before it even went public! As a subscriber, I got to see while still "red" and though the base page loaded, it was very slow.

  4. Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by SCSi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Slashdotted already.. Probably had one of those 2 gig drives in it, and filled it full of apache logs.

    1. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by crass751 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Funny, I'm in a networking class, and the professor just got finished discussing the slashdot effect.

    2. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by pegr · · Score: 1

      It was hopelessly slashdotted before it hit the main page... No Wayback machine archive... No Google cache...

    3. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by GNUman · · Score: 1

      I don't know if to mod you funny or interesting or insightful...

    4. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, what an astonishing coincidence.

    5. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so make a post about your indecisiveness and forget about mod points whatsoever....good plan.

    6. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Just because someone uses a word like "funny" doesn't mean you need to moderate the comment that way. It's interesting how using one of those words effects comment moderation.

      The comment interesting. Period. What's funny about it? The fact that a site got slashdotted the same week someone talked about it. Sites get slashdotted every week. What's so funny?

    7. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by iphayd · · Score: 4, Funny

      You should have posted the website of his lecture notes. :)

    8. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by ace123 · · Score: 1

      What kind of server do they use? It's the strangest one I've ever seen.

      According to netcraft, it is OS: Linux, Server: unknown, Last-changed: 21-Apr-2004, IP: 203.167.202.230, Netblock: CLEAR Net Wellington PoP RAS Pool #2

      When I send it a simple HTTP GET request, it gives:

      HTTP/1.0 200
      Pragma: no-cache
      Cache-Control: no-cache
      Content-Type: text/html
      Content-Length: 84

      <TITLE>Error </TITLE>
      <BODY>
      <H1>Error </H1>
      FW-1 at wlg-fw01: Access denied.</BODY>

      I've never seen this one before.

      What is "FW-1" and "wlg-fw01"

      Also, why is the status 200 [missing optional "OK" string] and not a 4xx error.

      When i send it a HEAD request, it still gives me the body. In fact, when I send it a space and a few characters and 2 returns, it gives me the body, too, instead of a 500 Bad Request like it should.

    9. Re:Obvously the server got hit with one of these.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      What is "FW-1" and "wlg-fw01" They're running a Checkpoint firewall.
  5. WHY BOTHER? by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    OK, you know that some guys private webspace on his dsl connected linux server is going to be slashdotted within seconds.

    So why not actually put SOMETHING in the submission that describes, in some way, WHAT THE SITE IS ABOUT?

    "Check out what this crazy guy did with his computer!!!11!!!!11ROFLOL!"

    It's an absolute waste of everyones time. Why even put shit like that on the front page?

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    1. Re:WHY BOTHER? by merlin_jim · · Score: 5, Insightful

      OK, you know that some guys private webspace on his dsl connected linux server is going to be slashdotted within seconds.

      So why not actually put SOMETHING in the submission that describes, in some way, WHAT THE SITE IS ABOUT?


      Ironically, "Anonymous Coward" who posted this story left as his e-mail address "hddassaultcannon@hotmail.com"... So even though the submission is in the third person, it was obviously written by the guy that did this.

      I mean come on, he had to have some kind of idea what would happen, right?

      --
      I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
    2. Re:WHY BOTHER? by gregorsamsa11 · · Score: 1

      I agree, and I feel tortured after having the rare chance of posting a comment that would actually be read dangled before me then cruelly torn away. I'm beside myself with grief. I better call in sick. From class.

    3. Re:WHY BOTHER? by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So what did he do?

      Build a catapult or air cannon that fires hard drives?

      Modify a hard drive to fire some sort of projectile?

      Make a scale replica of a WWII era Howitzer using old hard drives?

      Who knows?

      It annoys me cuz this is the kind of geeky shit I actually like reading about and discussing. Who cares about the latest round of RIAA threats or MSFT hiring some goober? This could well be a neat lil project dude has going, but I'll never know.

      When people submit something like this, why can't they submit a descriptive little write up, and why can't slashdot hold a jpeg or two in the story text?

      And why can't editors just flat out refuse non-descript submissions like this, which consist of nothing more than a hyperlink to some guys little home server?

      I mean, it's not hard to scope out a webserver and come to the conclusion that it's hosted on junk that isn't up to the task.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    4. Re:WHY BOTHER? by RLW · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Can't one force a cache on google? Try searching for the exact URL in quotes on google. Then when it comes back with "If it's a valid URL then click here..." then click there. Then search for the term again in Google and the new URL will show up in the list. Then it will be chached over the next cycle. Then post to slash to the cached pages.

    5. Re:WHY BOTHER? by jooon · · Score: 1
      So why not actually put SOMETHING in the submission that describes, in some way, WHAT THE SITE IS ABOUT?
      In the html that didn't finish loading I could see this: "50 pictures in 1 albums with 0 comments viewed 180 times".
    6. Re:WHY BOTHER? by Hieronymus+Howard · · Score: 1

      It traces back to paradise.net.nz who provide dialup, cable and adsl connections in New Zealand. He's probably diconnected by now, got a new ip address from DHCP and left dyndns pointing an his old address. I pity the unsuspecting person who is next allocated 202.0.40.113

      HH

    7. Re:WHY BOTHER? by Tribbin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or the poster created an account for receiving mail about this story.

      --
      If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
    8. Re:WHY BOTHER? by DragonMagic · · Score: 1

      Problem is that the site's on someone's dynamic connection, and it was submitted by the person whose site it is. Obviously this person was unaware of what a slashdotting does to a workstation.

      --

      Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
    9. Re:WHY BOTHER? by merlin_jim · · Score: 1

      Yeah I thought about that... but it just didn't click. Why not have a generic email about anything anonymous email account. Having an email address for a particular story doesn't make sense... if it's a spam avoidance issue, why leave it unobfuscated on the front page of slashdot?

      --
      I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
    10. Re:WHY BOTHER? by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      Will google cache pictures, which apparently is all this site consisted of?

      I still say let slashdot articles include a couple photos. Let the guy do a little write up, submit it along with a picture of his little drive cannon, or whatever it is, put a link at the end for people who want to see more.. Then everyone wins, except people trying to generate ad revenue from banners - the other half of slashdot submissions.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    11. Re:WHY BOTHER? by torpor · · Score: 1

      When people submit something like this, why can't they submit a descriptive little write up, and why can't slashdot hold a jpeg or two in the story text?

      Because, it would appear in this case, nobody has a freakin' clue what 'nerd' means.

      --
      ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
    12. Re:WHY BOTHER? by gooberguy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Who cares about the latest round of RIAA threats or MSFT hiring some goober?

      I resent that!

      --


      Karma: Meh (Mostly from meh.)
    13. Re:WHY BOTHER? by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

      either the submitter didn't know, or he DID know and isn't actually the owner of said small server.

    14. Re:WHY BOTHER? by argStyopa · · Score: 1

      I'm amazed the mods let this through. I mean, they are obviously paying at least some attention, the manage to reject every one of MY p

      --
      -Styopa
    15. Re:WHY BOTHER? by goatpunch · · Score: 2, Funny
      ...it was obviously written by the guy that did this. I mean come on, he had to have some kind of idea what would happen, right?

      I'm sure he knew exactly what could happen- maybe he feels like more of a complete geek now that he's been slashdotted. I'm sure his imaginary friends are impressed at any rate.

    16. Re:WHY BOTHER? by grub · · Score: 1

      It's the real address. In 8 weeks, when the traffic has died down, go to his site and you'll see that address on the website.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    17. Re:WHY BOTHER? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obviously we don't mind wasting time since we read Slashdot everyday....

    18. Re:WHY BOTHER? by HD+Webdev · · Score: 1

      Problem is that the site's on someone's dynamic connection, and it was submitted by the person whose site it is. Obviously this person was unaware of what a slashdotting does to a workstation.

      He also didn't read his contract from the DSL provider. He doesn't have a static IP so there is a 'no servers' clause in that contract..

      --
      This is not a dream, not a dream...we are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
    19. Re:WHY BOTHER? by SamSim · · Score: 1

      Perhaps the editors saw through all of this and let the story through just to teach the submitter - and would-be submitters like him - a lesson.

    20. Re:WHY BOTHER? by Cecil · · Score: 1

      Things like this are the reason I used to enjoy reading Slashdot. Now that they're mostly gone, I don't know why I still do. Glutton for punishment I guess.

    21. Re:WHY BOTHER? by Frizzle+Fry · · Score: 1
      maybe he feels like more of a complete geek now that he's been slashdotted

      Why does everybody assume the site was slashdotted? Based on the writeup, it seems much more likely that the server's hard drive was destroyed by a cannon of some kind.
      --
      I'd rather be lucky than good.
    22. Re:WHY BOTHER? by Cinquero · · Score: 1

      Absolutely right. But I guess Google does not cache graphics... would be great if Google could work together with /. and cache the relevant pages including the pictures. If /. has a problem with creating caches, Google obviously hasn't.

    23. Re:WHY BOTHER? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Ironically, "Anonymous Coward" who posted this story left as his e-mail address
      > "hddassaultcannon@hotmail.com"... So even though the submission is in the third
      > person, it was obviously written by the guy that did this.

      Obviously? How can you tell?

    24. Re:WHY BOTHER? by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

      Because Slashdot's 3 premium subscribers get a chance to see it, and everybody else views ads while venting their rage in a comment. Next question?

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  6. Sigh by dolo666 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So now that our laptops are going to be classified as weapons, us Geeks are even closer to being chained to the desk, sadly enough. This is not funny, because I just chewed through my posie straps last week, and managed to roam the floor above me. Now that my laptop is a deadly weapon, I guess I should go re-tie those knots and just give up.

  7. Re:Slashdotted already? by Technician · · Score: 1

    Yep, Their cannon was no match for a slashdotting!

    --
    The truth shall set you free!
  8. Yawn --slashdotted by VC · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can see all the cookie cutter jokes about being slashdotted already.

    Let me see.
    "must have used the webservers 2gb hdd"
    "must have back fired"
    "hard drives now replacing RAM disks"

    etc...

    1. Re:Yawn --slashdotted by Rew190 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes, and of course the only thing more predictable about the cookie cutter jokes are the the cookie cutter posts forecasting the pending cookie cutter jokes.

    2. Re:Yawn --slashdotted by DrWhizBang · · Score: 1

      or - in Soviet Russia, hard disk crashes you!!!

      (I'm really sorry, I couldn't help myself :-)

      --
      Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
  9. I shot the sheriff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I did not shoot his webserver.

  10. Gone already... by Vrallis · · Score: 1

    Farked...erm...I mean Slashdotted...at only 4 comments.

    Figures. Hopefully someone grabbed a mirror of it before we turned his hard drives into his next cannon fodder.

    1. Re:Gone already... by SILIZIUMM · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It's kinda a good thing. It proves that some people actually *reads* the articles before posting !

    2. Re:Gone already... by shystershep · · Score: 1

      "Read"? Not at all. It just proves that we like to look at pictures of stuff flinging through the air violently, and if it's related to computers all the better. Imagine the bitching if it were a simple text-only "how-to" article.

      --
      The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer. - Albert Einstein
    3. Re:Gone already... by pavon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Farked...erm...I mean Slashdotted...at only 4 comments.

      Actually, this site was already slashdotted before it even went live. I am a subscriber and couldn't even get to it. Maybe the guy has some sort of grudge against his ISP, posting a DSL hosted site like that. Or maybe he is a troll - posted just to see the bitching in the thread. Or perhaps he is just an attention starved fool, pretending to be submitting someone elses site when it is really his own.

  11. Not already by consolidatedbord · · Score: 1

    Three posts in, and the site is already unresponsive. The cannon just got assaulted... slashdot style

    --
    while true ; do echo this is my sig; done
  12. Slashdotted - DYN-DNS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    kicks-ass.net is a free subdomain from dyndns.org - bet he's having some surfing issues right about now...

    1. Re:Slashdotted - DYN-DNS by Typoboy · · Score: 1

      at least it makes it easier to disappear after the /. .. is this a new kind of DSL speed test?

  13. Re:Slashdotted already? by greenskyx · · Score: 3, Informative

    kicks-ass.net is a domain one of the free dynamic DNS places use. It's probably hosted on someones DSL... :P

  14. They're mad! MAD I tell you! by imthatguy · · Score: 1

    but on the other hand....with all the old obsolete machines around, world domination finally becomes a reality!

    --
    Did you know you can be apathetic to apathy? Not that I give a shit...
  15. Re:Slashdotted already? by potus98 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    /.'d w/ 0 of 0 posts? Well, at least everyone's trying to take a look before posting a witty remark.

    PS: do NOT mod this post up

    --
    This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
  16. slashdotted by t1nman33 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You may have a hard drive assault cannon, but your web server crumbles before the /. assault cannon!

    --
    --- Where's my car, and why are these grass stains on my pants?
    1. Re:slashdotted by Wehesheit · · Score: 0

      /. is more of an ION-Cannon

      --
      This P.I.G. will walk on the water, This P.I.G. will walk on the sea, This P.I.G. will walk whereever he wants.
  17. kicks-ass.net? by nukem1999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't that one of those free redirect services that people generally use to point to their cable/DSLed home machines? He's probably so slashdotted that he can't open slashdot to see that he's been slashdotted.

    1. Re:kicks-ass.net? by boisepunk · · Score: 1

      well now it's a DDoS'd machine

      --
      main(0)
    2. Re:kicks-ass.net? by mkettler · · Score: 1

      so should they rename to hddcannon.ass-kicked.net?

      But it is definitely an ADSL machine, woefuly under-prepared for a slashdotting.

      Forward lookup of hddcannon.kicks-ass.net:
      Host name: hddcannon.kicks-ass.net
      IP address: 202.0.40.113
      Alias(es): None

      Reverse lookup of 202.0.40.113:

      Host name: 202-0-40-113.adsl.paradise.net.nz
      IP address: 202.0.40.113
      Alias(es): None

      --
      -Matt
  18. Slashdotted Bad. by Pirogoeth · · Score: 2, Funny

    This site was already /.ed while it was still in the "Mysterious Future".

    Whose turn was it to warn the linked sites today?

    --
    Happiness is like peeing yourself. Everybody can see it but only you can feel its warmth.
    1. Re:Slashdotted Bad. by curtisk · · Score: 1

      no need to warn the linked site, since they soooooo very sneakily seemed to have submitted it themselves, so they knew it was coming

      --

      Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!

    2. Re:Slashdotted Bad. by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      The guy appears to have submitted himself, meaning that no warning was necessary.

      BTW, I'm wondering if he realized how STUPID it was to get yourself /.ed, and yanked the Cat5e. Almost like Goatse-ing /., but without the gaping holes.

  19. 2 Gigs? by diogenesx · · Score: 1

    I can use 2 gig disks for my OpenBSD servers. However, I finally have a use for that stack of 200MB to 500MB Harddisks I've stashing like a packrat.

  20. Re:Slashdotted already? by potus98 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Mommy, why did the RJ-45 face plate burst out of the wall in a show of sparks?"

    --
    This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
  21. Re:Slashdotted already? by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Informative
    kicks-ass.net is a domain one of the free dynamic DNS places use. It's probably hosted on someones DSL... :P

    (104):tim@pigeon:{11:45}:~# host hddcannon.kicks-ass.net
    hddcannon.kicks-ass.net has address 202.0.40.113
    (105):tim@pigeon:{11:45}:~# host 202.0.40.113 113.40.0.202.IN-ADDR.ARPA domain name pointer 202-0-40-113.adsl.paradise.net.nz
    (106):tim@pigeon:{11:45}:~#

    Poor bastard. Wonder if New Zealand ISPs have hidden clauses in the AUP to axe your account if you use too much bandwidth?

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  22. It's too bad... by CSArcticFox · · Score: 2, Funny

    That I'm at school, because they filtered that website. *lol*

    1. Re:It's too bad... by shish · · Score: 1

      Last time I checked, pretty much all the dyndns names were blocked (*.kicks-ass.net, *.mine.nu, *.dyndns.org, etc), so you can't get at any of the sites.

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
  23. Slashdot is a better assault weapon by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 1

    All we have to do is drum up a story about someone where taking apart something, gluing a hub inside something, or anything tech-related where pictures are involved, then post said pictures on their site, and link the story from /. Crashola! Works every time. If only the HDD assault cannon was that accurate.

    --
    stuff |
  24. /.'ed already. by JosKarith · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Okay, so the site's down less than a dozen replies in. Fair enough that it's probably not designed for this kind of load but I guess there's a couple of lessons here
    1) Put some detail in the OP. It helps us who weren't lucky enugh to get it before the rush.
    2) Mirror. Preferably before submitting.

    --
    'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
  25. Re:Slashdotted already? by brunson · · Score: 5, Funny


    What are all the other New Zealanders doing while he's using the internet connection?

    --
    09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
    Jesus loves you, I think you suck
  26. Makes you think.... by nickochee · · Score: 3, Funny

    Either their site was really horrible, or we are just getting better at /.ing!

  27. Re:Slashdotted already? by Burianski11 · · Score: 2, Funny

    You mean it USED to be hosted on someone's DSL...

  28. Re:Slashdotted already? by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Funny
    What are all the other New Zealanders doing while he's using the internet connection?

    Hahahaha, that's wrong. Wrong, yet still funny :) I hear New Zeland's internet access is much improved since they upgraded the backbone to the v.92 standard.

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  29. Re:Slashdotted already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You don't want to know. It involves sheep and petroleum products.

  30. If you want an effective killzone... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...you will need a 7200RPM or greater drive.

    1. Re:If you want an effective killzone... by DrWhizBang · · Score: 1

      and floppyies are useless, except maybe for target practice.

      --
      Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
  31. What the dyndns person should do after about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    5 minutes is remove the site and put a simple HTTP redirect to TubGirl ;)

    1. Re:What the dyndns person should do after about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's certainly a cannon I want to avoid.

    2. Re:What the dyndns person should do after about by insanechemist · · Score: 1

      Tubgirl - I just had to find out...I just lost my appetite. My lunch is in the microwave, but I'm gonna throw it in the trash. Just when I thhought I'd seen some sickness, along came this.

    3. Re:What the dyndns person should do after about by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      I'm almost wondering if in the Mysterious Future he just pulled the plug on the server just to piss us off... People were saying he was /.ed in the MF... and he did just astroturf his own site...

    4. Re:What the dyndns person should do after about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bwwhahahaha!!! Dude, tell me you're serious! I got you to visit TubGirl???

  32. What's the point of even clicking anymore? by mostaphalles · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I gave up clicking on links to articles on any post that doesn't link to the top 100 company's on the Fortune 500.

    Even then i don't think it would be too complicated to create a Slashdot Google-Cache-esqe type mirroring system (Open Source of course) so we can at least read the articles...but then again most commenters don't even read them before unleashing their retarded wisdom on the Slashdot masses

    But yeah i agree with the article microsoft sucks!

    --
    sig shmig...

    1. Re:What's the point of even clicking anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      top 100 company's on the

      http://angryflower.com/aposter3.jpg

    2. Re:What's the point of even clicking anymore? by mostaphalles · · Score: 1

      that's (checks picture for correctness) awesome :) I feel so enlightened

  33. Alternate Site? by Like2Byte · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hrm, I went to http://hddcannon.ass-kicked.net/ and got the same result.

  34. Reminds me of highschool by secondsun · · Score: 1

    This sounds about as fun as hard drive hockey was in the tech lab at my highschool. During the end of the year all the desks would be removed from the class room for floor maintenece. At the same time the old computers were being moved into storage to make space for the new ones. Combine that with a ready supply of screwdrivers and PVC piping and viola. You have Hard Drive hockey (which really played more like hard drive shuffle board but it was fun nontheless).

    As soon as this guys DSL modem comes back from therapy I indend on looking this page up.

    --
    There is nothing wrong with being gay. It's getting caught where the trouble lies.
  35. Check out what these crazy fools have done... by anactofgod · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Check out what these crazy fools have done. One has to ask, exactly how much time these people have on their hands? Got a couple of old 2GB Hard drives and a slow Internet connection? You too could join in on their madness. Slashdot Assault Your Own Website for all!

    ---anactofgod---

    --

    ---anactofgod---

    "Equal opportunity swindling - *that* is the true test of a sustainable democracy."
  36. Re:Slashdotted already? by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 4, Funny

    What are all the other New Zealanders doing while he's using the internet connection?

    Working on Peter Jackson's The Hobbit

    --
    Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
  37. sick by Tiro · · Score: 4, Funny
    I think this is kind of sick.

    After all I'm still using a laptop with a 1.2 GB disk. Precious disk space!

    1. Re:sick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Luxury!

      I have 170 MB in my laptop.

  38. HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Could slashdot just add a link next to articles called "mirror" and pre-cache these smaller sites *before* they get hammered? I'm constantly scrolling through comments to find mirrors to slashdotted sites. Seems like a no-brainer. You could even do a 15-sec stress test on the site to determine it's ability to be directly linked.

    Several times, i've seen sites that have had to shut down their site with a "please check back later" message. An inconvenience to us, but surely a REAL inconvenience to their normal viewers.

    Thoughts? Thank you.

    1. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think the Slashdot FAQ talks about this and why it's a bad idea (content out of date, copyright issues, etc etc). Most sites would probably have a Google cache.

      In this particular case it's the submitters fault for sending in a website hosted on a friggen DSL account -- and the editors fault for letting that submission get by them.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Typoboy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If the editors checked to see that this was (a) dyndns to (b) a dsl account, they could have replied to the "AC" and asked them to host it somewhere else first.. (whatever "it" is)

    3. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Syberghost · · Score: 3, Funny

      A better fix would be to mark all astroturf submissions "denied".

    4. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by CaptnMArk · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I have said before. What we need is a P2P distributed browser cache.

    5. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Most sites would probably have a Google cache.

      Mostly useless in stories like this (picture galleries) as the Google cache only caches the text -- the images are still referenced from the original site. The Wayback Machine is always worth trying, they do cache images (though not all) but they spider much less frequently.

      and the editors fault for letting that submission get by them.

      You say that as if they actually had a policy not to link to such sites. They don't. They don't bother to run submissions through a spellcheck, let alone see if the links are stable, or even exist at all.

    6. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Fastolfe · · Score: 1

      The FAQ entry for this amounts to some handwaving and some vague points about how it might make people mad. Nevermind that HTTP defines how caching can/should work right in the basic protocol.

      See my other response to a similar comment for details.

    7. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by azav · · Score: 3, Interesting

      YES. It appears that we need a bittorrent browser plugin client for /.

      --
      - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
    8. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Scottarius · · Score: 2, Informative

      why is it there is a post like this in every single story that gets slashdotted? I get tired of seeing this same discussion over and over and over again. Maybe slashdot should put a great big link at the top of the homepage that says "WHY WE DON'T MIRROR SITES" that links directly to the FAQ. I'm sure at least a few people would notice it...

    9. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by DustMagnet · · Score: 2, Funny
      A better fix would be to mark all astroturf submissions "denied".

      Why mark them denied? When they could be DELETED!!.

      --
      'SBEMAIL!' is better than a goat!!
    10. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by alatesystems · · Score: 1

      BALEETED

      Chris Benard
      Above is the obligatory google bomb for myself.

    11. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by BillyBlaze · · Score: 1

      Those problems could easily be overcome. Privately mirror the article, publish the story with the original link, email the webmaster. If he wants, publish the mirror and point the link in the article to it.

    12. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Wog · · Score: 1

      Del Taco?

    13. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Cinquero · · Score: 1

      Why not setting up a /.-Proxy? Accessible by everyone but only returning related websites' content.

    14. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by phaze3000 · · Score: 1

      The BitTorrent protocol is only really suitable for files larger than a few megs in size. It's not a good fit for web pages that are a few hundred k at most.

      --
      Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
    15. Re:HOW TO FIX THIS PROBLEM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You beat me to it!!

      Pour hot soup in Homestar's eyes? Wait...

  39. Weep for all the lost magnets by G4from128k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I prefer to disassemble old HDs. The voice coils and spindle motors tend to contain insanely strong rare earth magnets. And the platters make pleasant wind chimes (especialy if you have a mix of 3.5", 5", and 8" platters). I suppose one could also get a few bucks from the cast aluminum anclosures.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
    1. Re:Weep for all the lost magnets by mr_luc · · Score: 1

      "I suppose one could also get a few bucks from the cast aluminum enclosures."

      That will not be an option if you handle the disassembly process in the most enjoyable and viscerable way.

    2. Re:Weep for all the lost magnets by mr_luc · · Score: 1

      Wtf was I thinking. VISCERABLE? Christ on a cracker . . .

    3. Re:Weep for all the lost magnets by Dun+Malg · · Score: 1
      Wtf was I thinking. VISCERABLE? Christ on a cracker . . .

      It's a good word anyway. Even though it doesn't mean anything, it sounds like it should.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    4. Re:Weep for all the lost magnets by Azghoul · · Score: 1

      I wonder what you could do with the magnets. Holding shit on your refridgerator?

    5. Re:Weep for all the lost magnets by Azghoul · · Score: 1

      Refrigerator has a 'd' in it? NIIIIIIICE attempt at th English language, self...

    6. Re:Weep for all the lost magnets by DrWhizBang · · Score: 1

      8" platters? Dude, you're so old-school!

      a guy i work with has a clock built from an old 5" hdd, but you don't see the 8" ones too often...

      --
      Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
    7. Re:Weep for all the lost magnets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Interesting that "fridge" does, huh?

    8. Re:Weep for all the lost magnets by svallarian · · Score: 1

      Yeah, there great for putting up shit that you never, ever want to take off.

      --
      I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
  40. Keep clicking the link ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Personally, I'm going to keep on clicking the link, in the hope of doing some more damage to the stupid prick.

    As has already been said in above posts, this guy is a moron. Astroturfing his site just to get it killed by /. . I mean, there are people with megabit connections who get pwned by a link on /., what was this guy thinking ?

  41. Re:Slashdotted already? by Mateito · · Score: 1

    > "Mommy, why did the RJ-45 face plate burst out of the wall in a show of sparks?"

    I just had an "Electric Dreams" Flashback moment.

    But I feel better now.

  42. Slashdotted? How about Cachedotted? by erroneus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Given that mention of any given web site often spells doom for anything but the most rugged servers and the biggest of pipes, Slashdot should come up with a web site cache tool that would hold the story/article/pages for us.

    Okay, google does that for us, so why not link to the Google page rather than the actual site?

  43. Good idea! by Mr+Z · · Score: 4, Funny
    2. De-gauze with a powerful electro magnet.

    Yes, you always want to remove the gauze from your hard-drive before destroying it. Otherwise, it might catch on fire during the melting step (#4). I'm sure Karl Freidrich appreciates the hint.

    --Joe
  44. Dumb ass... by Eric_Cartman_South_P · · Score: 1
    Fark is not a word, never was, never will be... Farscape was a TV show, not "reality", and blah blah blah...

    See: www.fark.com and understand.

  45. Re:It's not slashdotted... by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah they either shut off their webserver or they got kicked off that IP address due to the flood and some other poor bastard was assigned it. If this is the case then I really pity that guy.

    (109):tim@pigeon:{11:49}:~# telnet 202.0.40.113 80
    Trying 202.0.40.113...
    telnet: connect to address 202.0.40.113: Connection refused
    (110):tim@pigeon:{11:49}:~#

    Again I say this was a publicity stunt (look at the e-mail address from the "Anonymous Coward" that submitted the article). Guess it's a slow news day and we need something to occupy our time with -- (Deity) knows we wouldn't be actually working on company time now would we? ;) (myself as guilty as the rest of you)

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  46. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So you've never heard of www.fark.com?

    And what's all this crap about some Scifi show?

  47. On behalf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of the MoveOn from Netscape 4.x Campaign could you please delete from your box this Netscape 4.8 install.

    Thank you.

  48. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Vrallis · · Score: 1

    Eric_Cartman_South_P is right, SuperBanana. It was a half-joking reference to Fark.com, which I read regularly (I've read Slashdot regularly far longer than Fark, though.) The Fark.com equivalent of a Slashdotting is a Farking. /hates explaining jokes to morons....

  49. dumbass. by No-op · · Score: 1
    he was referring to a common phrase used on FARK, in which a link gets destroyed due to all the traffic going to it. this is commonly referred to as "being farked", akin to something "being slashdotted".



    what really creeps me out is that not only do you have some weird science fiction meaning for that word, but it's a pet peeve of yours...

    --
    EOM
    1. Re:dumbass. by cloudmaster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's the most awesome part - that some guy actually gets irritated when he thinks someone else is copying from a horrible show. Like everyone watches "Farscape", and everyone likes it *sooo* much that they'd start using made-up words from said show.

      Tacos. Burning Tacos. I need a .sig that mentions burning Tacos somehow... Yeah.

    2. Re:dumbass. by Vaevictis666 · · Score: 1

      Personally, I think the penny-arcade guys have a better term than either. If a link off of PA brings your site down, you have just been Wanged.

    3. Re:dumbass. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      spending too much time in those forums, you begin to wonder if they're saying the server is fucked, and being censored.
      Also, since fark was named after Drew censoring himself...

      it's a damned loop and it's driving me insane. chicken or the egg? farked fucked fuck fark...gah!

    4. Re:dumbass. by hayek · · Score: 1

      Seriously, a good farking embiggens a webserver's ego. It is a perfectly cromulent word.

      3F13

    5. Re:dumbass. by CrackHappy · · Score: 1

      So that brings up an interesting question.

      If a site is featured on /., Fark, Drudge, Howard Stern or any other popular geek hangout, and they al l do it at the same time, when the site in question is taken down, what term should be used? SlashFarkudge?

      --
      1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d Capitalization really works: i helped my uncle jack off a horse
    6. Re:dumbass. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Strudgedarting

  50. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by cowens · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Um, I think the word you are thinking if is frell not fark. www.fark.com is a news/link farm site like Slashdot.

  51. Slashdot Koan by Paulrothrock · · Score: 4, Funny

    If a site is Slashdotted before you have a chance to see it, does it even exist?

    --
    I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
    1. Re:Slashdot Koan by Maljin+Jolt · · Score: 1
      If a site is Slashdotted before you have a chance to see it, does it even exist?

      Mu!

      --
      There you are, staring at me again.
    2. Re:Slashdot Koan by shish · · Score: 1

      It did exist, but not any more :/

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
    3. Re:Slashdot Koan by aberant · · Score: 1

      ROFL! nice one!.. are we the only nerds that read koans?

    4. Re:Slashdot Koan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, just the only ones who think they're the only ones who read koans.

    5. Re:Slashdot Koan by SamSim · · Score: 1

      Then there was the story which was mysteriously Slashdotted before even the first user read it.

  52. Only the beginning! by StefanJ · · Score: 4, Funny
    In the near future we can look forward to:
    • 8MB USB memory stick squad support weapon
    • 300 baud modem area denial munition (land mine)
    • 12" CGA Monitor implosion bomb
    • Utility tool with sharpened 256kb SIMM blades
    1. Re:Only the beginning! by tearmeapart · · Score: 0

      I have already tried the 3.5" floppy explosive.

      However, it takes about 5 minutes to prepare, while I have 1,000s of these disks (and 10,000s of 5.25" disks).

      These things are perfect for putting idle machines that are off. Someone turns the machine on, the disk spins, and the distinct odour with the smoke starts becoming apparent.

      I only had about 20 floppy drives. I think I down to 2 or 3.

      Google search

  53. Re:IE Can Connect!!!! by Tribbin · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Mod parent up [+1 funny]

    --
    If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
  54. Why not? Here's why. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because it's not in the Google cache, that's why.

  55. an idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    should of put it on a Geocities site to handle that kind of /.'ing..

  56. Ouch by ae-valkyre · · Score: 1

    Slashdotters are ruthless. :P

  57. Smell that? by LouCifer · · Score: 0

    Thats your server melting.

    --
    Religion is for people afraid of going to hell.
  58. What's really amusing... by Pvt_Waldo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is that not one post has been mod'ed up about the actual project - just the /. effect ;^)

    1. Re:What's really amusing... by t_allardyce · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't think anyone has actually seen the project to comment about it, i dont even know how the weapon works!?

      --
      This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
    2. Re:What's really amusing... by PrintError · · Score: 2, Informative

      Probably because it was /.'d before anyone actually saw it!!!

  59. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny
    > > Farked.
    >
    > Okay, this is a serious pet peeve. Fark is not a word, never was, never will be, STOP USING IT unless you want to be placed in the same category as lusers who make the Vulcan "V" sign.
    >
    >Farscape was a TV show, not "reality", and the only reason the word was "invented" was because Scifi didn't want the rating level increase that would come with characters actually properly swearing. If you're gonna swear, swear properly.

    Obvious: It's not news, IT'S FARKDOT!

    Amusing: Drew sues Farscape producers. Claims trademark infringement. Hilarity ensues.

    Unlikely: Geek submits Slashdot article about own website hosted on DSL and expects web server to remain unfarked long enough for someone to get a mirror.

    Photoshop: Theme - an HDD assault cannon, a web server, a guy who doesn't know what Fark means. Difficulty - no Baby Head on Darl McBride's body.

  60. imagine... by larrylemur · · Score: 2, Funny

    A beowulf cluster of these! Mwah hah hah hah!

    1. Re:imagine... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      imagine...

      A proper time to use that joke!

      Nah, this is slashdot. Besides, the other child of this post got it right with RAID.

  61. Yep by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2, Funny

    Normally, I have nothing but sympathy for people like that. I run servers on my DSL too and dread getting linked by ./. I defend against this by having nothing interesting on my servers :)

    However this guy I have NO sympathy for since the e-mail address strongly suggests that the person that made it was the one that submitted it. That qualifies as a Grade-A bonehead move if you asked me. I mean sure, maybe not everyone realises the full impace of a ./ing but if you read the site enough to submit something, you ought to have an idea that 256k isn't going to cut it for serving up lots of pictures and videos.

    1. Re:Yep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      maybe not everyone realises the full impace of a ./ing


      A DotSlashing? Didn't you mean a "/.ing"? :-)

      Hey, I would have wrote something that wasn't pointless if I could have actually seen the Assault Cannon site!
    2. Re:Yep by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      That's why when my site was up I had a notice saying that if you were going to /. me, you had better tell me about it. I wasn't going to Goatse or Tubgirl them, but I WOULD put a notice up, and send you to a mirror.

    3. Re:Yep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I defend against this by having nothing interesting on my servers :)

      Ok, give me another hit. I've narrowed it down to 70,000 websites.

    4. Re:Yep by Jade+E.+2 · · Score: 1

      It did get slashdotted once back before you took over, remember, the ATA copy protection thing? And Russ submitted it himself. I don't remember if it held up under the load or not, though...

  62. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by damiangerous · · Score: 1

    You're aware there's a popular website called fark, right? And this website is similar to slashdot in that it posts links to news articles and carries associated commentary? You're also aware that the rush of traffic from a newly posted link can wreak havoc on an unsuspecting website, much like slashdot? You're aware that the readers of fark refer to this effect as a "farking" or that a site that has been "farked", much like slashdot readers refer to a slashdotting and slashdotted? Your "pet peeve" is seriously misplaced.

  63. Re:Slashdotted already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hddcannon.kicks-ass.net A 202.0.40.113

    Name: 202-0-40-113.adsl.paradise.net.nz
    Address: 202.0.40.113

  64. Another HDD hack by jkazor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I find HDD mechanical hacks to be intriguing. I have often thought it would be cool to make RC cars out of old Hard Drives and have races.

    Mechanically, the hack would be pretty straightforward: To to drive the wheels, attach a worm gear to the disk shaft. To operate the steering, utilize the arm that guides the disk head.

    I am not sure, however, how to interface with an RC transmitter. Any ideas?

    1. Re:Another HDD hack by mrelectricocean · · Score: 2, Interesting

      electronic steering servo on top of the disk? maybe... that could control the steering by being attatched to the arm and would also be able to have a receiver plugged into it! i thought about that way too much... i shouldn't have... *hangs head in shame and walks away*

    2. Re:Another HDD hack by Inuchance · · Score: 1

      Yeah, just use the components from a different RC car. ;)

    3. Re:Another HDD hack by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting
      It is not trivially done because the motor in a hard drive is a stepper motor, which means it has a couple wires for power and some wires for data, and you can generally read their position (not true of all of them) as well as tell them to move n steps forward or backwards, or just continually feed it pulses to tell it to step. This functionality is used to maintain a constant rotational speed without having to build a (relatively) high power motor control circuit onto the PC board, instead controlling the motor digitally and at low voltage and current levels.

      RC radio receivers control servos by varying signal pulse width to a servo, or was it by varying duty cycle? I forget but the point is that this signal is not going to be compatible with the control mechanism of either the stepper or the head control system (which is typically a voice coil, old-technology hard drives used steppers for seeking as well as for spinning the platters) so you're going to have to look up the data sheet on the drive stepper, and reverse engineer the voice coil driving the heads or look up the data sheet on the seek stepper, and design some circuit to sit in between the radio receiver and the hard drive and convert the appropriate inputs to the appropriate outputs.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Another HDD hack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...which ain't too hard. Last time I ripped open an HDD, it had a 4-coil stepper for the spinny bit. Not hard to drive at all, if you can get the power into it... a PIC and a few FETs should do the trick if you can't find a dedicated controller.
      The head arm is different, but we're not aiming for micron accuracy or even particularly high stability, so again, PIC + FETs (I think) should do. It's just(!) a question of getting onto the right wires. Actually, thinking about it, (and if I'm right about how the arm is driven), you'd end up sending out a duty-cycle modulated signal to control it anyway...

  65. Proft? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Submit Astroturf story about dynamicDNSed site.
    2. Your home DSL gets slashdoted
    3. Redirect dynamicDNS to the Goatse
    4. ...
    5. Profit!

  66. How many firewalls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All of them.

  67. For those who wonder why no/. cache... by ferralis · · Score: 4, Informative
    I did too... so I hit the faq, and discovered that this has been discussed at least for the last 4 years...

    It's not out of small-mindedness or forgetfulness after all. Hrm... maybe we should cut the editors a small break once in a while? Nah, 'twould spoil the fun! :)

    O'course, why a google cache couldn't be erected is another story...

    --
    Any generalization is a stupid one.
    1. Re:For those who wonder why no/. cache... by cybermace5 · · Score: 1

      Quote from that: "So the quick answer is: 'Sure, caching would be neat.' It would make things a lot easier when servers go down, but it's a complicated issue that would need to be thought through in great detail before being implemented."

      We all know that thinking something through in great detail definitely puts it off-limits to Slashdot!

      Seriously, small sites like this are NOT going to get mad if you cache them temporarily. Probably most smaller commercial sites, too. And if they change the site during the slashdotting and get uptight about the cache not being updated, then they can send an updated version, or else Slashdot could check periodically.

      But yeah, the "having to think about it" part is probably the biggest obstacle.

      --
      ...
    2. Re:For those who wonder why no/. cache... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From that FAQ:

      It would make things a lot easier when servers go down, but it's a complicated issue that would need to be thought through in great detail before being implemented.
      Answered by: CmdrTaco
      Last Modified: 6/14/00


      Sounds like somebody's not meeting the departmental requirements for their BS in "Slashdot Effect Philosophy and Ethics"

    3. Re:For those who wonder why no/. cache... by AmericanInKiev · · Score: 1

      To make everyone happy - Slashdot could (whilst generating a page - look to see if its own copy
      of m_LastTimePageWasChecked(url) is greater than 10 minutes and if so then test the server to see if it is slashdotted and update cache if at all possible. Otherwise see if m_PageIsSlashdotted(url) is true, and if it is then:

      1. increment the m_PublishedCopyCounter(url)
      2. serve the cache

      for a period of time thereafter tranfer the hitcount of the cache to the target site by sending request some number of times n where n is equal to m_PublishedCopyCounter(url).

      This will effectively loadbalance the target site - credit the site with all hits if possible (with an optout page and a statistics page for small sites who can't afford the bandwidth and may never recover)

      AIK

    4. Re:For those who wonder why no/. cache... by cybermace5 · · Score: 1

      EXACTLY...allow the site to host AS MANY HITS AS IT COULD ANYWAY. Then how can anyone complain if they don't get ad revenue for every Slashdot cache access? They could never have served that many impressions on their own, anyway.

      Rob Malda's excuse is looking pretty lame now.

      --
      ...
    5. Re:For those who wonder why no/. cache... by Fastolfe · · Score: 1

      Seriously, small sites like this are NOT going to get mad if you cache them temporarily.

      Further, no one has the right to get mad so long as your cache obeys HTTP caching rules. If their site expresses a cache-control header indicating the page can be considered fresh for an hour, and Slashdot is sent through such a cache (a proxy with a mirror-like front-end), your site will see one hit an hour for the duration of the Slashdotting.

      If the site expresses an unwillingness to be cached (such as a "no-cache" header), then the site owner deserves the Slashdotting he gets. Otherwise, why not take advantage of the caching rules HTTP defines? There's no rule that says your caching HTTP proxy can't expose its cached content through its own separate URI. It just has to play by the rules with respects to the HTTP caching policies expressed by the origin server.

      Seriously, this is something that can be set up in 5 minutes with anyone moderately familiar with Apache, mod_cache and mod_proxy. A bit of evangelism would then be needed to ensure about-to-be-hit sites are using clueful caching headers (which they should be anyway). Otherwise there's no point.

    6. Re:For those who wonder why no/. cache... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hmm... if there were a Slashdot cache, could Slashdot be /.ed?

    7. Re:For those who wonder why no/. cache... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Rob Malda's excuse is looking pretty lame now.

      Rob Malda's site is getting 1 or 2 more hits a day more than yours though, right, mr Big-time website owner.

  68. Priceless! by RLW · · Score: 2, Funny

    This person knows now!

  69. Re:Slashdotted? How about Cachedotted? by gevmage · · Score: 1

    I believe there are are sites that are designed to cope with this type of thing. The guy that designed the TRON costume at Penguicon has his site at home on a DSL, but copied the site to ibiblio before submitting to slashdot.

    --
    Craig Steffen
    http://www.craigsteffen.net
  70. hm by EMH_Mark3 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    1. submit inane story and link to pictures using dyndns
    2. change dyndns ip to computer you want to nuclerate once the story has been approved
    3. ???
    4. profit!

    --
    Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
    1. Re:hm by Pahalial · · Score: 1

      Modded funny maybe, but that's actually quite a point. /. as a DDOS attack... aren't we the ones who look down on all the zombie infected machines? What's the difference?

      --
      Stuff.
    2. Re:hm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Analogy time:
      Zombie machine : ignorant, yet well-meaning user :: Slashdot user's machine : evil genius

    3. Re:hm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The difference is, of course, that zombies are created by l33t scr1p7 k1dd13zz, and /.'ers are real (or as close as the law allows, anyhoo) live (or is it Memorex??) persons. The l33t k1dd13zz use a script, *WE* actually read what's there, if it's not burried in the scrum...

  71. Is there any Linux on... by AchilleTalon · · Score: 2, Funny

    these HDDs? I'm seeking for a reason to resign as president of my local LUG...

    --
    Achille Talon
    Hop!
  72. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In Soviet Russia, Internet Farks YOU!

  73. Re:It's not slashdotted... by mick29 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Guess it's a slow news day

    Yeah, except for the bombings in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, nothing special happened. After all, people die violently every day, so why bother? *yawn*

  74. Re:Slashdot effect used for evil? by Dmala · · Score: 1

    What if this was an intentional DDOS attack? Someone you don't like runs a dinky little webserver off his DSL account, with some vaguely /. appropriate material. Submit his site, it gets on the front page, and BOOM... instant DOS.

    Dammit, where's my tinfoil hat??

  75. Plan for world conquest by Teahouse · · Score: 2, Funny

    Detailed plan for world domination:

    1. Build Hard Drive Assault Cannon

    2. ?????

    3. World Domination!

    My God! It's so simple, it's brilliant!

    --
    "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
  76. MIRROR* by bhtooefr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine the bitching if it were a simple text-only "how-to" article.

    Hard Drive Assault Cannon HOWTO

    1 Introduction

    This HOWTO aims to show how to manufacture a hard drive assault cannon.

    2 Materials

    You will need:

    * One (1) or more hard drives, preferrably 3.5", and of unusably small capacity
    * One (1) 4.50" ID PVC pipe, length must be at least one foot
    * One (1) explosive device, any form
    * Materials for explosive device to PVC pipe interface

    3 Assembly

    Somehow attach the PVC pipe to the explosive device in such a manner that most of the force enters the PVC pipe. Insert the hard drive into the PVC pipe.

    4 Usage

    Detonate the explosive device. The hard drive should exit the pipe, and move through the air. To use again, the cannon must be reassembled (as per step 3).

    *Note: This isn't a real mirror, do not assume this is actually the mirror.

    1. Re:MIRROR* by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      BTW, before anyone says to bitchslap mods for giving me informative when they MUST have meant funny, look at the /. FAQ, which says that Funny doesn't give you karma. BTW, mods, go ahead and mod it funny - I've got (estimated) Karma 50.

    2. Re:MIRROR* by dot-magnon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Where's that in DocBook? :)

  77. Re:Slashdotted already? by Neophytus · · Score: 1

    It wouldn't be valid if it were hidden.

  78. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Analogy+Man · · Score: 1
    The whole purpose of an expletive is supposedly to shock or convey emotion. FARK appears to have worked on you. If I said RATZFILIM every time I was REALLY mad, my kids would get the idea and know they were in deep trouble.

    Language is a dynamic thing...which is why there are revisions to dictionaries.

    Ponder this as you sit on your davenport, put a 78 on the phonograph and listen to your favorite Bing Crosby number.

    --
    When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
  79. Another day, another bandwidth article by DR+SoB · · Score: 2

    How many articles are going to be posted about the slashdotting effect? What's that? This wasn't about the slashdotting effect? Then WHAT'S WITH ALL THE COMMENTS??!?!!

    --
    Mod +5 Drunk
  80. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by joebok · · Score: 2, Funny

    It isn't? Feldercarb!!

  81. HD Spam Cannon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This idiot writes "Check out what a crazy fool I am! One has to ask, exactly how much time do I have on my hands to go through all the spam I'm gonna get? Got a couple of old 2GB Hard drives. Great, can I have 'em? I gonna need 'em for all the spam. You too could join in on the madness. All you need to do is post your email on a public website.
    Like this: hddassaultcannon@hotmail.com

    Hard Drive Spam Cannons for me!"

  82. Re:Slashdotted already? by DHR · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's worse than that, they charge you for the extra bandwidth, up to 20 cents per international MB.

    http://www2.paradise.net.nz/plans/highspeed.html

    Guy probably pulled the plug on his line once he did the math and realized maybe it wasn't such a good idea to post himself on /.

  83. I call grammar-Goodwin! by Thud457 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Whoa , that grammar-NAZI is sure giving you woe for your poor use of grammar!!!

    heed the .sig...

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  84. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by BlackHawk-666 · · Score: 1
    Bah, language nazis are the worst kind of bores. If new words weren't able to be added to the english language then we would be missing nearly every word in the farking dictionary. Here's how it works. Somebody starts to use a cool sounding term e.g. grok, other people grok the term (see what I did there?) and it becomes a part of slang. After being slang for a while it becomes common enough to warrant adding to the official dictionaries. They just added a bunch of new words last year IIRC, and they will add more in the future.

    I can only pray that wild gangs of wolfbaggers come and drag these language nazis off to their lairs for some serious donkey punching.

    --
    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
  85. Better way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Just stop posting all these lame, trollish articles. Don't worry slashdot, we'll keep reloading even with just 3 quality articles per day. At least that way the 3 good articles won't scroll off the main page and we can have even higher quality discussions on them.

    If you're still compelled to post these simplistic tidbits, bring back the Quickies. I miss those!

  86. Sig Link? by sepluv · · Score: 1

    Never mind where the magnet is*, where's the parent's .sig link (explaining what these projects are)?

    *although tell me anyway. I just bought a 160 GB external USB2/Firewire HDD, so I guess I can sacrifice Bilbo** (my old Seagate >100MB drive) for dissection (muhehawwwww)--well I'll probably wait until it starts to develop bad sectors or sthg 'cause storage is storage after all--need as many hard dic^Hsks as I can get^W^W^W^W^W^W^W^W^W. Hmmm...good job I can use the ctrl-h to get rid of Freudian slips....
    **yes, my HDD's have names 8=:-)--Bilbo for Stryder (my old i486DX machine), and Marvin (my new PIII Coppermine 800MHz) has two HDD's called Slartibardfast and Zaphod--makes sense to me. I don't know what I'll call the new one. Suggestions here if you want...
    --
    Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley
    [This post is in the public domain (copyright-free) unless otherwise stated]
    1. Re:Sig Link? by sepluv · · Score: 1

      OK. Doh! Ignore me--I'm usually already logged in, so I did not realise that .sigs where suppressed whe reading AC.

      --
      Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley
      [This post is in the public domain (copyright-free) unless otherwise stated]
    2. Re:Sig Link? by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      Strider and Slartibartfast.

      BTW, if it's in the P3, call it Prosser or something...

    3. Re:Sig Link? by sepluv · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected--I haven't read the book versions of either works (H2G2, LotR) recently.

      Ye, I probably will--Prosser isn't used and is as good as any.

      Even more off-topic but very funny:
      I, incidentally, have been involved in a dispute with the town clerk of my local town council, a Mr. Prosser, over various sets of light-polluting floodlighting which the town council erected without planning permission and which shine up into the sky and onto the side of two mountains (and are no doubt partly responsible for the ever-increasing and massive cost of town-council tax in my town). The areas they shine on are also internationally-protected wildife habitats (SSSI's, SAC's, AONB's, SPA's, &c) and nesting birds are kept awake by the lighting. Said Mr. Prosser told me, when asked what the purpose of the lights were, something like "well...they're lighting aren't they...decorative lighting...what do you mean purpose?...you've got to put up decorative lighting" (s/lighting/bypass ;-)). You couldn't make it up...

      --
      Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley
      [This post is in the public domain (copyright-free) unless otherwise stated]
  87. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by blincoln · · Score: 3, Funny

    Okay, this is a serious pet peeve. Fark is not a word, never was, never will be, STOP USING IT unless you want to be placed in the same category as lusers who make the Vulcan "V" sign.

    Farscape was a TV show, not "reality", and the only reason the word was "invented" was because Scifi didn't want the rating level increase that would come with characters actually properly swearing. If you're gonna swear, swear properly.

    You know, SuperBanana, there are plenty of decaffeinated brands that are just as tasty as the real thing.

    --
    "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
  88. MOD PARENT FUNNY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do it, mods!

  89. Re:Slashdotted already?Live Relay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ok blokes, i jumped in the old bomb and motored over to yack with these foolz with the catapult.(I reside in the next big smoke over)

    i'm standing here in the doorway now. luck for me my wireless is still running fulltit.

    after some quick g'days being exchanged, these guys are going to show me how this thing works (yes their DSL connection has gone tits'up).

    [mates, what you doing there? that looks a whee bit dangerous...oh that's clever using the chilly bin for cooling, the whole mess looks a bit stroppy...]

    i'll keep relaying for you Slashdot blokes, since their net link has gone bush.

    [uh blokes, not sure you should be doing...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!! don't...] ...Slashdotters, I can't describe....wait

    There's this bright $&%^#&fq9q1 1q91qwei and som238 dodgy metallicj 11(#%(*& for t28 love of god, don'1*31#(@#

    [NO CARRIER]

  90. Re:Slashdotted? How about Cachedotted? by IceAgeComing · · Score: 4, Informative


    The Slashdot FAQ is an interesting read.

    I recommend it to all those reading this post, especially those who moderated this post as Insightful.

  91. Deal a blow to your enemy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps the article submitter is not the webpage author at all but the author's enemy. As others have pointed out, the submitter's hotmail address doesn't necessarily mean it's the author (c'mon folks you can't be that daft!). This can be a good easy way to get your geeky enemy: post enemy's website on slashdot, watch enemy lose their internet connection for the remainder of the month.

  92. It's not /.'d it's the DOD. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    his site hasn't been /.'d, the DOD shut him down. The plans posted on the site could be used by terrorists to create WMD...

  93. Thanks for the timely response: +2, Superpatriotic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Thanks for reminding us that this is The United States of America. You have no rights because there is no Constitution thanks to none other than your hero Scrambled-InCommand

    Do you think this loser actually participates in decision making?

    Regards,
    Kilgore

  94. Re:MIRROR by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

    WTF? The image gallery has some... images (not Goatse or anything, but...)

    BTW, if you want to PROPERLY troll Opera users, you might want to push your navigation links under the navigation bar...

  95. Re:It's not slashdotted... by nilbog · · Score: 0

    yeah, check out what we...I mean...these crazy fools have done! I'll post it up on my McWindows Server!

    --
    or else!
  96. Scrambled-In-Command URL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    That should be Scrambled-In-Command

    Remember to Get Your War On

  97. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by monkeyfinger · · Score: 4, Funny

    Okay, this is a serious pet peeve. Fark is not a word, never was, never will be, STOP USING IT unless you want to be placed in the same category as lusers who make the Vulcan "V" sign.

    Luser is not a word, never was, never will be, STOP USING IT unless.....etc...etc..

  98. Frell YOU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and your little dog too!

    Oh god I can rhyme.

  99. Bastards! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You didn't even give google enough time to cache the site!

    google search reveals:
    HDD Assault Cannon - Slashdot - 1 hour ago

  100. Boltzman. by sshtome · · Score: 1

    Actually it both exists and doesn't exits,

    It's only when the wave function breaks down that the address of a slashdotted article defined.

  101. Re:Slashdotted already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Come on, man, be realistic.

    Everyone knows they have one of those cool 2-in-1 PCI shotgunned v.90 112k modems.

    Blazing, I tells ya, from Christchurch to Wellington.

    - DRFSR

  102. You have it easy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its kind of embarassing, but my Macintosh Duo210 only has a 75 MB drive, and its about the only Mac laptop that didn't have a built-in SCSI port *sigh*

    That being said, its still one of the smallest laptops ever, and I can stand on it without damaging it (I accidentally discovered). Pity about the greyscale monitor...

    1. Re:You have it easy! by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      Didn't they have docking stations?

      Yep: http://www.lowendmac.com/pb/210.shtml

      Also, I think those old Macs used internal SCSI drives - you might want to try getting something from a newer Apple laptop.

    2. Re:You have it easy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've got a HP laptop from 1982 which has 3KB RAM and 3MB HDD, BASIC and a external floppy. The laptop weighs as much a lot more than today's laptops and the floppy weighs as much as a external harddrive.

  103. The question by xutopia · · Score: 1

    does his HDD cannon still work while his computer is /.ed?

  104. Re:Slashdotted already? by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

    (just reading this site, I have NO idea what I'm talking about, being in the US)

    That only applies to JetStart. He might have JetStream, which is $20+Telecom fees. Here's the rate schedule for JetStream on the Telecom end:
    http://www.telecom.co.nz/chm/0,5123,203071-2 02534, 00.html

  105. MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bring back the Quickies!

  106. 2G webmail by lordrich · · Score: 1

    The other option would be to offer a webmail account with 2Gb storage. It would be more newsworthy than this article - even if it would be for only one person.

  107. What was it? by Blitzenn · · Score: 1

    In light of the site being removed, can someone take a moment and tell us what it was?

    1. Re:What was it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is a HDD with the top cover removed and replaced with a cover and barrel out one corner. A hopper drops ammo onto the platter which is then spun round the platter and out the pipe very fast.

      The vids show it firing at various objects. Completely destroys a plastic CD case with corn ammo.

      BTW, I have nothing to do with the cannon, I just heard about it before it got Slashdotted.

    2. Re:What was it? by Blitzenn · · Score: 1

      Thank you! I was not able to see it and no one else took the time to say what it was. A bunch of us were in the 'slashdark'

  108. WTF happened to this thread? by MadBurner · · Score: 1

    from slashdotting to farking frelling to what the Fuck? You all need to look at some porn or something. I still want to see the damn cannon.

  109. It would be much cooler if ... by zangdesign · · Score: 1

    they had taken one of those robotic arm storage systems and used it to conquer a planet. Now THAT'S a misuse of techology!

    --
    To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
  110. At Least one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're new here, right?

  111. We already have an HDD assault cannon... by Feanturi · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's called Slashdot, and it worked again. ;)

  112. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by DrWhizBang · · Score: 1

    Only lusers object to the use of the word "luser". And only lusers user the word "luser". Ah, wait, I take that last part back.

    Ah, fark!

    --
    Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
  113. Plagiarism by fluxrad · · Score: 1

    That is sooooo about to become my new sig.

    --
    "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
    1. Re:Plagiarism by Paulrothrock · · Score: 1

      Feel free to .sig it. *checks off 'get sigged on /.' on To-Do list*

      --
      I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
  114. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by princewally · · Score: 1

    You spelled it wrong. It's (l)user. The L is always there, but silent. It is also, as a courtesy, generally dropped from written communications, when said communications are directed to the (l)users.

    --

    -
    "Vengeance is fine," sayeth the Lord.
  115. Re:Slashdotted? How about Cachedotted? by Fastolfe · · Score: 2

    I've read the FAQ and I don't buy it. I believe it's mainly laziness preventing the implementation of some caching layer here, combined with the cost of bandwidth they'd normally be able to shovel in the direction of the site the article is talking about.

    So long as the cache/mirror honors HTTP caching headers, there's no true problem caching the information. Banner ads are usually served without caching headers (or with a must-revalidate header) to trigger a hit to the origin server, so they get credit for the impression. Real content usually (if the admin is clueful) expresses caching headers indicating the page can be held on to for a longer period of time. If the author is paranoid about people seeing his updates, a max-age of 1 minute or even 10 seconds would still spare his site from being slashdotted. If a good slashdotting results in, say, 100 hits per second, that's at least 1000 hits to the cache/proxy for every one hit the cache/proxy makes to his server. Not a bad reduction.

    Of course, sites are always free to say "don't cache this page!" in HTTP, preventing any sort of proxy or cache from "legally" caching the page even for a short duration. If they're being dumb like that, though, they deserve the slashdotting they get.

  116. BAH - Puny Human WebSite by Hulkster · · Score: 1
    Hulk say hard drive story must be hosted on Puny Human Web Site.
    Hulk try to look at pictures - site not respond.
    Hulk get angry - Hulk SMASH Puny Human web site.

    Hulk say more fun is watching Hulk jump off a house.
    Hulk use hulk'in web server.

  117. Disposal is much more fun in an emergency by John+Jorsett · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I worked at a DoD site once. If we were in danger of being overrun by the enemy (since it was in Hawaii, I guess that'd be either the North Koreans, China, or the Japanese out for a little payback), we were supposed to haul the crypto gear and all storage media out to the parking lot, smack the hell out of it with sledges, pile thermite on top and melt it into slag. I was sorely disappointed that I never got the opportunity.

    1. Re:Disposal is much more fun in an emergency by jnik · · Score: 1
      If we were in danger of being overrun by the enemy..., we were supposed to haul the crypto gear and all storage media out to the parking lot, smack the hell out of it with sledges, pile thermite on top and melt it into slag.

      Gee, they expected you to have quite a bit of warning before being overrun, eh? "Hmmm, the enemy might be here in eight hours or so. Better get started." (six hours pass) "Okay, all done--wait, they got turned back?"

    2. Re:Disposal is much more fun in an emergency by Pope · · Score: 1

      Hmm, you'd think that they would create some sort of laundy chute-like corridor where you could throw everything so that it collected together, then take the sledges + thermite to it.

      --
      It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
    3. Re:Disposal is much more fun in an emergency by srmalloy · · Score: 1
      I worked at a DoD site once. If we were in danger of being overrun by the enemy (since it was in Hawaii, I guess that'd be either the North Koreans, China, or the Japanese out for a little payback), we were supposed to haul the crypto gear and all storage media out to the parking lot, smack the hell out of it with sledges, pile thermite on top and melt it into slag. I was sorely disappointed that I never got the opportunity.
      I remember, years ago at work, running across a reference to and picture of a document-destruction device that was supposed to have been phased out; it was essentially a plate of thermite that would have sat on top of a file cabinet. To destroy the documents in the file cabinet, you pulled a pair of rings on wires out of the upper surface, which set off a fuse (allowing you to get away) that ignited the thermite, which would burn down through the file cabinet, destroying the documents inside. Something like that must have been really impressive to watch, judging from the demonstrations with a few grams of thermite that I watched in high-school chemistry.
  118. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by punxking · · Score: 0
    --
    You can have my cynical agnosticism when you pry it from my cold, dead logic.
  119. Insightful?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What insight? He make a fucking statement of fact. That's it!

  120. Re:MIRROR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Quick reply so I don't get modslammed hard...

    This was a comment in reply to a troll comment, telling everyone that it's a troll and to not bother, and that the troll needed to fix his site.

  121. Sneaky denial of service attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Who's to say the poor idiot who's server /. just slammed, is actually the guy who submitted it in the first place?

    With the volume of hits /. generates, this site was destined to go down in a heartbeat, but that could have been the submitter's intention.

    As it's been stated numerous times, this poor schmuck now probably has no bandwidth, has probably gotten the attention of his ISP (and all the repurcussions of violating their EULA and home-based webserver operations that so many seem to have)..

    Wouldn't it be amusing if you all were just unwitting pawns in a vicious denial of service attack?

    1. Re:Sneaky denial of service attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      looks that way. after all, the person who submitted it used the 3rd person but used the email of the site

    2. Re:Sneaky denial of service attack. by ianbnet · · Score: 1

      friggin' sneaky. conspiracy theories, now's your chance to shine.

      personally, i subscribe to this, and that would be funny as hell

      --
      --------------------- -me, Crusher of those who are Foolish (don't be foolish)
    3. Re:Sneaky denial of service attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But ha ha! What if I was that poor idiot, and in a vain attempt to salvage my own identity, anonymously posted that it could be some villainous third party, just to throw you off my trail!

      Now, if only I can get rid of those pesky kids and that damn dog.

  122. not a cannon, but ..... by bigkahunafish · · Score: 1

    I've made some lower tech weapons from computer components that can be quite useful. One is a PC2100 DDR RAM buoy knife I have it on my blog. But please dont /. me! (ha!) Pics

    --
    Eat a Chicken, You know you want to.
    1. Re:not a cannon, but ..... by bigkahunafish · · Score: 1
      sorry, everything went crazy, and it went down...

      apologies

      --
      Eat a Chicken, You know you want to.
  123. Waste of perfectly useful hd's. by DoraLives · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I cobble computers together from giveaway parts and 2gig hd's are PERFECT for putting into FREE machines to give to folks as their first computer (yep, there's still great shoals of people out there who have yet to take the FIRST step).

    Sigh...

    --
    Is it fascism yet?
    1. Re:Waste of perfectly useful hd's. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      It's even better if you're the guy who sells them upgrades.

      "Oh, you couldn't load your 2GB SD-card from your camera... I'll have to sell you an upgrade"

  124. Mine is twice as good by chiph · · Score: 3, Funny

    My hard drive cannon is twice as good because I use 4gb drives.

    None of those wimpy IDE drives, either -- I use Ultra-Wide SCSI drives (the extra circuitry makes them fly further).

    Chip H.
    (isn't one-upsmanship fun?)

  125. back up, but not terribly stable by bigkahunafish · · Score: 1

    the link in parent is up, pictures are not all that stable; they may work and may not. you may have to hit show picture a few times if they dont immediately work, but if not, sorry, you can always email me and i can send them if you are DYING to see it!

    --
    Eat a Chicken, You know you want to.
  126. Spell Check, Aisle 9! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "De-gauze"? Isn't that what nurses do to patients with wounds? I think you meant "degauss"

  127. OT: Security!? by Alioth · · Score: 2, Informative

    OT, but I note you ran all this as root (or at least the # prompt indicates the logged in user has root privileges).

    It is generally best practise to only do things as root that need to be done as root. Things like running 'host' don't - so as good security practise, you should have done this as a non-root user!

    1. Re:OT: Security!? by Shakrai · · Score: 1
      It is generally best practise to only do things as root that need to be done as root. Things like running 'host' don't - so as good security practise, you should have done this as a non-root user!

      Actually that is generally good practice but I already had a root console open for a kernel upgrade and I didn't see the point of su'ing or logging into a non-root user to run something as simple as host.

      Of course the point is valid but I'd worry about it more with running things like IRC clients or what have you then I would with running DNS lookups or whois commands.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  128. A suggestion... by Civil_Disobedient · · Score: 1, Funny

    Ironically, "Anonymous Coward" who posted this story left as his e-mail address "hddassaultcannon@hotmail.com"

    I suggest we all email him about sending us some sample pictures of whatever the hell he was talking about.

    Ideally, three or four times a day.

    Asshat.

    1. Re:A suggestion... by kd5ujz · · Score: 1

      How is he going to get the email? the link from Au. to NZ. has been on fire all day. They are on the phone with USR and Boca as we speak.

      --
      -William
      God is everything science has yet to explain.
  129. VOICE COILS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WTF?

  130. Re:Slashdotted already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DSL is delivered over phone lines, dipshit. So take your choice: The RJ45 in the DSL Router or the RJ11 in the wall.

    +5 Funny? Who the hell is doing moderation around here, anyway?

  131. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    /hates moronic fark-style footnotes....

  132. Re:Slashdotted? How about Cachedotted? by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 1
    From the faq linked above:
    Slashdot should cache pages to prevent the Slashdot Effect!

    Sure, it's a great idea, but it has a lot of implications. For example, commercial sites rely on their banner ads to generate revenue. If I cache one of their pages, this will mess with their statistics, and mess with their banner ads. In other words, this will piss them off.

    Of course, most of the time, the commercial sites that actually have income from banner ads easily withstand the Slashdot Effect. So perhaps we could draw the line at sites that don't have ads. They are, after all, much more likely to buckle under the pressure of all those unexpected hits. But what happens if I cache the site, and they update themselves? Once again, I'm transmitting data that I shouldn't be, only this time my cache is out of date!

    I could try asking permission, but do you want to wait 6 hours for a cool breaking story while we wait for permission to link someone?

    So the quick answer is: "Sure, caching would be neat." It would make things a lot easier when servers go down, but it's a complicated issue that would need to be thought through in great detail before being implemented.


    Ad-supported: no cache.
    Non ad-supported: cache, but only forward user to cache when server is slashdotted. Cache is cleared once the article leaves the front page. What is on the "slashdot front page" is defined by the default settings.
  133. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Cyclometh · · Score: 1

    Dumbass: Slashdot poster thinks Fark is a curse word on Farscape. Humiliation ensues.

  134. Don't you mean... by Inuchance · · Score: 1

    A RAID array?

  135. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Cyclometh · · Score: 1

    *snort* You came *this close* (holds up fingers about a millimeter apart) to owing me a new keyboard due to Vanilla Coke spewage.

  136. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Shawn+Parr · · Score: 1
    Uh, I think you are thinking of Frell, not Fark.

    Frelling people that don't pay attention to fantasy swear replacements. . .

  137. Howard Stern can do this, too. by BattyMan · · Score: 1

    ANY website he mentions on the air disappears instantly.
    It's almost magical.

    I guess that would be called "Sterning"?

    --
    Exceeding the recommended torque is not recommended.
  138. Re:Slashdotted already? by Zeriel · · Score: 1

    Imagine a house where RJ-11 comes in to the DSL router in the basement, which goes out to a switch, which goes to a patch panel, which goes to the house's wiring, which goes to a RJ-45 faceplate. ...Dipshit.

    --
    "America has done some terrible things. But I know that Americans don't cheer when innocents die." -Dave Barry
  139. Office filters by cmpalmer · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't know whether it was slashdotted or not, my company's web filter blocked it as "porn"

    --
    -- stream of did I lock the front door consciousness
  140. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hello, I'm sure Farked was originally used as a the only word an infecting alien (and its victims) were capable of making in a 200ad comic in about errr.....1989

  141. Slashdot DOS by jhamm · · Score: 1

    This guy's using Slashdot to DOS a rival 733t tribe member's PC. It's easy. Make up a title intriguing to geeks and post it anonymously on Slashdot.

  142. What a waste! by troon · · Score: 1

    I run three web sites off an old P100 with two old 1GB drives as the main storage in RAID-1 configuration.

    I hate it when people waste old hardware that could go to good use!

    --
    Ydco co ,df C erb-y go. a Ekrpat t.fxrapev
  143. Possibly off topic but mod up anyway by Wellmont · · Score: 0, Troll

    This thread has gone to the dogs. I've been posting to slashdot and reading every article I can get my hands on for only a few months. But this is by far the worst collection of overmodded, stupid, and waste of moderation points on comments I have seen yet.

    Seeing posts like this:
    It's too bad... That I'm at school, because they filtered that website. *lol*
    make me want to puke.
    it even got modded funny

    Slash dot is, News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters and i've gotten the sense since April 1st that something has happened bad to /. Too many non-Nerds, too many kids, too many repetetive stories, and not enough NEWS!

  144. even worse by ChartBoy · · Score: 2, Funny
    202-0-40-113.adsl.paradise.net.nz

    Even worse, we just /.'d New Zealand.

  145. OOh OOh I got this one by darllikesdong · · Score: 1

    Maybe they were running their webserver on one of the HDs they launched!

  146. And in Your Case... by virg_mattes · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Monthly ISP Bill - $50

    Computer - $1000

    12 years of primary school - Thousands of tax dollars.

    Learning that "there" is a properly spelled word and that "usage" is the term you're harassing another poster about - Priceless.

    Virg

    1. Re:And in Your Case... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      uh, no.

      "getting there whole ISP"

      that's not a misuse of "there," it's a misspelling of "their."

    2. Re:And in Your Case... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NO, stupid. It is not a misspelling of "their" as "their" and "there" are both properly spelled there. The problem is that they missused their words by confusing two homophones. As an English, History AND Computer Geek, I look down on you, AC.

    3. Re:And in Your Case... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, a Slashdot first! An informative flamebait!

    4. Re:And in Your Case... by RedCard · · Score: 1

      NO, stupid. It is not a misspelling of "their" as "their" and "there" are both properly spelled there. The problem is that they missused their words by confusing two homophones. As an English, History AND Computer Geek, I look down on you, AC.

      I hereby decree that from now on all instances of the word in question will be spelt as "Thare".
      That ought to clear things up considerably.

  147. Maybe its part of a plan by frAme57 · · Score: 1
    Maybe this HDD cannon is some lame idea that normally would not have shown up here. But maybe the guy behind the site annoyed timothy enough (d3wd, p0st m4 5it3 - it r0x0r5!!) that he decided to unleash a horde of geeks on the web server to teach the dork a lesson in humility.

    Behold the power of bored people with 'net connections!

    --
    "In a hierarchy every employee will rise to his level of incompetence". The Peter Principle
  148. That would be Karl Friedrich by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and not Freidrich :-)

    1. Re:That would be Karl Friedrich by Beardydog · · Score: 1

      Do you pronounce it Fro-drich?

  149. Maybe I'm Confused... by virg_mattes · · Score: 1

    Maybe I'm just confused, but I thought the Underpants Gnome's list was:

    1.) Steal Underpants.
    2.) ???
    3.) Profit!

    Am I still the only one who sees that the obvious entry for number 2 is:

    2.) Sell them to old Japanese guys out of vending machines.

    Why is this so tough? It's not even illegal, apparently.

    Virg

    1. Re:Maybe I'm Confused... by G-funk · · Score: 1

      Actually, in a lot of cities in japan (and growing), it is illegal.

      --
      Send lawyers, guns, and money!
  150. Lets all email his account and...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    tell him how much he sucks so his hotmail account goes down as well.

  151. Hey, the 2nd person called. by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 1

    He wants to know where he can find an example of himself. I figured you might know.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
  152. Solution: Redefine who the enemy is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no text!

  153. 2 GB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do me a favor. Spare the 2 GB HDD, and give it to a charity organisation. There are organisations who make complete computers with old hardware and then give them away to people who need a computer.

    2 GB HDD's can easily hold enough data for serving as an Internet computer capable for browsing the web. Together with a CPU like a P1/200 and some RAM they're Good for people who can't afford a computer like poor people or 3rd world countries. In other words, good enough! If you'd say 64 MB HDD i wouldn't have much to say. Because yeah, those aren't very useful (though still can be).

    What you handle as garbage and useless is useful for others!

  154. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We used our own custom LUser (Locate User) utility to find who was logged in on a particular workstation in the labs -- or to find out where a particular person was logged in at.

  155. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by scdeimos · · Score: 1
    Luser is not a word, never was, never will be, STOP USING IT...

    Of course, that why lusrmgr.msc doesn't ship with Win2K and later. :)

  156. Re:FARK IS NOT A WORD by Psykechan · · Score: 1

    What the fark is your problem?

  157. Re:Slashdotted already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Filmed in NZ because the extras need less time in makeup.

  158. Re:Slashdotted already? by potus98 · · Score: 1

    Not everywhere dipshit. I have DSL with no modem, no in-home router, no h/w supplied by phone co. We live in a new subdivision that I think has fiber (don't know if that's relavent). But basically, the guy played with some wires in the outside plastic box on the side of my house, swapped out my RJ-11 faceplate jack with a 2-socket RJ-45 and RJ-11 jack. The RJ-11 is phone of course, and the RJ-45 goes right into my firewall. An actual, plain-old firewall, not a DSL combo box unit.

    Does the DSL come over the phone lines? In most cases, yes. Does that imply that it must term at an RJ-11 jack? No.

    A possible drawback is that I must use that RJ-45 -I cannot move to other jacks in my house. But thanks to wireless, who cares?

    Despite your dipshitedness, I agree with the second comment: +5 funny on my original post is lame.

    --
    This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
  159. Fark is a website by shadow_slicer · · Score: 1

    I think Fark would disagree.

    FYI: Fark is yet another news site, with powers that possibly rival even the slashdot effect.

  160. Re:Slashdotted already? by Psyrg · · Score: 1

    Yeah thats absolutely correct. New Zealanders shag sheep, all day every day.

    From the age of sixteen, every boy is given a small flock of ewes and is told to shag them senseless until they are ready for the meat works. Its then packaged sent over to the US.

    Think about that next time you've got gravy dribbling down your chin. :)

    Stolen from Mike King's stand up comedy.

  161. Re:Slashdotted already? by MobileC · · Score: 1

    "Poor bastard. Wonder if New Zealand ISPs have hidden clauses in the AUP to axe your account if you use too much bandwidth?"

    Most ADSL plans are 10c US per Meg over cap.
    The cap is usually somewhere between 500mb and 5Gb or less.

    --

    Fran
    :):):)
    1st 1st Poster of the new Millennium!

  162. Re:Slashdotted already? by Trogre · · Score: 1

    Most DSL providers in NZ (except for some, on very new plans) have a cap of around 3GB/month, and charge for every subsequent megabyte.

    When mum & dad get the phone bill, he'd better make himself scarce.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  163. Re:Slashdotted already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And all at $10/mb :-)

  164. Re:Slashdotted already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wondering why the porn download stalled. And I really live there, and use the same ISP as this guy, so stop trying to go there.

  165. The Real Rules by Nintendork · · Score: 1
    If it doesn't contain top secret information, you can use programs to sanitize the disk. Otherwise, you have to destroy the disk using one method. Here's the rulebook.

    -Lucas

  166. Re:Slashdotted already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slipping on a wooly?

  167. Woe is you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You may call him nazi. But still I won't call you literate. And the thread is far from over! For the man's name is Godwin, check your spelling for god's sake!

    Scallywag.

  168. thanks a lot guys.... by TractorCow · · Score: 1

    OMG! So that's why my ISP (I'm on a paradise.net.nz ADSL connection) has been reeking of dialup lately.

    I'd like to thank that website for disconnecting me in the middle of many online games, which has been occuring a lot lately. =/

  169. BT + HTTP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ahh.. would it be possible to combine BT and HTTP so that when someone hits a website the 'files' can be downloaded from their cache? This would make slashdotting a thing of the past. Nice idea.. but would anyone do it? (max 1K upload per client perhaps?)

  170. Take a chill pill, he's not even root anyway by Z-MaxX · · Score: 1

    Sure, '#' usually means root, but this guy's prompt says "(104):tim@pigeon:{11:45}:~#". That looks like a custom prompt if I've ever seen one (you too can set the PS1 variable). Looks like the prompt tells us: 104 commands on the history stack, the user is tim (not root!!), the host is pigeon, current time 11:45, current directory is tim's home directory. The '#' is probably just his favorite prompt character.

    --
    Dr Superlove 300ml. I use my powers for awesome
  171. Then Slashdot would have to shut down on principle by iamcf13 · · Score: 1

    A better fix would be to mark all astroturf submissions "denied".

    Then Slashdot would have to shut down on principle....

    astroturf/free ad: 100GB, 9.5mm thick HD from Toshiba

    astroturf/free ad: VIA Announces Lead-Free Motherboard

    astroturf/free ad: Delorean Time Machine Replica Up For Auction

    astroturf/free ad: DSPAM v2.10 Released

    iamcf13's Recent Submissions
    Title Datestamp
    Entertainment news: Jack Valenti retires (& expensive 9-figure movies) Thursday March 25, @12:10PM Rejected
    astroturf/free ad: A bold, new approach to fighting spam.... Thursday March 11, @11:51PM Rejected

    Toshiba got free advertising on Slashdot.

    VIA got free advertising on Slashdot.

    The person selling the BTTF Delorean Time Machine Replica got free advertising on Slashdot.

    The DSPAM creator(s) got free advertising on Slashdot.

    Jack Valenti retires!
    Sounded like news to me so I pass the URL on to Slashdot.
    Rejected.

    Hey everybody, I wrote 'the mother of all email spam filters' after months of research, thought, and programming.
    I pass the URL on to Slashdot so others can know about it.
    Rejected.

    It would appear Slashdot's editorial policy is inconsistent....

    What does it take to get a story on Slashdot?

    I submitted a genuine, non-astroturf story about outgoing MPAA president Jack Valenti and expensive Hollywood movies and got rejected. Can't be a bandwith issue--surely Slashdot cannot slashdot the BBC's website, can they? So then why was this story rejected after I (haphazardly) summarized it (along with some parting thoughts) rather than simply give them a sentence or two along with the URL?

    My retail software product is, at face value no different from the other items for sale mentioned above. Why the apparent bias that appears to favor big companies or 'big ticket items' offered for sale by private citizens?

    Then there's DSPAM and CF13, two email spam filters.

    One is open source.

    The other is closed source but open algorithm. There is enough information available at the CF13 homepage for a knowledgeable programmer to write their own version of CF13 if they wanted to. In fact, I took GREAT PAINS to make sure the algorithms used by CF13 wouldn't wind up patented and out of play for the next twenty years!

    Doesn't that sound like something newsworthy?

    Does Slashdot's editorial policy boil down to:

    If there is money involved, size matters. If not, it has to be free and open source.

    If it does, it should be changed for the better to something more impartial than what is in place now....

  172. thank you. by No-op · · Score: 1

    I'm glad I wasn't alone on that one. I couldn't stop thinking about how absolutely asinine that was, and it made me wonder what kind of dungeons-and-dragons-loving, everquest-playing, "star-trek-next-generation-isn't-the-real-thing" mother's basement world the poster lived in.

    it took me a minute to get he was ranting about a tv show, which I guess makes me feel safely comfortable about my sci-fi geek level.

    --
    EOM
  173. Re:Slashdotted? How about Cachedotted? by lysium · · Score: 1
    It may be the FAQ's stated policy, but "Not My Responsibility" is not really the neighborly response. The policy is quite inconsiderate, though, and it has been personally stated by editors with an attitude that I classify as "bordering on arrogant." IMHO.

    If enough Moderators made the parent post Insightful, maybe then its actually a Valid Point, regardless of any Official Decrees from Authority Figures?

    ===---===

    --
    Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.