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Linux-Powered Christmas Display Puts Rudolph To Shame

Posted by Soulskill on from the happy-humbug dept.

xmas2003 writes "Over at Linux.com, Zonker writes about Alek's Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease. This annual Internet tradition uses a hi/low-tech combo of LAMP'ed Redhat Web Servers, a 7+ year old Thinkpad running Ubuntu for the X10 control, and an old-school webpage design that could be politely described as Web 0.0 — wait until you see the animated cursor — D'OH! The site is free (and totally fun) as it also raises awareness and donations for Celiac Disease — over $70,000 to the University of Maryland. Nifty pictures of the crazy christmas display can be seen on the Christmas Blog (notice Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg in post #220) plus watch videos of it in action with comedic history. Nothing quite says Christmas like a giant, inflatable HULK wearing a Santa Hat... along with three wise men of Elmo, SpongeBob, and Homer Simpson. The Slashdot Effect of turning 21,000 Christmas lights ON & OFF this evening should provide quite a Christmas Eve show to Alek's neighbors... and also the International Space Station."

68 comments

  1. ohhhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you just got \.'ed

  2. meltdown - aka slashdotted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DOH!

  3. The site loads faster than Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Old school rules.

    1. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shame it's a completely fucked up page. I don't expect every page to look like a professional did it, but replacing the cursor for Santa and a drunken Homer Simpson is just painful. I stopped looking at the page at that point.

    2. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by IANAAC · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Old school rules.

      Maybe. Doesn't mean you know what to do once you're on the page. That page was just painful.

    3. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's about a technological implementation of extreme tackiness. I say he is right on target with the web site.

    4. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 3, Informative

      I spent my holidays lying to my kids, for the first time, about the existence of Santa Claus.

      I sure hope they don't get their feelings hurt about why Santa has unlimited gifts, but he still chose to give Johnny across the street his own PS3 while my kids only got a shared, second-hand Nintendo DS. Someday in a few years my kids will hate me, but that's okay because, until then, I will lie to them and say Santa Claus exists while encouraging awkward materialism. Then the kids will experience a huge disappointment years later figuring out that Santa isn't real, possibly not trusting me for the rest of their lives, and I'll say LOL YA SRY SNTA AINT REAL. HIGH-FIVE, TROLLFACE!

      I feel sorry for all those black kids in the hood who perceive Santa as a white guy, then they wonder why they get government cheese while their white peers get thousand-dollar gifts. What could possibly go wrong?

    5. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by AngryDeuce · · Score: 2, Funny

      Old school rules.

      Yeah, sometimes it really does. Unfortunately this is not one of those times. Now I need to bleach my eyes...

    6. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh.

      What does this have anything to do with the grandparent's comment?

      Or...anything to do with this story at all?

      How was this modded anything but off topic?

    7. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You act like you've never seen a bitter man project before.

    8. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by kermidge · · Score: 1

      Yup, I love it. Part genius, part insanity, all fun, and in a good cause as well. It's also the most... energetic website I can recall seeing.

    9. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Yeah but they might end up with a memory that will last a lifetime! ya know how I found out there was no Santa? 1976 I hear a noise in the living room and snek down in my PJs to see Santa....only to see my dad cursing like a sailor with a Huffy Evel Knievel bike in like 300 pieces around him and the instructions taped to the wall. i can still hear him going "Stupid damned not put together /blam!/ who the hell built this stupid ass /slam/ where the hell does this go?".

      But that and the gift my grandfather got me for my birthday that year taught me that what matters is family. I wanted an Electroman but apparently 1976 technology was pretty much shit in toys because he made no less than 4 round trips to the USAFB PX trying to get one that worked for more than a minute before giving up. First regular batteries...white smoke. Then alkaline batteries..white smoke...then duracells...white smoke...before finally he tried to use some no name brand...white smoke and sizzle. Finally he was like "How about a nice pinball machine instead?" . He must have racked up 200 miles on his car just trying to get a unit that would function for more than a couple of minutes.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    10. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by Waccoon · · Score: 1

      Hey, get into the spirit. It just mimics the theme of his front yard!

    11. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try this one:
      http://www.kerstlichtshow.eu/

    12. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by cheekyjohnson · · Score: 1

      But... lying to them is so entertaining!

      --
      Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
    13. Re:The site loads faster than Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a graphic designer, that web page offends me on a deep emotional level.

  4. 'Christmas Blog' appears to link back in time. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Annoying tiled background, animated gifs, comic sans, horrible layout - I thought people stopped making websites like this?

    1. Re:'Christmas Blog' appears to link back in time. by malraid · · Score: 2

      Love the cursor animated gif! Top of the line 90s design, baby!

      --
      please excuse my apathy
    2. Re:'Christmas Blog' appears to link back in time. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Annoying tiled background, animated gifs, comic sans, horrible layout - I thought people stopped making websites like this?

      For some reason a lot of the municipal websites in Texas are still like this. I was doing research that required me to visit a ton of sites and the proportion that looked like they were from 1995 was disturbing.

    3. Re:'Christmas Blog' appears to link back in time. by No,+I+am+Spratacus! · · Score: 1

      People are donating... so that he will fix the site.

  5. It's MR X fun holiday page by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's MR X fun holiday page

  6. Xmas2003 is a bitch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You feel the need to point out Clifford Stoll? A totally unrelated and outdated name drop in the middle of a summary? Really? WTF?

  7. Yeah! by Svenne · · Score: 4, Funny

    Backslashdotted!

    --

    Slagborr
    1. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      God you're fucking wound tight aren't you?

    2. Re:Yeah! by bejiitas_wrath · · Score: 4, Funny

      Windows can use mount points as well silly, you can mount a drive to a folder and then remove the drive letter, leaving you with the mount point that is just another folder like Linux. You need to learn a little more about computers before spouting BS. Did mummy forget your Christmas present.?

      --
      liberare massarum ex ignorantia, clausa descendit molestie.
    3. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes, but it's ghetto and hackish. It's not transparent either. It causes sharing permission hell if a drive is mounted as the subfolder of a shared folder. Nothing near as clean as smooth as a Linux (POSIX?) filesystem mount.

    4. Re:Yeah! by crutchy · · Score: 1

      windows has a "etc" folder too (under c:\windows\system32\drivers).

      to make windows... take unix, beat it up, give it a lobotomy, cut its balls off, put a tutu on it and then give it a gay name (vista).

    5. Re:Yeah! by DaVince21 · · Score: 1

      God you're fucking wound tight aren't you? Not getting a joke and all. ;)

      --
      I am not devoid of humor.
  8. oh dear... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i thought abominations like that site died with geocities.... appears i was wrong

  9. easter mini-eggs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    load the site in Opera

    1. Re:easter mini-eggs by Jozza+The+Wick · · Score: 1

      I got 'WOW an Opera user' pop up. Anything else? :)

    2. Re:easter mini-eggs by SomePgmr · · Score: 2

      I got "you're using a Droid, they rule!"

      I'm not.

    3. Re:easter mini-eggs by Runaway1956 · · Score: 1

      Hello Linux Chrome Surfer xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (refered by linux.slashdot.org) from Outback Nowhere United States (33.7146N 94.3731W) Appears to be your first visit (?)

      Personally, I don't much care what technology is being used, whether it's bleeding edge, or two millenia old. Tacky is tacky. I'm not curious enough to open the site in any alternative browsers.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  10. It's melting! by wbr1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The site has gone from blinking 'Server Overtemp' to 'Server Meltdown!'
    I think /. is killing it:(
    Don't forget to donate if you can .. Merry x-Mas all!

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  11. All you negative people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    What have you done to raise money for a charity and generally lift the spirits of people all over the world?

    If the page layout bothers you so much then stop criticizing and volunteer to help.

    1. Re:All you negative people... by MarkRose · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm curious what fund raising for celiac disease is truly needed. As someone with it, it's as simple as not eating gluten, and that's as simple as not eating grains (they're not good for you anyway). The only trouble is eating out or with otherwise unlabelled food.

      --
      Be relentless!
    2. Re:All you negative people... by ExtremeSupreme · · Score: 2

      I knew someone who developed an allergy or celiac disease (can't remember which) in her 20s. The solution for her was just not to eat wheat, her life didn't seem impacted all that much otherwise. Hopefully all the money is going towards research and not his kids!

      Anyways, as an aside, she had a reaction to HAM. They put wheat in EVERYTHING these days, geez ;) HAM people. We're all eating random frankenfoods.

    3. Re:All you negative people... by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      I'm curious what fund raising for celiac disease is truly needed. As someone with it, it's as simple as not eating gluten, and that's as simple as not eating grains (they're not good for you anyway). The only trouble is eating out or with otherwise unlabelled food.

      My son has been on a Gluten Free diet for seven years now, if nothing else, the growing awareness (popularity, if you will) of GF during that time has made it much easier for us to find food for him (and now, me) - not sure if we're Celiac or not, he gets pretty seriously wigged out (mental fog) from gluten, as for me, I had some fairly annoying arthritis symptoms in the knees and wrists that go away if I stay off the gluten/grains. I really like the GF shelf tags that are starting to show up in our grocery store, and the (still too few and far between) products that are making an effort to go GF.

      Without "awareness" campaigning, I don't think this would have happened (7 years ago, most people looked at you like you had two heads when you told them you don't let your child eat wheat), and awareness, like anything else, costs money. Sad but true. I think "GF awareness/acceptance" still has a long way to go.

    4. Re:All you negative people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My girlfriend was diagnosed with Coeliac disease 5 years ago. For her it was a very disruptive illness. We used to enjoy going out to dinner frequently and to exciting places, which we no longer can do. Even simple things like Christmas parties can often make her feel like a third class citizen.

      Is it as awful as many other diseases people suffer from? Not really. Does it reduce her quality of life? You bet. Everywhere we go we have to ask the chef what she can eat and it usually (in the UK) ends up being 'steak' with no sauce or something equally as uninteresting. It is getting better, but to say it's as simple as not eating gluten misses the fact that many wonderful and interesting foods contain it (bread, pasta, beer) or are cross-contaminated in the kitchen. I know there are alternatives to these things, but they're really not as good or widely available.

    5. Re:All you negative people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Celiac sufferer here too. It sucks. No, it really sucks. It seemed like it ruined my life at first, not so much now, but its not something you forget about on a daily basis.

      Having said that, I can think of a dozen things I'd rather donate too. Save your money, use it elsewhere.

    6. Re:All you negative people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are an epistemoligcal deontological relativist failure.

      Obviously you don't have this autoimmune disease because then you would know that....

      With celiac disease
      You can never eat at restaurants.
      You can never eat at a friends house.
      You can't live in Asia well.

      It is not fun having to cook every meal.
      It is not fun having to spend double price for all your prepared food.

      Almost all prepared food has gluten traces. Peanut butter? French fries? Corn chips? Yogurt? Chocolate?
      Why did that strawberry yogurt get me sick? Oh, the same equipment is used to make another yogurt that has wheat flavor.

      Office pizza parties?
      Birthday parties? It is fun being given cake and never getting to eat it.

      Beer? Sake? Soy sauce? Sushi? Pizza? Waffles?

      Eggs Benedict?

      Souffle?

      Bread pudding?

      Some people like to work and not have to spend their life in the kitchen.

      If I could get a bone marrow transplant I would.

      I want to get a genetic test done on Kurt Cobain and Nietzsche. I bet they were both celiacs.

    7. Re:All you negative people... by MarkRose · · Score: 2

      So, I have celiac disease.

      I eat at restaurants often, though what I can eat from the menu is often very limited.
      Yes, I can eat at friends' houses. They known I can't have gluten, and never was there nothing I could eat.
      I've never been to Asia, but much Asian cuisine is gluten free.

      I cook about half my meals. Of the ones I don't, they're either at restaurants where I know the ingredients are safe, or meals that require no cooking (raw food).
      I buy very little prepared food. It was never healthy in the first place, never mind the price.

      I react pretty strongly to trace amounts of gluten. I buy only natural peanut butter (ingredients: peanuts, salt), french fries, corn chips, and yogurt. Chocolate is tricky as it very often contains wheat as a sweetener. I read the ingredient lists on everything.

      Office pizza parties? They order a pizza with a gluten-free crust for me. It doesn't taste as good, but I eat it to be sociable.
      Birthdays? Well, I just don't eat cake.

      I've given up on beer. I do miss Guinness. Sake is fine (unless it's been flavoured). I can't have the soy sauce at restaurants, but I have wheat/gluten-free soy sauce at home. Sushi can be tricky. Sashimi is great. I no longer eat waffles.

      I eat lots of eggs. They're a fantastic food. There's no need to eat them in an English muffin.

      Souffle I never ate anyway.

      Pudding is another thing I've left aside. There is rice pudding, but I don't miss it enough to bother.

      On average I spend five hours per week in the kitchen. I can't afford to eat out all the time, and I prefer the more nutritious food I eat at home.

      I feel vastly healthier not eating wheat, and eating far fewer grains. Half of it is from no longer suffering from the immunological condition. The other half is from changing my diet to largely vegetables, meat, and fat for energy and aware from bulk carbohydrates. I eat a lot of delicious food.

      How much of an impact does celiac have on my life? Day to day, it's not even a nuisance: I simply eat healthy food. At restaurants it's a small annoyance, but there is almost always something I can eat. I just ask.

      --
      Be relentless!
    8. Re:All you negative people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (for those not allergic, immunoweird, or otherwise harmed by them, that is)

    9. Re:All you negative people... by MarkRose · · Score: 1

      I agree that an awareness campaign is a far better use of money than further research. The cure is so simple: stop eating grains! Sadly, many still think that it's a childhood disease only, so the question of a celiac diagnosis never even comes up. Furthermore, many cases of celiac are asymptomatic, or with symptoms that don't seem obviously connected to an autoimmune condition.

      As celiac is hereditary, there's a very strong chance you have it as well. The arthritic symptoms can be the result of a leaky gut -- a condition that arises when the intestinal lining has been so damaged by the immune system that it is no longer able to keep everything out that it should -- including gluten proteins which may then migrate to other locations in the body. I would very strongly suggest getting tested yourself, as well as getting your vitamins A, B12, D, K, iron, magnesium, calcium, and folic acid levels checked out as they are often deficient in those with celiac disease.

      --
      Be relentless!
    10. Re:All you negative people... by MarkRose · · Score: 1

      The first few months it took me a while to adapt. But knowing the cause of my symptoms and the pain involved, it simply hasn't been worth it to ever give into any kind of craving. Dining out is certainly the most troublesome area. Steak, fish, and salads are often the solution for me.

      I do see your point about missing out on wonderful and interesting foods. I suppose I've gotten used to that, and simply not eating things unless I know what's in them. I'm inclined towards a more natural diet (foods that are edible raw, i.e. fruits, vegetables, meat) so I don't personally feel as though I'm missing out on much. Though even meat can be a pain: you never know if they used filler in that sausage or not.

      --
      Be relentless!
    11. Re:All you negative people... by MarkRose · · Score: 1

      Well, what's actually good about grains? You can eat boiled western skunk cabbage leaves, too, but I wouldn't want to.

      Grains are cheap source of carbohydrate/energy. That's about all that's good about them. They are difficult for all to digest, have poor protein profiles, have toxic proteins, and mess with hormone balance (insulin in particular). They require complex preparation to make them non-toxic, such as soaking or cooking for extended periods. They're a survival food, nothing more. They're certainly not part of a natural diet.

      --
      Be relentless!
    12. Re:All you negative people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's good about grains? Well, they're the foundation of civilization, for one thing. The whole reason we're not still hunter-gatherers is that we cultivated grains and created agriculture. Grains can be stored for extended periods of time, allowing communities to survive winters and times of drought and famine.

      There may be more healthy foods, but survival foods are pretty important to, you know, our survival!

      dom

    13. Re:All you negative people... by supaneko · · Score: 1

      As simple as not eating grains?

      I have celiac's and I can't have dairy, corn, most meats, and I know PLENTY of other people who have seen ADDITIONAL food intolerances crop up over the years.

      I think raising funding for it is a great idea. There are so many people out there who have no clue that, just as you said, grains really aren't good for any of us.

      --
      Less-geeky computer repair alternative for Lansing, MI
    14. Re:All you negative people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're criticizing people for criticizing? How dare you? Why don't you help people to stop criticizing the criticizers?

    15. Re:All you negative people... by hankwang · · Score: 1

      "[Grains] are difficult for all to digest, have poor protein profiles, have toxic proteins, and mess with hormone balance (insulin in particular). They require complex preparation to make them non-toxic, such as soaking or cooking for extended periods. "

      Can you provide pointers to scientific research that supports these statements? The only one that makes some sense is the first one, but then, most foods are difficult (for humans) to digest when raw; are you proposing to eat only fruits, milk, and raw meat?

      --
      Avantslash: low-bandwidth mobile slashdot.
    16. Re:All you negative people... by MarkRose · · Score: 1

      You're right, many foods are difficult to digest raw, but it's a matter of severity. Eat enough legumes (the seeds/bean part) raw and there's a good chance of death. Even when soaked and cooked they're still toxic, but then again, so are mushrooms.

      Meat is relatively easy to digest raw. I've already mentioned sashimi, but red meat is too. Cooking accomplishes three things: it increases the caloric content, it alters/improves the flavour, and, important to industrial agriculture, it kills pathogens. Cooking, however, is not necessary from a digestive standpoint. Most people have no difficulty digesting a rare steak.

      Many grains lack some of the essential amino acids. Carefully combining grains can provide all the essential amino acids. It's more nutritive to let a ruminant eat the grasses/grains and then eat the ruminant (not to mention the energy and input costs involved with industrial crop growing).

      When it comes to the toxicity of grains, I'll skip the fungi that may be present. Phytic acid can interfere with the absorption of minerals, including calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc, which are the main non-caloric nutrition in grains. Gliadin, a gluten protein and the cause of celiac disease, is an indigestible protein that gets trapped in the villi of the intestines causing inflammation, even in non-celiac individuals.

      The high carbohydrate concentrations of grains wreak havoc on the metabolic system. Here's a good sumary of the trouble with eating high amounts of carbohydrates.

      I'd say an ideal diet consists primarily of vegetables. Fruits, while nutrient dense, shouldn't make up a large part of the diet due to the high carbohydrate content. Calories should come largely from fat and animal protein. I avoid industrial agriculture products when possible. The pesticides, fungicides, antibiotics, colouring, preservatives, etc., present are obviously not good for you. Furthermore, much like a poor diet affects human health, so does a poor diet affect an animal's health. Corn-fed animal meat is far higher in omega 6 fats, and far lower in omega 3 fats than optimal. A high omega 6/3 fats ratio in the diet promotes many diseases and should be avoided.

      I see no reason not to cook. I simply suggest eating only foods that are okay to eat raw. I would, however, avoid charring food as doing so creates carcinogens.

      And of course, to each his or her own. :-)

      --
      Be relentless!
    17. Re:All you negative people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm curious what fund raising for celiac disease is truly needed. As someone with it, it's as simple as not eating gluten, and that's as simple as not eating grains (they're not good for you anyway)

      Celiac disease is a serious problem to the life of any westerner who has it (about 1 in 150 individuals have it, most without knowing), as grains and their derivatives are present in one or another form on basically 75% of all processed western food. This without counting the omnipresent contamination (if your food has ever come in contact with grains and derivatives during production or consumption), that may cause similar nasty reactions.

      The level of sensibility may vary, the damage is the same: that means you or your children can't travel ever again anymore unless carefully planning each and every meal and knowing each and every restaurant you'll eat at. No more midnight snacks with friends or incidental kissing (think about the lipstick). Each drink must be carefully considered (whisky, gin, vodka and beer are not allowed, has my glass been used for beer again?). Each and every snack or work lunch has to be taken care of without errors whatsoever. Gluten free food is harder to make consistent, hard to find and doesn't quite taste as good as normal food, many times.

      I respect that there is more serious diseases, but life without grains can be very hard and alienating, not to talk about the annoyance of a gluten attack that can mean problems for days for very sensible types. What's worse: from the outside you may look allright (except for stomach problems, distraction, tiredness, malaise, loss of memory and coordination for some) while a heavy battle is taking place against your own body.

      However the reactions can't be as quick and dangerous as for nuts allergy they can be nasty as those of diabetes, the difference being that you have insulin for diabetes. Also, if the disease goes unnoticed for years the consequences could be impairing (a body becoming unable to absorb nutrients becoming chronically sick) and eventually lead to cancer.

      In conclusion: the research for Celiac Disease is very important, can improve the life of very many people and thus deserves attention and founding as much as many other forms of research.

      For the ./ necessary technical explanation: basically the immune system of a celiac patient (according to one of the most popular theories) thinks the gluten proteins are a pathogen (a bit similar to a protein of the Candida bacterium) and attacks them with all forces. Of course attacking a harmless nutrient leads to nothing else than damaging the lining of the human intestine, every day more, some times irreversibly. Solving that is a matter of "teaching" the immune system when it's fighting the wrong enemy (while keeping fighting all real pathogens). Such an ability of course could also be a breakthrough for mankind, if discovered. Way beyond a patent for a "tap" gesture on a screen, I reckon.

      Well done for this initiative then (and a free delicious glutenfree cookie to whoever manages to pronounce the surname of the guy: Komarnitsky).

    18. Re:All you negative people... by hankwang · · Score: 1

      Eat enough legumes (the seeds/bean part) raw and there's a good chance of death.

      Yes, but the topic was grains.

      It's more nutritive to let a ruminant eat the grasses/grains and then eat the ruminant (not to mention the energy and input costs involved with industrial crop growing).

      This is an utterly ridiculous statement. In terms of dry mass, the Feed conversion ratio of ruminants is about a factor 30 when going from grain to meat. So instead of not utilizing 1% of the grain, you throw away 97%.

      Gliadin, a gluten protein and the cause of celiac disease, is an indigestible protein that ... causing inflammation, even in non-celiac individuals.

      The wikipedia article on Gliadin does not state that it is indigestible, only that it is not attacked by stomach acids. From the Triticae glutens article, I get the impression that certain forms of gliadin (a small fraction of the gluten) are indigestible, but then, nutritional fiber is also indigestible, so that isn't really a problem. The article on celiac.com is written by an editor. The abstract of the original article, Gut 2007;56:889-890 doi:10.1136/gut.2006.118265 does not make strong statements about the health implications of non-CD individuals, other than " we hypothesise that the innate response is common in patients with and without CD, whereas the adaptive response is exclusive of susceptible patients with CD." (we hypothesize = not confirmed by the study)

      Here's a good sumary of the trouble with eating high amounts of carbohydrates.

      No scientific studies cited. I see various links to other blogs; links to FDA and the American Diabetis Association are called "our government suggests" and "mainstream opinion", as if that makes them untrustworthy. Why should I believe an arbitrary blogger's theory?

      A high omega 6/3 fats ratio in the diet promotes many diseases and should be avoided.

      OK, this is a scientific paper (and I didn't see it refuted from a quick google). Interesting; I din't know that there was such a difference between unsaturated fatty acids.

      The pesticides, fungicides, antibiotics, colouring, preservatives, etc., present are obviously not good for you.

      I could agree with you on the first three, but not on the latter two. For the colorants one could say that they don't serve a real purpose (so why take the risk), but I'd say food preservatives have made food a whole lot safer by preventing spoilage of otherwise perishable products.

      --
      Avantslash: low-bandwidth mobile slashdot.
  12. What? by Mr+Z · · Score: 2

    No Hamster Dance integration?

    --
    Program Intellivision!
    1. Re:What? by Mr+Z · · Score: 1

      Ok... blinking-red-on-green mouseovers, a dynamic <TITLE> tag, and blinking green text in the text. I guess he gets a pass. Although, he'd've gotten extra super old-skool bonus points for a page that said "This page is a searchable index. Enter a search term: __."

      (Tongue firmly planted in cheek, of course.)

      --
      Program Intellivision!
  13. My mother has celiac... by treewojima · · Score: 1

    It's a horrible allergy/condition to have. She pretty much has to avoid every major (or minor) brand of everything, since if it was even packaged in a factory where wheat gluten was handled, she will get horribly sick. Glad that this site acknowledges the severity of this allergy, since major food packagers don't seem to.

    1. Re:My mother has celiac... by Scared+Rabbit · · Score: 1

      As someone who is currently in the diagnosis process of celiac I concur with it being terrible. A lot of people think it's like lactose intolerance where you're ill for an hour or two then fine. If I have any gluten at all then I'm not able to leave the house for 24-36 hours and it takes 4 or 5 days for me to actually feel okay again.

      That said, I haven't had as hard of a time finding gluten free foods as I thought I would. Sure I had to radically alter my diet, and I can't get a straight answer out of a lot of manufacturers, but there are a lot of things that will actually say gluten free on them (and I reward companies that come out and say it with my money, so that I don't have to search through a list of ingredients).

  14. Been visiting that site for years! by slasher999 · · Score: 1

    I've been visiting the site for years. And it's worth mentioning my own X10 setup that runs a few items in my house runs on a Thinkpad T20 that I bought new way back in 2001 or so. I've replaced a couple of hard drives since then, but other than that it's all original.

  15. cursorboarding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    the D'oh! cursor violates the Geneva Convention.

  16. Can we check the code...for gluten? by supaneko · · Score: 1

    I must say... what a Christmas. Linux AND celiac's? I think I just might explode from geeky overload...or maybe I'm just having a gluten attack.

    --
    Less-geeky computer repair alternative for Lansing, MI
  17. Celiac research by Compaqt · · Score: 1

    Well, for one thing, it's not quite as deterministic as "I have celiac, and all my progeny will have it, too".

    I'm learning more about it, but it seems there is a combination of genetic and environmental factors that determine whether one will become celiac. What exactly are those factors? Wheat too early/too late? High-gluten wheat as a baby? Scientists don't quite know yet.

    Also, there was some research in Australia whereby the body will be inhibiting from wigging out when encountering gluten. Such research, of course, takes money.

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  18. **EPIC** by Synchblade · · Score: 1

    This site is EPIC! Love the cursor (D'oh!) The changing page title was a little much, though. It keeps constantly reloading itself. Creepy, it knows I came from Slashdot, it knows I'm using "Windoze", it knows I am in the US, and it knows it's my first time at the site. It also gives me a happy javascript message since I'm using Opera: "WOW - an Opera Web Surfer Please Sing for the Internet!" No welcome message when using Firefox or IE.

    I have to wait 7 hours and 47 minutes until I can control the lights though. Try turning on the Hulk before your allowed to... you should get a javascript message:
    "Puny Human try to control Hulk
    Hulk not controllable
    Hulk get mad
    Hulk SMASH Puny Human!"