Quickies a go-go

tilly sent us a really interesting little article on Why O'Reily is Better written from the perspective of one of their authors. Rahga wrote in to comment that the new KDE Mascot Looks like Playstation's "Croc". He's got a little poll. I vote no, but its close. tilly wrote in to note that Sunday's User Friendly is funny- it features a the ultimate choice. And for the best Star Wars quickie today, Sharkey sent us a link to this picture. Just look at it. Somewhat related is this one from an Anonymous reader: The Dark Redemption which is a 26 minute short film being directed in Australia- it takes place 2 days before the beginning of Star Wars, A New Hope and is apparently being done with permission of Lucas. gwendolin wrote in to ask the ultimate question: Do you dare to eat pop rocks and drink pepsi at the same time? This is wierd stuff (both the page, and the fact that a female with a cool homepage submitted a story!) Some Slashdot Sightings: VinceV wrote in to say that Slashdot apparently is mentioned in the printed manual for Caldera OpenLinux 2.2. cymen wrote in to tell us that Slashdot appeared in the Mit Technology Review. No URL, but someone sent me a scan (that I can't post for they fear the Slashdot effect) but its pretty cool. And finally, for some good old fashioned porn parody, gelbardn sent us Geek Erortica which features live strip shows of Ms. G3 and Ms. Dell. (No its not actually dirty, but its quite amusing).

Comments

My experience wasn't quite so good

[Bruce Perens]

My experience with O'Reilly on my chapter of the Open Sources book was actually somewhat strange. My editors did acquisition, not editing. I had to work hard to get any criticism from my editor, and then I just got one sentence. They spell-checked my chapter but do not appear to have done any editing. One day I got e-mail from them (Sara, I think) about their having lost my contract and could they please have another copy. They did, however, pay me, and the contract appears to have become un-lost at some point.

Bruce

psa

[DarkClown]

notice: i worked on a commercial shoot for pop rocks as a pa about ten years ago. i snagged a box of assorted flavors that i experimented with for about a year. sticking them between your upper lip and gum and then taking a shot of jagermeister has been proven to induce automatic vomiting, no matter what.

Tech Review Article

[Nerrajam]

Since it appears that Tech Review didn't post the article online, here's the full text (it's just a little text box at the bottom of a page). Please excuse any transcription errors.

Geek Show

Listen closely and you can hear it: the gentle sound of millions of folks nervously scratching their heads wondering just what the heck is going on with the open-source, or "free" sofware that has suddenly gotten so much attention (see "Programs to the People," TR January/February 1999). There's no better source of information, rumor and opinion on this phenomenon than Slashdot, which titles itself: "New for Nerds. Stuff that Matters."

The creation of 22-year-old Rob Malda -- whose nom de Web is "Commander Taco" -- Slashdot feels like a geek clubhouse. Malda and others post articles on topics ranging from "the personalities behind Linux" to an essay predicting the arrival of "sexbots" that never have headaches.

Anti-Microsoft sentiment permeates the site; these people know their code and they're offended by what many perceive to be bloated, inefficient software. The "Ask Slashdot" part of the site ranges beyond programming, as knowledgeable participants weigh in on quirky questions like, "What is the bandwidth of a nerve?" (Answer: Well, it depends on what you mean by "bandwidth" and "nerve").

This is one of those virtual communities you hear so much about. Articles generate a torrent of (mostly) well-informed commentary, much of it signed by "Anonymous Coward" -- the epithet Slashdot assigns to contributors unwilling to reveal their names. In one persistent thread, commentators proudly quantify what they call the "Slashdot Effect": the spike in the hit count experienced by Web pages that Slashdot links to. Look to this site as your technical and cultural guide to a powerful movement that is starting to emerge from the computer underground"

-- Herb Brody