Like take this one "group of peopl eneed hero(s) find and actor playing a hero and mistake him for a real hero. They contract him to help through misunderstanding (he thinks they know hes an actor and want him to act for them). Truth is discovered, he initially tries to run, ends up rising to the occasion an saving the day".
Any true movie "aficionado" (Spanish for "in a relationship with") will recognize that this story is best represented in the classic 1986 John Landis vehicle The Three Amigos, where Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short play the roles of three unemployed Western actors hired by a small Mexican village that needs protection from malicious bad guy El Guapo (Alfonso Arau, in his finest role since Herrera in The Wild Bunch). In this movie, of course, the roles are reversed, as the Three Amigos don't realize that they are being hired as real heroes until well into the movie. Hilarious antics ensue.
In fact, to bring this back on topic, you could agree with Steve Martin's character Lucky Day when he said "I suppose you could say everyone has an El Guapo." In this case, the MPAA is El Guapo, and 2600 is the small Mexican village.
I don't see any IM software (or protocol) surviving unless it can give me the following, which AIM does:
Smiley face bitmaps
News, stock, weather, sports, gardening, internet, and entertainment tickers which are, by, default, all turned on, increasing the space of the GUI to 50% of the screen.
Everytime I open the program, I should be able to receive an offer to try AOL. The length of the time trial should increase exponentially, so that in 2001 all time trials are written in scientific notation.
The question to ask is: How much money will I save on heating during the winter?
Better yet, make sure the case is made up of aluminum and just make some grilled cheeses on top.
Another Idea for Keeping the Page Up...
on
Geek Flavor
·
· Score: 2
Ok, the main problem here is defacing the page(s).
That's solved easily: any file uploaded becomes read-only.
Now, as far as deleting/editing content you've sent... Can you make a script that allows deleting of files uploaded ONLY if the IP/IP range matches between the uploaded file and the delete request?
Or, of course, you can have registered users each with their own folder. Then again, that's Geocities (or Tripod, etc.).
Bottom line, this doesn't work, and we've been proved right. Anyone else have some suggestions so this DOES work? There has to be some point in-between full/root access and Slashdot moderation/separate accounts where this can work. I'm curious to see if this, eventually, can work.
Considering bacteria have been found living in extremely high temperature, low pH conditions (boiling acid), I would not be surprised if they can be found to survive elsewhere. That they can survive in Environment X and that they came from Environment X are two different things, however.
Re:And now that somebody changed the index.html
on
Geek Flavor
·
· Score: 2
Re:Could this really work?
on
Geek Flavor
·
· Score: 2
All it takes is one dedicated troll to ruin a site. I mean, if someone continually adds malicious and/or useless content to a page, eventually it's going to be a ruined experiment. There has to be some way to deal with those that have enough time and bitterness in their hands to ruin the website for everyone else involved.
Oh, wait, what's this about GeekFlavor? I was ruminating about something else *cough*/.*cough*
Looking at the positive [development] aspects, they could build in-water tunnels (like a pipe that goes INSIDE the ocean). This pipe would not let whales in, and that would also solve the guidance problem.
Well, we've already got these huge underwater "pipes". In fact, for years, they've been built nationwide, silently and underground, most notably around large population areas. The military could just use those pipes, or as they are known to civilians, "sewers".
Then again, there might be some soldiers who might protest being put into a little capsule and shot at great speeds through human waste.
In the early 1990's they laughed at Kevin Costner.
Now we all know the savage, post-apocalyptic, computer-generated world of Waterworld is going to come true. Excuse me, I am going to be packing away soil, as that will be the gold of the future.
An incredibly simple concept that seems to have blasted over your head...
It's a real pisser that some children get born into absolutely horrid living conditions. I really do feel sorry for them. But hey, I have to eat, too.
Natural selection's a real bitch, isn't it? There's countless solutions, but these people don't want to put forth any effort to implement a single one of them.
Finally I get to read a post that combines lack of compassion, Social Darwinism, unnecessary profanity and can magically transform it into a broad generalization that absolves the poster from any blame for the World's Problems.
Not that he didn't bring up some interesting points.
On the subject of welfare it is extremely simple-minded to be fully on either side of the issue. Not all welfare recipients mooch money off everyone else so they can buy their kids Air Jordans, and not all recipients are down-and-out honest hard-working families with sickly doe-eyed children that need your help. I know families that are greatful for the help they've received, and then I've also seen satellite dishes mounted on the outside of public housing.
Apparently cable television is now a basic human right.
What it comes down to is that there is no blanket solution for these problems, not only because they are extremely complex, but also because smaller issues are bundled together into 'Big Topics' ("World Hunger", "Welfare", "Violence in Schools") that can't be adequately solved by a single Slashdot thread.
Trolls notwithstanding, it's an interesting read so far.
The idea of the founders was that there would not be a standing army of significant size, but that ordinary citizens would be sufficiently armed and competent ("well-regulated") to repel an invading army.
My question is: when was the last time the United States actually got invaded by anyone? I see this only applying to American territories that may be bordering unfriendly nations. But last I heard, we were not in danger from being attacked by Mexico, Canada, Cuba, or the Dominican Republic.
And if we were to be attacked, what could a bunch of (mostly) untrained citizens with handguns do?
Any smart company will not pay for soundcards when computers are ordered. I don't have a soundcard on this computer now, and I haven't had one in my last three jobs either. If you think about it, there really isn't a need for a soundcard in most office jobs.
Or at least, a need for a soundcard in every computer.
This sounds to me like the same scare tactic the BSA used back in late '99, early 2000 when, among other things, they tried to shut-down as many 'warez' rings as possible (see the only ZDNet article I could find). Then they went after a smallish DALnet cable warez channel, and eventually worked with the FBI to shut down Pirates With Attitude (PWA), a warez group that had been active for some time. This happened for a few months, then they stopped. No more Press Releases on the courageous fight against piracy, no more arrests. A few are taken as scapegoats and warnings to others, everyone else keeps minding their own business. A few years later the cycle starts again.
Alright, I'm not too familiar with tariffs, but what stops a savvy Canadian from simply buying their media from iBuyer.net, Pricewatch.com, or MemoryMedia? Even if I'm wary of making purchases online, I'd rather save myself thirty or forty bucks and just order the media I need online.
Or would this still apply to online purchases, even if the manufacturers are across the border?
...but from years of high robot "experience" (watching TV), I've come up with the following ways to have/build your own robot:
If your neighbor is a mild-mannered man called Ted Lawson, and he has a daughter who speaks in a monotone voice, pigtails, and always wears a red print dress, ask to borrow his daughter. She is a robot named Vickie.
You can build your own robot in your basement. You have to, however, live in a large Victorian house. Combine the following elements: a radio, television, lightbulbs, steel bucket, springs, a human brain, and gears. Some words of warning: Your robot may appear to not be functional. Just wait for a freak electrical storm to "wake" your robot up. If, when awake, the robot has red eyes, it means it is evil.
Finally, visit your local woods. Strange, mechanical noises heard at night are surely signs that a robot has come from space/a government testing facility/the future and landed in the woods. In this case, it needs a friend. You fit the bill if you are a pre-adolescent boy. Be warned that no one in the schoolyard/your family will believe you because you've always had an active imagination. In the end, the military will be involved.
I worked in credit card fraud for one of the biggest issuing bans a few years ago, and saw every kind of charge on user's accounts.
To put the most important part of the post here, by federal law, you do NOT have to pay any more than $50 of fraud whenever your card or credit card is compromised. Most banks are smart enough to absorb the first $50 of fraud anyways and not charge the consumer. Otherwise there'd be thousands of people a month having to pay $19.95 to Plymouth Phone (an adult phone company that was... popular). This means, then, that the financial responsibility for covering fraud falls on banks, not consumers. Even if consumers wereto pay the first $50 in fraud charges to their account, a bank still has to provide the personnel to investigate fraud. Fraud / Loss Control is a very important part of the agenda of most banks.
Now, mind you, it is going to be rather difficult for banks to institute a 'merchant-blocking' system in your account. This is because of several reasons:
Legacy systems The software these banks use is, for the most part, ancient, unnecessarily complex, and misdesigned. It's not surprising to have to access anywhere from three to five different systems just to work one account. Overhauling something this size to implement a charge-blocking mechanism is going to be cost-prohibitive, at least until a new system is set up.
Credit card users There's enough confusion with users about their credit cards. I've received calls from people wanting to talk directly to "Mr. Visa" and people who have a Gas Card with Exxon, not a MasterCard with First National Example Bank. Blacklisting merchants adds to this, and whitelisting merchants would be a nightmare. It's hard enough for some of them to remember their address, let alone which merchants they allow to charge their account.
Currently, the system really isn't all that bad. There's a lot of nightmares, certainly, with the major credit reporting bureaus (TransUnion, etc.), but the average national, well-established credit card bank is on yourside when it comes to fraud, mainly because essentially it's their money and their business that's being affected.
The best thing you can do to prevent fraud to your account is basic common sense: Guard your number. Don't trust every merchant online (for the same reasons you wouldn't trust every offline merchant). And, if you are the victim of fraud, report it as soon as possibe to the bank and, for your sake, write down and save everything. Amounts, dates, times, names of people you talked to. The more informed you are as a consumer the easier it is for the banks to help you.
Finally, remember that there are a lot of reputable adult merchants out there. One time we had an older woman call in saying that there were $150 in calls to an adult service. She said she lived alone and would not make such calls. Sure enough, it wasn't her. We called the adult service, they still had the caller's number on record, as well as the time of the call. It happened one time while her 12-yr old grandson was visiting for a few days.
I think the problem is proper cooling. With proper cooling, you can leave your computer on all-day, for months at a time, in any environment.
What kind of cooling am I talking about? Glad you asked.
Why, I'm talking about Gatorade(r) Thirst Quencher(tm). Only Gatorade(r) Thirst Quencher(tm) cools your computer "to the core," eliminating that "deep down" thirst and heat that may plague performance and cause safety problems.
Simply take a large container of Gatorade(r), such as our 96 oz. X-Treme Performance(tm) bottle with patented Acti-Grip(tm) technology, and pour it generously over your computer, making sure to concentrate on important components such as your processor which may have a "thirst for performance." Pick any of 20 refreshing flavors, including Tropical Burst, Gatorade Frost(tm) Riptide Rush, and new Gatorade Fierce(tm) Melon. Watch as your components are cooled, and give off "sparks and steam of enjoyment" as they become re-newed by our scientifically designed 6% mixture of highly energizing carbohydrates and minerals. Repeat this process every two to three days, and watch as you never have to worry about overheating components or safety issues.
Remember, this type of X-Treme Performance(tm) is only available through Gatorade(r) and its subsidiaries.
Gatorade: Is it in you?
Gatorade(r) is a division of The Quaker Oats Company(r). Gatorade(r) and the lightning bolt are registered trademarks of Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. Is It In You?(tm) is a trademark of Stokely - Van Camp, Inc.
People seem to be ignoring a very simple fact: the US and EU governments differ in very important ways. IANAH(istorian), so I'm not going to discuss what the underlying reasons for this are, but let me just give you a few examples.
This is take from the CNN article:
The European Union responded with its Directive on Data Privacy, which was adopted in 1995 and took effect in October 1998. [snip]
The directive requires that any organization (called a "data controller") collect only necessary information, inform users what information is collected and how it will be used, keep data accurate and up to date, allow individuals to review the information kept on them, and keep information no longer than necessary. Some types of information -- ethnic origin, political and religious beliefs, and the like -- cannot be collected without the individual's explicit consent.
That seems like every American's dream: No longer can telemarketers harass you with surveys or special long-distance offers during dinner time, no longer will you get junk mail where you have to suscribe to a magazine to guarantee your chance of winning $1,000,000, a new Ford Explorer, or a "Diamond-Style" Ring (one guess as to what I won). But... Where's the flipside? The flipside is that your choice, between the US and the EU, is the following:
Who do you want to keep track of you:
Business or government?
The truth is that there's lots of paperwork that everyone has to go through if you live in a European government, regardless of whether you are an individual citizen or a corporation. For example, here's what you have to do if you want to customize your car in Germany (bad examples of custom cars can be found here):
After you get your changes done, you have to go to the local TÜFF (basically the local DMV) and get an inspector to look over all the changes. Then, he gets to decide whether they are alright or not (they've denied such simple things as tailpipes and spoilers). If these changes are OK, then you get to acquire a new license, that states the changes on your car and that you're allowed to drive a car with such changes (we're talking 7% tinted windows or Saleen Mustangs here, not add-on rockets).
There's frequent road stops looking out for modded cars, and yes, they pull you over, and make sure each change is on your license. If it's not, off to the TÜFF you go, and expect one of the following to occur:
Keep the changes and pay a fine (usually about $300).
Pay the fine, then pay to have the changes removed (if they are found to be illegal).
Now, I realise this isn't exactly 'internet privacy'... I just want to show an example of the overbearing style these governments choose to use. This doesn't just apply to modded cars in Germany, of course. Taxes, health care, education, everything is weighed down by a form-happy bureaucracy. I don't think that for certain people this is bad, nor do I say that the US is better than the EU or vice-versa.
I'm just trying to point out that there's pros and cons that you have to take if you want privacy. Personally, I'd rather get called by a telemarketer than pulled over because I got wider tires, but that's a personal choice.
What if you alert 'the Media' (whoever that is), that there's such a security hole? If you give that information to a journalist willing to publish it, and you remain anonymous, it is up to the sites to consider whether they want to risk exposing this security hole or not.
I remember a while back someone at The Register saying they would willingly take information of questionable (read: possibly illegal due to NDAs) content. Then, they would decide whether or not to publish it, and if any charges came, they would bear the responsiblity and less than 1% of the time would it ever get back to the source. Sorry, I don't have a link, but I remember it was posted around the time of the MacNN and Photoshop controversy. Now, I don't know if Slashdot is willing to take such a stance, nor do I know, since IANAL, if NDAs can still bring legal charges against the reporting organization, even if they never signed the NDA.
I think perhaps a lifestyle change is in order. Simple pedaling under the desk isn't the solution. Plot out an average week and see where you can fit in exercise, whether cardiovascular or weightlifting. If you can do 30 minutes three times a week, you've got the bare minimum recommended for results.
Without going too much into the subject, I recommend doing something that you like. That could be mountain biking, stationary cycling while watching Letterman, kickboxing, swimming laps, taking a walk during your lunch break, jogging, calisthenics, basketball... Your options are endless. To begin I would focus on doing something that's enjoyable rather than a "What's Best for You" program that strictly guidelines dietary intake, and has some extensive grid of 30 different exercises for you to do. While the under-the-desk pedaling idea sounds good, it won't be the change you're looking for, IMO.
Being a casual Hotmail user, I pulled this from British news site The Register:
Following a server breakdown, these people were locked out of their Hotmail free email accounts for 10 days. And when the server was powered up and back online, many found that all their data, including addresses and saved messages, were lost.
It looks like Microsoft, Hotmail's owner-operator, put the repaired server back to work before fully completing data recovery routines. The company says that all data should be recovered, at some point.
The article brings up a good point: Hotmail is a free service run by Microsoft. Those two words put togethere don't exactly spell 'reliability'... I don't exactly have important data on my Hotmail account (just some attachments), and if Hotmail goes down for a week, I wouldn't be too concerned, because I don't get most of my mail there, nor do I get any important mail, for that matter. I mostly use it as dumping grounds for webpages I need to register for (not Slashdot, of course).
I would read The Register's article. It brings up good points I don't necessarily need to repeat.
Slashdot Mirror
Any true movie "aficionado" (Spanish for "in a relationship with") will recognize that this story is best represented in the classic 1986 John Landis vehicle The Three Amigos, where Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short play the roles of three unemployed Western actors hired by a small Mexican village that needs protection from malicious bad guy El Guapo (Alfonso Arau, in his finest role since Herrera in The Wild Bunch). In this movie, of course, the roles are reversed, as the Three Amigos don't realize that they are being hired as real heroes until well into the movie. Hilarious antics ensue.
In fact, to bring this back on topic, you could agree with Steve Martin's character Lucky Day when he said "I suppose you could say everyone has an El Guapo." In this case, the MPAA is El Guapo, and 2600 is the small Mexican village.
Visit 2600.com: The Small Mexican Village
Otherwise, ladies and gentlemen, this will fail.
The question to ask is: How much money will I save on heating during the winter?
Better yet, make sure the case is made up of aluminum and just make some grilled cheeses on top.
That's solved easily: any file uploaded becomes read-only.
Now, as far as deleting/editing content you've sent... Can you make a script that allows deleting of files uploaded ONLY if the IP/IP range matches between the uploaded file and the delete request?
Or, of course, you can have registered users each with their own folder. Then again, that's Geocities (or Tripod, etc.).
Bottom line, this doesn't work, and we've been proved right. Anyone else have some suggestions so this DOES work? There has to be some point in-between full/root access and Slashdot moderation/separate accounts where this can work. I'm curious to see if this, eventually, can work.
Considering bacteria have been found living in extremely high temperature, low pH conditions (boiling acid), I would not be surprised if they can be found to survive elsewhere. That they can survive in Environment X and that they came from Environment X are two different things, however.
Login: geekflav
Password: dnzvmsii
FTP site: ftp.geekflavor.com
Oh, wait, what's this about GeekFlavor? I was ruminating about something else *cough* /. *cough*
I'm specifically worrying about Signal:Noise ratios and illegal content...
Well, we've already got these huge underwater "pipes". In fact, for years, they've been built nationwide, silently and underground, most notably around large population areas. The military could just use those pipes, or as they are known to civilians, "sewers".
Then again, there might be some soldiers who might protest being put into a little capsule and shot at great speeds through human waste.
In the early 1990's they laughed at Kevin Costner.
Now we all know the savage, post-apocalyptic, computer-generated world of Waterworld is going to come true. Excuse me, I am going to be packing away soil, as that will be the gold of the future.
Finally I get to read a post that combines lack of compassion, Social Darwinism, unnecessary profanity and can magically transform it into a broad generalization that absolves the poster from any blame for the World's Problems.
Not that he didn't bring up some interesting points.
On the subject of welfare it is extremely simple-minded to be fully on either side of the issue. Not all welfare recipients mooch money off everyone else so they can buy their kids Air Jordans, and not all recipients are down-and-out honest hard-working families with sickly doe-eyed children that need your help. I know families that are greatful for the help they've received, and then I've also seen satellite dishes mounted on the outside of public housing.
Apparently cable television is now a basic human right.
What it comes down to is that there is no blanket solution for these problems, not only because they are extremely complex, but also because smaller issues are bundled together into 'Big Topics' ("World Hunger", "Welfare", "Violence in Schools") that can't be adequately solved by a single Slashdot thread.
Trolls notwithstanding, it's an interesting read so far.
My question is: when was the last time the United States actually got invaded by anyone? I see this only applying to American territories that may be bordering unfriendly nations. But last I heard, we were not in danger from being attacked by Mexico, Canada, Cuba, or the Dominican Republic.
And if we were to be attacked, what could a bunch of (mostly) untrained citizens with handguns do?
Or at least, a need for a soundcard in every computer.
Damn. He sides with Microsoft.
This sounds to me like the same scare tactic the BSA used back in late '99, early 2000 when, among other things, they tried to shut-down as many 'warez' rings as possible (see the only ZDNet article I could find). Then they went after a smallish DALnet cable warez channel, and eventually worked with the FBI to shut down Pirates With Attitude (PWA), a warez group that had been active for some time. This happened for a few months, then they stopped. No more Press Releases on the courageous fight against piracy, no more arrests. A few are taken as scapegoats and warnings to others, everyone else keeps minding their own business. A few years later the cycle starts again.
Or would this still apply to online purchases, even if the manufacturers are across the border?
If not, I'll make this deal. Canadians, I will give you cheaper media. You give me a 3.5-gallon-per-flush toilet.
To put the most important part of the post here, by federal law, you do NOT have to pay any more than $50 of fraud whenever your card or credit card is compromised. Most banks are smart enough to absorb the first $50 of fraud anyways and not charge the consumer. Otherwise there'd be thousands of people a month having to pay $19.95 to Plymouth Phone (an adult phone company that was... popular).
This means, then, that the financial responsibility for covering fraud falls on banks, not consumers. Even if consumers wereto pay the first $50 in fraud charges to their account, a bank still has to provide the personnel to investigate fraud. Fraud / Loss Control is a very important part of the agenda of most banks.
Now, mind you, it is going to be rather difficult for banks to institute a 'merchant-blocking' system in your account. This is because of several reasons:
Currently, the system really isn't all that bad. There's a lot of nightmares, certainly, with the major credit reporting bureaus (TransUnion, etc.), but the average national, well-established credit card bank is on yourside when it comes to fraud, mainly because essentially it's their money and their business that's being affected.
The best thing you can do to prevent fraud to your account is basic common sense: Guard your number. Don't trust every merchant online (for the same reasons you wouldn't trust every offline merchant). And, if you are the victim of fraud, report it as soon as possibe to the bank and, for your sake, write down and save everything. Amounts, dates, times, names of people you talked to. The more informed you are as a consumer the easier it is for the banks to help you.
Finally, remember that there are a lot of reputable adult merchants out there. One time we had an older woman call in saying that there were $150 in calls to an adult service. She said she lived alone and would not make such calls. Sure enough, it wasn't her. We called the adult service, they still had the caller's number on record, as well as the time of the call. It happened one time while her 12-yr old grandson was visiting for a few days.
What kind of cooling am I talking about? Glad you asked.
Why, I'm talking about Gatorade(r) Thirst Quencher(tm). Only Gatorade(r) Thirst Quencher(tm) cools your computer "to the core," eliminating that "deep down" thirst and heat that may plague performance and cause safety problems.
Simply take a large container of Gatorade(r), such as our 96 oz. X-Treme Performance(tm) bottle with patented Acti-Grip(tm) technology, and pour it generously over your computer, making sure to concentrate on important components such as your processor which may have a "thirst for performance." Pick any of 20 refreshing flavors, including Tropical Burst, Gatorade Frost(tm) Riptide Rush, and new Gatorade Fierce(tm) Melon. Watch as your components are cooled, and give off "sparks and steam of enjoyment" as they become re-newed by our scientifically designed 6% mixture of highly energizing carbohydrates and minerals. Repeat this process every two to three days, and watch as you never have to worry about overheating components or safety issues.
Remember, this type of X-Treme Performance(tm) is only available through Gatorade(r) and its subsidiaries.
Gatorade: Is it in you?
Gatorade(r) is a division of The Quaker Oats Company(r). Gatorade(r) and the lightning bolt are registered trademarks of Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. Is It In You?(tm) is a trademark of Stokely - Van Camp, Inc.
This is take from the CNN article:
That seems like every American's dream: No longer can telemarketers harass you with surveys or special long-distance offers during dinner time, no longer will you get junk mail where you have to suscribe to a magazine to guarantee your chance of winning $1,000,000, a new Ford Explorer, or a "Diamond-Style" Ring (one guess as to what I won). But... Where's the flipside? The flipside is that your choice, between the US and the EU, is the following:
The truth is that there's lots of paperwork that everyone has to go through if you live in a European government, regardless of whether you are an individual citizen or a corporation. For example, here's what you have to do if you want to customize your car in Germany (bad examples of custom cars can be found here):
After you get your changes done, you have to go to the local TÜFF (basically the local DMV) and get an inspector to look over all the changes. Then, he gets to decide whether they are alright or not (they've denied such simple things as tailpipes and spoilers). If these changes are OK, then you get to acquire a new license, that states the changes on your car and that you're allowed to drive a car with such changes (we're talking 7% tinted windows or Saleen Mustangs here, not add-on rockets).
There's frequent road stops looking out for modded cars, and yes, they pull you over, and make sure each change is on your license. If it's not, off to the TÜFF you go, and expect one of the following to occur:
Now, I realise this isn't exactly 'internet privacy'... I just want to show an example of the overbearing style these governments choose to use. This doesn't just apply to modded cars in Germany, of course. Taxes, health care, education, everything is weighed down by a form-happy bureaucracy. I don't think that for certain people this is bad, nor do I say that the US is better than the EU or vice-versa.
I'm just trying to point out that there's pros and cons that you have to take if you want privacy. Personally, I'd rather get called by a telemarketer than pulled over because I got wider tires, but that's a personal choice.
I only trust the smartey reviewars.
I remember a while back someone at The Register saying they would willingly take information of questionable (read: possibly illegal due to NDAs) content. Then, they would decide whether or not to publish it, and if any charges came, they would bear the responsiblity and less than 1% of the time would it ever get back to the source. Sorry, I don't have a link, but I remember it was posted around the time of the MacNN and Photoshop controversy. Now, I don't know if Slashdot is willing to take such a stance, nor do I know, since IANAL, if NDAs can still bring legal charges against the reporting organization, even if they never signed the NDA.
The above message is probably muddled. Sorry.
Without going too much into the subject, I recommend doing something that you like. That could be mountain biking, stationary cycling while watching Letterman, kickboxing, swimming laps, taking a walk during your lunch break, jogging, calisthenics, basketball... Your options are endless. To begin I would focus on doing something that's enjoyable rather than a "What's Best for You" program that strictly guidelines dietary intake, and has some extensive grid of 30 different exercises for you to do.
While the under-the-desk pedaling idea sounds good, it won't be the change you're looking for, IMO.
(Off-topic, but informative! Those cancel out...)
The article brings up a good point: Hotmail is a free service run by Microsoft. Those two words put togethere don't exactly spell 'reliability'... I don't exactly have important data on my Hotmail account (just some attachments), and if Hotmail goes down for a week, I wouldn't be too concerned, because I don't get most of my mail there, nor do I get any important mail, for that matter. I mostly use it as dumping grounds for webpages I need to register for (not Slashdot, of course).
I would read The Register's article. It brings up good points I don't necessarily need to repeat.
And how do I go about getting this DNA? Can I use this as an excuse in case my significant other catches me one night in the den?
Significant Other: Honey, what the hell are you doing? Lotion? A videotape of 'Girls Gone Wild Part IV'??
Me: Uhhh.. I'm just getting some DNA, baby. It's all in the interest of science, trust me.
I mean, yeah, you could just extract some plasma but that wouldn't be fun.