I ran a small network whose file server was a Linux box named "host". The person who set it up had never set up a server before, and all the instructions used host (in italics) to describe how to install it. So he named the machine "host". The problem was that so many configurations had "host" that I never had the time to go around and change everything.
Todd's punishment is going to be uniquely modern... or will it?
The punishment is that this is going to go viral. It's just too darn interesting seeing people doing something they shouldn't. For the rest of his life people will be reading about this. It's not yet mentioned in Denny Rehberg's Wikipedia page, but it will. Todd will probably get his own Wikipedia page [dead link as of this moment but we'll see how long that lasts]. There will probably be a Snopes article too.
In other words, Todd will be publicy humiliated. It'll be like having to wear a big red letter...
These gold rush stories drive me crazy. They make me whack the side of my head and think "why didn't I think of that???" I'm such a sucker for gold rush stories. They keep me awake at night trying to think of The Next Big Thing, or at least The Thing That Will Let Me Retire.
The parent posting links to a great story. What the prank lacks in engineering genius it makes up in hootzpah. It takes some serious nerve to steal a huge cannon in broad daylight in an operation taking several hours.
For years I've been fascinated with the persistence of a local urban legend. When I was a freshman at Virginia Tech in the fall of 1985 I moved into Tech's infamous
Pritchard Hall. Pritchard has the reputation of being a sort of Animal House dorm, so when I moved in I was immediately told that "a couple years ago" some guys had thrown a Coke machine out of the window into "the pit" (a courtyard in the center of the building). Like most immature barely post-pubescent guys I thought that sort of thing was pretty cool and immediately passed on the story to other people.
A decade later I still lived in Blacksburg (and still do today). I happened to get into a conversation on the bus with a freshman who lived in Pritchard. He told me the same story about the Coke machine, including the fact that it was "a couple years ago".
I'm fascinated with the story's persistence. A coworker who went lived in Pritchard in the mid 1970's told me that he had heard the same story at that time. Some kids in my church who live in Pritchard this year have heard the same story (including the "couple years ago" part). The legend has lasted thirty years now.
A couple years ago my friend Tom Angleberger, a columnist for the Roanoke Times, asked his readers for help on tracking down the legend. He got some reliable appearing (but not fully verifiable) evidence that the incident happened in the early 1970's. He even tracked down the alleged culprit (who, supposedly, was expelled for the prank), but the guy wouldn't return Tom's phone calls. Can't say I blame him, really.
So... it's not like it was a very good prank, but somehow it's survived the test of time.
So... suppose that, in the course of getting a heavy vehicle down off the roof, a member of the Civil Defence Force had fallen and died. Would it still have been considered a great prank? Same actions, different outcome.
When I was a teenager some friends and I climbed up onto the roof of the local high school, just 'cause, y'know, it seemed the thing to do.
One of the janitors, wanting to catch us, so he climbed up on the roof. He did indeed catch us and, seeing as how the cops also showed up, we followed him back down off of the roof. As we all climbed down, I realized that this not-too-coordinated janitor could easily tumble down the rickety drain piping. I had visions of having the book thrown at us because some janitor was as stupid as we were.
Pranks are great, but I would personally avoid anything that might incite people to climb or move large, heavy objects. In general, I would avoid anything that someone else has to repair.
I once worked at a small factory that was going through some difficult financial times. The CEO was really a decent guy, but he made a classic gaffe during a speech. He was trying to show the factory workers that he was willing to sacrifice too, so he said "if it helps the company, I'm willing to take home a few thousand less a month."
His "I'm there with you" speech to workers who were lucky to take a single thousand a month didn't exactly have the intended affect, and he resigned a month later.
I hate gold rush stories! They make me feel like I'm a total screw up because I haven't found some way to turn my love for computers and the net into gobs of money.
Y'know, I just got a new job, and it's pretty good. Good money (for me anyway), good benefits, the work's not too hard, and the boss is nice. It's a great opportunity for my wife and me to finally have the life we've wanted for so long.
Then I read about some joker making a fortune in his living room and I feel like I'm a failure. I can just see what I'd do with $400,000. I feel like I oughta rush out and start blogging something...
... hey, there ya go! I could do a blog about how gold rush blogger stories drive me crazy. I'll be rich!
... that a major reason MS Office is so entrenched is that the Word document format is still proprietary and doesn't port well.
At one organization where I was sysadmin the powers-that-were were perfectly open to the idea of moving to Linux on the desktop. They had exactly one firm requirement: complete ability to read and write Word documents. After a lot of experimenting with OpenOffice, KOffice and Abiword, I wasn't able to give them an assurance on that ability. Yeah, I know, it can be done theoretically, but I found plenty of instances with our real-world documents where the porting didn't work at all. And so Linux went out the window.
Y'know, Word once played second fiddle to WordPerfect. But WordPerfect was a fairly simple and transparent format, and our friends at Microsoft zealously supported the WordPerfect format, and so were able to make inroads into WordPerfect's market share. Microsoft doesn't want that done to them.
All of which is an argument for an open document standard.
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
getting the high score: priceless
The first picture that finally downloaded for me was
this one and it made me jump. There's something creepy about the way the fish seems to be resentfully staring straight at the camera.
Ugh, now I realize that I've been insufficiently skeptical... an embarrasing mistake for someone who love to brag about being a skeptic.
I did a little googling and couldn't find any reference to the robbery that weren't references to the book or movie. Hmmm, suspicious indeed.
Slashdot Mirror
I ran a small network whose file server was a Linux box named "host". The person who set it up had never set up a server before, and all the instructions used host (in italics) to describe how to install it. So he named the machine "host". The problem was that so many configurations had "host" that I never had the time to go around and change everything.
Todd's punishment is going to be uniquely modern... or will it?
The punishment is that this is going to go viral. It's just too darn interesting seeing people doing something they shouldn't. For the rest of his life people will be reading about this. It's not yet mentioned in Denny Rehberg's Wikipedia page, but it will. Todd will probably get his own Wikipedia page [dead link as of this moment but we'll see how long that lasts]. There will probably be a Snopes article too.
In other words, Todd will be publicy humiliated. It'll be like having to wear a big red letter...
... really talk like this.
... 2 Diebold machines will be hacked. And 50,000 mini-bars.
These gold rush stories drive me crazy. They make me whack the side of my head and think "why didn't I think of that???" I'm such a sucker for gold rush stories. They keep me awake at night trying to think of The Next Big Thing, or at least The Thing That Will Let Me Retire.
Google seemed to like "Hootzpah" so I went with it. The information age is ruining my spelling. :-)
The parent posting links to a great story. What the prank lacks in engineering genius it makes up in hootzpah. It takes some serious nerve to steal a huge cannon in broad daylight in an operation taking several hours.
A decade later I still lived in Blacksburg (and still do today). I happened to get into a conversation on the bus with a freshman who lived in Pritchard. He told me the same story about the Coke machine, including the fact that it was "a couple years ago".
I'm fascinated with the story's persistence. A coworker who went lived in Pritchard in the mid 1970's told me that he had heard the same story at that time. Some kids in my church who live in Pritchard this year have heard the same story (including the "couple years ago" part). The legend has lasted thirty years now.
A couple years ago my friend Tom Angleberger, a columnist for the Roanoke Times, asked his readers for help on tracking down the legend. He got some reliable appearing (but not fully verifiable) evidence that the incident happened in the early 1970's. He even tracked down the alleged culprit (who, supposedly, was expelled for the prank), but the guy wouldn't return Tom's phone calls. Can't say I blame him, really.
So... it's not like it was a very good prank, but somehow it's survived the test of time.
When I was a teenager some friends and I climbed up onto the roof of the local high school, just 'cause, y'know, it seemed the thing to do. One of the janitors, wanting to catch us, so he climbed up on the roof. He did indeed catch us and, seeing as how the cops also showed up, we followed him back down off of the roof. As we all climbed down, I realized that this not-too-coordinated janitor could easily tumble down the rickety drain piping. I had visions of having the book thrown at us because some janitor was as stupid as we were.
Pranks are great, but I would personally avoid anything that might incite people to climb or move large, heavy objects. In general, I would avoid anything that someone else has to repair.
His "I'm there with you" speech to workers who were lucky to take a single thousand a month didn't exactly have the intended affect, and he resigned a month later.
pause
still cloudy...
pause...
Most of the time there's a final cut. Sometimes you just have to revise.
Almost always.
Absolutely!
... every time I get one of these damn sinus infections, but I don't put out a damn press release about it.
Y'know, I just got a new job, and it's pretty good. Good money (for me anyway), good benefits, the work's not too hard, and the boss is nice. It's a great opportunity for my wife and me to finally have the life we've wanted for so long.
Then I read about some joker making a fortune in his living room and I feel like I'm a failure. I can just see what I'd do with $400,000. I feel like I oughta rush out and start blogging something...
At one organization where I was sysadmin the powers-that-were were perfectly open to the idea of moving to Linux on the desktop. They had exactly one firm requirement: complete ability to read and write Word documents. After a lot of experimenting with OpenOffice, KOffice and Abiword, I wasn't able to give them an assurance on that ability. Yeah, I know, it can be done theoretically, but I found plenty of instances with our real-world documents where the porting didn't work at all. And so Linux went out the window.
Y'know, Word once played second fiddle to WordPerfect. But WordPerfect was a fairly simple and transparent format, and our friends at Microsoft zealously supported the WordPerfect format, and so were able to make inroads into WordPerfect's market share. Microsoft doesn't want that done to them.
All of which is an argument for an open document standard.
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
another game: 25 cents
getting the high score: priceless
(or so I thought at the time)
And I guess, to be fair, they should also study how much is gained by those same assholes. Sometimes they do get things moving.
... on the cockroach. OK, ok, maybe it was fake, but I bet it had read bacteria in it.
Ugh, now I realize that I've been insufficiently skeptical... an embarrasing mistake for someone who love to brag about being a skeptic. I did a little googling and couldn't find any reference to the robbery that weren't references to the book or movie. Hmmm, suspicious indeed.