TODAY'S OFFERING
Continuaing a fine tradition; Another Grat NASA F*ckup: Helios Prototype Lost During Checkout Flight
Way cool: New Technique May Simplify Nanotech Manufacturing
Harvesting Hydrogen Fuel from Plants Gets Cheaper
Funky Lightning Stuff: Gigantic Jets Connect Thunderclouds to the Ionosphere
Second attempt at broadband inquiry succeeds
Telstra = Bastard Inc.: Labor slams Telstra's intimidation of broadband customers
/OFFERING
Monday, June 30, 2003
Saturday, June 28, 2003
Geek Factor and Anthems
Geek Factor: 55.02959% - Extreme Geek -- not too sure if this is good or bad.
Anthems: OK I am officially scared. I have listened to the It Anthems for OpenBSD, Sun and The Free Software Foundation. The OpenBSD/Goldflipper one was not to bad. The Sun one lacked originality but the Free Software Foundation one was dog shit. The fact that someone went to the trouble of creating these and that someone else has a list and devoted webspace to them is the frightened part.
Geek Factor: 55.02959% - Extreme Geek -- not too sure if this is good or bad.
Anthems: OK I am officially scared. I have listened to the It Anthems for OpenBSD, Sun and The Free Software Foundation. The OpenBSD/Goldflipper one was not to bad. The Sun one lacked originality but the Free Software Foundation one was dog shit. The fact that someone went to the trouble of creating these and that someone else has a list and devoted webspace to them is the frightened part.
Friday, June 27, 2003
Overall verdict on Number 5I realised I haven't given a general summary of what I thought about Harry Potter Book 5. Overall, I really enjoyed it. A few threads from previous books are tied up, and a few characters are fleshed out a bit more. There are a few aspects (some of which James A has noted) which will hopefully be explored further in the final two books of the series. I think they will - as the series has gone on, JKR has revealed (James, the rest of this may be spoiler territory even for you - make with the highlighting to read the rest of it) more of the background of the wizarding world, and some of the systematic flaws of their organisation. This book continued that theme - Kreacher showed more of the problems with house elves, Dumbledore's comments about the statue in the fountain in the Atrium were intriguing, and of course, there is the extreme influence Fudge was able to exert over both the Daily Prophet, Hogwart's, the Wizgamot and the International Confederation of Wizards. Fudge's ability to turn his authority to personal ends (down to actively harassing a mere school student!) was quite spectacular. Now, some of that can be attributed to the willing complicity of those who secretly support Voldemort, some more of it can be attributed the good old "head-in-the-sand" approach to dealing with fear and other aspects to good old tall poppy syndrome (w.r.t both Dumbledore and Potter).
What I hope is going to happen - and I think, with the trend towards increasing politicisation the first five books have shown, will happen - is that *this* battle with Voldemort isn't going to end with a return to the status quo. We've got the ongoing Weasley fascination with Muggles. We've got a centaur teaching at Hogwart's. We've got Hermione trying to liberate the house elves. We've got many of the pure-blood wizards throwing in with Voldemort. We've got someone of Dumbledore's stature muttering about how the wizard's have been too arrogant for too long. We've got an (apparently) unaccountable Minister for Magic concealing a deadly threat from everyone for 12 months or more. We all know Voldemort is going to lose in the end - but I suspect there is going to be a hell of a lot of collateral damage to the social structure of the Wizarding world in the process of getting there. The rest of the ride looks like it should be a lot of fun. Hopefully she doesn't take another 3 years to write the next one. . .
Funny Stuff
I heard about it on the radio and thought some (like Grant) may find this very amusing :
IT Company Anthems.
I heard about it on the radio and thought some (like Grant) may find this very amusing :
IT Company Anthems.
A word on Work For The Dole
Just like to say I'm now doing "work for the dole" and It's preaty pointless. This is my greatest achievemnt from sitting around for 8 hrs yesterday.
Hi Score.
Just like to say I'm now doing "work for the dole" and It's preaty pointless. This is my greatest achievemnt from sitting around for 8 hrs yesterday.
Hi Score.
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Number 5 is Alive
Nope - I've got no real issue with Dumbledore dodging the Potter boy as much as he can. Heck - it's perfectly understandable why he's trying to keep as much distance between them as he can. As for unelected authority figures - it's never really been established how people achieve positions in the Ministry of Magic is it? In particular the position of Minister - are they elected or appointed by some higher body? Knowing that might help understand how he seems to be getting away with some interesting decisions.I've hit Chapter 25 now - and at last things are starting to happen. More action with Snape is always fun. The DA is a nice little set-up. I am starting to hope that there's some pay-off for the heaps of pity thrown on poor bloody Neville - that he gets to do something worthwhile sometime.
Of course I'm still waiting for Umbridge to grow a third dimension (yes I know it's meant to be a children's book - but it's almost as if JKR is expecting readers to boo and hiss whenever you mention that character...)
Wacky Newsgroup of the day - alt.barnyard.cassanova.paul-heslop.moo-moo.i-love-you.i-know-youre-a-cow.but-anything-will-do.
Yet more about book five
Hmm, good point about the effectiveness of the (highlight next bit to read it) Daily Prophet's slander campaign against Dumbledore. That part of it isn't fully explained in this one. I thought you were talking about Dumbledore giving Harry the mushroom treatment. Maybe JKR is trying to make a point about the evils of unelected authority figures and media consolidation. *g*
SPS Redux
Keep in mind that these have been the reaction to what I've read so far - but it's been annoying the buggery out of me that the person who has been portrayed in the previous four books as (engaging white-type) the most respected/fearedknowledgeable Wizard in the HP universe is being treated like (engaging white-type) like some babbling loon who making shit up and is loosing his grip on reality. Now while I understand why some people would think and maybe act in this way (engaging white-type) ie Fudge - who's fearful of Dumbledore usurping his authority (there's that human emotion thing Nick), I'm having a hard time understanding why this is seeming to be accepted as the truth so widely that it's allowed for things such as (engaging white-type) the creation of the post of High Inquisitor with what seems to have been minimal opposition or comment whats-so-ever. Of course as Nick points out, it is entirely possible that there is a currently unrevealed reason as to why people are acting this way, but until this gets revealed (which judging by the pacing of this book so far could be in Volume 9...), I'm still going to be wondering (engaging white-type) why a character who suppose to be so respected and awe-inspiring is being treated like chicken little? Potter I can understand - because no-one likes a self-important brat - but (engaging white-type) Dumbledore? (or however you spell his bloody name).However - my initial issues may yet be rectified the further I get into the book. Still - my early thoughts are similar to that which I've had about recent works by Robert Jordan and Tom Clancy - it doesn't matter how many millions of books you've sold, no author's ever above the use of a good editor.
BTW -
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Wednesday, June 25, 2003Stupid People SyndromeWhen characters in a story act contrary to the way James A would act, if he were:1. in their position 2. was not afflicted with any of those inconvenient emotions that cause people to do things which are not completely rational 3. knew what he knew from the convenient vantage point of third-party omnscience 4. did not know anything which the characters know which has not yet been revealed to the audience On the other hand, damn that story takes an age to get moving. I guess those 800 pages had to come from somewhere. . . Potter Update #2Well - I've had cars which have started faster than this book. I'm up to Chapter 19 - and apart from the introduction of new names (and possibly two actual new characters) I've only just seen some kind of actual plot development. Everything else has been a giant reunion of old characters or a long-winded summary of stuff we already know. Of course - what doesn't help is that almost everyone in the book seems to be suffering from Stupid People Syndrome - ie the decisions they make aren't based on any real rationalisation or justification - just on what makes it the hardest for the books hero. I mean - when you're got a character who's set up as one of the most powerful, wisest and most respected wizards in the world, and everyone all of a sudden decides to treat him like a raving loony who's lost his mind and is making things up for no other reason than it makes it harder for the hero to do his thing and save the world (TM). Maybe if this character had made some errors or mistakes which had demonstrated that he might be loosing it - this might work. But nooooo - we've got to go and use that old crutch of Stupid People Syndrome to generate any kind of tension or conflict.(Sigh) What is it about fantasy series that run for more than four books....
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
The Original, And BestHad to try it.
Riposte to JamesRe: Bulletproof Monk I still maintain that if we had seen the full movie (that is, the actual start as well as all the bits that dodgy handycam job framed out) it would have been better. It's the Chow, man! Re: Viking Kittens I've been reading John Ringo's A Hymn Before Battle, a funky power-armour military scifi. When, in the final battle, the powersuits pull everyone's arse out of the fire, all the suits are set to blare the Immigrant Song... so if you think Viking Kittens are bad, try Kittens In Power Armour! Quiet TimeBeen real quiet lately - not really up to much.Finished reading the 6th Sword of Truth novel - the book seemed to meander for quite a bit, but sped up nicely for a banging finsh - which of course relied on the power of coincidence to ensure that all the main players of this book managed to run into each other at the same time. Of course I do wish to god that Richard would stop forgiving and accepting as redeemed every person who tortures and abuses him who then says sorry at the last minuite. Whatever happened to good old retribution? I guess that's why he's the hero... I'll move onto the 7th book in this series right after I finish that Potter book every man and his dog seems to have purchased. Rght now that book feels like a decidedly average fan-fic effort. I hope it improves sometime soon. Advice to Josh - either take more drugs or stop taking them at all - that movie of yours sounds almost as bad as Bulletproof Monk "Vhy are you hitting yourself?" Wacky Linky-Link Japan's masked politician
Flash of MediocrityDreams are funny things. Some say they're windows into the soul, others claim they tap a higher dimension (or some other such word) so that they can foretell the future. Others say that they are the random firings of a brain trying to find a way to sort its experiences in a threatening way. Some go on to say that this means they can reveal intuitive truths that the conscious mind overlooks. It's said that Paul McCartney woke up one morning humming 'Yesterday', without having tried to write anything remotely similar. It wasn't until a few days later that he realised no-one else had written it. I had a similar dream-experience last night, while I had a nap before work. And, it would appear, I am nowhere near as brilliant as Paul McCartney. Instead of a song destined to be acknowledged as one of the twentieth century's greats, I woke up with the outline of a mediocre by-the-numbers Hollywood 'thriller'. Though, to be fair, I got the definite feel of made-for-TV about it. So... here it is. The Seven-Dead Killer.The basic premise was this chick who was a traffic cop, during a routine traffic stop, pulled over the brutal serial killer known as the Seven-Dead Killer, cleverly named because he'd left seven... dead people... as you can see, this thing's quality from the word go. So, she pulls him over, finds out who he is, and arrests him, gets the bust, yay, yay, happy, joy. And then the Seven-Dead Killer escapes from prison, and a deadly game of cat-and-mouse ensues... you know this already. No doubt you've seen many like it. Playing the traffic cop was I think some starlet my subconscious invented - Hollywoood silicone buxom, unbelievably pretty, seemed to have a fetish for motorcycles. Even more improbable than her figure was her name - "Angelique Nidman". I want to protest that I didn't make this up, but, of course, I did. Playing Mr.Seven-Dead was one Brad Pitt, in crew-cut psychotic mode. Now, my subconscious apparently agrees with my conscious appraisal of Mr. Anistion's acting abilities, and thinks they hinge greatly on the director. This being some stinking pile of crap, no decent director is in sight, so, of course, it's played with all the passion and emotion of Keanu Reeves. Thinking consciously about it, I decided there are two things the movie, if such a steamng turd would ever be made, would include two things that the dream didn't cover. 1) The director would find some way of cajoling the starlet to take her clothes off, probably in a shower scene or something, probably with a line like 'it shows the character's innate vulnerability' or something. But hey, if an actress can be convinced a pointless flashing is dramatically necessary (coughSwordfishcough), it should be easy for a scared actress eager for her big break. 2) There'd have to be some shocking twist at the end that hinges much of its shock value on the mistaken assumption anyone cares about the characters (even the actors). I figure it'd probably be something like the traffic cop is, in fact, the Seven-Dead Killer! No, it's not as absurd a twist as Adaptation's 'The Three', but it's not like it really matters. So there you have it. A movie that I would never want to watch, let alone write. The Dreaming Muse must hate me. In other news, I wrote this with my new wireless keyboard in my lap. I like wireless. Sunday, June 22, 2003Congratulations Adam. . .on getting your current email address pride of place in many spammers' collections of prized game: the *confirmed* email address.Now, most ordinary people are quite entitled to not know that the 'click here to unsubscribe' links in most spam are simply ways of confirming that a real person has read a particular piece of spam. You, as an IT graduate, have no excuse. Better hope your spam filters are up to the task. . . SCO STUFF My Visit to SCO Article Quote: The short version of this essay is SCO's claims are unproven, as I expected would be the case before I went. The amount of information SCO was willing to show me was extremely limited, and it did not by itself prove that SCO's claims were true nor that its claims were false. Open Source Advocate Blasts SCO Want to form you own opinion? The below link will give you a number of articles on the high-profile topic. Also you can go through the Archives of Talkin' 'Bout Stuff and look at the links that I have posted. There are articles from both sides of the rift. News Focus: SCO launches an offensive Saturday, June 21, 2003
Arrg X 2
Warning May Be Considered Offensive!!! Right I've had it. For some dumb reason I took it upon myself to go though my junk mail folder today (hence the earlier post). and i have discovered something. The world is full of realy fucking stupid people who's greatest dream is to gain a diploma in anything (see below), I 'd think maybe a diploma in having sex but obviosly the loosers coulden't get laid in a brothel and the diploma is based on life experience. Yes sign me up for a realy fucking stupid piece of paper that isn't recognised anywhere in the world, and all i need to do is pay money to get it, that should make me popular and sexy and rich, and have women swarm to me just to be cool by assosiation. I have a REAL degree and it has bought me none of this (It hasn't even got me a job), yet the retards that populate this chunk of rock are obviosly too stupid to see the big sign saying "sucker" taped to there sloping forehead. Where was I? Thats Right The world is full of realy fucking stupid people who's greatest dream is to gain a diploma in anything, have an penis the size of a intercontinental ballistic missile, and have sex with hot european women while watching teenage (I hope they mean 18-19) girls get taken from behind by a group of people, or possible other creatures, while they give head to a group of people, or possible other creatures,and are speeping. They do this while gambling online and making over $2000 a week from home useing the internet. This knowledge I have gained through the checking of the first 50 odd emails in my 150 strong junk mail folder. Needless to say I've given up. My initial intension was to unsubscibe from the mailing lists (not that i ever subscribed in the first place), but it is now evident that this won't realy work since a number don't supply a unsubscribe feature or at least a working one(see previos post). I swear to god if i could hack every system that sent me any of these emails would be deader than the grey matter of the apparent clientel. If any-one knows how to hack, send me instuctions. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with porn or hot eropean women, but i don't need a continuos supply of email's telling me of their existence, I am quite aware of porn, and the existence of hot european women. Yet again i'd like to know why I am apparently subscribed to these mailing lists. I mean I also get emails asking if my breasts are too small (no they're not.... if anything......), so obviosly there is no checking done it's just total spam. To leave it with something happier, Any-one want that diploma in gameboy??? U N I V E R S I T Y D I P L O M A ' S Diplomas from prestigious non-accredited universities based on your present knowledge and life experience. Obtain a prosperous future, money earning power, and the admiration of all. No one is turned down. Confidentiality assured. No required tests, classes, books, or interviews. CALL NOW to receive your diploma within days!!! 1-619-819-0201 Call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including Sundays and holidays -
Arrg
The offending e-mail: Get more smiles, more flirting, and a lot more sex "New Scent" Makes You Simply Irresistible To ANY Man OR Woman...Guaranteed Your Friends Will Envy You! Here For Website rmv Obviosly you click rmv to get off the list, givving you this page: To Opt-out from our list, enter your email address in the space provided below, and then click "Unsubscribe Me" We Honor Remove Requests So i put in my adress and i click the button and get this: There was an error : This merchant is NOT accepting connections from your class!This attempt has been logged. Please don't attempt again. Your IP is : 211.28.96.8 and it has been logged as attempting a brute force attack. This is a federal crime punishable by 5 years in prison and a 5,000.00 dollar fine. So naturaly i did it again to be met by the same message, so i did it five or six more times. I really hope they file charges as I'm an arrogant morron and they're obviosly a bunch of dick heads. I'm sure I could win heaps on a law suit. Thursday, June 19, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING HP ascends supercomputer list Top 500 Supercomputers Review of Ximian Desktop 2 on Red Hat Linux 9 The fleas come with the dog here. SCO Pulls Trigger, Targets Torvalds But IBM's Not Flinching, Linus is Working Full-Time on Linux What SCO Wants, SCO Gets Fly Blackman Fly This is something that has nothing to do with computers. This is Bob Sapp. You don't want to make Bob angry. Bob wrestles and fights in Japan. Not surpisingly he is somewhat of a hero over there - crossing over from cult into the mainstream. It is fasciniating to watch him destroy puny Japanese wrestlers with his sheer brutality. This really is Big Bob. 
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
The system is UP, But I feel better
Well I think It may be working now after tinkering with bios. essentially it defaults ram to "by speed", I've changed it to 100% (100% of FSB), and it seems to be working now. so Josh assuming all is good you'll have an os soon so give me a bell and arrange for pick up (I'll throw drivers on for you). For once I'm not pleased with asus, auto detect my ass. And whats more the "sync" setting is a fable. but all is now good (I think). MICROSOFT FUCKING ACCESS FUCKING SUCKS BIG FUCKING DOGS BALLS **** TRANSMISSION INITIATED **** I spent about 5 or 6 hours today working on one fucking bug. The problem basically comes from Access. You cannot assign a string varialbe to Null. you can only assign it to a zero-length string. Two TOTALLY FUCKING DIFFERENT things, especially when you stroe them in a database such as Due to this no one can really code properly becase this value will fuck over computations and require plenty of extra trapping and validation code which further reduces performance. You queries have to have extra crap in them, therefore not making them proper SQL but Fuck Micro$cum and fuck Access! fuck their bullcrap licencing and their shit "technology" they crank out piles of crap and sue anyone who can do it better than they can (which is most people...not SCO) just so they can make more cash of pedalling their digital narcotics (Snow Crash anyone?) they cause more frustration than any other company in the computing industry buch of fucking monkey ass rapers fuckwit wankers moronic bullshiiit crapp phucing god dammmed arse rapppingg crap fased bullshittyingh monkey lurvers thet desereved to bee impallled onn laaarge spikey tiype thingss that make them explod is anyone actually readings this if so make a comment cok smooking dog fukers..... THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE WAS CENSORED AFTER LEGAL ADVICE Crapfully, Crapfully. DELETED. ahhhhh...I feel so cleansed. You have just been reading another Brain Fart from Grant ****TRANSMISSION TERMINATED****
Rappo's Say
Okay, I've now tried to install with a XP disk we know WORKS, and still have the same problems (random assortment of errors). this leads me to suspect the fault to be a ram issue. Now the MB chipset supports upto a 400 FSB, and the CPU uses a 333 Fsb, so far no prob, but the system tells me the ram speed is 200, so the question for this open forum is could this be the source of the problem, or am I barking up the wrong tree. Enquiring minds want to know. If any one has ideas feel free to expose them to are fragile minds (Grant this means you!!). We're deeling with an Asus and AMD combo, I wouldn't have thought there would be so many probs. Growlings, Groans and GripesWell, the assembly of the new machine actually went off rather well - the biggest hurdles there were the Unclippable Heat Sink Of Doom and the Unfindable Hard Drive Of Being-Back-At-Home-Because-I-Forgot-To-Bring-It. So, it's together, and the lights on the front are really pretty. I think it looks great. And that's when we started trying to install XP. I would point out the times, and the fact that that is 'started trying', not 'succeeded'. We started somewhere around 11pm. It is now 4:30 am in the fucking morning, and it has still not fucking installed. It was supposed to be this colossus, this great legendary thing - XP, the Windows system one might almost think Microsoft did not make. Well, somehow the version I have has a fetish for anuses and wire brushes. It's crashed approximately forty times on us so far, and that's on the fucking install. And it's not just one type of error every time, oh no, that would be easy and might be solvable. No, it starts playing fucking Russian Error Roulette. So, currently, I have two machines, neither one of which is usable. Adam has generously loaned me his computer for me to write this rant. Did I mention that every single fucking time it crashes it goes back to the start to install everything all over again? Oh. Every single fucking time it crashes it goes back to the start to install everything again. There. I am less than impressed by all this, and thus will be computerless for a few more days. In closing, I have this to say. Fuck.That is all. >Musings and Mutterings
Well - the QCCC managed to pick up a hard-fought win on the weekend - defeating the former competition leaders to take their place on top of the B3N table. PRetty happy with that result - even though we did spend over four hours straight in the field. THe saying "catches win matches" was never more true. Hospital's chief resistor had a sitter dropped when he was on less that 5, and managed to go on to score a painfully slow 50+ score. Them's the breaks I guess. At least I managed to make some decent enough choices in the rotation of bowlers that I don't think anybody was completely stuffed by the time we spent in the field.
Blogger's stuffing around on the back-end is causing irritating problems in updating the site for everyone. OF course their initial stuffing-around seems to have broken the permalinks, and I haven't been bothered/had time to sit down and fix them yet. Been a quiet week at work so far. At least no-one's shown up there drunk or decided to puke their guts up during intermission.........yet. There's an unwritten law for computers that no matter how much hard drive space you have - the data will always expand to fill it. Sigh - time to fire up the burner again and do a clear-out. Thank god blank cd's are cheap as chips. Remember when you'd pay $20 for a box of 10 Disks. Now you can pick up spindle packs of 50 cdr's for less than 20 bucks if you know where to look. Been enjoying the new Metallica album quite a bit this week. Picked it up for literally just over $20. I remember reading a week or so ago on a message board someone claiming that the whole clamour over parallel importing was a beat-up by the Howard Government and it hadn't had a positive effect. Seems to me the fact that you can buy new release albums for the $20 mark instead of the $29.95+ range you had a few years ago is proof that this is a load of bullshit (unless you shop at a rip-off merchant like $anity of HMV - but then you deserve it for being stupid). Then again - you still hear whinging from the various recording industry bodies worldwide that the internet is still to blame for any decrease in Back on those Matrix movies - here is an excellent analysis of some of the problems Revolutions has. Despite enjoying the movie - I agree with alot of this. And finally - talking about hard core - Peter Jackson really wants those movies finished on time doesn't he. 
Tuesday, June 17, 2003Ascent To Transcendence: 2 TurnsI have the new parts for the Upgrade. All that remains is putting them together in such a way that they will work. Which, although I am enlisting Adam in the Great Endeavour, is likely to be not as simple as it sounds... It might be a while before I post on the new machine, but who can say? TODAY'S OFFERING !!!! Iron Maiden Announce New Album !!! Way cool: Gollum's MTV Acceptance Speech Fuckwit: 'Matrix' influence examined in slayings Keh? Wierd Airline Ad SCO may expand Linux case soon SCO not disturbing AIX users yet SCO(R) Announces Immediate Termination of IBM's Right to Use and Distribute AIX Software and Files for Permanent Injunction IBM Comment on SCO Press Release So That's How They Made It!Someone has gone ahead and built a model of the Nebuchadnezzar from the Matrix. And, in addition, did you know that it is possible to misspell 'the', exactly the same way, three times in a row? I didn't know, until I did it. Safer Than A Volvo?Sometimes, you want to buy a car just because it makes you feel safe on the road. Monday, June 16, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING  
CAMS = MORONS The Confederation Of Australian Motor Sport has managed to fuck up, royally, a decisiion at the Winton round a couple of weekends ago. Greg Murphy was closely trailing Craig Lowndes when Lowndes drifted and Murphy had nowhere to go but into Lowndes. CAMS issued a large fine to Murphy who was totally innocent of any wrong-doing. This is not just the view of myseld. Anyone watching the incident would agree (except if you are a blind and/or old CAMS official like Colin Bond). RPM, the Channel 10 producrtion covering the series, has also questioned the decision and it seems that CAMS is now in, at least, partial damage control. The V8 Supercar series is most probably the best saloon car series in the world (many Formula 1 and other international drivers agree and also have the aspriations of racing in Australia when they retire from the F1 like series) however, CAMS has made many stupid decisions in the past. Maybe it is time for CAMS to have a good look at things and make sure that whatever they do that they don't fuck up the series. Unfortunately CAMS has defended itself instead of realising that neither Murphy, Lowndes or anyone with eyes believe there was a shred of malice involved.  
ROCK! SUN AND RED HAT ENTER INTO GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT Sun to Distribute Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat to Distribute Sun's Java(tm) Curious and Interesting: McNealy's Last Stand Technical muscle and a history of innovation made Sun a Silicon Valley standard-bearer. It also blinded famously combative Scott McNealy to the coming Linux wars. Now he's fighting to survive. heh: Linux kernel coder puts SCO on notice Well, at least the problem with w.Bloggar can be explainedFrom the homepage and from Blogger. Looks like the move to a new server is causing problems for client tools like w.Bloggar (I'm getting Java NullPointerExceptions on both the old and the new servers).(Oh, and Adam, about the template - we were talking about the one for the page. There isn't one for individual posts) Dumbass fucking free-to-air TVSo, it's Monday night. You sit down to watch the latest episode of one of your favourite TV series. And what do you find? It's a fucking repeat of a pointless episode from a year and a half ago. Goddamn channel fucking Seven. . .And then, Blogger decides to screw up as well so you have to use the website instead of w.Bloggar. . . Wiggling Noodles
It's late at night. It's cold. I think "A nice warm cup of soup would go down well this evening". I go out to the kitchen, put the jug on and open the cupboard. Looking for soup I find a packet of chicken noodle soup. Opening the packet, I dump it's contents into a mug. "That's weird" I think to myself, "It's come out all clumped". Reaching for the jug, I take a look into the mug I have in front of me. "Are those noodles moving?" I ask myself. I take a closer look. "Yep - those noodles are moving alright".
 I didn't have my cup of soup after all...
Sunday, June 15, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING The Nanotech Nose: Towards A Smaller Future Lockheed Martin to Build Nuclear Powered Spacecraft: Lockheed Martin have received a $6M contract Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter ISS Crew Spots Small Unknown Object Floating Nearby Did SCO open Unix source code? A good question: What does the SCO Unix code reveal? Analyst who saw SCO 'evidence' says origin of code a matter of debate I, Cringely: Twice As Much Nothing to Watch on TV 
**** TRANSMISSION INITIATED **** A SMALL RANT-LIKE UPDATE ON THE SCO SAGA Well a little while has passed since the famous SCO = Wankers! post. Many developments have been made since then. Novell have released a document showing that SCO had repeatedly requested Novell to transfer the remaining licences. Novell also claims that SCO does not own these licences. SCO then produces a document that is an ammendment to the original agreement that shows that SCO do own a bunch more licences. Confused? Whell you bloody should be, The Open Group own a crap load of licences to System V including the UNIX trademark. This means that IBM's ability to call AIX a Unix system is due to its license from The Open Group. Basically this means that The Open Group sets the standards that everyone has to adhere to in order to have their system called a UNIX. Also since the original rant SCO has showed the code in question (the IBM Linux question) to some people. These people, who have signed a nondiclosure agreement, have reported that the code shown to them from the SCO source and from the Linux source are indeed identical, right down to the layout and code comments. This would indicate to me that the code was copied from one source to the other. But, which one? Some time ago SCO began working on Open UNIX. This was about unifying Unix and Linux as "the two have a huge amount in common", said Ransom Love, CEO od Caldera Systems. Mr Love also said "So we are taking both and combining them into one platform." Hmmm...interesting...SCO are now claiming that there is similarity bewteen SCO's UNIX and Linux....of course there is! SCO was doing that with Open UNIX! But, as always, theres more. SCO have also added the ability to run Linux binaries from within SCO UNIX. It would make sense here that SCO didn't rewrite the UNIX system to have this ability but rather that SCO added the ability to their UNIX. It is just as proable that SCO copied from Linux as it is that someone put UNIX code into Linux. This might seem as though it is OK for SCO to do, well it isn't. The GNU GPL (General public License), available from gnu.org in plain text format or from opensource.org in a slightly more aesthetically pleasing format), states in its preamble: ...if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code.To my knowledge SCO dont distribute UNIX under the GPL, otherwise they wouldn't be whining that IBM has placed SCO intellectual property into Linux. Now, if IBM did not put the code there and SCO claim that they didn't either, then who the hell did? Well there is a theory that UNIX and Linux share a common ancestor, BSD (Berkeley Software Distrbution). UNIX System V Release 4's largest features was that it included features from BSD. This resulted in large amounts of BSD code going into System V. The BSD licence permits this as long as the relevant code is properly attributed. Apparenty this code was not attributed correctly, this information came out in 1992 when AT&T attempted to sue Berkeley. Reportedly AT&T had replaced the BDS copyrights with their own. AT&T had stolen Berkeley code not the other way around. Surely more thatn one Linux developer had been influenced by BSD. Apparently some people from the BSD project had noticed that significant amount of the Linux kernel was stolen from BSD witout attributions and GPL copyrights added. So... Does SCO have a case against IBM for Intellectual Property rights violations? Does Linux have one over SCo for being the original source? Does BSD have one on both UNIX and Linux.? The only thing that is certain is that I shall rant. INFORMATION SOURCES: I, Cringeley OpenSource.org GNU.org SlashDot.org: IP Theft in the Linux Kernel You have just been reading another Brain Fart from Grant ****TRANSMISSION TERMINATED**** Saturday, June 14, 2003The Two TowersMore LoTR goodness in the extended edition of The Two Towers. Looks like it still doesn't explain why the movie Ents had their forest sense neutered. . .Friday, June 13, 2003Subtitled Kikkoman!Some of you may remember a weird animation called Kikkoman. Well, somebody went and subtitled it. Um, yeah..For great justice, take off every cow, I guess. Though maybe Starship Troopers (the movie, not the book) could have learned a thing or two from the killer cow project. Oh, and more geniuses are flocking to the defense of oppressed minorities again. Huzzah. Thursday, June 12, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING Cool Paint Job: 
Find more interesting images at StrangeCosmos.com. Such as THE REAL REASON HARLEY'S ARE SO POPULAR and don't miss the SUPER CONDOM but be sure to watch out for DADS BUYING NEW BRA'S FOR THEIR TEENAGE DAUGHTERS FIRST DATE. Wednesday, June 11, 2003Bloody BluesAnother year - another disgraceful Queensland performance in the opening game, going down to NSW 25-12. Once again Shaun Berrigan showed he doesn't have what it takes to be a top quality half - particularly in combination with Ben Two back who deserve a wrap are Hegarty and Sing, who along with Lockyer were outstanding in defence. Sing in particular was put under constant pressure and never one slipped up. Hegarty as well produced a number of outstanding runs with the limited ball he had. If nothing else - the leading try scorer for the NRL this season - Rhys Wesser - has to come into the side for Game 2. Shifting Sing and Hegarty into the centres and placing Wesser and Schifoske (another unlucky omission from the side) on the wings would produce a much more dangerous attacking side that we currently posses. Of course - all this is conditional upon Queensland finding a decent half-back or five-eight for the next game. The Iken-Berrigan combo just doesn't cut the mustard. In the forward pack I don't think there was too many problems. I do think however that serious consideration should be given to Andrew Gee's place in the side. While he's been a fine servant for Queensland for a number of seasons and is still as brutal as they come with prop forwards, I don't know if he can still cut it for the full 80 minutes. With interchanges being as precious as they are at this level, maybe a player like Travis Norton would have been of more use coming off the bench in his place. Maybe I'll be in a better frame of mind in the morning, but they're my depressing thoughts on the first State of Origin match for this year. TODAY'S OFFERING Three for Mars Cray Rock! CRAY X1 SUPERCOMPUTER DEMONSTRATES SUPERIOR PROCESSOR SPEED AND EFFICIENCY ON INDUSTRY-STANDARD LINPACK TEST Way cool: Linux Rocket Many of the comments were worth the read. Sun rocks!Sun Leads Linux+UNIX(R) Server Market in Revenue and Marketshare
Business as usual: Microsoft dumping WinXP in anti-Lindows effort? I, Cringely: Technician, Steal Thyself. SCO, Not IBM, May Have Put Unix Code Into Linux Instead? Article Quote: Can it be that the very crime SCO is accusing IBM of committing could have been done, instead, by SCO itself? I think so. Tuesday, June 10, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING Novel f*cks up: Novell admits it sold rival some Unix rights Gee, what a shame: LINUX THREAT TO MICROSOFT IS VERY REAL Not a shame: UK councils dump Windows for Linux Apparently SCO has a part of a case: Linux-Unix ties spelled out Lets get it over with: SCO readies for IBM showdown Monday, June 09, 2003
The latest on transmet
Tuesday 21st January 2003: Transmetropolitan Update: Creator Warren Ellis has went on record about the rumour yesterday of a Transmetropolitan movie "Patrick Stewart has apparently said, in a dozen places, that he still wants to make a TRANSMET film. This does not mean one is in production, nor that anyone's actively working to develop it right now. I think Patrick's brilliant. I think he'd make an excellent Spider Jerusalem. Providing Darick was amenable, and I can't imagine he wouldn't be, we'd go and make a film with Patrick and Wendy Stewart in a second. But right now, nothing's happening. Patrick and I haven't spoken in a while -- he did the last TREK film and X-MEN 2 back-to-back -- and I haven't caught up with Wendy in a little while now. When we do talk, we talk TRANSMET. There were overtures made to Darick and I by a director about a year ago, and I kept Patrick and Wendy updated whenever anything happened -- it came to nothing, as you can tell. Hollywood's built on talk. It's no big deal. Before that, we all tried to set up TRANSMET as a web animation with rich media around it, as a stepping stone to a movie, but the company involved tried to screw us all, and that was that. What Patrick is saying is that he still wants to make the film. He knows I'm right there with him. We see things the same way. Patrick publicly attaching himself to the project doesn't hurt. But right now, nothing's happening". Monday 9th February 2003: Transmetropolitan Update: Artist Darick Robertson has revealed that although they offered the rights to Transmetropolitan for a reasonable figure that Patrick Stewart's Production Company Flying Freehold Productions have not (as yet) picked them up. info found at www.thezreview.co.uk Sunday, June 08, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING Cheating Fruit (Slot) Machines. Is it just me or should fruit not be allowed to lie? Sun Microsystems' OS Strategy Thursday, June 05, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING Cows With Guns Animation. Its not bad...a little repetitive but worth the look. Legal action hits SCO Web site. Go the Germans! SCO Group, the company that has warned major companies that using Linux could get them in legal trouble, has shut down its German Web site after a Linux advocacy group in the country obtained a restraining order. SCO & UNIX: A Comedy of Errors Dont forget to ahve a look at the Poll on the article. Article Quote: This problem may partially explain SCO's approach of avoiding copyright claims, but the Novell announcement suggests even more serious problems for SCO. SCO's approach is almost a textbook example of how not to enforce intellectual property rights. First, don't check the scope of your rights, so you must keep changing your public position. Second, sue on your weakest and most difficult to prove rights. Third, keep the "infringements" secret to further lower your credibility. Fourth, threaten to sue everyone in the known universe before you have a decision enforcing your rights. Fifth, trumpet your successful license to the major competitor for the targeted product (Microsoft) who obviously has other motives for executing such a license. Sixth, irritate the other potential owners of the rights so that they go public with their version of events. The question is: Who stole what from whom? Article Quote: At the base of it all is SCO's claim that some code it owns found its way into the Linux kernel. Or, to be more specific, that some code to which it may or may not have purchased rights from someone else found its way into the Linux 2.4.x kernels. Grand Poobah SpeakingGrant - gratz on the promotion. Guess that might be one of the multitude of listed rants you have that we can mark off(Why won't they let me program!!!!!!).Sidebar - all that takes is for your Grand Poobah here to update the template. Now that G's got his 'net connected sorted - he can update me with an email address and I'll fix that pronto. Tacky HTML - well since the oral english teacher (cue Beavis and Butthead sniggers) has finally worked out how to turn java on on his browser (and they let him design a database - sheesh) - I might finally get around to updating that. BBQ - well - Dan-da-man's turnin up - Nick is (assuming I let him play cricket this Saturday) is coming - Sadam's coming - even Josh is turning up after work. The only no-show so far is Lance (wimp - China is not an acceptable excuse). News stuff - don't know if this is what you're looking for Nick - but I always find crikey a reasonable source for news/information/analysis of political and economic goings-on in Australia at the moment. Keep in mind that the site is run by a former finance journalist-turned disgruntled former Jeff Kennett press secretary-turned target for defamation actions by almost anyone. Take his slant into account and it tends to be a pretty good read. OF course - theres always http://news.google.com.au/. Wednesday, June 04, 2003LawI think I know more about American law than I do about Australian law. . . TV is completelyy useless for both countries, and the only real law I tend to keep track of is American high-tech and intellectual property law. There is a certain point to that, since a large fraction of the tech industry is still driven by American law, and I also work for a big American corporation (and a bunch of my friends are lefties. Go figure). There's also the tendency for Australian courts to follow America's lead (or for our legislators to be swayed by US corporate and governmental pressure).A lot of it, though, is just due to Slashdot and other online resources being American, along with a lot of the interesting figures in IP and security issues (Lessig, Felten, Schneir, etc, etc). The same goes for the stuff relating to Open Source adoption. Whirlpool can give a heads up for broadband and some other communications related stuff, but what else is out there for this sort of thing in Australia? Congrats Grant!Hey, that means you'll have to come out Saturday so we can celebrate (Woohoo, best excuse we've had in ages).(Hmm, does that mean a certain company might be accepting resumes for tech support? Some people here might be interested in that. . . ) I'll leave the e-mail question for le god of le blog (who could probably get rid of a certain use of the hated tag. We know he's in China!)
The other side
seems only fair the other side has video games ] Beginning, we must say that we cannot seriously talk ] about “Arab Electronic Games”, since this sort of games ] is unavailable in the market. If there were some, they would ] rather be simple, sloppy, and unable to meet the ambition of ] the young generation, where it can present a 3D game that ] converses with the reality and draws ahead a picture of a ] complete world via which a young man can move, as happens ] in the foreign games. ] ] This gap is one of the gaps that face Arab programming ] production. This gab must not be underestimated and it heads ] the top of the Arab programmers’ agenda. These programmers ] give priority – fairly – to other grave issues they are ] working on, trying to find solutions for them, especially ] that which concerns the great development of world’s ] programming, which requires updates via exerted huge efforts, ] where Arab programmers seem unable to exert, due to the lack ] of the possibilities. ] ] Ahead of this Arab weakness, there was a continuous ] American-western attack on our boys. There are different ] types of games their hands can reach everyday amongst who ] some can be considered as scandalous by all means, such as ] that game in which a player “destroys the terrorist camps ] that were established by the terrorist organizations in the ] south of Lebanon!” ] ] Ahead of this two-complicated-trends reality, western attack ] and Arab defeat. It was necessary to oppose this problem via ] one of two solutions: banning these games exclusively, ] knowing this issue is not possible since some of its aspects ] are illogic, or working towards the opposite direction by ] finding an alternative issue – that can offer fun to our ] boys –. In addition, this presents games, which can suite ] our reality and does not crash against the moderm and ] struggling values of our nation. So Hizbullah has released a video game.. Its a windows platform first person shooter. It appears to be available for download here. Special Force - Islamist Video Game
I got bored so, here's some fun stuff
Obviosly a number of these have a big, Big WTF factor some posts from memestreams ] Experienced players of these games are 30 percent to 50 ] percent better than nonplayers at taking in everything ] that happens around them, according to the research, which ] appears today in the journal Nature. They identify objects ] in their peripheral vision, perceiving numerous objects ] without having to count them, switch attention rapidly ] and track many items at once. I knew all that Grand Theft Auto playing would pay off. ] The professor and her student decided to study the ] connection between video game playing and visual ] attention. They carried out four experiments on ] undergraduates, all of them male because no female ] shooter game fans could be found on campus. Haha.. Video-Game Killing Builds Visual Skills, Researchers ] You've seen these cards on the nightly news. They've been ] featured in newspapers worldwide. Now you can own the one ] true collector's item from Operation Iraqi Freedom. This ] is the same 55-card deck given to Coalition soldiers ] featuring the Iraq's 52 "Most-Wanted" leaders. Yours for only $5.95 GreatUSAflags.com - Iraqi 'Most-Wanted' Deck of Playing Cards Some posts from geek.com Nintendo stops production of ancient consoles - Nintendo will finally stop making its NES and SNES consoles in Japan in September. The consoles, which were called the Famicom and Super Famicom in Japan, have been kept in production since their inception in Nintendo's homeland. The 8-bit machine hit stores in Japan on July 15, 1983. Some sources in Japan believe that the decision to pull the plug on the two systems is, in fact, the beginning of a revival for the Famicom. This July will be the 20th anniversary of the original Famicom. It's kind of sad to see the NESes go. I have many a fond memory of staying up late trying to beat all of the Mario games, or spending snow days trying to master the original Teenage Mutant Ninja game ... does anyone remember that one? - by Brian D. Lawyer blames murder on violent video games - A Florida lawyer hopes to defend a 16-year-old boy in a murder case, claiming the teen was driven to kill by his love of aggressive video games. The attorney is trying to get an Ohio judge to appoint him to the case so he can make the argument before a jury. Here's just of taste of what's to come if Jack Thompson gets his chance: "Whatever happened (in JoLynn's death), it was not murder," Thompson has written. "The American video industry must share the blame." The 17-year-old victim, JoLynn, was found with her skull crushed and her body stabbed multiple times. The suspect, Dustin Lynch, now 16, was later found in JoLynn's stolen car. The family of the victim also believes that video games are to blame for their daughter's death, apparently. "It has been our desire and our intent to assist in Lynch's defense as witnesses to his nonviolent nature while he was a guest in our home as well as to his obsessive video game behavior," the victim's father wrote to a judge in the case. - by Brian D. Crecente Young teens go on crime spree to fuel video gameathon at café - Apparently all-nighters at video game cafés are becoming a problem for very young teens in New Zealand. Recently, two 13-year-old video game "junkies" were arrested after they went on a four-day gaming binge fueled by cash stolen from 40 taxis over 6 weeks. The boys had apparently slept under the café's computer desks on several occasions, and were apparently majorly addicted to Counter-Strike. According to the article a lot of Kiwis (a.k.a. New Zealanders) drop their kids off at gaming cafés so they can go dance and drink the night away unfettered by their spawn. Local authorities are pressuring the café owners to keep a better eye on younger patrons and chiding the parents of children. Is this a whole new type of latch-key kids, I wonder? Keyboard Kids? How strange. - by Brian D. Crecente New PlayStation 2 due out early next year - Holy crap! Sony is breaking all of the rules, announcing a new console dubbed the PSX due out NEXT YEAR. The device will have a PS2 at its heart, but will feature a 120 GB hard drive, recordable DVD RW/R drive, TV tuner, and an Ethernet port. The device will also include USB 2.0 support, a Memory Stick slot, and a connector for its upcoming PSP portable gaming system. The system comes with a pretty snazzy face-lift that will make you want to make this baby the cornerstone of your entertainment system. The idea is to create a new home entertainment market for the PlayStation brand. The PSX is due out by the end of the year in Japan, and in the U.S. and Europe in early 2004. No word on price, but I expect you'll have to sell your liver to get your hands on this bad boy ... a good deal if you ask me. I wonder what this release will do to the timing of the PS3? Kind of makes it hard to decide what to do as a consumer: wait for the new PSX featuring PS3 technology or leap now. Thanks to Geekzilla for the heads-up. - by Brian D. Crecente TODAY'S OFFERING WHAT THE FUCK?! Metallica strikes new Net chord The longtime opponents of Internet piracy, who sued file-swapping network Napster in federal court, are promoting downloads of their songs via Metallicavault.com, a Web site set to launch Thursday Tuesday, June 03, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING I, Cringely: Going for a Streak-Free Finish: Will Microsoft's Answer to Linux Be Windex Instead? Way cool: The "Alien" Case by Crimson Sky Get a load of this: (names have been changed to protect the innocent. Note that the balance is a negative, indicating that the debt has been overpaid.) Hello MR X: This Is The Greatest And Best Movie Ever MadeWell, it's not made yet. Information is scant, but I know that this movie will utterly ROCK. Monday, June 02, 2003TODAY'S OFFERING Ever think the history of UNIX was simple? Think Again! There is also this version that highlights the parts that have gone into SCO. (Note that it is hosted by SCO.) There is also a history of Windows and of Programming Languages. EvilWM - Minimalist Window Manager hmmm....SCO's CEO says buy-out could end Linux fight You're Still Vandals You WankersArticles like this really tend to annoy me. Remember a few months back two 'peace protestors' decided to vandalise the Sydney Opera House because they wanted to make a public statement. Now that the pair have come to trial they're now wanting to negotiate compensation with the building's board. Now why are they being allowed to do this? THese two bastards are nothing more than common filthy vandals, just like those ignorant little thugs who think they're nothing better than 'tagging' and graffitiing any public property they can get near. Councils around Australia spends millions of dollars each year cleaning up after such thugs, and now these two scum don't think they should have to pay the full penalty for their vandalism. Guess what boys - you broke the law - you decided to damage someone elses property - and that's illegal. Of course one of this shits is also whinging that this court action might jeopardize his working visa. Of course it bloody well should - why should we let someone in this country who shows such disregard to our national landmarks and our laws while thousands of hard-working decent people who wouldn't get up to such stupid stunts are rejected every year. Pack your bags son and bugger off back home where you can deface your own national landmarks you sorry git.Sunday, June 01, 2003Free MagicWell, it seems Ars Magica, one of the Great Games I Will Never Get To Playtm, has done really well for the publishers, Atlas Games. (You might also know Atlas Games as the publishers of Feng Shui). As a result, they are now releasing Ars Magica as a free download. This means I spent a lot of money a while back for a nifty cover for a book. Oh well. :)
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