I found this posted in comments on Slashdot, and though it's probably pretty old, I'm posting it here, since it appeals to my twisted sense of humor.

Customer: What is the command that will tell me the revision code of a program?
UNIX consul: Yes, that's correct.
Customer: No, what is it?
UNIX consul: Yes.
Customer: So, which is the one?
UNIX consul: No. 'which' is used to find the program.
...

A few weeks back, I was looking for small form-factor PCs, under $1000 with enough power to run as a linux/BSD server. My problem was that I wanted to run multiple computers at home, but since I don't have acres of desk space, I wanted something smaller than the typical tower. I stubled across a reference to the EPC II on the misc@openbsd.org mailing list.

Digging deeper, I discovered that the EPC's vendor, ibuypower.com, was the exclusive US distributor for the Taiwanese company Saintsong, who manufactures 2 models of "Pocket PC," the Espresso and the Cappuccino G1 (aka the EPC and EPC II). The Cappucino is particularly cool, and starts to look like one of those convergence devices everyone's always talking about. To me, it's a platform in need of a killer app.

You can read more about these devices in ArsTechnica's review of the Espresso.

Once again, the DCMA has proven to be one of the biggest threats to free speech in the Digital Age. This article at Slashdot discusses how legal threats made by the RIAA forced a group of academics to cancel the presentation of their paper at a scientific conference. Why? The paper demonstrates how to defeat SDMI watermarking... which the RIAA claims would violate DCMA. Although the Slashdot article states that the paper could be classified as a circumvention device, the RIAA letter is much more vague. Either way, this is a clear example of how the DCMA threatens free speech and fair use as we know it.

Mail from Mr. Booker:

http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/04/25/loc_mtv_show_gets_blame.html

Check this out, this is like Divine Brown (the Hugh Grant hooker) fame.

So, a bunch of kids run each other over with cars on video. MTV's show, Jackass, is blamed. There's universal condemnation and hysteria. But, no one's paying attention to the fact that they say they weren't emulating Jackass and the runover kid doesn't have cable (look at the link).

But, the media in some places is showing the video over and over and they are swamped with interview requests. So, they become famous for being stupid teenagers? This is news?

Mail from Mr. Booker:

http://www.bucadibeppo.com/locations.htm

remember when Buca was just this simple little restaurant with a neat concept down on 12th street? Now it's like McBuca. I measure overfranchisization by the number of times a place is recommended to me by hotel staff. Buca is getting close to saturation by that standard. Do I really need to eat the same food in San Diego, Garden Grove CA and West Des Moines Iowa?

At least Buca food is decent. Rainforest Cafes are starting to crop up all over, and anything more than one of those is too much. Too many squawking parrots for me.

In A.D. 2101
War was beginning.
Captain: What happen ?
Operator: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
Cats: How are you gentlemen !!
Cats: All your base are belong to us.
Cats: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say !!
Cats: You have no chance to survive make your time.
Cats: HA HA HA HA ....
Operator: Captain !!
Captain: Take off every 'zig' !!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move 'zig'.
Captain: For great justice.

From Pollstar:

Moby has put together an eclectic group of pop and electronic artists to create the Area: One festival, a traveling extravaganza rolling out for 18 dates starting July 11 in Atlanta.

The article can be found here, and you can look up a list of tour dates here.

We're nearing the end of the OpenBSD 6 month development cycle, and there are signs that 2.9 is nearing completion. Some details:

• XFree86 4.0.3 has been checked in to the CVS tree, and is scheduled for inclusion in 2.9.
• The current snapshots at the OpenBSD ftp site are starting to be tagged as 2.9.
• New 2.9 cover art has been spotted at http://www.openbsd.org/images/openbsd29_cover.jpg.
• Discussion on the mailing lists indicates that soft updates will be considered stable in 2.9. Soft updates theoretically improve the performance of the file system without diminishing recoverability.

You can support the development process by installing a snapshot release and reporting bugs.

Today Apple announced that QuickTime 5 is now available for download. The Pro version costs $30, and QuickTime 3/4 users will have to pay again (unfortunately), but purchases made since October 2000 qualify for a free upgrade. QuickTime Streaming Server 3 will be available in May. New features include new 360° QuickTime VR, Skins, MPEG-1 support, a new digital video codec, Improved AppleScript support, a better music synthesizer, and Flash 4 built-in.

"QuickTime 5 includes an enhanced user-interface with new audio controls, “Hot Picks” guide and QuickTime TV™ (QTV) channels display; a new DV codec for enhanced speed and quality; the ability for content creators to design custom interfaces for the delivery of their QuickTime content; and a component downloader to add Apple’s own enhancements as well as third-party plug-ins on the fly. QuickTime 5 also offers full support for MPEG-1, Flash 4 and QuickTime’s new Cubic VR technology."

From the ESD Journal:

The US standard railroad gauge (width between the two rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number...

http://www.esdjournal.com/articles/funny/chariot.htm