Slashback: Unstranding, Xecurity, Spurning

Slashback tonight with words on the real-life security level of Mac OS X, the fate of stranded polar adventurer Jon Johanson, poetry for JenniCam, more on the Wright brothers & Co, and more. Read on for the details.

Multi-player markets are a good thing. Indiana University seems to be one of the first big fish to publicly announce a license agreement with Progeny's Transition Service. This service provides updates for RedHat 7.2, 7.3, and 8.0 beyond January 1st 2004, and RedHat 9 after May 1, 2004. According to the press release, this will allow for 'a flexible migration path as the University considers various options regarding Linux distributions during the coming year.'"

But I thought MPlayer ... Simon Bysshe writes "In response to some complaints about the WMV encoding of the recent pro-gaming film 'Intel Extreme Edition Challenge' (featured here on Slashdot). Intel have requested that the film also be encoded as a DIVX file especially for Slashdot. This divx file can now be downloaded here."

More on (At Least) 100 Years Of Powered Human Flight relbs was one of many to submit word (as reported by MIT News) of a replica of the Wright brothers' Flyer perched above the Great Dome early yesterday morning, and relbs adds a link to additional photos, too.

They had better luck getting off the ground than did those trying to actually fly a Wright flyer: CrazyTalk writes "As a follow-on to the earlier story, the much-ballyhooed attempt to recreate the first flight of the Wright's literally fell flat."

Maltese Falcon writes with another candidate for First Powered Flight. "Or was it Gustave Weiskopf (aka Gustave Whitehead)? There are many claims that he flew up to 2 yrs before the Wright Bros. NPR's report yesterday seemed to imply almost paranoia as far as a conspiracy to why the NASM only recognizes the Wrights, but this link provides more info on why this could be true. Look here for another article."

Speaking of audacious pilots, jcenters writes "An earlier Slashdot story reported that Australian adventurer Jon Johanson was trapped in Antarctica, and scientists stationed there refused to sell him fuel. Reuters is reporting that Johanson has now obtained fuel from a British rival, but weather conditions are preventing his departure. Johanson hopes to leave by the end of the weekend."

BlameFate writes that "British adventurer, Polly Vacher has allowed Johanson to use her pre-stored fuel at the base after her expedition was forced to be cancelled. Fox News has the scoop. Choice quote from the head of NZ's Antarctic Research dept: 'Polly's trip was well organized and properly planned,' he said. 'It is ironic that she is now assisting a stranded pilot who embarked upon an ill-prepared and secret flight over the South Pole.'"

If something happens in Berkeley, does it count as a "real world" experience? codythefreak writes to deflect certain barbs lately directed at the security level of Mac OS X: "Working as a sysadmin at UC Berkeley's Residential Computing, since we serve more than 6,000 clients living in the dorms, we tend to know the major computing trends. There are 5,120 registered Windows XP machines in our system, and our staff have logged 2,452 duty logs to assist them (about one in two). On the other hand, there are 341 Mac OS X machines, and only 56 duty logs (about one in six). If we restrict these to virus and security related duty logs: Windows XP has 491 (about one in ten) and OS X has 2 (less than one in a hundred)!"

(See also this well-reasoned response to the recent OS X criticism.)

Was it the tail? Really, is the pointy tail a deal-breaker? Mister.de points out this Seattle Post-Intelligencer story which says "VMware Inc., a business-software maker that is being acquired by EMC Corp. for $635 million, turned down an offer last year from Microsoft Corp.

'"We were unable to come to terms, so they bought out our distant competitor, Connectix" Corp., said Diane Greene, VMware's chief executive officer and co-founder.'"

Alas, we hardly knew ye. dlc3007 writes "The Register has published the results of the JenniCam Poetry Competition. There is little funnier in the world than creative geeks pouring their hearts and souls into 'a haiku or limerick lamenting the demise of JenniCam.'" I can think of some things ...

Battlestar Galactica 2003: Series Highly Likely, Say Recent Rumors Cliff writes: "Syfy Portal reports that officials for the Sci-Fi channel are likely to announce that the new Battlestar Galactica will become a series, most likely to air as early as Summer of 2004. No official announcement has yet been made, but since the 'mini-series' is Sci-Fi channel's third highest rated program, it is assumed that such an announcement will be made before the end of 2003, if they are going to keep options on the major actors. Personally, I'm looking forward to the show, as long as they stay away from monkeys in robot-dog suits!"

/ back!

[Metallic Matty]

Well folks, that's it for Slashback Forum. Now standby for Battlestar Galatica Forum.

Puts on Robot Helmet.

(Robot Voice) Welcome to Battlestar Galatica Forum.

JenniCam Winners

[radicalskeptic]

They have about 20 or more poems up on the Register website, so for those of you who are too lazy to wade through to the two winners:

Jennicam is dead
good. For so many reasons
voyeurs sob. goodbye.

Jennicam is dead.
Good for so many reasons.
Voyeurs sob goodbye.

and...

We wanted to see Jenni's muff
But PayPal's now said that's enough
So no view of the rug
'Cause they've pulled the plug
Fuck PayPal, they can get stuffed

Isn't it ironic??

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it isn't ironic. It makes sense that someone who planned their trip well would have the capacity to help out some who was ill-prepared.

As usual, they completely misused the term "ironic".

Alanis Morrisette: +1
English language: -1

Berkeley

[SpacePunk]

Nothing there counts as a 'real world' experience.

Pointy Tail?

[kramer2718]

Was it the tail? Really, is the pointy tail a deal-breaker?

Hmmm. I don't get it? The header seemed to refer to some potential BSD deal that was quashed, but the story is talking about VMWare, Microsoft and EMC Corp.

What gives? Did I miss something?

Funnier than a...

[pixelgeek]

-- -- There is little funnier in the world than creative geeks pouring their hearts and souls into 'a haiku or limerick lamenting the demise of JenniCam.'"

-- I can think of some things ...

"Full body cavity searches" is an easy start to what would turn out to be a pretty lengthy list.

DivX vs. Ogg Media

[Noksagt]

They made a DivX file just for slashdot? I would have thought this crowd would rather have had Ogg Media files.

This should have been the winner..

[utahjazz]

Evening shadows fall
Heart! betray me not again!
Will I see a tit?

Re:Spare us the lecture

[moncyb]

Next time, save your lectures for your kids.

Oh yeah, I can imagine.

8 year old son: Dad, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten for three days.

"Dad": Well son, you should've been more prepared. See? Look, I have all this food because I came into this world prepared. You don't have any because you didn't bother to prepare. Lazy bum.

im shocked

[kemapa]

Usually anytime there is an apple bashing article or a response to an apple bashing article (as seen in the last few days and in this slashback), there is at least one person who claims to work for apple and is posting anonymously. So anonymous apple informant, did anyone get fired this time? did apple find weapons of mass destruction? i know this will get modded down, but seriously, some fanboys really need to get a grip... i mean when was the last time you saw some who supposedly worked for microsoft anonymously posting? Or someone saying "I work for Linus and the volunteer programmer has been fired"

Re:And let's not forget

[Anonymous Coward]

Without suggesting Real is or isn't in the right in this, wouldn't you generally expect a victim of antitrust behaviour to be teetering on the brink?

I mean, someone with a high market share raking in the dough is clearly not being damaged by antitrust behaviour. Likewise, you wouldn't expect a mugging victim to have a wallet full of cash.

Apologies. Logic and reason on Slashdot when I'm supposed to quote Ann Rand and whine about big bad government regulating the tech industry. I know.

Whine whine whine. Hey, do you want to hear a joke?

An Australian ventriloquist visiting Kentucky, walks along a country road and sees a local farmer on his porch patting his dog. He figures he'll have a little fun.

Aussie: "G'day Mate! Good looking dog, mind if I speak with him?"

Farmer: "Don't be stupid, the dog doesn't talk"

Aussie: "Hello dog, how's it going mate?"

Dog: "Doin' all right."

The farmer is astonished.

Aussie: "Is this guy your owner?"

Dog: "Yep"

Aussie: "How does he treat you?"

Dog: "Real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me great food and takes me to the lake once a week to play."

The farmer's mouth falls open in utter disbelief.

Aussie: "Mind if I talk to your horse?"

Farmer: "Uh, the horse doesn't talk either... I don't think."

Aussie: "Hey horse, how's it going?"

Horse: "Cool"

Now the farmer is absolutely dumbfounded.

Aussie: "Is this your owner?"

Horse: "Yep"

Aussie: "How does he treat you?"

Horse: "Pretty good, thanks for asking. He rides me, brushes me down often and keeps me in the barn to protect me from the elements."

Farmer: Stagger back in amazement.

Aussie: "Mind if I talk to your sheep?"

Farmer: "The sheep's a f**king liar."

Re:Dodgy data

[oscarm]

or could it be that their (Mac owners) OS is less likely to go on wild adventures without them?

Battlestar Galactica 2003 Series?

[macemoneta]

"Battlestar Galactica 2003: Series Highly Likely, Say Recent Rumors

And, since the series will be on the SCI-FI channel, might as well note that the series is canceled (just as soon as you decide you like it) while you're at it.

Re:Pollys quote was a little different...

[norweigiantroll]

What is Jon Johansen doing way down there in Antarctica anyways? I thought he was in trial in Norway?