Slashback: Moon Footage, KillerNic, ZFS Leopard

Slashback tonight brings some clarifications and updates to previous Slashdot stories including: some direct answers to Slashdot questions on the KillerNIC, recap in stolen laptop identity theft problems, a victory for one PayPal user, missing moon footage surfaces, Dell laptops unwelcome on Quantas flights, and more ZFS news from the Leopard front Read on for details.

Direct answers to Slashdot KillerNIC questions. Emptynest writes "A bit over a week ago, Slashdot linked a story on GDHardware.com and it was filled with a bunch of 'hard questions from the Slashdot Community" regarding Bigfoot Network's pending 'killer' Network card that promises to reduce in-game lag. It looks as if Bigfoot isn't backing down and has hand-picked several of the questions from the Slashdot Community and answered them in a new article."

Recap of stolen laptop identity theft. Kn10 writes to tell us Technibble has a brief recap of some of the major laptop thefts resulting in personal information being leaked from major organizations. From the article: "According to the FBI, laptop theft is the second most common computer crime and less than 2 percent of those stolen laptops are ever recovered. Four in five (81%) of US firms have had at least one laptop stolen containing sensitive information according to a recent study."

A victory for on PayPal user. Not-So-Anonymous Coward writes "According to his site, 'silic0nsilence', who was featured in the Summer 2006 issue of 2600, has won his long battle with PayPal Fraud. On August 15th, 2006 in Small Claims court, he was awarded $671.12 after almost a year-long war with PayPal and a user. He also successfully won a small claims suit against PayPal to commence in his case with the user."

Missing moon footage surfaces. denis-The-menace writes "Film producer and rock video director Peter Clifton was sitting watching television when he saw NASA was searching for original Apollo 11 footage. He had forgotten that in 1979 he ordered footage from The Smithsonian for use in The Dark Side of The Moon demo film. He had all but forgotten a pristine 16-millimeter film of the moon landing was part of his vast personal film catalogue"

Dell laptops unwelcome on Quatas flights. Thomas Henden writes "The Australian airline company Quantas, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, banned the in-flight use of Dell laptops on battery power. The security personnel even went so far as taping over the contacts in the batteries according to an agreement between Dell and Qantas. However the security is now somewhat relaxed — all you need to do now, is to get in touch with the personal aboard, and tell you want to use your Dell laptop, and then you will be 'advised individually.'"

More ZFS new from the Leopard front. nezmar writes "From the AppleInsider forum comes an interesting discovery about Sun's ZFS and Apple. A user who has the Leopard developer preview searched the system with Spotlight and found a mention of ZFS. He says: 'There is no file system bundle for it, nor is there a mount utility or any other one (no fsck, now newfs, etc.). There is, however, a changed vnode.h.' Looks like the story back in May might have some truth after all."

KillerNIC responds

[User 956]

So from their response, It's clear that not only does their marketing department design and develop their products, but they also perform most traditional functions, such as put together fluff non-answers for web "interviews".

bigfoot networks

[larry bagina]

I can't be the only who thinks of goatse when I see the bigfoots network logo [bigfootnetworks.com]...

you think that's bad?

[User 956]

You should see the logo for Westnet Broadband in Australia. [westnet.com.au]

Dark Side of the Moon

[Rob T Firefly]

Film producer and rock video director Peter Clifton was sitting watching television when he saw NASA was searching for original Apollo 11 footage. He had forgotten that in 1979 he ordered footage from The Smithsonian for use in The Dark Side of The Moon demo film.

Strangely enough, it turns out that the moon landing footage syncs up perfectly with "The Wizard of Oz."

Re:Still not buying the KillerNIC story.

[Trogre]

You forgot the top layer in the OSI stack:

8: Operator

So many network problems I've had to troubleshoot have been tracked to layer 8.

Unfortunately it's also the hardest layer to debug.

KillNIC??

[Monoman]

So I read some of the KillerNIC stuff because it was news to me. I wound up on http://www.endlagnow.org/ELN/TakeAction_TopTips.as px [endlagnow.org] and found it hilarious. Let's see some of their first two tips for reducing lag.

1. CONNECT DIRECTLY TO THE NET
2. TURN OFF YOUR ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Yeah I'm gonna get right on that.

Oh the Irony

[geekoid]

of "Captain Carrot" giving spelling corrections.

What next, Nobby giving advice on hygiene? Rincewind talking about the virtues of a famous last stand?

Re:KillNIC??

[Tim Browse]

I also liked their amazingly intuitive suggestion that was doubtless the fruit of much in-depth research:

6. CHOOSE THE SERVER WITH THE LOWEST PING

No kidding, professor!

Re:PayPal article

[kfg]

From here, they fly North for the winter.

I didn't say anything about winter.

. . . it's because they have magnets in their heads. . .

The magnet is the earth. Not all birds have the iron to make use of it for navigation; apparently relying on good ole VFR. Navigation methods do not address the metaissue of why they fly south.

KFG

Meet Detective Bookman of the NASA Library

[craXORjack]

CLIFTON: Oh, I'm glad you're here, so we can get this all straightened out. Would you like a cup of tea?

BOOKMAN: You got any orange drink?

CLIFTON: Orange drink?

BOOKMAN: Yeah. Orange drink.

CLIFTON: No, I don't drink orange drink.

BOOKMAN: Yeah, you don't drink orange drink? How about instant orange drink?

CLIFTON: No, I don't...

BOOKMAN: You don't have any instant Tang?

CLIFTON: Well, I don't normally--

BOOKMAN: Who doesn't have instant Tang?

CLIFTON: I don't.

BOOKMAN: You buy a jar of Tang, you put it in the cupboard, you forget about it. Then later on when you need it, it's there. It lasts forever. It's freeze-dried. Freeze-dried orange drink.

CLIFTON: Really? I'll have to remember that.

BOOKMAN: You took the moon landing movie out in 1979.

CLIFTON: Yes, and I returned it in 1979.

BOOKMAN: Yeah, '79. That was my first year on the job. Bad year for libraries. Bad year for America. Hippies burning library cards, the Betamax decision letting everybody steal movies. I don't judge a man by the length of his hair or the kind of music he listens to. Rock was never my bag. But you put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the NASA Film Library, fella.

CLIFTON: Look, Mr. Bookman. I--I returned that movie. I remember it very specifically.

BOOKMAN: You're a Rock cinematographer, you entertain people, make them have fun.

CLIFTON: I try.

BOOKMAN: You think this is all big fun, don't you?

CLIFTON: No, I don't.

BOOKMAN: I saw your name in the credits once; I remembered your name--from my list. I looked it up. Sure enough, it checked out. You think because you're a celebrity that somehow the law doesn't apply to you, that you're above the law?

CLIFTON: Certainly not.

BOOKMAN: Well, let me tell you something, music fun boy. Y'know that little stamp, the one that says "NASA Film Library"? Well that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What's this guy making such a big stink about old moon movies for? Well, let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me. Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change the world, but what about that kid renting a movie, right now, in a branch at the local library and finding X rated porn taped over the middle of The Dark Crystal and Finding Nemo? Doesn't HE deserve better? Look. If you think this is about overdue fines and missing movies, you'd better think again. This is about that kid's right to borrow a movie without getting his mind warped! Or: maybe that turns you on, Clifton; maybe that's how y'get your kicks. You and your good-time buddies. Well I got a flash for ya, joy-boy: Party time is over. Y'got seven days, Clifton. That is one week!

Re:Dark Side of the Moon

[R3d M3rcury]

Well, one of them is that when Neal first sets foot on the moon, he says, "I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto."

Re:Still not buying the KillerNIC story.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've found a hammer or a large screwdriver to do the trick (also works for PEBKAC/PIBCAKS and eye-dee-ten-tee errors. If that doesn't work, then hey: just order some large screwdrivers and get hammered.

This is Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Everything's possible here - Slashdot is served off the computer in the high-energy-magic building.

Re:Oh the Irony

[CaptainCarrot]

Im nawt korrexting the sppeling. Im korrrecting the pronunnseeashen.

Re:Was all Apollo footage lost or just Apollo 11?

[Anonymous Coward]

All the good footage was censored so that the public wouldn't know about the moon bases or extra-terrestrials observing human progress. Or that the secret underground government has had a handle on reverse engineered alien technology and had far superior space travel technology to the moon and beyond since before the Apollo missions.
</aluminum foil deflector beanie>