So I just went and did my civic duty and meta-moderated. All was well and good until I recognized one of the signatures in the message, in and of itself not much of a problem. Later, one of the postings had a signature with a link to the user's journal. What that meant was even though Slashdot wouldn't tell me who wrote the message, it was plain as day thanks to the link.

Anyway just something to think about if you want to maintain your annonymity.

Well, maybe new to me, anyway.

Over the last little while I've noticed two new ways to try to sneak spam under my radar. By "radar" I mean spam filters of course. Anyway, the first was kind of interesting and it all but had to be designed to beat Bayesian filtration. The entire message was a commentary on Stanley Kubrick's film-making career, and was a good page and some in length. Then, right at the very end of the message, a single sentence with the actual commercial message. It reminded me a lot of viruses, the biological kind-here we have a lot of "junk" DNA (the commentary), more or less designed to house and deliver the payload of the spam message. Since then I've seen some variants were it looked as though the sender forgot to attach the requisite Viagra or whatever message.

The other type started cropping up only recently and has me a little more disturbed. This kind seems designed to get past my mental filtration to get me to open it, by having my name and home address in the subject line. It does bother me a little that spammers have this information, because it's more than a little intrusive for one thing but for another it means some company I've done business with online gave them the address most likely.

Because I only get this spam at a single email address I use as my spam decoy, and because it started only very recently, I have a very short list of suspects (I'm looking at you, Amazon), but no hard evidence.

I've decided against putting FreeBSD on my old laptop for the moment, primarily because it looks as though it wouldn't support my Backpack CD-RW drive through the parallel port. Oh, well, it would've been cool. Since then, I've installed Debian stable on it and it's working great. It's a little more functional than it was under VectorLinux, although at the price of being a little slower.

Using this older laptop for a while now was (I think) a sort of "try before I buy" experience. I'm thinking about my next computer purchase-believe it or not it's been better than 10 years since I bought a new PC (primarily buying old second-hand machines since then). But now I'd like to get something shiny new.

Anyway, I think I'm sold on going notebook this time around. I've noticed for a while now that people tend to be either pro or anti notebook when it comes to their purchases, and so using this older laptop was a good way for me to discover I'm pro-portable. A lot of my friends don't like portables because of the usual issues-keyboard and small screen mostly-but I like being able to lug it around room to room, building to building. I don't play much in the way of games or listen to music, so as long as the display's crisp I'm happy.

Of course, I would like to run Linux or BSD on the new laptop. If there's anybody listening, feel free to make a recommendation on a laptop/notebook that's (in order of importance) inexpensive and that supports Linux.

I'm thinking of putting one of the BSD's on an older laptop currently running Vector Linux 3.2, but the laptop doesn't have a CD-ROM drive. I do have a Micro Solutions Backpack Drive but I don't see on any of the hardware compatibility lists for the various BSD's out there that it's supported.

So, if anyone's got any experience with getting one to work under *BSD, or can definitively say whether or not they're supported, it'd be appreciated.

And for the mildly curious, the reason I'm looking to switch is because I tend to alternate betwixt Linux and FreeBSD, and I find BSD to be slightly more forgiving for older hardware such as this laptop. Besides, it's fun. :)

Appeals Court Lets 'Do Not Call' List Go Forward

DENVER (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission can go forward with its national "do not call" registry while an appeals court considers whether the list violates telemarketers' free speech rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals said on Wednesday.

The decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals makes it easier for the federal government to enforce its popular anti-telemarketing program.

The decision by a three-judge panel came about a week after the do not call list had been scheduled to go into force.

-- Now all we have to do is wait to see what happens next week.

U.S. Court Blocks Anti-Telemarketing List WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. court in Oklahoma has blocked the national "do not call" list that would allow consumers to stop most unwanted telephone sales calls, the Direct Marketing Association said on Wednesday.

The U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City said the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority when it set up the popular anti-telemarketing measure, according to the DMA.

The FTC had signed up some 50 million phone numbers for the list, which was due to take effect on Oct. 1.

So...am I the only one who still moderates? Here I am with Moderator status again, the third time in less than a week. In fact I only managed to use up the last two mod points yesterday afternoon.

I don't mind moderating, I think it's kind of a duty to make the site better. And so I'd rather not turn it off. But it seems a teensy bit much-I've tried steering clear of meta-moderating but to no avail.

So my original question stands-am I the only moderator out there?

Which leads me to several thoughts. First, I'm really glad it decided to do it at work rather than halfway home in the middle of nowhere. Second, I'm thankful so many people at work tried to help me out-I doubt any of them have ever even heard of Slashdot but thanks to them just the same. Third, I'm glad I finally went and got a cell-I can imagine the fun I'd have had if the car had died halfway home and I had no way to call for help.

Kinda on topic, there was a comedian on TV last night that helped me laugh. He said something like, "Where I come from, if you were expecting a kick in the balls but you got a slap in the face, that's a victory." Makes me feel better. :)

Recently came across an update on the FreeDOS site about Dell shipping PCs with Linux or FreeDOS installed in Canada. In case my fellow Canadians are interested, the links are here for the small business desktop and here for the higher education system. I can only get so far as to confirm RedHat and FreeDOS as options but the page dies on me soon after. Let me know if anybody successfully buys one!

Finally have a semi-functional site going. Many thanks to FreeBSD, Debian, NEdit, VIM, and their creators and maintainers for making it all possible. Extra-special thanks to PHP for making it fun to tinker again.

If anyone out there is looking for an especially small PC, and the relative money:power ratio isn't especially critical, may I humbly suggest looking into PC/104 architectures. I've been using them at work as both Linux and DOS machines and I'm pretty impressed. I can especially recommend this brand as a good place to start. Imagine integrating video and all your peripherals into a single board 3.6"x3.8"! If you're like me you find it hard to picture dimensions so take a look at your mouse: the complete computer I have in front of me right now is about the length of the mouse. It works right out of the box and boots in no time flat.

"Linux is nowhere near as advanced as Windows"

--A source "close to Microsoft,"
'Lintel Turns Up The Heat'
eWeek December 16, 2002

Let the righteous indignation commence.

This article got rejected as a story submission but I think it's cool so here it is. A company in Canada is getting ready to release a personal robot next year that can roam your house. It sees, it hears, it has IR sensors. They're billing it as something that checks up on your kids while you're at work, but I'm more partial to the security system aspect...now we just need to develop a weapons system. Insert obligatory "imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!" statements here.

Update Oct 30: Ok, so I guess it is news-worthy, just depends on who reviews it. :)

Anybody out there have any recommendations for an online custom-built PC outfit in North America? I'm seriously thinking 'bout going this route for my next PC so any referrals to good companies is appreciated.

I'm not looking for anything fancy: a generic desktop PC is fine. Preferably it'd be cheap (duh!), have a fair number of configuration options, and 'cause I don't want Windows I'm looking for somebody who makes custom-built Linux/BSD machines.

Any/all suggestions 'preciated. Thanks!

Just in case anybody out there

• Reads my journal; and
• is a U.S. software developer looking for work; and
• have ever thought of being your own boss,

may I present the latest Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) solicitations. For those who don't know, the SBIR program is a small business set-aside for the government. Each round various government agencies post topics that they'd like to receive proposals for: if you submit a proposal and win, you're given the contract. Awards vary from agency to agency but a typical Phase I "proof of concept" might be in the $70k for 6 months neighbourhood.

If you're a programmer, the DoD always has quite a few interesting software development topics out; the topics are available here. Note that there are quite a few hoops you have to run through to be eligible: U.S. citizen based in the U.S., have to be set up as a small business, have to conform to government auditing regulations, etc. Still, might be worth a shot if you're so inclined.

So a coworker recently went up to Seattle for vacation. Turns out that he's good friends with somebody who's been with Microsoft since near their beginnings.

Anyway, my coworker was talking about Microsoft's tendency to change the Office file formats with every new release. And commented on how Microsoft was shooting themselves in the foot for not doing it this time around and forcing people to upgrade. His friend looked up, thought it over, and said, "Riiiiiight."

Apparently scuttlebut is that Microsoft didn't have this evil master plan to change the format with each and every Office release, the truth was that it was easier to redo it. So there you go. Sometimes lazy looks evil.