You can hang a caller ID box on your line and watch the kind of crap that comes in. Usually they try to make a "real" phone number, only it's in an area code you've never heard of. But some of them give shit like "123-4567" or just "1" or "---------------" for the phone number. Also fun are the ones that set the name to "NEW YORK" or "FLORDIA". I can just imagine Cletus from the Simpsons saying "Well gawwwawleee we've got us a call from NOO YARK!"

The insidious ones are like mentioned in TFS, where they use an actual number that's not theirs, often picked at random. I heard of one case where they used the phone number of some little old lady in Boston, who of course got all the backscatter from the phone spammers.

And of course most people on the receiving end of the junk calls have no clue that the CNID could ever possibly lie to them.

You mean like this one?

I think it's funny that he's worried about being pwned by the flash card firmware (answer: you can't, it's not a generic interface like USB that can be keyboards, mice, network cards, etc. on a whim), and not about being cheated by the old "1GB card that claims to be 4GB" scam.

Anyhow, here are some relevant links:
http://www.bunniestudios.com/b...
http://www.bunniestudios.com/b...

Or you can usually use your ISP's outbound mail server as your relay, without having to set up a bunch of crap that costs money.

This. I've done this with AT&T for years, even before they blocked outbound port 25. If an ISP takes outbound e-mail for a regular e-mail client, they should be able to relay outbound mail for your domain in general.

Someone in another thread was complaining that there were four twitter accounts being used by ESA. But now someone has created an entire domain for a single XKCD comic? I mean, explainxkcd could have a better presentation for #1446 but there's no reason to create a whole new freaking domain for this.

But how many stone does the probe weigh? (inb4 weight vs mass)

What, you mean the fish didn't just grow bigger in the time it took to get back?

Thanks, Enron.

HOLY CRAP why didn't you warn me that the link contained vertical video?!?!?!?!!!! Have some consideration for other people, bub!

There is a story in one of those little "zen computer parables" books, which goes something like this...

A manager pushed a little box on wheels into the computer room. He said "I would like you to use our new computer as a platform for future development." A month later the manager came back and was unhappy to see the computer in the corner of the room, covered with random printouts. The developer said "the printouts are future development, and the new computer makes a fine platform for them."

I think it depends on how much cold cash they were able to pipe away.

Except that sand is basically ground up quartz, while granite is an igneous rock consisting of multiple minerals. While granite does contain quartz, it also contains feldspar, mica, muscovite, biotite, and hornblende-type amphiboles. Perhaps if you instead tried "taking sand from granite", you might have something.

I'm going to guess that "The Empire Strikes Back" by Parker Brothers fell into the latter category. In that game you do nothing but zip around and shoot imperial walkers on Hoth. There's not much depth to that game (hey, it's only 4K), but at least it's fun.