byuu, I'm sure you've got a million replies, but I wanted to add one more "thank you".

I never liked the idea of the Bayesian spam filtering that is most popular with big e-mail providers. I figure, as a software engineer, I have e-mail conversations about spam that might be caught by the filters. And in the meantime, the spammers are including paragraphs of text out of The Hobbit in their messages. Yeah, I know the spam filtering tech has gotten a lot more accurate over the years. But...

Years ago, I decided to do it myself. I set up my own e-mail server and built custom filters. I look for connections that violate SMTP protocols. I look for connections that don't have host names. I look for messages with forged headers or that violate SPF or that come from domains known to use Domain Keys, but don't have one.

I use white lists and black lists and thresholds for things that aren't automatically spam, but if there are enough of them, then it gets flagged.

Sure, I'm doing a lot more work than you are, but I successfully block thousands of spam messages each day, and only very rarely have one sneak through (and then I figure out how it got through, and update my system), and also fairly rarely I'll block a legitimate message (and most of the time that's because of a mail server configuration issue on their end).

Sometimes, it's good to be a geek.

Come on people, we're "nerds", let's get it right! Repeat after me: Daylight Saving Time .

And yes, it is stupid.

Come on, we're Slashdot. Let's not misuse terms like "Open Source". Those words, together, mean something specific! This is a "free (as in beer)" web tool. It's not a software application at all, and it certainly isn't Open Source (which would imply that we have access to the source code, and a license like GPL, BSD, or Apache to use it).

Someone else already mentioned Sound Proof Windows, but in my house 90% of the noise comes through the walls, rather than the windows. I discovered this after upgrading my windows, of course.

If I were building from scratch using stick construction, I'd consider using staggered studs.

If I were really motivated, but not building new, I'd use Green Glue and just add that between the existing wall and an additional layer of new drywall.

There's plenty you can do on existing construction, but most of it is expensive, and a pain in the butt. The insulation and caulking you've added probably won't help much, since the exterior is attached directly to studs, to which the interior is also directly attached. It transmits vibrations easily, without regard for your insulation. The staggered studs and the green glue are the best ways I know of for dampening residential noise.

I might have, if I weren't making an internet pun... right?

I really hope that Randall trolls the internet (or at least slashdot) looking for mentions of his name. It's like having a friend on the internet. He's a genius, and sometimes (well, most of the time), I feel like he's writing and drawing just for me. Thank you.

Games are the only consumer software worth paying for. Most productivity software is worth enough that businesses are willing to invest in open source projects like Eclipse, LibraOffice, Firefox, etc, and everyone, including home users, get to benefit from that. And AS a home user, I'm a good enough programmer, that I can build most of the utilities I need at home, by myself. But I'm not much of an artist or a storyteller. And unfortunately, IBM, Google, and Oracle don't feel the need to entertain their corporate minions. What it boils down to, is that the only commercial software applications I've used at home in a decade are games, and then, only the ones that run successfully and easily in Wine (like the original StarCraft). Sure, I want open source games, but that's an awful lot of effort with no corporate backing. So whenever a commercial game comes along that is fun and supports Linux (preferably without Wine), I'll buy it.

The last half dozen times I've flown, I managed to steer myself to a metal detector line, instead of an irradiating machine. A few weeks ago, though, they simply weren't using the old fashioned metal detectors, so I had my first "opportunity" to opt-out. I was really looking forward to being fondled and groped, but the TSA screeners were so uncomfortable, that they probably weren't able to determine definitively that I was male, much less if I were carrying something dangerous, like a comb or a camera. The dudes didn't want to touch me or look at me! While I was being not-fondled, one of the other TSA screeners unpacked and repacked my carry-on at least three times, and re-X-rayed it. I guess she was confused about why I would need two phone chargers (one for the wall, and one for the car). I mean, aside from that, there were two books and some napkins. Oh and a bottle of alcohol - but no one had any problem with that. I got the impression that she was just trying to punish me for daring to opt out. The guys just wanted to move on. It would have been cute, if the rules they were following didn't so blatantly violate good sense.

Nobody said the GOP was stupid - it takes a high degree of intellect to use religion to steal billions of dollars from the public and funnel it to their own personal interests. And even more impressive is how they convinced the public that the Democrats are actually different than the GOP and that there's any "choice" at all!

I use lots of math. Mostly trigonometry and geometry (software deals with mapping and displaying positions), probability (for the AI stuff), linear algebra (for drawing, calculating intersections, etc), discrete math (for dealing with data structures and database query optimization), and formal logic (for figuring out computer languages).

I have very occasionally used calculus, but mostly to prove optimality of algorithms and sometimes for physics stuff, but mostly as a software engineer, someone else already did the calculus, and you just need to be able to use the results. I cross the line a bit between research and application, so I do a little of both.

But the overwhelming majority of software people (even in my R&D organization) don't use math at all, beyond basic arithmetic and simple logic. Most software is just data storage and retrieval with a pretty interface. The libraries, languages, and operating systems do all the heavy lifting for you. But I would seriously hate my life if all I did was glue together parts built by other people, and had to tell myself that my area of expertise was "business logic", so understanding how the underlying stuff works is unimportant. I build those underlying parts, and that's why I need and know math.

Are we all students again? Some of us don't really get all summer off. I did start the summer with a week in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Otherwise, it's been the normal 9-5! Next vacation, not until Fall.

My house too, and it is loud. It's my favorite sound in the whole damn world. And I miss it. Desperately. I now work at Dulles, and everyone always stops to watch when the new A380 flies over, but it's way too quiet, and not nearly as graceful. No one ever wondered if the Concorde would make it over the trees on takeoff. I need to go over to the Udvar Hazy Center and say hi to her again. She deserves the respect, as no one has the balls to make them like that anymore.

Everyone complains about their ISP, but I've had Cox Communications for my ISP (without their cable TV package, at no extra cost or hassle) for over a decade. In that time, the price has gone up by fewer than five dollars. But every year at basically the same cost to me, they make it a little bit faster (I think it's about 15 Mbps now) and they increase the over-all usage limits (which I have never come remotely close to, despite working over a VPN during the day, and downloading lots and lots of media over night). Outages are extremely rare, and when I call them, I talk to a live human, and most of the time, that human is an actual technician who can actually help. There are few big companies who get it right, and I'm glad we've got at least one around here.

Anita Blake, because the only thing better than violence, is sex!