With a large bunch of sysadmins, everyone had their own naming schema. Yeah, you try and get 4 argue-for-the-sake-of-it types to agree on something so trivia^H^H^H important. So we used CNAMEs to give context to the server. apps-prod-3, db-dev etc. All connectivity went through the CNAME... except for the sysadmins I guess. This made life really easy when replacing servers - update dns, drop the virtual iface on the old one, plumb it up on the new.

good! my macbook optical drive has been broken for ages - to be honest, i only noticed a few months ago when a friend asked me to try reading their newly purchased DVD, because their computer was buggered.

I'm pretty sure Michael wouldn't care less about "Sarah Palin" being a trademark, just like my cousin Sarah.

I stand corrected - thanks :)

I think you'll find the NAA isn't a Federal Government Agency; I think it might be a cultural institution. The distinction is important for things like legislation and accountability.

i'm sorry but to equate war, ethnic cleansing and the like with a sometimes shady payment gateway is naive at best, offensive at worst.

yeah, i watched the terrible remake of "the day the earth stood still" as well.

(c.f http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970416/quotes#qt0524739)

nowhere in the linked articles are references to the emergency services numbers (911 in USA, 000 in Australia). While including these references has made for some funny posts, it really is quite misleading.

the second link talks specifically about bravehearts, which is a childrens help service for all kinds of abuse. there are also services like the kids help line, a well known Australian organisation along similar lines. My understanding is this "panic button" would relay to these sort of services, which is quite appropriate.

So thanks for the laughs, but how about giving more representative by-lines? I know it's asking a lot...

meh, bring on the smell-o-scope i say. it's got your et life right there.

and what does dark matter smell like? why, burnt toast of course.

Actually, a few Formula 1 teams are adopting a flywheel solution to implement KERS (Kinetic Energery Recovery System) for the upcoming 2009 season.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/11/second-major-f1.html

From memory, BMW and Ferrari have opted for different technology though.