What do you think of idle.slashdot.com?

* The first thing I read every day
* It makes me laugh
* It's okay
* Not worth my time
* Take it out and shoot it
* Spare time? What's that?
* Sorry, too busy reading 4chan
* Give me CowboyNeal's journal any day

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Poll: I think life on Mars...

* never existed.
* was microscopic but is now extinct.
* was intelligent but is now extinct.
* is microscopic and it's still there.
* is intelligent, hidden from our prying eyes, and want to stay that way.
* is intelligent and invaded Earth 10,000 years ago.
* is Intelligent, planning to invade, and has already taken over CowboyNeal's body.

Poll: What should /. have done for April Fools in 2008?

* I vote for what they actually did. Subtle.
* Reruns are cool OMGPONIES!
* Celebrate history and redirect page to mcom.com.
* Announce Microsoft/Sourceforge merger.
* Announce that yesterday was indeed December 31, 1983.
* Put up a fake ad "Cowboyneal.com is for sale. Send bids to bids@cowboyneal.com."

What are you giving up for lent?

* Red meat
* Sex/booze/cigarettes
* SCO-bashing
* Religion
* I GIVE UP NOTHING!
* Life itself
* Reading Cowboyneal's Blog

Previously archived comments: here and here

What are you giving up for lent?

* Red meat
* Sex/booze/cigarettes
* SCO-bashing
* Religion
* I GIVE UP NOTHING!
* Life itself
* Reading Cowboyneal's Blog

Previously archived comments: here

What are you giving up for lent?

* Red meat
* Sex/booze/cigarettes
* SCO-bashing
* Religion
* I GIVE UP NOTHING!
* Life itself
* Reading Cowboyneal's Blog

We have several foreign/non-US-citizen-worker labor problems in America:

• For some jobs, there are not enough workers, so work doesn't get done.
• For some jobs there are not enough workers at prices the market will bear, so work doesn't get done.
• People don't like illegal aliens because they are a "domestic outsourcing," taking "American" jobs

A solution:

• Open-door immigration to anyone who isn't a criminal, terrorist-wanna-be, unhealthy, or otherwise undesirable.
• A payroll tax equal to the minimum wage for all non-citizen workers. For individual contract labor such as day-laborers, some tech workers, and most entertainers, tax the payer an equivalent amount.

This would strongly discourage hiring non-citizens for low-wage jobs while at the same time giving any employer a legal way to hire someone if they really wanted to.

The $13K-$14K/year increased costs would also make it harder to hire lower-middle-wage workers and make it somewhat harder to hire mid-wage tech workers. It would have virtually no effect on those filling 6-figure+ positions. It is precisely those positions where it's in America's best interest to hire the best candidate no matter what his country of citizenship.

--
If America decides it really does want to have more lower-wage non-American workers, the tax could be capped at 75%, 50%, or even 25% of the wages for lower-wage workers, with the tax itself capped at the minimum wage, currently $5.85/hr.

Capital punishment is the ultimate punishment. It should be reserved for those who:

* caused a death. The death penalty for treason, rape, or other crimes where no death results is simply cruel and unusual.
* committed their act in cold blood without any mitigating circumstances. The slightest mental illness, the slightest intent not to kill, the slightest other circumstance which, if not present, would have resulted in a non-lethal outcome means life in prison is better.
* is, barring divine intervention, beyond redemption. The slightest acceptance of moral responsibility, even after sentence is handed down, means the execution should not go forward.
* the person would endanger the lives of others if he were incarcerated for life in the most secure prison possible

Very few people are simultaneously immoral or amoral and at the same time not mentally ill.

Of those who are, most can be kept from killing again by incarceration. For some, incarceration in a "supermax" prison may be necessary.

The number that is left is either very small or zero.

Since the combination of these conditions never or almost never happens, it is simply much more efficient to have life in prison than to have a death penalty.

I marked this "Pay no attention to my musings." If this shows up on Firehose then then the 'hose is hosed.

Problem:
Adjustable rate mortgages rise too fast.

Solution:
Mortgages whose payments go up with inflation, and down with deflation. The term of the loan shrinks or expands as needed, with a balloon payment of the remaining balance after some fixed period of time, say, 10 years past the stated term of the mortgage.

Twist:
Have the interest rate adjust with inflation as well, rather than the prime lending rate.

This holiday season please give to those less fortunate.

Most of us in the IT industry are what they call "highly compensated." With our 80-hour work-weeks we might not have time to serve dinner every week at the local soup kitchen, but we can buy a lot of soup.

This Christmas season, please share the joy and give to a reputable human-services charity such as the Red Cross, The Salvation Army, or your local shelter or soup kitchen.

You've been bitten by the Charity Profile Virus: Please make your own version and attach it to all of your online profiles through the Christmas 2007 season.

Problem:

When I install a machine from scratch I have to update dozens or over 100 items. This takes time and consumes network bandwidth.

Solution: Monthly security rollups.

The August 2007 rollup for XP should include every "important" XP base OS patch not included in SP2. Ditto for every other month since SP2 came out until the end of service for SP2. It would not include "important" updates to optional software or important updates to device drivers. It would include important updates to other important updates of course.

When run without options, it installs everything that is applicable to this machine or, for slipstreams, the target directory.

It would also have a "slipstream" option, an "unpack" option, and a "select" option.

The "slipstream" option would apply the service to a directory instead of the installed Windows.

The "unpack" option would create a mini-installer, one for each update.

The "select" option would limit which fixed got installed, slipstreamed, or unpacked.

The whole thing could be driven from a GUI or from a command line + response file.

Additional workload for Microsoft:

The package would be what you get if you take a base XP SP2 CD then run Windows Update again and again until there are no more important updates. As such, MS wold not be on the hook for much more in the way of testing. This is purely a packaging/delivery issue. The only real work would be resolving any dependencies that require more than one reboot.

If I had this, I could install:
XP, SP2, last month's security rollup, .NET 1.1, 2, 3, and their updates, IE7, MS Office, its latest service pack, and the latest version of Microsoft Update, all without getting on the network. Then when I finally did update, I'd have a much smaller number of updates to grab. If all I cared about was the base OS without optional updates, this would be a 2-step process: Install XP from the SP2-slipstreamed CD, then install the August updates.

Does anyone know of a 5.25" drive bay that can hold 4 2.5" SATA drives, preferably in a "pop-in/pop-out" configuration suitable for a RAID-5 or 2xRAID-1 configuration?

72-character template, treat as 1 line

01 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF 01 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF 01 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF

AACS key:
09f9 1102 9d74 e35b d841 56c5 6356 88c0

AACS key embedded in template, using italics. Substitute bold, strikeout, &nbsp, or font color=background color for other options.

<i>0</i>1 23 45 67 8<i>9</i> AB CD E<i>F</i> 01 23 45 67 8<i>9</i> AB CD EF 0<i>1</i> 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF
0<i>1</i> 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF <i>0</i>1 <i>2</i>3 45 67 8<i>9</i> AB C<i>D</i> EF 01 23 45 6<i>7</i> 89 AB CD EF
01 23 <i>4</i>5 67 89 AB CD <i>E</i>F 01 2<i>3</i> 4<i>5</i> 67 89 A<i>B</i> C<i>D</i> EF 01 23 45 67 <i>8</i>9 AB CD EF
01 23 <i>4</i>5 67 89 AB CD EF 0<i>1</i> 23 4<i>5</i> <i>6</i>7 89 AB <i>C</i>D EF 01 23 4<i>5</i> <i>6</i>7 89 AB CD EF
01 2<i>3</i> 4<i>5</i> <i>6</i>7 <i>8</i>9 AB CD EF 01 23 45 67 <i>8</i>9 AB <i>C</i>D EF <i>0</i>1 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF

AACS embedded as plain text, replace with x:

x1 23 45 67 8x AB CD Ex 01 23 45 67 8x AB CD EF 0x 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF
0x 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF x1 x3 45 67 8x AB Cx EF 01 23 45 6x 89 AB CD EF
01 23 x5 67 89 AB CD xF 01 2x 4x 67 89 Ax Cx EF 01 23 45 67 x9 AB CD EF
01 23 x5 67 89 AB CD EF 0x 23 4x x7 89 AB xD EF 01 23 4x x7 89 AB CD EF
01 2x 4x x7 x9 AB CD EF 01 23 45 67 x9 AB xD EF x1 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF

There are many variations on this theme, using may representations of the number.
Suggestions: Pick one, turn it into a bitmap, and use it as the background for protest images or videos.

As a 16x16 bitmap, X=1, .=0. Note: spaces inserted by Slashdot, remove them to make it look right:

....X..XXXXXX..X
...X...X......X.
X..XXX.X.XXX.X..
XXX...XX.X.XX.XX
XX.XX....X.....X
.X.X.XX.XX...X.X
.XX...XX.X.X.XX.
X...X...XX......

I marked this as "publish" not "publicize." If it winds up on the /. feed it is totally unintentional.

http://www.hakspace.net/
Hacker social networking site

http://www.internetworkexpert.com/resources/iosonpc.htm
Dynamips Cisco simulator for PCs