Journal CmdrTaco's Journal: Yakkity Schmakkity 1
We've created a second Feature Request category on teh Source Forge Project page. This page is Low Priority Feature Requests. Essentially these are decent ideas that we will never have time to implement. This is another call for the coders in the audience to take a look at this list. Instead of submitting complaints, try submitting patches. Sure would be helpful.
We've been having increased problems with robots lately. A minor annoyance is RSS readers. Now I love these things- I run one on my desktop that refreshes every 30 minutes and keeps me aware of a half dozen websites that I want to scan headlines on. But some of these applications run rampant, loading every 60 seconds or more. The result of this is that we are now serving a million RSS requests a day.
Now this isn't the end of the world, but its starting to add up. If you code an RSS reading application, let me ask for 2 things: Please note that Slashdot's RSS feeds update every 30 minutes. Loading faster wastes your resources, and ours. It also would be helpful if RSS reading apps defined their user-agent tag. It seems that none of them do. This was a problem recently when a newly released RSS reading application caused hundreds of thousands of RSS loads from a couple dozen users. The users didn't know the application was loading the feed every 60 seconds- they just knew that they were getting banned left and right. It tooks us a couple days to determine what application was at fault, and to talk to the author. Now everyone is happy.
You may load our RSS headlines every 30 minutes. Thats 50 times a day. Now we're tolerant beyond that, and always try to account for proxy servers, but if your application is hitting our RSS pages every 5 minutes or something, don't be surprised if you find your IP banned from Slashdot!
Beyond that there isn't really much exciting to report on the Slashdot Code front. Most of our recent code changes have been under-the-hood type things. Security fixes. Optimizations. But the Gold Star and MYSTERIOUS FUTURE! plums are both slated for the next few weeks. Maybe as soon as next week wed's code refresh.
Hemos is out of town for the week, so it has fallen to me to feed his cats. Except that this weekend we've got a ton of snow. Now Hemos lives in a sort of cul de sac out in the country. Since he's gone, his driveway isn't plowed. Of course, neither is his cul de sac. So I had to park in BFE and wade out to his place to feed his kitty. And I might add, that is one fat cat.
Last night we started watching a new anime called Fruits Basket. It's a cute little romantic comedy type show. Very young target audience. Steals a lot from Ranma (people transforming into animals). So far it's been pretty entertaining. I'm always looking out for fluffy shows that are fun for both Kathleen & I, and this looks to be a good one. FL CL #2 came out recently, as did the latest volume of Excel Saga. In short, this is a good week for anime.
Has anyone actually purchased one of the new 17" Power Books? I'm curious if people think they are actually to big! I havnen't seen one yet, and am kind of curious. I can't actually justify getting a new laptop (My 15" powerbook isn't even half a year old!) for awhile yet, but I'm super curious. My only beef with my Power Book is that I really wish I had that super drive. Burning DVDs would be way sweet.
I got a new video switch box yesterday. I now can connect my X-Box, PS/2, and Gamecube to my stereo all at once. Plus I have room for one more device that has Component Video and Optical or Coaxial digital audio output. This is nice since I haven't had my PS/2 connected since I got the X-Box, and I miss the GTA3. Course lately, I'm all about Super Smash Bros. Melee. What an INSANE game. There's something amazingly satisfying about eating Pikachu with Yoshi and shitting out a big Pikachu egg. Or watching Kirby slurp up Bowser and becoming some strange Kirby/Bowser hybrid that can breath fire. Great game.
switch box (Score:2)