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| | Date:Sun Mar 28 00:00:01 1999 |
| HAILING FROM NORWAY
11:34 PST 28 MAR 1999
I landed in Oslo in one piece, despite Frankfurt airport's efforts to do otherwise. The Gathering gang (Vegard, Laila, Trond, Flemming, Richard, Daniel) picked me up and gave me a brief view of their beautiful country as we drove from the airport to Vegard's home (which has a stunning view of Oslo). Oh, and I met Rocky the very cool hacker kitten too. :) I'm totally beat, so I'll write more when I get up in the morning. You know what? Geeks and hackers are the same the world over, but the ones I'm hanging with have accents. :) Hows the weather out there?
00:08 PST 28 MAR 1999
[Arcterex]
Well, I hope that Illiad has landed safely, and especially that the weather is good. I drove through not only rain, but snow, sleet and hail tonight (and this after sweeping 4cm of snow off the Arctermobile). I'd love to give you some news, but unfortunatly I've been out all day :-)Some community notes
00:28 PST 28 MAR 1999
[Arcterex]
Folks from #userfriendly have asked me to mention that it is D-Alegeri's surgery Tuesday. Dire Wolf is collecting get well sentiments from the UFie community at direwolf@dustpuppy.org. He's asking for all of us to email him with our wishes which he will put on a web page and the hospital will print them out.
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| Date:Sat Mar 27 00:00:01 1999 |
BATCH FILE
00:05 PST 27 MAR 1999
Just trying to clean out my news@ queue here. Someone wanted to visit the home of the SubGenius Police mentioned in yesterday's news. It's at http://www.sputum.com/. The folks at the distributed.net project and the leader of Team UFie would like to remind everyone that "...the rc5des program should only be run on computers to which a person has received permission to run it. If a complaint comes in to d.net about someone running it without permission, all credit for the blocks that e-mail address would have received will be removed and we could drop way back off our million mark. That, and the person who was doing it will be banned from RC5 participation. valsheed announces: There is now a channel on Undernet for the trivia buff in all us UFies. It's called #UFTrivia and the bot is on newyork.ny.us.undernet.org port 6666 If you would like to add questions UF related or not, please email them to me. LEGAL WRANGLING
00:04 PST 27 MAR 1999
I'll be in touch with my lawyers via email and telephone on Monday. I also have a designated proxy to represent my interests if I'm unavailable for some reason. I'll post more info about this ridiculous litigation when I know more. I'M LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
00:01 PST 27 MAR 1999
I'm on my way tomorrow afternoon. I'll still be able to get my mail -- but obviously not until I get to Oslo, which will take around 16 hours after I leave. So, give it a day or two, what with jet lag and all. While I'm gone, I'll be sending news items in for posting. Arcterex is the site manager while I'm gone, so bug reports and 'where the hell is the update!' complaints can go to him. :) Ciannait of course will continue to manage the Link of the Day submissions. Wish me luck folks, I hate long flights. At least I'm going on a top-rate airline.
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| Date:Fri Mar 26 00:00:01 1999 |
| LITIGATION UPDATE
09:50 PST 26 MAR 1999
Well that settles that. I just got a double-registered letter. The letterhead looks legit and the letter itself is substantially longer than what I received in e-mail. I've faxed a copy to my lawyers and they're pursuing things now. I've been advised to not divulge any information until my guys have had a chance to make a few phone calls to find out what's really going on. Christ. I'm leaving for Europe tomorrow and my gut's in a knot. MANY, MANY THANKS
00:09 PST 26 MAR 1999
I've received so many offers of help and monetary support that I can't begin to thank all of you. You guys are the best. Even if I don't ever collect one cent for my effort on User Friendly, you guys have made it worthwhile. ENTER THE SUBGENIUS POLICE
00:05 PST 26 MAR 1999
This in from Unit 4 of the SubGenius Police: One of our reasons for being is to protect free speech by upping the numbers against the Evil Ones. When someone gets threatened due to their content, we offer to joing ranks by mirroring the "offending" material, and recruiting others to do the same. Sure, they don't have a leg to stand on. All the more fun watching them try to kick ALL our butts. If the excretions from Redmond start to roll downhill, we'd like to offer to stand with you. We must be doing something right -- even UUNet backed down when we joined the parody against them. And thanks to the SubGenius cops as well! Please note that I have yet to reveal who the plaintiff is. I haven't received that registered letter yet. As soon as I do, it goes up on the Static. DANGERMAN TO THE RESCUE
00:01 PST 26 MAR 1999
Mike "Danger" Dao sent this in: I just wanted to let ya know that I think that all that trouble with the Evil Empire is bunk and cause of that I've started the DTMSUFM, the Damn The Man Save User Friendly Movement. Bascially it's a petition of people who think that you're doing one a GREAT job and that no one should ever screw with you, cause after all what you do is in good humor. (I hope) :) You bring joy to so many geeks that your work should continue unmolested. The url of the Movement is http://danger.dynip.com/userfriendly Thanks, Dangerman!
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| Date:Thu Mar 25 00:00:01 1999 |
UFIE RC5 TEAM GETS TO THE MEGA-KEYS
00:05 PST 25 MAR 1999
Will the Chill writes in: Check out the link below: http://rc5stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/tmsummary.php3?team=1093 8 It turns out that the UFie RC5 team at Distributed.Net's Bovine Project finally made it to mega-keys!!! I guess it just happened last night or this afternoon, because it wasn't up past 1,000,000 blocks just this morning. I guess we're finally getting some good support for this. I know that the sysadmins on my school's computer network are *very* familiar w/ a little program called 'rc5des' mysteriously running on all of the terminals... Spiff. Way to go Team UFie! When you bust the code, we'll party over at NSA headquarters. :) ALL I KNOW IS...
00:02 PST 25 MAR 1999
...I got the e-mail from their lawyers and now I'm waiting to see the registered letter. If that arrives I'll be able to figure out what's going on. The e-mail didn't look like a hoax, but as with all such things I reserve judgement until I see proof with my own eyes. Also, Chris (among others) wrote in with this sentiment: ... PLEASE don't be afraid to ask for money, both on your site and on /., if you need that money to preserve your freedom of speech. Thanks everyone for your support and kind words; you can rest easy. I have quite probably the best intellectual properties and computer law firm on the west coast of Canada on my side, and their retainer has been taken care of. Check back later in the day for an update. NEWSGROUP CREATION
00:01 PST 25 MAR 1999
Found on alt.config: User Friendly (http://www.userfriendly.org/) is an online comic strip very popular amongst computer techs, administrators, and others. To date there is a high-volume mailing list which is getting a little *too* high-volume. I am unable to find any newsgroups devoted to fandom of the strip's author ("Illiad") or to discussion of the strip itself and the culture surrounding it. I hereby propose:alt.comics.user-friendly, alt.fan.illiad. Discussion? -- Joe alt.fan.illiad? You mean I get to have a fan newsgroup like alt.fan.buddha.the.short.fat.guy ?! Anyway, if you want to see this happen, (or if you want to stop this heinous act) join alt.config and cast your votes.
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| Date:Wed Mar 24 00:00:01 1999 |
A LITTLE MORE ON THE DEATH STAR
09:50 PST 24 MAR 1999
Hey, thanks to everyone who's written in voicing their support for UF in the upcoming litigation. I have to make a couple of things clear, however. 1) At this point I can't divulge who it is, and maybe hinting was a bad idea. 2) Media attention right now isn't appropriate, so contacting Reuters might do harm. 3) I promise to keep you all updated on this. I'm waiting for a registered letter that will confirm the e-mail. Apparently I'll be getting it soon. THIS TIME, IT WAS BCTAC
08:29 PST 24 MAR 1999
Sorry for the late update folks, but this time around I think we can point the finger at B.C. Tel Advanced Communications, my ADSL provider. I boot up my workstation, power up the tablet, and voila! No connectivity. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's always when I most need it. <sarcasm> Someone in B.C.T.A.C. management needs to look at a really new idea in network architecture, something called redundancy. </sarcasm> THE EVIL EMPIRE HAS REARED ITS UGLY HEAD
08:25 PST 24 MAR 1999
I can not believe the e-mail I got earlier today. It's from you-know-who's legal department. For legal reasons I can't reproduce the entire letter, but here's the gist of it: "You will cease and desist all negative connotations within your cartoon regarding [our client], or we will initiate a suit to claim damages for libel and defamation." Not only does this *irk* me, I'm going to call their bluff. Don't be concerned folks; my own lawyers say they don't have a leg to stand on, but for reasons not entirely clear to me I can't mention my accusers by name until proceedings are under way. I'm sure you can figure out *who* it is I mean. WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO BE A PEPPER TOO
08:21 PST 24 MAR 1999
When the Other category started taking the lead on the Uberdrink poll, I knew I musta forgotten something. Sure enough, I left the sweet syrup of many geeks out, Dr. Pepper. So we reset the poll and added Dr. Pepper as a choice. If you care to, please head on back and vote again.
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| Date:Tue Mar 23 00:00:01 1999 |
ELEVEN LOOOOOOVE CONNECTIONS
00:02 PST 23 MAR 1999
Direct from Iambe and Arcterex, the geeks behind Peer 2 Peer, the Geek Personals Site, we have eleven (!) successful hookups that are still going strong! And you thought it was hopeless. It's free, it's geeky and it works. What are you waiting for? NEW POLL RUNNING
00:01 PST 23 MAR 1999
There's a new UF Poll running over at Wildone-'s site. This time around I'd like to know what fluid is your ambrosia of choice. So spill.
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| Date:Mon Mar 22 00:00:01 1999 |
I KNOW IT'S HERE SOMEWHERE
09:11 PST 22 MAR 1999
Your bookmarks are smirking at you, your memory is failing, there's no cola in the fridge and your boss wants that report done before you get to play Quake. It's a tiny snippet of text, no more than a few lines, but it's a critical part of your report's conclusion. And it's on this website somewhere. You think. You hope. You really don't know. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, your competitors are playing Quake, just because they're done. They're fragging each other happily because they had a tool to help them capture, collate and index the reams of information they've been sucking down from the Web. So while you're using your mouse to search for that perfect phrase you read weeks ago, they're using their mice to nail each other with rockets. http://webforia.com/ Click here now, or you'll be looking for it later. DUST PUPPY GETS SHOT AT
00:07 PST 22 MAR 1999
Klaus was kind enough to write in regarding the Dust Puppy Half-Life decal I made a while ago. [...] it appears that people take a peculiar pleasure of shooting the Dust Puppy's teeth out - have a look at the two attached pictures ;) For those with the curiosity, the pictures are here and here. TOP SIX ANSWERS ON THE BOARD, SURVEY SAYS
00:04 PST 22 MAR 1999
UF Poll #3 asked the question: How skilled do you consider yourself with Linux? Out of 1789 votes, the results came out as follows, in descending order: I'm an uberuser: 60.54% I can change directories: 23.31% I'm good at hacking the kernel: 12.19% Windoze, please: 2.40% I am Alan Cox: 1.23% Computers? Wassat? 0.34% Based on the percentages, Alan Cox has 21 clones, assuming he voted. Interesting. :) Thanks to everyone who participated. It seems that over 97% of the voters are Linux-competent, which means you can find your way around a Linux box without too much trouble. DA, AM SEARCHINK
00:02 PST 22 MAR 1999
Welcome aboard to Euwyn, the newest member of the UF Chain Gang! Euwyn has put together a spiff search engine that needs its database filled with cool, funny and geeky links. Head on over to http://www.userfriendly.org/search/ to use and help fill the engine database. I know the UFie community can turn this into one of the most interesting databases of sites yet. Any technical or content issues, please write our man Euwyn directly. GEEK NEEDS A JOB
00:01 PST 22 MAR 1999
A plea from Ritalin-Boy: he needs a job in the Philadelphia area, specifically for a junior level sysadmin. He codes, scripts, and groks *nix and Win*. Got a lead or looking for someone like him? E-mail him at bmcadams@dustpuppy.org. Good luck Rit!
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