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THE MAELSTROM PROCEEDS
00:02 PST 2 MAY 1999
The mail streaming in from people concerned with knee-jerk legislation and extreme school administration conservatism continues. We have web space galore and volunteers, and even an organizer. I have a few more things to do to put all of this together, but I should be able to give all of you an update by Monday, including the use of a mailing list.

ROCKET UFIES PART DEUX
00:01 PST 2 MAY 1999
A brief correction on the Rocket UFies news item from yesterday: We didn't just make it to 162, we made it to position 154 overall!

ROCKET UFIES
00:05 PST 1 MAY 1999
This in from Dave Brown: Distributed.net update 09:30 GMT: Team UFie made No. 18 (up 2 places) on the daily list for yesterday (the 29th) and number 162 overall (up 8 Places). Ain't no stoppin' us now! Okay, excuse me while I get out of the way before I get creamed by the juggernaut.

SITREP ON THE GATHERING 99 REVIEW
00:04 PST 1 MAY 1999
I've been writing my review of The Gathering 99 since I got back from Norway but things have been cropping up throughout the month so there've been some delay in finishing it. It shouldn't be much longer and I promise to put some of the photos I took at the event up on the page.

ORGANIZING THE MAELSTROM
00:01 PST 1 MAY 1999
WOW. Judging from the storm of mail I got from people regarding the Security at the expense of Liberty and School Administrators Totalitarian? news items, there is a definite need for more than a small website devoted to this...what we need is a clearing house website where people can go for resources and to attract attention for their plight. Given the workload on my plate at the moment, I can't quarterback this, but I can offer support and exposure. I think what we'll need is a driven co-ordinator and a team of volunteers. If you think you have the time and the motivation for such an endeavour (and please consider this carefully...there's nothing worse than a much-needed organization dying because the organizer neglects it), please write me and I'll get the network together. Also, anyone who can set up a website with a login for the organizer should drop me a line as well. I'll report back with the status of this on Monday. I think it's going to be fairly big.

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS TOTALITARIANS?
00:05 PST 30 APR 1999
I rather doubt it myself, but I think they're very capable of making some very stupid, knee-jerk decisions. Case in point: In Waterford, Ct, USA yesterday a high school senior was suspended for the content of his personal web page. The school did not agrre with the views and found it a threat. Many students in the school are upset with this act of blatant censorship. Current information can be found at http://www.ewsonline.com/discussion/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000242.html Draw your own conclusions -- myself, I always hated the heavy-handed way that my own high-school administrators dealt with problems, so I'll be biased against. I don't think they're totalitarians, I just think they use spurious logic.

MY ARRAY IS BIGGER THAN YOUR ARRAY
00:03 PST 30 APR 1999
This one in from John Riddoch: 49 processors, eh? Well, I've harnessed: 1 quad-350MHz E450 Sun server, 1 dual-400MHz E250 Sun server, 1 quad-220MHz O200 (actually two dual processor boxes linked), 72 Pentium II 233, 10 Pentium II 266, ~40 Pentium 166, 2 Ultra-1 170MHz, 1 Ultra-1 140MHz, 1 Sparc5 170MHz, 1 Sparc4 110MHz, + several other sparcs, ranging from 70MHz to 300MHz, although most of them only run at night (due to lack of memory on the systems). That makes (quick count up) 137 CPU's, + roughly another 40 working part-time. Being a sysadmin has its perks! Just so you know, I've just changed allegiance and now my keys are winging their way to team UFie. Uber cool, John. Welcome to the Dark Side. ;-)

SECURITY AT THE EXPENSE OF LIBERTY
00:01 PST 30 APR 1999
The fallout from the Colorado tragedy continues. From Robert WIltshire: I realize that you have most likely heard enough about the shooting in Colorado, but it seems that several of our representatives here in New York State have decided that first-person shooters and other so called violent games are in the same league as guns and alcohol. They want to keep these games out of the hands of the younger set. Never mind that most games conform to a voluntary rating system. You will have to show proper ID to get them. Imagine being carded for Quake III Arena. The reasonable person would assume that this idea would never pass, but this is New York. If there is a law that could be passed, we'll pass it. I fear that this may be the warning shot that our lives as normal, healthy, game players are about to really change. Unless we keep some sort of an eye out, the will of the minority will be imposed upon the majority. For the protection of us all. Here's the deal. If anyone hears more about this, write me with the information. If I get enough, I'll set up a page to help fight legislative manure like this. Happily.

IT'S NOT THAT FAR TO THE TOP
00:05 PST 29 APR 1999
Dan Morrison wrote in with the latest on the RC 5 rankings: And now, in the top 20! Slashdot, here we come. :) And we hit 170 overall- not bad. Keep those CPU's humming.... Awesome! I don't expect us to pass Team Slashdot, but I've learned that UFies can pull some of the most amazing rabbits out of hats. You guys are killer.

BATCH FILE
00:02 PST 29 APR 1999
Tom Joyce sent in this link to a site dedicated to producing a version of Linux for palmtops. Pretty cool! Dave Brown at the Functional Image Laboratory in the UK wrote in with his list of computational muscle backing RC5 Team UFie: I'm running the rc5des client on a total of 11 twin processor Ultra2 servers ( all Sun kit btw ) 3 twin processor Ultra 60's 2 quad processor enterprise 1000 servers, 5 assorted singleton workstations and two quad processer Compaq prolient 5500 servers ( PII400 Xeon ). So we have a grand total of 49 (count 'em, 49!) assorted processors all craking keys like theres no tommorrow. Awesome. Apparently Dave's array was responsible for cracking about 10% of the keys that Team UFie did a couple of days ago. And finally, Eric Berg wrote in with a link to a XOOM product page selling a "deluxe" version of Redhat Linux. Unh-huh. A "deluxe" version of a free OS. Riiiiiight.

MAYBE ITS THE SWEDISH SPELLING...
00:01 PST 29 APR 1999
The Linux God's last name is 'Torvalds' right? That's what I thought. Check out this article in Business in Vancouver. It's an interesting article written by a Linux rookie at least, even if the writer spelled Da Man's name wrong.

RC5 TEAM UFIE CLIMBS AGAIN
00:15 PST 27 APR 1999
Will nothing stop Team UFie? From Ed Hurtley: Yippee! We're in the top 25! http://stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/tmsummary.php3?team=10938 has us climbing the charts! #181 overall, and only one spot out of the top twenty at #21 daily! C'mon, let's all crank up our servers at work and lay waste to the Mensa team! (The team at rank 180.)

THE WITCH HUNT CONTINUES
00:10 PST 27 APR 1999
A disturbing piece sent in by Charles Borner. A small ISP was being harassed by a self-elected watchdog regarding some content on one of its hosted sites. The letter from the watchdog reads:

  Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 20:32:19 -0400 From: Marty Fields Subject: Disturbing Web Site on Your Servers
Why should the directions for making a pipe bomb be readily available on the Internet?
As decent human beings, perhaps parents yourselves, you must acknowledge the disturbing and harmful web site you are hosting at http://www.elric.com/xoticacity/cookbook/1-68.txt
If this site is not removed from your servers within 24 hours, I will forward a copy of this message to the FBI.  

Charles, who is not an employee at the ISP, responds most eloquently:

  From: Charles Borner  Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 1999 3:25 AM Subject: Fw: Disturbing Web Site on Your Servers (fwd)
To whom it may concern,
Who exactly appointed you the content manager for the entirety of the internet? 
The Anarchist Cookbook is freely available in both print and electronic media from a variety of sources. Mere possession of it is NOT illegal. Inform whatever government agency you like. They'll tell you EXACTLY the same thing.
Yes, I can definitely understand that there is going to be a negative backlash to this sort of thing following the tragic circumstances in Colorado. We must NOT let ourselves be caught up in some sort of hysterical REACTION to the situation. We need to be PROACTIVE and come up with real soloutions and not stopgap patches that are unenforceable. The problem begins when you try to force your moral code onto another person, which you are doing to the staff at Mich.com.
Decent human beings, and parents should monitor what their children view THEMSELVES or buy blocking software, such as Net Nanny, or Cyber Surfer. These programs block out the sorts of things most parents would object to letting their child see. It even allows for more selective filtering based of keywords and passphrases.
But to dismantle a site simply because you feel it's "objectionable" is censorship. The equivallent of burning (and/or banning) books. Do you object to Huck Finn? How about J.R.R. Tolkien? How big a step is it to ban the Constitution.
From the tone of your letter, (as well as the e-mail address (kuku_nuts) itself) an image is presented here of a lone individual doing keyword searches on search sites for things like "pipe bomb" and "anarchist cookbook". If you dislike this issue so much, why are you subjecting yourself to it? It's the old "Change the channel" argument. If you don't like it, don't look at it. Or do you make a habit of regularly spamming porn sites, telling them that they are illegal and you will report them to the authorities and have them shut down?
It's people like yourself who do more harm in this situation than good. Instead of dealing with the issues (like the atmosphere that bred the anger, frustration, and hate in those young men), you yield to the easy, "fluff" answeres. It was the fault of the computer and role-playing games. It's the fault of the gun makers. It's the fault of the media. It's the fault of rock music.
Let us be honest and place blame where it NEEDS to go. On the parents for not being as attentive as they should be. On the classmates for the hell they put these boys through. ON THE BOYS THEMSELVES for not taking a more courageous method of solving their problems. Not on the incidental aspects of their life.
Your actions as of this letter demonstrate terrorism of a FAR more insidious means than ANY used by those boys. Idealogical terrorism. You seek to impart fear and uncertainty to others so that YOUR own warped goals may be achieved.
I hope you're very much proud of your own hypocritical stance. I, for one, am disgusted.
A copy of this message is being forwarded to Mich.com, the ACLU, and to several news sites around the Internet. Your 15 minutes of fame will now be slightly extended.  

Indeed. Kick-ass letter, Charles. I only hope it does enough good to stop the next incidence of "holier-than-thou" behaviour.

BUSTING THE KEYS
00:06 PST 27 APR 1999
Enno Rehling from Germany sent this in: See this machine? A Geek's dream, it promises an estimated 250 Mkeys/s for Team UFie, once we get it to run under Linux. Or if not, we'll have to use Solaris (boo). Yes, It's Siemen's much-touted HPC Line, in a 198 x PII/450 configuration. So far, I've been able to convince 16 Dual-PII nodes and a quad-Ultra to add their Power to Team Ufie, but there's going to be more. WOW. Thanks for all the effort Enno, and welcome aboard!

UFIES FIGHT CENSORSHIP
00:03 PST 27 APR 1999
A letter from Michael Malone of the EFA: Thank you for the link off the User Friendly page today. The hits have jumped quite a bit! The proposed legislation will have a chilling effect on free speech in Australia, and may set an example for other western countries. The more we can draw world attention now, the better the chances of toppling it before implementation. Our pleasure, Michael. I think I speak on behalf of all UFies when I say that legislation like what Australia is facing has no place in a democracy. I urge all UFies to sign the petition and help in the fight against censorship.

THIS CARTOONING GIG ROCKS
00:01 PST 27 APR 1999
Heh, I got a cool present in the mail today. Godmoma sent me a 12" tall chocolate penguin. Not only was it cute, it was pretty yummy, although the best bit was the pouch of Swedish Fish Candy inside. :) Celt ate the penguin's nose, I ate its tummy and Arcterex ate its butt. Somehow that's fitting...

AND WE GET HIGHER AND HIGHER
00:27 PST 26 APR 1999
Dave Easterly, captain of RC5 Team UFie, has a right to be proud: Just another note to let you know about how the team is doing. We are #200 over-all as of today, and #28 for the day! Those are both team highs. Not bad for a team that only started a couple of months ago. I'm not that surprised. UFies rock. :-) (More info on joining the RC5 Team UFie down below in Items of Note)

A WORTHY CAUSE
00:21 PST 26 APR 1999
Through the breach again. Sign the Petition against the Internet Censorship bill being read before the Australian Parliament. I also hope everyone will consider mounting the Anti-Censorship ribbon on their websites. If the Australian government passes this, it'll just make a bigger mess for the rest of us to tangle with. The bill is really ridiculous, and doesn't deserve the time of day. Time to bring the power of the community to bear and squash it.

A WEEK OF ANGUISH
00:14 PST 26 APR 1999
I know many of you don't need to hear about it anymore so I'll keep this short. It's been a week since the Colorado tragedy, and the pain continues. In case you're not a slashdot regular, journalist Jon Katz has written an article about the massacre and the lives of geeks. If you'd like a take of the whole mess from the other side, go read it. Otherwise, carry on.

2D ART FREAK REQUIRED
00:07 PST 26 APR 1999
There's a crew working on a freeware Q3A mod looking for a snappy 2D wizard to do some art for the project. Send mail to Dolomite if you think you can help out. And he promised to do a User Friendly level, so everybody keep an eye on him. ;-)

SUN RUN TEAM UFIE ADDENDUM
00:01 PST 26 APR 1999
I was kindly updated with a few more bits of info regarding Team UFie in Sunday's Vancouver Sun Run: The two UFies I neglected to list (oops, sorry guys!) are Matt and Kevin (Kevin reported a very respectable time of 1:07 minus ten minutes for start line adjustment -- second highest I believe for Team UFie). Overall in the high-tech group, Team UFie came in 117th. We weren't last, or even second last. :-) Way to go team!

UFIES COMPLETE THE SUN RUN IN VANCOUVER
00:07 PST 25 APR 1999
We did it! An array of UFies crossed the finish line of the 10K Annual Vancouver Sun Run yesterday morning. Our best time was by Greg from L.A., who did the course in 1:01. Your hopeless leader had a great start, but my left knee blew a gasket just before the 2K mark...I hobbled the rest of the way, clocking the course at 1:42 or something similar. Thanks to the Team Captain, mapleleaf, for organizing this and getting us all together! And of course my thanks to all of the UFies who participated, including Fleecy, Bomand, Vince, Celt, Arcterex, Latheos, Paws, and Feste. If I forgot someone, forgive me, then write me and I'll fix it. I think I got everyone. Oh, by the way, there are a total of ten Vancouver Sun Run t-shirts out there with the Dust Puppy wearing runners standing next to a water bottle on the back of the shirt. I didn't wear mine, didn't want to perspire all over it. ;-)

TEAM UFIE CLIMBS TO #28 ON RC5
00:05 PST 25 APR 1999
This in from Dan Morrison: We broke the top 30! We were #28 for yesterday -- moving on up. Yes indeed. Way to go team! If you want to join the effort or just check things out, details can be found under the Bovine Project entry under Items of Note below.

SOME RETAILERS HAVE COURAGE
00:01 PST 25 APR 1999
This in from Jason Smith, the Purchasing Manager of Shops Direct International Ltd: I have not been able to contact Brian Thomas about the problems with Mortyr. I wanted to assure him not all retailers are the same. Mortyr will be available from UK based net retailer Shops Direct via their new games buyers club GOLD at www.gamesdirect.co.uk. It will be the Game of the Month for May and we do ship world wide. I am sorry to contact you with such a commercial matter but I am sick of larger high street chains making moral judgements, I am sure that if Mortyr takes off (and I am sure it will in the UK) the sound of money in the till will moderate their views. It's not entirely a commercial matter, Jason. I'm sure the developers of Mortyr and other small development houses appreciate the faith you place in them, as well as challenging the conservative attitudes so many of the large distribution channels exhibit.