Cranezilla --Mark Crane's collection of rarely annotated links

it took me a bunch of tries, but i did finally get through to the white house. after i made my comments, the woman on the other end said, "i'm hand writing all this... i think i'm getting a lump on my finger."

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, February 26, 2003 |

Thieves forced open 120 safes in a number of vaults in a building in Antwerp's diamond centre over the weekend of February 15-16.

They reportedly changed the video tapes of the security cameras in the building to avoid being identified.

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, February 25, 2003 |

So how will the chattering of Blogger's 200,000 active users help Google improve its news judgment? The deal may be less about chatter than about links, said Meg Hourihan, who founded Pyra with Mr. Williams in 1999 and left in 2001 after a dispute over its direction, keeping a stake in the company. Ms. Hourihan said she was not familiar with Google's plans, but she said that it made sense for Google to be interested in gaining faster access to the links in Weblogs.

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 24, 2003 |

Several engineers here began conducting their own analysis after the crash - using the same data and procedures that were used in Houston during the flight. Their results are not only different, but they indicate that NASA had an emergency on its hands.

"We're redoing the analysis because we think it needs to be done differently," said another longtime shuttle engineer, an expert at calculating debris impact. "The re-analysis is finding things to be more harsh than the original."

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 23, 2003 |

Cleveland said Google will likely use Blogger to develop sophisticated searches that utilize the rich metadata inherent in the RSS feeds from weblogs: who wrote what and when, what it linked to, what linked to it and its level of popularity with Web surfers.

Cleveland said the search tool his company built for Blogger did exactly this kind of indexing on individual posts, in real time.

"By doing this we were taking a couple of baby steps down the road of what some have called the semantic Web -- a Web ... where computers can understand, at some level, the meaning and context of a Web page or blog post," he explained in an e-mail.

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 23, 2003 |

The true revolution promised by the rise of bloggerdom is not about journalism. It's about information management. The bloggers have the potential to do something far more original than offer up packaged opinions on the news of the day; they can actually help organize the Web in ways tailored to your minute-by-minute needs. Often dismissed as self-obsessed "vanity sites," the bloggers actually have an important collective role to play on the Web. But they're not challengers to the throne of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. They're challengers to the throne of Google.

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 23, 2003 |

In one e-mail sent three days before the shuttle disintegrated on Feb. 1 as it hit the atmosphere, a Langley engineer complained that those managing Columbia's flight had chosen not to do simple studies to clarify what risks it would face on landing, and had treated such information "like the plague."

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 21, 2003 |

quoted from emails to all the family from Don, Cory's uncle, who's a UN nuclear weapons inspector in Iraq right now:

"I think that before Bush/Blair decide to start a war here they should both come and see what we see. From what any of us have seen there isn't anything here worth destroying. They have the usual military stuff, usual for a poorer state that has had sanctions for the last 12 years which means generally older and out-dated stuff. They don't have anything in the way of a nuclear program and for biological and chemical it is possible that they have something but no one seems to be able to find it if they do have it. So if we can't find it how will B B find it to destroy it?????????

All the machine equipment we have seen is old, perhaps even ancient. Not worth sending a 1 million dollar cruise missle to destroy that sort of stuff. Buildings are old and are in desparate need of repair. Most air conditioners we see sticking out the side of a building are terribly rusted and don't appear to be in opearation order. Destroy that?????

And when Saddam is gone what will happen to Iraq as a country? There are three main factions who will all be fighting for power and within these factions there will be fighting."

How will the Iraqi people benefit if they are bombed and killed? Where is the evidence that Saddam is a real threat to American security? Where is the evidence that invading Iraq will not destabilize the rest of the region and lead to more terrorist attacks? I have so many questions to which there are no answers.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 21, 2003 |

# Since a computerised central timetabling system will seek to meet all demands for accommodation, there may be difficulties when staff find they are no longer permitted to specify certain times when they do not wish to teach, such as Monday mornings or Friday afternoons.

# Some systems will allow such restrictions for individual lecturers, but there would have to be an institutional policy about who should be allowed to restrict their teaching times in this way. Similarly, most systems can include a restriction, if required, that would prevent any lecturers being scheduled to teach at 9-10 am and 5-6 pm, with nothing scheduled in between.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 21, 2003 |

Few [if any] sentences have exerted a greater influence on the American judicial system than the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Among the various exceptions officially recognized by the Supreme Court are issues dealing with slander, copyrights, and pornography. However, specific definitions and interpretations are often left to the community (i.e. local and state governments) in which an individual resides. Both private and public governing bodies tend to offer stricter standards than national laws; for example, students are expelled and/or employees fired for using racial slurs or any harassing comment. A lay definition may state that your rights of expression extend to the tip of my nose.

The CDA (Communications Decency Act, see http://www.epic.org/free_speech/exon_bill.txt) was passed by Congress in 1996, then signed into law by President Clinton, however the US Supreme Court ruled the following year that the Internet is protected by the First Amendment and the CDA was a violation of the First Amendment. To salvage this legislation, it was rewritten as COPA (Child Online Protection Act, see http://www.ggtech.com/hr774_ih.html) with the intent of amending the Communications Act of 1934 to allow freedom of speech on the Internet while simultaneously protecting children from unsuitable online material. COPA was combined and passed along with the Congressional Spending Bill of 1998.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 21, 2003 |

Credit Card Payments


You can pay your student account by Master Card or Visa over the web.

Go to: Summary of Account. Put the amount you wish to pay in the first box at the bottom of the Summary of Account, then push the "Web credit card payment" button.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 21, 2003 |

Mailing Address
Registrar's Office
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 21, 2003 |

In this article I'll give you an overview of MySQL's features and drawbacks, show you how to install MySQL on Mac OS X, and introduce you to some of MySQL's notable technical aspects.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 21, 2003 |

here I am, writing from the floor of the Desktop Linux Summit in San Diego, where Michael Robertson, the founder and CEO of the Summit's local host company, Lindows, has done the same for a much smaller audience (several hundred vs. several thousand) but potentially a much larger market. At the top of his list of announcements is an item that drew a gasp from the audience: a 2.9 pound, $799 Linux laptop, the Lindows MobilePC.

Here are the stats:

* 933MHz VIA processor
* 256MB RAM
* USB 2.0
* Firewire
* Ethernet
* 12.1" 1024x768 TFT display
* PCMCIA slot
* Compact Flash slot

Michael Robertson tells me "It has the same mini-ITX form factor that's in the Lindows Media computer."

There's no WiFi or modem capabilities installed, but you can add a PCMCIA card for both. During the break I heard no complaints and plenty of kudos. (Nobody in the room had used one yet, though, other than Michael Robertson, who used the box to give his whole presentation.)

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 21, 2003 |

After the NBC news team got detained by police while interviewing the family outside of Duke University Medical Center, Mack and Jesica's parents were called into a board meeting with the hospital administrators and department heads. They were challenging Mack's power of attorney, attempting to restrict visitors, refusing the family to be able to take photographs of Jessica, wanting the photographs to be removed from the website that had any hospital personnel in them, wanting to limit Mack's access to Jessica and her medical information and restricting the press from entering the hospital. All the while, completely ignoring the pleas of her parents to have Mack retain all access to Jesica. This was a horrendous meeting with translator's, attorneys, etc., all present. In the midst of this conference, Senator Dole called Mack on his cell phone. Mack proceeded to tell Senator Dole in detail, what had happened during the surgery, after the surgery, about the media being detained, the hospital administrator wanting to restrict Mack's access to Jesica and the horrors of the past week. Everyone in the room was silent, as Mack explained the dire situation Jesica was facing to Senator Dole. Mack explained to her, that he was sitting in front of the hospital administrator right then. Senator Dole asked to speak with him. Mack said, "Sir, Senator Dole would like to speak with you." The administrator shook his head no in disbelief. Then, Senator Elizabeth Dole discussed with Mack, her concern for Jesica's and wanting to make sure that nothing happens to that "Sweet Baby." She made sure Mack had her cell phone number and told him to call her with whatever he needed and with continual updates on Jesica's condition. When Mack hung up the phone, the hospital administration ended the meeting promptly, by escorting Mack immediately upstairs to the ICU. There, they added Mack's daughters and attorney to the ICU visitors list. They let him once again take photographs of Jesica and they informed the head of the ICU ward, to assist Mr. Mahoney with whatever he needed. The hospital's tone instantly changed the minute Mack hung up the phone with Senator Dole.

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, February 20, 2003 |

I wanted him out of there. He was being rude and disobedient. He wouldn't go. This is when Riti Sped forms a brilliant plan.

I remember that Augusta had really enjoyed the play Hansel and Gretel that we had seen two weeks earlier. I gave my aide a bag of Hershey Kisses. She went out to the hall and laid them out in a scattered trail, leading to the office. I give Augusta a paper sack, and tell him there is a trail of treats laid out that will lead him to a prize. He jumps up and snatches the bag out of my hand. I had never before seen him move his big ass so fast.



He begins furiously picking up the chocolates. He was like a police dog searching for drugs. My aide followed Augusta out and all the way to the office.

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, February 18, 2003 |

Besides, people don't necessarily want a Smarter Stephen den Beste . Part of the joy is watching a man who knows nothing about anything except the innards of mobile phones trying to understand a complicated world around him with no sources of information other than the Internet.

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, February 18, 2003 |

Blackwell said one man crushed between two people told him, " 'I can't breathe! I want you to hold my hand, man. If I don't make it, tell my mom that I love her!' He just basically collapsed."

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 17, 2003 |

Call it awful, but I realized that the judicial decision to give the 2000 election to Bush has left deeper scars on my psyche than watching the WTC fall (from my apartment window). It made me wonder if the 'system' is broken, the game is rigged, and no one of conscience will ever be allowed to actualize the Constitution ever again.

Close to the end of the meeting, we got on to the subject of the Showdown in Iraq. Gore said quite plainly, "Well, of course it's just a distraction. Nothing more." I nodded along, but only later thought to ask: a distraction from what?

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 17, 2003 |

Joey deVilla 16
02-16-2003 08:05 PM ET (US)

Personally, my favourite amalgam of "Blogger" and "Google" is Booger.

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 16, 2003 |

Affleck is at home in plots of this size, having recently just tried to save Baltimore from nuclear annihilation and the world from "Armageddon," but Garner, Farrell and Duncan are relatively newer to action epics, although Garner did see Affleck off at the station when he took the trail from Pearl Harbor to New York, and Duncan was Balthazar in "The Scorpion King." They play their roles more or less as if they were real, which is a novelty in a movie like this, and Duncan in particular has a presence that makes the camera want to take a step back and protect its groin.

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 16, 2003 |

The similarity to Archive.org is intriguing me. Archive is fed by Alexa who are owned by Amazon. Amazon have shit-hot collaborative filtering, but no great web corpus. Google on the other hand have an enormous corpus, but a relatively poor collorative filtering technique. Just perhaps they've realised the value of metadata and nicely marked up data...

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 16, 2003 |

Let's say you're flipping through your 8,479 cable channels, and you come across a program called Eat Bugs For Money, wherein they bring out a large live insect, and the contestants secretly write down the minimum amount of money they would have to be given to eat it, and whichever one has the lowest bid has to actually do it. Admit it: YOU would watch this program. In fact, right now you're saying to yourself, "Hey, I wonder what channel that's on." Unfortunately, at present it's still in the conceptual stage. It's based on an idea from my editor, Gene Weingarten, who has publicly stated that he would eat a live adult South Florida cockroach (average weight: 11 pounds) for $20,000.

My point is that you'd watch this program, but you wouldn't tell Arbitron. You'd claim that you watched a National Geographic special with a name like The Amazing World of Beets.

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 16, 2003 |

HOMELAND SECURITY UPDATE

We are in a Heightened State of Alert. Our official national-security status has been raised to Level IX, or "Buttpucker." Everybody needs to be ALERT and HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS. Like, if somebody at the supermarket asks you, "Paper of plastic?", your correct response is: "Who wants to know?"

Dave Barry on homeland security.

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 16, 2003 |

"We're for freedom of speech everywhere. We're for freedom to worship everywhere. We're for freedom to learn, for everybody. And because in our time, you can build a bomb in your country and bring it to my country, what goes on in your country is very much my business. And so we are for freedom from tyranny, everywhere, whether in the guise of political oppression, Toby, or economic slavery, Josh, or religious fanaticism, C.J. That most fundamental idea cannot be met with merely our support. It has to be met with our strength. Diplomatically, economically, materially..... No country has ever had a doctrine of intervention when only humanitarian interests were at stake. That streak's gonna end Sunday at noon (at Bartlet's inauguration speech).

# posted by craniac @ Saturday, February 15, 2003 |

If you have Office 97 running "fast find", it is probably indexing your hard drive. Also your anti virus protection could be running in the back ground. Try the alt tab delete buttons and see what is running. Mike

# posted by craniac @ Saturday, February 15, 2003 |

More than a quarter-century after their crime, the former radicals have become the people they vowed to destroy.

# posted by craniac @ Saturday, February 15, 2003 |

# PC Doctor diagnostics must be completed and any error codes or messages noted prior to hard disk drive (HDD) replacement.
# Noisy drives are not always defective. Some are just inherently noisy. Compare against another identical drive.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 14, 2003 |

The shadowy, closely analyzed photo of space shuttle Columbia's underside was not snapped with cutting-edge military equipment, but by three researchers playing around with an old computer and a home telescope in their free time, officials said Wednesday.

The grainy photo was made February 1 at the Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland Air Force Base and released Friday by NASA. It shows what appears to be a suspicious bulge on the shuttle's wing shortly before it broke apart.

But contrary to reports last week, the photo was not snapped by one of Starfire's extraordinarily powerful telescopes, which are designed to spy on enemy satellites and detect incoming missiles.

Instead, it was taken by Starfire Optical Range engineers who, in their free time, had rigged up a device using a commercially available 31/2-inch telescope and an 11-year-old Macintosh computer, the researchers said.

"We were not asked by NASA to do this," said Robert Fugate, the optical range's technical director. "There was no official project or tasking to do this. The people who work here are geeks. This was an opportunity to look at a rapidly moving object and try to take a picture of it. That's really all it was."

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, February 13, 2003 |

The quick way to add a user or a group is to feed a record in either the passwd or the group format into niload (commands you type are shown in bold; the ? is used by the here-document syntax that starts with <

% sudo niload passwd . <? rothman:*:701:20::0:0:Ernest Rothman:/Users/rothman:/bin/tcsh
? EOF

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, February 13, 2003 |

Users, Groups, and Permissions form the foundation of Unix's multi-user view of the file system. Users and groups identify you, the files that you own, and the files that you share. Permissions mark out your personal 'turf' and the extent of your access to remainder of the file system - that is the files you can see and change, and the programs that you can run. Permissions are applied individually to each file and define who can read, write, and execute it.

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, February 13, 2003 |

What I *really* wish is that we hadn't gotten to the point where having a bachelor's degree is seen as essential to having any shot at dignified, interesting work and a comfortable life. I value education, but conflating college with "line up and pay your dues for a ticket on the gravy train" is just screwy, and causes no end of hassle for students who are bright and ambitious but not at all academically inclined.

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, February 11, 2003 |

From: Toby

We have a 1995 Mercury Villager that we bought used this past February with 19,000 miles on it for $17,000.00. Before we bought the van I went to the library and looked at the auto magazines that compare and value cars. This was essential. I would suggest that you do this before you go shopping. Many of the vans are basically made by one company, but sold as 2 different vans, like the Villager, which is the same car as the Quest made by Nissan and the Honda van is the same as another lesser cost van (I don't remember which one). Also, we used an auto broker that we found through Cal State 9 credit union. If you don't like haggling over price, an auto broker is the way to go. After you read about what's available, go test drive and decide which colors and features you want, but don't buy the van until you call the auto broker. The broker will locate the van you want and give you a price. This price will be lower than the sticker price and lower than any price quoted to you by a dealer. You cannot haggle over this price, but you may be able to get a lower price from the dealer. I much prefer buying cars this way. I hate dealing with car sales people. Good luck.

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 10, 2003 |

FEATURE(relay_entire_domain)

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 10, 2003 |

This may not be related, but on ONE install (I've been through a couple of clean installs due to disk problems), I found that in the course of moving and reinstalling stuff, the system forgot that I was an administrator. Really annoying, and I hated the idea of starting all over. So I did some investigation and hacked my way back in. The easiest way I could think of to recover was to set a root password from the install CD, then use NetInfo (with the root password to allow access, which worked even though the root account hadn't actually been enabled for login... though I ended up doing that, too) to add my account back into the 'admin' group. (From which it had been removed.)

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 10, 2003 |

PS.: I suggest reading the /usr/lib/sendmail-cf/README file.

# posted by craniac @ Sunday, February 09, 2003 |

Introduction
sendmail 8.10-8.12 support SMTP AUTH as defined in RFC 2554 which is based on SASL. This document describes the necessary steps for installation and operation of this feature with sendmail 8.10 and later versions.

(2000-03-23) If you use sendmail 8.10.0 as client for SMTP AUTH, please read the security warning.

# posted by craniac @ Saturday, February 08, 2003 |

I can't believe what I see: Tyler is snorting Pixie Stick sugar.

# posted by craniac @ Saturday, February 08, 2003 |

using rsync with Mac OS X
Terrence Geernaert tgeernaert@merlinsoftech.com
Tue, 5 Feb 2002 11:16:19 -0800

* Previous message: rsync fails all of a sudden
* Next message: Error from rsync-2.5.2
* Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

--Apple-Mail-1-269641553
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=ISO-8859-1;
format=flowed

OK, I'm brand new to this group, brand new to rsync, brand new to=20
unix in general. I'm trying to play catch up with this discussion=20
so there are likely many misconceptions that I have about these=20
issues.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 07, 2003 |

How to restrict relaying through your mailserver to only local users that have authenticated using Post Office Protocol.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 07, 2003 |

Relaying Allowed
There are a few cases in which relaying is allowed even though it isn't intended. The most common is case is the use of FEATURE(relay_entire_domain) which allows relaying for every system in class m. If class m is wrong, then the system may open up relaying for other hosts in that domain. Check it with

echo '$=m' | sendmail -bt -d0.4

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 07, 2003 |

Allowing Relaying from Certain Hosts

Sendmail doesn't like to relay mail that isn't sent from trusted sources. The designers of sendmail do this purposefully to try to alleviate the problem of spam. You see, spammers take advantage of mail servers that will relay mail from anyone in order to send mail to all of us while taking advantage of somebody else's bandwidth costs. It's truly heinous.

By default, sendmail's paranoia means that when we set up a server, we can only relay mail through it that originates on the local machine. In order to use it as a proper mail server, we need to let it know what hosts to trust to relay mail. For example, my mail sever is configured to accept email that comes from my private home network that is running behind a NAT with a fixed IP address. In addition, I always want to be able to send mail, using my laptop, from my friends houses which have known DSL hostnames. To do this, you simply need to define these rules in the /etc/mail/access file, as shown:

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 07, 2003 |

Using check_* in sendmail 8.8

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 07, 2003 |

Authorize relaying based on authentification provided by a modified POP daemon

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 07, 2003 |

FEATURE(relay_entire_domain) allow relaying for every system in class m, which may cause a problem if it is set incorrectly.

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 07, 2003 |

Relaying Denied/Allowed (in sendmail 8.8/8.9-8.12)

# posted by craniac @ Friday, February 07, 2003 |

POP before SMTP
How to restrict relaying through your mailserver to only local users that have authenticated using Post Office Protocol.

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, February 06, 2003 |

Mac OS X: Using Qualcomm qpopper to provide Post Office Protocol (POP) access for email users

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, February 06, 2003 |

What is Qpopper?
Qpopper is the most widely-used server for the POP3 protocol (this allows users to access their mail using any POP3 client). Qpopper supports the latest standards, and includes a large number of optional features. Qpopper is normally used with standard UNIX mail transfer and delivery agents such as sendmail or smail.

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, February 06, 2003 |

Setting Up the LUSER_RELAY

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, February 06, 2003 |

NOTE: Although the Disk Defragmenter console makes this excess disk I/O apparent by polling every few seconds, the same excess disk I/O can be triggered when you are performing other tasks (such as starting Windows Explorer) if you have a large number of unformatted partitions.

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, February 05, 2003 |

Depending on what is running.

1) win2k uses page files for all sorts of stuff.

Indexing may be turned on.
Are any MS Office products installed.

They also have indexing and other stuff.

Check for viruses also :

Here is my suggestion :

Cleanup the startup stuff. In win98 - Do a Start - Run - msconfig, startup Tab , or for win95 , NT or win2k,
Download the Startup COP a free pcmag utility from
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/18/08/ut1808.001.html
Run it and it will show you everything that is listed in all the possible startup
places, and allow you to disable things one at a time until the problem is eliminated.
A lot of probelms are caused by excess old baggage - programs that have not been properly un-installed. Startup Cop will help eliminate leftovers and un-wanted programs that you no longer want.
Older Antivirus programs and Norton Utilities have been known to cause problems
try disabling them also !

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, February 05, 2003 |

Did you add "avalys.com" to class w? It seems that sendmail doesn't think the mail domain avalys.com is local, hence it looks for an MX record to find the destination host, and is surprised that the MX record points back to itself. To see the contents of class w run sendmail in test mode: [shell prompt]% /usr/lib/sendmail -bt > $=w This should list all names sendmail considers local. Joachim

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, February 05, 2003 |

He received the title by scoring 22 points out of 25 possible on the society's online Test for Exceptional Intelligence. It was the highest score ever recorded on the exam.

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, February 05, 2003 |

Mac OS X

1. Open Disk Copy (/Applications/Utilities/).
2. Drag the disk image file icon into the Disk Copy window.


If the disk image file still does not open, users of Mac OS X 10.2 or later (Note 1) may follow these additional steps:

1. Open Disk Utility (/Appliations/Utilities/).
2. Select the Mac OS X startup disk in the left-hand column.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click Repair Disk Permissions.


After repairing permissions, try opening the disk image file again.

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, February 05, 2003 |

This might be common knowledge already, but I've been able to get sendmail working on two different machines by following the instructions in /etc/mail/README. The catch is getting sendmail to start when starting the machine up. I just changed "MAILSERVER=-NO-" to "MAILSERVER=-YES-" in /etc/hostconfig, and now sendmail works again.

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, February 05, 2003 |

_Set a regular time for bed each night and stick to it.

_Establish a relaxing bedtime routine, such as a warm bath or reading a book.

_Make after-dinner playtime a relaxing time.

_Avoid eating a big meal close to bedtime.

_Make sure the bedroom is dark.

_Set the bedroom temperature at a comfortable level.

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, February 05, 2003 |

Perhaps my favorite "evidence" story is from Bronson himself where he speaks of a job that required him to check data in a spreadsheet all day and put little checkboxes next to the ones he validated. What he actually did was run a small greeting card business out of the office, using all of the office supplies he could lay hands on, and at the end of the day would just go ahead and check off some numbers that he never really validated. His coworkers not only knew about it, but they invested in his business. Being in a dead end office job where no one looks over my shoulder, married to a woman who once told me that if she couldn't do physical therapy she'd like to open up a greeting card store, I found that story brilliant.

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, February 04, 2003 |

He told me, instead of doing something you enjoy, do something that pays decent and works decent hours, and pursue your hobbies. So I do. And now I've got weekends free and enough money to write short stories, scuba dive, and contribute to Open Source projects.

So maybe my job isn't the greatest in the world. I have to deal with crappy management, stupid projects, etc etc. But that's not my life focus. I spend every evening and all weekend doing exactly what I want to do.

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, February 04, 2003 |

"It's great music two blocks from the house," said Kathy Dorman, a historian at the Smithsonian Institution. "I don't drink that much and I hate smoke. And in bars, people are talking and drinking and not paying attention."

And house concerts give musicians badly needed income.

"Folk music isn't all that lucrative. When you're starting out, a lot of places don't pay at all," said Morris, whose top paycheck for a gig has been in the $100 to $200 range.

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, February 04, 2003 |

These 144-pin SODIMM modules are compatible with your IBM ThinkPad 600 2645-41U

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, February 04, 2003 |

The AJMM also records sound -- from voice memos to interviews to full concert bootlegs -- straight to MP3 format. This is accomplished through either the internal mono microphone or an external stereo mic (not included). The AJMM can also record from any digital or analog source, such as a home stereo or an old record player, making it possible to convert your music collection without need for a PC (though that would be a tedious process).

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 03, 2003 |

I have solved this issue on my laptop. Here's what I did on this Win2K machine: ctrl-alt-delete and then brought up the task manager. I selected the processes tab, then I chose "select columns..." under the view menu, and checked "I/O Read" and "I/O Write". I found that there were three processes that were incrementing I/O read/writes every second-- lsass.exe, csrss.exe and ESPMAIN.exe. The first two are windows OS processes that had been mentioned in many of the newsgroup postings, the third looked suspiciously like some scanner software that I don't use any more ("Epson Smart Panel"). I killed the ESPMAIN.exe process and, bingo, problem solved. lsass.exe and csrss.exe still increment, but far less often, and I'm not driven crazy by a once-a-second HD access noise. I looked in my startup folder and sure enough a Epson Smart Panel shortcut was there. Only now it isn't, cuz I deleted it... In my newsgroup searches on this issue I saw a lot of reports of lsass.exe and/or csrss.exe as being the culprits of constant I/O read/writes. In my case, it appears that another process was causing these two Windows processes to read/write to the HD...maybe this is the case for others experiencing this problem as well? hope this has been a help- Ben

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 03, 2003 |

This much about the gassing at Halabja we undoubtedly know: it came about in the course of a battle between Iraqis and Iranians. Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town, which is in northern Iraq not far from the Iranian border. The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq's main target.

And the story gets murkier: immediately after the battle the United States Defense Intelligence Agency investigated and produced a classified report, which it circulated within the intelligence community on a need-to-know basis. That study asserted that it was Iranian gas that killed the Kurds, not Iraqi gas.

The agency did find that each side used gas against the other in the battle around Halabja. The condition of the dead Kurds' bodies, however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent

# posted by craniac @ Monday, February 03, 2003 |