If you have missed this page over the last two days - it was gone. It's now on yet another new server… and this time it's not an old PC that I happened to have lying around, but a custom-built, proper machine. Should be a bit faster - once I manage to migrate the rest of the stuff off the old machine. At the moment, you're coming in over a reverse proxy on… eh… an old PC i happened to have lying around.

For those who are having an “ey?” moment: The server is now black instead of white. That means it's new.

Note: Unlike the last server rebuild, the address and everything else stay the same this time. The only thing changing to you is that you've now read this post.

Just saw in the news that Aleksei Tolstokozhev has been murdered. Apparently, he has been shot several times, with one last bullet to the head - the signature style of the Russian Mafia. Tolstokozhev was the man behind up to 30% of our beloved Viagra/Megadik/Penis Enlargement spams.

Seems this Spamassassin thing is even more effective than I thought.

Edit from later on: It seems like the story was a hoax. Ah well, it being on The Register and Slashdot leant it enough credibility for me to believe it. Besides, it seemed plausible enough…

copyfree

As Mr. Häck would say: The dumbest volunteer at 20 Minutes, a free Swiss newspaper (and worth every penny!), strikes again…

Now, what Amazon are offering is music without any Digital Restrictions, so without copy protection. And what, pray tell, does one call that? Of course: Copy-free music! Can we therefore assume that whoever wrote this doesn't use protection? I know, cheap joke, but it's before my 2nd morning coffee. You might well find that post edited later.

(Note for the Görmen speakers out there… it should be “Kopierschutzfrei”…)

Due to popular demand (i.e. I told somebody about it and can't remember whom), here's an indication of the current Earth-Destruction Status courtesy of the International Earth-Destruction Advisory Board. Glad to be of service.

Travel required!

Although I am fortunate enough not to be looking for a job anymore, an interesting opening was pointed out to me. Unfortunately, I don't fit the profile in several important factors (Not being USian, being less fit than your average portion of fish&chips… although I would just about still fit the age bracket). One thing struck me as a qualified linguistic pedant though: Who on earth (or, as the case may be, off earth) would want to apply for this job if frequent travel was not an option? I mean, these folks travel more in a single go than anybody else, for f's sake!

requiescat in pace

As most people who know me can attest, I'm a total derelict junkie (Kindly note: Not a totally derelict one). Imagine my delight then, when I heard that the Car Cemetery in Kaufdorf would open its doors to the public last weekend. Of course, I just had to be there. My initial thoughts of “How many people can this possibly be of iterest for” were proved wrong as soon as I approached the village and saw a massive field set aside for visitor parking - and mostly full! The organising committee estimated between 6000 and 7000 visitors… bloody hell!

Anyway, here's some shots of dead cars for those who haven't had their rust-and-decay-fix for today. Might be an idea to get your tetanus shots before opening the gallery.

Note: Gallery is down at the mo…

Monsterbyte!

If you feel inadequate about your hard drive size, a well-known Swiss (or German, for the pedants among us) electronics supermarket sells Terrabyte (sic) sized harddrives. Now… Terra (with two “r”s) usually refers to earth. So… is that a harddrive the size of the whole planet? Would be useful for Marvin the paranoid Android: “Here I am, harddrive the size of a planet…”

Of course, I couldn't leave this post without looking up where the prefix “tera” as in 10¹² (or in this case 2⁴⁰) actually comes from. Here's what the second oracle told me:

Confirmed in 1960, it comes from the Greek τερασ, meaning monster.^*

I therefore suggest we call it a Monsterbyte from now on!

Plagues!

What, no “Plaguettes”? Sounds… interesting. Cheerleaders for the Black Death or cholera, maybe? Or simply a French wine…

Anyway, if you're looking for a plague, they're the guys to go to.

Disclaimer: I have no idea about any products of any company mentioned in this post, not even the misspelled ones. So there. But Ms. Magenta's Cholera looks lovely!

Eh... where does this go

Good thing I was flying out of Dublin Airport on August 3^rd… taking the bus would have been slightly confusing. However, I find it hard to believe that the letters “FCKNG” should appear anywhere randomly, especially preceded by a smilie ;). Who knows… some bored sign technician, maybe?

Continuing from my last post: If you see this one, you're on the right server.

Now back to our regular programme…