December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

CypherPunk Flame Wars...
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

:: Anon-To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com :: Anon-To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com * In a September issue of New Scientist magazine, researchers in Germany wrote that a type of hermaphroditic flatworm mates through what they call "penis fencing." In the presence of another, a worm lashes out with its penis to attempt to inject sperm, but the potential mate might have similar ideas itself, and in bouts that last up to an hour, each attempts to inseminate the other. Often both worms are left severely punctured. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS OF THE WEIRD, founded in 1988, is a nationally syndicated newspaper column distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. To receive the columns by e-mail, free of charge, send a message to notw-request(a)nine.org with the Subject line of Subscribe. To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

1 0

[Fwd: Upon further reflection... [WAS: It's not a trick, but it *is* done with mirrors...]]
by Mirror Site 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

1 0

Re: UPSs
by StanSquncr 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In a message dated 98-03-20 19:13:07 EST, shadow(a)tfs.net writes: << some protection is better than none. my roommate and I have our computers in the same room off of the same outlet but my computer has an UPS and his does not. During a storm, lightning hit near the apartment building and it took out his computer but not mine. But I do have a friend who lost his computer to a direct strike to the power lines and it took out the surge strip as well. At least in my case, it was not a direct strike into the power lines but what happened to my roommate made him get an UPS to at least have some protection next time. At least he will not have to possibly shell out another $1,500 for another computer. >> I cannot argue against 'some is better than none' (or, if you're adding onto your existing internal power supply, 'more is better than some'). BUT, of all things, when lightning strikes close to me, it takes out my modem, nothing else. (and it's happened more than once (and they say it doesn't ever strike in the same place twice! ;-) )) Stan

2 1

Re: Faked mail from canada? (was : Clarification / Re: UPSs
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The Spectre wrote: > In any case, I don't see you signing your messages either. Yes I do... __________________________________ | | | Watch For CypherPunks | | | | Next Ten Posts | | | | | ---------------------------------- || || || || || || ||

1 0

Re: Micro$not Ba$hing
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Eric Tune wrote: > Out of all the things I've heard said about Bill Gates, about > Microsoft, (both as the Evil Empire and as a God-send) this makes > about the most sense. Truthmonger has it right. At the risk of having list members speculating that this anonymous post is being sent by Toto/TruthMonger in order to gloat his dropping Pearls of Wisdom upon those with weak connections to the ClueServer, I would like to compliment Eric Tune on his recognition of my...Uhhhh, I mean *TruthMonger*'s sense of Reality. > The ONLY significant in-roads that anyone has made with a Unix > environment is Linux and BSD, and all the wishing in the world is not > going to make it more palatable to "John Q. Public". Unfortunately, > Unix is a lot harder to learn for someone who started out in DOS or > Mac software, and it's not near as user friendly. What could be the > incentive to NOT take Win95/NT/MacOS/OS2, which all have wide software > bases, as opposed to the closed world of Unix? John Q. Public doesn't > want all this trouble, he just wants his kids to be able to research > their history reports on the web, and for himself, to download a > little late night skin pics when the wife is late from bingo. He's in > control of how the computer game is played these days, even if he > doesn't understand it. I *love* UNIX/Linux, but I have no illusions that they comprise a viable option for John and Jane Q., unless they are provided at a reasonable price, with GUI's that are usable by people who desire to be able to use a computer without becoming a dweeb/guru/expert. > Microsoft shouldn't be blamed because they were smarter than the rest > of the industry, and when they couldn't be smarter, well, buying the > other company works too. Every one of you would do it the same way if > you were Bill Gates running the largest software empire in the world, > whether you would like to admit it or not. This is exactly what the Anti-Micro$not Coalition is attempting. Instead of making their software available to M.E. Tarzan and U. Jane at a competitive price, they are attempting to prevent someone who sought and got (Hey! I'm a poet...) their business from offering them even more affordable software extensions to their basic operating system. If providing the end-user with the tools to use their modem and the InterNet is an anit-trust violation, then shouldn't the same concept apply to OS vendors who provide tools for their customers to use their printers, etc? The much maligned 'Sheeple' desire only to have an OS that provides them with the tools to use the products that they purchase from computer vendors. The fact that Macintosh suffered in the marketplace from offering a complete package for more money, while the PC vendors offered a more affordable package which required additional purchases of software to accomplish the same ends, is not a reflection on the stupidity of J&J Q. Public. It is a reflection on the ignorance/unwillingness of Apple to properly advertise the discrepancies in entry-level costs versus end-result costs. Tire companies are taking advantage of the shennanigans of their competition by pointing out that their prices include such 'additional items' such as valve stems, balancing, air, etc. Apple and Sun were not constrained by Micro$not from doing the same thing. Many of the UNIX/SCO systems that I sold to my customers were the result of my explaining cost-benefit ratios which I had to analyze for myself, with no help from those actually producing/selling the product. As a former vendor who sold operating systems which were in comptetion with DOS/Windows, despite the fact that their manufacturers were not actively seeking my business, I feel no compunction in calling them to task for attempting to suppress their competition by calling upon the government to make them quit giving the public what they desire. Sincerely, ...uuuhh...I can't remember what persona I am posting under...

1 0

Important Information!
by Toto 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If you have received several copies of all of my pastes to the CypherPukes list tonight, rest assured that it is a direct result of my being a drunken asshole. I have heard a rumor that the CypherPukes are taking up a collection to get me an account on AOL. Can there be any greater disgrace? To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com Subject: Re: Micro$not Ba$hing From: nobody(a)REPLAY.COM (Anonymous) Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 07:19:30 +0100 (MET) Organization: Replay Associates, L.L.P. Sender: owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com Eric Tune wrote: > Out of all the things I've heard said about Bill Gates, about > Microsoft, (both as the Evil Empire and as a God-send) this makes > about the most sense. Truthmonger has it right. At the risk of having list members speculating that this anonymous post is being sent by Toto/TruthMonger in order to gloat his dropping Pearls of Wisdom upon those with weak connections to the ClueServer, I would like to compliment Eric Tune on his recognition of my...Uhhhh, I mean *TruthMonger*'s sense of Reality. > The ONLY significant in-roads that anyone has made with a Unix > environment is Linux and BSD, and all the wishing in the world is not > going to make it more palatable to "John Q. Public". Unfortunately, > Unix is a lot harder to learn for someone who started out in DOS or > Mac software, and it's not near as user friendly. What could be the > incentive to NOT take Win95/NT/MacOS/OS2, which all have wide software > bases, as opposed to the closed world of Unix? John Q. Public doesn't > want all this trouble, he just wants his kids to be able to research > their history reports on the web, and for himself, to download a > little late night skin pics when the wife is late from bingo. He's in > control of how the computer game is played these days, even if he > doesn't understand it. I *love* UNIX/Linux, but I have no illusions that they comprise a viable option for John and Jane Q., unless they are provided at a reasonable price, with GUI's that are usable by people who desire to be able to use a computer without becoming a dweeb/guru/expert. > Microsoft shouldn't be blamed because they were smarter than the rest > of the industry, and when they couldn't be smarter, well, buying the > other company works too. Every one of you would do it the same way if > you were Bill Gates running the largest software empire in the world, > whether you would like to admit it or not. This is exactly what the Anti-Micro$not Coalition is attempting. Instead of making their software available to M.E. Tarzan and U. Jane at a competitive price, they are attempting to prevent someone who sought and got (Hey! I'm a poet...) their business from offering them even more affordable software extensions to their basic operating system. If providing the end-user with the tools to use their modem and the InterNet is an anit-trust violation, then shouldn't the same concept apply to OS vendors who provide tools for their customers to use their printers, etc? The much maligned 'Sheeple' desire only to have an OS that provides them with the tools to use the products that they purchase from computer vendors. The fact that Macintosh suffered in the marketplace from offering a complete package for more money, while the PC vendors offered a more affordable package which required additional purchases of software to accomplish the same ends, is not a reflection on the stupidity of J&J Q. Public. It is a reflection on the ignorance/unwillingness of Apple to properly advertise the discrepancies in entry-level costs versus end-result costs. Tire companies are taking advantage of the shennanigans of their competition by pointing out that their prices include such 'additional items' such as valve stems, balancing, air, etc. Apple and Sun were not constrained by Micro$not from doing the same thing. Many of the UNIX/SCO systems that I sold to my customers were the result of my explaining cost-benefit ratios which I had to analyze for myself, with no help from those actually producing/selling the product. As a former vendor who sold operating systems which were in comptetion with DOS/Windows, despite the fact that their manufacturers were not actively seeking my business, I feel no compunction in calling them to task for attempting to suppress their competition by calling upon the government to make them quit giving the public what they desire. Sincerely, ...uuuhh...I can't remember what persona I am posting under...

1 0

Re: Fucking Sheeple / Re: Does Spamming Really Exist? Um, yes.
by Integration 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> You are more creative and astute than I am in even my most egotistical > and self-congratulatory states of being. > Please cease and deceasist! > > ROTFLMAOMonger > > Integration wrote: > > December 8, 1997: Today at work, I got an email from a company selling You are too kind! I'm just giving what is wanted... some candy and some medicine. BTW, no need for a cease and desist. I'm sure such an outpouring is fortunately infrequent. *

1 0

Re:
by Brian B. Riley 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On 3/21/98 2:42 AM, Anonymous (anon(a)anon.efga.org) passed this wisdom: >Life itself is a double-edged sword. To compete with the shotgun >spammers, those who wish to target an audience which is likely to >have a specific interest in their product or cause have need of a >database which will help them to categorize the interests of those >who traverse the <WWW.> In doing so, they run the risk of being >lumped in with those who use the same technology to monitor the >same users in order to work against their self-interest. Exactly, to lump all mass emailers into one homogenous category is all wrong. I subscribe to a list people running Mac Performa series PowerPCs (almost all PPC 603/e)/v). We recently had someone who had apparently subscribed to the list and lurked and built up a mailing list of posters to the list to whom he later sent a solicitation ... it was quite appropriate and as targetted as you can get, active participants in a highly specific group ... you shopuld have heard the weeping an gnashing of teeth ... the bandwidth comsumed by compliants was a thousand fold greater than the solicitation itself! SPAM is the boogeyman of the hour. Yes there are bad spammers out there and a modest knowledge of your mail client will handle 95% of them straight to File 13, but I really do want to receive many of the solicitations I get, I actually do buy things ... Just my .02 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBNRPt0T7r4fUXwraZAQGLzwf+MHxH65MoIWtch+sOqgOkEkJX6CKQWHGK QaF411/xf3Yma2zQpV0Vu9UqcHaqBXf+HFxgEmh8hDfneTQHOa81IX9zZPBQ2EXv qeo+ANIDzJzUNSQ+V1SKkgWzDF74VVPXTfBElYYvoox+9LMwHyzTcSiUh4JaN9EN 5cpkyvq+rgzv0QuIHKileSDZRW3BfXK8jA/yUCZ/WkV3eWG4RNavR+Cv7PCsGq4j f9YCrd6cU+4cs4g2gpA8Oc9HK5sKquNrChQY1lZc3hWeFCyKO1uc/8eIAX3MxVAV cRtvJ/SLMqcd+FNIiEstCNCs7SsGB37jbO9RdmY4ZNLxZgtk/BVojQ== =87S8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Brian B. Riley --> http://members.macconnect.com/~brianbr For PGP Keys <mailto:brianbr@together.net?subject=Get%20PGP%20Key> "The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sing the best." -- Henry David Thoreau

1 0

And they all work for the government...
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* The London Daily Telegraph reported in January on the thriving addiction clinics of Dr. Robert Lefever, who specializes in helping people who are obsessed with helping other people. Among the 500 patients a year he sees in London and Kent are a number of women who compulsively marry alcoholics so they can cure them. Another recent patient was hospitalized for exhaustion after caretaking an overweight woman, including obsessively rolling her in her wheelchair to many places she did not want to go. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS OF THE WEIRD, founded in 1988, is a nationally syndicated newspaper column distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. To receive the columns by e-mail, free of charge, send a message to notw-request(a)nine.org with the Subject line of Subscribe. To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

1 0

ClueServer Permanently Down...
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* Latest prices charged by parents to sell their kids (Covington, La., January, $7,400; Orlando, Fla., January, $1,000); latest game of automobile chicken that ended in a tie (Michigan Center, Mich., January, three hospitalized, one in critical condition); latest attempted robbery in which the unarmed perp simulates a gun with his thumb and forefinger but doesn't have his hand in his pocket at the time (La Ronge, Saskatchewan, December, not surprisingly, coming away with no money). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS OF THE WEIRD, founded in 1988, is a nationally syndicated newspaper column distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. To receive the columns by e-mail, free of charge, send a message to notw-request(a)nine.org with the Subject line of Subscribe. To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

1 0