Category: Funny

‘rm -rf’ Is Mine, Sayeth The Lord

Markov chain generators are interesting; given a body of source text, they analyze the statistical correlations between words and can generate random phrases in a similar style, almost intelligible in some cases even though they’re completely made up.

What happens when you feed it both religious discussion and UNIX development chat? This.

Some highlights:

This is supported by Jesus’s use of low cost eight bit micros and small amounts of RAM.

I have modified the “standard” Berkley ftpd to allow for various types of
failures in Scripture.

On a SVR4, I am interested in building a list of names and
addresses to be in the name of Martin Luther, who led the religious
reformation of the HP Laserjet

I know at one point Jesus said “no one may come to grips with the cpio header blown away”.

(found via the Linux kernel mailing list)

I Hate It When That Happens

There needs to be a word for that situation where you’ve pressed the monitor power button in but haven’t let go and you just realized there was one final thing you needed to do but you don’t want to stress the monitor by powering it off and then right on again so you’re standing there still holding the power button in with one hand while working the mouse and keyboard with the other trying to get those final few clicks in…

Not For The Shy

An artist has created a usable public toilet in a glass cube to challenge the curiosity – and bravery – of people passing London’s Tate Britain gallery.

Monica Bonvicini said visitors would have to “defy their own embarrassment” to use the minimalist cubicle, made from one-way mirrored glass.

It is impossible to see into the toilet, which will be free to use, but the person inside can see passers-by. — BBC

Hard Drives Guilty of Hate Crimes

From a company memo:

The County of Los Angeles actively promotes and is committed to ensure a work environment that is free from any discriminatory influence be it actual or perceived. As such, it is the County’s expectation that our manufacturers, suppliers and contractors make a concentrated effort to ensure that any equipment, supplies or services that are provided to County departments do not possess or portray an image that may be construed as offensive or defamatory in nature.

One such recent example included the manufacturer’s labeling of equipment where the words ”Master/Slave” appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label.

We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment or components thereof that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature before such equipment is sold or otherwise provided to any County department. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance.

I’d love to see their reaction when they find out why ports and cables are labelled male/female…

(Note: More info here.)

Uh, Mr. President?

I’m not particularly political, but I couldn’t let this one get away…

“The Ambassador and the General were briefing me on the — the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice.” — George W. Bush

(Yeah, he didn’t really mean it that way, he’s referring to different people mentioned earlier, but the way he says things like this makes him sound dumber than a sack of hammers…)

Geekier Than Thou

Speaking of geekiness…

I figured it was about time for my semi-annual haircut. I usually dread these since I really have no idea how to describe what I want done, if I’m even thinking of any particular style to begin with. I’d just mumble something about short/long and hope the end result isn’t too bad.

This time however, I came armed. I went through all the old photos of myself, found one with short hair, and….loaded it onto my PocketPC and popped it up in a picture viewer. A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words, after all.

I don’t know if the end result was really any better for it, but it was worth the peace of mind at least.