We have always said, "dont worry/shout/complain/bitch about stuff you dont like happening, go out and DO SOMETHING about it" Well, some very clever people have done just that. Instead of using Microsoft Passport, use this. It looks good, works good, and the first million users are free. You are not going to be forced to use Microsoft products in the future. Use them if you want to, but dont complain that there are no alternatives, especially when there are cool ones available!

I just saw an amazing thing; at the US mint, they use a huge mechanical transcripting lathe to copy and reduce the original artwork for a coin to a master die, "to date, no one has found a better, more accurate way to transcribe the orginal artwork to the master die with such a high degree of accuracy" Hmmmmm....you know the rest!

Someone Clever Said... Timeline.. * Printing press and phonograph invented * Copyright is invented, a controversial law from the beginning. * Publishers rise to control physical distribution, pay authors--though not always fairly. There is no alternative.. people need books / records, authors need some cash. This system works relatively well for awhile. Consumers bootleg copyrighted materials by exchanging physical media. Losses are minimal and individuals aren't worth prosecuting. * Copyright law changes at the whim of publishers, effectively eliminating the creation of public domain works by extending the length of copyright indefinitely. Artists and authors increasingly produce "works for hire," which are then owned by the publisher they work for. * Popularization of the Internet and new data compression algorithms render traditional means of disseminating information nearly obsolete overnight. Some artists and authors realize that they don't need publishers anymore. Publishers ignore the Internet, seeing little threat. * Consumers realize that they can obtain copyrighted works on the Internet instead of paying for getting them on traditional media. Publishers for the most part look the other way. * DMCA quietly slips through Congress, in the guise of protecting US businesses and complying with international copyright treaties. * Napster shows the world the power of P2P information exchange with each user contributing a small part of the whole. Publishers get worried, can't sue every user, fumble for recourse. Napster falls and DMCA is challenged in numerous cases, but wins out in the end because money is power and those behind DMCA have lots of it. Consumers watch the Napster case curiously, stop using it after it's clear the end is near. * Publishers finally realize that the future of distribution is online and design crude digital copy control technologies which are protected under the DMCA. Each successful attempt to defeat these measures is crushed legally but is given little attention by the media. * Consumers aren't as comfortable with the new intangible online media and would prefer to keep buying books and CD's. Sales stagnate. Consumers don't realize the implications of future technologies that they have not yet experienced and remain quiet. Prediction * Publishers attempt to phase in online media sales. Some consumers bite, but are quickly frustrated by the inability to read an e-book or listen to music on multiple computers they own. HDTV arrives with its own copy protections. VCR's recording functions stop working. Copy protected audio disks don't work in consumers older players or in car players. Works are distributed in both old and new formats while consumers are encouraged to buy new (and better) hardware that supports the new formats. [This process would likely take at least 10-20 years given the installed base of CD players, saturation of the home computer market, and lack of inexpensive, eye-friendly electronic books] * Just when the publishers think they have won the war over content, a movement similar to Open Source is established that sweeps the world and begins a modern cultural renaissance. Publishers disappear. The public domain expands rapidly. Artists and authors are fairly reimbursed by using alternative business models and handling distribution themselves. (eg. give away music, sell concert tickets) The world is a better place. Wishful thinking? People said the same thing about Open Source 5 years ago and IT hasn't even fully taken off yet.

It was hotter than usual today, the holidays are in full swing...no emails, no fuss...cold beers...Thai pubs...Pimms...Iced water. Met up with a certain TB / PM and another chap with pink hair whose name I forget, for a delivery of a beautiful painting and a sit around in a first class saloon. Alas, the session was too short, as they always are... Got js.KakWorm.G the other day; it infected my old_email.mbx. The filesystem of Eudora is flawed; if one email carries a worm, the WHOLE FILE gets infected, so all of your messages have to be nuked just because of one file. It would be much better if each email was a separate file sitting in a folder, then only the infected message would need to be thrown away. I've never seen so many worms in email; its a bore after the first one. The spirit of pessimism is destroyed by sunlight.

We are doing a set of mouse pads to help finance our own T1 and dedicated server for irdial.com where we will be moving everything. The actions you need to take are: "just do it". where "do it" = tell your friends | buy one if you can If Brother Stair can raise millions of dollars to stay on the air 24/7...you know the rest!

A dolphin that generates an RSA key.

  #!/usr/bin/perl -s                                                           
                                                                               
                                                      @x=qw/e n d/;if(         
                               $kg){$e=13;$_="setrand(@{[int((rand)*90)]})     
                           ;K=vector(2,g,nextprime(random(10^$s)));e=$e;n=K[1]*
                               K[2];d=e^-1%((K[1]-1)*(K[2]-1));";s/\s//sg;for( 
                                `echo "$_ e\nn\nd\n"|gp -q`){print$x[$j++]     
                              ,"=",`echo "10i16o$_ p"|dc`}exit}$t=             
                             unpack'H*',join'',<>;$l=length$n;$y               
                          =$e?$l-2:$l;$i="16dio";while  (){$M=                 
                      ($e&&1+int(rand 8)).(substr     $t,$p                    
                   ,$y or last);$i.="\U$M $k        $n\E|                      
                pc";$p+=$y}for(reverse                                         
           `echo "$i"|dc`){chop                                                
   ;$d&&s/^(.)//||($_=                                                         
     sprintf"%0${l}s"                                                          
      ,$_); $f                                                                 
      .=$_}#                                                                   
      print                                                                    
      pack                                                                     
     'H*'                                                                      
   ,$f                                                                         

Anyone with a spare gig and a half on a webserver please email me about hosting the A212 collection.

Just got sent WScript.Kak.Worm. "The worm utilizes a known Microsoft Outlook Express security hole so that a viral file is created on the system without having to run any attachment. Simply reading the received email message will cause the virus to be placed on the system." Claus, you have to, for sure, go to The London Eye. Its simply awesome. Then stroll down to the Tate Modern. Do a Pepsi Max Drop at the Trocadero. Drink some beer. Eat some Cornish Pasties.

WASHINGTON--A researcher in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's cyber-protection unit unleashed a fast-spreading Internet virus that e-mailed private FBI documents to outsiders. Although the Sircam virus didn't spread to other computers at the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, it did send at least eight documents to a number of outsiders. One, about the investigation into an unrelated virus, was marked "official use only."

US rejects germ warfare plan The United States says it will not back a proposed international plan for enforcing a ban on using germs as a weapon of war. FUCK OFF YOU SLAAAAAAGS!

SirCam is giving me hours of enjoyment; I'm seeing some super strange subject lines: satscape_v1, Vicente Rodriguez - Volver Volver, PROJECT IN RAJASTHAN, IH Probationer Oath, Focus Report Linux, THE STORY OF THE IRISH RACE, New videotec HK 2000 Euro Pricelist, Delta Status Report Draft May24_2001, LIVING WILL Ken... Copy of Copy of VES Rate REVISED?! Dude... a copy of a copy of a revised document? Oh no... the best SirCammer so far: Network Security Breaches.

A white mouse is coming.

SirCam'd again this morning, this time, posing as a ZIP file.

We got SirCam'd in the DMZ between updates, so the VS didnt dig on it; saw the pif tag, blowtorched it into the hole, called for reinforcements, now we got three in quarantine. First to go, last to know

Have any of you been SirCam'd yet? We have had two so far

X-Envelope-From: Geche1@aol.com 
From: Geche1@aol.com 
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 07:07:25 EDT 
Subject: why? 
To: irdial@irdialsys.win-uk.net 
X-Mailer: AOL 6.0 for Windows UK sub 10503 
X-Envelope-To: irdial@irdialsys.win-uk.net


it's probably due to a foot square piece of tinfoil with an elongated lemon 
at each corner.


thought so

Hegemony...you are the fairest...cr...

Eintsien advocated socialism aparently. I was cc'd into a fwd of this essay, which arrived early in the morning. This is what I replied to all: At 07:02 PM 7/22/01 -0700, Shawn Aron Vandor wrote: you caught me early in the morning, so i had a little time... *** society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society. *** Absolutism + atheism + reductionism = suffering. Now *there* is an equation for you. When people without any understanding of human nature, in a fit of pity, try to solve the worlds problems using broken tools, disaster is the result. just ask anyone that lived under the USSR. *** The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. *** Mandlebrot & every modern scientist would disagree; self organizing systems are inherently stable, even though at the moment, the economy is in an oscillating state, it is stable in that state, and needs only to be adjusted so that it shifts into a non oscillating stable state. There is no such thing as "economic anarchy". *** I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, *** Einstein was wrong about faster than light travel, amongst other things, and he is wrong about this. There is, for sure, more than one way to eliminate these terrible evils; socialism is, and this has now been _demonstrated_, NOT the only way, or ANY way to eliminate them. I don't have any problem with atheists, or socialists or anyone else. What I DO have a problem with is the behavior and assumptions of strongly convicted people, that only they have the answers, and if we only were to obey them, then all of our problems will be solved. Its not sufficient for them that they simply write down their ideas and promote them, or even live them to lead by example. They must *coerce* other people, replace and destroy the ideas and beliefs of others for their systems to be fulfilled. Blowing up statues, eliminating economic rights, enslavement, elimination of privacy; these are their tools and goals, and they strive for this with total, blind conviction. Scientists are the most irresponsible of all humans today; they believe that the whole world is a laboratory within which they can carry out any experiment they like with no regard for the consequences. Genetic Biologists are the worst offenders today, Nuclear scientists where the worst of the last generation. Einstein is their grandfather, and this essay proves it.

Ak-chelly, that Webmonkey homepage has just been 100% re-designed, and its identical in Mozilla and IE5, and is almost total CSS...wow...the Moire pattern in the upper left corner just r00lz ur ass....the tag is dead; now all we need is a decent editor (the next dreamweaver iteration) that allows you to control/create CSS like you control the old ass tag generation.

We call it CSS.

I had an email from someone (unrelated to Irdial-List) saying that HTML email is "obnoxious". This "complaint" came after the THIRD email that was sent to this person, (two similar emails failing to solicit a complaint) who is a "UNIX sysadmin". hmmmm lets see what Mr. Webster says... One entry found for obnoxious. Main Entry: ob�nox�ious Pronunciation: �b-'n�k-sh&s, &b- Function: adjective Etymology: Latin obnoxius, from ob in the way of, exposed to + noxa harm -- more at NOXIOUS Date: 1597 1 archaic : exposed to something unpleasant or harmful -- used with to 2 archaic : deserving of censure 3 : odiously or disgustingly objectionable : highly offensive - ob�nox�ious�ly adverb - ob�nox�ious�ness noun Nothing there that can be in ANY WAY related to recieving HTML EMAIL, unless you are using archaic english. Disgustingly objectinonable? Highly offensive? Not applicable here for rational people. Perhaps it can be called "Annoying"? hmmmm lets see: 1 : to disturb or irritate especially by repeated acts [my italics] 2 : to harass especially by quick brief attacks intransitive senses : to cause annoyance - an�noy�er noun synonyms ANNOY, VEX, IRK, BOTHER mean to upset a person's composure. ANNOY implies a wearing on the nerves by persistent petty unpleasantness IF I KNEW THAT YOU DIDNT LIKE HTML EMAIL. It would be better, more mannered, useful, sensible, human, to simply say, AFTER THE FIRST EMAIL, and NOT THE THIRD, "please do not send me HTML email, since I cannot see it." How hard can that be? There is nothing like good manners and good humor. It makes the world infinitely more pleasant. For example, someone who subscribes to Irdial-List said: if you are going to continue sending lists in html, i will unsubscribe. plaintext ONLY please. or did you recently subscribe to AOL? 8) now that is a well mannered, balanced complaint. It is gentle, humorous, (AOL, oh dear!), makes its point forcefully but keeps human civilized relations intact. Over reacting, illiterate use of language and ill manners solves nothing, exposes ones weaknesses and alienates your potential comrades. Aparently, AOL in version 6 is HTML only for its email. Why is this being done? HTML email looks good and works good for the millions and millions of "ordinary people" who are populating the internet in increasing numbers. Everyone has to make a choice, and some have already sided, by excluding all AOL6 users from forums because of this HTML issue. This is one way of doing it, but you will NEVER gather new believers in any substantial numbers by taking the incredibly irrational stance of saying that HTML email is "Obnoxious". You will never reach them with the important messages, like "get off of AOL". Linux will not reach its full revolutionary potential if it does not embrace even the most simple things like HTML email. No "ordinary person" will put up with being constrained to plaintext email. Asking people to accept only plaint text email is like asking everyone on earth to live without telehones just because the majority of people on earth do not have telephones. That is absurd. No one will go for it. Of course there are people who WANT to be separate from everyone. These isolationists are actually the enemies of change and the improvement of the software and hardware markets. Thankfully there are some farsighted people who are thinking ahead, with a wide vision, and are taking the steps necessary to make powerful systems that are palatable and usable to everyone, no matter what your skill level is. Gnome have just done a usability study in conjunction with SunMicrosystems to evaluate the Gnome desktop. Moves like this are essential if "the better result" is going to happen. The alternative that we will end up with if people cant start behaving is two paralell and separate types of internet, one populated by AOL / .net people, and a small number of aggressive, bitter, isolated, shrinking, bickering hobbyists who, thanks to thier inhuman, mannerless and tunnel vision constrained attitudes will consign any hope of a breaking of the stranglehold on software (including music) and hardware to the garbage. If you dont think that this can happen, just ask anyone that used to use dial up BBSes in the 1990s. They have all dissapeard, the culture that went along with them has also dissapeared, replaced by the internet. The internet as we know it will also be replaced. You can bet on it. Wether its replaced with something we want or something that a small clutch of business men want is, literally, up to what we do today, and how we deal with each other. As for Irdial-Discs, after sending out HTML email to Irdial-List containing BLOGDIAL, we SOLD SOME T-SHIRTS when people clicked on the pictures. Text links to t-shirts dont sell t-shirts. Do you want Irdial-Discs to die or survive? If the difference between us selling t-shirts and surviving and not selling t-shirts and folding means making a choice between using HTML and text only email, then the choice is clear, and I think you will all agree with me; HTML email is the way to go, especially since people seem unable to respond to a written call to action to do something. "Prove Me Wrong" as Beniot says!

This week, we got our first check from Cafe Press! Thanks to everyone who bought a t-shirt, just in case you didnt know, this is what they look like (for the moment)... The Conet Project Open Content Baby Doll. Nuff Said BLOGDIAL We are the best! Buy...Buy now...and....Be Happy

ATC vermin, under strict hear no evil see no evil speak no evil instructions LIE AND LIE AGAIN year after year. But does it matter anymore?

"That's what I mean when I say, 'Boom!'"

Have you all seen this?: Fast Track Its the company that has created the improved, scaleable Gnutella like network protocol that has fuelled the services that are now bigger than Napster was on Kaza, Morpheus and Grokster. Based outside the USA, and with an unnasailable infrastructure, this is something really exiting, especially as they have had 1 million downloads in one week.

Irdial-Discs "top ten" as reported on the BBC website And now, the BBC is transmitting an MI5 signal, in the form of a clip from The Lincolnshire Poacher!

In Russia, apparently, it's illegal to sell software without the ability to make "at least one backup copy of the data it works with." Crack Adobe Ebook 2 Webpage