Progress (n.): The process through which Usenet has evolved from smart people in front of dumb terminals to dumb people in front of smart terminals. - obs@burnout.demon.co.uk (obscurity) From: "Stephen P. Berry"I ocassionally find it soothing to scan through logs full of script kiddies thwapping their cookbooks against a firewall. It's a bit like listening to a thunderstorm while in bed at night. But that's just me. ``Over the last few years, in a rush to exploit a society driven by buzzwords and Microsoft press releases, computer book publishers have spewed out a mountain of meaningless books, at best worthy of being used as toilet paper and in some cases not even. This constant onslaught of garbage has left the task of finding good books about as difficult as getting Internet Explorer uninstalled. The good books are out there, but they are swamped in a sea of "Build your own ...", "... in C++", and "Advanced ..." trash. '' --Noam Zeilberger "Now all that matters is if you can install your own Ethernet card without having to call tech support and confess your inadequacies to a stranger whose best career option is to work in tech support." -Scott Adams Well, let's just say, 'if your VCR is still blinking 12:00, you don't want Linux'. "I've turned down 10K raises to stay away from HPUX 10.10" - Gary Mounfield (mani@firehouse.net) "Win98 is just like a higher quality heroin.. it's still not good for us." - Capone "Microsoft seems to have gotten a lot of mileage out of the C2 rating for NT with no network connection. I wonder if a B3 rating for Linux with no power cord might be of value." - Seen on the kernel mailing list [note for those lucky enough to not work with computers: the security rating B3 indicates a more secure system than C2. Making a computer secure by not connecting it to a network (a la Microsoft) is pretty simple, if pointless. - ed.] Getting a SCSI chain working is perfectly simple if you remember that there must be exactly three terminations: one on one end of the cable, one on the far end, and the goat, terminated over the SCSI chain with a silver-handled knife whilst burning *black* candles. -- Anthony DeBoer This may have provoked John F. Woods' famous comment: SCSI is *NOT* magic. There are *fundamental technical reasons* why it is necessary to sacrifice a young goat to your SCSI chain now and then. -- John Woods A quote from an article by Joshua Quittner in an issue of TIME mag: "If this e-mail threat can be taken seriously, Littman can expect much worse. I'm speaking from experience. Two years ago, after I co-wrote a book about hackers, my E-mailbox was vandalized and my home phone number repeatedly rerouted - once to an out-of-state andswering machine, once to a phone sec number, once to 1-800-EAT-SHIT. It took a year, half a dozen different unlisted numbers and a squad of phone-company security guys with phone taps before the problem mercifully disappeared. And I won't even mention the lawsuit. Write another hacker book? I'd rather take on the Scientologists."