the clicked and the read | issue 19981217

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· 1 year ago

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For those of you wondering what the above two references mean... The HTML line is a reference to the hypertext version of the newsletter - this is the version available on the Web - it has fancier formatting and working hyperlinks. The ASCII line is a reference to the plain text version - this is the version subscribers receive in e-mail - it is plain old text, no fancy formatting.

Furby Autopsy
Church of Mentos
Dancemania
Free Credit Report
bookmarker
CaR Demographics
Unix vs. NT
President's Testimony by Dr. Seuss

Furby Autopsy

This one is a little bizare, but given the recent ridiculous demand for these little creatures, a dose of tongue-in-cheek humor is well overdue. [1.1]

It seems that this guy/gal bought a Furby [1.2], only to experience many problems with it after it was "born". The Furby passed away after a few days of coma in sleep mode. The parents of the Furby decided to perform an autopsy in order to determine the cause of death. A full written and photographic documentary of the autopsy including the findings is available on the website.

[1.1] Furby Autopsy <http://www.phobe.com/furby/>
[1.2] Furby Home <http://www.furby.com/>
[] As seen on slashdot.org <http://slashdot.org>

Church of Mentos

Learn from those terrible European-like Mentos commercials. These folks _swear_ by them. I can't describe it any better than they do, so from the introduction:

Purpose: To unite those people that subscribe to the basic philosophies of Mentocism. Specifically, to nurture that personal desire to achieve ones goals and overcome obstacles by challenging the everyday conventions of society.

Teachings: Using the lessons taught in the 30 second mini-dramas on television, we focus on various techniques employed by the faithful to overcome unforeseen problems. These range from dealing with a high-heel shoe mishap to an inconsiderate businessman parking in a hurried manner.

[2.1] Church of Mentos <http://www.btf.com/mentos/>
[] As seen on slashdot.org <http://slashdot.org>

Dancemania

Lately my music purchases have been all Latin. I saw Tito Puente play the timbales many years ago at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (a.k.a. "JazzFest"). [3.1] If you ever get a chance, see Tito and his gang live -- they really swing. My latest Latin CD purchase is another recommendation from amazon.com, and another winner. Listen to a sample of _Mambo en Blues_ on the Live at Birdland-Dancemania '98 amazon.com page. [3.2]

By the way, if you enjoyed the Buena Vista Social Club [3.3] recommendation from a few CaR issues ago [3.4], have a listen to the Afro-Cuban All Stars. [3.5] I highly recommend it.

[3.1] New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival <http://www.nojazzfest.com/>
[3.2] Live At Birdland-Dancemania '98 <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000009RG5/padraicrenaghan>
[3.3] Buena Vista Social Club <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000005J56/padraicrenaghan>
[3.4] CaR issue 19980710 <http://www.renaghan.com/list/19980710.htm>
[3.5] A Toda Cuba Le Gusta; Afro-Cuban All Stars <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000005J54/padraicrenaghan>

Free Credit Report

Would you like to see the credit report that banks, creditors, landlords, employers... can see when you ask for a loan, rent an apartment, or even get a job? You can get a free copy of your Experian [4.1] credit report on-line at the ConsumerInfo site. [4.2] I got mine a few weeks ago - the free service works just fine. You will get one password via e-mail and another via postal mail - you need both to access your report on-line. The free report is part of a CreditCheck trial membership, so make sure and call to cancel the service within 30 days of receiving your free report.

[4.1] Experian <http://www.experian.com>
[4.2] ConsumerInfo <http://www.consumerinfo.com>

bookmarker

I have too many bookmarks, in too many different browsers, on too many different computers. I looked around the net for bookmark management tools for Linux or Windows and didn't find anything promising. So I decided to write an application myself. The application is called bookmarker. [5.1]

bookmarker allows myself and others to store/ maintain/ search our bookmarks on the renaghan.com website. This makes the bookmarks accessible from anywhere (at least from any PC with an Internet connection and a web browser). Of course, I need to keep the load on my server down, so I can only allow friends and family to actually create bookmarker accounts on renaghan.com. I do consider all subscribers to CaR as friends, so I will allow a few of you to have bookmarker accounts on renaghan.com - let me know if you are interested. [5.2] Otherwise, full source code for bookmarker is available for download. All bookmarker code is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). [5.3]

Feel free to have a look at my bookmarks using bookmarker. Follow the links at the top of the bookmarker start page to enter the application. When you are prompted for a user and password enter "guest" (without quotes) in both fields.

The ulterior motive for me to build bookmarker was to give me a good excuse to learn a few new technologies ;-) [5.4] bookmarker was built using a MySQL database *[5.5], running on an Apache web server [5.6], over the Linux operating system [5.7], with server side scripting to connect the web pages to the database written in PHP/PHPLIB [5.8]/ [5.9].

[5.1] bookmarker <http://www.renaghan.com/bookmarker/>
[5.2] mailto padraic <http://www.renaghan.com/mailto.htm>
[5.3] GNU General Public License <http://www.renaghan.com/bookmarker/source/GPL>
[5.4] The Winking Smiley from Smileys <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565920414/padraicrenaghan>
[5.5] MySQL <http://www.mysql.com/>
[5.6] Apache <http://www.apache.org/>
[5.7] Linux <http://www.linux.org/>
[5.8] PHP <http://www.php.net/>
[5.9] PHP Base Library <http://phplib.shonline.de/>

CaR Demographics

United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Indonesia.

No, that is not the itinerary of my upcoming honeymoon. That list is a partial representation of the CaR subscriber base. Have a look at some interesting information regarding CaR subscribers on the demographics page. [6.1]

[6.1] CaR Demographics <http://www.renaghan.com/list/demographics.htm>
[] Demographics page was created using the Listat <http://www.wordsmith.org/anu/listat/> software written by Anu Garg

Unix vs. NT

*Bookmark this one.* The "Kirch Report" is the best comparison I have seen on the Internet between Microsoft NT Server 4.0 and various UNIX flavors. [7.1] The author, John Kirch, is a Networking Consultant and Microsoft Certified Professional (Windows NT). He presents what appears to be a fair comparison of the two operating systems. I will let you judge for yourself.

From the Executive Summary:

IT managers worldwide are being confronted with the question, should we go with Microsoft Windows NT Server or one of the UNIX operating systems? As you may already know, UNIX is not a single operating system; it refers to a family of operating systems which includes AIX, BSDI, Digital UNIX, FreeBSD, HP-UX, IRIX, Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Pyramid, SCO, Solaris, SunOS, just to name the more prominent ones. Windows NT Server is increasing in popularity, but is it increasing the productivity of your MIS operations? Most important of all, though, for you as a manager is, are you increasing the profits of your company when you choose a Microsoft solution?

[7.1] Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX <http://www.unix-vs-nt.org/kirch/>

President's Testimony by Dr. Seuss

I don't normally perpetuate the chain e-mail thing, but I thought this was funny, timely, and seasonal.

William Jefferson Clinton's Grand Jury testimony as captured by Dr. Seuss. If I were a cynic [8.1] like Dr. Seuss's Grinch [8.2], I might think that Bill didn't tell the "whole truth and nothing but the truth" to Mr. Starr.

I did not do it in a car
I did not do it in a bar
I did not do it in the dark
I did not do it in the park
I did not do it on a date
I did not ever fornicate

I did not do it at a dance
I did not do it in her pants
I did not get beyond first base
I did not do it in her face
I never did it in a bed
If you think that, you've been misled

I did not do it with a groan
I did not do it on the phone
I did not cause her dress to stain
I never boinked Saddam Hussein
I did not do it with a whip
I never fondled Linda Tripp

I never acted really silly
With volunteers like Kathleen Willey
There was one time, with Margaret Thatcher
I chased her 'round, but could not catch her
No kinky stuff, not on your life
I wouldn't, even with my wife

And Jennifer Flowers' tale of woes
Was paid for by my right-wing foes
And Paula Jones, and those State Troopers
Are just a bunch of party poopers

I did not ask my friends to lie
I did not hang them out to dry
I did not do it last November
But if I did, I don't remember
I did not do it in the hall
I could have, but I don't recall

I never did it in my study
I never did it with my dog, Buddy
I never did it to Sox, the cat
I might have-once-with Arafat
I never did it in a hurry
I never groped Ms. Betty Currie
There was no sex at Arlington
There was no sex on Air Force One

I might have copped a little feel
And then endeavored to conceal
But never did these things so lewd
At least, not ever in the nude
These things to which I have confessed
They do not count, if we stayed dressed
It never happened with cigar
I never dated Mrs. Starr

I did not know this little sin
Would be retold on CNN
I broke some rules my Mama taught me
I tried to hide, but now you've caught me
But I implore, I do beseech
Do not condemn, do not impeach
I might have got a little tail
But never, never did inhale

[8.1] The Grinch Awards <http://members.home.com/the-cynic/>
[8.2] How the Grinch stole Christmas <http://www.mgm.com/mgmhv/grinch/>

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the clicked and the read (CaR) is a somewhat regular electronic newsletter devoted to technology, law, software, www resources, politics and all things net related.

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ISSN 1520-2755
Published from Chicago, Illinois, USA
by Padraic Renaghan