/\            _______                  /  \           /       \          5     /    \        __/_________\__      #     /  /\  \          (o)-(o)----             /\  \/   \          |(__      |      E     /  \       \       O  /\ ____/ /\     N     /    \  /\   \    /\  G   \_____/  \   I     /  /\  \/  \   \   /  \  G              Z     /\  \/  /   /   /  /    \  \            A     /  \    /   /   / /  /\  \  F          G /\  /   /\  /    \  / \  \/  /\  R        A /  \/   /  \/      \/  \    /  \  O      M /   /\   \   \  /    \  G      /    \/\   \    \/  /\  \        \      /\  /     \  \/  /\        \     \ \/      \    /  \       /      \  /\  /   /    \      \/\    /   /\ /  \/   /  /\  \        \  /   /  \ \      /\  \/  /         \/   /    \  \    /  \    /              /      \   \  /\  /   /        \/    /   /\   \    \/  \/   /        \/\/  /   /  \  /     \      /         /\/\ |    \   \/      \    /           /\   \    |       \  /            /\    |   |        \/            /  \__/   /                        \        /                       \______/

In days of old when knights were bold and toilets weren't invented, I wrote a k5 article about my adventures in self-publishing. In it I wrote, "I recommend self-publishing for anybody whose temperament and objectives resemble mine. All others should beware." That's still pretty my much point of view. Below the fold, I've updated & revised that original story & added some additional reflections based on the eight years of self-publishing experience I've amassed since then (including six years of making my books available for free download under Creative Commons license).

  _______   _______   _______   __________ _________ _______   _______  /       \ /       \ /       \ /          \         \       \ /       \ |         |         |         |   \________\ \_______\       |         | |     |   |     |___|___  |___|___   ___|      |   |     |   |     |___|___ |         |     /    ___\ /    ___\  |  |      |   |         |     /    ___\  \_______/ \________/\________/\____/    \____/     \_______/ \_______/ OGG FROG MAGAZINE #4                                 2009 MELT-DOWN SPECIAL!                __...''''''''...__            .'''                  '''.          '  :                      :  '        '    '                      '    '       .   .'                         '.   .   ENOUGH WITH THE INJUSTICES!      .   .                             .   .      :  : .'''''''-.._      _..-'''''''.   :  If you thought my wall-of-text      |  :( .-''''--.. )    ( ..--''''-. )     memos were bad, just wait until      : ..-|  .----.  '.____.'  .----.  |__ :  you see the legal brief I've      .--. ' ( ( *) )  |    |  ( ( *) ) '.--.  been cooking up on the company      |  |  . '----' _.'    '._ '----' . |  |  dime for the last 4 months.      '.     '-----'' '      ' ''-----'    .'         |                                   |  REFORM OR PERISH MOTHERFUCKERS!       . |           '        '          | .         '-'          '.________.'         '-'         :      . ''            '' .     :    Below the fold: my dick        '      :                    :     '        :      :    .---....---.    :     :      _.:      :    '----------'    :     :    .'   .     :                    :    . __| \ .' '._  :                    : _.'   '. '.     '''                   ''' |\__     :  '.      '.               .'   .' /      \   '.       '-..........-'    |  /       |____)-._                   ./  /                '--.._________...-''--'

K5's buggy formatting code broke the submission after I moved it to vote, so here is a repost.                                                                ____                                                             __/____\__                                                               O--O-|                                                               C    |                                                              /|___/ \_                                     ____                    /         \                                   / o o  \                 : .         \                                     \______/       OOOo      :__       \  \                                     /  | | \       |  |  __ /  _     .'_\_ \ OOOo                                   \  | | /       |   ''  |\ /_._)       '--|  |                                  __\ ^ ^/__      |____.__`-'_.'._____..____|__|          

In 2008, the U.S. telephone relay service (TRS) industry pulled in around 30 million dollars in revenue, 16 million of which was profit. If you've ever had to dial 711, or received a phone call from a 'relay service' then you've used it before. The TRS exists as a mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Their mission is to assist the hearing or speech disabled to communicate with their fellow citizens over the phone, typically by using a TTY* device. The industry is governed by the Federal Communications Commission, and is funded through NECA, the National Exchange Carrier Association, who get their money from you, in the form of taxes on your phone bill. Ultimately, every penny that the TRS industry makes is from taxes, which makes the fact that the TRS system is completely broken all the more appalling. From ignoring the needs of the deaf customers it was designed to help, to aiding and abetting scammers all over the world. Want to learn more? Check out Stop Relay Abuse. Or, make a call for free anywhere in the US (requires flash, doesn't play nice in firefox). You don't even have to prove you're disabled, and it's completely anonymous for now. Did I mention federal law makes it illegal to talk about the content of any call, even if it's criminal activity? The only exception is the nebulous term 'national security', otherwise it takes a subpoena just to learn the IP address your call was placed from. Isn't it grand?

I'm usually on the lookout for interesting writing on programming, which cuts through the piles of "best practices", cargo-cult nonsense, and inane technical details, to something interesting to read that's also relevant to actually programming. I can say unhesitatingly that Yosef K.'s blog is the best on the internet meeting that description. Sure, he comes from a particular perspective--embedded systems programming--but is interested in and knowledgeable about broader areas, and generally manages to get to the heart of interesting issues and tradeoffs. And the works-at-a-real-company-doing-actual-embedded-systems-programming angle gives him some grounding in actual programming that you might not find in some academic takes (I say this as someone in academia).

It is one of the most ancient cooperative systems. It is the most widely accepted candidate for the ancestor to all multicellular life. It has been observed ever since men have looked through microscopes; Leeuwenhoek himself was the first to describe it. It's on your teeth. You've seen pretty pictures of them in Yellowstone. It's clogging your drain. You showered with one this morning. You slipped on it the last time you crossed a stream.

RISOTTO IS NOT THAT HARD IF YOU THINK IT IS HARD THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU RISOTTO REQUIRES BOTH PATIENCE AND RICE IF YOU HAVE NEITHER GO TO HELL

About 150 years ago, the first audio recorder, a phonautograph built by Scott de Martinville incorporated a stretched membrane with an attached pen to intercept sound waves and write them on paper.

I don't think I was actually in any danger.  I would go to the station again.  Last time I went there the station was shut down for an hour because some nut had run into the tunnel and the police were trying to find him.  Strange area. But here's what happened last night in case you're interested:

alphadogg writes "Cisco has finally publicly acknowledged it won't add support for new third-party devices to its security information and event monitoring appliance, ending months of speculation about the future of its Monitoring, Analysis and Response System. Some claim it's the beginning of the end for MARS as a multi-vendor SIEM device. 'MARS customers can expect non-Cisco network device data and signature updates to continue for currently supported third-party systems, but no new third-party devices will be added,' Cisco declared in a statement, noting that 'Cisco MARS continues to focus on supporting Cisco devices for threat identification and mitigation.' Cisco's SIEM competitors this week have eagerly grabbed at the topic of Cisco MARS freezing third-party support because of a Gartner research memo published Oct. 29 in which analyst Mark Nicolett stated, 'Cisco has quietly begun informing its customers of a decision to freeze support for most non-Cisco event sources with its [MARS].'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This week we take a look at just how much content and choice is missing from the PC version of Modern Warfare 2, and the news is not good for fans of the PC as a gaming platform. We also take a look at how to score some cheap consoles this weekend, why you should be playing Torchlight, and what one Marine thinks about the controversial content of Modern Warfare 2.

It was a busy week in gaming, so let's take a look at what people were talking about.

fulldecent writes "The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit that calls into question the legal protections available to independent Web sites that cover news. The case involves mortgage lender Implode-Explode, a Las Vegas-based site launched in 2007 that publishes stories about the meltdown of the mortgage industry. Associate Justice Carol Ann Conboy pressed the point with [defense lawyer Jeremy Eggleton], questioning, 'Can anyone who posts a blog be considered a reporter,' for the purposes of claiming protection of anonymous sources? Eggleton answered yes, within limits: 'The test is whether the person has an intention to gather, analyze and disseminate.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.