K5 has lasted longer than the vast majority of sites on the internet that are not corporately funded or those stupid blogs that no one reads that someone with some sort of medicated complex keeps up for no logical reason.

Well here we go. We are going to install and RUN scoop on a modern communist debian system. And the best part is that it works.... And it's really not that hard to tweak. I'm using SUN's virtual box, as I have no interest installing Debian on my laptop.

Stargate: Universe (SGU) is the latest television series based on the movie Stargate. SGU is set primarily on the spaceship Destiny, which is 100,000 years old and billions of light years away from Earth. The crew is entirely human and traveled to Destiny via a wormhole which needed to be powered by the core of a planet. They have communication with Earth, and the technology used to do this is fuel for the producers's fantasies. They use ancient technology in the form of stones that allow them to swap bodies with people over vast distances instantaneously. The bodies remain where they are, but the consciousnesses are transferred for as long as the machine the stones are placed on remains active. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to swap bodies with one of your co-workers and have sex with your wife using his body, SGU is the show for you. The most recent episode (available on Hulu or Google Search) has this happening with the commander of the Destiny, Col. Young. However due to a glitch his colleague returns to his body momentarily in the act of coitus with Young's wife.

Perhaps due to the popularity of certain rhythm games, the electric guitar seems to be making a bit of a comeback. I've been playing mine for most of my life, and like many others I love heavy, distorted guitar sounds and big, crunching power chords. Root-fifth power chords are easy to learn and easy to teach, but why are they so ubiquitous? And why root-fifth, anyway? How does distortion combine with musical intervals in order to generate big, bassy tones? A theory of distortion and musical intervals, with particular application to the electric guitar, is presented inside.

                                     /\            _______                  /  \           /       \          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).

Mr2001 writes "Consumerist reports that Apple is refusing to work on computers that have been used in smoking households. 'The Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, [the warranty has been voided] and they refuse to work on the machine "due to health risks of second hand smoke,"' wrote one customer. Another said, 'When I asked for an explanation, she said [the owner of the iMac is] a smoker and it's contaminated with cigarette smoke, which they consider a bio-hazard! I checked my Applecare warranty and it says nothing about not honoring warranties if the owner is a smoker.' Apple claims that honoring the warranty would be an OSHA violation. (Remember when they claimed enabling 802.11n for free would be a Sarbanes-Oxley violation?)"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

First the 10.6.2 update to Snow Leopard wasn't compatible with Intel Atom processors. Then it was. Then it wasn't again when it was finally released to the masses. Fortunately for the netbook-loving Mac OS X fans out there, the OSx86 scene is only too happy to offer a patched version of mach_kernel to enable booting 10.6.2 on netbooks once more.

The kernel is the deep-down part of Mac OS X that generally handles direct communication between the OS and hardware. Speculation swirled that Apple was actively trying to keep Mac OS X from being installed on inexpensive Atom-based netbooks. However, chances are it was more likely a result of optimizations that didn't take into account Atom processors, since Apple doesn't use them in any shipping products.

Let's look back at the week that was in Microsoft news. Here were the top stories:

Inside "MinWin": the Windows 7 kernel slims down: Back in 2003, Microsoft assembled a team of engineers to rethink the lowest levels of Windows, so that the OS could be more easily slimmed down and secured to run in servers and embedded applications. That project, called "MinWin," has now started to bear fruit. Ars takes a look inside MinWin.

Windows 7 tool violates GPL; Microsoft will open source it: After pulling the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from its servers over reports that it might violate the GNU General Public License (GPL), Microsoft has decided to go open source with the tool.

societyofrobots writes "Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has proposed taxing college and professional students for the privilege of receiving an education in the city. The proposed tax will charge students in the city at a rate of 1% of their yearly tuition — which, at Carnegie Mellon, would mean roughly a $400 tax (PDF) on most students. As the tax proposal hit local media outlets this week, the mayor repeatedly emphasized the burden that college students have placed on city services, and the need for students to pay their 'fair share.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.