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Spam turns 30; Internet not happy

By Liam, May 3, 2008

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THE INTERNET- Spam today announced that it has been 30 years since its first use, when it was first sent on the ARPANET on May 3rd, 1978. Since then, it has maintained a standard of excellence in annoyance of anyone who dares to set foot on the World Wide Web. Though not called spam until 15 years after that historic event, Spam was an insult and a nuisance even on its first day of life.

“LOSE 10 POUNDS IN 2 WEEKS!!! VIAGRA IN STOCK 40% OFF NOW!!! I’M 30 YEARS OLD TODAY!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! FREE ANTIVIRUS SCAN U ARE INFECTED!!!” Spam announced today, to thunderous dissent. Though the first use of spam was email, it has since spread to many other communication methods, such as instant messaging, blog comments, and even the telephone.

One humble spammer, who gave his name as Geoff Kennedy, was available for comment. “V|aggra 50mg x 60 pi1ls = $ 89.95,” he told Deep Thought. He then added, “Have liver problems; have kidney problems; have ever had blood cell problems such as sickle cell anemia, multiple myeloma, or leukemia,” a statement which had us somewhat puzzled. The man concluded by stating that, “Via-gra 1.41 per p!ll best 0n-line dr.ugstore in the internet,” and resumed his work. I then threw an empty soda cup at him.

Yes, of the many uses of the internet to have been realized so far, spam has remained one that can stand the test of time, much to the chagrin of…
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Who’d’a thunk it? Most facebook apps are pointless

By Nick, May 2, 2008

According to a recent study, most Facebook apps are pointless silly time-wasters, according to a CNET blog post. The blog post cites a new study from Flowing Data, which tabulated the nature of the 23,000+ Facebook applications. Roughly 9600 are categorized as “Just for Fun,” while many more are labeled as “Gaming,” “Sports,” “Chat,” and other productivity-killing categories.

Now wait just a second. Why on Earth did Flowing Data research the number of pointless Facebook apps? Anyone who has spend any time on Facebook and has been bombarded with endless application invitations could tell you that most Facebook apps are pointless. A pointless survey on the pointlessness of Facebook apps. Hard to believe someone actually got paid for that. wtf

And besides, who visits Facebook to get anything done in the first place? raspberry


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Blogging may be hazardous to your health?

By Nick, April 7, 2008

The New York Times posted an article discussing stress-related health issues that can go along with professional blogging.

At least one blogger, Marc Andreessen, ridiculed the New York Times article. Marc, buddy, I think you missed the point. As someone who has blogged prolifically for the past few years, I can tell you that the New York Times article isn’t necessarily that far off the mark.

First of all, the Times article isn’t saying that “Blogging causes death.” No, what they’re saying is that highly-competitive blogging can cause heavy stress. Heavy stress can lead to health problems, some of which—such as heart attacks—can lead to death.

Let’s think about the real idea behind the article before shooting off about it on a blog next time.

Many bloggers today put themselves under a shitload of stress. As a blogger for DT, I’m not as hard core as some are, but I can tell you that I’ve suffered under the stress of blogging too. I’ve deprived myself of sleep. I’ve suffered burnout. I put DT before studying as a college student; it showed in my grades, and now I regret it. At times DT became an obsession, and I just coudn’t handle it anymore. That is why I don’t post here as much as I used to.

In linking to Andreessen’s post, John Gruber remarks, “There’s nothing to say about such a goofy, insipid article other than to mock it. My grandfather was a coal miner. That was a hard, stressful, dangerous job.”…
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On ‘A More Perfect Union’

By Nick, March 19, 2008

I typically don’t like posting articles that are political in nature here, but since I have nothing better to write about (and don’t have a personal blog), here goes…

In light of Senator Barack Obama’s speech ”A More Perfect Union” and the whole brouhaha over Rev. Wright, I have three questions:

Would the response be the same if any of the other Presidential candidates were embroiled in a similar controversy? Would there be such a large uproar (or maybe a bigger uproar)? And how would the other candidates handle such a situation?

How much should the expressed beliefs and views of a close friend or family member impact a candidate running for office?

Should someone leave a congregation because they strongly disagree with the pastor?

Leave a comment. I may or may not post my opinion, depending on how much I want to get into the debate.

And with that, we return to our regularly scheduled programming!


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Blu-ray wins, consumers lose

By UnnDunn, March 6, 2008

So now that Blu-ray Disc is poised to become the dominant next-generation movie format, it’s time to look to the future. A future that quite frankly, looks somewhat bleak for a number of reasons.

It’s been two weeks since Toshiba, creators and primary backers of the nascent next-generation movie disc format called HD DVD, ceased production and marketing of the technology, ceding defeat in a bitter format war raged between it and Blu-ray Disc, championed by a Sony-led consortium.

This move was widely expected following January’s announcement by Warner Home Video that it will be supporting Blu-ray Disc exclusively going forward. As the number one movie studio in the world, Warner Bros. commanded immense weight in deciding the outcome of this war, and once their announcement was made, it took less than two months for companies at every level of the home video distribution ecosystem to fall in line behind it, abandoning HD DVD in the process and leaving Toshiba holding the bag.

So now that Blu-ray Disc is poised to become the dominant next-generation movie format, it’s time to look to the future. A future that, quite frankly, looks somewhat bleak for a number of reasons.

In a Blu-ray dominated future, expect high prices, because everything about Blu-ray is far more expensive than its HD DVD counterparts. The players will be expensive thanks to costly laser pickups, complicated hardware and an even more complicated software stack that will require extensive support from the manufacturers. The discs will be expensive thanks to the relatively high cost of manufacturing discs, and the sky-high costs of authoring them using BD-J.

Expect limited selection, in part because of the high costs of creating a commercial Blu-ray Disc, but…
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