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# The Linux Launderette

### From the Department of Pedantry

Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:17:36 -0700

I offer the following anecdote in belated celebration of National Punctuation Day (http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/) -- which was September 24th, 2009, but we can hope that it'll prove to be... um... periodic.

----- Forwarded message from Deirdre Saoirse Moen <deirdre@deirdre.net> -----

    From: Deirdre Saoirse Moen <deirdre@deirdre.net>
    To: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com>
    Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:40:48 -0700
    Cc: Cheryl Morris <camorris@mars.ark.com>
    Subject: Comma story

An elementary school principal was visiting one of his classes during an English lesson. "Why," asked the principal, "are you teaching commas? They're of no use. You're wasting time." The teacher turned to one of her students, and said "Sarah, please go to the board and write 'The principal said the teacher is wasting time.'" Once she had done so, the teacher told her student, "Now, put commas after 'principal' and 'teacher'."

----- End forwarded message -----

### Google Books & Metadata

Jimmy O'Regan [joregan at gmail.com]

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 02:28:23 +0100

There's a lot going around at the moment about the metadata in Google Books, mostly based on the LanguageLog post 'Google Books: A Metadata Trainwreck' (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1701)

I mention it, just to quote this part of Google's response (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1701#comment-41758):

'Geoff adds, "And a catalogue of copyright entries from the Library of Congress listed under 'Drama' — though I had to wonder if maybe that was just Google's little joke."

Hey now. We would never ingest our own mirth into metadata records. There's too much there already. Like the time one of our partner libraries supplied us with a catalog record for a turkey baster. Not a book about turkey basting. An actual turkey baster, presumably to be found in the stacks. One European library classified Darwin's Origin of Species as fiction. And there's a copyright record for a book that has no writer, only a psychic who received the text "clairaudiently."'

### Don't doubt me just give me a chance. You will not regret this.

Thomas Adam [thomas.adam22 at gmail.com]

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:50:29 +0100

2009/9/26 some spammer said:

    > Have you ever been rejected for a loan by other loan companies?

No, but then I don't trust the banks.

    > Do you need a fast loan that is guaranteed?

Sure, I can ask a banker, they're impartial, trustworthy and certainly most of the banks in the UK aren't under the tax-payers control, so it's a no-brainer really,

    > Are you behind in your mortgage loan, child support, car loan, school loans?

No, I live in a tent.

    > Are you getting ready to open up a new business?

I think the doors to Debenhams open at 0700 these days, but it's been a while.

    > Are getting ready to get married and need fast cash?

Heh -- the wife's already spent it by then anyway.

    > Then we can help.

Great -- I knew bankers were untrustworthy what with their bonuses, but I had no idea in order to get ""alternative"" loans I needed to think about opening the doors of my business, and then get married in record time.

Damn, I will have to bear that in mind next time. Silly me!

-- Thomas Adam

### Spam: diamond watch

Mike Orr [sluggoster at gmail.com]

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:17:22 -0700

This is so not me. Dreaming about a watch with diamonds? Nice checkmark character though.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

    From: Yet Another Spammer
    Date: Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 8:35 AM
    Subject: Buy this great watch today √ wear it all your life.

You have always dreamed about the watch with diamonds but couldn’t afford it? Now you can make your dream come true as we are dropping prices on the most precious luxury watches in the world.

Haste to visit [link to some www.google.com/reader/tag URL, whatever that means]

--- End forward

    --
    Mike Orr <sluggoster@gmail.com>

[ Thread continues here (13 messages/23.72kB) ]

### On laws and cautions

Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxmafia.com]

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:34:42 -0500

On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 11:38:49AM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:

    >
    > Ben's already been through the Phil Hughes crapfest, so he probably
    > already figured out that there's probably no further damage in the
    > present case other than noise.

Yeah, that kind of thing tends to give you a bit of armor, or at least a sense of amusement (or possibly boredom, after a while) when some slavering net.freakjob starts threatening and attacking you. I've also recently learned - and I'm not sure that the lesson has quite sunk in, so at some point, the Universe will teach it to me harder - to set a clock on the idiots. They can continue their blithering as long as I find it amusing; after that point, they get told "your nickel has run out. Behave, or get shut off - NOW."

    --
    * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *

[ Thread continues here (11 messages/12.08kB) ]

### Propunere

some.spammer [some.spammer at gmail.com]

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 06:40:52 +0700

Am deosebita onoare de a va invita alaturi de o echipa tanara de profesionisti, o echipa de tineri cu experienta in domeniul publicitatii pe internet.

Va putem promova site-ul prin inscriere in directoare web si motoare de cautare, peste 5000 internationale si 1000 romanesti. Asa cum stim, este criza financiara, motiv pentru care ofertele noastre se adreseaza tuturor buzunarelor - preturi incepand de la 10 euro!

Ne puteti contacta la adresa de e-mail some.spammer@gmail.com sau la numarul de telefon 0730928951

Cu stima, some.spammer

Adresa dvs. a fost inregistrata pe unul dintre site-urile ce fac parte din reteaua noastra, a fost gasita pe un site sau din alte informatii publice. Pentru ca intelegem si apreciem intimitatea dvs. ne cerem scuze daca acest mesaj a ajuns din greseala, iar daca doriti sa nu mai primiti acest gen de mesaje in viitor va rugam sa trimiteti un mail la adresa some.spammer@gmail.com cu mesajul "dezabonare" pentru a va scoate din baza noastra de date. Acest mesaj nu poate fi catalogat ca SPAM.

[ Thread continues here (3 messages/2.92kB) ]

### Where's Faber?

Faber J. Fedor [faber at linuxnj.com]

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:50:25 -0400

On 10/09/09 19:05 -0700, Rick Moen wrote:

    > [Snipping several recipients from your CC list.]
    >
    > Quoting Someone Elided (someone_elided@someplace):
    >
    > > What happened to Rick and Faber BTW?

Wait. What? There's traffic on this list?! I've only been seeing emails from Rick for the past several months. I assumed y'all moved over to a Yahoo Group or something and I've not followed, mostly out of laziness.

:-?

    --

    Regards,

    Faber

[ Thread continues here (10 messages/12.00kB) ]

### xkcd blag

Jimmy O'Regan [joregan at gmail.com]

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 02:12:13 +0100

Based on yesterday's comic (http://xkcd.com/632/), there's this post: http://blag.xkcd.com/2009/09/05/vk-couples-testing/

http://vkcouplestesting.com/

"Bots can handle thousands of connections at once, so you don’t know who else your internet partner is chatting with. There’s nothing worse than a Turing Test coming back positive for chlamydia."

Also, http://blag.xkcd.com/2009/09/02/urinal-protocol-vulnerability/ - the links says it all, really

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Published in Issue 167 of Linux Gazette, October 2009

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