The Inferno

Well, essentially a repository for some of the best IRC quotes through the ages.

http://bash.org/?top

Be sure to check out the Random and Latest as well. Some of these are priceless, as evinced by the following:

gentoogod: omg dude
gentoogod: today i might the stupidest 3 people i ever met
gentoogod: thier 3 brains combined couldnt solve the dilemma they faced today
siral21: what was it
gentoogod: ok before i say this
gentoogod: 100% true, not one second of a lie
gentoogod: this lady went into mcdonalds today and ordered a big mac for her
gentoogod: and ordered 2 mcgrittles one for each kid. one had bacon one without
gentoogod: her sons are around 18 or 19 so not infants
gentoogod: she went to the counter furious cause the son that wanted bacon has no bacon on his and the one that didnt want bacon has bacon on his
gentoogod: i fell on the floor beside her and couldnt stop laughing
gentoogod: so i finally stood up and asked her to repeat, thinking maybe shes drunk
gentoogod: i swear to god she looked at me straight faced and repeated it. and her 2 sons were beside her mad that they didnt get the order they wanted

[01:33] (hilo21) ima looking for a site that seels amp
[01:33] (hilo21) ima looking for a site that seels amps
[01:33] (hilo21) iam looking for a site that seels amps
[01:34] (hilo21) I am looking for a site that sells amps
[01:35] (nexxai) how bout you look for a site that teaches english?
[01:35] (hilo21) fuck you
[01:36] (nexxai) Lemme guess, you’d kick my ass, but can’t read the road signs to get to my house?

(benja) A worldwide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question
asked was:”Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the
food shortage in the rest of the world?”
(benja) The survey was a huge failure…
(benja) In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.
(benja) In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant.
(benja) In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.
(benja) In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.
(benja) In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.
(benja) In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.
(benja) And in the USA they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant

And so on. Prepare to be amused for hours.

I stumbled upon this article and thought I should repost it. The original is at http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/07/23/95-theses-of-geek-activism/

1. Reclaim the term ‘hacker’. If you tinker with electronics, you are a hacker. If you use things in more ways than intended by the manufacturer, you are a hacker. If you build things out of strange, unexpected parts, you are a hacker. Reclaim the term.
2. Violating a license agreement is not theft.
3. All corporations are not on your side.
4. Keep in touch with everyone you can vote for and make sure you know where they stand on the issues you care about.
5. More importantly, make sure they know where you stand on the issues you care about.
6. Everything will enter the public domain some day- even Mickey Mouse.
7. Read the original 95 theses. Yes, they are irrelevant to these causes. Yes, they are religious- and not even close to my religion. And yes, they are 500 years old. But they do demonstrate how stating your beliefs clearly, effectively and publicly to challenge the status quo can change the world. Of course, I have no delusions of grandeur!
8. Use TOR for privacy and anonymity.
9. Trusted computers must not be trusted.
10. Democrats may seem to be on your side, but keep an eye on them. They may only be the lesser of two evils.
11. Republicans may seem to be the enemy, but that is only because they are in power now. The true enemy is a lack of accountability.
12. Read Eric Raymond’s The Cathedral and the Bazaar.
13. Why do I have to jump through hoops just to get video off my own home movie DVDs?
14. Know the DMCA so you know what you are up against.
15. The true enemy is the line: “If you haven’t done anything wrong, what do you fear?” The problem with that line, as Schneier has said, is that it assumes that the desire for privacy implies wrong-doing.
16. Proprietary data formats must never store public information.
17. Some corporations are on your side- find them and reward them.
18. No one has ever told me where I could play my 45 RPMs. Why are my MP3s any different?
19. The analog hole is not a hole. The world is analog.
20. If you are in the US, let your Senator know what you feel.
21. Treating your customers like criminals- or potential criminals- will turn customers away.
22. This bears repeating, treating paying customers as potential criminals is a losing strategy.
23. Some corporations may seem to be on your side, but are not.
24. Fair use is a good thing.
25. Use multiple operating systems regularly so you truly understand interoperability.
26. Write to your local newspaper- they can shape the opinions of the people do not understand the issues we care about.
27. Do not follow the Electronic Frontier Foundation, participate in it.
28. Read of Thoreau’s words on civil disobedience.
29. Data mining will not stop terror.
30. Express your opinion in public.
31. Blog.
32. The GPL is not gospel, but it comes close.
33. Use multiple MP3/music players so you truly understand interoperability.
34. If you are in the US, let your house representative know how you feel.
35. Those in favor of suspending some liberties for security, answer this: “Who watches the watchers?”
36. Except for extreme cases, the government should not be in the business of parenting our children.
37. When arguing with people who disagree, be polite, but not condescending.
38. RFID is just a technology- its existence does not make us more secure.
39. Now and in the future, presence of encryption implies nothing. In fact, whatever it does imply is none of your business. Without any other probable cause, the user must not bear the burden of explaining reasons for use of encryption.
40. Flame wars help the other side.
41. New technologies to promote and develop media will prosper because of computers and the Internet, not inspite of it.
42. Security is a trade-off- what are you willing to give up?
43. Calling Microsoft evil buys you nothing- it only polarizes the argument.
44. Holding Google to it’s “Don’t do evil” mantra buys us a lot.
45. Read of Gandhi’s actions in civil disobedience. Discover Satyagraha.
46. Use Creative Commons.
47. Understand the difference between civil disobedience and breaking the law.
48. Can’t find anything to watch on network TV? Watch Democracy TV.
49. Frame the argument in terms of the average person, not the edge-case geek. These problems affect geeks first, but will affect everyone in the future.
50. Privacy, civil liberties and civil rights are a slippery slope. The reason we continuously fight for them is not that we all seek a utopian society where doves fly free- in fact, I seek a perpetual ‘tug-of-war’ where the rope gradually slips in the direction of my beliefs.
51. Users do not want the permission to use digital media; they want to own digital media. This means using them as they choose, where they choose, in the device of their choice without fear of litigation or sudden inactivity. These users are customers- treat them with respect.
52. Support the free, public domain archives of information.
53. Undermine censorship by publishing information censored in oppressive countries.
54. And then, there is the 12-step plan for the games industry.
55. Corporations and producers of digital media must trust their own consumers. Sales will reward trust.
56. Breaking the law because you disagree with the current law is not the way to solve the problem in a democratic society.
57. ID cards do not make us more secure.
58. Voicing your views in a Slashdot comment thread is good, in your own blog is better, but in places that non-geeks frequent is best.
59. DRM does not work because the customer/user has the key, cipher and ciphertext in the player. (thanks Cory Doctorow)
60. Bloggers have rights- be aware of them.
61. Find out why electronic voting machines are regulated less than casino gaming machines.
62. Find out about Spimes- they are in your future if things go well.
63. Have a global perspective in ideas of geek civil liberties, intellectual property rights and so forth. Do you like your country’s policies in this respect? Can you help people from another country?
64. Geek activism is not all about extreme positions. There is a gradient- find your position on it.
65. Read the PATRIOT ACT- know what you are really up against.
66. In the US, put a few technologists in power in Washington. Abroad, do the same for your own seat of government.
67. Write to mainstream media- they have more mindshare than they are given credit for.
68. Read what your founding fathers said before taking someone’s word for it. Quote the founding fathers back at them- there were so many of them, and they said and wrote so much, that you will find a quote for each situation. Try this one for starters, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – Benjamin Franklin. Read more Bejamin Franklin. Read more cool quotes
69. Read more.
70. Mixed tapes are legal. Time-shifting TV is legal. Regardless of the media.
71. Decide what is offensive for yourself- don’t let the government decide it for you. If you do not, pretty soon, you may only see one side of every argument.
72. Music purchases should not be governed by determining which seller has the most clout among the player manufacturers.
73. We do not lock the door to our bedrooms or bathrooms because we have something to hide. We do not secure our networks, conversations, emails and files because we have something to hide.
74. Make sure that if a vendor locks you in, you lock them out.
75. 80% of games are not rated M.
76. You may agree with Richard Stallman, but make sure you understand the opposing point of view.
77. An email tax to certify that it is “legitimate” is an awful idea.
78. Know your rights and be prepared to defend them.
79. Open source is not free.
80. Free is open source.
81. The ESRB game rating system exists for a reason- so that parents can be parents and the government can get on with more important stuff.
82. Do not allow corporations to get away with assisting oppressive regimes. Let your voice be heard.
83. Linux is no longer a philosophy- it is a good piece of software. Use it because it if it fits your needs.
84. There are reasons based in mathematics that establish the NSA wiretaps and other similar brute data mining ideas do not work.
85. Multiple nag screens that warn us of possible insecurity do not make us more secure.
86. More information available to the most number of people is a good thing.
87. There are DRM free alternatives for music you can play anywhere.
88. Vote.
89. Free as in free lunch is good. Free as in a free people is even better. For software and for everything else.
90. Quoting Schneier’s blog: Cardinal Richelieu understood the value of surveillance when he famously said, “If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged.” Watch someone long enough, and you’ll find something to arrest—or just blackmail—with. Privacy is important because without it, surveillance information will be abused: to peep, to sell to marketers and to spy on political enemies—whoever they happen to be at the time.
91. Read our modern geek philosophers- read Bruce Perens, Cory Doctorow, Bruce Sterling and even Richard Stallman. Read Schneier to find practical reasons why stupid security mechanisms are stupid. Read them even if you disagree with them- it will help frame your point of view.
92. DRM only keeps an honest user honest.
93. You have the right to anonymity on the internet.
94. Be proud of being a geek, a gamer, a privacy advocate, promoter of free speech and an innovator without fear of litigation, of government or restrictions on liberties- a geek activist.
95. Most of all- have fun.

is that if you’re interested in them, there’s always one around. Unlike soccer fans who wait for the World Cup every four years, to use a sport analogy, a military buff literally has a plethora of military activity to choose from. Take this moment in time, as of July 2006, there are 24 major wars and a host of minor skirmishes taking place all over the world. The present one on everyone’s radar is the Israel-Lebanon conflict, but it’s not an unexpected development, given Israel’s history in the region and the wounds left in the aftermath of the last Israel-Lebanon conflict in 1982.

So you can sit in your comfortable chair and watch the mechanized killing on almost any channel on TV. Since much of TV is a blood sport anyway, they should really show the sponsors, a la Coke ads during the Superbowl:

Israel-Lebanon 2006 is brought to you by Lockheed Martin, 1000+ killed and rising, stay tuned.

The Sri Lankan civil war, brought to you by the Russians, the French and the Indians, running unabated since 1983, over 65,000 dead, sure to get more popular

and so on.

But, if we didn’t supply these nations with arms, we wouldn’t make billions of dollars. And, since they’re so keen on killing each other, they’d find a way to do it anyway, look at Rwanda. A million souls sent on their way with machetes. Who cares about millions of Third World corpses as long as the top executives in defense firms can buy their third wives augmentation mammoplasties.

If there was an algorithm for arms profiteering and conscience control, this would be it

1. Sell arms to dictators and human rights violators, make a killing

2. Watch placidly as arms are used on the innocent

3. Make a big deal about how they’re so unscrupulous for using them on women and babies and what have you

4. Look good in front of the rest of the world for pretending to care

5. Repeat ad infinitum

It’s not so much that you should mind that your hands are drenched in blood, since there isn’t much you can do about it. But now at least you know whose blood your hands are soaked in. Look for more victims at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_wars

A picture is worth a thousand words and here are several thousand words.

One of the neat things about some books is their list of literary milestones, the markers that litter the pathway along the life of a great author. I just finished reading Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and the preamble to the book has an excellent instance of this type of literary timeline. I’ve read the ones in bold, I need to read the rest.

It seems like I have a lot of catching up to do. Though this list is by no means comprehensive, and so might miss a plethora of other books I’ve read, the glaring gaps in my reading are to be rectified immediately.