Special Interest Group on CRAP

Disclaimer: this is unrelated to my own child (I think) I recently came across the following cartoon, which is a joke that is so obscure that few people will get it (you need to know what sql injection attacks are). Still, if Frank Zappa could name his daughter “Moon Unit” (sister of Dweezil), and David [...]

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For years I have listened to people argue that parallel sessions are harmful to scientific discourse, and how we need to maintain “quality”. While I strongly believe that quality of scientific publication should not be sacrificed, I think there is a harmful aspect to avoiding parallel sessions that is being overlooked. The problem is that [...]

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There was a time when commercial publishers provided a crucial service in the printing and distribution of scientific publications. That need has diminished to the point where it doesn’t make sense to continue to use this model. USENIX has announced that they will make all of their conference proceedings freely available online. This marks a [...]

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I somehow ended up with a machine with Windows Vista on it. Ok, it was a mistake. I know that now. When you get a new machine, one thing you have to do is go back and reinstall all those things that make a machine usable. Since I work on computer science research, I occasionally [...]

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My wife handed me a newspaper article saying how to opt out from direct marketing lists, and how to opt out from preapproved credit offers. These have single-handedly created a market for personal shredders, and I’m tired of filling up landfills. When I went to the web site of the Direct Marketing Association*, they lead [...]

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There is a crying need for a button on most consumer electronics these days. I call it the “FUCK YOU” button. I’ll offer a few examples: You put a DVD into your DVD player, but none of the buttons on the remote will function until you finish watching the promotions, the FBI copyright warning, and [...]

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