Well, I join slashdot (aka the "sinister Andover keiretsu") full-time today. It seems worthy of a story, although I'll limit it to the YRO section since those have been my traditional stomping grounds. There's no real news below, just some rambling and question-asking, but I hope it will be interesting nonetheless.

Oddly enough, Hemos and I are speaking at MIT tonight, but at different times and places. I'm speaking at 7pm at the lecture hall about whatever comes to mind (bring questions because my agenda is wide open). Hemos is speaking at Bartos Theater in the MIT Media Laboratory at 20 Ames St. on campus at 5pm as part of their Media In Transition series. Normally we tend not to plug stuff like this, but this should be fun, so if you happen to be in the area, swing by either talk. I promise to embarrass myself by stuttering and rambling, proving that I speak just as badly as I write!

After a super long break, We return with a smaller than usual crew, but with special guest Geoff "Mandrake" Harrison. We talk about KDE/Debian issues, price changing, GPG vs. PGP and more. We don't know when our next episode will be, so savor this one, and find it at TheSync.

Chaoli the Grey asks: "Long before everybody and their mother used the Internet there were neo-pagan and occult ftp-archives and newsgroups. Margot Adler notes in her book _Drawing Down the Moon_ that among neo-pagans, '[an] amazingly high percentage [works] in computer, scientific and technical fields'. Appendix B in the Jargon File states that 'There is a definite strain of mystical, almost Gnostic sensibility that shows up even among those hackers not actively involved with neo-paganism, Discordianism, or Zen.' But has the interest in things mystical and occult among computer geeks watered down after the masses found computers and the Net? Do hackers still believe in magic or practice a mystical religion?" A risky question, as most of us have beliefs that we feel strongly about, but it is an interesting question nonetheless. So those interested in sharing what they believe in, please feel free. I'm sure others may find it interesting. The one thing I do ask is that you not judge people based on the information that is shared here, as all that is bound to do is cause problems.

GUNTHER asks: "I've always wondered what the difference is between a "Geek" and a "Nerd." I think of a geek as one who is interested in sci-fi, computers, role-playing, anime, and the like. I think of a nerd as one who is interested in math, physics, and technology. I consider myself much more of a nerd than a geek. I've done a bit of searching on the net for the difference and everyone seems to have a different opinion. Some say that nerds are just social outcasts. Some say that geeks are just arty nerds. Slashdot is "News for Nerds" but most people here seem to refer to themselves as geeks. What do you think, is there a difference between the terms? Which do you prefer (if you prefer either)?"

In this week's episode, we're back from the office move to discuss Microsoft buying Bungie, the new release of GNUCash, stupid processor naming schemes, the BT hyperlink patent, and more. This might be the last episode for awhile, as the Mackie (our mixing console) broke and I just shipped it back for repairs, so hang tight while we get it fixed.

In this week's episode we talk about the AMD Thunderbird, the "opening" of the Playstation 2, and not much else. (except for the ever-impending Krull invasion) If you've got a high tolerance for pain, give it a listen.

Back from our trip to Boston, we return with a brand-spanking-new episode. Nate was gone working on Everything2, but that didn't stop us from discussing the new Slash code release, efm, web crawlers, GNOME 1.2, and more.

pudge writes "Yo. We released slash-1.0.3. Bug reports and CVS and file downloads are on SourceForge. Slashcode is now hosted at Exodus with Slashdot and Freshmeat. " The scary part is that now Slashdot and Slashcode are totally synched up... which means programmers can e-mail diffs instead of bug reports and feature suggestions (hint hint hint!)

At the request of countless users, we're happy to finally present a summary of the new setup over at Exodus. It's the result of over 6 months of work from a lot of people, so shadouts to Adam, Kurt, and Scoop, Team P:Pudge, PatG & Pater for the code, and Martin BSD-Pat and Liz for getting the hardware and co-loc taken care of. Now hit the link below and see what these guys did:

We're back after the server move with a brand-new episode. This week we talk about the Cold War plot to nuke the moon, DVD recorders, the new Motif release and its license, as well as plenty of conspiracy theories.

Our announcement about our intent to publish a book based on the "Hellmouth" series met with more controversy than we expected. In our haste to do something that we felt would help parents, school officials and kids understand something, we neglected to consider the copyright problem presented by using this content. Read on to learn what this means.

I've written a lot of stories for Slashdot, but until yesterday's Microsoft news, I've never been inspired to write an editorial. I wrote this for people who are coming to Slashdot for the first time from media outlets, but regular Slashdot readers and comment posters may enjoy it, as well. Let me know what you think in the comments.

After much blood, sweat and tears, the new server appears to be up. It'll probably be a few hours yet while the DNS trickles over. We'll have a more extensive report describing the new hardware in the next couple of days... but first, we gotta iron out any kinks that pop up.

At about 10pm Eastern Time tonight, the overworked and mentally deranged Slashdot crew will make the transition from our current overburdened setup to our brand spanking new hardware over at Exodus. It'll take a few minutes for us to dump the existing data over there, and a second story will announce when this actually occurs, but at that moment, any comments posted here will be lost. We've tested the new metal pretty extensively, but none of us are planning on sleeping much. Bug reports can go to CowboyNeal (who plans to not sleep until friday anyway ;) Don't say we didn't warn ya ;) Update: 05/09 09:48 by CN : You can also post bugs at our SourceForge bugs page so that you can see what's already been filed, and make the transition that much smoother.

In this week's show we talk about mp3.com's legal losses, Metallica vs. Napster, bad games, and, and more. If you think you can stand it, give it a listen.

Its been a long tradition here of letting Slashdot users pound on new boxes before we take them live, so if you don't have anything more exciting to do, feel free to test beta.slashdot.org. The new setup is bigger, faster, stronger, and will hopefully make these busy afternoons nice and perky. Please go post comments, moderate, meta moderate etc etc. When the dust settles, we'll make the big switch, and all will be well. We'll have detailed specs on the setup soon, too.

Well, we weren't really sure where we were this week, but Chris DiBona stopped by anyway, and we talked about AOL's filtering, Nvidia's new X servers, and not much else, but we managed to talk for awhile. Make sure to give it a listen if you've got the time.

A little blatant self promotion today:Jon Katz has completed co-authoring, along with many Slashdot readers, a paperback version of Voices from the Hellmouth. The book is based on both the Slashdot reader comments and Katz's original columns Voices from the Hellmouth, More stories from the Hellmouth and The Price of Being Different which were written last year following Columbine. It is $14.95 (and comes complete with a cover designed by my girlfriend). The proceeds are being donated to an as-yet-undetermined charity.Update: 04/20 06:40 by H :I've addressed issues of comment posting below - please read more.

This week's episode is our longest yet, and we devote the extra time to talking about EverQuest GM's, Jennicam's 4 year anniversary, and more. Listen as we try to evade Rob's cat and still manage to do a show.