If..Else Log

Braeburn has posted a story about the development and birth of the Apple Lisa, the first commercial computer with a graphical interface. More on this subject at Andy Hertzfeld's (one of the original developers of the Mac) site Folkore.org. [via]

CmdrTaco says that a new Slashdot CSS theme is currently being tested at Slashcode before deployment to the live server in the upcoming weeks.

IOError writes on the effort by the EFF to reverse-engineer the tracking codes embedded in every page printed by colour laser printers.

Imagine that every time you printed a document, it
automatically included a secret code that could be used to identify the
printer — and potentially, the person who used it. Sounds like
something from an episode of "Alias", right?

Unfortunately, the scenario isn’t fictional. In an effort to identify counterfeiters, the US government has succeeded in persuading some color laser printer manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information. That means that without your knowledge or consent, an act you assume is private could become public. A communication tool you’re using in everyday life could become a tool for government surveillance. And what’s worse, there are no laws to prevent abuse.
Electronic Frontier Foundation

Robert S. McNamara, former U.S. secretary of defense and World Bank president, writes on the US' use of nuclear weapons as a foreign-policy tool.

A list of free, legal games available for download can be found at Liberated Games.

There's a Wired article on the birth of Google.

Larry thought Sergey was arrogant. Sergey thought Larry was obnoxious. But their obsession with backlinks just might be the start of something big.

A pretty cool demonstration of the mappings between zipcodes and locations. Note: Requires Java to be enabled.

Adam Howell responds to his recent redesign. Whilst I was a big fan of his previous design, I agree completely with his sentiments. Some people need to remember that a personal blog is exactly that; personal.

A simple way to mod the Apple logo on the back of your iBook.

A guy on eBay is selling everything he owns and is donating 10% to the charity "Cure Autism Now".

I've already mentioned above that the largest item is a sports car. You can ask questions to try to figure out the other items. But lets make it fun. Using the car as an example, Instead of asking does it include a car, you could have asked if I use public transportation for example. And the answer would be no. So you could figure out that I must have a car and since the auction includes everything, yes that would be included.
hehe. it's fun to tease. Yes these are actual pictures of the car.

Is there anything at all that's not included??
There's nothing I own which is not included. After I ship these items, I will be able to move out without having to carry anything with me. I will take this chance however to point out I live in a furnished apartment. So I don't own a house. And I don't own the big furniture items such as bed, couch, refrigerator. Also in addition to all the good stuff, there is an older model full size van that to be honest, wouldnt really be worth the trouble of shipping. If the buyer wants to pay to have it shipped, I would. But I would recommend just letting me sell it locally and give you the money, or paying you money for it myself, then i could resell it later. Thats up to the buyer though. On the other hand, shipping on it might not be much if shipped on the same truck as my car…..

How can we know more of what's included?
Well if you think about it, there's certain things that everyone has. Clothes for example. I'm placing this ad on ebay…. an online site…. so I obviously have a computer. The smarter you are, the more you'll figure out. I'll describe myself, that might help. I'm a 31 year old male. I like fast cars, Music, movies. I think like a kid at times. Cartoons are cool, lol. I guess i'm a bit of a collector. I mentioned that I've already packed up over 400 items. And I don't even know if I'm halfway through yet. Just to be clear. A container full of antique marbles would count as one item. I'm not going to count every marble to make it sound like more than it is. I also havent packed up any of the small everyday use items yet.

What condition are the items in?
They are used because it's things ive bought over my entire life. But its not any old broken down junk. The items actually work as theyre supposed to. The car for example runs good, hasn't been wrecked. There arent any sneaky catches like that. You don't have to worry about me being sneaky like that. Just look at my feedback. When I've sold items, I usually ship more than what the person ordered. I just don't care. I've never been hung up on material possesions, but now im getting rid of them all.

How will I survive without anything, once the auction is over?
I will have to buy a new car, I don't know of anyway to do without transportation. I have one set of clothes I borrowed from a friend. I will wear it to go buy some new clothes. Other than that I dont plan on replacing anything. Not for now at least. I want to live a much simpler life than I have up to this point.