Freshmeat.

Years ago, I got myself a free account on freshmeat, not long after they had gotten started. I wanted to keep up with this new 'linux' thing, and open source software. Well, I eventually gave up on them, because months would go by between announcements of anything even remotely interesting to me. I recently rejoined the mailing list, as I wanted to keep abreast of developments that might make my job easier in administrating this web server, or could be a part of one of the projects I am thinking of trying out.

Its no secret that Linux software has been increasing exponentially, and I now find half a dozen interesting entries showing up per day. While on the one hand this makes me think its worth being on the mailing list, on the other, I have no time to download and install a dozen new pieces of software every day, just to see if they do what I need done.

So, is there a linux software review website out there? Something that does roundups and comparisons of software in different categories? Someone should definitely start such a thing if not, but I suspect someone already has.

Dumb Linux Question.

Speaking of Linux and tools and stuff, I (vaguely) remember reading, years ago, about a method for setting up a spool directory such that any time a file was dropped into the directory, a daemon would immediately read the file and process it. I think there was also some sort of business involving named pipes, but I don't really recall. This may have been because the handling daemon was in another box than the spool directory -- IIRC this was part of a lan-wide printing setup.

Anyway, fast-forward to today, and I'm thinking of putting in 'Retrain' directories in all of the mail accounts on my mail server. Anytime the mail headers misclassify something as spam or nonspam, you simply drop the misclassified mail into the retrain directory, and it is automagically removed and trained as being in the opposite class as its headers suggest, and then re-delivered through the mail-filter system.

Now, clearly I can do all this with a cron task, but I want snappier responses. Ideally, there should only be a few seconds delay between dropping stuff into the retrain directory and getting it re-delivered correctly. Does anyone have any good ideas about how one goes about setting this up these days? If its any help, I have FAM up and running on the system (although I don't really know how it works.)

From the Had to Happen Dept: S&M Barbie!

That's right, Mattel is now making a version of Barbie complete with whip and leather clothing. Order yours today!

Fake Canadian Money.

Here's an interview with the guy responsible^* for businesses no longer accepting $100 bills in Canada. He was the guy behind the counterfeiting wave that introduced all the funny money into Canada recently.

---

^* If you accept that the government isn't at least partly to blame. Some folks will say that anyone producing a currency should guarantee that its accepted, by insuring the businesses against fraud. Of course, that may require the businesses to show 'due caution', which is probably not worth it to most businesses. Its a complex subject.

Genetics of 'Adam' and 'Eve'

If you trace back the mitochondrial descent of humans, you discover that we all share the mitochondria of a woman who lived 160,000 years ago: the 'Mitochondrial Eve'. If you trace the Y chromosome back through the generations, you get a 'Chromosonal Adam' who lived just 60,000 years ago. In trying to explain this time discrepancy, it turns out that the easiest model that explains the data is that historically, most men have had children with multiple females. Thus, it appears that polygyny has been around a very long time.

A more complete article on the subject is here.

Thinking about Thinking

Here's a pointer to a wired article about a way to test where in a field scientific rigor has and has not been correctly applied. The developer calls it the verifier method, and it gives you a way of looking for areas to search for solutions that may not have gotten sufficient treatment. I found the article fascinating.