By R. K. Selman <strong>Ping</strong>! Byting Back! No good issue of <strong>Ping</strong>! would be complete without a gut-splittingly hilarious back page. Of course, this isn’t necessarily a good issue of <strong>Ping</strong>!, so the following will simply have to do. Byteback #3 - A Nibble of Cheapness We all know at least one person of the sort--they’re so cheap they refuse to buy a wallet, and instead regularly steal ATM deposit envelopes to hold their money. (If you do this yourself, yes, I do think you’re cheap.) Of course, the best treatment for people like this is one-up-personship. With the following URL, you will not need an ATM envelope, because you’ll be able to make a wallet with, yes, you guessed it, a single piece of paper! Visit: http://www. instructables.com/id/E9331VJF3DES9J73YS/ Byteback #1 - A Byte of Cynicism Now, pardon me for not being an expert on the matter of rodents, but “car-eating rats” seems a little over the top. Car-eating rats that “terrorize” a city? Nice theme for a really crappy B-Movie, methinks (or a dastardly terrorist plot). Unfortunately for residents of Cambridge (the one in MA, not the one in England), it doesn’t seem city bureaucrats can agree on whose responsibility the rats are, either, but they blame that not on themselves--it’s apparently a problem of the rats not having nametags. You think I’ve made this up? Proof I haven’t: http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/ homepage/x1178183952 Byteback #2 - A Bit of Coolness As we all know, cool car concepts are released all the time. But, for those among us who are environmentally friendly, anything that actually does make it to the market and still retains its concept coolness is usually a pollution-spewing smog machine. Toyota may just be changing that, with an awesome looking, awesomely fast, truly bloody awesome (sorry, the Cambridge reference caused me to turn British for a moment) new sports car, the FT-HS. Check it out: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=118933 Byteback #4 - A Flash of the Past Ever stuck your foot in your mouth? Metaphorically, that is? Probably, but I suspect few of us could come anywhere near such blockbuster statements as “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible,” “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home,” or “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” You can read these and far more predictions gone really, really wrong at http://www.thoughtmechanics.com/2007/04/21/ some-very-funny-and-totally-wrong-predictions-of-the-past/ Now, some of you may ask, what does any of this have to do with web hosting? Those who do so clearly can’t see the obvious: 1.) If rats and cars don’t mix, rats and datacenters don’t mix. Keep rats away from your servers. You’ve been warned. 2.) Concept cars are always cool. Cool hosts drive cool cars. `Nuff said. 3.) DUH! Paper wallets are a competitive advantage for reducing business costs. A wallet less a year translates into savings to pass onto your hosting customers! 4.) And, finally, it really does pay to think before you speak, particularly if someone is actually writing down what you say. This includes ticket replies. Saying “Absolutely nobody would ever host anything on Linux” may, therefore, be a bad idea. 66 64 <strong>Ping</strong>! <strong>Zine</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
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