Read this for a very interesting (and kind of frightening) account of the DDoS attack against grc.com. I especially liked the transcript between Steve Gibson (grc.com owner) and ^b0ss^ after Gibson reverse-engineered the zombie program and spied on the hackers. :-)
Day: June 10, 2001
XML: Not a silver bullet
I’ve always thought that XML has been oversold — XML is very useful, but only in an abstract sort of way. It’s just one tool that software developers can use.
I particularly liked this bit of a Dr. Dobb’s Journal interview of James Clark in the July 2001 issue:
DDJ: What’s the next step for XML?
JC: That’s a difficult question. I think XML has become so widespread, it’s like asking me, “What’s the next application for ASCII text? What’s the next application for line-delimited files?” XML is becoming so common, it’s not interesting [for its own sake] anymore.
Taxonomists with a sense of humor
From the 26 May 2001 issue of Science News, here are some actual names for real creatures:
Verae peculya
Heerz lukenatcha
Heerz tooya
Apopyllus now (like the movie)
Lalap lusa
Vini vidivici
Ytu brutus
For more fun, take a look at the online references cited in the article.