OT: sending email to all your applicances (Was: Re: ASCIIifying)

On Wed, May 07, 2003 at 03:24:44PM +0200, taliesin the storyteller wrote:
[snip]
> As for sending email to a fridge, plane, etc., *of course* you want to
> do that!
Well, you can also send mail to toasters[1]... Oh wait, no you can't. The
toaster has to *download* the mail instead.[2] But that's just a
technicality... :-P


[1] I.e., computers running micros~1 software. (See:
http://www.happypenguin.org/show?XBill )

[2] "Leaf node" comes to mind.[3] :-P

[3] Oh but wait, there's more! <cue sound="groan"/> Some toasters are
equipped with sophisticated software that actually allows them to receive
mail directly. Some people believe the software is called "exchange
server", but it is also known as the "Third Slot".[4]

[4] Which might explain why incoming mail gets toasted from time to
time... :-P


> After all, it is any program's (embedded or not) manifest destiny
> to be able to send or receive email;
And it is the manifest intent of every OS to turn your computer into a
toaster[5]. So far, only micros~1 has succeeded. :-P


[5] For those of you who didn't get the toaster reference, basically it
means that it turns your computer into a slow, power-consuming[6]
contraption capable only of doing one task, which is to generate lots of
heat. Depending on the brand of toaster, it may exhibit various degrees of
(un)reliability, either popping up the toast while still cold, or turning
it into coal.[7]

[6] Those of you who tried to run a toaster and a microwave at the same
time from the same outlet would know what I mean... :-P

[7] Rumor has it that if you let it heat the coal long enough, it might
turn into a diamond. But that's just a micros~1 marketroid sales pitch to
excuse toaster unreliability.


> you have seen the "Hello, world" program that doubles as a mailer, yes?
I have seen a webserver written in shell script. I kid you not. But that's
off-topic...


> The next step on the road to program ascendance is of course to include
> everything and the kitchen sink, something which Emacs apparently does
After all, EMACS = Extremely Massive And Cumbersome System :-)


> (I use vim exclusively)
VI = Visual Irritation... So I suppose that means:
VIM = Visually Irritating, Man!

;-)


> and mozilla can do if you compile it with --with-kitchen-sink. (This
> might be a myth :)
Mozilla can do *anything* if you compile it with the right option(s).
Rumor has it that hidden somewhere in the configure script, if you can
figure out how to enable it, is the --kill-msie-marketshare switch. So
far, however, the implementation of it seems to be quite buggy, and the
fix for it is still elusive.


T

--
Unix was not designed to stop people from doing stupid things, because that
would also stop them from doing clever things. -- Doug Gwyn

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