brazilian brain writes "Did you know that users don't like the inclusion of payware bundled with our everyday's "official" Linux distributions? And that they need an User's Guide more than an Install Guide? Linux in Brazil ran a poll for 30 days, asking what users expected from the next editions of their preferred distributions, and discovered these facts - and many more." (Poll results have been translated to English; the rest of the site is in Portugese)

Monday we got a whole bunch of questions for Nitrozac, the shadowy, boot-wearing creator of the After Y2k! online comic strip. We tossed out all the "Are you really a woman?" questions; I've talked to her more than once and assure you that she is indubitably female and, as she puts it, "slightly over 25." A little inside note for y'all: Nitrozac has lots of female fans who think Taco and Hemos are "hot." This should give hope to all male, female-lacking geeks out there! But let's have Nitrozac speak in her own (laughworthy) words. The complete Q&A sesion is below. Enjoy!

Sit back and get jiggy with tonights Quickies: First up, jamiemccarthy sent us a Magic 8-Ball that claims to be operated by Legos. And if you're into those remote control legos, Paddy noted that there is new stuff on the lego website. Todays stranges item comes from Chris Henesy who sent us official NASA procedure for Viking Raids. Michael Van Vertloo sent us linkage to a webcam from the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depositoryso you conspiracy theorists can keep an eye on it. Bogatyr noted that there now is actually a website selling stuff from the matrix. No, not the minigun, but sunglasses and stuff. tj2sent us linkage to an interview where George Lucas blaims the internet for Jar Jar sucking so badly. Mike sent us a page that tracks Strange things sold on ebay. Finally, markhb sent us a Washington Post profile of Marc Andreeson where he talks about assorted things, and even plugs Slashdot as one of his favorite sites (thanks Marc!) And finally, to bookend this Fresh block of quickies, harb sent us lyrics to the classic (cough) Will Smith Song "Men in Black" for Linux geeks.

Soren writes "Apparently the deal has been made- there will be 2 'The Matrix' sequels. More details are availible. " And hopefully, the Wachowski brothers will be directing still. They are playing with the idea of two prequels, or two sequels, but releasing them within months of each other, a break from tradition, like some *harumph* other movies around.

chris wrote in to tell us that Registration for the 3^rd Annual Atlanta Linux Showcase is open. First 100 registrations get an OS-Wars T-Shirt (I have one, they rock) brazilian brain sent us an English Translation of an Interview with Alfredo Kojima of WindowMaker fame. Scott wrote in to tell us that the July issue of Daemon News is online and Jim wrote in to tell us that the July issue of The FreeBSD 'zine is out too. geophile wrote in to tell us that Propoganda 10 is out. More excellent background images to consume your free RAM. Very yum. erios23 notified us of a new toy on jwz's webpage. BluBall sent us a Slashdot reference in Salon's Silicon Funnies. Spoofs Linux and Slashdot and even me a bit I guess (well, my name anyway). And finally chrisd (who may be biased on this one) wrote in to say that VA is one of the 10 best companies to work for (According to ZD) ranking amongst Replay, Nokia and Novell. I suspect that Nerf has something to do with it.

fiji asks: "I am contemplating a wireless LAN for my house and was wondering if anyone had found a cheap, reliable, Linux solution. I have been looking at the Linux WLAN page and the ZoomAir cards but was a little put off because the price is $250 for the ISA and $230 for PCMCIA (at buy.com). Also the support matrix at the WLAN driver page shows the ISA as untested under Linux." Has anyone tested the ISA ZoomAir cards yet? What other driver options exist for Wireless LAN?

For more than a decade, various law enforcement agencies -- perhaps in need of bad guys to replace Soviet spies and jailed Mafia bosses -- have warred in a very public way against hackers, maligned by both media and law enforcement as a dangerous menace. So Kevin Mitnick ends up doing more jail time than a true convicted robber baron like Michael Milken. This stereotype is as false as it is dumb. Real hackers don't steal, vandalize or damage. They are most often freedom-loving and generous problem solvers and information sharers.

"The Matrix" and "Phantom Menace" are a great study in contrasts when it comes to looking at movies, technology and geek culture. "Matrix" might be the easiest and cheapest test of geekdom yet. Geeks will almost surely love it. Others might scratch their heads in wonder. This is the closest popular culture has ever come to capturing the strange world of virtual reality.

Just weeks after Littleton, there's been another school shooting -- this time in Conyers, Georgia, where a sophomore student shot and injured (none-fatally) six students. The suspect profile is familiar. Classmates describe him as a "normal" kid with plenty of friends, and no associations with any particular "groups". These shootings will almost surely re-spark, at least in part, the post-Littleton hysteria, including the media notion that computer gamers and people who wear dark clothing are mass murderers. Here's some perspective. This week, the FBI announced that crime is dropping like a rock, to its lowest levels in half a century. Says a leading criminologist: "For most of our kids, school is the safest place to be."

Paul wrote in to point us to the GNU Jobs Page. ^BR wrote in to say that the may issue of Daemon News is out for your BSDies out there, and CaVi wrote in to say that the Linux Gazette is out (sorry that these took so long to announce... moving was a bitch). Bitscape sent us a Salon story about Coding in Vampire Mode. Mikesch noted that www.palmcolors.com is selling colored Palm Pilots rsn. Looking for new backgrounds? President John F. Kennedy wrote in to tell us that the Volume 7 of Propoganda is up. And for those who are curious, he actually did send me beer! robert@budzynski.ddns.org sent us this art gallery with fodder and dayeight sent us a photomosaic picture for you Lara Craft Perverts out there. HighJack noted that the latest version of JWZs X Screensaver distribution contains a new one that looks like those funky falling charachters from The Matrix. And finally for some crazy fun stuff, dave sent us hilarious proof that Star Trek is Satanic, and chrisd sent us one of the best ebay auction items in recent memory. Psst-this is Hemos. It was Rob's birthday on May 10-he thinks he escaped. E-mail him and tell him how much you love him.

In the days after the Littleton, Colorado massacre, the country went on a panicked hunt the oddballs in High School, a profoundly ignorant and unthinking response to a tragedy that left geeks, nerds, non-conformists and the alienated in an even worse situation than before. Stories all over the country embarked on witchunts that amounted to little more than Geek Profiling. All weekend, after Friday's column here, these voiceless kids -- invisible in media and on TV talk shows and powerless in their own schools -- have been e-mailing me with stories of what has happened to them in the past few days. Here are some of those stories in their own words, with gratitude and admiration for their courage in sending them. The big story out of Littleton isn't about violence on the Internet, or whether or not video games are turning out kids into killers. It's about the fact that for some of the best, brightest and most interesting kids, high school is a nightmare of exclusion, cruelty, warped values and anger.

chris sent in a link to this story which reports on FreeBSD being used on 32 dual-processor machines to render special effects for The Matrix. With 32 dual-processor machines, I doubt there's much that they couldn't render.

Druppy writes "I just got an email about this article in our local paper here in Santa Cruz. It's basically about illegal copies of movies like The Matrix being moved over campus lines. Needless to say since my school was mentioned 4-5 times in the article the administration is starting to crack down. " So are people sneaking cam corders in to movie theaters now? I get nervous just trying to sneak in a candy bar.

John Dillinger wasn't nailed with much more fanfare than the alleged creator of the now-famed Melissa virus, whose apprehension in New Jersey a few days ago drew a governor and a platoon of state, local and federal cyber-cops. This syndrome is becoming almost ritualistic. The virus and the arrest tell us a lot about Crime and Hype; Technological Hostility, and Closing the Distance that makes so much online hostility so easy.

Dyslexic writes "ABCNews is reporting that strands of DNA can act like semiconductors. After seeing "The Matrix" this makes me only fear the future." The research is coming from two researchers in Basel, Switzerland. Essentially, this research is saying that while DNA makes a good semiconductor, it does not conduct as well as, say, copper. It's real usefulness comes from the fact that "...he knows of no metallic wires that can be made as small or as regular as DNA strands. A strand is 2 billionths of a meter thick, or one-forty-four-thousandths of the diameter of a medium-size human hair ". Uber-thin. I like it.

"The Matrix" is the latest product from the sci-fi hollywood world. A techno-thriller that is raising a lot of eyebrows and posing the question "What is The Matrix". We'll try not to answer that question, but skip Katz's column if you're concerned: he gives abit away. If you're anal about getting movies spoiled, just don't read any reviews. Mine is fairly spoiler free, but if you like sci fi, see this movie. Its golden. Hopefully it'll tide me over until May.

Richard Thieme has long been writing a weekly column called Islands in the Clickstream. Richard wants to run them weekly on Slashdot - he would be joining Katz then providing new content on these pages. I'm excited about this, and I think many of you will too. The following feature is this weeks island. Read it, vote on the poll, and hopefully Richard will be back next week.

Gextyr submitted a question regarding something I've always wondered about as well. He asks: "I work at a local computer shop, and was just given permission to put together a Linux box for display and demo purposes. My boss gave me a touch screen for this (the touch matrix is serial controlled) purpose as well. I want to know if there is any touch screen support for Linux, and if so, where can I get mode information about it?"

needles writes "Afraid to leave home 'cause you'll be without your Linux box? Check out the CAJUN Car Audio Jukebox page where it describes how to use a linux box and a Matrix Orbital LCD display and keypad to add a mp3 Linux-based jukebox to your car audio system and fear no longer. The only problem I see in building this is the temperature and shock conditions for the components of the Linux box. Does anyone know what the most reliable components (especially the hard drive) for these conditions would be? " Something like this would work in your living room too. Somebody needs to sell these things. Anyone? Please?

Peter Williams writes "The second and third prequels for the Star Wars saga are to be filmed in Sydney Australia, in the renovated former showground studios. Filming is set to begin in 2000. The studios have really only been used for the forthcoming Keanu Reeves vehicle, The Matrix and the Babe sequel. Pig in the City. "