Several AM, FM, shortwave, and Internet radio stations Monday began broadcasting an automated voice reading the source for the Linux kernel--all 4,141,432 lines of it. Reading the entire kernel will take an estimated 14,253.43 hours, or 593.89 days.

A speech.bot's output is encoded into an open-source audio stream, which uses the Ogg Vorbis codec. You can track the progress of Free Radio Linux at http://radioqualia.va.com.au/freeradiolinux, which has links to sites reciting the code. Or, for the Ogg Vorbis impaired, you can check out its text-based progress.

Is this delightful, just plain weird, or both? Sound off--in key, please--in the Listening Post Water Cooler forum. And tell us about your other favorite Internet radio stations.