12/29   What is the "proper" pronunciation of "gif"? Is it with a hard "g"
        or a soft "g" (like the letter j)? I always pronounced it like
        "jif" but all my co-workers say it with a hard "g", which I find a
        bit annoying.
        \_ soft g.  (It's a peanut butter AND a graphics format...)
        \_ I pronounce it with a hard g, probably by association with
           the hard g in the beginning of 'graphics', but this is by
           no means a phonetic rule for acronyms. (I tend not to like
           the idea of 'proper' pronunciations, anyway; who's to say
           what's proper, after all? Perhaps you should ask the people
           at CompuServe who popularized it?) -brg
        \_ i have been told the people who came up with it like the
           soft g, but i don't believe that pics should be associated
           with a processed peanut butter, so i use the hard g anyway,
           and ignore the dorks who complain.  -lila

12/30   Are there any states that allow cousins to legally get married?
        This is a serious question.  Thanks for any info.
        \_ Kentucky.
           \_ So if two cousins get married in Kentucky and then return to
              California, will the marriage be recognized by California as
              legitimate?
              \_ Full Faith and Credit.

12/30   How do you trick a program that requires 8 bit color to run on a
        16bit X server?
        \_ Does the server also support some 8-bit visuals?  run "xdpyinfo"
           to find out.  If so, try specifing an 8-bit visual when you run the
           program.
           \_ the program I'm trying to run is magic which gives me a
              "Magic only works in 256-colour mode" message.

12/30   Hello, I am in love with my cousin.  We want to have children.
        what will we tell them?
        \_ How do you avoid the possibility of your children having bad
           genes because of blood relation between the parents?

12/31   Anybody in SF know if the ice rink in Union Squre is still there?
        If so, when is the last day that it'll be there?  Thanks!
        \_ It's at Justin Hermann Plaza, not Union Square. That's over by
           the Embarcadaro area (at the east end of Market Street) It's
           open until February 15th. See http://www.bjharding.com/scsf
           You're welcome.
           \_ it was at union square a couple of years back.  I haven't
              been to SF in a while.  :)  Thanks.

12/31   1998: The Year in review on soda:
                We walled.  We nuked the motd.  We squished kchang.
        \_ Happy new year from eastern time zone.
           \_ I promise to quit smoking and lose weight.
        \_ What hozerish offense got him squished again?
                \_ scrambling the motd repeatedly with a script
                   \_ is it a squishable offense to have a script that
                      fingers soda every minute from http://bmw.autobahn.org?
                        \_ think about it. it depends on whether you're
                           being a hoser, and on any side effects it has,
                           intentional or unintentional. (if there's doubt,
                           ask yourself why, and re-read /csua/adm/doc/*.
                           if you're still confused, mail politburo, and tell
                           them what you'd like to do, and say what you think
                           might be hoserish about it; they're likely to give
                           you a straight answer if you ask.)