10/26   Is there a correlation between the state of economy and the
        birth-rate of the population?
        \_ Yes.
        \_ History 161 sez: "Increasing population provides markets that
           allow for mass production without recession, more jobs, blah blah..."
           \_ That's why the Indian and Chinese economies rule the world,
              right?  And Africa!  Don't forget Africa!
              \_ they have a very different kinds of economies.
        \_ There is no linear correlation.  Certainly if the economy is so
           bad that people are starving there will be no population increase.
           On the other hand, if the economy is so good that a large portion
           of the population has a lot of money and leisure time on their hands
           fewer couples opt for child-rearing.  By the way, some experts
           believe the world population is scheduled for a decrease in the
           next century. -- ilyas
           \_ when children become a child-raising/educating liability instead
              of a free farm-labor asset, of course the population growth
              rate is going to decrease.
                \_ Hooray for selfish people! With out us, the world would have
                   even more resource sucking consumers like your soccer mommy
                   in her SUV who add absolutely no value to the planet or the
                   human gene pool.

10/26   Useful URL on morning after pill, please.  (usage, indication,
        side effect...)  Thanks.
        \_ Well, it's already the morning after, obviously. Doesn't that
           make it a little too late?
                \_ No.  It's good for 72 hours.  I hope you're just being
                   "haha silly" and don't actually believe what you said.
        \_ http://www.plannedparenthood.org/bc/EC.HTM#01How  Also there are
           other options at simply http://www.plannedparenthood.org/bc
        \_ If you're a student, talk to Tang's hotline.
        \_ Geez, just go into alta vista emergency room and tell them what
           you want.  They'll give you an incredible amount of shit, but
           will usually give it to you (especially if you have a good reason
           for needing it).  Go early in the morning to avoid an incredibly
           long wait.
           \_ Alta Vista?  Or did you mean Alta Bates?  -- yuen
        \_ Have her talk to her physician.  He can prescribe it in advance,
           warn about side effects and interactions and explain usage.  Then
           it's there for emergencies.

10/26   I have a linux box with a cable modem setup as a gateway for my local
        LAN.  Recently I see a lot of messages like the following appeared in
        the /var/log/messages file.  What the heck is that?

          Sep 11 20:07:28 <mygateway> portmap[4502]: connect from <unknown host>
           to callit(390109): request from unauthorized host
        \_ you're getting scanned
        \_ I'm on cable.  I get scanned almost every day.  Sometimes multiple
           times per day from different people.  My favorite is the people who
           scan my bsd box for back orifice.  They hit my telnet port.  My ftp
           port.  They ping me.  Traceroute me.  Try icmp redirects.  I don't
           even know what half the >1024 ports are they're trying to exploit.
           Block it all and forget about it.
           \_  How can you tell that you were tracerouted?  Is all this
               info logged to /var/log/messages or is there something
               more i should be doing to monitor my system (I'm using DSL
               as a gateway for my LAN and have not been getting scanned
               as far as i can tell.)
                \_ I've got a kernel level packet filter setup and I log most
                   of the garbage to it's own file which gets rotated every so
                   often and by size.  I only log it for personal amusement.
                   openbsd.

10/25   I just spent $500 on a nasty car scratch I got in Oakland and
        realized that I could've spent that money on many years of BART
        or bike-ride. FUCK CARS!!!
        \_ Go away, troll.  If BART was a useful form of transport for you,
           you'd have been using it for years already.  Go away.  You're full
           of shit.  This never happened.  Sign your name.
        \_ Troll or not, $500 would only get you 100 days on BART.  You'd
           get a pretty kick-ass bike for it though.  --PeterM
           \_ Yeah but if you're riding a $500 bike in oakland, its likely
              it would get stolen.
        \_ Hell you could be walking for FREE!!!!!!!!!111
        \_ You could just not fix the scratch.  Go see Fight Club.  It's
           inspired me to live in a slum and forsake all my worldly possessions
           and become a terrorist Siddharta.
           \_ wow, you lived with arvin too?
                \_ And then you could RIDE BIKE! up to a federal building with
                   a few tons of explosives on the back.