12/21   Next Politburo Meeting: 1700, Tuesday Feb 1. 337/343 soda.
        Meetings will be held at the same time and place every week thereafter
        unless otherwise noted.

1/22    Where is a good place to look for Java/IMAP APIs? I don't want to
        read RFC for IMAP4.0 and reimplement the APIs. Thanks!
        \_ If you find one, let me know.  the IMAP RFC is quite a hairy
           read.  Not to say that it's any worse than others ... - norby
        \_ http://sw.expert.com/CA/SE.C10.DEC.99.pdf

1/23    Are there any Unix programs that can resize the dimensions of a
        gif or jpeg through the command line?

1/22    I have a script in csh. In it, I have "source ~/bin/setclass.csh 118".
        However, it seems that I can't pass the argument 118 to
        setclass.csh, in a csh script. Why is that?
        \_ You can't pass in command-line arguments using the source command
        \_ source is _sort of_ like #include.. it's like "include this stuff
           and run it in the same context as where i'm currently working"
           What you can do is just set a csh/environment variable, then
           unset it in the sourced file:
           set arg=118
           source ~/bin/setclass.csh
           (and at the end of setclass.csh, you have:)
           unset arg=118
           \_ How dare you put a useful reply on the motd!
                \_ Mistakes were made.  Villages bombed.

1/24    Where do I get big rolls of carpet padding cheaply? - danh
        \_ People's park
        \_ From a house still under construction.
        \_ I've got some spare padding here in my cell... -=Aubie

1/24    Q: My 250W power supply is getting kinda finicky.  Want to replace it.
        AT form factor case.  What advantages would a 300W provide (assuming
        similar basic quality to a new 250W)?  I'm not overclocking, and I
        don't plan to do so w/ this system.  thanks.
        \_ Higher electric bills and more noise.

1/23    LIBRARIES IN GEORGIA BAN ANTI-HILLARY BOOK; PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
        CENSOR CRITICISM.  Standard Clintonian bullshit.  Counting the days.

1.23    Wanting to register a domain name, can anyone suggest a company
        that can do it !networksol.com (i heard they have bad support)
        - paolo
          \_Awful support.  I mistyped a phone number and rather than
            email me or even send snail mail they just let the domain
            stay open for about a month.  A 2 hour phone call eventually
            resolved the issue.
        \_ http://joker.com is cheap ($15/year). I've heard that http://register.com
           has a nice Web Interface to managing e-mail forwarding, DNS, etc.
           If you go with Networksol, don't forget to use Guardian. -slow
           \_ Guardian?
              \_ http://www.networksolutions.com/help/guardian.html
                 Make sure you don't stick with the default MAIL-FROM or
                 else someone is going to control your domain soon.
                 (I think BugTraq talked about this recently). -slow
        \_ a friend of mine used http://nomonthlyfees.com to register a domain name,
           host a web site, and do some mail forwarding

1/25    Hi I am relatively new to Unix and I am running Red Hat 6.1
        I would like to be able for others to ftp to my machine and don't
        know how to get started.  Is there an ftp server program out there?
        \_ Install wu-ftpd package which is part of distribution, then
           make sure that ftp entry in /etc/inetd.conf is not commented out.
           Also install anonftp package if you want to run anonymous ftp
           server and don't want/know how to set it up by hand.
        \_ Think about installing ncftpd, since wu-ftpd has a few known
           security holes in it (ncftpd is free if you're on .edu).  -John
           \_ If you are running a reasonably up-to-date version of
                wu-ftpd (eg. the one in distribution + patches if any)
                there shouldn't be any security concerns.
                \_ wuftpd's recent history of security holes should say
                   say something about its general tendencies. Who knows
                   how many are still not discovered?
                \_ Triple ditto what the above said about wu-ftpd's security
                   history.  You could have said the same thing 3+ years ago
                   and still been wrong.  I'd never run wu-ftpd.  There's no
                   reason to.  It's like the "microsoft" of ftpd's.  Please
                   slap self with box of noodles and post your wu-ftpd box's
                   IP address.
        \_ As a frequent Apache admin, I like proftpd.  It hasn't had a
           terribly bad history, security-wise, and the configuration looks
           a lot like httpd.conf.
        \_ Two things to keep in mind:
           1) if this is anonymous ftp and you are behind a real domain name,
              and you have a public upload area, you will get used for warez
              whether you like it or not, and 100% of your upstream pipe
              will _disappear_
           2) if it isn't anonymous ftp (i.e. you're letting users log in),
              then you should reallly have them set up s/key like on soda so
              they aren't typing cleartext login passwords over the public
              internet, and getting you hacked in short order (particularly
              if they're coming in from "dirty" net, like a university)
                \_ if it's anonymous FTP, you should be using HTTP instead.
                   if it's non-anonymous FTP, you should be using SCP.  -tom
                   \_ You have any idea how hard it is to get a partner corp
                      to use ssh of any sort for anything?  Getting them to
                      figure out ftp is hard enough.  And no, don't tell me I
                      need new partner corps.  I don't need to RIDE BIKE.
                      \_ You need new partner corps.  You need to RIDE BIKE.
                        \_ Thanks for the tip.

1/25    stock tips? anyone?
        \_ Since you live in a world which is one day ahead of ours, could
           you please send us tomorrow's copy of wall street journal so that
           we could make smarter moves on the stock market today? thanks.
        \_ Or maybe 2 years in advance so I don't have to pay taxes on the
           short term gains and daily transaction fees.  Looking forward to
           it, thanks.

1/24    Should I expect to put more work in cs170 or m113?
        \_ 113 was cake.  One of the easier upper div classes I took.  170 had
           piles of work but it wasn't hard.  It only takes time and lithium to
           get through any upper div math class.
           \_ lithium? what is this a reference to?
                \_ Also a great Nirvana song!  Woo hoo!
                \_ To the bulk quantities of drugs shipped to the math dept
                   daily to keep the profs semi-stable.  Lithium is for people
                   with various mental stability problems usually lumped into
                   the meaningless title of "schizophrenic" (which is totally
                   different from multiple personality disorder).
                   \_ Ummm, no.  Lithium is used in treating bipolar
                       disorder, aka manic-depression.  It's a mood
                       stabilizer.  Often, anti-psychotics (Haldol as an
                       example) are used to treat schizophrenia.  And the
                       two disorders are completely different things.  I
                       don't know if I'd call them meaningless, though,
                       real folks suffer from these things.  --bipolar sodan
                        \_ I'm glad you know a single use for lithium.  I would
                           correct you on the details but wouldn't want to
                           upset your delicate condition.  "Meaningless" in
                           terms of "a diagnosis of schizophrenia" doesn't
                           _mean_ anything.  Psychiatrists tend to call any
                           and everything they can't properly diagnose some
                           form of schizophrenia.  Thus the term is meaningless
                           not the condition itself.
                           \_ actually schizophrenia is very specific, it just
                              happens to have many different effects.
                              \_ "Yeah it's like totally specific, but has like
                                 851+ effects and they like know all about it
                                 which is why anything they can't properly
                                 diagnose is called schizophrenia!!  YEAH!"
                                 Uhm, no. You're simply wrong. Think about it.
                        \_ Don't inbreds have an excess of lithium in their
                           bloodstreams?  -John
                           \_ I'll have to ask my cousin/brother/uncle.
        \_ M113, by far
        \_ The CS geeks I know would say 113 because it isn't familiar to them,
           the math geeks I know would say 113 because "CS is so watered down
           and math is for real" except these same math geeks always talk
           about how incredibly easy 113 is compared to their other classes.
           Ask ilyas about his mathematical purity of essence and the lack of
           similar purity on the part of mere CS losers (in his mind).
        \_ I never took either class while at school, but when I started
           working, I ended reading most of the CS 170 book because it
           had so much useful and interesting stuff.  I don't know which
           is more work, but if you are in CS you'll probably get more
           out of cs170 than math113.  By the way, I've always meant
           to teach myself abstract algebra, but never quite got around
           to it.  Can someone point out some incentives for classes like
           m113?
           \_ Teaches you to hold the same thing in your mind for longer than
              the default american attention span of 3 seconds. -- ilyas
              \_ Damn ilyas, I never thought YOU'D stoop to such an idiotic
                 troll.  What a bummer. :(
                 \_ You know I was reading this newspaper article about
                 new, 'tougher' standardised tests in california.  This
                 article was talking about how some students 'cried in
                 the middle of the test and gave up' because they thought
                 the test was too hard.  Call the whole thing a troll if you
                 will but the american public school system really doesn't
                 teach things like attention span, or proper english, or
                 foundations of math, or whatever very well.  This is even
                 more surprising because american colleges are in general
                 excellent and emulated by the rest of the world. -- ilyas
                 \_ Don't confuse the California pre-college system with the
                    rest of the country.  CA doesn't have a school system.  It
                    has a 12 year baby sitting service.  ilyas, you're either
                    trolling or don't know what you're talking about or both.
                    The anecdotal "some student in this one article" isn't
                    proof of anything.  I thought you were some sort of self
                    proclaimed super rational logic genius?  Stop trolling.
                        --American with longer attention span than ilyas
                    \_ Is the public school system any good in other states?
                       I would be very interested in any information on this.
                       And stop trolling yourself, rationality is intractable.
                       -- ilyas
           \_ Take a look at grad theory class prereqs. Quite a few ask
              for 113.
           \_ Traditional uses for 113--cryptography, quantum physics,
                graph theory (networks).  Pretty useful stuff, even if
                you never do the quantum.
                \_ Quantum physics and graph theory my ass.  Cryptography,
                   yes.  But never in the class did they mention anything
                   remotely close to quantum physics or graphs.
                   \_ Moron. Did your 1st grade arithmetic teacher happen
                      to go over all uses of arithmetic for, say, quantum
                      physics? You're not going to deny that it's used,
                      in quantum physics and elsewhere, right? Just because
                      most 113 profs don't bring up those subjects, doesn't
                      mean it's not directly applicable to them. It is.
                      Ask anyone educated enough in either field.
                      \_ ok fancy pants. if  you know so much, tell
                         me exactly what part of 113(that isn't covered
                         in 110) is needed in anyway for quantum mechanics
                         besides crystalography wich i dont count.  ive taken
                         113 and physics137a/b, and i dont see any connection
                         .  youre lame.  you human paraquat.
                         \_ D00D!!1! U R SO K3WL!!! 2 S3M3S+3RZ OF QUANTUM
                            M3CH!!1!! K-RAD!11!!!!!
                            Read a book: Mirman, "Group Theoretical
                            Foundations of Quantum Mech", ISBN 1560722487
                            Come back when you're done reading.
                         \_ I find this offensive.  -- non-human paraquat
        \_ Math 113 is less useful and is an easy class. So, I'd put more
           work into CS 170. --dim (Applied Math)
        \_ I think they're about equal.  Put more work into whichever you
           find interesting.  If you're in CS, you'll probably pick up lots
           of 170 by osmosis later on, so I'd pay more attention to 113 --pld
                \- in my vast experience at the upper div and grad level, math
                classes vary greatly in terms of difficulty of grading and
                work load by professor ... that difference swamps any
                "inherent" differences between various classes. --psb
                \_ He's back!  --psb #1 Fan
        \_ Maybe.
        \_ Perhaps.
        \_ Yes.
        \_ Psb.
        \_ Qed.
        \_ ED! ED! ED is the STANDARD! Almost-three-letter abbreviation.
           \_ ED is not an abbreviation.
            \_ EDitor?  Hello?  Are you dumb?
                \_ Huh?  I don't get it!!!!

1/24    Current CD drive is a SANYO CRD-820P which skips and doesn't do CDDA.
        Any recommendation for one that is robust and CDDA-capable? I'm not
        looking for much, just one that won't give me a lot of hassle and that
        I can get music from with cdparanoia. Need IDE/ATAPI. Thanks.
                                              \ ATAPI CDROM != good CDDA
                                                get SCSI get Plextor
        \_ Plextor = very expensive = hardly worth it for normal folks.
           \_ If not plextor then what do you recommend?  I mostly care
                about no skipping whatsoever.  -- not the original poster
           \How much is 24X+ flawless DAE worth to you?
                \_ Not 3x - 5x as much to get a plextor.  And 24x is totally
                   standard.  Anything less was built in 1998 or earlier.  24x
                   has no particular value to me relative to other models which
                   also all have 24x+.
                   \_ Plextor is one of those cases where it's worth it.
                      If you want to be cheap, then just admit it to
                      yourself. I won't buy from another manufacturer. --dim
                        \_ I'm not cheap.  I'm simply not stupid.  Not every
                           component in my system requires the highest end,
                           triple price part.  I don't buy a new athlon or p3
                           every month so whats wrong with a cd drive using
                           6 month old technology at 90% effectiveness and
                           1/3rd the price?  You're obsessed with plextor.  I
                           checked out their products on your rec. 2 months
                           ago and wasn't impressed with the bang/buck ratio.
                           Plextor is only for people who *need* every last
                           whistle and bell.  The original poster just wants
                           a simple, functional, atapi/ide drive with no
                           hassles at a good price.  Plextor doesn't fit the
                           bill.  You need more tools in your shed.  It's all
                           starting to look like a hammer. LINUX!  RIDE BIKE!
                           \_ The original poster already had a crap drive and
                              look where it got him. We're not talking about
                              a $500 difference in price here. Spend the extra
                              $100-150 (at most!) and get a Plextor. --dim
                              \_ The original poster didn't need CDDA at the
                                 time of purchase.  A CDDA drive is an extra
                                 $5., not $100-$150.  Do not buy a plextor.
                                 Buy what you need not bells and whistles
                                 you'll never use.  By the time you do need
                                 some random whistle, you can buy the same
                                 thing for much less later and now have an
                                 extra.  Total price is less and get extra
                                 device from it.  If you never need the bells
                                 at all (I never have), then you save tons.
                                 It's pretty duh-basic: don't buy things you
                                 don't need.  Plextor is overkill and over
                                 priced.