| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 2000/2/16 [Industry/Startup] UID:17519 Activity:nil |
2/16 What is a good avg. starting salary for a methamphetamine dealer?
None of that pre-IPO nasty crank stuff, I'm talking investment
grade crystal here. |
| 2000/2/16-17 [Recreation/Dating] UID:17520 Activity:high |
2/16 Anyone tape 'who wants to marry a multimillionaire' last night?
I missed it and want to watch it! -ERic
\_ He picked the dumb, inarticulate blonde (the wrong blonde even)
\_ It was dull. Not even the degradation of 50 women was interesting.
And yes, he picked the wrong blonde. She's military so she's fit
and he's an outdoors guy and she was a bit older than the others so
was more his age but had *nothing* else going for her. The other
blonde who was only a few years younger was twice as smart and was
way fucking fantastic looking, especially her legs. -not a leg man
\_ "nothing else going for her"? sounds like enough to me.
\_ "nothing else going for her"? sounds like enough to me. Besides,
when you have thatkind of money, presumably you can fuck all
the hot looking chicks you could ever want. So you'd want
to marry something with a bit of interest
\_ I only watched the beginning. Contestant #18 is hot! I would've
picked her.
\_ urlP?
\_ JPGs! We want JPGs !
\_JPG rule...
\_ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/sfgate/object.cgi?object=/chronicle/pictures/2000/02/03/dd_sweeps-multi-millionare.jpg&paper=chronicle&file=DD91322.DTL&directory=/chronicle/archive/2000/02/03
the same even if people married each other randomly. --PeterM
-- yuen
\_ How does an idiot like that get to be a multimillionaire?
Well, perhaps he won't be for long. Divorces can get expensive.
Though who knows, maybe the divorce rate would be close to
the same even if people married each other randomly.--PeterM
\_ Real estate development in San Diego. No stock options, but not
much harder either.
\_ The 9th Semi-finalist has cute face and hot body! Wow! I wish I
can marry her! But if I'm that multi-millionaire, I'll pick the
1st finalist. She's gorgeous, much better than the one he picked. |
| 2000/2/16 [Industry/Jobs, Recreation/Humor] UID:17521 Activity:insanely high |
2/16 I plan to add another question to my standard technical interview
list but I want to try it out here first to see what kind of answers
the Motd Wisdom comes up with first. Please be my test subjects.
The new question: What is the running time of the troll sort?
\_ "motd wisdom"? please tell us what company you hire for, so
we may avoid it.
\_ Please let me know what company you work for,
so I can avoid it's stock.
\_ ObGrammar: ^its
The new question: What is the running time of the troll sort?
\_ Please let us all know who you are so we can know who has zero
sense of humor. IT WAS A JOKE! The sort of joke intended to
bring a tiny uplift of the lip, a slight grin, a tiny moment of
slight humor to brighten your dismal life in a small way and
YOU DIDN'T GET IT! You're officially beyond hope. Please kill
yourself now and stop wasting oxygen.
\_ If it's a joke, it's not very funny. |
| 2000/2/16-17 [Consumer/PDA] UID:17522 Activity:kinda low |
2/16 What is a cheap online place to buy a palm pilot? Are
Palm pilots better than WindowsCE devices?
\_ Palms generally have far longer battery life, are smaller,
easier to use, and probably have more software for them, not to
mention that they will back up to far more OSs. -John
\_ Cheaper? You ever tried to use one of the CE crap toys? Do your-
self a favor and buy a palm5.
\_ Palm is easier to write stuff for, you don't need proprietary
sdk plugins for visstudio -paolo
\_ vadim got it to run linux.
\_ What kind of useful things can I do with Linux running
on a Palm Pilot? |
| 2000/2/16-17 [Computer/Theory] UID:17523 Activity:insanely high |
2/16 I always ask this simple computer science question: What is the
running time of an insertion sort? 50% of the time, the candidates
can't even answer that question correctly, yet they are making
50-60K/year. What is wrong with this industry?
\_ Maybe you're the one with the wrong answer.
\_ Labour shortage. I used to be proud of how much I was making
until I realized a lot of idiots make even more.
\_ What IS the running time of an insertion sort?
\_ O(n^2)
\_ Wrong answer. Right answer: "Under what performance model?" -nick
\_ Average case?
\_ That's just the issue of which asymptote to use,
not which performance model to use. -nick
\_ Enlighten us--what do you mean by "performance model"?
\_ RAM, PRAM, PMH, LOGP, BSP. When is merge sort
likely to be faster than quicksort? It depends
on which model you use. RAM says quicksort, PMH
says merge sort on machines with caches. (independent
of the partially sorted issue).
\_ I guess I'm just an idiot. What do the
acronyms mean?
\_ You're fired. The answer was O(n) because the data was presorted
and inserting one more element in a presorted list isn't O(n^2).
More specifically, the exact correct answer is that not enough
information has been provided to correctly answer the question.
an idiot and is asking the wrong question. I *HATE* having a
\_ You're fired if you can't figure out how to insert into a
sorted list in less than O(n).
right answer and ask it properly. This goes out to all dumb
fucks out there who don't know what they're asking. You're not
penalising people for lack of clue. You're penalising them for
not being able to read your mind! That's why so many job reqs.
\_ You need a 'special' list for that. Lists don't have
random access, and array don't have constant time
simple question across without wrongly and unfairly assuming it
insertion, so you have to marry them.
choosing the wrong interpretation of the many valid possible from
your _very_ _poorly_ designed question. How did you graduate
from Cal and get into a position to interview when you're not
capable of asking an intelligent question in a way that can be
understood by others in the field? Sheesh. I really hate the
arrogant inarticulate geeks who are incapable of seeing any fault
in themself. The fragile ego can't take it.
\_ Did you know that Phillip Nunez invented the skiplist?
\_ By the way, what is the running time of inserting
n elements into a vector? -- ilyas
\_ tjbP?
The person above "ragging" on people getting the wrong answer is
an IDIOT and is asking the wrong "question". I *HATE* having a
totally *STUPID* interviewer like that. If you're going to ask
any sort of technical "questions", you better fucking *know* the
right "answer" and ask it _properly_. This GOES OUT to all dumb
fucks out there who don't know what they're ASKING. You're not
penalising people for lack of CLUE. You're penalising them for
not being able to "read" your MIND! That's why so many job reqs.
specifically say "excellent written and _oral_ communications
skills". That's to avoid _dummy heads_ like you who can't get a
simple "question" across without wrongly and unfairly ASSUMING it
\_ When I grow up, I want to go to Bovine University!
is the other person's fault for _not_ reading your mind and
choosing the wrong INTERPRETATION of the many valid possible from
your _very_ _poorly_ designed question. How did you GRADUATE
from "Cal" and get into a position to INTERVIEW when you're not
_capable_ of asking an intelligent "question" in a way that can
be UNDERSTOOD by others in the field? _Sheesh_. I really hate
the arrogant inarticulate "geeks" who are incapable of seeing any
fault in _themself_. The fragile ego CAN'T take it.
\_ Right on.
\_ Exactly. Besides, known questions can be looked up. Better
questions investigate how a candidate thinks and how he/she can
communicate with you.
\_ The appendix to the "Deep C Secrets" book has a good
summary of answers to some of the most common MS & SV
programmer interview questions.
\_ More importantly, who cares? -sysadmin over 90k
\_ 50-60k? 65k is starting salary nowadays...
\_ shit, i got screwed again
\_ A while ago I interviewed a few people for software
engineering jobs. One of the easy questions I asked was: What
is the running time of quicksort? Four out of five candidates
got the right answer. The fifth had a certificate in computer
science from Microsoft University. He didn't have a clue about
\_ When I grow up, I'm going to Bovine University!
quicksort. Did you notice a corellation between university
degrees and people knowing about insertion sort? -emin
\_ What is your answer?
\_ The answer I was looking for would be O(n log(n)).
Answers like O(n log(n)) in average case and O(n^2)
in the worst case would be even better. A discussion
of computing models would have been fine as well.
Basically I wanted to make sure we hired people who had
a clue about efficiency, not just people who knew the
syntax of a programming language without knowing anything
about efficiency. It was not a trick question. It was
an easy question. -emin
\_ Actually, if that's the answer you're looking for, you
better refine your question. Instead of asking for the
running time, which is subject to interpretation (computing
models, average case vs. worst case, etc.), perhaps you
should ask someone to actually perform an analysis of the
running time for a given algorithm. -dans
\_ I agree. I also asked algorithm analysis questions.
My point I've known people who interview for a
programmer job without any clue of algorithms. You
ask them about quicksort and they stare at you blankly.
\_ I wasnt staring at *you*. |
| 2000/2/16-17 [Politics/Domestic/California, Reference/BayArea] UID:17524 Activity:high |
2/16 more disturbing than the other la story:
http://www.latimes.com/news/front/20000215/t000014741.html
\_ Yeah. And the California politicians are trying to get
handguns out of the hands of private citizens so THESE
bozos can protect us (!?). "Uh, I dunno, I just shot him."
Apparently one needs a gun not only to protect oneself
from the criminals, but from the police as well. -- ilyas
\_ Thank you for another impecably reasoned post, ilyas! You
\_ Thank you for another impeccably reasoned post, ilyas! You
are an inspiration, an example for the rest of of us
\_ It's 'impeccably,' my illiterate, cowardly friend.
At any rate, feel free to trust the police and the
government if you wish. I am sure they have your best
interests at heart. -- ilyas
motd slobs to aspire to! Thank you! -- ilyas' #2 fan
\_ This is all libertarian propoganda from the anti-police LA media.
You don't seriously believe the LA Times can get a story like this
right, do you? --long time LA resident and LA Times reader
\_ ignore paolo. he knows nothing about anything, yet
jumps at any chance to display his ignorance.
\_ It says that you *DELIBERATELY CHOOSE* not to live in a
crime-free, corruption-free, pollution-free, traffic-jam-
free ecotopia like the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area!
So you must be brain-dead and you deserve every bad thing
you get, you yuppie-scum, urban-sprawling, single-
occupant-vehicle-driving Southern Californian, you!
\_ traffic-jam-free? Has the Bay Area changed that much
since I was at Cal? -emin
\_ That was sarcasm and deserved paolo bashing.
\_ wow paolo, you almost managed to eke out a tiny and entirely
personal attack which completely ignored my point about the
trash that is the LA Times. Come back when you have mastered
something beyond the "sticks and stones".
\_ I wouldn't trust the police if I were you. The police is not
your friend. -- !sky
\_ Sky? Is that you? I thought you were in Europe with the
guys you met in prison?
\_ the fact that you choose to live in LA speaks alot about
yourself. -paolo
\_ It does? What does it say? --dim (also LA resident)
\_ It says paolo is the kind of person who says "alot".
\_ But whatever its faults, the LA Times still beats out the
SF Comical. The only time I was ever thankful for the
Chron/Ex combination was during the two summers I lived in
New Mexico and my only choice of paper was the *Albuquerque
Journal* (which consisted entirely of AP/Reuters pieces and
"local color" articles -- "This Sunday: 10,000 More Things
You Can Do With Chili Peppers!")
and other lesser places. Other local pieces focus
\_ I cancelled my Comical subscription years ago. They
dump a free one on my door every time the delivery
guy changes and the paper never gets any paper. It
isn't much different from the Albuquerque Journal.
The Comical is AP/Reuters pieces shredded to fit
and local color articles about how SF is the
greatest city in the world (according to local
pollsters :-) ) and much better than NYC, SJ, LA,
and other lesser places.
\_ but they're right on that one.
Other local pieces focus
on the politcally correct and evils of the center
and right wing. I'd rather read about chili peppers.
At least that would be informative. Does the AJ
deliver out here? :-) |
| 2000/2/16-17 [Industry/Jobs] UID:17525 Activity:nil |
2/15 What's a good avg salary for a Senior S/W Engineer (90-95)K ?
\_ Define "Senior"
\_ Senior Paco quiere Tacos!
\_ It mostly consists of the label.
\_ Don't dismiss labels and titles so readily.
\_ Yes, if "Senior" means ~5 years experience at your company.
\_ Se~nor Paco quiere Tacos! |
| 2000/2/16-17 [Uncategorized] UID:17526 Activity:nil |
2/15 physics/EE question: suppose I have a laser emitting light at
100 um. Is there a standard process to convert that light source
to have it emit at say 200 um? What is that process and/or the name
of the component that does that? Is it an off-the-shelf component
or is it something that has to be custom-made for the desired
wavelength conversion? Thanks.
\_ sum/difference frequency mixing
\_ Is this your homework assignment? If so, the motd is not a good
place for answers.
\_ The short answer is Yes. read the documentation for your laser
and call the manufacturer about available components. |
| 2000/2/16-17 [Science/Electric, Science/GlobalWarming] UID:17527 Activity:moderate |
2/15 I would like to see how many Watts my computer is using at any
given time. Someone told me Poptronics (Popular Electronics)
had an article on building an energy usage meter for any wall
outlet appliance. Can anyone help?
\_ Buy the old issue.
no emacs user was here
\_ Go outside and look at how fast your electricity meter is spinning. |
| 2000/2/16-17 [Uncategorized] UID:17529 Activity:high |
2/16 What is the running time of a delete operation of a troll node out of the
MOTD?
\_ Depends on the editor you are using. |