Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2000:February:22 Tuesday <Monday, Wednesday>
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2000/2/22 [Uncategorized] UID:17583 Activity:nil
2/21    http://www.totse.com/DeCSS
2000/2/22-23 [Finance/Investment] UID:17584 Activity:high
2/21    Can commissions charged by stock brokers be claimed as investment
        expenses?
        \_ your commission is part of your cost basis.  -tom
           \_ so what you're saying is
              Capital gains = selling price - buy price - (comissionx2)
              \_ No times 2. The cost basis is what you actually paid total.
                 \_ exactly, pipsqueak. 1xbuy, 1xsell
                        \_ 1xbuy + 1xsell = commisionx2 only if you pay the
                           same commission both times.  In many cases (not
                           discount brokerages) you won't.  The correct formula
                           is:
                                gains = (sales price - cost to sell)
                                        - (buy price + cost to buy)
                        \_ Not if you make more than 1 buy transactions.
2000/2/22-23 [Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:17585 Activity:high
2/21    Quick question: For married couples, does filing jointly or filing
        separately yield lower tax?  Roughly how much difference?  Thx.
        \_ Yes, lots.
        \_ in general, if both people work and makes comperable amounts of
           money, filing separately is better.
        \_ It isn't called the Marriage Penalty Tax for nothing.  -married
           \_ Yeah, but the way it is now it encourages one person to stay
              home and take care of the kids.  It's only a penalty if both
              are working.

Tragic headlines from ABC news today:

        PERL GUNMAN SLAYS 2, HURTS 8 IN MALL RAMPAGE
        \_ Just think of how many innocent lives would have gone unscarred if
           he'd used awk, cat, and sed: he'd have wasted so much time trying
           to pipe the output of this into the output of that and worrying
           about whether or not he was using sh or csh that the authorities
           would have apprehended him before he'd done any damage.  Languages
           should only be in the hands of those who undergo regular
           psychiatric evaluation and who are properly licensed by the
           government to use them.  BAN PERL NOW!!!
           \_ I agree.  Most people I've met who are hardcore use Perl/use
              Linux/ride bike types are definitely in need of regular
              psychiatric evaluation.
                \_ Love my car, hate bikers, really hate linux fanatics, and
                   use perl everyday and loving it.  Am I suffering from
                   some sort of MPD?  Is there a 12 step program to turn me
                   into a full-on raving bike riding linux fanatic?  Thanks,
                   motd wisdom!    --seeking help
                   \_ i'm guessing the first step involves reading a man page,
                      and probably several other steps involve RTFMing.  just
                      a guess.
        \_ It is inevitable that something like this would happen
           sooner or later.  This is what happens when you give away
           software to anybody on the Internet. This open-source
           stuff has gotten out of hand.  There should be a
           3-day cooling-off period with in-depth background checks
           before letting anyone download Perl source code. I've
           known of young 12-year old kids downloading Perl and
           then going out and killing children and parent processes,
           breaking loops using 4 different types of commands, mixing
           scalars and other data types...
           Dont get me wrong -- when I was growing up, we consumed
           our fair share of stuff like sed/awk/grep/csh/sh. But
           things were more innocent back then -- sure, a few guys
           I know did C, but we never had this stronger, addictive
           scripting stuff like Perl -- and it was not as widespread.
           Now with the Internet, video games and Linux, anybody
           can get this stuff, and they dont know how to handle it.
           Sure, the naysayers will try to argue that they have a
           *right* to have Perl in their home and on their computers.
           Well, recent studies have shown that a (perl)loaded computer
           in the home gives you a 68% increased risk of shooting
           yourself in the foot.
           \_ You PC liberals are always trying to take away rights
              guaranteed by the US Constitution!!!!
              It is our right to bear Perl. (1st amendment)
              It is our 1st amendment right to bear Perl.
              \_ I dont just mean for PC's but even Macs and Sparcs.
                 And i think you mean the second amendment. The first
                 is for freedom of religion and expression.
                 is for freedom of religion and expression.
                 \_ Not 2nd! It is the 1st amendment: Freedom of
                 \_ Not 2nd! I said 1st amendment -- Freedom of
                    regular expressions.
        \_ You don't have the choice to file separately.
                \_ You don't have enough clue to hold 2 brain cells together.
                   Go read form 1040 and try again.
                   \_ hey!  that's mean!
                   \_ I read it every year.  And your point was...?
                        \_ Note the part where you choose "Married filing
                           jointly" or "Married filing separately"
                                \_ Yup.  And...?
                                   \_ Then you do have the choice to file
                                      separately.
2000/2/22-23 [Computer/SW/OS/Linux, Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:17586 Activity:high
2/21    It looks like Real Networks discontinued support for non windows/mac
        clients. This is sad. They released Real Player 7 and there aren't
        any links to linux or unix versions. They also destroyed all links
        to the G2 beta for Linux.  Lame
        \_ http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000222/realnetwor_1.html
                \_ http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000222/realnetwor_4.html
                        says that realplayer 7 will be available within 30days
                        what have you been smoking and where can  I get some ?

        \_ a recent /. article seems to contradict this statement
        \_ What's sad about it?  You're lucky to get your sound card running in
           Linux in less than 8 hours anyway.
                \_ Not if you're using SB16 or any supported PCI card
                     \_ That sucks if you're limited to those cards.
2000/2/22-23 [Computer/SW/Security, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:17587 Activity:moderate
2/22    Is it possible for Soda to create a web mail interface similar to
        http://mail.yahoo.com to access emails on soda?
        \_ No.  Soda is a computer and has not yet achieved sentience.
                Use POP or IMAP or forward your mail to luser@@yahoo.com.
                \_ Soda still allows POP and IMAP? I thought that the whole
                   point of turning off telnet/ftp/etc was to prevent some
                   twinks from sending their passwords in clear text over the
                   net. So, what's the point of turning off telnet and ftp
                   if POP and IMAP are still running?
                        \_ There is no point, only trolls.
        \_ You may email your request to the entity known as "Soda".
        \_ I was looking at something called 'mailman' a while ago.  It'd
           require nothing more than a few cgi scripts and a cron job that
           copies your mail into a directory off your public_html/.  They
           started charging for mail man, though, and I haven't had time
           for it since.  Mail me if interested.  -John
                \_ there are at least a dozen different mail->web gateways
                        listed on http://freshmeat.net
        \_The OCF got acmemail up and running in a few hours -jones
                \_http://secure.OCF.Berkeley.EDU/cgi-bin/acme/acmemail.cgi
2000/2/22 [Uncategorized] UID:17588 Activity:nil
2/22    generic "only idiots go into industry, graduate students are the
        greatest" troll.
2000/2/22-23 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:17589 Activity:very high
2/22    This is a serious environment question.  Is it better to flush used
        toilet paper down the toilet or is it better to put it in a trash
        can and throw it out along with the rest of the garbage?  Which
        method is more "biodegradable"?  Thanks.
           \_ FYI in Soda, at least, people generally don't flush
              their toilet paper. They throw it away in a trash bin in the
              bathroom.
              \_ I thought the people in soda ate their used TP.
        \_ are you allowed to use the word "serious" in a troll?
           \_ FYI in South Korea, at least, people generally don't flush
           \_ FYI in Soda, at least, people generally don't flush
              their toilet paper. They throw it away in a trash bin in the
              bathroom.
        \_ Are toilet paper, paper napkins and paper towels recyclable?
        \_ Just keep eating it till it's all absorbed.
        \_ Don't know about toilet paper, but I once heard that it's better
           to dispose of food waste into the in-sink erator than into the trash
           can because it gets "absorbed" by the environment faster.  Don't
           know if it's true.  -- yuen
        \_ Anything that goes into a landfill these days will take centuries
           to biodegrade since landfills are hermetically sealed to prevent
           things from leaking out.  It'll get processed much faster going
           through the sewer system.
        \_ Generally you throw away your TP in countries where the plumbing
           can't handle flushing it.  Throwing it away is pretty gross if
           you don't have to.  Anyway it all gets chemically treated with
           the rest of the sewage.  -John
        \_ Does the waste water and rain that go down to the sewage on the
           side of the road go directly into the ocean?
                \_ Yes, hence the "Don't pollute.  Drains into Bay" painted
                        by all the storm drains.
                        \_ so we shouldn't even wash our cars on the
                        sidewalks?  that's impossible to implement such a
                        law...
                                \_ No you shouldn't.  Blocking the sidewalk
                                   with your car is rude.  Use a driveway or
                                   do it in the street.
                        \_ your car is probably not as dirty as the average
                           boat that sits in the ocean all the time.  boats
                           pollute. cars pollute. fish shit.  all one can do
                           is minimize it by not pouring *excessive* waste
                           into the ocean.  Having worked on a boat, I can tell
                           you there is some *nasty* shit that gets dumped
                           straight in off of most comercial vessels, that
                           makes most seepage from land polution look like
                           a drop in the bucket.  not that that stops the
                           Coast Guard from handing out 10,000 dollar fines
                           to anyone dripping oil of the side of their boat.
                           if only the USCG had juristiction over gas stations.
                                \_ i mean the detergent ppl use on washing
                                their cars..  it also goes into the ocean.
                        \_ The ocean is already full of dirt - it's toxic
                                chemicals they're more worried about.

        \_ I generally don't like the idea of other people seeing my shit
           on napkins or TP, so I just flush them down the toilet. This is
           a normal thing to do in many countries.
        \_ This is so disgusting.  Flush it and remember that you live in the
           first world.
           \_ This is in direct contradiction to my ride bike mentality.
              Since we live in the first world, we have to act like the
              best people, since we know so much more. And bicylcing
              is a pro-resource method concerned for the environment.
              Think bicycle. Think first world. The answer to flushing
              or throwing out toilet paper will come to you in your heart.
                \_ Yeah, it goes down the toilet so I don't have to live in
                   my own third world filth and squalor and disease and the
                   reek from my own festering shit in the trash can for three
                   days until the putrid feces filled bag is finally removed.
                   Ride bike == live in your own shit?  Mine is disposed of
                   properly, not like some animal or barbarian leaving it
                   where ever it may fall.  Disgusting.
              \_ Personally, I am willing to say what many probably think but
                 don't want to say.  I don't give a shit about the environment.
                 I only care about my own immediate comfort and well being.
                 If we fuck up the environment, science will fix it later.
                 It's ok.  Environment is not as fragile as you think.
                 It is man's great hubris to think that he is "controling
                 nature."  Even in polluting he fulfills nature's purpose.
                 \_ I sort of agree but in a different sense.  For the most
                    part, no matter what we do to the planet, life will go on.
                    It just may not be human life or life as we know it'.  I
                    don't have a problem with that.  I *do* have a problem
                    with barbarians leaving feces stained paper in a public
                    trash can for _any_ reason.
2000/2/22-23 [Uncategorized] UID:17590 Activity:nil
2/22    http://www.thinkgeek.com
Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2000:February:22 Tuesday <Monday, Wednesday>