Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2000:March:30 Thursday <Wednesday, Friday>
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2000/3/30-31 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:17885 Activity:moderate
3/29    So here's something interesting.  With linux or freebsd, once i boot
        from my usb floppy drive (the bios has the usb driver) i can't use
        the usb floppy without any additional kernel configuration.  BUT..
        with windows 95, when I boot into dos, I can access the floppy with
        A: and the hard drive with C:.  I don't think win 95 carries USB
        support.  I'm trying to figure out why this is happening?
        \_ Just because the BIOS supports it, it doesn't mean that the default
           linux/freebsd kernel will invoke the BIOS. -oj
                \_ Windows >> Linux
        \_ Win95 OSR2 has incomplete support for USB
           \_ WINDOWS. USE WINDOWS. WINDOWS IS RAD CUZ WE GETZ TO PLAY RAD
              GAMES AND STUFF MAN.
2000/3/30 [Uncategorized] UID:17886 Activity:nil
3/29    Who is :) -nick and why is he such a :) -moron?
        \_ probably from reading the motd too much
2000/3/30-31 [Computer/SW/Mail, Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:17887 Activity:low
3/29    Sr. UNIX SA needed at Sendmail, Inc. in Emeryville.  email
        christine@sendmail.com if you're interested.  Oh, and engineers
        with clue in C and/or Perl, too.
        \_ Make sure you know at least three Perl bugs.
            \_ Doesn't handle garbage collection correctly. -- ilyas
            \_ It's ugly.
               It's slow.
               Compiling is broken.
                \_ You just described sendmail.
                   \_ what's your point? But anyway, I'm talking about
                      byte-code compilation. You can't "compile" a .cf file
                      to binary, last I checked.
                \_ Jealous python developer!
                   \_ Nice replython necktied beaver -(fucker)
        \_ Make sure you can read minds during the interview.  They don't
           know how to ask a question.  And woe be unto those who provide
           _a_ correct answer, but not _the_ correct answer as per the
           required ESP.
           \_ when I interviewed they just asked me really picky perl
              quesitons that said nothing about my ability as an engineer.
              \_ it probably said a lot about your ability as an engineer.
                 happy hunting!
        \_ I suppose one of the requirements is to be able to write
           /etc/sendmail.cf from scratch, using /bin/ed at 60wpm ?
           \_ close. But use cat.
                \_ cat is for wimps. Use a magnet and toggle the bits
                   on the correctly hd platter.
                        \_ They let you use a magnet in your interview?  They
                           must be dropping the standards.  I wasn't allowed
                           to use a magnet.
                           \_ I made my own electro-magnet using the iron
                              in my interviewers blood and the electricity
                              from the wall socket. I solved the problem
                              but I wasn't hired.
                              \_ DISCRIMINATION! you need to sue them
                                because they are practicing religious
                                discrimination against voodoo
2000/3/30 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Troll/Ilyas, Academia/GradSchool] UID:17888 Activity:nil
3/29    Summary of fibonacci thread:
        \_ Moo!  Moo!  I don't know the difference between matrix and scalar
           multiplication!  Moo!
           \_ And this is a Berkeley grad we are talking about.  Sad, isn't it.
              -- ilyas
              \_ The entries were unsigned.  Who was it?
                 \_ Does it matter?
              \_ Anything coming out of a Berkeley grad is more worthwhile
                 listening to than your theoretical bullshit.  Tell us
                 about the stars Ilyas.
                 \_ Wait, isn't ilyas a berkeley grad?
                    \_ Berkeley grad school doesn't accept students with
                       their head up their own ass.
                       \_ No, they don't accept people with a low GPA and no
                          academic references.  Which is why I am trying to get
                          references in the industry. -- ilyas
                       \_ umm, berkeley grad does not mean you are in grad
                          school.
        \_ can you summarize your summary? What does matrix verus scalar multo
           have to do with fibo?
        \_ O(1).
           \_ O(log(n))
                \_ O(0).  This is the special case where the problem is solved
                   by someone else before you attempt to code your solution.
                   \_ Wouldn't that be O(-1)?
2000/3/30 [Uncategorized] UID:17889 Activity:nil 60%like:19253
3/29    If La Jolla is pronounced as "La Hoya", how come Vallejo is pronounced
        as "Va-LAY-ho" instead of "Va-Yeh-ho"?
        \_ Is it ad-ver-tise-ment or
                 ed-ver-tis-ment?
        \_ The same reason why Los Angeles is pronounced "Los Anjeles"
           instead of "Los Anheles"
        \_ cause we're closer to the border :) -nick
        \_ RACIST!
        \_ if it's i before e except after c, what about "their"?
                \_ There are exceptions.  This is English, not Esperanto.  Did
                   you attend HS in this country?  Or any school?
                   \_ there was a point being made by the English exception
                      comment that you probably missed.
2000/3/30 [Computer/SW/Unix, Computer/SW/Security] UID:17890 Activity:nil
3/28    -nick is login "nick" already
        \_ No it's not - the other nick
2000/3/30-31 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:17891 Activity:nil
3/30    ".. BugNet tests have verified that once the magical 52nd IP address is
        reached, without any warning or fanfare, Windows 2000 Server Active
        Directory misplaces all of its directory objects. "
        - http://www.msnbc.com/news/388430.asp
2000/3/30-31 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:17892 Activity:very high
3/30    I don't necessarily have a problem with affirmative action,
        but I think it's strange that some companies have affirmative
        action programs AND claim not to discriminate based on race.
        Affirmative action specifically discrimates in favor of certain
        races for an allegedly good cause, but it still discriminates.
        It seems like these companies should either say the have
        affirmative action progromas or say they don't discriminate
        based on race but not both.  What do other people think?  I
        am missing something or do most corporations and universities
        have contradictory policies?
        \_ If a particular race maintains a percentage of the population
           in general and a company tries to maintain that same representation
           in its work force, is that discrimination, or just attempting to
           keep the playing field equal?
        \_ If society maintains an unfair playing field by not providing
           funding towards lower income communities so we get a perminant
           lower class since they have no opportunity for education and
           thus no chance at a decently paying job, where would you try
           and create equal footing for all? Give more money to schools
           and social programs, have hiring preferences for unqualified
           individuals or build prisions?
        \_ Such companies can be sued (likely successfully) for discrimination.
        \_ Welcome to New Thought as created and promoted by the whacky left.
           It doesn't have to make sense, just make rich white people feel
           better about themselves at the expense of others.  It also keeps
           the blacks from rioting too often.
        \_ do you believe in AA based on income? or childhood
           living conditions?
           \_ I thought AA was a great thing. It helped me get over my
              alcholism. There should be an anonymous club for every other
              controlled substance.
           \_ Only merit should differentiate people.
             \_ how come white people with less merit before AA got the jobs?
                \_ though I commiserate with the sentiment, I think this point
                   is, at best, specious without some kind of justification.
                   \_ I don't see any 'sentiment' here, just a racist remark.
                      \_ If you see a racist remark, then you see a sentiment.
                         Learn the language before you try to split hairs.
                      \_ I'm just saying that it's hard to call it an
                         egalitarian society if the system is in any way
                         biased against a significant portion of the
                         population.
                         \_ Of course it is.  I am more biased against blacks
                         than whites because blacks robbed me and beat me up
                         a lot more often than whites.  I am merely learning
                         from data.  Would you rather I _wasn't_ biased against
                         them?  And don't give me this 'they are products of
                         an unfavorable environment' shit.  People have free
           \_ Your views on war are somewhat naive.  The idea in war is
              to destroy your opponents will and ability to fight by any means
              necessary.  If a high body count lands you this goal, great.
              Realistically, though, a high body count is very unlikely to
              be sufficient.  Look at Vietnam: the US killed something like
              10 times as many people as it sustained in casualties.  But
              the NVA were still willing to fight, long after American
              determination petered out due to POLITICAL and SOCIAL pressures.
           \_ [vietnam crap deleted]  oops.  sorry.
                         will.  They are not products of their environment.
                         Some just choose to be nasty.
                         \_ Yer walking home in the middle of the night and
                            you see a group of
                            (1) young black men in dark puffy jackets
                            \_ actually, you shouldn't feel ashamed about this
                             stereotype.  I was in a hurry to see my
                            friend one saturday evening and pay him back the
                            money i owed him ($40).  I passed a bunch of
                            young black men in dark puffy jackets,  although my
                            first instinct was to hang back and let them
                            walk ahead.  Anyhow, I pass them, I hear a bunch
                                           respect.  I made up my mind about
                                           such people on a case by case basis.
                                           But if forced to generalized about
                            of snickers behind me, didn't pay attention to it.
                            Anyhow...I get to the darkness of the bridge
                            at Moffitt Library, and suddenly hear rapid
                            footsteps behind me and I realize I am totally
                            fucked.  Before I have a chance to turn around
                            these same fuckers that I passed, one of them
                            puts an armlock around my neck and demands
                            my money.  and you know the rest...

                            what makes me angry is that they laughed when
                            they left, and i had to deal with a sore neck
                            from getting choked really hard and the
                            shitty task of canceling all my credit cards.
                            and of course the feeling of being violated..
                            i was already in a pissed off mood.  and
                            this happened at 10:30 p.m., northside...
                            be especially careful during summer folks,
                            and pay attention to those stereotypes, they're
                            not entirely a bad thing....

                            (2) young, bald white men in torn leather jackets
                                and spiky hair
                                \_ How can you be bald and have spiky hair
                                   at the same time?  Sounds like a good
                                   depiction of Cafe Berlin.
                            (3) computer geeks

                            I think it's safe to say that most white people
                            fear 1 > 2, and most black people fear 2 > 1.
                            I think the poster above is white.
                         \_ That's an extremely ego-centric and short sighted
                            view point that sounds much too focused on self-pity
                            to be real.  Are you trolling?
                            \_ I am not trolling.  I care about myself more
                               than about people who beat me up.  I am sorry
                               if this is perceived as ego-centric.
                               -- original poster
                               \_ *sigh*  Ever heard of objectivity?  It's
                                  kind of useful when devising laws that apply
                                  to _everyone_ and not just your victimized
                                  little self.
                                  \_ I thought it was blacks who were bitching
                                  about being 'victimized.'  I am not bitching
                                  I am just telling you why _I_ personally
                                  discriminate against blacks.
                                     \_ Two wrongs don't make a right? *shrug*
                                        I still think I'm being trolled, but
                                        whatever.  You might want to learn
                                        how to format your motd posts
                                        correctly, though.
                                        \_ It really isn't a troll. I have
                                           worked with intelligent, successful
                                           black people, whom I admire and
                                           respect.  I have made up my mind
                                           about such people on a case by case
                                           basis.
                                           But if forced to generalize about
                                           blacks as a whole, my view will be
                                           negative, based on my past
                                           experiences with blacks as a whole.
                                           \_ You have experience with blacks as
                                              a whole?  Wow.  How much time did
                                              it take to meet all of them.  Or
                                              did you mean that you had
                                              experience with a statistically
                                              significant random subset of
                                              blacks?
                                              \_ I generalize data that I have.
                                                 If there is more data, I will
                                                 change my opinion, if the data
                                                 tells me to.  If you don't
                                                 like my opinion argue with my
                                                 data.
                            \_ Actually, it sounds more real than troll to me.
                               It has a thread of logic.
                         \_ Were they right-handed or left-handed?  Surely
                            you're more biased against righties or lefties as a
                            result, right?
                            \_ The aforementioned acts were committed by blacks
                            far more often than is warranted by the relative
                            percentage of blacks in the general population.
                    \_ actually, it's historically backed.
                       \_ What is historically backed?  This 'sentiment' is not
                          even semantically valid.  Less merit than who?
                \_ Less merit than who?
                  \_ what about white only bathrooms?
                     \_ What about green-only trolls?
        \_ <SARCASM>
           It's not right to kill people, but in war the idea is to kill
           as many people as possible.  What do other people thing?  Am
           I missing something or does society have contradictory mores?
           </SARCASM> (Markup was necessary to reduce further confusion.)
           \_ [vietnam crap deleted]  Oops.  Missed the sarcasm.  Sorry.
        \_ Short answer:  It's not federally-defined "discrimination" if
           it's affirmative action.  The word when used in HR policy has
           the federal meaning.
            \_ i.e. "Welcome to New Thought as created and promoted by the
                whacky left. It doesn't have to make sense, just make rich
                white people feel better about themselves at the expense
                of others.  It also keeps the blacks from rioting too
                often."
                \_ Notice that short answer was more fact than opinion based.
                   \_ Notice that the short answer obsequiously (or
                      perhaps conspiratorially) accepts that the government
                      can redefine english words in whatever way happens
                      to fit thier political agenda or best obscures
                      (contradicts) reality despite all/any reason.
                      \_ ^redefine^add a legal definition to
                         Please reflect on the relative benefit of AA in
                         the 1960s and whether AA is a successful policy
                         today, in 50 words or less.
                          \_ The benefit (or lack) of AA is irrelevant to
                             *my* criticism of the perversion of the
                             language.  What is so damn hard about
                             actually saying/writing what is meant?  That
                             society has a "legal definition" of a word
                             that is actually contradictory to the
                             original definition is an obvious sign of
                             intellectual/legal dishonosty and/or sloth.
                             \_ I agree.  This is the point I was addressing
                                when I started the thread.  Whether or not
                                AA is good is independant of the fact that
                                Equal Opportunity statements are contradictory
                                to AA.  Does anyone have a response to this
                                abuse of language issue?  I'm not trolling.
                                It's just that the AA policy and the
                                Equal Opprutnity statements which every
                                organization makes seem blatantly
                                contradictory.  When something that seems
                                so obviously wrong is accepted without
                                question it makes me wonder if I'm missing
                                an important point.  Therefore, I would like
                                to see a response or URL making the case
                                for the other side of the issue.  Thanks.
                             \_ Please reflect on why it's okay for black
                                people to make jokes about black people
                                and white people, but not okay for white
                                people to joke about black people, in
                                50 words or less.
2000/3/30-31 [Reference/Celebration] UID:17893 Activity:nil 66%like:17853 66%like:19331
3/30    Happy birthday tmonroe!
2000/3/30-31 [Computer/SW/Languages/Web, Computer/HW] UID:17894 Activity:moderate
3/30    I want to use jsp on a production server, there are several
        implementations, does anyone have any recommendations?
        \_ IBM WebSphere.  Its one disadvantage is that it doesn't support
           jdk 1.2.
           \_ We use Netscape Enterprise Server 4.0 SP3 on Solaris and handle
              about 30M hits a month using JSP and servlets. But then again,
              I work for Netscape/AOL so we have to use it. -atom
            \_ what about opensource versions?
            \_ what about apache modules? -not that level of production
        \_ Bea Weblogic is the pretty much the coolest product I've seen.
           They support jdk2, and have a clustering server that you can throw
           as much hardware at as you want in order to scale.
2000/3/30-31 [Academia/GradSchool] UID:17895 Activity:high
3/29    derivative of fibonacci thread:
                          \_ I had a decent GPA (above 3.0 below 3.5), what
                             kind of recs did you need to get to get accepted?
                             I'm thinking of asking a former boss and a current
                             boss (prof @ stanford).
                             \_ If you are below 3.5 you LOSE.
        Here's an approximation to the real answer. PLEASE don't start a _/
        flamewar debating whether this is the Right Way For Things To Be (tm),
        because that's how it is (based on evidence from several profs and 2
        members of the grad adm committee), and that's what we have to live
        with. What the answer seems to come out to is if your GPA is below
        3.70, you need to have something exceptional on your record to have a
        high chance at top-tier CS grad (ie MIT/Cal/The Farm, and a couple
        of others). The standard incarnation of that "something exceptional"
        is a shining letter of rec from someone who is well-known in the
        academia. Most other forms of merit are largely unrecognized. Once
        again, info based on 3(?) profs and 2 non-prof grad adm committee
        members (all from Cal). -anonymous for obvious reasons
                \_ What about patents and books? I will have a couple of
                   patents and have written a few CS (mass market, not
                   text books) books. My old boss who I was going to ask
                   for a rec was one of the original programmers for UNIX.
                   \_ Patents will be noticed but not significantly; mass
                      market books are even less likely to make a major
                      impact. The rec should be more useful, provided that
                      the said individual is actually _known_ as such
                      (eg Thompson). This is only my guess... -original poster
                      \_ Damn. I was going to patent my discovery on the
                         algorithm to crack RSA in linear time. Well, I
                         guess nobody cares about that so why bother.
                         \_ doesn't shore's algorithm do that? of course no
                            known computer can implememnt shore's algorithm
                            today, but i think it's patented.
                            \_ First of all, "Shor's algorithm" is a quantum
                               algorithm, which puts it outside the
                               conventional definition of algorithm (ie TM).
                               Second of all, Shor's factorization algorithm
                               is polynomial but NOT linear. And, third
                               of all, most self-respecting people doing
                               theory in the academia do NOT patent their work.
                               \_ Most self-respecting people don't do theory.
                                  \_ Just cuz you ain't man enough...
                                      -theory dude (!ilyas)
                                      \_ My shlong's problably longer than
                                         yours.  It's not that I'm not man
                                         enough.  It's because most of theory
                                         is just inapplicable bullshit that
                                         only pretentious people with their
                                         head up their own ass care about.
                                         \_ Or perhaps you just ain't man
                                            enough.
                                      \_ I thought I was the AI dude? -- ilyas
                                         \_ tell us about the stars...
                                         \_ Yes Ilyas, you are artificially
                                            intelligent (if that).
                               \_ It's Shor, people.  And a quantum algorithm
                                  is still an algorithm.
2025/04/13 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
4/13    
Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2000:March:30 Thursday <Wednesday, Friday>