5/16    In emacs 19.34.6 for NT, if I bring up a .BAT file containing this
        line:
                if exist foo goto bar
        I get an error "No match 2 in highlight (2 bat-keyword-face)".  But
        if I change the line to "if exist foo echo bar" or "if not exist foo
        goto bar" the error doesn't occur.  Any idea?  Thx.  -- yuen

5/17    okay, can someone explain to me this whole fbsd ports thing? i
        downloaded a package from http://freebsd.org, untar'ed it into the
        /usr/ports/ directory, and typed "make install" but got a bunch
        of error messages saying that the Makefile had bad syntax. is
        there something i'm missing here? -fu-less
        \_ trollP
        \_ Uh, here is a clue: package != ports collection. Once you have
           downloaded a binary package just run pkg_add packagename.tgz
           For help about ports collection see FreeBSD handbook on their
           website.
          \_clueP
            \_fartP

5/18    perl-5.6.0 installed, bugs to mconst.

5/18    MR.GATES: I've been getting a lot of mail that says: I love you.
        (Applause.)
        MR. GATES: And it's just filling up my mailbox, and I'm saying to
        myself, this is kind of like an IQ test. Am I going to open that
        enclosure or not? So, it's always interesting to see which employees
        I get that mail from.
        (Applause.)
         - Remarks by Bill Gates, Networld + Interop 2000 Las Vegas,
           May 9, 2000

5/18    Has anyone tested the range of those 2.4 GHz cordless phones?  My
        home is less than a mile away from my office.  Yes, I'm serious.
        \_ Why don't you just forward your calls to your office.
        \_ why would you want to broadcast your telephone conversations
           to anyone within a mile radius who happens to own a cheap
           scanner?
              2.4 GHz cordless phone?
        \_ I'm no RF expert but I never understood why higher frequency
           \_ Can cheap scanners decode transmissions from a typical
              2.4 GHz cordless phone?  The answer is no.
           \_ you're not RF expert *BUT* you don't understand?? what the
              hell does that juxtaposition mean?
        \_ I'm no RF expert so I never understood why higher frequency
           means greater range.
           \_ E =hv ??? more energies?
              \_ you're confusing equations. this is for a single particle. you
                 can transmit a 10khz signal and give it just as much energy
                 as a 10Mhz signal by uppingthe amplitude (or the intensity,
                 if you like particles). i'm no RF expert either, but I think
                 the answer is that wavelengths get interference from objects
                 of similar size. there are lots of large obstacles, so low
                 frequencies don't perform well, and there are lots of very
                 tiny obstacles, so light and doesn't do well, but somewhere
                 in between, you get good shit. -ali
                 \_ Stupid fuzzy universe.  Why wasn't Planck's constant set
                    to 0, damn it!
                 \_ ali, or someone else with clue, please explain to me
                    why IR tends to bounce around, but microwave is
                    directional
                    \_ AFAIK, it is just as ali said--that is, your wall will
                       absorb and re-emit the IR.  IR is very close to the
                       visible spectrum in wavelength whereas microwave further
                       away.  The physical transitions for visible and infrared
                       are similar, whereas microwave is different.  Hence
                       materials that reflect visible light will likely reflect
                       infrared the same or nearly the same way.  See
                       http://www.scimedia.com/chem-ed/light/em-spec.htm for a
                       spectral breakdown. -emarkp
                       \_ Huh?  All you said was that IR is like visible
                          and microwave is different.  Why does IR tend
                          to bounce around, but microwave tend to be
                          directional?
                          \_ It bounces around for the same reason that visible
                             light bounces around.  Absorption and reemission.
                             \_ Now what about microwaves?
                                \_ Microwaves are caused by molecular rotations,
                                   instead of electron level jumps.  That's why
                                   it makes stuff hot--it rotates/vibrates water
                                   molecules, and the friction warms up the
                                   food.  Broadcast microwaves have shorter
                                   wavelengths yet and ignore most atmospheric
                                   matter.  Since the matter (in the air or in
                                   your wall) isn't the right size to absorb the
                                   energy, it just goes right on by.
                 \_ Different wavelengths definetly have different absorption
                    and reflection properties.  However, I don't think
                    a 2.4 GHz signal has a longer range because of less
                    reflection/absorption.  A 2.4 GHz can bounce off
                    walls and buildings pretty easily.  One possible reason
                    for the longer range of a 2.4 GHz signal could be higher
                    bandwidth.  I think the FCC allows 80 Mhz of bandwidth
                    for 2.4 GHz signals, but don't know the numbers for
                    other frequencies.  Also there might be less interference
                    in the 2.4 GHz band than in other bands.  -emin
                    \_ what does it mean by "80Mhz of bandwidth for 2.4
                     GHz signals?  and why does microwave oven need to
                     shield the microwave from escaping while cell phone
                     uses signal in microwave region "openly"?
                     \_ Because microwaves in an 'oven' are specifically
                        tuned to vibrate water, which is in most living
                        things. But cellphone radiation supposedly is
                        on frequencies that do not affect living things.
                        Yeah, right.
                     \_ Well I'm no microwave expert but I'd say that
                        your roommate's parrot would heat a lot less quickly
                        with microwaves leaking out of your microwave
                        instead of reflecting inside.
                    \_ it means that you can transmit more signal per channel,
                       which means that you can use a higher bandwidth
                       modulation technique which is more robust to noise.
                       i think emin is actually right, and it has nothing
                       to do with reflections and transmissions. it's more
                       likely a bandwidth issue. -ali
k

5/18    shutdown: error in loading shared libraries: libXext.so.6: cannot
        open shared object file: No such file or directory
        I get this error even though the file DOES exist (in more than one
        place and in the same places as on a machine which works properly)
        Where is it looking for this file / what can i do to fix it?
        \_ Why the hell is shutdown trying to do anything with X?
           As for your other questions, LD_LIBRARY_PATH is a possibility,
           others vary greatly by OS.  Ever think that might be an
           important bit of info to include?