7/31    Dear motd god: I'm an animal right activist. I'm in love with this
        gorgeous Cantonese girl. However, she likes dog meat. What should
        I do?

 7/31   When tipping, do you calculate 15% before tax or after
tax?  I've
        always tipped based on the total including tax.  My GF says before
        tax.  Is she being cheap?
        \_ 20% after taxes, you cheap son of a bitch.  i cant belive a bunch
           of overpaid sofware people are so cheap.  oh, wait, it's because
           programmers are mostly assholes, i rememeber. alot of blue collar
           people i know pay closer to 30% when they get good service, and
           they make a loth less than most of you.  if you every wonder
           why people don't like you, now you know.
           \_ where does this come from?
           \_ I'm a software person, I pay 15% before tax, I think it's
              fair, I may increase the tip for good service, and people
           Orient. You go to a restaurant to enjoy the food, not the service.
              like me.  So there!
        \_ 8.25% x 2 = 16.50%
                -- my dad
        \_ before you dumbass
        \_ Easiest to add 25% to pre-tax.  This is more than either of your
           two methods.
        \_ before you dumbass
           (see how much we care about you?)
        \_ ignore the flamers below.  the standard rule of thumb is 15%
           for dinner BEFORE tax and 10% BEFORE tax when doing lunch.
           the easy way to calc this is to shift your pre-tax amount
           decimal point.  that number + half that number = tip.
           your GF is not being cheap.   make a reasonable judgement and
           remember always that waiters/waitresses have to live off
           tip (so living can be easy or very hard depending on the
           establishment).  if they go out of their way to provide excellent
           service and check on water, etc often, person deserves the
           15% tip.  But if the person's a rude motherfucker, you can tip
           5% or even file a formal complaint (lots of uppity ones in s.f.,
           in the finer dining places, apparently).  hope this helps...
           oh yeah, to avoid being an asshole, round up as necessary
           and don't leave little bits of change, unless you want to be
           really insulting to some nasty waiter/waitress.
        \_ after tax and exclude the price of drinks
           \_ only if you are tipping for the drinks when they arrive
        \_ tipping is a stupid practice that has been long banned in the
           Orient. You go to a restaurant to enjoy the dog, not the service.
           \_ Not entirely true.  There is no tipping in China (I heard) or
              Japan, but there is tipping in Hong Kong.  -- yuen
           \_ that doesnt change that fact that without tipping, they
              make $2.50 an hour. Yes, that's right, there's a hole in
              the minimum wage law for employees that recieve tips.
           \- in theory it is pre-tax, so one approach to get a baseline
                is to double the [calif] tax [per above suggestion]. i think
                it is stupid not to do some kind of rounding if you are paying
                with a credit card ... which you presumably are if it is a
                big bill. some say bar tipping is 10% but again i do some
                rouding in the $.75-$1 per drink range if it is mixed drink.
                you can tip less if the bartender is just pouring out 4 shots.
                some people also recommend tipping better early at the bar
                to increase your poll() weighting [as opposed to waiting].
                at a high end place, where the waiter has to do a lot more,
                you may consult with the wime person etc. you may need to
                tip more than 15% ... for a 3.5 hour dinner with flawless
                service, tipping 15% is lame.
           \_ As someone who both works in foodservice and has a gf who does
              the same, allow me to lay out some guidelines:
              1) The server has to report tips, which they are then taxed on.
                 The server's employer usually _requires_ them to report 8%
                 (any less and the restaurant gets audited). Therefore if you
                 tip less than 8%, it costs the server money (they have to pay
                 taxes on a tip they did not get.
              2) Sitting at the same table all afternoon also costs the server
                 $$$.  waiters depend on turnover, and chilling at one table
                 (esp. a big one) denies them this. Tip extra if you spend all
                 afternoon.
                 \_ only if there aren't other free tables in their area
              3) Drinks are not taxed in CA. If you drink $50 in beer and $20
                 in food (assuming your server is bringing you those pitchers)
                 the tax will only be on the $20. Doubling the tax is not
                 acceptable.
              4) Sitting at a table and getting drinks from the bar _really_
                 pisses off your server. Expect to get loogies in your soup
                 for this offence.
              Happy Tipping!
                \- thanks for the lecture. if i am sitting at a table and get
                a drink from the bar it is because the person is taking far
                too long to come around ... if you are going to flap your lips
                or flirt with someone at another table [either for personal
                reasons or for better tips] than you should expect to lose out
                elsewhere. i am pretty patient and dont think i have
                unreasonable expectations there. also i will tip the person
                at the bar and assume this is an establishment where tips are
                split. given the profit margins on a lot of alcohol and the
                small amount of work involved, i dont think the doubleing the
                tax as a baseline for a typical meal isnt too unreasonable.
                i am sympathetic to your point about lingering at a table,
                but i wouldnt be surprised if a lot of people's tips were
                affected by beaing kept waiting 20 minutes for a table when
                you had reservation and showed up on time ... yes maybe it
                isnt the server's fault, but never the less.
                question: if you do "table service" do you prefer tipping at
                the end or by rounds? --psb
                \_ Bar ettiquite seems to favor tipping by the round -- if
                   you don't you're likely to get ignored.
                   you don't you're likely to get ignored, unless you've
                   opened up a tab. -mice

7/31    Any recommendation on portable mp3 player in terms of memory,
        I/O interface, battery and compactness?
        \_ mptrip / kiwi plays mp3 CDs.  Quality is very low though.
        http://www.easybuy2000.com
        \_ kind of looking at the sony one for sale on good guys now.
        but prefer rechargeable battery and cheaper...

7/30    For those who haven't developed on it, which do you recommend?
        MS Acess?  MS SQL Server?  Oracle?
        \_ Eh?  For those who _haven't_ developed on it?
        \_ For ease of development/configuration?  Mysql.  For advanced
           (real) database features?  Postgresql.
           (real) database features?  Postgresql.  --foo
                \_ postgresql doesn't compare to oracle.  -tom
                        \_ benchmarkP
                        \_ yermom is better than Oracle
                           \_ yermom accepts multiple concurrent users
                              and processes insertions at a phenomenal pace
                        \_ mysql is better than tom
                                \_ tom < mysql < postgres < oracle < yermom
                    \_ very true, but i think he was asking about development
                       --foo

7/30    Don't you get it? The less flames we exchange with tjb on the csua@csua
        list, the less likely our mail spool is to become full again.
        \_ Why would you even acknowledge he exists?  The best insult is to
           ignore him.  It'll kill him.
           \_ Same reason people watch blind date or jerry springer
           \_ tjb is not the Donut Boy.

7/30    I need software to run my DVD player (pref. for linux but it must be
        able top play "legal" i.e. protected DVD's or for Window 2000)
        reccomendations?
        \_ Ask a sales guy at Fry's.

7/30    how do i configure dynamic ip on (redhat) linux? (my @home connection
        just went dead and i'm told by the tech support that all fremont area
        will begin to use dynamic ip's instead of static ip's... sucks...)
        \_ man dhcp
           \_ Your Linux box is a DHCP client.  Turn this on in netconf/
              linuxconf.
        \_ noooooooo.

7/30    "Trevor J. Buckingham
        Professional Badass"
        \_ "I am sorry that my industry-related internships are more
            prestigious than yours.  I am sorry that I know asps, jsps, sql7."
            \_ We are sorry too, Trevor.
        \_ "Nokia 8890" ... whew.  If he'd had a 61xx phone, I would
           totally have lost all respect for him.
        \_ If we send this to eminem, will he turn it into a song?
        \_ What's up will at the hate speech.  Is that crap illegal or what?
           \_ What hate speech are you talking about?  I don't see any
              in the posts above.
                \_ All speech is legal except for things like yelling "FIRE!"
                   in a crowded theatre, unless you go to a school in a place
                   like Berkeley where the only free speech is that which the
                   local leftist powers that be deem so.
                   \_ Also, speech which directly incites violence (also
                      known as "fighting words") can be illegal.
                      \_ Goddammit, them's fightin' words.  I'm comin'
                         to fuck your day up!  -John
                         \_ you already did.

7/30    I have a few SBUS cards I don't need anymore (mainly video, scsi, isdn).
        What's a good place to sell/trade them? ----ranga
        \_ ebay.

7/30    Does anyone have suggestions on how to MIME compose/view attachments
        using mh-e?  I know that other mail readers such as mutt
        can do stuff, but I would like to use a mail package that
        works with emacs.  Thanks.
        \_ show -noshowproc | munpack to view. and mpack to compose

7/29    What do people recommend for transfering audio cassette tapes
        to CD's using my CD burner? Is it as simple as making
        my Windoze machine recognize a cassette player as a new drive
        or do I need something special? I'm trying to make my
        recorded interviews into CD's. Tapes are a bitch to transcribe. -f
        \_ You can't mount a casette tape.  You'll have to hook up
           the audio out from your stereo to the audio in of your computer,
           and do an audio recording to WAV (or whatever).  -tom
        \_ On a somewhat related note: Does anyone know of the best way
           to convert RealAudio to a storable format like WAV's or MP3's?
           \_ Doesn't Real Jukebox output to MP3 format?  Or are you
              talking about recording streaming audio?  Try Total Recorder.
           \_ RealAudio's big selling point to all the music distrubition
              sites was the alleged impossibility of the end-user saving
              (and replaying, oh horrors!) the content.  They were, of course
              too stupid to realize that anything they let us play, we can
              store and record.  Like with 'audiojacker', "total recorder",
              or the fake NT audio device driver mentioned in:
                    http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Program/3555
                -ERic

7/29    Reposting of Linux question (didn't catch responses before post was
        deleted) - If I mount a partition listed as "Unknown," but I mount it
        anyways, would the data get corrupted?  That is, fdisk -l shows my
        Win98 FAT32 partition as Unknown, but I type the following command:
        mount -t vfat /dev/hda /mnt/win98
        and I'm able to access it.  Please don't delete replies till Monday
        night.  Thanks.
        \_ It depends.
           \_ What does it depend on?
              \_ That depends.
                \_ Yes.
        \_ Let me guess, you are using System Commander or other bootmgr?
           The answer is: you won't corrupt the data.  System labels
           in the MBR (which fdisk shows) are basically irrelevant;
           you can change a FAT label to Xenix and still mount the
           partition -- mount doesn't read the partition table.  The labels
           are used by OSes to automatically recognize partitions in some
           cases -- e.g. DOS/Windows needs them, RedHat installer looks
           at them, but once the system is setup, all the mount info
           is retrieved from /etc/fstab.  This is all true, of course,
           if the data on your disk isn't corrupt.
                \_ Thanks much; no thanks to the wise-asses above.
                   System Commander is exactly what I'm using.  I wanted
                   to share partitions b/t 98/Linux/2000, and didn't want
                   to corrupt any data when writing from Linux.  Do you
                   know if Linux can also read and write to NTFS without
                   corrupting any data?
                   Which websites / newsgroups are good for Linux
                   configuration discussions?  RedHat's site is a little
                   hit-and-miss.
                   \_ System Commander uses the "Unknown" label to hide
                      partitions that a particular OS shouldn't see.
                      It's because in some cases (e.g. DOS/Windows on
                      a second primary FAT partition) the OS gets
                      confused.  Linux doesn't get confused; turn off
                      the partition hiding option in the Linux boot
                      config (it's in the menu), and you'll see the real
                      MBR under Linux.
                      For sharing partitions, I recommend you use a FAT32
                      setup which can be read/written by all 3 OSes.
                      Linux could access NTFS readonly last time I checked;
                      dunno if they support writing in the latest kernels.
                      As for support sources...  Read FAQs/HOWTOs and
                      ask on comp.os.linux.setup.  After losing
                      the data on the disk 2-3 times because of some
                      mistake, you'll understand how it all works. :)
                      \_ Are there any free newsgroup servers out there?
                         http://Usenet.com charges $139.65/year!
                        \_ http://www.deja.com  Oh, sorry, you wanted porno.
                           \_ deja was too slow and I kept timing out.
                              Who still uses newsgroups to get porno
                              when you have web pages?  Anything faster
                              (and free)?

7/31    What is the correct plugin application for running java from
        Navigator on a Solaris box?  Is it /usr/bin/java, or /usr/bin/java
        -jar %1, a-la-windows style?  Or is it something else altogether?
        \_ someting else altogether. see ~/.netscape/plugins
           \_ Ok, checked in my ~/.netscape.  I only have a plugin-list
              and the only text in there is "PluginList Version 1".  Is
              there a URL that tells you how to configure plugins in
              Solaris?
        \_ Java is builtin to netscape, you shouldn't need a plugin.
                \_ All the bugs are pre-included now.  Just use it.

7/31 test
     \_ You fail.  NEW STUFF ON TOP.

7/31    What's the difference between compiling apache+ssl and apache using
        mod-ssl?
        \_ apache and SSL can integrate either using the mod_ssl module or
           the ApacheSSL module. mod_ssl is just one of those two choices.
        \_ mod_ssl is pretty much the standard, these days, it's well
           maintained and integrates well.
           \_ geez, man, don't cram opinions down their throat.
                \_ It's the motd.  It's obviously an opinion.  The problem is
                   not their opinion but that they didn't answer the question.
        \_ Apache+SSL is a patch directly to apache to handle SSL.  mod_ssl
           is some patches to apache to make it handle ESAPI (or something
           like that, don't remember), then an upgradable module to handle
           the actual SSL.

7/31    "When you're a U.S. citizen you have to build OpenSSL in conjunction
        with the RSAref library."  What is the reasoning behind this?
        \_ Well, only if you're in the USA. RSA has a patent in the USA.
           Fortunately, that patent is expiring on Sep. 20, 2000.  --PeterM
                \_ Patents are evil!  Kill all patents!  Free beer for the
                   people!  We have the right to everything free!
        \_ It's incorrect actually - it's if you are in the US or not -
           non-citizens are not exempt from US law when on US soil.  RSA
           can still sue your scrawny ass for patent infringement if you
           don't.  (They're not likely to, but they can.)
           \_ also, US Law applies to US Citizens no matter where they are
              in the world.

7/31    Why would stock split affect the stock price? Wouldn't the total
        valuation of the company stay the same? Afterall, it is the
        percentage gain/loss, not the actual dollar amount, that matters.
        \_ Why do I have to eat?  I get hungry sometimes, and I eat,
           but then my shoes are too big.
            \_ why are you a such a moron/freak?
        \_ because people are irrational.  (don't tell me this is the first bit
           of evidence you have noticed). -crebbs
        \_ stock split really shouldn't affect price.  But at Crebbs says,
           people are irrational.  Plus, a stock split often means that
           the management is very confident in their performance.  Plus,
           people like to buy in 100 lot shares.  The lower the price,
           the easier it is to buy 100 lot shares.
           \_ trend analysis shows that average stock performance after a
              split is actually lower than before.  but it's not very
              significant either way.  You used to have to buy in lots of
              100 shares or else pay a lot extra, but that's no longer true.
              -tom
                \_ some people actually do trading not on the actual split
                   date, but on the split announcement.  Some people
                   buy on the rumour, and sell on the news (the split).
                        \_ but in answer to the initial query, viewed with
                           reasonable time scales in mind, splits are noop's.
                           -tom
                                \_ yermom is all but noop
                                \_ whoa... I need to go back to bed... I find
                                   myself agreeing with tom....  Must be a bad
                                   dream... see you in a few hours. zzzzzzz...

7/30    just went dead and i'm told by the tech support that all fremont area
        will begin to use dynamic ip's instead of static ip's... sucks...)
        \_ man dhcp
           \_ Your Linux box is a DHCP client.  Turn this on in netconf/
              linuxconf.
        \_ noooooooo.

7/31    Need recommendation for decent DSL provider in Berkeley/Albany
        area.  Preferrably static IP, free install. <$40-50 per month
        \_ Try firstworld. They should be available in Berkeley/Albany.
           \_ I just started using them. I've had to call tech-support
              about 15 times in the past two days, but they are pretty
              friendly, hold times are short, and they seem somewhat
              knowledgable.
              \_ I had the same experience, i.e. once you get past setup
                 glitchfest, it's smooth sailing. They are not bad. --aaron
                 \_ you live in Berkeley/Albany, Aaron?
                \_ This stage will last about 3 weeks until they get too
                   many customers for tech support to handle.  Sign up fast
                   if you want to use them.  This applies to all good things.
             \_ I've only called them 3 times in 7+ months. Everytime the
                people I spoke to were resonalbly competent and friendly.
                My ave. wait times have been less than 10 mins. My setup
                was glitch free but the technician was at my house for >
                6 hours. I know several people who use them for business
                access as well, no incidents thus far. YMMV ----ranga
        \_ How about earthlink?