10/31   For those who claimed that Nader is a socialist, I'm very sorry
        but you should read what the Socialists have to say about him
        (they don't like him -- cuz he's a capitalist).  Check out:
          http://www.igc.org/saction/news/200008/nader2.html
          \_ No dude, <DEAD>www.VoTeNaDeR.org!!!<DEAD>
         \_ It all depends on the what the meaning of "is" is. Nader
            and his Nuts are basically soft-core socialists, since
            they don't want to turn ever enterprise into a public
            works project like the hard-core socialists. A few crippled
            businesses is okay in Nader's book. Its all a matter of
            how damn wrong you are. Socialists are completely wrong,
            while Nader is almost completely worng.

10/31   /dev/da0e             1270240  1166771     1850   100%    /var/mail
        \_ Whee!
        \_ This is why soda should just forward email.
        \_ Top 10 "offenders":
           \_ this is less than 10 mb.  how is that even offensive.
        \_ This comes up every fucking month.  Why don't we get some
           more goddamn disk space?
                \_ Because it's stupid to buy more disk for old machine
                   when new machine with much more disk is already being
                   set up.
           \_ yes sir - #1 slave
              \_ Faster, you lazy bastard!  The disk is still full!

           -rw-rw----   1 jon       mail    9958427 Oct 31 16:27 jon
           -rw-------   1 rajah     csua    8740763 Oct 31 14:38 rajah
           -rw-rw----   1 apl       mail    7178201 Oct 31 16:04 apl
           -rw-------   1 elizp     csua    4827154 Oct 31 16:29 elizp
           -rw-rw----   1 deschan   mail    4024243 Oct 31 10:24 deschan
           -rw-rw----   1 mackn     mail    3963281 Oct 31 00:25 mackn
           -rw-rw----   1 tpc       mail    3874439 Oct 31 16:46 tpc
           -rw-------   1 ginocide  csua    3826808 Oct 31 13:35 ginocide
           -rw-------   1 randyc    mail    3813542 Oct 31 15:56 randyc
           -rw-------   1 gsu       mail    3804333 Oct 31 10:14 gsu
        \_ Why doesn't someone in the politburo start giving warning
           notices to the disk hosers, and if they don't reply/delete
           mail/whatever after a certain number of days, then take
           corrective action into your own hands.
                \_ Because they don't care and shouldn't have to?  Ask the VP
                   to make a new policy that spools get stored in homes.  This
                   should've been done years ago.  Use the source, Luke.
        \_ why can't we just deliver mail to user home directories already.
           Puts it under user quota and distributes the mail more evenly across
           the system's disks.
                \_ Because that makes too much sense.  People have been saying
                   exactly what you just said for years.
                \_ That's asinine.  A lot of users have only 8 megs, and besides,
                   from a dumbass user's standpoint you don't want a core dump
                   to prevent you from getting mail.  Disk space is cheap.
                        \_ dumbass users should limit coredumpsize 0

10/30   Singapore Air pilots taking off in a storm, weather deteriorating,
        with winds gusting to 65 knots. What the hell were they thinking?
        \_ "We can do it!  I know we can!  I know we can! I know we can!"
           \_ That's generally only the attitude of China Airline pilots, not
              Singapore Airlines ones (nor pilots of other Taiwan airlines).
              Singapore Airlines ones (nor pilots of other Taiwanese airlines).
              \_ Wasn't there a Taiwan airliner went belly-up one or two
                 years ago in Hong Kong airport while lifting up or
                 landing...
                 \_ Yeah.  It was during landing.  That one was due to the
                    sheer wind in the typhoon.  It crashed belly-up and lost
                    one whole wing and caught fire.  Only three out of more
                    than 300 passengers died though.  8/22/99
              \_ A China Airlines flight bound for SFO that was to
                depart an half hour before aborted and
                returned to the gate.
        \_ They ran into something.  I think it's a wheel.
           \_ If it hit a wheel on the ground, how come it didn't crash right
              away, but crashed down to the ground after lifting off?
              \_ Back wheel.
                 \_ Quote: The captain, C.K. Foong, is a Malaysian with lengthy
                    experience. He told investigators that he "saw an
            unlike Chiang Kai-shek INternational Airport"
                    object on the runway and he tried to take off to
                    avoid the object, and he hit the object,"
                    \_ urlP
                       \_ http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/01/world/01CND-CRASH.html
        \_ "The world's best airline, and one of the safest.
            Until yesterday, Singapore Airlines had never had a fatality -
            unlike Chiang Kai-shek International Airport"
            http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Asia_China/2000-11/jumbotwo011100.shtml
                \_ Clarification- They've had fatalities from hijacking,
                but never from a crash.
              \_ That's if you don't count their subsidiary SilkAir airlines,
                 one of whose planes crashed into a muddy Indonesian river.
                 Some believed it was a successful suicide/murder by the
                 pilot.  That said, I am quite impressed by survivors'
                 accounts of how the SIA crew (Singapore Girls (tm)?)
                 remained calm and directed the passengers out of the
                 flaming wrecked with flashlights in yesterday's disaster.
                 \_ they're all ex-Mossad
                 \_ I guess all that tough training paid off.
                 \_ I am always impressed by the SIA girls. They are sooo
                    nice. Anyone on soda join the mile-high club with a
                    SIA chick?
                    \_ actually yes.  it ended up being a pretty embarrasing
                       episode.
                          \_ do tell. The SIA girls look like they would
                             be quite imaginative and limber...
                       \_ So do they wear undergarments? Those outfits
                          seem to preclude the possibility.
                    \_ What?  If you join its mileage club you get to date
                       one of the girls???  Can't wait to check it out when
                       the SIA web site is up again.
                       \_ Only if you fly first class.

11/1    I need to dig a square hole around 3 feet deep and 4 feet on the side.
        (This is for planting a big tree).  Anybody know of a tool besides
        shovel and pick axe to do this?  I'm looking to rent something
        manual or motor-powered.  Thanks.
        \_ Besides dynamite and a steam shovel?  Try calling one of
          the "Big-4-Rents type places.  But really, you need the
          the "Big-_-Penis type places.  But really, you need the
          exercise, and it'll be fun.  Just jump in there.
           \_ Do not try to operate one of these with instruction.
        \_ back hoe.
           \_ Do not try to operate one of these without instruction.
           \_ Instructions? Just whip it out and stick it in the back hoe.
           \_ Instructions? Just whip it out and stick it in the back of a hoe.
        \_ You want an augur (sp?)  They're cool as hell, but will
           make a round hole.
           \_ dumbass! he said square hole! can't you read?
              \_ Shit for brians!  He doesn't need a square hole, even if
                 he says he does.  He's going to fill it back in anyway,
                 unless his goal is to have a dead tree.
        \_ That's only 48 cubic feet.  You're pretty lazy.
        \_ That's one big tree d00d!

11/1    Can someone pls fix POP and IMAP access to soda?  Thx.
            \_ I never seem to get a break around here. - someone
        \_ Done. -root
           \_ It seems to be broken again. Can you fix it again?
              \_ Done, again.  If you have any idea what's causing inetd
                 to hang, let us know. -root
        \_ Yes. root can do it.
           \_ P(E|E) = 1

10/31   $20 off $100 at amazon photo, exp. 11/12/2000, P2RF-AZK92G-M4LK4C -pld

10/31   When one CPU on a dual Pentium II machine executes an instruction that
        writes to memory, and later the other CPU executes an instruction that
        reads the same memory, how does the second CPU get the correct value
        from the first CPU's cache?  Thanks.
        \_ Many cheepo/low end systems use a cache coherent protocol called
           MESI (modify, exclusive, shared, invalid). This works fine under
           smaller systems that can do bus snooping. But for much larger
           systems (like 512 processor systems) they use a more sophisticated
           directory lookup structure. -jeff
           \_ For more information about MESI on intel processors, see
              http://developer.intel.com/design/pentiumii/manuals/24319202.pdf
              chapter 9, especially section 9.4.
        \_ Distinction between cache and system memory.  Dirty|clean bits.
           \_ Do you mean the two CPUs share the same caches instead of having
              separate caches?
              \_ No, each Pentium has its own cache.
              \_ They probably run in separate processes, separate
                 address spaces.
                 \_ You're probably a total fucking idiot.
        \_ I believe that Hennessey and Patterson (not to be confused with
           Patterson and Hennessey) discusses multiprocessor machines.  You
           you might want to check it out for a detailed explantion. -dans
           \_ Just an aside, that naming convention is only used in Berkeley.
                                        - current grad student somewhere else
                \_ Uh, that is the author order on the books themselves.
                   Although I think Culler's parallel architectures book
                   does a better job discussing cache coherance. -nweaver
        \_ Thanks for all the answers.  I had a lousy prof for 152 (last name
           started with R and was very long, don't remember exactly), and it
           has been 7 years.

10/31   /dev/da0e      2540480  2317744    19498    99%    /var/mail
        \_ No cause for alarm, we're not at 100%.

10/30   Are there any 24 hr oil change places in/around Berkeley?
        (much bullshit deleted) \_ no, and none exist in the bay area.

11/1    There s/b a goddam five minute limit to vi-ing the motd.public
        that's you peterl
        \_ don't fucking lock the motd you assmonkey
         \_ mmm, assmonkeys...  -aspo

11/1    Oh no! It's back down to 93%! Hurry, fill it back up!
        /dev/da0e     1270240  1091467    77154    93%    /var/mail

11/1    Anyone setup and use one of those Cobalt raq and cache boxes?
        My company is planning to get some but of course I am going to
        have to support it. What to look out for? Should I en/discourage them?
        What about security? I assume it has to go on our own network.
        \_ Cobalt boxes are pretty easy to setup and use via the web
           gui. If you want to do everything via the command line, its
           mostly like a Red Hat box with some debian stuff here and
           there.
           On the newer x86 based boxes (RaQ3, RaQ4 and Qube3) you can
           install most commerical products that run on Red Hat and you
           can build most open source applications. The kernel is the
           notable exception; you may have problems running a generic
           kernel since there are some Cobalt hardware specific changes
           that are required to the kernel source in order for it to
           run correctly (a Cobalt box is not a generic PC MB in a 1U
           case).
           The boxes are reasonably secure, but don't expect something
           like an OpenBSD box with no remote exploits in 3 years.
           You will need to keep up with security patches.
           BTW, I work at Cobalt, so my reporting may be a little
           biased.
           Feel free to mail me with any questions. ----ranga
                \_ note that OpenBSD's claim is based on a box which ships
                   with no external services enabled.  If you actually try to
                   *do* something with an OpenBSD box, it becomes mostly
                   equivalent to every other box on the net.  -tom
                   \_ The phrase was "default install".  My default install
                      was running apache, inetd, and some other crap.  But,
                      in general, I agree with you.  If you install a shitty
                      service like wu-ftpd on an openbsd box, you're just as
                      fucked as someone installing wu-ftpd on any other OS.
                   \_ I installed OpenBSD on a box about 2 months ago
                      and it had most of the "small servers" (in cisco
                      parlance) turned on for both ipv4 and ipv6, along
                      with ftpd, httpd, sendmail and sshd. I did the non
                      X install, which is (as far as I can tell) is the
                      configuration that the claim is based on. In this
                      configuration I could a decent amount of work.
                      I ultimately turned off most of that stuff since
                      that box became my home firewall. ----ranga

11/1    Solaris disk add question: I have an external drive on an old
        Solaris box. I umount, commented out vfstab, and hook it to a
        new Solaris box. Then I added a new entry in vfstab and tried
        to mount but the new box wouldn't mount. Is there something I
        have to do like recognizing a new SCSI device or something?
        \_ who gave you the solaris box? kick them in the nuts.
        \_ Does prtconf show you the device? If it doesn't try
           probe-scsi-all at the OF prompt. This might not work
           on an ultra as it warns you that you need to run reset
           or reset-all first. Probably the easiest way to get this
           to work is to reboot.
                \_ OF prompt, is that something you get after Stop-A?
                   I did try reboot but no luck... will try the probe-thing
                   now, thanks! By the way what is your email?
        \_ At OBP prompt ok>
           (after reset-all to be safe) try probe-scsi-all to make sure
           it is physically recognized. Then do 'boot -r' (assuming your
           box doesnt have some DiskSuite/raid stuff already configured)
           so the OS can create the proper files. Then login and 'format'
           to check that the disk is found and has the right cWtXdYsZ you
           expect. Try to manually mount to test, then add to vfstab
           \_ Oh yeah, by the way, use: http://docs.sun.com
              which has SPARC and x86 add disk instructions.
        \_ There's no need to do a "boot -r" to get Solaris to recognize the
           disk.  "drvconfig; devlinks; disks" will accomplish the same thing
           (for all disk devices) without a reboot.  After you do this, run
           "format" to make sure Solaris sees the disk, try mounting it by
           hand to make sure it works, then add it to your vfstab.  The problem
           is that you didn't have device nodes in the kernel's device tree
           for that disk, nor entries in /dev and /devices.

11/1    MS Word (on NT/Win98) crashed while modifying a document.
        Now, I can only open that file in read only mode.  How
        do I get rid of the lock?  I can't delete the file because
        its says I have a sharing violation.  Would a reboot help?
        \_ Been in a similar situation.  I did a control-A (copy all) and
           pasted the entire document into another file.  I lost some
           special formatting but better that than lose the whole thing.
           Good luck.
           \_ why didn't you just copy the file?
           \_ Ya, this guy is dumb. A "Save as" would also have worked.
                \_ Nice of the two of you who *weren't there* to tell me to
                   try things that *didn't work* and then tell me I was dumb
                   for moving on and doing what *did work*.  Next time I
                   need help with something, I'll be sure to come to you for
                   the *obvious but _wrong_ answers*.
                   \_ don't group the two together please.  The first
                      may not have been malicious (the second may just
                      lack tact).  Of course, motd posters are not always
                      good models of tact.
                   \_ Why didn't those two suggestions work? As for lacking
                      tact, you're asking an MS Word question on the motd...
                      You deserve to be insulted once or twice before getting
                      a solution, if you get one at all. If the answers were
                      obvious but wrong, you should have mentioned, "I tried
                      x and y but they didn't work." Otherwise, people should
                      assume that you're either dumb or didn't think of the
                      easy solutions (because you're dumb).
                      \_ He is not asking a Word question. He answered one.
                         Giving useful information. Unlike you. --Galen [who
                         is not any of the above]