**/** Regularly politburo meetings are 5-6pm, 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every
      month in the CS Undergraduate Lounge in 337 Soda Hall.  --Jon

      The next CSUA meeting, 21 Nov 2000, is a GENERAL MEETING.  -lye

11/13   Anyone know if there are any USB AM/FM tuners that work under
        FreeBSD or MacOSX?

11/13   Do we have w3 installed on soda? I'd like to browse the web from
        inside emacs.

11/13   I went to Joshua Tree NP last weekend and saw George Bush's
        long-lost cousin, Paperbag Bush:

        http://biology.fullerton.edu/courses/biol_340/web/Joshua_Tree/Paperbag_bush.JPG

        It appears smarter than W.

11/14   http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990820compwomen4.asp
        CMU Computer Science: Men outnumber women 10 to 1.  What's
        UCB's male/female CS ratio?
        \_ EECS figures: 83%/17% [accuracy to within +/-1%]
           My guess is L&S CS is similar or slightly higher. -alexf
           \_ i don't believe it.  we need a hand recount.
              \_ We need to admit more women, so engineers will
                 be able to get dates.
                 \_ hear, hear!
                 \_ Yes, and there will be more disk space with less porn
                    in their home directory.
                \_ didn't the article warn the woman to get ready for
                   dorky guys chasing the potential student around?

11/14   Winner of the 1999 Hemingway Imitation Contest (quite funny,
        in a sick sort of way):

        http://www.pen-usa-west.org/nunes.html
            \_ hehe, that's pretty clever!

11/14   /csua/bin/weather updated. bugs to brg, who may or may not ignore
        them.  the basic idea is: weather berkeley,ca
        the old version is in /csua/bin/weather.old

11/14   Some light humor from the BCR mailing list (with regard to
        the upcomming BCR elections):

        Unlike the election in Florida, results of our election
        should be known within the hour because our trained election
        specialists know how to count and we won't have to deal with
        sore losers and BS lawsuits.
        \_ Racists!  Call in Wexler!  Where's Jesse!  I've been disen-- oh,
           wait.  I already graduated and can't participate in a BCR election.
           Racists!  Call in Wexler!  Where's JEsse!  I've been disenfranchised!
           Racists!  Call in Wexler!  Where's Jesse!  I've been disenfranchised!
           \_ reiffin, you really have to stop responding to your own trolls,
              it's completely pathetic.  -tom
              \_ reiffin didn't post the original.
                 \_ Motd Conspiracy Theory!
                    \_ Oliver Stone's MOTD!
                       \_ I think tom and reiffin are secretly the same
                          person.
                          \_ Drat.  Caught.  --Tommy Reiffin
                       \_ I think tom and reiffin secretly love each other.
                          \_ I don't dislike tom.  I just think he takes
                             himself and everything else too seriously which
                             makes me laugh.  It isn't personal.  I'd laugh
                             at anyone like that.  In fact tom and I only
                             'know' each other through these twice a year
                             public tiffs.  Something gets posted he doesn't
                             like, he says I'm a troll, if he's right, I tell
                             him to stuff it, if he's wrong I tell him so and
                             get a laugh out of it.  Then the motd is wiped,
                             tom adds a few reiffin 'twink points' and life
                             goes on as before.  Too bad someone wiped my
                             first reply.  I guess the truth bugs some people.
                             I LOVE YOU, TOMMY BOY!   -reiffin
                             \_ Welcome to the CSUA co-op.  Don't hoard
                                the bagels.
                                \_ It's the co-ops that taught me not to take
                                   it seriously.  It was fun while it lasted,
                                   though, except for the mice.  -reiffin

11/14   Florida news but not about the election.  Boys sues city because
        cops failed to stop him from driving drunk and injuring himself:
        http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA34QG0JFC.html
        \_ Is it still legal to carry concealed guns in Florida?

11/14   Yes we're all tired of election crap but you can check out this:
        <DEAD>madison.hss.cmu.edu<DEAD>
        for a scientific approach to the palm beach question.
        \_ Perhaps, but this doesn't change the fact that recounting
           selected counties is bad practice designed to put Gore in
           the white house.
           \_ yeah. in fact the entire electoral process was bad practice
              designified to put gore in the white house.  -- junior
              \_ No. In order for the recount to be meaningful it must
                 be complete, not partial. Gore doesn't want a complete
                 recount, since that wouldn't really help him.
        \_ As a student I worked in the Stat. Dept.  The one book you found
           in most grad student offices was titled, "How to lie with
           statistics".  Being rather naive at the time, I found the mere
           existence of such a thing shocking.  That so many grad students
           owned a copy left me speechless.  --Naive no more
           \_ I think you might have misunderstood the point of this book.
              The point of the book is not to teach the reader how to lie
              with statistics in order to deceive others.  Instead the book
              discusses many ways to misrepresent statistics so that the
              reader can recognize when such tricks are used and prevent
              himself from being deceived.  It's an excellent book.  -emin
           \_ where can I get a copy of that book? - never took stat
              \_ url:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393310728/qid=974189709/sr=1-2/102-9687828-6208930

11/14   For those of you who still think that Gore is getting more
        votes becaused he earned them:

        http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=65000596
        http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=65000613
        \_ i dont' agree with the Wall Street Journal's numbers
           in that article
                \_ Ok, great.  Make up your own.  What numbers would you
                   prefer?  Make some up and post a URL.  Sheesh.  Let's
                   not let little things like "facts" get in the way of
                   the truth.
                   \_ I'm glad to see you've learnt something.
                      The one thing that Bill taught me was to
                      never let facts and the truth stand in my
                      way. - Al Gore
                      PS. After inventing the Internet, I became
                      an 3113T H@X0R and I'm posting this from my
                      R00T SH311 D00DZ! A1 G0R3 0WNZ U!
        \_ Hmmm, Wall Street Journal.  No bias there.  The first article is
           purely subjective stating, to a first order approximation,
           "recounts are bad, mm'kay."  The second article features fast
           and loose journalism "Statisticians tell me that is highly
           unlikely".  Who are these vaunted statisticians?  Are they
           College Professors?  Are they bored students taking stat 2?  Are
           they even real?  Who can say.  Go sourcing.  Why should anyone
           trust the statisticians a writer for the Journal pulled out of his
           ass?  Why will they have anything but the bias needed for Fund's
           angle?

11/14   Can't we all just get along?

11/14   I notice it says Co-Ed Naked Computing. i'm naked, but where are
        the co-eds?
        \_ finger raytrace
           \_ I keep hearing about raytrace. pix p.

11/14   Looking for a new harddrive. Primary concern is reliability and
        noise level (the Quantum I had was insanely loud). Suggestions?
        \_ Seagate Barracuda is LOUD! Avoid it.
           \_ i second that.. unless you like strange periodic pinging
        \_ I like IBM.  YMMV.  Avoid Samsung -- I had a disk crash and hasn't
           bought a cheap drive since.
              sounds that sounds like the disk is about to fly apart.
           Maxtor, Fujitsu and Samsung seem okay.
                \_ have never had problem with IBM drives (6 of 'em).
                   avoid Quantum & Micropolis at all cost.
                   \_ Microp? I have 7 micropolis drives drives from
                      early 90's that are still running solid even
                      after years of constant use. They are load though.
                      after years of constant use. They are loud though.
        \_ I like IBM.  YMMV.  Avoid Samsung -- I had a disk crash and
           haven't bought a cheap drive since.
        \_ High speed (in RPM) = higher noise.  10k rpm >> 7200 >> 5400.
           If you want quiet, you'll need to give up performance.  Check
           Sharkey's or Tom's Hardware Guide.  One of them did a noise level
           review of disks in the last 2-3 months.  Sorry, I don't remember
           which.

11/14   Favorite Website:
        http://fatchicksinpartyhats.com : 1
        http://amihotornot.com : 2
        http://theonion.com :
        http://google.com :
        /.: 1
        http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~psb : 1
        <DEAD>amigothornot.com<DEAD>: 1
        \_ <DEAD>www.amigothornot.com/r/?eid=HOE&key=WLFJH<DEAD>
                \_ Coming soon:  http://www.amigayornot.com
                                 http://www.amigeekornot.com
                                     \_ umm. it's, um, there already.
                                        \_ geek
                                 <DEAD>www.doihavealife.com<DEAD>
                                 <DEAD>www.amithepresidentornot.com<DEAD>

11/14   Lets say a state w/ 2,000,000 people has 20 electoral votes
        another state w/ 1,000,000 people has 10 electoral votes.
        Candidate 1 gets 1,000,001 popular vote in state 1 wins 20 votes.
        Candidate 2 gets 1,000,000 popular votes in state 2 wins 10 votes
        Popular vote:                   Electoral Votes
        Candidate 1   1,000,001         20
        Candidate 2   1,999,999         10
        Candidate 2 wins popular vote but loses electoral votes.
        What's the big deal about crying about winning electoral college
        but not popular vote?
        \_ we are in a republic so the state gets represented, not the
        people. So the above is correct.
                \- part of the reason the popular vote claim is a little bogus
                is that wasnt the strategic target the campaigns were aiming
                at. it would be like at the end of a foodball game ignorning
                the score and awarding victory to the team with more total
                time of posession. --psb
        \_ a switch to a popular vote might not pass anyway because the
           smaller states (in terms of population) would not approve.
           In campaigning, candidates would campaign in big metropolitan
           areas and ignore the smaller states.
           \_ They already do that. Gore never bothered campaigning in
              the "Bush" states and Bush didn't bother campaigning in
              the "Gore" states. It was only the swing (or battleground)
              states that they cared about.
              states that they cared about. Do you think Al Gore cares
              what people in N. Dakota think about him? How about Bush
              in Hawaii?
              \_ True, but the effect would be even greater with a
                 popular vote.
              \_ There's a ton of folks in the little shithole backwaters of
                 places like NH that have personally met every major candidate
                 going back 50+ years.  Think that'd happen in a popularity
                 vote contest?

11/14   Warp Gore or Bush. http://www.fearthis.com/warpimages/pres.shtml
        \_ Lame. Gore already looks like a retard, and Bush already looks
           like Alfred E. Neuman.

11/14   More statistics.  See?  I said they cut both ways:
        http://www.theamericanenterprise.org/hotflash.htm
        Pick the numbers you like based on whatever methodology is more
        favorable to your political agenda and go for it.
        \_ "He was a policy adviser to Governor Bush during the election"
           well, duh. this is going to be unbiased! this article makes
           a bunch of unsupported assertions.  not the same league.
           \_ You missed the point.  The point is that anyone can make up
              anything they like and *prove* it with statistics.  I didn't
              say he was unbiased.  I said exactly the opposite.  Duh.
              \_ well, there's prove and there's "prove."  mentioning that
                 "1+1=2, therefore adding 1 to a number doubles it" uses
                 statistic to "prove" something, but the fallacy is pretty
                 obvious here. The fallacy is not in the statistic, the
                 statistic is correct. it's a logical fallacy. just because
                 one argument is fallacious doesn't mean it's pointless to
                 argue the subject, or that stats are useless.

11/14   Now, Dems are not weenies as history of partisan battles
        between these two parties has demonstrated. However, I am
        truly amazed at the levels of PURE HATRED that emanates
        from the souls of Reps  towards Clinton, Hillary, Al, and
        a host of other Democratic personalities. What is going on
        with the Reps? Have they been infected with "mad cow disease"?
        Incredible...
        \_ Because people like the Clinton's aren't interested in
           the standard give and take of normal political discourse
           and subsequent change. They don't acknowledge that the
           right has a valid philosophy and would utterly destroy
           them and go to a one party system if they could.  This
           is not true of the entire DNC.  Just the new Clinton
           Democrats from that generation.
        \_ Hi, My name is Bill Clinton and I'm here to take away
           your constitutional rights and sell your country to
           foreign governments in exchange for a good roll in the
           hay.
                \_ RACIST!
                   \_ stupid, how is that racist? perhaps you are
                      the racist
                        \_ That you would even question such an obvious and
                           objective conclusion makes you RACIST!  He clearly
                           stated that he thinks Clinton is selling your
                           country to _FOREIGN_ governments.  What's wrong
                           with that?  They have rights, too!
                           \_ Why do you think people from foreign
                              countries are necessarily of a different
                              race?
        \_ That's why people like Dubya.  He's a nice Republican.
           \_ He even does cocaine and has DUI's like commom people!
              cool!!
        \_ I think it goes both ways.  The Dems have "hatred" towards
           the republicans as well.  Just mention the words, Reagan,
           Bush, Jessie Helms, Pat Robertson, and you'll see.
           \_ people like Helms and Pat Robertson are much more to the right
              than Clinton or Gore.  I could see hating Nader or some such
              as that would be a more apt analogy.
              \_ Clinton is for Clinton.  Gore is *very* left.  Go read his
                 book.  Some really shocking stuff in there.
              \_ Hillary is quite Left.
                \_ WRONG.
                   \_ are you the same person who put RACIST up above?
                      Well, if you think Hillary is at the center,
                      then you must be so far left that you think Hillary
                      is at the center.  Unless you are saying that
                      Hillary is WAY LEFT.
                        \_ No.  Different person.  Hillary being an extreme
                           leftist has nothing to do with you or anyone else
                            being a racist.
                           \_ the text pattern was similar (WRONG and
                              RACIST).  no argument here.
                                \_ Uhm... both were ALL CAPS, a common way
                                   of 'yelling' in text. iT iSn'T lIkE ThERe
                                   wAs a rEaL paTtErN.