12/26   Buying a 90 Camry.  Where should I take this to to be looked at before
        i fork over money for it?
        \_ AAA offers unbiased diagnosis, although I think it charges a fee.
           -- yuen
           \_ AAA is an evil lobbying arm of the automobile monopoly

12/26   Anyone knows the names of the two porn stars in the Howard Stern
        show that was aired on TV a few weeks ago?  I missed the beginning
        of the show, and I want to know the name of the one with long straight
        hair.  Thanks in advance.
        \_ why don't you email someone who works on the show or call in.
           I'm sure they have a web site with a couple emails on it.
        \_ Porn stars?  On Howard Stern?  Unheard of!
           \_ Jenna Jameson was once on his show.
        \_ A few weeks ago? This is impossible to track down.
           Howard has porn stars on EVERY show
           I suggest you go to your friendly neighborhood x-rated rental
           tape shop and rent every single tape until you find her.
           \_ Sorry, don't have that much money to spare.
        \_ which howard stern tv show?  The once a week one opposite SNL or
           the daily show on E?
           \_ The one on E! cable channel late night.  Don't know if it's
              daily because I don't usually watch that channel.  The one with
              long hair has such a good looking face (I think) that she looks
              like a fashion model rather than a porn star which surprised me.
              \_ I'd have to guess Amy Lynn Baxter.
                 \_ No, it's one with very long straight dark hair.

12/26   Any recommendations for good reference books on Informix and Sybase?
        (presumably separately for each). Assume intermediate experience
        coming in; I don't need tutorials/intros.

12/26   Am I the only one in thinking that the brunette lady in
        Freaks and Geeks is kinda cute?
        \_ She's hot. I saw her first. GO away. FInd someone else!
           \_ fine.  I saw Natalie P. first.
              \_ Linda is a real woman. Natalie is an underage child.
                                         \_ not any more she ain't
        \_ No. Go away.  No one else watches.
                \_ You should.  It's a cool show, but they've showed them
                   all now, so not much point watching if you've seen them
                   already.
        \_ which one?  Lindsay?  Bill's Mom (aka Ivanova from B5)? Millie?
           \_ Lindsey?
              \_ LindsAy Weir? aka Linda Cardellini?
                 \_ yes to all.
              \_ She does full frontal in Hexina.
            \_ I first saw Bill's mom in The Hidden for free in Wheeler.
        \_ I first saw her in Good Burger, so there.
        \_ pics?

12/27   "Sometimes part of the problem is that a lot of the traditional
        straight-out-of-school IT people you see are young and aggressive,
        but they aren't seasoned. They aren't really mature."
                - Tom Ferrara, link:CareerEngine.com
        \_ what the hell does that mean?  seasoned?  like a ham?
           and where do you go to "school for IT"?  DeVry?  go away.
        \_ http://www.cnn.com/2000/CAREER/trends/12/26/itking
        \_ has more to do with grads not having job skills (notably any
           sense of professionalism).  IT is worst case because they quickly
           are in position of power, unlike plain office job.
        \_ has more to do with grads not having job skills (notably any
           sense of professionalism).  IT is worst case because they quickly
           are in position of power, unlike plain office job.
           \- i wonder to what extent some "mature" people in the "old days"
           were just afraid to be the nail that stuck up for fear of losing
           their jobs/bad reviews ... when they had a wife and kids to support.
           while a lot more poeple today are in the "what are you going to do,
           fore me?" position. --psb
           \_ how astute.  Here's an extension of the comments made:
              "Sometimes part of the problem is that a lot of the
              traditional straight-out-of-school IT people you see are young
              and aggressive, but they aren't seasoned. They aren't really
              mature. So they're the ones you risk losing a lot more than a
              40-year-old."
              \- well i think the comments are one sided ... fine they arent
              seasoned and mature ... but if that is all they were, then you
              could risk losing them. the phenomena above occurs when you have
              to pick between the annoying dweeb who works from home and week-
              ends and read linux journal in his spare time vs. the guy who
              goes along to get along but is out of the office at 5pm and
              doesnt look back, often has to leave to pick up his kids, takes
              long vacations, hangs out with other employees at the watercooler
              talking about their kid's school play instead of reading comp.*.
              this is basically the same problem with women who complan about
              the "young male culture" of silicon valley. gee, if you were a
              stockholder, would you want a fleet of nattily dressed hipsters
              or guys with no lives that hacked around the clock? --psb
              \_ you meant to say:  "family-oriented 9-to-5ers vs.
                 techie hipsters with no lives who hacked around the clock"
              \_ The phrase "straw man" comes to mind.

12/27   Is there life without broadband or TV?
        \_ Are you talking about before a software tester puts a 7.62mm
           slug through the back of your head or after?
           \_ Sucks to work the day after Xmas.
        \_ Read Jerry Mander's "Four Theses on the Abolition of TV"
        \_ Is there life with broadband and TV?

12/27   "The intelligent minority of this world will mark 1 January 2001
        as the real beginning of the 21 century and the Third Millennium,"
        British-born Clarke said in a statement from his home in Colombo.
        \_ What the hell would Clarke know about "intelligent"
                \_ He's surrounded by dirt cheap servants on a beautiful
                   tropical isle and worth millions and gets quoted anytime
                   he feels like it.  You're whacking off to net porn and
                   posting on the motd.  I'll take his life over yours.

12/27   Another idiot who could not handle the responsibility of owning
        a gun: Michael McDermott, 42, of Haverhill, Mass.
        \_ [gun control, short-sighted NRA bastard reply here]
        \_ Mass' oppressive gun control laws kept the poor
           victims unarmed and unable to defend themselves.
                \_ yes, I'm sure if jor was there that he would have gotten
                   into (and won) a John Woo-style shootout.  Get real.  -tom
                \_ I wouldn't have been shot 3 times in the back, as I
                   tried to crawl away.  The question you should answer is
                   what could he have done for revegeance if he didn't have
                   those particular weapons.  I suspect much of the same. -jor
                   \_ Perhaps you can show us all the examples of rampages
                      where someone killed 7 people with a knife.  -tom
                      \_ numerous car bombings make my point: this had nothing
                      to do with guns.  A wacko went after a church in
                      England with a sword.  And then the beatle attack. Also,
                      it doesn't take a John Woo shootout to end these affairs.
                      The school shootouts that ended with the kid still alive
                      ended when someone pointed a gun at the punk.  -jor
                      \_ Good to know that jor carries a gun to church and
           \_ And your point is ......
              \_ just giving an example of a worst case scenario.  BTW, does
                 that book have a section on this?
                 \_ Oh, I see.
                    \_ At Columbine, kids and their teacher would lock
                       themselves in a classroom, and the guy would try
                       the door but go on for easier prey.
                         work and let his kids carry at school. Next time
                         you see him, tell a cop and see if his CCW permit is
                         up to date.
        \_ O'Reilly described how McDermott used the shotgun and ``blew
           the door off and the door handle off'' a room where several
           people had taken refuge.
           ``He then went inside and he shot one individual three times
           in the chest. ... Another woman was shot twice in the legs
           and then shot in the head with a shotgun.''
           \_ What a waste of lives.
        \_ I hope this is not a future rationale for Bring Your Concealed
           Weapon to Work Month.  I suppose at the Microsoft campus they
           can summon MS staff security in lieu of people bringing their
           own 'protection'.
           \- this is kind of a morbid thought but i wonder if free stuff like
           tshirts from edgewater from vendor shows will value++ .--psb
        \_ What happened is gun control laws prevented 6 people and maybe all
           7 from saving themselves.  Rather than 7 unarmed victims and 1 live
           psycho, we might have zero or one victim and 1 dead psycho.  Gun
           control killed at least 6 people at edgewater.
                \_ the funny thing about ideologies is that they are
                   internally but not externally consistent.  -tom