9/20    http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010920/us/attacks_cybertrail_1.html
        CIA used to keep track of bin Laden by voiceprint and sat phone.
        \_That's not news. Even Osama knows about it. That's why he stopped
          using most forms of modern communication. There was an article
          at http://cnn.com that mentioned that these days he communicates with people
          by exchanding floppy disks with encypted data on them.

9/20    Overseen on internal mailing list at work (seems oddly appropriate
        given the nature of the earlier motd discussions) :

        If you bought $1000 worth of Nortel stock one year ago, it
        would now be worth $49.
        If you bought $1000 worth of Budweiser (the beer, not the
        stock) one year ago, drank all the beer, and traded in the
        cans for the nickel deposit, you would have $79.
        My advice to you is to start drinking heavily and recycle.
        \_ That's very funny! :-)
        \_ If I didn't drink any beer I'd have $1000 instead of $79

9/20    What would be an Office-compatible app recommended for an iBook?
        \_ um.  Microsoft Office.
           \_ Any other?
              \_ No.
                 \_ By the way it is dual boot MacOS9 and OS X
        \_ Microsoft Office works under both MacOS9 and in the Classic
           environment under MacOS X. If you really don't want to use
           Office you might try Apple Works, but it is not a complete
           Office replacement --twohey
           \_ AppleWorks is a nice if you just need to read docs that
              people send you. The main limitation I found was the
              lack of support for Word's revision control system.
        \_ You should just use Office. If you absolutely refuse to use
           it, then do the following:
             1. Install VPC on OS 9 and OS X
             2. Install RH Linux on your VPC
             3. Install StarOffice under RH Linux running on VPC
             4. Install MacX on OS 9 and XonX or XTools on OS X
           Now you can run StarOffice on your mac. Yes its slow as
           all get out but at least you are running OpenSource software.
           \_ Why not just install Yellow Dog Linux directly on the iBook?
           \_ Since when was StarOffice open source?
              \_ Since sometime in March: http://www.openoffice.org

9/20    When putting laptop in storage; i heard you should disconnect the main
        battery; but; should you leave the main. batt. charged and
        disconnected, or drained and disconnected?  How will this affect the
        cmos battery?

9/20    person who asked about bombing back to stone age (ps article cannot
        be viewed with cable modem):
        http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/outrage/ansary.htm
        \_ Why can't it be view with cable modem?
                \_ new around here aren't you?
                   \_ I must have missed some earlier discussions.
           \_ I think it's a joke amongst two roommates who are pissed off at
              @Home and blame everything, including BSD, X11 forwarding,
              Saddam Hussein, and so forth to problems attributed to Cable
              Modem. Their address is 2150 Channing Way, in case you want to
              ask them more questions.

9/20    from now on, only the CSUA motd.official shall be visible from
        http://www.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU/motd  -poliburo

9/20    "Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our
        enemies, justice will be done.  Amen."
        \_ Amen, brother.

9/20    How do I pass a pointer to a member function in C++?
        I'm trying to use mergesort (stdlib.h) like this
        mergesort(array, arrLength, sizeof(int), intCompare);
        where intCompare is my comparison function-- but I'd like to put
        intCompare into a class.  But
        mergesort(array, arrLength, sizeof(int), MyClass::intCompare);
        doesn't work.  How do I do this?
        \_ You can't.
        \_ You can't because a member function is not quite a function in a
           sense you are used to.  You see, all member functions implicitly
           assume a 'zeroth' argument, which is always the object on which
           this member function is invoked.  In general, you do not know the
           identity of this object at compile time, and even if you did, there
           is really no syntax in C++ to allow you to specify this information
           in the function pointer type.  What you want is to create a wrapper
           function, which calls the member function on an appropriate object.
           Then you can pass the pointer to the wrapper function to your
           mergesort routine.  It's worth noting that object oriented languages
           with closures and curried functions, like ocaml, avoid this
           problem altogether.  -- ilyas

9/20    So what is the big deal about Lord of the Rings? I've tried to the
        read the books, but they seem to be quite awful.
        \_ I heard the first book he wrote was the only good one.
           \- dont you think if you havent read any of the books or dont
              have a real opinion, you should give this thread a pass? --psb

9/21    What does having a really hawt chick that's taller than the
        guy checking her ID have to do with the war on the Taliban on
        the http://www.latimes.com page?

And the messages above this line do?

9/21    A delete for a delete, and the whole world gets deleted.
        \_ nothin like a clean slate
           \_ Like taking a huge shit.

9/21    Please recommend a book on java that is succinct and clear, for
        a non-professional with experience in C and pascal.  Ok, tnx.
        \_ "Effective JavaTM Programming Language Guide" by Joshua Bloch
           \_ Oh by the way I have never learned java before, just C, Pascal
              and some others.  Will this book tell me what java is?
              and some others.  And I do coding just to help solve some math/
              phys. problems.  Is this book really for me?  -- original poster
              \_ Supposedly it's a good intro book.
        \_ I learned C++ using Deitel&Deitel "How to Program", then bought the
           Java version because I was familiar with the format. I recently
           looked at the latest edition and it seems to have gotten worse (a
           book.
           lot more bloat than before). It's definitely a Java for Newbies
           book, but I liked the C++ book enough to get the Java one. I learned
           both those languages from D&D. Learned them well enough. Grade: B.
           \_ Please state why this is a relevant response.
              \_ The C++ book was good enough that it warranted buying the
                 Java one.
        \_ On To Java by Winston is a decent transition book if
           you're familiar with C. Grade: B+
        \_ Assume type Grade. Does (B+)++ == A- ? B+++==A- or do you need
           the parens?

9/21    does OS 9 and previous mac os's have a more lengthy
        graphics pipeline?? is there a reason why there is almost
        a 2-4 second delay on a realplayer window resize??
        \_ Real player sucks on every platform other than winblows.
           You have this same problem on Solaris and Linux.
           \_ what are you talking about?  RealPlayer sucks on Windows too.
              \_ It seems to work well with Netscape on Windoze.
              \_ At least it can play streams 7 out of 10 times on Windows.
                 On Solaris and Linux its more like 3 out of 10.

9/20    How do I pass a pointer to a member function in C++?
        \_ void Apply( Class* obj, (Class::*pmf)(void) ) { obj->*pmf(); }

        \_ Ilyas answers the question "How do I pass a PMF to a function
           that expects a pointer to a non-member function?", which is not
           what you asked.   --pld
           void Apply(Class* obj, (Class::*pmf)(void)) { obj->*pmf(); }
           Apply(instance, &instance::SomeMemberFunction);
        \_ You can't because a member function is not quite a function in a
           sense you are used to.  You see, all member functions implicitly
           assume a 'zeroth' argument, which is always the object on which
           this member function is invoked.  In general, you do not know the
           identity of this object at compile time, and even if you did, there
           is really no syntax in C++ to allow you to specify this information
           in the function pointer type.  What you want is to create a wrapper
           function, which calls the member function on an appropriate object.
           Then you can pass the pointer to the wrapper function to your
           mergesort routine.  It's worth noting that object oriented languages
           with closures and curried functions, like ocaml, avoid this
           problem altogether.  -- ilyas
           \_ I like my functions curried, Indian style.
    \_ If intCompare is static, then try &MyClass::intCompare.  If it's not,
       you can use member function adaptor in stl <functional>.
       \_ I stand corrected, static member functions (obviously) don't need
          the pointer to the object as an argument.  -- ilyas.
       \_ Speaking of which, any rec's on a good online beginner's guide to stl
          and/or a book?
          \_ it's such an unwieldy, ugly, large mess full of little caveats.
             i think it's time for C++ to die.
             \_ lovely.  really.  when microsoft dies because of that same
                thing, i'll be worried about c++.  If you're on campus net
                you can get to the C++ lang spec.
          \_ I liked Meyers' "Effective STL".  The docs on
             http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl are good for reference.
    \_ Ah.  C derived languages.
       Widget w;
       char *c;
       w.function(c);
       \_ what the fuck? are you clueless? what are you talking about?
          \_ 'c' is a pointer being passed to a member function.  The OP needs
             to clarify.
          \_ a) How do I pass a (pointer to a member function) in C++?
             b) How do I pass (a pointer) to (a member function) in C++?
             I think the original question was (a), not (b).
             \_ Maybe that's why most books refer to them as "function pointer"
                and "member function pointer".

9/21    http://www.microsoft.com/games/fs2002/visuals.asp
        Check out the Bell Ranger Las Vegas video. Isn't it amazing?
        \_ I still remember the version of FS that ran on my Apple ][+.  It ran
           at about 1+ frame per second.  It was cool what you could do with
           only 48K RAM and a 1MHz 8-bit CPU.
        \_ FS2002 doesn't support NT!
                \_ how sad!
        \_ Will it come with NYC?  Will the WTC be there still?

9/21    I heard rumors that some of the arrested terrorist suspects also bought
        air tickets for 9/22.  Does nyone read aobut this in news articles?  I
        searched in Yahoo News but didn't find anything.  Thx.
        \_ that was for the return flight.
           \_ But I heard those already died bought one-way tickets.

9/21    Encryption is in trouble:
        http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/21791.html

9/21    Does anyone know anything about Ann Coulter? She makes Jesse Helms
        and Pat Buchanan seem liberal.
        \_ "Congress could pass a law tomorrow requiring that all aliens from
            Arabic countries leave."
            \_ It's "Arab countries".  Where did you learn English, Coulter?
               (I just like insulting someone who *I guess* probably likes to
               insult other people who don't speak perfect English.)
               (I just like insulting someone the way *I guess* she probably
               likes to insult other people who don't speak perfect English.)
               \_ Ya, and the fact that Afghans (and Persians, for that matter)
                  aren't Arabs/Arabic also seems to be overlooked.
                  \_ What's the point of stipulating "Persian" instead of
                     Irani/Iranian? Iran is the correct and current name.
            \_ URL please.   Ann is usually pretty damn intelligent, though it
                seems this event is really bringing out the moron in everyone.
                \_ http://www.townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/welcome.shtml
        \_ I know Partha has a crush on her.
           \- nah, i think LI used to be more attactive and I like
           Judy Woodruff and the old Maureen "be gentle, it's my first time"
           Dowd more. I think AC is saying ridiculous things becsuse it is
           tunring her into a newsstory. it's like bill mahr "complaining"
           about the publicity and the controversy. ok tnx --psb
             \_ oh my god, ann coulter is that funny looking blonde i keep
                seeing on tv shows. She should go on Howard Stern.
           \_ What about James Rubin's honey?
        \_ This already made it to the motd before but I find it far
           more offensive: "We should invade their countries, kill their
           leaders and convert them to Christianity."

9/21    can anyone recommend a good book on group theory?
        \_ please be more specific --- which aspects of group theory?

9/21    Who was looking for the asian-looking pron star who was on the
        Howard Stern Show awhile back? Did u find her name? Is it linn thomas?
        \_ thomas hasn't done any porn (that i'm aware of).
        \_ It was me.  I saw Linn Thomas in Howard Stern Show a few nights ago
           too, but no she wasn't the one.  The one I was looking for had a
           cuter face.  It wasn't the Howard Stern Show when I saw her on TV.
           I still haven't found her name yet. :-(
           \_ Check archives on http://www.bomis.com
              \_ Okay.

9/21    How is the government going to enforce the backdoors in the open source
        encryption software considering that it will be trivial to remove them
        given that you have access to the program source?
        \_ i just want to say something about all this encryption backdoor
           stopping the terrorist horseshit.  If you have a good network
           of human couriers that can act as go betweens once a year or so,
           you can communicate the key to a one time pad generated by
           a random noise source like jonson noise or something.  no one
           can break it, and even a moron can use it securely.  The NSA knows
           this of course.  they want to read YOUR mail, and make morons
           feel safe; this has nothing to do with stopping real threats.
           \_ Practically none of the security restrictions have to do
              with stopping real threats.  You can drive across the Golden
              Gate but you can't bike across.  You can hide a knife in your
              boot getting on a plane but not in your bag.  It's
              a predictable reaction.  -tom
                \_ Maybe they're worried about bikers/pedestrians getting
                   killed by a bomb.  Who cares about car drivers?
              \_ allowing unruly bikers across the bridge (which i may add has
                 the variable # of lanes in either direction) would cause
                 drivers to have more accidents, since bikers will swerve
                 into traffic and assume the car drivers will sacrifice their
                 vehicles to save the bikers life.  (from experience in SF
                 downtown traffic commute).
                 \_ Are you a complete idiot?  There are SIDEWALKS on the
                    Golden Gate.  -tom
              \_ What does your bike-across-the-bridges fetish have to do with
                 terrorism and encryption?
                 \_ They closed the sidewalks on the Golden Gate as a
                    response to the terrorist attacks.  -tom
        \_ Remove the backdoors from the source code?  You mean removing them
           by altering the encryption scheme?
        \_ I think you should do a little reading on this kind of thing
           first.  Then if you still don't understand you can ask your
           question.