10/10   Is there any quick "script starter" that will daemonize a process
        and return its PID?  I'm looking for something like
        % pid=`start foo [args...]`
                (foo starts running in the background)
        % kill -9 $pid
        \_ foo [args...] & pid=$!
        \_ foo [args...] & pid=$!     # sh
        \_ foo [args...] & set pid=$! # csh

10/10   What's the best way for a potential EE grad student (from
        industry) to get in touch with some recent admits?  Are there any
        colloquia scheduled on this matter?  --mjm
        \_ maybe if you do enough colloquia to a girl she'll get an orgasm?
        \_ Mail Sheila Humphries or have him mail her himself. Don't forget,
           her mail doesn't work with cable modem.
                                      \_ eh?
                                         \_ it's a stupid in-joke that's been
                                            going on for a while.  pay attention
        \_ um, and what is the point of doing so? There is thing thing
           called the Industry Liason where people from both sides meet.

10/10   I don't know how aware you guys are about the SSSCA but it's a
        bill that must be opposed at all cost.  I encourage you to write
        a response to the redhat network who are actually collecting
        email from people and sending it to the congressman who is
        proposing this draft.  I hope that you too will become involved
        in the campaign against the bill and that you make all your
        family members, co-workers and friends aware of what's going on.
        This is a very serious issue that will affect how you live your
        life.  For the link check out:

        http://redhat.rgc2.com/servlet/website/ResponseForm?koEahsspgnlzNkOLR
        (YES THIS APPLIES TO FREEBSD TOO.)
        \_ I'm so sick of hearing how *everything* must be opposed "at all
           costs".  I would not put down my life over this.  Would you?
        \_ no, write a paper letter to your Congresman, not email to RedHat.
           \_ sure that works even better.  I merely provide the link for
              the more laconic people.  But, by all means, write/fax your
              congressperson.
        \_ Is the SSSCA that no distro'ing software publically thing?
           It sounds pretty bad, but even if its passed, it can't stop
           freenet et. al.
        \_ Althought the republocrats are all the same, My old self is
           demanding that i point out that this bill was introduced by
           a democrat.
           \_ An Alaska Republican is lined up to co-sponsor the thing. He
              is just waiting until he agrees with the language.
           \_ and this is relevant, how?  Seriously, dem, rep, it doesn't
              matter.  it's clue vs. non clue.  have vs. have not.
              \_ yeah. i think if you look at scientific and technology
                issues in general, there are not really any party lines
                to speak of.  probably because your average voter(and
                your average representative) do not understand or care about
                 most of these issues.
                \_ compounded with the fact that they want to be like
                   Justice Hand and  want to be in the history books as
                   the first person to legislate about something; so they
                   hurry thru the legislation creation process.

10/11   I am fascinated by white trash culture.  Where is a good place
        to observe this culture in the rough?
        \_ Move into a trailer park.
        \_ Date a stripper, sleep with your mom, go on Jerry Springer.

10/11   what ever happened to cyndi lauper and humpty from digital
        underground?
        \_ digital underground still performs.  http://www.shockg.com

10/11   Shopping for bug tracking solutions.  Recommendations?
        Some of them add to SourceForge.  I don't have SourceForge.
        Would installing SourceForge for these be worth it?
                http://phpbt.bencurtis.com/index.php
        There's also this one:
                <DEAD>mantisbt.sourceforge.net<DEAD>
        And of course there's Bugzilla
                http://www.trilobyte.net/barnsons/html
                                        -brain
        \_ SourceForge can't be "installed"... It's a months-long project.
           Not worth it just for the bug tracking system. -mogul
        \_ ClearDDTS
        \_ I think bugzilla is kludgy (ugh, perl) and Sourceforge's look
           and feel are a bit dull. GNATS is good yet obtuse; Jitterbug
           is where it's at for my money. This is all open source -- commercial
           tools are aplenty (and good too)
           \_ Why does the language bugzilla is coded in make it kludgy?  If
              it was written in _your pet lanuage here_ but functioned exactly
              the same would you say it was great?
                        you're going to adopt an OSS tool in your org. Try
                        that + maintenance (which script was that again?) and
                        you'll see what I mean..
                \_ Because of customization which is eventually required if
                   you're going to adopt an OSS tool in your org. Try that +
                   maintenance (which script was that again?) and you'll see
                   what I mean..
                   [ reformatted ]
                   \_ And closed source tools don't require customization?
                      Oh yeah... you can't customize closed source.  Ya see,
                      bugzilla and similar open tools *allow* you to change
                      the code but don't *require* it as opposed to closed
                      source which doesn't have the option.  So, what I get
                      from your message is that closed source is better because
                      it can't be customized.
        \_ There's also TeamTrack by TeamShare, Inc. (http://www.teamshare.com
           I only used a small number of features in it so I don't know how
           good it is compared to the others.  --- yuen
           \_ GNATS sucks.  Use TeamShare.
              \_ We switched from gnats to bugzilla. It's great for what
                 it is - quick and dirty. It's not terribly secure,
                 though. Still, we like it. Who cares if it is perl? --dim
                \_ i stuck it under apache access control and https,
                   how much more secure do you want to be?
                   \_ I didn't say it cannot be secured, but out of the box
                      it is not close to secure. You have to do a lot more
                      than restrict access to secure it (and mySQL) because
                      a person with access can do damage, nevermind how they
                      got the access. Access control is just a start. --dim
                        \_ was there a bugzilla/perforce integration module
                           somewhere on the net?

10/11   "Soviets planned smallpox attack"
           \- really, i thought it was yermom
        http://www.msnbc.com/news/616710.asp?0cb=-21330726
        Cities of both US and China were targeted.

10/11   "Diary of a smallpox attack"
        http://www.msnbc.com/news/242194.asp?0cb=-11330726
        Sounds very realistic to me.
        \_ It'd be pretty stupid for a terrorist to use smallpox on the
           USA.  Of all countries, the USA probably has the best chance
           of keeping the infection rate low and fatailities low through
           supportive care and general good nutrition/health of the
           population.  Poor countries with malnourished populations
           will suffer far more.  Countries like Afghanistan.
           Anthrax is another matter.  It is not contageous, so anthrax
           in the US is unlikely to backfire at Afghanistan, except in
           the form of US military reprisals.

10/11   Does anyone know why Afghanistan has within its drawn borders, a
        single wall of a valley reaching to China? Was that something
        China insisted on for land trade? --ulysses
        \_ What?  Related URL please?
           \_ I may not have been clear, my apologies. Take a look at any
              map of Afghanistan and look at the top right corner.
              \_ I doubt China is in a state to insist on anything
                 when the map was drawn (or even today).  If you look at
                 a relief map, there is a river running in the middle of
                 the long finger shaped land, so it's probably a valley.
                 I gather there would be Afghan settlements along the river.
                 Perhaps that's the reason for this feature of the map?
        \_ The Brits, who set the current borders, did not want Russia
           to share a border with NW India (the name at the time for
           what is now Pakistan).
           \_ There we go. Thanks! --ulysses
           \_ Are you sure the Brits are in a position to set the borders?
              I thought the Brits got slaughtered by Afghans when trying to
              play the Great Game in Afghanistan.

10/11   To the poster who said CS enrollment is down 100, please
        provide a URL (proof). I hate rumors.
        \_ um. so like
           1. the web is not proof.
           2. I spoke to clancy, hightower, and harvey, maybe you
              heard of them?
                \_ um, yeah, like, I talked to Bin Laden last week and he
                   said he's gay. So what is your friggin point?
        \_ Dude! I heard it was down by more than that.
        \_ maybe they are disbanding the CS dept altogether
         \_ Nah, I heard it was going to be wrapped into the Geography Dept.

10/11   I thought Bert was dead?
        http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011011/od/binladen_dc_4.html

10/11   Outlook 2000 help!  I cannot figure out how to display the sender's
        email address.  The "From" field always displays the name.  I've
        played with all the options and doesn't seem like it's possible.
        Can outlook do that?  Thanks.
        \_ Double-click on the line for that e-mail in the summary section.
           This should pop up the e-mail in a separate window.  The "From:"
           field in that window should now display both the name and the
           address of the sender.  --- yuen
           \_ I know that.  I want it to display the email address in the
              "Folder view".  Basically everywhere I see "From", "To", "Cc"
              etc I want "John Doe <johndoe@foo.com>".  After 10 years on
              pine/elm I'm used to reading email addresses rather than
              names.  :-)  Thanks.
              \_ I have no idea then.  --- yuen
              \_ If you're going to use Outlook, you have a lot more to
                 get used to.  Sorry!

10/11   In ntstatus.h, what's the difference between STATUS_NO_SUCH_DEVICE and
        STATUS_DEVICE_DOES_NOT_EXIST?  Thx.

10/11   Anybody ever rented a cellphone for European travel? Did you get
        it here or there? Is it better to just pick up phone cards? How
        much does it cost? Thanks. -saarp
        \_ Just buy a phone and the sim card there, it's relatively cheap ~$50