10/22   http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/daily/foc/0,8773,180342,00.html
        Webfiles: "The Taliban Are Well Liked"
        A Japanese doctor's up-close observations contradict overseas reports
        \_ http://rawa.false.net/index.html  go to the links at the bottom.
           but of course you probably think all thiese pictures an firsthand
           accounts are fabricated by evil leftists.
        \_ This "doctor's" story does not ring true.  Did the http://asiaweek.com
           editors properly fact-check this?
        \_ Ok, let's drop a random foreigner in the middle of Texas and have
           him report back.  "Yes, you see, everyone in America rides in a
           pickup with a gunrack and drinks cheap beer!"  Even if this guy's
           personal experiences are true and properly reported, it doesn't
           say squat about the population as a whole.  But we know from reading
           the article that he's merely speculating about a few and possibly
           many things.  And don't even get me started on the BBC as a source
           of news.
           \_ Don't be so quick.  A lot of people in Afghanistan love the
              stability that the taliban brought.  Granted, these are the
              in small towns and rural areas who would be raided and suffered
              greatly while factions traded territory.  The people who are
              complaining are, as the Japanese doctor notes, those in the
              large cities, especially Kabul, where they have committed
              astonishing atrocities.  I doubt what the doctor says about
              only "upper-class Afghans" complaining.  But (probably) the
              majority of people [living outside of the cities] there don't
              care about women not being allowed to work because they
              wouldn't anyway.  Also, the doctor is very correct in pointing
              out the refugee problem.
        \_ The solution is obvious. We must attack Japan for harboring
           those who sympathize with terrorists.

10/22   I'm importing a bareword from a perl package (e.g. Math::avogadro) and
        can do things like print avogadro and print Math::avogadro just fine.
        But if I try to use avogadro in a hash, I get the string, not the
        value.
        \_ $hash{&avogadro}    It's because it's not _really_ a constant.
           "variables" without $'s before them in perl are really
           subroutines.  (Sometimes with some more efficient magic)
           \_ Thanks! BTW, where could I have found this information?
              (If I were smarter, I might have been able to intuit it)
              \_ Hmm.  perlsyn(1), maybe?  I mean, it's just kinda general
                 knowledge that anything without anything on the front in
                 perl is a subroutine.

10/23   How do you stop runaway processes (supposing one process forks
        another, and so forth.  Overflow doesn't occur since the old
        forks close themselves).
        \_ kill -STOP them until your process table overflows, then kill
        \_ kill -SIG -n the process group
           kill -SIG -1 all processes
           depending under which user the processes are running.
        \_ reboot!  oh, this isn't a windows question....
        \_ ulimit is your friend
           \_ or "limit" under csh/tcsh

10/22   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27255-2001Oct20.html
        Islam is a lame religion, and so was Christianity.
        http://www.msnbc.com/news/640815.asp
        Pikachu means I'm a Jew in Japanese
        \_ http://www.msnbc.com/news/645002.asp
           Bombing is not the answer.
           (If someone can come up with a better link, please do.)
           -original p0ser

10/22   http://www.madblast.com/oska/humor_bin.swf

10/23   In Football, if someone runs a hook and ladder, how do they
        allocate statistics for yards caught?
        \_Yards caught is based on the movement of the ball upfield and
        downfield on a pass.
        How the ball got there (in the sense of what route it took)
        doesn't matter. In a hook and ladder situation you've got a lateral,
           technically it was not a pass, but a lateral.
        and then a run, so the stats should reflect rushing yards, not
        passing yards. The yards are credited to the person running in the
        play.
        \_ what the heck is a football question doing here? i think you'd
           find more geeks here who do embroidery than watch football. oh,
           btw, i believe only the final receiver gets credit for yards
           caught. the first pass is not counted in yards caught since
           technicallY it was not a pass, but a lateral.
           \_ The option play this weekend (hand off to WR, he laterals to
              RB) was scored as a run by the WR, which is odd, but I think
              that might be the way the hook and ladder is scored.  -tom
              \_In the box score I see the yards seem to be credited to
                Canidate (the RB) not Hakim (the WR) - lewis
           \_ I think a bunch of sodans are closet sports fans. I know
              a bunch of sodans who have been outed as sports fans.
        \_ Only if they don't lose because they switched to Linux.  -John

10/23   When US troops parachute into Afghanistan, doesn't the enemy troops
        notice it from the loud engine noise of our planes or helicopters?
        And won't they start shooting at our soldiers while they are still
        in the sky and can't run for cover?
        \_ Maybe. It depends on how they come in. There is a parachuting
           technique called HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) that is
           hard to detect. Ask me if you really want the details. -ausman
        \_ I read that we now have "quiet" helicopter tech.  Dunno what that
           really means.  Also these are night drops so merely "looking up"
           may not be enough vs. night camo.
           \_ Blue Thunder
              \_ I thought the "silent mode" on the helicopters in the Blue
                 Thunder movie doesn't exist in reality.
                 \_ That was then.  This is now.  Reality imitating art.
                    \_ i know someone who has seen it. it works.
           \_"Chain guns Dom!"
              \_"String, don't do it!"
                \_Blue Thunder, not Airwolf
        \_ Well, presumably you have some gunships providing cover...
           \_ This would be close to the correct answer. The enemy does
              hear the plane/helicopter, but if done correctly, they
              should not be able to shoot either the plane nor paras.
              You don't drop onto the enemy, you drop nearby and walk
              to the enemy. Gives you time to organize after the drop.
              There would be gunships to provide ground suppression and
              support during the drop and spec ops folks would have
              already scouted out the area beforehand.

10/23   Say you do business with company A, and company A sells your address
        to company B.  Is there anything that prohibits company B from selling
        your address to company C?  What I'm wondering is that: if I ask my
        mortgage company to stop selling my address from now on and if they
        indeed honor my request, is it really going to reduct the junk mail I
        get given that it already has sold my address to someone else before?
        \_ When it comes to mortgage companies selling your info, I suggest
           that you give up.  You're getting a low rate because the company
           is small and they sell the mortgage to a bigger company.  And
           they also make money by selling your mortgage information.  That's
           how they can stay in business.  If you don't like that, walk into
           a citibank or wellfargo and deal with them directly.  You'll get
           higher rates but they won't sell your info.
                \_ wrong, you'll get high rates AND they'll sell it, unless
                   you tell them otherwise in writing at the outset. --aa
        \_ mortgage info is 'public information' and just about anybody
           can get it.  its not a matter of them selling it.
           \_ Then why would someone be willing to pay Citibank and Wells
              Fargo for that info?

10/23   I can't find this in the spec. What is the purpose of ejbPostCreate()?
        \_ Wasn't this asked like 2 weeks ago? I dont remember the answer
           though.
        \_ to set up relationships with other beans, acquire resources, etc

10/23   motd restored (yeah it doesn't have england + terrorist thread,
        which was a bunch of non-sense anyhow)

10/23   *whine*  anybody got The Truman Show in a avi file?  I'm downloading
        it morpheus and it's painfully slow.  I've been trying for a week
        now!  Please get on morpheus and share it if you have it and you're
        on a fast connection.  Thanks.  -Truman Show's #1 fan
        \_ Loser.  If you were such a big fan, you'd buy it.
        \_ morpheus newbie Q: what can I get on there?  e.g. current episodes
           of friends? What about cable movies, or series, e.g. Band of
           Brothers?  what picture quality?
           \_ dude i got all of Friends off morpheus
        \_ God damn. A week of trying to download some shitty avi. What a cunt.
        \_ jebus, just spend the $20 and buy the DVD.  or if you're really
           that much of an ass, you can rent the DVD, rip it, and re-encode it
           yourself.

10/23   Bush doesn't have anthrax. good or bad?
        "'There's no question that the evildoers are continuing to try to
        harm America and Americans', Bush." More talk of evildoers... why
        do I feel like our pres is trying to run the country like a
        comic book?
        http://salon.com/news/wire/2001/10/23/bush/index.html
        \_ dude, watch starship troopers.  doesn't it remind you of
           CNN and other media sources? --jon
        \_ Uh yeah, it's always good when your leader has anthrax.  Don't be
           stupid.  As far as "evil doers" goes, would you prefer he called
           them "Freedom Fighters" maybe?  Or I'm sure you can find a nice,
           warm, soft, fuzzy, politically correct and ethnically sensitive
           term for mass murderers.
           \_ ummm... how about terrorists?
           \_ He is trying to make up for "those folks" -- that's how he called
              them on the morning of 9/11.
           \_ Clearly our head of state with anthrax is bad... get a sense of
              humor. Though I would not consider him my "leader". The point
              of the "evildoers" comment was regarding diplomacy and maturity,
              not "political correctness". Don't be stupid.