12/5    Is Von Neuman pronounced as "Von New Man" or "Von Noi Man"? I've
        heard both but I'm wondering what is correct.
        \_ sigh.  yes, of course.
           \_ That's not a dumb question.

12/5    I'm looking for Harry Potter porn.  Searched on google and only
        found Harry Potter slash porn fiction.  I want pictures man.  Harry
        sodomizing other young boys and such.  Thanks.
        \_ Just buy yourself a broomstick. I'm sure you're creative enough
           to use your imagination and visualize.
           \_ or even a wand
        \_ Is that a nimbus 2000 in your pocket or are you just happy
           to see me?
        \_ dude, quit CSUA and join NAMBLA
           \_ What does the North American Marlon Brando Lookalike Association
              have to do with this?

12/5    LOLIPOPS, L1KE: BEWARE THE TITAN1UM!

12/5    Snowboard gears: step-in vs. strap bindings
        Which is better?
        \_ Consider Flow bindings (<DEAD>www.flow.com<DEAD>  They don't have the problem
           of clogging with snow, or wearing out (like clickers), nor do
           they take an age to put on (strap-ins) and they give a LOT
           of hold.  <DEAD>www.flow.com<DEAD>   -John
        \_ I've had switch binding for 5 years and am about to replace them
           with a good set of strap bindings. I have yet to be able to
           get the strap settings to give me a good tight ride without
           causing circulation problems in my calves.
        \_ My general rule of thumb is use step-ins for free-riding and
           straps for free-style.  Straps allow for more flexibility while
           step-ins are more rigid.
                \_ I'd say the opposite. Strap-ins hold you in much
                   more securely than do step-ins.
        \_ I've got a strap-on set that can give you a good tight ride.
        \_ Only posers use step-ins, sorry to say.
        \_ I can't stand step-ins. I've had strap bindings for the last
           10 years and have never found step-ins that work as well. I
           spent one winter in Tahoe giving snowboarding lessons and the
           rental shop that year rented step-ins... all the students would
           come in using them and constantly have problems with them
           getting clogged up with snow and ice and not clicking in exactly
           right and just being a general pain in the ass.      -rory
           \_ Bet they were K2 Clickers and not Switch.
        \_ I have K2 Clickers.  I have no problems clicking in on dry days.
           But it can get clogged up on powder snow.  Overall, it's very
           convenient to click in and out of the binding.
        \_ To all the step-in haters... the new generation of step-ins is
           significantly revised. They no longer have a nasty bar in your
           boot to restrict your riding, but have a high-back similar to
           strap ins. That said, if you're serious at all, you go with strapin.
           And if you're buying a board, you're either rich (in which case
           you can buy strap ins later) or you want to be serious, so you
           should buy strapins.

12/5    editorial on israel's true intentions in blaming
        all violence on arafat:
        http://www.fpif.org/commentary/0112arafat.html - danh
        \_ the best solution is to set off a nuclear bomb in Jerusalem so
        \_ Just say it: kill all the Jews and there will finally be peace in
           the middle east.  (There really won't but that's another story).
           Just say what you're really thinking.  Stop dilly dallying around
           with side issues.
           \_ Yes, we have people who want to kill all the Jews posting
              on the motd.  Didn't you hear?
           that way no one can live there for 1000 years and all three
           religions can go find some other place (hopefuly far apart) to
           claim. it's stupid fighting over a small plot of land when the
           earth is friggin' huge.
        \_ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64854-2001Dec5.html
           \_ i think the first url has a good point, that
              every israeli armed reaction reduces arafat's
              legitimacy, then they blame arafat again for terrorism,
              then they invade again, etc.
           \_ I think Arafat will be assasinated by the Hamas soon.
              Then Israel would be forced to invade and take over
              Palestine.
              \_ truly a win-win situation for sharon :(
                 \_ who *wouldn't* benefit from arafat's death?
                    \_ the palestinians.  the u.s.  why do you think the
                       u.s. gave an explicit order to sharon not to touch
                       arafat a few days ago?
        \_ Arafat was offered 99% of everything in 1999.  He was *never* going
           to get a better deal.  He walked away.  Tough shit now, baby.
           \_ 99% of nothing is more like it. Without a right of return,
              the offer is nothing.
              \_ So you're saying that not allowing a right of return
                 (letting Palestinians who were removed from Israel return
        \_ palestine can't become a state regardless of israel with 3 groups
                 there), combined with the creation of Palestine, is nothing?
           \_ who suffers for arafat's mistake?  how does killing him
              improve the situation?  idiot.
               \_ It might.  We know for a fact that Arafat isn't interested
                  in any deals.  He walked away from the best deal possible.
                  So, yes, killing him might help.  Also, just because I'm
                  more aware of the situation and have put more thought into
                  it doesn't make me an idiot.  I'm sorry I don't follow your
                  mindless knee-jerk response to the whole thing.  You suggest
                  what?  That they talk some more?  Whatever.
                \_ arafat's nation suffers for his mistake.  therefore, he
                should eith step down to hand over to a compotent leader/group
                or die so a compotent leader/group can take over.
                   \_ don't you understand that hamas is the power broker
                      right behind fatah?  and hamas claimed responsibility
                      for the last terrorist attack?
                \_ Competent government and Palestinian = oxymoron
        sharing 33% each. There has to be a civil war in it to rid the other
        2 groups so any nation can recognize them as an entire nation that can
        be dealt with as one. Every nation goes through this, the US did in the
        civil war, it will have to go through this for Palestine.

12/5    Did anyone figure out why people are getting those
        "ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host"
        errors?
        \_ Too many people were trying to connect to soda at once, and
           openssh started dropping connections.  I've turned up the
           maximum number of unauthenticated connections, so everyone
           should be able to connect now; please let me know if these
           errors come back.  --mconst
           \_ yer the best mconst!
        \_ i usually try "ssh -1"and it works.  there's
            probably a big nasty security hole in there i don't
            care about.
        \_ This morning I tried logging in from outside and I got this error.
           I then tried it again right away and it worked.  I've never seen
           this error before.

12/5    Regarding grad school TAship/RAship applications: it asks you how
        much $ you anticipate to make, how much financial aide you expect
        to get and the amount in your checking/savings account. What number
        are they looking for so that I can be eligible? Thanks.
        \_ In my experience, it depends on the cost of living where your
           school of choice is located. It also depends a bit on the
           school how much buy-in (as it were) they require.

12/5    It's time for another heating cost poll.  At what temperature are
        you setting your heater this winter?  After the debacle earlier this
        year, I shut off my furnace entirely.  It's about 54 degrees in my
        house and I wear winter clothing.  PG&E bill about 40 bucks a month.
        \_ on the eest kost landlords usually pay for heat. our heat is oil,
        and i just crank it all the way up.  we don't have a thermostat
        that works, though, so this means random fluctualtions in temperature
        from too hot to fucking freezing.
        \_ I live in Fremont and I don't use the gas furnace at all, not even
           the pilot light.  I have a gas water heater and a gas dryer.  The
           PG&E bill for gas and electricity is about $20 for two persons.
           If I line-dry my laundry it'd even be cheaper, but I'm too lazy to
           do that.  BTW I get my electricity from CommonWealth Energy which
           uses 100% renewable sources.
        \_ i still believe all the alternative energy companies
           use the same grid as pg&e and they can't really control
           what source of energy they get their power from, but
           feel free to prove me wrong.
           \_ At least CommonWealth Energy gives 5% discount over the PG&E
              rate.
           \_ when i said our heat is oil, i mean that there is physically
              a tank of oil in our basement that is burned to generate heat,
              not that oil is used to generate electricity to use for heat.
        \_ The hallway thermostat is 72. the living room gas heater on high.
        \_ 68F when occupied, 40F when not occupied.
        \_ ha bay area does not get that cold!
        \_ Just keep yourself warm by lift weights every few hours.
           \_ Or simply wear a jacket.

12/5    troll deleted

12/5    How does one find the multiplicative inverse with modulus m?
        \_ take Euler's method for finding the gcd of two numbers. take
             \_ Euclid's  -ok
           one number as m and the other as the number you would like to
           find the inverse of, and run them through this. then use this
           to construct an expression like "1=<your num>*a + b*m". a is
           your inverse. ask me if you need something more detailed. -chialea
           \_ okay thanks chialea. Can you please point me to a URL that
                explains how the Knapsack problem + multiplicative inverse
                stuff are used for public/private key encryption? Thanks.

12/5    I know how to represent 0.5, 0.25, 0.125 in binary. However, how
        would you represent 0.1000? How about in IEEE floating representation?
        \_The way you get to 0.1000 is to do a summation from 1/2^n fractions.
                1/2 is 1/10 in binary.  amusing, yes?  which is .1, in binary.
        The answer therefore for 0.1 is 0.0000001010001111011.
         \_ Um, how did you derive that? Here's what I have:
            .5 .25 .125 .0625 .03125 .015625 .0078125
            0   0    0    1     1       0        0    X X X X X X (cont)
            Should say .0001100110011001101
            \_Sorry, gave you the answer for .01. Same rule holds though.
            Should say .00011001100110011001
        \_ thx. What are some float numbers that are easy to represent in
           decimal (e.g. 0.7?) but cannot be represented in binary?
           \_ Anything that can be written as a fraction with a denominator
              that's a power of 10, but cannot be written with a denominator
              that's a power of 2.
        \_ For IEEE:
           float f = 0.1;
           printf("%#08x\n", * (int *) &f);

12/5    anyone have a "hello sidney" scream soundbite?  email it to me please,
        thanks - turin