Above this line totally reflects the opinions of the opinionated politburo.

12/9    Who here is working for an undead dotcom?

12/9    How many sodans have actually spent a 3 year stint in Japan?

        There's a fella from Berkeley apparently who did...

        I bumped into one annoying pasty-looking dude in my photo class who
        has been semi-bossy the entire class and macking
        on this homely Japanese woman with his gaijin Japanese.
        Just in bad taste I felt.
        On this last day of class when he came up to me and said, "Hey,
        do you know that [your filter panel on the photo enlarger] is
        open?"   I was about ready to tell him to fuck off 'cause
        I couldn't stand him anymore but I kept it in check.  Earlier
        he was going, "Don't double dip the tongs for the development pans!!!"
        incessantly.  SHUT THE FUCK UP!  SHUT UP!!!!!

        Just a reminer that going on extended trips doesn't necessarily make
        you more refined, you can still be an irritating dumbass.
               -- swings

12/8    http://www.paypalwarning.com/Default.htm
        \_ I'm not a paypal user however I did read a critique of this site
           which claims there's tons of lies on it.  Do your own research.
           Just because you read it on the net (or god forbid, the motd) does
           not mean it is true.

12/8    Have you been getting more spam on your csua account recently?
        \_ Hell yes. Any idea what's up? --ulysses
        \_ yes.
        \_ it's not just my csua account. yahoo, hotmail, you name it.
           also the spam comes in clusters. wtf?
        \_ Mini article in the SF Comical today saying spam is up 650% over
           the same time last year.  Based on what?  Dunno.  Maybe a poll of
           soda users.

12/8    Speaking of leather, is leather waterproof? Will my leather jacket
        be ok if I walk with it on in light rain?
        \_ Are cows waterproof?
           \_ Cows is not waterproof.
           \_ Cows are not waterproof.
        \_ first canteens where made of leather
        \_ Leather is not waterproof.
        \_ first canteens were made of leather
        \_ suede leather is not waterproof, but all other leather
           should be.
        \_ In general, the leather is "waterproof," so it'll be ok in light
           rain.  However, if it is high quality leather, and you don't want
           it to get that really used, faded, bomber jacket type feel, you
           might want to get it waterproofed, which can be done by most
           dry-cleaners(they send it to a leather specialist).  This will
           coat the leather, and protect the sheen, and the texture of the
           leather.  e.g. if you have a nice Bally jacket, you definitely
           want to do this.
                \_ Cool, thank you.
           \_ actually the best way to deal with rain and leather is once every
              couple of months you souhld oil the thing.  It takes about 15
              minutes and does a good job of keep the leather looking good.
              In fact waterproofing in the end hurts leather because it makes
              oiling the thing much harder.

12/9    congrats to tw for winning the first world cyber games held in kr.
        \_ world... cyber games?!? are these the same folks who tried to
           convince the world that Quake was a sport?

12/8    http://www.suntimes.com/output/greeley/cst-edt-greel09.html
        Statistics and the ecosystem meltdown.
        \_ I'm not sure a Franciscan monk is where I want to get my
           authoritative interpretation about climatealogical and
           statistical evidence. Nonetheless, I think Bjorn
           \_ Gregor Mendel, Thomas Bayes.
           Lomborg has some good points -- environmentalism is, in some
           ways, about white people feeling better about themselves for
           doing insignificant things and that the world has more pressing
           problems that can be solved very cheaply if people were willing
           to do so. But some of the things Lomborg says are just silly.
           For example, he talks about air pollution and points out that
           it is a phenomenon that has been around for a long time in the
           western world and uses the fact that it is now getting better
           to point out that we are on the right track. Well no duh it's
           getting better. Air pollution ain't getting better because
           we are using more coal and driving more diesel cars. It's getting
           better because western contries have imposed regulations,
           environmental regulations, that improve air quality. Also, most
           conservation is so inexpensive to do and is a great way to both
           save money and help the planet (at least a little), so I can't
           imagine what kind of arguments one could level against it.
           I'm looking forward to a good reader that will have both
           the Lomborg perspective and opposing viewpoints.
           \_ Why does it seem difficult to understand that some people
              don't care about saving money or helping 'the planet'?
              \_ It is not difficult to believe. There are robbers,
                 murderers and rapists in the world, too, that is why
                 good will alone is not enough to create a civil society.
                \_ I suspect the point being that Kyoto isn't going to save
                   anything.  There's nothing in the link about "people don't
                   care about saving money or helping the planet".  I believe
                   all he is saying is that we should be intelligent about how
                   we approach the environment and not just swallow every bit
                   of doom and gloom that comes our way.  I'm old enough to
                   remember being taught in school how we were causing the next
                   ice age and how in our time the planet was going to plunge
                   in to eternal cold.  I remember when they switched to the
                   "it'll either freeze or burn" theory.  And now we're into
                   the "going to hell, burning" theory.  All this is only in
                   the last 25 years and comes from the same people.
                   \_ Computer people say completely different things now
                      about AI than they did 25 years ago.  Does that mean
                      that what they say now about AI is wrong?  No, it means
                      they have new information.  The process of refining
                      hypotheses based on new information is called
                      "science".  -tom
                      \_ What do they say, Tom?
                      \_ When you have pre-determined conclusions and make the
                         science fit the theory it is called "junk science".
                         And yes, tell us what AI people are saying today as
                         opposed to 25 years ago?
              \_ Nothing is difficult to understand about that. My comment
                 wasen't intended to address them, as those people will
                 do whatever they want no matter what. Lomberg isn't
                 addressing them either.
                 \_ Ok whatever.  Make your own thread if you want to be miles
                    off topic.
        \_ What a troll. A letter to the editor written by one person who
           bases his views of the environment on one book. I wonder how many
           books in the bibliography really support his beliefs.
           \_ If you read it and some of the referenced works you might know
              and have something intelligent to say instead of slamming it as
              a troll because you simply don't know.

12/9    The MIT application has mailing labels that we're suppose to fill out.
        WTF is it for? We fill out our own addresses or what?
        \_ yes. what the fuck do you think? how about you read the god damn
           instructions?
           \_ It looks like we sodans need to work both on our reading AND
              writing skills.