2/7     Where can I find information on how my GPA stacks up to the rest
        of EECS?
        \_ ask tjb
        \_ These figures are approximate, but should at least be correct to
           within +/-0.1:
           75 percentile: 3.55
           50 percentile: 3.15
           25 percentile: 2.7
           This URL may also give some semi-usable numbers:
           http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~hilfingr/report/index.html
                \_ all I can see is that CS students do well in CS classes
                   and that EE students do well in EE classes, and that
                   transfer students have slightly lower grades. Nothing
                   new there.                   -hilfinger hater
                   \_ It also shows that L&S CS students get better grades than
                      EECS ones in the same classes.  But I think that's
                      because EECS curriculum is tougher.  -- L&S alum
           \_ I can't believe they gave out so many A+s, As and A-s.  I thought
              my GPA looked good, but now I think GPA is just inflated.
              \_ Grade inflation?  At Cal?  Oh Gosh!  No!  It would never
                 happen that Cal would grade inflate to keep up with the
                 sickening levels of inflation at the Ivys.  Oh no, not our
                 dearly beloved Cal which has been doing everything possible to
                 water down the value of a Cal diploma for the last few
                 decades.  GO BEAR!
                 \_ I didn't notice any grade inflation at Cal in the
                    early 1990s. This must be recent, along with the
                    ability to drop classes right up until the final.
                    (Is that ugly rumor really true?) --dim
                    |_ I agree with dim
                       \_ moi aussi
           \_ I don't remember seeing so many people get A- and above in the
              CS and EE classes back when I was in school (89-93).
           \_ I second that, but has anyone thought that it's possible
              that the courses just get easier?

2/7     One day Spider Man will be reality!
        http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020121/en_usatoday/3789419
        \_ "Spider webs kept in museums have lasted for 200 years" -- geez,
           they should try dusting more often!

2/7     Does "South Pole" have any special meaning in Japanese?  There are so
        many JAV with titles like "South Pole No. 2".  Thx.
        \_ "Pole at down south" I am no Japanese, but it seems quite obvious
            to me.
           \_ BTW do all the cultures and languages in the world use the same
              convention that north is "up" and south is "down"?  I know
              English and Chinese do.
                \_ no.
           \_ But the Japanese characters for "South Pole" literally means
              "south extreme".  They don't refer to pole.
              \_ Yup. Most of the sites I found by searching on "nankyoku"
                 were about Antarctica, not the South Pole in parcticular.
        \_ What does JAV stand for?  Japanese Animation somethin?  Sounds
           like it's worth knowing, i.e. chicks will dig it if I just throw
           it into a conversation "randomly."
           \_ Sorry, it's "Japanese Adult Video".  It's also one of the
              censoring levels in Japanese porn.  You don't want to throw it
              into a converstion with chicks.
              \_ What are the other censoring levels?
                 \_ JAV has "checkerbox" covering genital areas.  This is leagl
                    in Japan.  THN is "thin matrix" censoring where the
                    checkerbox is less opaque.  This is illegal in Japan.  XXX
                    is uncensored and is also illegal in Japan.
              \_ Perhaps the chicks YOU hang out with are too uptight.
                 Many chicks love porn!
                 \_ Many chicks star in porn. Imagine that. They're still
                    the minority.

2/7     Old *INCREDIBLY* boring rice warmer and stereo stand threads purged.
        If that's the only kind of shit that passes motd censorship we might as
        well go back to uname -a > /etc/motd and forget about it.  It's like
        logging in to a Mormon computer system.
        \_ Can I have anal sex with you?

2/7     An attack on the SSHv2 Protocol (for those who don't follow
        sci.crypt):
        http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&group=sci.crypt&selm=MPG.16cb6c26ff1c3931989687%40chicago.usenetserver.com
        \_ The thing about all these newer 'attacks' is they all require the
           man in the middle to have all sorts of access you can't expect a
           typical hacker to get.  Anyone who has the warrant or the skill to
           insert themself into my ssh2 datastream will probably find it
           easier to hack straight into the server or just get a warrant to
           put a van outside my building and 'listen in' on my keyboard and
           monitor through the walls.  I'm not losing sleep over this one.
           \_ Yes it is theoretical, but the point is that it could be more
              secure. IPSec for example does not have the problem.

2/7     Grey Squirrels are overtaking Red Squirrels:
        http://www.nature.com/nsu/020204/020204-5.html
        \_ Good. I always hated those damned red squirrels.

2/7     In Jove, I would like to bind-to-key "set-right-margin 50"
        to a key stroke. How do I do this? I can only see how to
        bind-to-key a simple command.
        \_ I've been using jove for 10+ years and have no idea at all how to
           do that.  I use jove as a simple text editor.  When I change the
           margins once every 2 years I do it by hand.  If you want more than
           what jove has to offer use emacs or vi.  I use vi when I want an
           editor that does stuff.