3/9     Oregon seeded 2 and Arizona 3. Goes to show that RPI isn't looked into
        as much as Top 25 Rankings.
        \_ Oregon won the PaolO, and kicked Arizona's ass twice.  For winning
        the tourney, UA got put in the west.
           \_ You are supporting my point. But UA has an RPI of 6, vs
              Oregon's 34. But Top25 ranking and other factors were greater
              factors than the RPI.
        \_ yermom got seeded last night too
        \_ Explain Gonzaga then.
           \_ Or Mississippi State.  RPI is only one of dozens of factors.
              AP rankings are not one of the factors.  -tom
        \_ This is not a troll, I'm serious.  Can someone please explain this
           obsession with sports stats, rankings, etc?  When I see stuff like
           this I only think, "Huh? Who cares?"  -not a sports freak
           \_ So what are you obsessed with?  Movies?  TV?  Music?
              Masturbation?  There's nothing to explain.  -tom
              \_ Nothing.  I don't obsess over random statistics.  I don't
                 obsess over movie/tv people.  I don't own a zillion cd/dvd's.
                 I don't get off thinking about you.  I'm not obsessed with
                 anything.  I want to know why random sports statistics hold
                 any interest.  Why do you care?  Is it entertainment?  Is it
                 bragging rights at the end of the season that you were right
                 and someone else was wrong?  You just like the jersey colors?
                 There's a lot to explain even if you personally don't have the
                 answers.
                 \_ So what do you live for?  Like your family or something?
                    \_ Live for? lots of things including my family but I don't
                       obsess over my family or other things if that's what
                       you're getting at.
                       \_ All is empty.

3/9     Star Trek Bridge Commander.  Take the helm.  Crush Cardasians.  Beat
        up Ferengi.  Bully your crew around.  Kick dirt in Klingon faces.
        Very amusing.
        \_ Prepare to be boarded!
           \_ That's one thing it doesn't do.  I don't think there's any sort
              of boarding action unless it was scripted in later in the game
              where I haven't played yet.  There's even a simple Star Trek
              quality plotline.  It's just like watching the show but you get
              to do stuff.
           \_ Prepare to be bored!

3/11    When a nuke hits SF, *this* happens:
        http://pbs.vicinity.com/pbs/blast.hm?SEC=25pressure&AD2=&AD3=sf%2Cca&AD4=U.S.&x=40&y=16
        [ this is for your amusement.  it is not a troll.  it is not a
          political statement.  it has no other meaning, value, or content. if
          you see more to this than the mere information go seek help ]
        \_ yeah and so what you greenpeace beatnik throwback? Genie is out of
           bottle. if you don't like it, go back to scavenging for food. this
           is progress. man's M.O. is monopolizing scarce resources for himself
           \_ Bad Troll. No cookie.
           \_ Go home you fake peacenik.  This isn't 'progress' as you pretend
              to claim.  This is way fucking cool.  Where else can you see on
              something on the net with a phrase like, "Ninety-eight percent
              of the population within this area are dead"?  Sweet.  Plug in
              your favorite city and see who dies!
              \_ neat or not neat, it's 50 year old technology, and all
                 the mathematics of death associated with it was worked out
                 and published decades ago.  of course if you never read
                 anything that's not on the net, i guess you can be
                 impressed.
                 \_ Dummy, it's hooked up to mapquest so you get to see the
                    tonnage on your local area.  WTF is wrong with people like
                    you?  Yes dummy I know the technology and numbers were
                    worked out years before yermom was born.  That isn't the
                    cool part. Stupid loudmouth know nothing ignorant jerks....
                    \_i'm just sick of all the motd assholes who demand a
                      reference for something, and then just ingnore you
                      when you supply a written reference that would actually
                      require a trip to the library.  fucking stupid ass
                      webmonkey motherfuckers.  oh, yeah.  go fuck yourself.
                      \_ look genius, this has *nothing* to do with info you
                         can get in a library.  I can not get info from a
                         library that says what'll happen if I drop a nuke
                         on Walnut Creek, Santa Clara, Fremont, or a long list
                         of other fun places.  stop taking crack.
        \_ This is silly. I'd aim for the Valley, like Christopher Walken
           in that bond movie. Destroying MAE-WEST would be bad, right?

3/11    Hey any interest in BroomBall? Is UCSEE or EJC or whoever still
        doing BroomBall? How about the CSUA organizing a BloodBath, er
        BroomBall? ok tnx.

3/11    I need  to start a daemon as a specified user at startup time, or
        soon after, on FreeBSD.  How can I do this?
        \- you might be able to do it with su, but if it needs to bind to a
           privilaged port and then relinquish priv, then it is more
           involved, say if you want to run named as an unpriv user,
           as we do. so the daemon is in fact in the details, e.g. if
           you are also chrooting etc. --psb
           \_ Actually, it's not so complicated-- ideally, it would simple
              enough to do with a nologin/nopass user and an rc.d script. It
              doesn't need any special privileges.  su wouldn't really
              work, because it requires a shell.  If I try
              sudo -u user daemon
              then sudo complains that I'm already root and don't need to
              sudo.
                \_ Are you insistent on not having a shell for "user."  I
                   don't see why su -u user -c "daemon" wouldn't work for
                   you (assuming you allow user a shell).  Or try:
                   chsh -s "/bin/bash" user; su -u user -c "daemon";
                   chsh -s "/bin/false" user.  And let me know if that works.
        \_ Do you have the source for the daemon? If so, just patch main
           so that it takes two additional args one for the uid/user and
           the other for the gid/group to switch to after starting up.
           If the daemon needs to bind to a port, it might be more complex,

3/11    Java Q:  Are these Perl codes possible in Java?

3/11    http://people.debian.org/~branden/official_motto.jpg

3/11    does anyone get this riddle, I don't. "what grows up while growing
        down?"
        answer: a goose.
        \_ This took me a while.  "down" is a term for feathers of a young
           bird.  --PeterM
           \_ I thought maybe the op was trolling, badly...
           \_ oh that kind of down. thanks. and no trolling here. -op
        \_ "A tree," also seems to work since the roots grow downwards,
           but I think your answer is better. -emin
           \_ What was the answer to te "what is wrong with this picture"
              puzzle the other day in the MOTD?  The picture with the table
              and chair with the screaming face?
              \_ nothing wrong with the picture. the gag is that you're
                 looking so intently for a flaw that doesn't exist that
                 the screaming face scares the living shit out of you.

3/11    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8927-2002Mar11.html
        Walk like an Egyptian!

3/11    Java Q:  How to do function pointers in Java?  Specifically, are these
        Perl codes portable to Java?

          $hash =
            { 'var1' => { 'class'    => 'Foo',
                          'fnct_ptr' => 'fooMethod',
                          'args'     => ['a', 1, 'b'] },
              'var2' => { 'class'    => 'Bar',
                          'fnct_ptr' => 'barMethod',
                          'args'     => {'arg1' => 'hello', 'arg2' => 'John'} }
            };
          sub process {
            $type = shift;
            my $class    = $hash->{$type}{'class'};
            my $fnct_ptr = $hash->{$type}{'fnct_ptr'};
            my $args     = $hash->{$type}{'args'};
            return $class->$fnct_ptr($args);
          }

        I know I can do something like
          Class myClass = Class.forname($classname);
        for the class and either pass in a vector or hash for the args.
        However, I have not been able to figure how to do the function pointer
        concept.
        Any suggestions and/or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
        \_ Java explicitly forbids direct function pointers b/c of its security
           policies.  You can kind of do it with interfaces (define interface
           FooInterface with methods foo_1 ... foo_n; then implement the
           interface in FooClass; foo = new FooClass(); and pass foo (the
           object) to whatever needs to run foo (the method).
           \_ Assuming security policies are set to allow it, you can
              do function pointer-like things using the java reflection
              API.

3/11    Please recommend a first-time 7 day tour of Egypt.  We are independent
        minded travellers but want to take advantage of the discount a tour
        package would offer as well as the convenience for someone who have
        not been to Egypt before.  We will depart from Europe.  Ok tnx.
        \_ risking your life there eh? you are nuts to travel in middleeast
           \_ It's not like Egypt and Israel have actually declared open war
              on each other yet.  That'll probably take a few months.  Like if
              the Israeli's do some brutal pounding in Gaza and a few hundred
              thousand flee south to Egypt.  God knows the Egyptians don't
              have any use for the Palestinians.  Who wants that coming over
              their border?
              \_ Search google using: egypt tourist kill
                 It's the anti-Egyptian-govt forces that'll kill you
                 If anything, Egypt govt is pro-israel.
                 \_ It was all way back in 1997!  It's safe now!  Really! Come
                    back to Jamai-- I mean Egypt, your new isla-- desert home!
                 \_ it was also a suspected al-queda-sponsored attack [formatd]
                 \_ Egypt?  Pro-Israeli government?  You're nuts.  Try reading
                    any of the Egyptian newspapers which are all government
                    controlled mouth pieces.  You'd think they were in the
                    middle of a hot war the way they talk about Israel.  With
                    friends like that....  Anyway, definitely not a great place
                    to tour these days if you value your life.
        \_ Egypt is safer than most US cities. Email if you want some
        \_ Cairo is safer than most US cities. Email if you want some
           advice from someone who has visited there. -ausman
           \_ when was the last time you visited? A friend of mine
              got into a rough spot earlier this year.
              \_ End of 2000. I had to chase some leering men away from
                 a female traveling companion at one point, but it did not
                 seem particularly dangerous to me. She might have felt
                 differently about it. Egypt has very defined gender roles,
                 which is what I wanted to talk to the op about. -ausman
                 \_ very defined gender roles = need to chase leering men away
                    from female tourists?  uh say what?

3/11    restored, as usual.