3/13    man cal

3/13    Black and White-- good game, bad game?
        \_ I thought it was boring.  Training the animal sounded cool on the
           box but it was too slow to learn and because it was doing so many
           things at once it was hard to train it.  Often it would do something
           I wanted and just as I was going to reward it, it would then do the
           wrong thing and I'd be reinforcing negative behavior.  I also did a
           fair amount of discouraging good behavior.  Sigh.  It was almost a
           good game.
            \_ I'd agree too. The whole animal thing is lame and annoying.
               fortunately theres a few levels in single player where you dont
               have the annoying thing.
               \_ I just tied mine up and left it there.
                 \_ but then it starves and passes out and goes back to your
                    temple untied.  And there's at least two points where you
                    HAVE to use your creature to continue on iwth the game.
                    annoying.
                    \_ Yeah but it's gone for a while.  And who finished the
                       game anyway?  :-)
        \_ Those of you who've played it, have you ever trained your
           creature to take dumps in the grain fields? My creature only
           seems to prefer doing its business near trees and rocks.
           \_ Sure, it was easy enough.  Tie him up in the grain field and
              then feed him by hand.  Praise when he dumps.  Whatever.

3/13    how do i view a bunch of short mpegs in windows, all
        in a row, purely for academic purposes of course.
        \_ On 1 hand or 2?
           \_ it's an academic purpose! how fast, how far, how often
        \_ Why was my reply deleted?  1 hand or 2?  Damned prudes.
        \_ don't use windows? umm. you can amke an .asx... find one on the
           web and figure out how to use it... I have no clue.  The other way
           I can think of is to make a batch file that uses "start" -dwc
           \_ The batch file doesn't need "start".
        \_ You could create a SMIL document that defines the playlist
           and just drop the SMIL file onto QuickTime.
        \_ Go to http://www.intervideo.com
           Download WinDVD 3.0 demo
           Search on http://www.astalavista.com for crack
           create playlist in windvd.
           \_ There's crack on the net?  I searched for crack and all I got
              was tons of pirated software.  I need it bad, man!
        \_ use a media player like Zoom Player which will let you queue
           up files in a playlist.  It's free and fairly lightweight.

3/13    Why have Enron and Global Crossing completely disappeared
        from the mainstream press?  This was predicted as
        Bush's Watergate.
        \_ Because there's no story and no one cares?  And GC was a pure Dem
           disaster politcally which is why it barely got any press at all.
           Who predicted this was a "Bush Watergate"?  Hopeful and otherwise
           clueless lefty media types who are trying hard to avoid pointing
           out that the Dems don't have any positive plans for the country?
           That their only plan is smear and "we're not them!"?  Whatever.
           The real answer is there's no story there.  Both companies were
           poorly run and then keeled over as one would expect given how each
           ran themselves.  BFD.
           \_ Bwahaha! Run and scurry Bush-boy. Three to five screenplays are
              already in the works on Enron. This won't be dead for years. It
              just won't be front page news every single day.
              \_ This is what people said of the junk bond "scandal". Almost
                 no one remembers or cares.
              \_ You must be young.  No one cares.  And frankly the Dems
                 should be *really* happy no one cares.  If anyone did care
                 and the media was honest all the dirty Dem connections would
                 be everywhere.  Even Waxman is backing off his earlier
                 attacks.  What does Waxman know that you don't?
                 \_ Earl: Didja get a tug on that lure?
                    Cletus: Yup a got a couple.

3/13    ok.  My year long lease with verizon just expired.  I'm shopping
        around for new long distance cell phone carrier.  Besides the
        other variables I'm considering, there is customer service.
        Any input on verizon, sprint, voicestream, etc?  I'm doing my
        homework, but just wanted to hear other stories.  thanks.
        \_ I have verizon since y2k and renewed it last year and recently
           changed to $25 plan which is all I need since....my
           gf has AT&T with free domestic long distance.  AT&T network
           and rate plans are comparable to verizon.  Don't let Cingular
           plans lure you.  It sucks.  Sprint sucked 4 years ago when
           I had it.  Don't know now.
           \_ Unfortunately Sprint still sortof sucks. Here in Contra Costa
              County, there are plenty of blind spot, esp. along I-680. I
              have been an AT&T Wireless customer for 5 yrs and happy. Can't
              comment much on Cingular although they're the only one that
              provides GSM service, if you're into it. Verizon seems to be the
              cream of the crop according to most people.
        \_ Just last week I switched from Cingular to AT&T. With a 2 year
           contract, you get 50% more minutes, which makes AT&T way better in
           terms of price than any of the other players. Quality is also
           quite good (way better than Sprint or Cingular).
        \_ My wife had a Samsung SCH-210 phone under Verizon and the reception
           around Downtown SF was very good.  Now she has a Nokia 8260 under
           AT&T and the reception at the same locations is noticeably worse.
           Don't know if it's the phone or the network, but Nokia phones can't
           be that bad.
           \_ Nokia 8260 is bad in general.  When my sister got hers, the
              saleperson warned her that this model had many complaints from
              his customers.
        \_ I've had AT&T for about 1.5 years now.  Service has been
           consistently good.  Reception was so-so with my old Nokia 8860.
           The 8260 has the same internals as the 8860, but is cheaper to
           produce.  I now have an Ericsson R300LX, which has much better
           reception.  Don't get Cingular.  They're WAY oversubscribed.
           Ditto for Sprint (plus, Sprint network has lots of gaps).
           Oh, yeah, Ericsson's usability engineers suck.  UI on the Nokias
           is MUCH better. -dans
        \_ Anyone use Motorola phones?  Are they any good?
          \_ I use Motorola StarTac ST7797, which AT&T Wireless supports BUT
             no longer resell (I bought one from E-Bay for under $50). I've
             always liked it; was on ST7790 for 2 yrs until AT&T Wireless stop
             supporting it. Verizon supports another version of the StarTac,
             can't remember the model #. AT&T Wireless (if you decide to go
             with them) would try to sell you the Motorola Talkabout, which is
             a brick-looking thing that's kindof awkward. Reception on my old
             ST7790 sucked but the ST7797 totally rocks! - jthoms
        \_ if you don't need a local number, i've met people happy with
           voicestream gsm they bought from the northwest.  they are always
           roaming but who cares if the price is right... i use cingular
           and have found very even roaming coverage all over the US,
           including chicago which was a dead spot for years.

3/13    http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/2849637.htm
        Valley teens lacking interest in high tech jobs, study says.
        \_ Except for asian boys (ie future cal eng. grads).
        \_ those not interested in technology think
                "the work seemed boring or intimidating"
        \_ "Asian students were most likely to be interested in technology
           careers. They were also the most likely to have parents working
           in technical careers." Talk about self fueled stereotype.
           \_ Yeah much better to fight the stereotype and all be slackers!
        \_ You know what? High tech jobs ARE boring and intimidating. Most
           of them involve long hours and dick sucking politicking.
           \_ What do you have against sucking dick?
           \_ Oh?  You know of a high paying job that doesn't involve long
              hours and politics?  Care to reveal the secret?
                \_ doctor?
                   \_ What?  Short hours?  High pay?  Think HMO controlled
                      fee structure, many years of school, high debt, and then
                      you get to work for peanuts in a hospital doing 36 hour
                      shifts for a year or two until you can finally get your
                      license.  I'd rather be a tech, thanks.
                      \_ also, i *like* the people i work with, and most
                         doctors i've met are fucking arogant moron assholes.
                         \_ And probably arrogant, too!
                                \_ And they have big egos!

3/13    Anyone living in canada? If so, better start hording blank cd's:
        http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50995,00.html
        \_ I plan on making mega bucks on the black market.  This is sweet!

3/13    Does anybody know a command to display the current Julian Date?
        \_ man cal
             \_ the "Julian Calendar" is not the "Julian Date"
                cal shows the Julian Calendar. the Julian date for right
                now is about: 2452347.59
                \- the power of emacs:
                (calendar-print-julian-date)
                Show the Julian calendar equivalent of the date
                under the cursor.
                 \_ The Julian period (and the Julian day number) must
                    not be confused with the Julian calendar.
                    The Julian period starts on 1 January 4713 BC
                    This is what I'm looking for.
                    \- you can do this using "astronomical date"
                    that is M-x calendar-print-astro-day or something
                    like that in emacs
                     Astronomical (Julian) day number (at noon UTC): 2452347.0
                    The emacs calenday can pretty much do anything, although
                    in some cases you might have to write some el based but
                    the primitives are all there. UTSL. ok tnx --psb
                        \_ Thanks, but how about something simple I can run
                           from the command line? By the way, how do I get
                           the number of seconds since the UNIX Epoch?
                                        \_ perl -e 'print time . "\n"'
                                           \_ perl -e 'print "$^T\n"'
                                              \- (gnu)date +%s. i think there
                                            is a program called ctime too.
                                            if you need from shell there are
                                            various astro-calculation oriented
                                            libs you can use to convert between
                                            date fmts also support for sideral
                                            time periods and such. dunno if it
                                            excists for high level lang like
                                            perl but assume so. ok tnx --psb
        \_ Everything can be done in perl.  If it can't be done in perl, you
           didn't really need it done anyway.
           \_ I'd like to see you write a device drive in perl.

3/14    http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/14/technology/circuits/14MANN.html
        \_ "He is now undergoing tests to determine whether his brain has
            been affected by the sudden detachment from the technology."

3/14    Hey, Isreali apologists, what do you think of their targeting
        hospitals and ambulances, including the Red Cross?
        \_ what other targets hve they?

3/14    What's the deal with these prize drawings?  The rules always say
        no purchase necessary but in order to win stuff from say
        Snapple, you have to buy a freaking Snapple and see if you got
        the winning cap.
        \_ not always true.  there was a coke contest like this where you could
           tell by holding up the bottle and looking.  i got free sodas
           for a year.  you just buy the soda with the winning ticket from
            the last soda and all you have to pay is bottle deposit
            which you get back.
            \_ And taxes, of course...
        \_ In the fine print on all these things you can mail the company for
           an entry.  Go buy a snapple you cheap bastard.
        \_ Do people actually have a chance to win? I know there was the case
           with McDonald's where they rigged it so friends of the producers
           of their monopoly game won. I alawys wonder if you can win the
        \_ BTW, why does tne law require "no purchase necessary" for all
           cars in display at malls.
           \_ Probably not. They never tell you when they are going to
              give those cars away, do they? Haven't really tracked the
              ugly scam on this one besides the normal address and phone
              number crap.
        \_ BTW, why does the law require "no purchase necessary" for all
           drawings?  What's wrong with a company running a drawing that
           requires purchases so as to boost its sales?
                \_ because it technically becomes gambling when you require
                   a purchase
                   \_ Correct. It becomes a lottery. The "no purchase
                      necessary" means it's a "giveaway."

3/14    All hail Governor Davis!!!
        http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/03/14/ED40228.DTL
        \_ Yeah, the only problem is, Simon is a right wing nutcase.
           Congratulations Republicans, you elected the only guy who
           could possibly make Davis look good.
           \_ One day you leftiest will figure out your worldview is not the
              only possible valid choice.  Then again maybe not, then you
              wouldn't be lefties.
              \_ You will lose, nonetheless. You can believe that aliens
                 in Black Helicopters control your brain, for all I care.
                 Just don't expect to be elected governor in a democracy.
           \_ in what way is he a right-wing nutcase?
              are you saying he is a right-wing nutcase compared to
              Ronald Reagan or Dan Lundgren?
              \_ A Director of the Heritage Foundation? You gotta be kidding.
                 I am sure they love him in Orange County, but I bet you
                 a beer he loses by at least 10 points.
                 \_ A beer on a 10 point spread?  No shit Sherlock, there are
                    10 points more Dems than Reps in CA.  Duh.
                 \_ actually, i was just asking, not disagreeing, i no
                    longer live in ca.
                    \_ Okay, he is anti-abortion, pro-voucher, favors
                       deregulation, anti-gun control, anti gay rights.
                       A lot like Lundgren, come to think of it,
                       who lost by 20 points, if you don't remember.
                        \_ 1) Exactly why should people be given
                           preferential govt treatment based on their
                           behavoir in the bedroom?  2) AIDS is a
                           complete scam.  It is 100% preventable,
                           but irresponsible homosexuals want tax
                           payers to bail them out for
                           incontinent behavoir.  This is common
                           sense.
                           \_ No, they just want equal rights.
                                \_ They already have equal rights.
                                   \_ The right to marraige?
                                      \_ Gays have the right to marry someone
                                         of the opposite sex.  This is the
                                         exact same right straight people
                                         have.  I see no inequality issue.
                                         \_ They do not have the right you
                                           enjoy to marry the person they
                                           love.  If you don't understand this
                                           then you are either stupid or
                                           trying to deprive them of rights,
                                           or a troll.
                        \_ The 2nd amendment is the ONLY guarantor
                           of the Constitution.  How blind can
                           you be to not see this.
                           And we all know how effective gun control is.
                           \_ Gun control is very effective.  I control my
                              guns very well.  I've yet to shoot an innocent
                              or allow a child to gain control of my weapon.

3/14    Will nslookup up on solaris work if the DNS IP does not have
        a hostname? I'm doing "nslookup - DNS-IP-ADDR" and it says
        non-existent host/domain and nslookup just exits.
        The DNS server is up and pingable and nslookup works fine from
        it (Cobalt Linux) -- signed, DNS newbie.
       \_ I don't know about any Solaris-specific DNS behavior, but (a)
          I find it weird that your DNS server wouldn't have an A record,
          and (b) you might want to look int dig for sorting out DNS
          problems.  -John

3/14    What is this I hear of a alumni block? If the alumni accounts
        are going to get turned off, can we get some warning in order
        move our files and send out email addr changes?
        \_ the motd will suck ass without our brilliant and witty
           cynicism.
        \_ where'd you hear this?
           \_ on the motd, just now.
              \_ and you took it seriously?  I think ur acct deserves
                 to be off.
                 \_ My account is turned off.  Why isn't yours?  Maybe you're
                    next.

3/13    Nobody has experience with voicestream?
        \_ Do they even offer coverage in the Bay Area?