3/20    (For whatever its worth to ask the motd...) What do people think about
        when/if the huge surge in grad school app's will die down?
        \_ Me thinks when the economy starts to heat up again and many people
           start thinking that grad schools are for wussies. Think 1999-2000;
           I don't know anyone who didn't laugh at the idea of going back to
           school vs. making cold hard cash (or stock options) in the real
           world. Watch for the "next big hype" to hit and this is when you
           really want to go to grad school since there should be less compe-
           tition then and folks learning their lessons that hype doesn't
           last long and that real talent is what counts. -- jthoms (thinking
           'bout grad school too from time to time)
           \_ Guess what, I think you REALLY should laugh at those went to
              to grad school in 1999-2000.  Because now is about time when
              they get out, and guess what, they can't find a job.
                        -- somone went go get a MS in 1999 and jobless now
              \_ ha ha! -- jobless who did not get a MS but has one (1)
                           interview lined up for some startup that's
                           bound to lay me off in a year like all the rest.
                \_ that is, if they even give you an offer -- cynical

3/21    I completed all but one letter of yesterday's Daily Cal crossword.
        What's a noxious weed?
        \_ kudzu?
           \_ ta_e
              \_ tare.
              \_ There are only 26 possibilities.  Why don't you run
                 /csua/bin/webster on all of them to find out?
                 \_ grep.  /usr/share/dict/words.
        \_ What was the clue for the other word?

3/20    I have a quantity of 802.11b wireless cards that I am looking to
        sell.  They are Dell truemobile (relabeled Lucent Gold) cards.
        $80.00 each, arrangements to pickup/delivery made separately.
        contact me via email. --Jon

3/21    After a plane crashes badly and turns into a big pile of charred
        rubble, how is it possible for the investigators to determine whether
        it is mechanical failure or human error?  (Let's say they have already
        ruled out bombs.)
        \_ failure analysis.
        \_ black boxes.
        \_ black boxes, eye witnesses, air traffic control, larger chunks
           of debris which may have been left behind...
        \_ Many small parts survive the most destructive crashed. Example,
           depending on the state of the filament of a indicator light
           from the cockpit, crash investigators can tell if the light was
           on or off at the time of impact. Same thing for engine parts
           and propellers. they can tell if things were rotating or stopped
           at impact based on the shape of deformation. it is a science.
           \_ Wow.  I see.  Thanks.

3/21    http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/21/international/21GLOB.html
        Globalization Proves Disappointing
        "The trend of globalization is that surplus capital is moving
        from the periphery countries to the center, which is the
        United States," said George Soros, the financier and philanthropist
        who has become a leading critic of globalization.
        \_ I don't find this at all disappointing.  --American
        \_ Guess what, globalization was not a new thing.  First wave of
           globalization happened 200 years ago.  The nations which benefited
           from the globalizations today happend to be nations benefited from
           globalization 200 years ago.  Was that a pure coincidence? or there
           is a correlation which we don't want to admit? Mind you that
           even Opium War was declared in name of free trade and remove
           "illegal trade barrier" set up by then Chinese government.  What
           make *YOU* think globalization in the 21th century is being
           pushed with heavenly intention this time around?
           \_ Perhaps you should consider E190.
        \_ OK. I know this a blatant troll, but do you know who Soros is and
           how he made, and continues to make, his fortune? Soros the global
           social reformer is just about the most blatant hypocrisy you could
           find. (Though the Bushies admonishing other countries on election
           fraud comes close). Some argue (though I'm not one of them) that
           Indonesia has a great deal of its woes from a couple of years ago
           to blame on Soros' currency speculation.
           \_ Wow talk about trolling.  Bush = election fraud?  Not even your
              beloved leftist media could make that claim after the zillionth
              time they counted everything.  Let it go, move on, try prozac.
                    kept selling Thai baht to the Thai government until
           \_ That just makes Soros someone who truly understands the dangers
              of globalization.  Given the pathetic financial conditions of
              the banana republics of SE Asia, if Soros didn't do it, someone
              else would.  Any evidence of the "continues to make" part?
              \_ Some articles in the Nation and such no more recent than 1999
                 so you have me on the present day. Does it really matter
                 though?
                 \_ I am not as ready to judge Soros as a buy guy.  It's
                    arguable that what he did was no worse than say shorting
                    keep selling Thai baht to the Thai government until
                    a stock.  He is just the guy who gave the final kick
                    to a rotten house.  The main thing that he did was to
                    figure out that Thailand's currency peg to the dollar
                    would not hold since the Thai baht should not be as
                    valuable as the official rate, so essentially he just
                    kept selling Thai baht to the Thai government until
                    the Thai government depleted its US dollar reserve.
                    \_ Yeah, except he shorted a whole country.
                    \- in related news [see tobin's tax] james tobin is
                       recently dead. --psb
                       \_ Thanks!  I didn't know about tobin and his
                          tax before.  Sounds like a good idea.
                    \_ Once that happened there was a fast and furious
                       devaluation of the baht, but Thailand's
                       companies' debt were all in dollars.  How did
                       Soros profit from it?  He borrowed Thai baht
                       to sell to Thai government in exchange for
                       dollars.  While the Thai government was still
                       able to defend its dollar peg, Soros is paying
                       the spread and losing money, but once the
                       Thai government ran out of dollars, and the
                       baht quickly devalued, Soros used a small
                       portion of the dollars he just got from the
                       Thai government to repay all his baht debt
                       on the cheap.  The remaining dollars were
                       his handsome profits - lovely!  Did he bother
                       to say "Thank you!" to the wonderful people of
                       Thailand?  It's not that much anyway, just a
                       few billion dollars.  I am sure the Thai girls
                       in Chiang Mai and Pattaya can earn it all back
                       in a few years.  Sorry if this sounds harsh but
                       that's globalization for you.
                       \_ I love the 15 yr old Thai girls.- keithyw

3/21    To the person who applied to UCLA's MS EE, congrats to you... and
        let's keep in touch     -depressed orig poster with lots of rejections
        \_ How are two anonymous motd posters going to keep in touch?
           Sign your posts!
           \_ The same way they have been so far, I'm afraid. Yegads!
           \_ Just post the public key...

3/21    I just bought no-name-brand memory at frys. Apart from passing a
        bios check, how do I more rigorously check the memory?
        \_ Run QAPlus?  I don't know how good it works on today's PCs.
        \_ boot a *nix, and compile and run ~nweaver/mem{test,test2}.c