4/8     This is real.  My boss constantly scratches his crotch
        right at work.  And today he grossed me out by rubbing
        his crotch area against my cubicle wall.  What is the
        appropriate action to take?
        \_ The inappropiate action is to get a hard-on from this.
        \_ put a 'Bears Scratch Post' sign on your cubicle.
        \_ Depends on whether you're a male or female.
           \_ I am male and he is married with kids.  I think
              he just has crab or something.  I normally don't
              care if he scratches himself with his hands, but
              my cubicle walls should be off-limits.  What can I do? -op
              \_ Line your cube with stuff so he cant rub his diseased crotch
                 on the cube.
                 \_ Should I mention his behavior to HR at all? Besdies
                    all the clever things I can do to my cube to prevent
                    future occurances?
        \_ Your boss must be a cat, see:
http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&q=inappropriate+work+behavior+scratch&btnG=Google+Search
        \_ line your cubicle with feces. that would be an embarassing
           crotch stain to have.

4/8     This just in:  Paypal is Bad.
        \_ http://www.factnet.org/Scientology/celebrities_con.html

4/8     If I have a serializable Java objects that points to other
        non-serializable objects, can I save all the states in that
        serializable object?
        \_ http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/api/java/io/Serializable.html
           Non-serializable fields must be declared "transient."  Otherwise
           you'll get a nifty exception.  If you declare these fields
           transient, everything else will be included in the state of
           your serialized object.              -brain
        \_ If you have transient fields in your class you should probably
           be overwriting readObject() and writeObject().

4/8     What are some of the work opportunities in LA? Sysadm ok.
        \_ http://www.dice.com etc

4/9     Gnome has a transparency feature. Is that a feature of the desktop
        (e.g. ALL the windows could be transparent) or is that a feature of
        the appliction?
        \_ Application

4/9     ok, briefly, why FreeBSD is so much superior than Linux?
                                        -the ignorant
        \_ My personal reason (there are others) is that FreeBSD 'makes sense'.
           They don't dump random config files all over the place, you always
           know where an otherwise unfamiliar binary will be installed, and
           they don't decide willy nilly to throw away and redo everything you
           once knew because someone came up with some 'cool idea'.  FreeBSD
           is for people who want their machines to just work with no bullshit.
           Others will tell you about tcp/ip stacks, memory management, file
           system differences and other stuff which is all nice but not why I
           like it.  Call it 'consistency and ease of maintenance' for me.
           \_ Why do you assumme that the FreeBSD file system layout is the
              right way? There are plenty operating systems other than Linux
              that look -nothing- like FreeBSD. Do you not use them too just
              for that reason?
              \_ Poster didn't say canonical, s/he said consistent.  Duh.  -pld
              \_ What pld just said.  +FreeBSD fan
              \_ solaris' file hierarchy makes more sense than a typical
                 linux distribution's does to me --Jon
                 \_ Solaris is not bad, but I prefer OpenBSD. OpenBSD's
                    file system layout makes the most sense to me and
                    the ports collection is well integrated into the
                    fs layout. --ranga
                    \_ I use OpenBSD and Solaris.  I prefer O but S isn't that
                       bad.  It's usable.  I do hate the /opt concept though.
                       \_ The idea of /opt (which is now completely lost) is
                          that you install your pkgs on a central server and
                          you mount /opt on all your clients, which allows
                          users to continue using /usr/local for truely local
                          pkgs. In concept it was a good idea, but then you
                          get this really screwed up PATH with lots of dirs
                          in it. The other main problem with /opt (and even
                          /usr/local) is that most pkgs won't put config files
                          in /etc, which means you can't use the central NFS
                          server model, which just sucks.
              \_ You forget working SMP support.
                 \_ Yes, and that and many other technical reasons.  I was
                    not giving technical reasons but my personal ones.  Since I
                    don't run SMP BSD boxes, it didn't make my list but for
                    others, yes, you're right.
        \_ On a related note why are some reasons (valid or not) for some
           companies to choose Linux over FreeBSD?
           \_ In no order:  Marketing Bandwagon.  Linux has a threaded
              kernel (how good that threading is, that's another thing ..),
              The linux kernel tends to be quicker in supporting new cards
              and the like, but not that much quicker.  Some people prefer
              a GPL style license over the a BSD style license.  The Linux
              kernels tends to have more "neat whiz bang" features, though
              they may not necessarily be generally useful.  I tend to think
              that Marketing is the major reason and the reasons behind why
              that is a[re partly historical, dating back to lawsuit between
              USL and the UC Regents of use of ATT Unix code in BSD 4.x
              as well as use of BSD code in ATT Unix. --jon
              \_ Ugh, tell me about it.  Solaris is expensive so the engineers
                 get on this 'let's use linux' kick knowing nothing about it
                 or any of the alternatives.  This is the same batch that I got
                 into it with over using Oracle on NT vs Oracle on Solaris for
                 a non-critical project.  Engineering of course 'won' and then
                 minutes before the box is going into production at a remote
                 site said to me, "So it has ssh installed, right?"
           \_ Mindshare. Linux has "mindshare", BSD does not. PHBs know
              that linux is "good", which is why companies choose to use
              and deploy it over BSD.
           \_ And binary software compatibility. Yes, *BSD has Linux emulation
              support but when a company pays thousands of dollars for a
              software package, they don't want to jeopardize the support by
              running it in an unsupported configuration because some sysadmin
              feels like doing it.
                \_ in a similar vein, there are a lot more sysadmins with
                   Linux experience than BSD experience out there.  -tom

4/9     Who are the following people and why are they hated?
        tom
        trevor
        \_  deleting other peoples posts makes you an asshole.
            deleting other poeples posts and signing your name makes
            you a self-righteous asshole, and that's tom.
        trevor
        \_ better known as tjb
        \_ Please see <DEAD>www.gelatinous.com/danh/trevor/trevor.html<DEAD>
           \_ Shit, this stuff is great!  Good for a laugh or two.
              \_ And then he gets weird and scary, and that isn't
                 chronicled. -geordan
        kinney
        \_ you forgot kchang.
           \_ Didn't he get exiled?
        \_ tom is current CSUA and Cal staffer.  He's here if you want to
           chat with him.
           trevor is some egotistical freakzoid who apparently got his ass
           banned from campus.
           I have no idea who kinney is.  I've only seen the name before.
           Hated?  'Hate' is a deeply burning emotional concept.  I doubt any
           of them are truly 'hated'.
        \_ kinney is not 'hated', he is mildly disliked because of his long
           rants on the motd.
           tom is not 'hated' either, he is disliked by some because of his
           leftist views and die hard RIDE BIKE! RUN LINUX! fanatisism.
           \_ Despite his posts, tom is actually a nice person to talk to
              in person.  My experience anyway.
           \_ I like Tom too.
           \_ To be accurate: I flame idiots just as much in person as I do
              on wall/motd.  The difference is, people are less likely to
              act like idiots in person.  -tom
        \_ Hey, why isn't psb on this list?
           \_ no one hates psb. - yapsbf
              \_ I don't hate psb - no one
        \_ What about nweaver?

4/9     How clever:
        reiffin          Gh       12-232-112-115.c 10:39AM     - jove blah
        \_ Yes, I've been 'caught' using an ancient editor.  A program so old
           even the author switched to emacs about 10 years ago.  Damn, I'm
           sooo busted!!
           \_ hint to those as stupid as reiffin: "blah" is a link to
              motd.public so he can cleverly hide his trolling.
              \_ No, tom, it isn't.  It's a text file in my home directory.
                 I use it to keep a private copy of the motd so it can be
                 more easily restored when someone blasts it and it also allows
                 me to check for simultaneous edits from others so I don't
                 rudely blast over other's posts.  I've used it for years. If
                 I was trying to 'hide' anything *you* would never know it.
                 \_ tom usually signs his posts -!tom
                    \_ *laugh* That's what _he_ says.  He doesn't always. I
                       can do cut'n'paste 'ps' listings too if you want but
                       frankly it just isn't that important.  It's the motd.

4/9     What was the name of the operation at the very end of "Spy
        Game" to save Brad Pitt? It involved the word "dinner".
        \_ Those with better taste in movies call it "closing credits".  Only
           the "closing credits" could save Brad Pitt's career from this movie.
        \_ Operation Dinner Out.  It was a pun on a similarly-named
                Vietnam-era operation

4/9     If this madness continues maybe we'll live to see the end of this
       100 year old failed experiment called 'personal income tax':
       http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020409/ap_on_bi_ge/taxes_who_pays_4&printer=1
       \_ You are right, if the rich keeping making more and more like
          this, hopefully people will rise up and overthrow the
          government.
          \_ No, we just need a confiscatory tax burden.  Al Gore said anyone
             making more than $50/year is "rich" so I figure they should put
             a cap at $50k and take everything over that.  Anyone under that
             would get a tax refund and actually make money back.  How's that
             sound to you?
        \_ I think any parents who sucks out a chunk of their child's paychecks
           should be legally required to file tax with dependent status, so
           that the child can claim them as dependents.

4/9     http://www.nd.edu/~bhenness/JavelinLiveFireVsT72.mpg
        - what trevor would use on coe graduation... if he had the money.
        \_ any explanation what this is?
           \_ title says it all.
        \_ Nice toy but what are the odds a t72 will sit there unmoving while
           a few yahoos line it up with their guidance computer?

4/9     Funny msft smackdown story at /tmp/msft-bitchslap
        \_ Wasn't (Isn't?) Hotmail's servers running Linux also?
           \_ NO!  Hotmail has never run that bastard child of real Unix known
              as GNU/Linux.  Hotmail was FreeBSD.  A real OS.  Thank you very
              fucking much.  Today it's FreeBSD, Solaris, and something that
              reports itself as IIS at the front end.
                \_ does yahoo still use FreeBSD?
                   \_ Rumor says so.
              \_ All right, I recalled wrong.  But it's the same idea: some
                 operation owned by M$ is running a Unix / Unix-like OS instead
                 of WinXX on its servers.
                 \_ This used to be true, but no more. I posted the url
                    explaining all this, but someone deleted it.

4/8     What's a good copy machine in the $400-$700 price range?
        Or what's a good brand for copy machines?  Thanks!

4/9     Has anyone got a picture of the 96 CSUA tshirt?
        \_ Which one was that? -geordan
           \_ /csua/archive/tshirt.f96
              \_ I've seen people wearing these on occasion, so they're still
                 around. Keep looking... -current ugrad
                 \_ I still have mine.  I suppose I could scan it.
                    That would require me to be non-lazy, though. -geordan
                    \_ Whoah there! It's not worth the risk! Just stay
                       calm and we'll have somebody there in a minute. The very
                       thought that you would explore non-laziness! No!