8/15    My cousin wants to learn to program, but there's no CS classes
        at his highschool.  I Any suggestions on what he should study?
        I told him to study PERL, because it would help him get a good
        job.
        \_Scheme.
        \_ Personally, I learned most things I know about computer science and
           programming by writing code.  Perhaps a better way to motivate
           your cousin's education is to encourage him to code up some sort of
           project.  The trick is to reign it in so he's not trying to do
           something that's likely out of his capacity ('I want to write a
           Quake clone!').  Once you know what he wants to accomplish, choice
           of language should be straightforward.
           \_ I agree.  How about writing a game?  Java?
        \_ I'd suggest Python.  Very easy to learn, has good tools for free
           (especially wxPython), and has great online books.  See
           http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython.html
           for example (though this book also comes for Java).
        \_ When I was a kid we didn't have CS at HS either, so I went to
           a junior college in the evenings. You might try that. There
           might also be summer CS camps, like at stanford or other univ.
           \_ that won't work. he's in juvy.
        \_ I learned programming by reading the manual of a Casio PB-100 which
           had a 11-character display and RAM space for 27 variables and 544
           bytes of BASIC code.  I wrote a simplified version of Pac Man on it.
           (That's in 1982 and I was 12.)  So I think he should start with
           something very simple like the basic BASIC in the old days, not the
           fancy BASICs we have now.  Once he doesn't lose interest, he can
           move up to one of today's languages.  But then I don't know where
           you can find a simple BASIC these days.  -- yuen

8/15    is Lasik helpful if you're 45 and you need reading glasses?
        \_ The advice below is the best, of course. That said, my mother (57
           yrs old, -10.0 diopters w/ -1.0 astygmatism) got her eyes done. Now
           she see double. They say they can't fix it. They've tried three times
           to fix it. Me? I'm going to wait for the tech to mature a bit more.
        \_ Ask a doctor.
        \_ I don't even have the guts to wear contacts.  I worry that if I wear
           contacts and drive, it may all of a sudden fall off or shift under
           the eyelid and I'll lose control of the car.
           \_ you're a nut.  glasses are much more error prone.  unless of
              course you have a chaufer drive you around in an APC.
           \_ They never suddenly fall off, at least not hard lenses. The
              biggest problem is eyelashes getting underneath... hurts quite
              a bit. I've had it happen while driving. Not pretty. I end up
              popping it out and waiting til I stop the car to put it back in.
           \_ but what about if the screws fall out of your glasses and your
              lenses pop out of the frame?  then what?  don't worry about it.
              \_ A plastic lense plopping in your lap isn't the same as a
                 shooting pain in your eye. Still, don't worry about it.

8/16    Links for getting FreeBSD configured for DSL (PPoE)?
        \_ http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=pppoe \
           +freebsd   -John
        \_ http://www.google.com/search?q=pppoe+freebsd   -John
           \_ url trimmed  -urltrimd
        \_ buy an smc/linksys broadband router for ~$60 and forget about pppoe
           entirely.  Oh, and you can get a firewall and vpn in one tidy
           package.
           \_ Why buy when OP obviously already owns hardware?  Silly.

8/16    Does the MOTD know everything?  -John
        \_ the MotD says: "Ask again later"

8/15    Haven't looked at Java for a while.  Does the Sun package come with a
        usable debugger?
        \_ Absolutely not.  Sun should be embarrassed about how crappy
           their debugger is.
        \_ Java doesn't need a debugger =)
        \_ rm(1)

8/15    Silver Persian needs a good home
        Know anyone? interested yourself?
        email jsl@csua.berkeley.edu
        \_ Is he swarthy?
           \_ You idiot.  She said silver.
        \_ Is he yummy?  Pre-take-home taste test allowed?
           \_ As long as it's washed properly, not too old, and
              disease-free, it should be okay.

8/15    Republican states are all rural ghettoes:
        http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1280837

        "Yet subsidies are, at best, a mixed blessing. They are robbing the
        heartland of its spirit of initiative and entrepreneurship. Rural
        ghettos now suffer from all the dependence-induced pathologies of
        their urban cousins. They are also creating a sort of state-funded
        feudalism that is the very antithesis of the American tradition of
        rugged individualism. Huge quantities of government money flow to a
        handful of landowners, most of them in Texas and California, who
        preside over vast armies of ill-educated and poorly paid migrant
        workers."
        \_ What, then, does that make a city where transexual city employees
           get their sex change operations paid for by the tax payers, where
           HIV+ positives flock for FREE benefits, also at the expense of
           the tapayers, and you have incontinent degenerates who extol
           acts of public sodomy and pedophilia?  And guess who started
           those subsidies, the greatest socialist of them all - FDR.
           Nothing like buying votes, its been perfected to an artform.
           And it was your profligates Davis and Clintoon that
           illegally annuled Prop. 187.  As if you, or the author,
           have even set foot in the rural areas you denigrate.
           \_ ...you think anyone is going to take you seriously if you can't
              come up with an insulting alternate spelling for davis as well
              as clinton?  train harder.

8/15    All I asked is for advice about the mold in my
        bathroom, you elitist freerepublic assholes
        \_ I'm the only one who posts freerepublic links,
           and I just logged in at 6:15, so you have the wrong person.
           \_ Freerepublic is the only source of news for me!
        \_ http://www.google.com/search?q=household%20mold
           This is a serious post. I have a mold problem in my
           bathroom, too. My wife and I clean it with a water/bleach
           solution frequently.
        \_ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/670455/posts
           I bet you even voted for Clinton!
        \_ If it's on a tile surface or in the grout, there are antifungal
           sprays you can get which work pretty well--bleach should help,
           but I've seen stuff that works better.  If it's on a painted
           surface, you'll want an 'antifungal emulsion', which is a sort of
           paint that prevents the stuff from regrowing.  Kill the mold first
           with a few applications of the aforementioned anti-mold crap, then
           paint over it a few times, voila.  I believe there are also
           sealants for both tile/grout and walls/ceilings which will let you
           clean the mold off more easily and which make it harder for it
           to grow, but I haven't tried them.  Your fundamental problem is
           most likely poor ventilation, or a wall/ceiling leak somewhere,
           though.  -John

8/17    In C++ (and Java), virtual functions are "turned off" in the
        constructors and destructors, right?  Since the child class
        isn't available.
        \_ you can definitely have virtual destructors (in C++).
           It is strongly recommended.
           \_ I meant calling a VF from a ctor or dtor.  --OP
              \_ even if it were legal, that is really bad style.  A parent
                 class having knowledge of children classes? Bad bad bad.
                 \_ Um, the point of a VF is that you don't have to know the
                    exact behavior.  Fortunately, this isn't allowed anyway.
        \_ They're not "turned off"--that is, the compiler doesn't prevent you
           from calling them, but you shouldn't expect them to work.  When
           you're constructing, you start at the base constructor and work your
           way down the inheritance chain.  So if you try to call a virtual
           function in that process, the full type hasn't been constructed and
           you can't expect anything predictable.  Similarly in the destructor.
           This is a reason many people on the C++ community are asking for
           "post-construction" and "pre-destruction" functions.
           \_ This is incorrect.  It is perfectly predictable; in a constructor
              you are guaranteed to have the virtual functions defined in that
              class or any base class.  --pld

lazy emacs user was here

8/16    any updates on imap or pop over ssh?  still appears
        non-functional.  thanks!

8/16    deep-sexed by microsoft again:
        Additionally, the company took a charge in the quarter, which ended
        July 28, to write down excess inventories of Xbox and nForce chips.
        The surplus of chipsets for the Xbox, the gaming console developed by
        Microsoft, was made obsolete when the software behemoth shifted to new
        security chip codes during the first quarter.
        \_ Who was this? Nvidia?
        \_ C'mon, Bill can't reach that deep.  He's micro and he's soft.
        \_ Nice job. Write off the chipset as complete loss for tax purposes
           and take a minor hit which can be covered easily by MS cash surplus.
           Ooo and it force everyone to upgrade to the more secure version.
           \_ this would be Nvidia taking a charge for nforce chips. and
              "secure" == "better copy protection".
              \_ This was an attempt (which will be defeated) to kill mod chips,
                 which will of course be changed to work with new xbox
                 protections.
        \_ Nvidia still made money though.

8/16    how do I know when I should replace my soft contacts?  I have 4 week
                        That burning, stinging sensation_/
        lenses, but I've been wearing them for way more than 4 weeks without
        any apparent problems.
        \_ clean them well and use the weekly enzyme thingies and you should
           be able to use them a lot longer.  They will eventually rip though.
           \_ I can easily go 5 or 6 months w/ my 4 week disposables, just
              with a daily rinsing.  It depends on your biology, how you
              build up protein on the lenses.
              \_ well, that's my question.  how do you know you can go 5-6
                 months?  is it just to the point where they rip?
                 \_ if you're noticing less clarity or comfort, you should
                    probably get rid of them. the reduced oxygen flow can
                    cause permanent eye damage over the long run, according
                    to my eye doctor. of course, maybe he just wants me to
                    buy more contacts. the risks you want to take are up to
                    you though.
                    \_ so a 1-month lenses worn for 6 months allow less
                       oxygen flow than 1-year lenses worn for 6 months?
                       how does that work?
                       \_ I'm assuming you're talking about disposables.
                          Personally, I use two-week disposables that
                          I don't take off until I'm throwing them away,
                          so protein buildup and stuff is definitely a
                          factor. There is also only so much that you
                          can do to reduce buildup even if you do clean
                          them regularly. Anyway, you really should ask
                          a professional about things like this.

8/16    I'm not sure i'm clear on the point of an IDS like snort.
        It sits on a box behind your firewall and listens (not very
        well, if you are on a switched network) by running a tcpdumpish
        application and looks for... what?  all non-specified traffic ?!?
        Pointers to (preferably online) overview would be appreciated too.
        \_ IDS can be anomaly-based or pattern-based.  Pattern-based has a
           built-in database of "suspicious" traffic, while anomaly-based
           tries to figure out for itself what's the "norm", and looks
           for deviations.  Neither are very reliable for proactive-type
           suspicious traffic detection.  IDS are very often used for post-
           fuckup forensic analysis, trying to figure out exactly what's gone
           wrong.  I have an excellent paper written by a colleague, if you're
           interested--if you want to know something specific about IDS you
           can also mail me question.  And sign yer fuckin posts.  -John
        \_ http://packetstormsecurity.nl/papers/IDS/lisapaper.ps
           snort looks for whatever its rules say to look for
        \_ are you trying to sound like an idiot?
           \_ I think this was supposed to a classic motd "How to snort net?"
              style question gone wrong.
        \_ Ya stick it on a switch port configured as 'monitor' so it sees all
           the traffic the switch sees.  Then it looks for network patterns
           ('signatures') and alerts you of them.
        \_ For switched networks you need to plug the snort sensor in to a
           tap or mirror/span port.  See:
           http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1594