9/17    Leaked from the Pentagon that upcoming Iraq campaign has been
        rechristened "Desert Storm Again" since it was discovered that
        President Bush couldnt pronounce the word "redux" correctly.
        [motdformatd]                              \- maybe he was using the
                                                      british pronounciation
                                                        /- and we all know
                that the Brits are so stupid that they can't spell color
                right and pronunciate aluminum correctly.
                \_ the is like metallica's album "reload" after the album
                   load.  to bad they both sucked.
        \_ What is redux derived from?

9/17    how fast is t1? t2? t3? c?
        \_obGoogle
        \_ t1 ~ 1.544mb. never heard of a t2. t3 ~ 45mb. oc-3 ~ 155mb
        \_ t2 was about 7 bucks and 137 minutes fast.  152 for the director's
           cut and 154 for the extended special edition.
           \_ is anyone even interested in t3, which just finished filming?
              \_ hardly anyone. but a multimillion dollar marketing campaign
                 will fix that.
              \_ why wouldn't they be?  it might be good, it might not.

9/17    What's a good place to learn what .NET is?
        \_ Wrox books
        \_ http://www.microsoft.com read on a daily basis since it keeps changing.

9/17    What's the name of the company that sells ready to use Linux boxes?
        \_ Dell? HP? --dim
        \_ Dell? HP? IBM? Sun? --dim
        \_ VA Linux used to make them.  Cobalt Networks (acquired by Sun)
           makes them too.
           \_ A company I was at got a pair of va linux test boxes.  Other
              than being 1U cases, there was absolutely nothing special about
              them.  Oh yeah, except for the cost: 5x what it should've been.
        \_ http://pogolinux.com.  A friend of mine bought his machine there and has
           had no complaints.  -- alice
           \_ I ordered from them a while ago and had some problems which
              they eventually handled.  Buying online isn't worth the hassle.
              Buy from a bricks and mortar store.  That way, when something
              gets screwed up, you can go into the store and make some noise.

9/16    I've noticed a lot of bash-style configure scripts use ">&5" to
        redirect their error output.  Is there an easy way to see all this
        output?  What's significant about >&5 over, say, >&4?
        \_ bigger is better!  rtfm.
        \_ But this one goes to 11.
        \_ Bigger is better!  Bash is a fucking ridiculous shell.  If it wasn't
           for some Linux idiot force feeding it as The Standard Shell MS-style
           it would have exactly zero users.
           \_ Yes it's just a rant, but you should note that what you say is
              internally self-contradictory.

9/16    Anyone cares to recommend a shopping cart software?
        \_ ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU SPEAK IT?
           \_  ENGLISH--CAN YOU WRITE IT PROPERLY?
              \_ Can either of you figure out that writing in ALL CAPS is
                 really annoying?  Would the Self Appointed Self Righteous
                 Motd Censor(tm) please purge this thread?  Thanks.
                 \_ Dude, do NOT encourage the censoring asshole.  The last
                    thing the shithead needs is more fuel for his self
                    righteousness.

9/17    If we think of our eyes as digital cameras, how many pixels are there
        on the retina?
        \_ 2053x1089, 24bit
        \_ I've always thought that we don't see things in pixels. Isn't it
           really apples & oranges?
           \_ Yes, but if you were to use 100000x100000 pixels, our eyes
              wouldn't be able to see the granularity. Look at a nice print
              magazine (like national geographic). On most pictures, you won't
              see any grain.
        \_ the fovea is much higher resolution than the periphery of the
           retina.  for example, in low ligh, with only the rods active, even
           the best of us only see 20/400. For discussion on density of
           distribution of rods and cones see:
           <DEAD>hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html<DEAD>
           [motdformatd]
           \_ Very useful site!  Thanks!

9/17    How fucked yp art your eyes getting from st4ring at screens wll day?
        \_ i hereby nominate this for the dullest fucking thread all week.
           \_ I can start posting some common sense anti-gun control urls.
              My favorites are the ones showing murder rate per capita has
              minimal correlation to strictness of gun control laws.
        \_ I turn the contrast all the way up and the brightness as low as
           I can read the text to reduce the emitted light level.
              \_ fine. do it.  i see you talking, but all i see at the top
                 of the motd is some BASH shit that makes this thread almost
                 look interesting.
                 \_ sorry, an actual work thing came up.  it happens.  you're
                    going to have to fend for yourself for a few hours.
           \_ Can't help it, anything more interesting gets censored.  It's
              the price of censorship.
        \_ Practice good vision habits. Move your head (try a <DEAD>naturalpoint.com<DEAD>
           device), rest your eyes every hour for a few minutes,
           and every few minutes for a few seconds, remember to
           blink, don't squint, sit comfortably.
           [motdformatd]
        \_ If your monitor is fucking up your eyes you need a new monitor.
           I've been staring at screens for 25 years since green screens that
           could literally burn an image you could still see with your eyes
           closed and my eyes are fine.
        \_ I turn the contrast all the way up and the brightness as
           low as I can read the text to reduce the emitted light
           level.
           \_ Me too! Is this common practice?
              \_ no. it is common practice to turn the intensity all the
                 way up, turn off the room lights, and program naked
                 with very dark sunglasses on.
           \_ that's total BS. If you are really concerned about your
              monitor, you need to calibrate it. Basically turn
              brightness down until you don't see anything on a black
              background, and turn contrast down until dark, medium,
              and bright white text appears reasonable. dark visible,
              bright not too vivid. Calibrating is especially
              important if you are viewing/editing digital images.
              Your eyes will thank you too. You do need a really good
              test pattern to do this (but plain old full-screen DOS
              prompt will do if you know how). check out the demo
              version from http://www.displaymate.com/demos.html
              Manufacturers by default cranks the contrast to 100% to
              impress customers in a showroom, this will surely
              shorten the life of the tube, and most importantly, your
              eye!!
              \_ Why is low contrast better on the eyes as compared
                 to high contrast?  I also like to turn contrast
                 high, so would like some evidence before changing
                 my behavior.
                 \_ The blurriness makes your eyes work harder so they get a
                    good workout instead of slacking all day.
                 \_ You are not setting a low contrast. You are
                    setting the correct contrast. Too high a level and
                    it's the same as looking at the sun, too low a
                    level and your eyes gets tired too quickly. the
                    correct level will allow you to comfortabely view
                    the monitor without much effort, the light output
                    level matches more or less with the ambient light,
                    and that's the key. Your 100% contrast might work
                    ok if your monitor is out in the sun, but at
                    night, it will kill your eyesight. The point is it
                    needs to be adjusted to match the ambient light
                    available so it doesn't put too much effort on
                    your eyes. If you are used to the 100% setting, it
                    may take you a few days to get use to the new
                    setting.
                    \_ I usually find more contrast feels more comfortable
                       for me.  I hate it when contrast is low
                       especially when there is also reflection from
                       the back.  I turn my contrast all the way up.
                       Also, I think high brightness is more like
                       looking at the sun, not high contrast.
              \_ Nah.  If you are really concerned about viewing/editing
                 digital images, you should use Adobe Gamma in Photoshop to
                 calibrate your monitor.  Besides contrast and brightness, you
                 also need to adjust the color temperature on the monitor as
                 well as the RGB color curves on your video card.  I use two
                 settings.  One is for coding and web surfing where I crank the
                 contrast all the way up and the brightness very low to reduce
                 the light.  (And I use black background and black wallpaper
                 too.)  The other is for digital imaging where I use the
                 settings that Adobe Gamma recommends in order to get correct
                 colors.

9/17    Berkeley Symphony tomorrow night at Zellerbach.  Pacific Mozart
        Ensemble sings Gyorgy Ligetti's Lux Aeterna (Used in the floating-
        in-space scene in Kubrick's 2001).

9/17    Easier question: in bash, when output is sent to ">&5", where does
        it go and how can I see it?
        \_ perhaps it is copied to filehandle 5, which is what you would
           see by rtfm'ing.
        \_ rtfm. hate bash. hate hate hate.  hate bash. bash bash bash.
           \_ i hate you too. fuck you, asshole. -/bin/bash

9/17    My middle button emulator doesn't work on Linux/KDE, where's the
        config for that?
        \_ Buying a 4 dollar 3 button mouse.
        \_ XF86Config.  Probably in /etc/X11 or such.  -John
           \_ Buying a 4 dollar 3 button mouse is a better use of OP's time.

9/17    Heavy technical question:  I'd be grateful for suggestions on
        setting up a weird-sized room with tatami mats.  I have a room that
        measures 335x353cm, but I gather tatamis only come in about 10 standard
        sizes--I can't get any combination of the ones I find to really work,
        and having them custom made isn't an option.  Any ideas?  -John
        \_ INFIDEL!  There is only ONE correct size for tatami!
        \_ good choice!  I love tatamis.  I have a tatami king size bed.  ;-)
           My suggestion:  use a saw and carefully cut them.  Tatamis can be
           cut.  The edges won't look good but if you're careful you can
           sew some covering on the edge so that it looks nicer.  Besides,
           you'll be putting the sawed edges against a wall, so that matters
           less.  Is this a for an exercise room?  Tatamis are great for
           meditation and doing light yoga exercises.
           \_ Just sort of a "hey, we-have-an-extra-room-wouldn't-it-be-great-
              for-storing-all-this-Japanese-stuff-we-have-room."  I'll do
              the below, as I'm scared of sawing them ($$$ over here.)
              Thanks for the tips!  -John
        \_ put in a wooden border along the walls, whose border forms a
           rectangle that would allow the largest configuration of tatamis.

9/17    Barbarians.  Just because you're one of the oldest cultures doesn't
        mean you're not a bunch of shit tossing sub-human barbarians.
        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29527-2002Sep17.html
        \_ Jesus H Christ!  If those statistics can be confirmed -- that's
           just hideous!

9/17    http://monkeybagel.com/pumas.html
        \_ Where's my chaingun and hovercraft?