9/30    Recommendations for travel agent near Foster City? Looking to go
        to Key West, Florida.  Thanks!
        \_ use hotwire.. way cheaper than any travel agent..
           \_ what if you want to be able to change your flight? hotwire
              sucks unless price is teh most important thing to you.
              \_ well then.. yer not looking for a cheap flight then
                 its usually not exactly cheap to change flights.. at
                 least a $50 charge usually.
                 \_ Did the OP mention anything about looking for a cheap
                    flight? Also, if you cancel your flight with a normal
                    (non hotwire) ticket, you don't lose $50... you get flight
                    credit and can rebook later. But $50 is still better than
                    missing your flight and then having to pay $1000 for a
                    full price ticket.
                        \_ varies with airline. All major ones will charge you
                                a change or rebooking or cancellation fee.
                    \_ if hes hunting for a travel agent its a good guess
                       that hes searching for a great price. travel agents
                       have lost most all commisions these days so their
                       discounts suck compared to say, 3 yrs ago. yer right,
                       if you cancel you get your fair back. my point is,
                       travel agents suck for price these days. they are
                       good for advice and not much else for domestic. if
                       he wants a non-hotwire then use expedia or travelocity.

9/30    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24368-2002Sep30.html
        Character counts.
        \_ He should have been expelled like Traficant, but he towed
                                                               \_ toed
           the democratic line so they protected him.  A better question is
           should Traficant have been expelled.
           \_ With a hair piece like that?  Definitely!

9/30    How do I get ps to print the complete command line of the job
        without resizing my terminal?  I want it to wrap long lines.
        \_ Use the ucb ps with -augxww to get everything interesting
           \_ I just reread this (my own post) and I had no idea why
              someone would want to use postscript to print the
              commandline.  Anyway, thanks.
              \_ I figured you meant the unix command 'ps' and not postscript
                 which would've made no sense.
                 \_ That's exactly what I meant, I'm just an idiot.  Your
                    answer was exactly what I was looking for.
                    \_ No problem, you're welcome.

9/30    I am interested in a masters in cs, focusing on algorithms or
        cryptography, and at stanford in particular. what do they look
        for in applicants for a program like this? thanks.
        \_ about $40,000 for an A per semester, $35,000 for a B
           \_ Except the rest of the world doesn't know that and mostly thinks
              Farm >> Cal, if they've even heard of Cal.
        \_ why not do this at Cal? Cal > Furd. Also ask chialea, she's doing
           cryptography and complexity shit.
           \_ b/c from what I know, it seems getting into furd is
              easier than getting into cal. is this true?
              \_ Cal has no serious master's program -- the graduate program
                 in the CS division is geared toward Ph.D.'s, and they only
                 accept applicants interested in getting an M.S. under rather
                 exceptional circumstances.
              \_ Furd MS vs Cal MS?
                 \_ yeah. do you know if that's true or not?
              \_ I applied to both 10 years ago, and I got accepted by Furd but
                 reject by Cal.  I got a job instead because I couldn't afford
                 the tuition.
                 \_ what a lame excuse. Ever heard of SITN or a loan?
                    \_ Not everyone qualifies for enough loans or other money.
                       Walk a mile in his shoes, kid.
                    \_ I applied to regular MS, not SITN, and when I called
                       Furd they said I couldn't switch to part-time.  Plus
                       my then-employer didn't sponser SITN.  It wasn't easy
                       for a foreign student to find a job in the 1993 economy.
                       A loan wouldn't work since I had to actually make money
                       to pay for the out-of-state tuition for my sister who
                       was still in school.
        \_ From what I hear, though I haven't been to Stanford, Standford
           Masters students are there to fund the PhD's. Crypto-wise, most
           schools don't offer many classes. Berkeley has 2, maybe 3-4,
           UCSD has a few, and CMU has a bunh. Are you looking to work with
           prof? Dan Boneh's at Stanford, Doug Tygar and David Wagner are at
           Berkeley, Russel Impalliazo (yeah, misspelling) and Mihir Bellare
           and Daniele Miccancio are at UCSD, there are a bunch at CMU, and
           MIT's are either in Isreal or on sabbatical, mostly. Theory-
           wise, I'd say Berkeley's better. However, I don't know how the
           Masters program works at either school, except for disparaging
           comments from certain Stanford students regarding the masters
           students. Sorry for the long response. Upshot is that Stanford
           is probably not the place to go unless you want a "I paid for
           this" MS, and not to really do crypto. Email me if you have any
           questions I can help with. -chialea
           \_ I took a crypto class from Silvio Micali at MIT and it was
              amazing.  MIT also has some other big names like Goldwasser
              and Rivest.  I would highly recommend crypto at MIT when
              people return from sabbaticals, etc. -emin
              \_ Word around town is that some of em won't be at all. -chialea
           \_ you bring up a good point. when applying to a school
              that doesn't require research for a masters, does it
              do any good to mention in your personal statement that
              you're interested in the work of so-and-so at the school?
              incidentally, I'm very interested in Boneh's work. -op.
              \_ I took one of Boneh's cryto classes (he teaches 3)
                 and it was a killer. The homework assignments were
                 long and dense and worth only 25%. The projects were
                 reasonable provided you had 3 weeks to code, but he
                 only gave 1-1/2 weeks for the first and 2 weeks for
                 the second which made it extremely hard. The final
                 was pretty funny, it was do #1 or do #2-4. #1 was
                 given a specific RSA n (or maybe it was a theta),
                 write down p and q. This question was worth an A+
                 in the class.
        \_ just curious, does Cal even have a MS program? I have never met a
           MS CS grad student in the 5 years I was at Cal. MS EE yes, but not
           MS CS. Cal grad students, care to comment?
           \_ I met one. Just one. He was a fellow TA for 61A -bz
           \_ nweaver and other Cal grad students (don't know their names),
                care to comment?                -1988 alum
                \_ 1988?! When/how did you get a Soda account? Who are you,
                   anyway?
                   \_ Soda accounts were being given out years before '88.
                      Why is that so shocking?  Just because you were still
                      figuring out how to ride a bike when '88 graduated?  -91
                      \_ Soda mark I appeared in '89, did it not? What were
                         the accounts on before Soda? -op
                         \_ csua had machines before soda.  trying to figure
                            out who 1988 is.  -89
                      \_ that's RIDE BIKE!!!! to you, buddy.
           \_ I knew one. He got in because the prof he worked with as a ugrad
              wanted him. Had <3.5 GPA. And I know several that left the PhD
              program once they got their masters.
           \_ I got an MS in CS from Cal a few years ago.
        \_ Stanford's MS programs are terminal and not meant to lead to a
           PhD. They don't have theses nor a thesis option. This is different
           than other top graduate programs. They are great for finishing a
           MS in a year, but expensive; but lots of MS students are sent by
           companies anyway, so it's less of an issue. The EE MS program is
           slightly different in that through a qualifying exam you can move
           to the PhD program, but most Stanford MS programs are like the MS
           with two tiers of admission: one for the PhD, one for the MS, with
           no (easy) way between them.
           For MSCS at Stanford you won't do any research. If you want to do
           research it's possible, but you should probably contact the
           professor in which you're interested and make sure that it is
           possible. It takes 5 quarters to finish a MSCS taking 3 classes/
           quarter with a half-time assistantship, and it certainly helps if
           you have experience in the area in which the professor is
           interested.         -- Stanford PhD student

10/1    The source of all true news on the internet:
        http://www.barbrastreisand.com/news_truth.html

10/1    Does B of A offer competitive mortgage loans?  The rates and points
        quoted on their web sites seem pretty low, but I can't find any quote
        on the final closing costs.  I tried to ask over the phone, but I hung
        up after listening to the music for half an hour.  Thanks.
        \_ Don't pay points.  It's a loss if you refi.
           \_ It *may* be a loss if you sell or refinance, but it may not
              be. It will depend on when you do so. Do the math. --dim
              \_ How exactly is it a win to spend money on points and then refi
                 and lose the money?  What math?  Only if there's *many* years
                 between the first loan and the refi such that your points had
                 enough time to pay for themselves.  With rates as low as they
                 are now it would be utterly stupid to pay points with the
                 belief that rates will be this low again in the X-many years
                 required for the points to pay for themselves.  Once you pay
                 points, you can forget refis for a long time without taking
                 a loss on it.  Math?  Not too much math to figure this one
                 out.
                 \_ I don't understand.  Since you think rates are low now and
                    it will not be this low again in X-many years, you think
                    you won't refinance again in X-many years, right?  Then
                    wouldn't it be smart instead of stupid to pay point that
                    requires X-many years to pay for themselves?
        \_ I have had a mortgage through BofA -- did it through a BofA
           loan agent who walked me through some hoops and got me a great
           interest rate with no points.  My current mortgage was obtained
           through a mortgage broker, much better deal this time around.  BofA
           is not too bad, but a mortgage broker did much better for me.
        \_ Try Fremont Bank.  They specialize in "no point no fee"
           refinancing.

10/1    Do people still belive in the marxist/atheist evolution crap?
        \_ No. I only believe what the stone monkey who lives in my closet
           says.  he says its all crap.
           \_ There is an evil monkey in my closet.
        \_ Sure, why not.  The Bible sucks.
        \_ Uh? Troll?  What's atheism have to do with Marxism?  Thanks.

10/1    Any opinion on Sony Ericsson t68i?  Does anyone have it?
        Any luck getting Bluetooth to work?  How is AT&T service?  Thanks.
        \_ google group:alt.wireless.attws
        \_ My friend has it bought a bluetooth headset and it works great.
           He has three phone services cuz AT&T isn't great in the mountains.

10/1    I think the 2 party system has got to go. When two crooks are put up
        at the local level and people pick between them, the whole crookedness
        just filters on up to the top. It's time to stop electing reps or dems
        to congress.
        \_ run.
           \_ ... for the hills.
        \_ Join the Reform Party.
           \_ the 'my vote doesn't count for shit, it just takes away votes
              from one of the other two major parties' party ?  Or was that the
              'take votes away freom the DEM party so GWB can win' party?
              \_ Ross Perot had no impact on either election, other than
                 for talk show material.  He stole from both parties.
                 \_ RP took 3 (R) votes for every (D) vote.
          \_ It turns out that chairman of the CA state Reform party lives
             in Sunnyvale and is named Paul Hale.  When I moved to Sunnyvale, I
             didn't know this, and I foolishly had my number listed in the phone
             book.  So now I constantly get calls by a bunch of lame fucks who
              \_ Yeah Italty is a great example of highly efficient and
             actually want to run for president.  Let's just say that I'd rather
             have our current two-party system instead of the lame and scary
             assholes I've had a chance to talk to.  -phale
        \_ Much better would be to have a European style parliament system
           where nutbags like the greens can actually gain seats and have power
           in the government.
           \_ Like Italy!  Powerful government!
              \_ Yeah Italy is a great example of highly efficient and
                 functional government.  Got a 100% voting rate too because
                 voting is mandatory if you want a job, government services or
                 to be a part of society in just about any way.
                 \_ So in Italy there's no right to remain slient?
        \_ Bah, you're looking at it the wrong way. You want to elect the
           crooked guy who helps you out the most.

10/1    please make gwb 1-term prez. plez?
        \_ with the country reduced to a smoking ruin, who's going to be around
           to reelect him?
           \_ the supreme court.
           \_ You meant to say, 30 states, including Florida.
        \_ With an intelligent and well formed appeal like this, how can I not
           vote for Al Gore, The Smartest Man In The Universe?  Chalk me up
           for a second Bush term, thanks.
           \_ Is Gore still the frontrunner for Democratic nomination?
           \_ Don't expect it if the economy is still in the tank in two years.
              \_ Bush may not win a second term but Gore will never win a first
                 term in this country.  The dems would be insane to run him
                 a second time.  He's dirty and has big baggage.