10/15   I just went to the BofA branch at Foster City for the first time.  One
        of the tellers there was very cute!  Unfortunately I didn't get to
        talk to her cuz I ended up at the counter next to hers with a not-cute
        teller.  Gotta go there more often.

10/15   In perl5 how to do test if a variable is either blank ("")
        or just consists of whitespace? if $foo =~ // || / +/ ?
        \_ Whitespace usually consists of things like tabs as well as
           spaces, \s includes these.  You could do something like
           $foo =~ /^\s*$/

10/15   Is RT really better than bugzilla?  What is YOUR favorite?
        \_ don't they serve somewhat different purposes?  RT is pretty solid
           as a trouble-ticket tracking system, but it might be cumbersome
           for bug tracking.  -tom

10/15   (repost of a sub-thread)
              \_ Singapore is like US, in that they also have a "H1B" type
                 issue, mostly from China and India too.  Singapore has
                 an additional "problem".  They really hate it when the
                 "H1B"s use Singapore as a stepping stone and jump ship
                 to the US after working in Singapore for a few years.
                 \_ You mean the Singapore govt actually want the H1B's to
                    apply for green cards and stay, as opposed to in the US
                    where we want them to leave?
                    \_ "We" meaning the US government really wants them to
                       stay. We make it pretty easy for them to stay legally.
                       \_ Heh, check out all those For Sale signs in fremont!
                    \_ Yes, Singapore's government really wanted them to stay,
                       especially when the going is good.
                \_ So what's wrong with a government trying to do the best
                   thing for their own citizens at the expense of the citizens
                   of a different country?  That's what foreign policy is all
                   about for *every* country.

10/15   I missed today's buffy.  Did anyone tape it?  Can I borrow
        that tape for an hour?  -aspo
        \_ dude... its the age of TiVo... c'mon
        \_ Did Buffy get a new writer?  It's been a bit lame - I watched,
           and already deleted it off tivo.
        \_ Yes.  No.
        \_ My sister did.  If you haven't managed to get hooked up before
           friday, ping me -- I may be able to help ya'.    -mice
           \_ I don't think he'll get hooked up by the end up his life but
              that has nothing to do with Buffy and hopefully even less to
              do with your sister.

10/15   What happened to that lame post about the guy meeting some cute girl
        at the bank?  I was excited to read the flames that were going to
        ensue.
        \_ I didn't see it, but I bet it probably got nuked by some guy
           who didn't want women to think all guys are that lame.
              \_ but all guys are that lame. -guy
                 \_ only until around 26-28 years old, on avg. by then
                    you're supposed to realize that hitting on chicks whose
                    job is to be nice to you is just really lame.
                    \_ hah! the chicks at the bank last time I was in were
                       completely apathetic until they pulled up my account.
                       \_ Ah, a Wells Fargo customer.

10/15   Do P-II celerons support SSE?
        \_ no
        \_ I believe SSE started in the PIII chips.

10/15   Any positive/negative feedback with the HP Scanjet 5500c (esp. the
        autofeeder?  How is the scan quality?

10/15   When I ssh into soda from my FreeBSD box and try to edit a file with
        pico, I can't use my backspace key in a normal way (deletes
        characters to the left), but rather it deletes characters to the
        right (like the "delete" key on PC's). How can I fix this? thanks.
        \_ try one of the following, which sometimes fixes everything:
                set term=vt100
                set term=vt220
                set term=cons25
                \_ thanks. vt100 fixes is. is there a way for it to do
                   this automatically everytime I log in, so I don't have
                   to type it each time?
                   \_ Put that command in the file called .login in your
                      home directory -- it's a list of commands that get
                      run every time you log in.
                      \_ interesting that someone running FreeBSD at home
                         wouldn't know such a trivial thing
                         \_ Gotta start somewhere.  It's a better place than
                            Linux where the only consistency is the general
                            inconsistency.
           \_ Bourne/Korn/Bash/Zsh equiv is
                TERM=vt100 ; export TERM
              Replace vt100 with your terminal type, most likely cons25
              or xterm.
        \_ don't use pico
        \_ At the shell prompt, type ^v <backspace>.  What do you see?
                \_ I did that and it gives back ^H

10/16   Will I be laid off? What does the MOTD Oracle say? If I will, then
        what should I do? what should I ask for?
        \_ If I get laid off, I'll have more time to get laid. That's my plan!
        \_ If you have to ask, the oracle says you're already fucked and should
           have been looking for a new job months ago.  You should ask for a
           new job at a more stable company or just surrender and join the
           university staff and sink into the depths of academia.

10/15   Anyone ever shop at http://Landsend.com?  Any good?  Where should I go to buy
        a good but inexpensive  waterproof jacket to take into the mountains?
          \- landsend is supposed to have good return policies but i would
             pretty much never buy a jacket over the net. i'm picky about
             pocket size, location, zipper and ventilation location etc.
        \- if you are in east bay, try North Face Outlet circa Gilman and 6th.
           If you only want anti-rain and not warmth, Marmot Precip Jacket is
           not bad. There are some cheaper clones of the Precip. Also light
           light and compressible, if space an issue. --psb, expedition proven
        \_ Might want to look at http://www.overstock.com  They often have
           some good deals for waterproof jackets.
        \_ when i went trekking through peru, all the westerners wearing
        goretex rain jackets shed them in favor of $2 plastic hoods that the
        indigenous guides wore. unless you're going where it's really windy
        i recommend against the goretex.
        \- plastic and rubber dont breathe. the airflow you are getting is
           from the fact that you are wearing it like a poncho. you are
           going to want something that breathes for the layer that keeps
           you warm but not sweating. i have hiked in a garbage bag before
           and believe me, it's not pleasant ... that's a reasonable appraoch
           if it is really hot and rainy [not usual calif conditions] or you
           are improvising. --psb
           \- in re: gortex ... i wouldnt get gortex boots. stick with good
              leather. for typical california conditions ... some rain, some
              wind, maybe down to 40deg ... possibility of going to freezing,
              i would go with: patagonia light thermals, large tshirt,
              windstopper jacket [get a cheap one], medium price gortex
              medium wt jacket, and large thin shell like the Precip.
              you can mix and match those for 90deg - 30deg. --psb
                \_ get goretex boots, they are worth it if yer sloshing
                   through lots of water/mud. Vasque makes nice leather
                   boots with goretex liners, and they're comfy, too.
                   REI stopped carrying the ones I really liked, though.
                   they were a godsend in montana, along with the goretex
                   jacket (just wish I bought the pants, too).

10/16   Anyone know of any add-on to bugzilla (or another app) that supports
        tracking hours?
        \_ use webrt

10/16   "Pentagon to Help in Hunting Sniper"
        http://csua.org/u/407
        It's the second time in three weeks that the military is called into
        domestic law enforcement.  Have our law enforcement agencies become so
        lame?
        \_ As my manager, a former jarhead, says, "using marines as peacemakers
           is insane.  Marines' job is to KILL THINGS."
           \_ the sniper is not just a normal criminal.  this is someone
              who has been trained as a soldier.
           \_ I am into finding whoever the sniper(s) is,
              and killing him.
           \_ But they're gonna kill terrorists!  RRRRAAAAGH!  I LOVE
              AMERICA!
        \_ Don't worry, Ashcroft will make it legal for the military to
           participate in domestic matters.  It's for national security.
           They didn't have terrorists back in the 1700's, so obviously our
           Founding Fathers hadn't foreseen the implications of their Bill
        \_ maybe you should law enforcement, hotshot.
        \_ maybe you should join the law enforcement, hotshot.
           of Rights.
           \_ I said we just toss our stupid Constitution all together.
              This 300 yr old document is way out-dated...
           \_ Soon, we shall have soldiers stationed in our homes.
           \_ What was the original idea of having that law back then?
        \_ And a total violation of Posse Comitatus laws.
           \_ What Pussy Coitus laws?
        \_ maybe you should the law enforcement, hotshot.
           \_ I can't find a verb in that sentince.
              \_ What's a "sentince"?
        \_ why don't they use national guard troops first?
        \_ and how would you classify troops at large airports?
           \_ absolutely useless.
           \_ Technically it was domestic law enforcement, but that was 9/11
              related.  These two times they were a bank robbery at Nebraska
              and then a psycho sniper killing random people.  (Yeah, I know
              Ridge hasn't ruled out terrorism on the sniper case.)
              \_ would you draw a line between troops under civilian
                 command/control and military command/control?
              \_ Not really. Airports are federal facilities and can troops
                 can be used to protect them. Not law enforcement, guard duty.
        \_ its just surveillance aircraft.  It would be useful to the
           operation.
           \_ Not really unless the perp is using the same vehicle and not
              under cover when aircraft are finally put into the air. I would
              suspect that other military resources (real-time satellite
              photography) MIGHT be useful. But with all the press, I'm
              guessing the perp will use a different MO for each new killing.

10/16   Enter this address into Yahoo maps and zoom in all the way:
        1500 Clay St., Davenport, IA
        \_ this is terrifically funny. map{blast,quest} confirm it (or ALL buy
           the same db which is doubtful) --aaron
           \_ I don't think I would put my name behind "terrifically funny."
              BTW, In http://maps.expedia.com, the streets in question look like
              they're there but are unlabeled and you can't search them.
        \_ For convenience: link:csua.org/u/408
        \_ What does "Fagdaddy" mean?  I only know it's some dirty word.
        \_ Must be some joke by some engineer.  There's neither Buttlickin Ave.
           nor Fagdaddy St. in the USPS database, only Clay St.
        \_ It's common for mapmakers to put in a couple easter eggs, partly
           for fun, partly to counteract copyright violations.  -tom
           \_ My cousin worked for Etak. He said there were lots of these
              deliberate errors to track who was using their maps. This would
              indicate that all these folks do, in fact, use the same original
              map database. -- ulysses
           \_ So what are some of these other common map easter eggs?
        \_ Is that where your daddy lives?
           \_ Wow, you are so funny. Hahahaha. You really crack me up.
        \_ Hey, the street name disappeared. It was there a minute ago.
           \_ Whoah. You're right! Maybe word got 'round.
              \_ op:  where did you find that link?
                 \_ friend. -op
           \_ Buttlickin' Ave is on mapquest and mapblast, but no Fagdaddy
           \_ Screenshot kept at http://csua.org/u/40e -geordan
           \_ It's still sorta on MapQuest
              http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&address=1500+Clay+St.&city=Davenport&state=IA
           \_ Both are on maporama at http://www.maporama.com/share/Map.asp?SESSIONID={3ABB491A-B7CE-4F65-A838-AFF796791E7C}&ZoomSet=1

10/16   Motd restored.  Whoever deleted all that stuff is the most boring
        jerkoff to hit the motd in a long time.  Cleaning the motd of old
        stuff is one thing but hand picking items because they're no
        interest to you is selfish and anal retentive.

10/16   how to read past motd? I almost got the answer on that
        shell script question before everything got whiped out.
        thanks in advance    -kngharv
        \_ more ~mehlhaff/tmp/motd,v
           in csh:
           bash
           for f in *.ps; do ps2ascii $f ${f/.ps/.txt}; done
           exit
           \_ the one liner:
              eval `ls -1 *.ps | sed 's/\(.*\)[.]ps/ps2ascii \1.ps \1.txt;/'`
        \_ while you're there, look up some threads that explain not to ask
           questions starting with "how to...".
        \_ ~/marco/bin/motdbrowse -c
           \_ no first slash. what does the -c do?

10/16   Ok, it's now official.  Gore's political career is completely dead.
        http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/59741.htm
        \_ yo, joe!
        \_ How so?  The page doesn't say much.

10/16   I just upgraded my kernel to 4.7 and now it can't find the root
        partition.  I took out the ata static id option, so what should
        my root partition be called now?  It used to be /dev/ad1s1a.
        Even when I try to specify the name with ufs:/dev/... it says
        "can't find device ad"
        \_ Why would you start changing options before you've seen it come
           up clean?  Toss in a recovery floppy or the 4.7 boot cd and try to
           recover from there.  I did a fresh 4.7 install last night and it
           went fine.  I didn't change anything low level though.
        \_ only your kernel? did you upgrade the world too?

10/16   is there a way to find out the type of soundcard in my computer? I
        bought a refurbished computer and the soundcard was already in
        there...the only identifying words on it is the word "Vortex" on
        the biggest chip on the card.
        \_ http://www.google.com/search?q=vortex+sound+card

10/16   In C, What's the difference between offset_t and ptrdiff_t?  I used to
        use size_t for variables representing offsets, but now I think size_t
        might not be right.  Thanks.  --- yuen
        \_ I don't know for certain, but here's my thinking:
           ptrdiff_t is signed and should be sufficient to store the
           displacement between two items of the same type.  size_t (produced
           by sizeof) is unsigned and should be sufficient to store the
           size of a type.  offset_t (produced by offsetof) is unsigned (I
           think) and should be sufficient to store the offset of an element
           within a type.  Therefore, aside from the sign differences,
           the range of ptrdiff_t may be greater than that of size_t which
                                         \_ I take this back.  It makes
                                            no sense. (Not that the rest
                                            does.) --jameslin
           may be greater than that of offset_t.  Maybe you should ask on
           comp.lang.c. --jameslin
           \_ size_t is usually 32 bits, and is used to represent the size
              of objects or buffers and the like, off_t is used to represent
              offsets in files and is often 64bits.  Why does this matter
              though?  Outside the interfaces these are used in, there
              is no special meaning to them.
              \_ I see.  off_t (and offset_t on SunOS5) is for file offsets,
                 not memory offsets.  So I should use ptrdiff_t for memory
                 offsets then.  Thanks.  --- yuen