1/15    Anybody know of software that lets one print on plotters without
        a limit on page size (e.g. for printing banners)? I STFW and
        Googled to no avail.
        \_ /usr/bin/banner
        \_ for christ sakes, that even in the default install of blackbox
           click on desktop, select "games/amusements"
           \_ wtf are you talking about?  Default install of what?  you think
              every kewl d00de installed the same distr0 y00 d1d?

1/15    It would be nice if a bunch of sodalites showed up for this
        important case defending freedom to travel. I will be there.
        http://www.politechbot.com/p-04312.html -ausman
        \_ How would a bunch of smelly, poorly socialized, obnoxious, ignorant
           nerds showing up help anything?  I'd think you'd want them to stay
           home to support the cause?
        \_ How long has this guy been fighting this policy?  I totally
           agree with him but airlines have *loved* forcing people to show
           IDs for years because it keeps people from reselling their
           tickets and undercutting their last minute ticket prices.
        \_ I still want to know why you want smelly unsocialized nerds to show
           up?  It can only hurt your cause.
           \_ I disagree. It shows public interest in the case.
              \_ You've never been in a real court before, eh?  It's really
                 easy to annoy a judge and it'll show in his rulings.

1/15    Anyone catch the John Cusack interview on the Daily Show a couple of
        weeks back or so?  Is he a racist?  He used the phrase "homeboy hug"
        which is fine by itself.  But he also saying how he's friends with
        someone on "Scrubs" ... "There's two guys on that show, not the young
        innocent one, but the older one."  He was referring to the older white
        doctor (actor name is something McGinley)  rather than the young white
        doctor.  He make it sound like it's totally inconceivable that he'd be
        friends with the young black doctor.  Anyone else catch all this or
        am I on crack?
        \_ You're on crack.  You've been in Berkeley too long.  Get some air.
        \_ I've never watched Scrubs, but that was definitely a painful
           interview.  I couldn't tell if they were actually friends and
           just pretending or if Cusack was about to just get up and walk
           out.
        \_ wehl, slap mah fro'!

1/15    http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030115-035849-6156r
        Israel's new policy of assassination in friendly nations.
        \_ We are doing the same (remember the Missile trick we pulled
           off in Yemen?).  This action is no different from PLO's
           suicide bombers
           \_ We do it better.  Nothing left but a burning wreck and a smear
              in the sand.
              \_ What?  You don't like giving a terrorist a cell-phone bomb
                 and then calling it?
                 \_ Ok, well that was kind of cool but I like the video game
                    aspect of Terrorst Hunter (req's directx 8.1 and 3d card).
           \_ Yemen is not a friendly nation, in people's spirit at least.

12/20   http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14839

1/15    H4C conosseurs.  Ok the last one was a happa.. How about these 3:
                         \_ What? Happa chicks are the MOST fuckable!
                            \_ not according to the "she's not 4ZN enough
                               comment I got for link:csua.org/u/7c8
                               and will probably get for link:csua.org/u/807
        link:csua.org/u/806 (bikini shot, vaguely worksafe).
        seperate, but related poll.  that pic is:
        worksafe:
        not worksafe:
        not worksafe where I work:
        safe because it doesn't work: .

1/15    What's the difference between a stomach flu and e. coli.?
        \_ e. coli refers to any of many bacteria that range from beneficial
           to lethal, and the stomach flu is a virus-based disease that
           has nothing to do with e. coli.
        \_ E. coli doesn't kill you.  Flu can.
           \_ E. coli can kill you.  It just usually is harmless.  As for
              "stomach flu", what is that, exactly?  Lots of different
               things, according to this site:
                http://campus.umr.edu/studenthealth/flu_stom.html
                \_ EC doesnt kill anyone who isn't already immune deficient.
                   Carrots can kill you too but it just usually is harmless.
                   Flu has killed millions of people.  EC hasn't.
                   \_ Wrong.  Ever heard of enterohemorhagic E.Coli?  It will
                      sure ruin ANYONE's day!  The truth is there are many
                      forms of e.coli and most don't harm you, in fact, live
                      in your normal flora in your body. (and they were
                      referring to the stomach flu, not influenza.  the
                      stomach flu doesn't kill many people at all, and is
                      usually limited to children).  -med student
        \_ but the symptoms are so similar!
        \_ flu's are caused by viri. they look like zelda rupees attached
                               \_ The plural of virus is viruses.
                                  \_ The plural of doofus is doofuses.
           to graplling hooks.  e. coli. is a bacteria.  it looks like a
           blob of squigles and is way bigger.  For details, ask the soda
           biogeeks.
           \_ Bacteria can be killed by anti-biotics, if it does not
                contain mutations to make it particularly resistant.
                Viruses at this stage are only killed by your immune
                system, which is why vaccination is so important (to
                expose your immune system so that it is much better
                and faster at dealing with a particular virus).
                Flu is a really neat virus, in that it has multiple
                methods of mutation.  It's an RNA virus, which means
                that there are frequent replication mutations, much more
                so that a DNA virus.  It is
                split into several separate RNA strands, which means
                that if you're infected with more than one strain at the
                same time, in the packaging of the virus particle strands
                from the two strains can be mixed and matched, making a
                third, new strain that the immune system can't deal with.
                It's also seen in many different species, and can jump
                species fairly easily.  These all add up to a killer virus.
                Several deadly asian strains have been known to jump from
                chicken hosts to humans.  Huge, not-too healthy poultry
                industry, good breeding ground for a virus.
                The epidemic of 1918 (which killed more
                than all the casualties of WWI) is thought to have jumped
                from pigs somewhere in Kentucky (or someplace like that),
                travelled across the Atlantic with American soldiers, and
                recombined with a European strain.
                Just for another interesting sidenote, an examination of
                a mass grave in Alaska from that epidemic implies that
                the killer Spanish Flu may have differed from other less
                virulent strains by only one peptide in one protein.  So
                either it was so virulent it wiped itself out, and another
                epidemic is just waiting to happen, or it was so virulent
                it killed almost everyone on the planet incapable of
                fighting it off.
                Vaccines for influenza also take a long time to prepare...
                multiple months... so since it mutates so readily fall
                vaccines are mostly just guesswork about which strains
                the world over are more likely to spread.
                \- BTW, "The Coming Plague" by L. Garrett is really quite
                   a good book. Have not yet read Betrayal of Trust, but
                   that looks good too. --psb
                \_ nice explanation of influenza, but they asked about the
                   stomach flu.  they are both viruses, but very different.
                   and yes, e.coli is a bacteria making everything said
                   apply (though interesting to note that different anti-
                   biotics work better or worse on different bacteria due
                   to their envelopes and methods of replication). -med stud
                \_ Well, fuck me in the ass with a cactus. You write all that
                   just now for the motd?
                        \_ it's interesting, let's keep up the good work
                    \_ OK. Say when and wherre.

1/15    Thank you Jimmy Carter.
        http://www.msnbc.com/news/859191.asp?0cv=CA01&cp1=1
        Death, terror in N. Korea gulag

1/15    What rates are you getting on credit cards?  Student loans?
        \_ student loan 0% interest.  -gradstudent
        \_ Rates?  I only use no fee cards and pay off every month.  No idea
           what my rates are.  Total consumer debt?  Zippo.
           \_ at some point, mom is going to kick you out of the house.
              \_ I haven't taken any money from my parents in 15 years, but
                 I'm glad to see you're so concerned about my housing
                 situation.  Consumer debt is completely optional, kiddo.
                 You don't *need* a new DVD player.  There's absolutely no
                 reason to carry consumer debt from one month to the next.

1/15    Anyone know if mortgages come in terms other than 15 and 30 year?
        \_ Yes, they do.
        \_ Yes, you can get a mortgage in almost any term from 1 to 30 years.
            \_ URL?  From any bank?
               \_ Yes.  Pick your poison.
        \_ I don't know, but say if you want a 23-year fixed mortgage, you can
           get a 30-year fixed mortgage and then make a constant prepayment
           every month and pay it off in 23 years.  --- yuen
           \_ I can't explain why, but the spread sheets i've played around
              with show this to be a losing manuever.  E.g. if you take a 30
              year fixed loan at 6 % and prepay such that you are making
              EXACTLY the same payments as you would be if you had gotten a
              15 year 6%, you don't end up paying off the loan for like 19
              years!  That's a pretty huge difference.
              \_ Your spreasheet is wrong.  I checked with the amortization
                 calculator on E-LOAN (http://csua.org/u/808 and you'll indeed
                 pay it off in 15 years.  I know this calculator is correct
                 because when I plug in my numbers it matches with my mortgage
                 statements from the bank.  The only other thing to consider is
                 whether or not there's a prepayment penalty, but even that
                 shouldn't make a difference of 4 years.  Most loans nowadays
                 don't have the penalty anyway.  --- yuen

1/15    Suggestions for light/ultralight notebook? Fujitsu, Pana, Sony?
        To be used on airplanes (must have dvd drive) & listen to mp3s
                                \_ this is a mistaken requirement. you do
                                   not need a dvd drive. rip and encode
                                   the dvd and you can carry 50+ divx
                                   movies on a 40g laptop drive. --aaron
                                   \_ sure, if you're not interested in
                                      movie quality in the slightest.
                                      \_ on a laptop??
                                      \_ oh my god, you are insane. --aaron
                                      \_ Ultralight != has DVD player.  And
                                         aaron's right.  You're insane.
        Sony D-VM1 is just too damn expensive for what it does.
        \_ Apple just came out with a 12" aluminum shell PowerBook.
        \_ I have good experiences with IBM X-series, but you DVD drive
           is not built-in on the detatched half.
        \_ Fujitsu S series
        \_ No such thing as ultralight with a dvd player.

1.15    cat t | grep -v FOOM > t AND
        works fine on BSD but not on Solaris. Is this a
        a) race condition, b) platform dependent issue, c) Solaris bug ?
        so what's the easiest way to do that on solaris?
        btw, grep -v FOOM < t > t doesn't work on either.
        \_ b)
        \_ Isn't that a shell, rather than platform, issue?
        \_ Depending on your shell, the shell will call open with
           O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC when you specify >. And > will
           get eval'ed before |.
        \_ Depending on your shell, the shell may call open with
           O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC when you specify > and it
           may eval > t before eval'ing | grep.
        \_ You're all wrong.  It's user error!  Duh!

1/16    Is java *really* that much slower than C?

1/16    The kids are all tight! - Pete Townshend
        \_ Poor Pete!  He didn't inhale, I mean er uh download!
        \_ How much KY did he need?

1/15    how do you view the motd archives?
        \_ In a very positive way.
        \_ With reckless abandon.
        \_ co -p[rev] ~mehlhaff/tmp/motd,v
        \_ ~marco/bin/motdbrowse -c
        \_ cat ~mehlhaff/tmp/motd,v but real men use ED

1/15    What are some companies/research labs that sound engineers
        (either recording engineers or EE people with an audio
        processing focus) can work for? Location doesn't matter.
        Thanks.
        \_ Dolby Labs is just south of SF, in Brisbane.
        \_ Dolby?  Creative Lab?  CNMAT at Cal?  CCRMA at the Farm?  Any
           company that makes electronic music instruments (Yamaha, Technics,
           Roland, Kurzweil, Korg, ...)?  Maybe Casio counts too.
           \_ nah, work for the sound _processing_ places.  Digitech, BOSS,
              Alesis.  You can also work on filters for recording devices.
              it's all DSP or A->D now. - musician.
        \_ Digidesign?
        \_ ILM, Skywalker Sound
           \_ Never work for George Lucas. You will regret it.
              \_ One night stands don't count as working for Lucas.
        \_ There's also Apple, Microsoft, Mark of the Unicorn, NTT, IRCAM...