2/25    I'm a lazy 5'8" sysadm, is a kawa ninja 500 big enough for me?
        \_ almost related - I'll be selling my bmw 850R soon, and cheap.
           Showing age (72k), but motor is solid.  Reasonable first bike,
           good commuter.  was 130 this year for 100/300 liability. -jor
        \_ yes
        \_ on a related note, how much do you bikers pay for insurance?
           - biker-wannabe
           \_ depends entirely on cost/year of the bike, displacement, and
              your driving record/experience/training.  anywhere from $150
              per year to $3000 per year.                -- caliban
        \_ I have a 2001 Ninja 500 (aka EX500) for sale.  Mail me if you're
           interested.  Was my first bike too, glad I didn't go get anything
           more.  -nevman
                \_ are you a sysadm? how much you weigh?
           i am very comfortable on it.
                                                                -- caliban
        \_ sysadm, hmm, let me fire up the old abacus.  First question is
           how many tubs of butter do you eat per day?
        \_ that depends on what you are looking for in a bike.  the ninja/ex
           500 is a perfect starter bike for a new rider who is interested
           in sport bikes.  you'll want to replace it, most likely, in a
           year or two max.  i'm 5'8" and can fit just fine on any sport
           bike, though something shorter like the ex 500 (or250) makes
           for more confident learning.  i currently ride a BMW R1150GS,
           a huge bike, and though 5'8" is about the limit for that bike,
           i am very comfortable on it. -- caliban
                \_ are you a sysadm? how much you weigh?
        \_ sysadm, eh?  Hmm, let me fire up the old abacus.  First question
           is how many tubs of butter do you eat per day?
        \_ my roomate's 5'7" and he when he rides a 500EX he could barely
           touch the ground with his toes (30.5" height on the 500). Does
           that mean he can't ride taller bikes like the ZX-6R (32.5" height)?

2/25    At a party attended by Congressman Tom Delay to a French diplomat,
        after discussing Iraq:
        Delay: "Do you speak German?"
        Diplomat: "No"
        Delay: "You're welcome"
        Delay walks away.
        \_ Boy, that'll show em! Those Frog Eaters!!! How dare they
           disagree with us about anything after all we did for them
           55 years ago!
           \_ Not to mention trying to draw a parellel between Iraq and
              Nazi germany is just plain silly.

2/25    what is the most efficient way in shell (pref) or perl to get the
        IDLE value for a given user.  I'm thinking there's probably a better
        way than "w | grep $user | awk '{print $5}'"
        \_ perl, User::Utmp
        \_ you don't need the grep command; in FreeBSD at least you can do
           a "w $user" which speeds things up slightly.
        \_ You don't need grep, just awk:
                w | awk '$1 == user { print $5 ; }' user=$user
           You can make this shorter with fancy quoting...

2/25    Can someone tell me where to find the 2 hooka places near Didi Reese
        near Gayley? Thanks.    -ucla ee guy
        \_ There are some on Westwood Blvd. Is that what you mean? --dim

2/25    Ok this car alarm has been going on for 10 hours straight and it's
        parked on the street by my apartment. What can I do about it LEGALLY?
        \_ steal the car.  Clearly no one will notice.

2/25    What day do you think we officially begin the attack on Iraq (not
        counting the constant low level bombing of radar and SA that's been
        going on since 91)?  I put 5 bucks on march 16th, Iraqi time.
        I don't understand why this was deleted.  Restored.
        \_ Beware the Ides of March.
        \_ Bad choice. Two days before the full moon? A lot depends on what
           level of intensity the US wants to start with. Probably a week
           or two of airstrikes to be followed up by invasion, airborne to
           get the airport with full assault through Turkey and Kuwait. Still
           need a couple of weeks to get the troops set in Turkey. Push it
           to bombing around March 21 and invasion a week later.
        \_ Pave.  -John
        \_ We already have Special Forces on the ground in Iraq.  How does
           this not count as officially beginning the attack?
           \_ They are spying. They have not actively disrupted Iraqi
              operations. Guiding missles and bombs to targets doesn't qualify.
            \_ Because by that standard, the 1991 war never ended.  If you want
               to go by your definition, there's no need for any new
               resolutions, congress, the UN or anything.
               \_ APRIL NEVER ENDED!
            \_ So if Iraq sent infiltrators into the United States to
               blow up selected military targets, that would not be
               considered warfare by you? Just making sure you are
               willing to consistent here.
               \_ It is warfare.  It isn't a mass invasion.  That would be
                  Mexico, currently.

2/25    What are the major milestones in soundcards of the last 10 years?
        Soundblaster: 8 bit, mono
        Soundblaster 16: 16 bit, stereo
        SB AWE32: ???
        Roland ???: high end midi
        SB Live: ???
        ???:
        \_ Gravis Ultrasound.

2/25    Any recommendations for a good car alarm?
        \_ here's a recommendation: fuck off and die.
        \_ I've had minimal problems with Clifford.  Very customizable
           (sensitivity, inner/outer sensor, tones, alarm duration, etc)
        \_ I got a car alarm thinking that I would use it all the time in
           Berkeley.  I never bother arming it because if it goes off,
           I have to run out to the front of the building to disarm it.
           Just get a lo-jack system.  You don't have to worry about pissing
           off your neighbors and tripping it yourself.
           A car alarm is money wasted.  How many people hear one and think
           to call the cops these days?
           \_ if you're enough of a motherfucker to own a car alarm
              you deserve to have your car stolen.
              \_ idiot child, many cars for the last several years come with
                 car alarms from the factory.  not the shitbox you might own
                 but most real cars have one as standard equipment.
                \_ For what little they do, you can leave it off when
                   parked in the burbs.
                \_ the point stands.
                   \_ what point?  that you own a shitbox?  ok, point made!
                \_ and those alarms tend to play nice.  That is they only go
                   off if someone forces open the door or the like.  Car
                   alarms like that aren't really a problem.  The ones that
                   are always going off are the vibration sensative or worse
                   proximity sensative pieces of crap that go off when someone
                   drives by or shakes the car.
                   \_ My alarm lets me choose between vibration-and-open and
                      open-only when I activate it.  Pressing 1 alone chooses
                      the first one while pressing 2 then 1 chooses the second.
           \_ At 2am I sure do, but probably not for the same reason you're
              thinking of.  (Ok, I've never Actually Called them...)
        \_ You know, considering how much keying there is here, I see
           remarkably few cars with alarms going off and long scratches on
           the doors, or prawn tails in the airco intake vents or 'FOAD'
                                            \_ how do you get at them?
           written in brake fluid on the hood... -John
           \_ Good suggestions. I'll keep them in mind.
           \_ When I lived in Southside I used to keep a slingshot beside
              to bed to nail those bastards who liked to wake the
              neighborhood at 4AM and then leave their alarm going off.

2/25    Darwin/MacOS X questions: What is the equivalent of ldd on darwin?
        And what is the equivalent of LD_LIBRARY_PATH on darwin?
        I have a pgm that uses shared libraries and I want to make sure that
        the right libs are being picked up.
        \_ man ld and dyld
           \_ thanks dyld(1) had the info I was looking for. In case anyone
              else is interested otool -L ~ ldd and DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH ~
              LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
        \_ "Given enough time a pixie will get you so confused that you'll
            start looking for happiness in all the wrong places."
            \_ Wookin pa nub...

2/25    Looking for songs that sound like Love to Love You Baby or the
        music in Charlie's Angels, suggestions?
        \_ Cliff Richard, "Devil Woman."
        \_ Does BeeGees & KC&The Sunshine Band fall into this category?
        \_ ObGoogle

2/25    http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030226/ap_on_en_mu/people_dionne_warwick_2
        They're just trying to punish her for being a strong black woman and a
        role model for black youth.
        \_ Sorry, remind me again, why are they arresting someone for
           a joint's worth of weed?  -John
           \_ Because this is the Land of The Free.
           \_ Because if that's what she's carrying through an airport, what
              else does she have at home?  They need to search her homes and
              find the real stash.
        \_ racist biggot!
           \_ No, no, no, no, no!  If you want to go there, the right way is
              to just scream, "RACIST!".  The word "bigot" is so passe, and
              you're not putting your heart into it.

2/26    Voice of Iraqis- Why dont antiwar types want to hear them?
        http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-taheri022603.asp
        \_ do you think the iraqi people think the US will invade,
           knock over hussein, and leave?  or do they think the US
           will install a military led government that will exist
           until the end of time?
           \_ What do *you* think the Iraqi think?  That is clearly more
              important than what they really think.
        \_ You know it's all about the oil!  As if the Iraqis wouldn't love
           to sell us all the cheap oil as fast as they could pump it.
        \_ You know I bet if you went to an anti-abortion rally and tried
           to get the microphone to speak against them you would get a
           far less polite response.
        \_ The Iraqis are misled and misinformed brown people.  We white
           people know what's best for them better than they do.
           \_ You didn't read the article, did you?
              \_ Actually I did.  You had to retake Subject A, didn't you?
                  \_ I guess meant "we white people" as the anti-war crowd.
                     He thought "we white people" was the pro-war crowd.
                     Is that your meaning?
                     \_ Given the context, I meant the former.  However,
                        you can just as well say the latter.  What does
                        the fabled Arab street want?  Ref Melian Dialogue.
            \_ Many Iraqi-Americans are opposed to the war. They almost
               all hate Hussein but many (most?) do not support a US
               dominated effort to overthrow him. Such complexities are
               probably too much for your binary brain to handle, though.
               \_ There are lies, damned lies, and equivocations.
               \_ OBTW, learn how to indent correctly.
        \_ The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of
           passionate intensity.

2/26    FactSet... hiring... full-time and interns... San Mateo and NYC
        mail for details                        - rory
        \_ Anger... rising...  rage... taking over...
           \_ I don't get it
              \_ Some weirdos get upset when people post job ops on the motd.
              \_ Watch the movie 'Mystery Men'
                 \_ Pull my finger.

2/26    Another procmailrc/spamassassin question: do I need to put the full
        path name of the spam folder? Or is there some environment variable
        to tell it where a folder should be located?
        \_ This is totally well documented. Have you tried "reading"?
        \_ ObGoogle
           \_ Only reason I ask is, I've seen several procmailrc examples
              that don't seem to mesh. For example, some have environment
              variables (like MAILDIR), some don't. Some have full path names
              for folders, some don't. When I had just the folder, it put spam
              in my home directory. But when I put full path name, for some
              reason, it left new spam in my Inbox. Oh well, I guess I'll
              google again.
        \_ You can set your path like so: PATH=/ob/google. you can also set
           your maildir, but you probably dont need to. get it up and running
           and if you have problems ask. if you are asking theoretical
           "i was just wondering" type questions, then RTFM/obgoogle.
           \_ My questions weren't theoretical, as I explained above.

2/26    Is Lasik suppose to correct astigmatism?
        \_ Lasik is one of the worst things you could do to your eyes.
           investigate the Bates method, a method of training one's eye
           muscles that addresses the cause of poor eyesight, not the
           symptoms. Lasik is like giving youreslf permanent crutches.
           very poor choice.
           \_ Quack Quack Quack
           \_ Some people are beyond "eye muscle exercise" quackery.
        \_ Based on my own mother's experience (she now sees double) lasik
           is still a technology in development and should be treated as
           such - particularly if your existing prescription is strong and/or
           you have more than a diopter of astigmatism. -- ulysses
           \_ When is this done and who (surgeon) did it?  Thanks.
           \_ Based on my own wife's experience (she now sees perfectly) lasik
              is the most incredible medical advancement since the knife.  I'm
              guessing yermom went to the cheapest she could find.  My wife
              went to the guy who trained all the others in the BA and paid
              top dollar.  Worth every penny and more.
        \_ in theory, yes.  but Lasik has other side effect.  I
           recommend you go to melvyl and read some of the articles
           in the medical community.
           experience in these areas is important.  Ask around.
        \_ ObGoogle
           \_ Not a good application for google.  Most of the hits will
              be Lasik clinics.  For my experience, the astigmatism
              increased slightly in one eye.  Other was made nill.
        \_ My astigmatism was corrected after lasik.  It was a custom job
           though and cost more.
        \_ Yes, if done right, it will correct astigmatism.  For astigmatism
           and high prescription, having a good surgeon who has successful
           experience in these areas is important (and yes, it will cost
           more).  Ask around.

2/26    http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/stz_lion.htm
        For that guy who wanted pictures of the shaved kitty.
        \_ the story was almost certainly made up to go with the picture.
        \_ Hilarious! Looks kind of like a poodle.

2/26    Anyone have extra Guitar Wolf tickets for this Thursday?  -sax
        \_ first time i read this, i thought it said "Great White" --aaron
           \_ Baaa. Baaa.
           \_ Get some sleep, aaron.
           \_ me too: .
              wtf?  :
        \_ where's that sheep guy?  i want to beat him. - danh
           \_ Baaa. Baaa.                          \_ up or off?
        \_ Doo-moooo!

2/26    I have a file with all the mail I've got in the past few months
        (single file). I would like to run that file through procmail
        to produce several sorted files (in particular, I'm interested
        in the spam folder, but also want the other folders). Presumably
        there's a straightforward way to do this?
        \_ Answering my own question:
           http://mirror.ncsa.uiuc.edu/procmail-faq/mini-faq.html#split

2/26    What have the Muslim countries contributed to the world in the past
        500 years?  In art, science, music or any other field.  I can't
        think of anything.  So what exactly are these extremists embracing?
        \_ Religion?  Getting the west to butt out of their region and stop
           telling them how to run their countries?
        \_ the exact same thing christian or jewish countries have
           contributed (either a lot, or nothing, depending on what your
           bias).
        \_ We landed a man on the moon in the year 1755.  The west had
           to wait 200 years to do the same.  Of course, our glorious
           achievement was brutally suppressed by the white man's press
           and was therefore never fully recognized.