6/10    What is the backend for Nasdaq/NYSE/etc? Compaq? Sun clusters? HP?
        \_ for "etc" ask keithyw@csua, he works at Nikko+Citigroup in .jp
           as a sysadmin for their trader stations/backend stuff.  He keeps
           bitching about solaris so I'm guessing it's sun.
        \_ obGoogle "Nasdaq servers".
           \- helo does anyone know what the Fed's Master Computer
              runs on hardwarily and OS-wise? I am talking about the
              one at the bottom of a mine in Colepepper VA or something
              like that. --psb
              \_ YouAskedSoNowYouHaveToDieOS
        \_ used to live in NYC and attend school there.  Most of Wall Street's
           backend are mainly fueld by Sun Clusters.  IBM is always there.
           Software wise, interesting part is that Oracle is absent in
           virtually all the big Wall Street boys.  People there uses either
           Sybase or DB2 for their DB.  I asked them why, all i got is
           "because of something stupid Oracle did in the early 90's."
                                        -kngharv
            \_ Wasn't it Oracle who shredded a bunch of documents reserved
                for SEC investigators?
               \_ no idea.  But if any of you guys want to get a job in NYC,
                           \_ fuck you.  I believe that is grammartically correct
                  here is an idea: Oracle is desperately need a sales force
                  there to expand their market :p
                        \_ Hopefullwoone know grammar.
                           \_ fuck you.  I believe that is grammartically
                              correct
                                \_ puk goo.  "Oracle is desperately need a
                                        sales force" != good grammar
                                \_ try "is desperately in need of a sales
                                    force" or "Oracle desperately needs a ..."
                                   \_ or "Oracle's sales force is FUCKED!"
           \_ Nasdaq ran on Tandem Himalaya machines according to some posters
              at WRL.  This was a couple months ago.
              \_ Last I recall these are the actual database machines. Lots
                 of transactions and hot swappable boards for 20 years.

6/10    motd restored after idiot removed most of it without adding anything
        new to replace it.

6/10    More stupid question on Israeli-Palestinian issue:
        Since Gaza Strip used to belong to Egypt, then, why there are so
        many Palestinian people there?  Is it because during the creation of
        Israel and 1967 War that Palestinians were being herd there in flock?
        Or other reasons?
        \_ Palestine has almost always belonged to somebody else, but the
           Palestinians have always lived there. I think they are in the
           Gaza Strip because the Israelis didn't want that land.
           \_ I say someone "accidently" set off a nuclear bomb in that area
              so they can all stop fighting over it. I think Russia, U.S.,
              even South Africa, has a lot of land that size that is not being
              used, let alone fought over.
              \_ if anything, it's Israel that need to be relocated, no?
                 \_ no.
        \_ No one 'herded' anyone anywhere.  God, why do I respond to trolls?
           At the creation of Israel, various arab "leaders" told their people
           to leave because they were going to invade and kill all the Jews
           anyway and it's easier to genocide someone if there aren't friendly
           civilians around getting in the way.  The arabs invaded and got
           their asses handed to them and then abandoned the palestinians to
           an eternity of doom by not taking them into their own lands as the
           Israelis had done for Jews who got kicked out of their arab-ruled
           counrties by force.  You can find much better and more detailed
           histories all over the net and in a zillion books.  Please stop
           trolling the motd.  Thank you.

6/11    John's Link of the Day
        http://j-walk.com/blog/docs/conference.htm

6/11    I'm trying to get LaTeX to put a figure on a page by itself, so I'm
        using \clearpage both before and after I insert the figure. I'd like it
        so that the figure is centered on that page, but it isn't. Is there a
        way to do this?  Thanks.
        \_ I'm sorry, I don't have my latex book on me, but I belive there are
           flags you can pass to make it put it on its own page (and top,
           bottom, etc). they go in the flags spot: \begin{figure}[flags]
           \_ In particular the "p" flag is probably what you want:
              \begin{figure}[p]
              p: Page of floats: on a separate page containing no text,
                                 only figures and tables.

6/11    So why is it that Taiwan and Tibet don't understand that the
        motherland just wants to protect them and to be a part of greater
        china as they've always been?  Since china always owned these
        places and they're the same people and culture what do they need
        their own country for?
        \_ Tibet is not Chinese. Tibet was isolated and had few ties with
           the outside world.  If they had been involved in the world,
           perhaps wewould have had a Tibetan War like the Korean war.
           \_ But the motherland just wants what is best for all its people.
              I don't understand why anyone in Tibetan part of china would
              resist a good thing?  Many places have different people.  Tibet
              is more chinese now than indian where Tibetan cult leader now
              hides and stirs disent against motherland.
              \_ your chinese-faking fu needs improvement
              \_ Please desist from infringing my trademark  - m.stewart
           \_ China mostly just leave Tibet alone, and in fact, helped
              Tibet repulsed a few invaders (eg. Nepal) in the old days.
              Then Evil White Men (tm) came and tried to make Tibet
              an outpost of the British Empire (an extension of British
           \_ Yes Tibet is China after enough Chinese move in and take
              up residence, like in the occupied territories of palestine
        \_ Bad troll.
        \_ http://www.taiwannation.com.tw/english.htm
              India, I guess).  Then Tibet became a matter of vital
              national interest (with British gunboats already roving on
              the other side of China) for China, and they started insisting
              on occupying and controlling it like some frothing at the
              mouth, raving mad guard dogs.
              \_ See?  Tibet always part of China until British attack and
                 try to make colony.
                 \_ Nah, Tibet has always been part of the FNNCA (Federation
                    of Nomadic Nations of Central Asia).  Your Chinese-
                    faking fu is still weak.
        \_ By that reasoning the American Revolution was a waste of time,
           and the US should just be a British colony still.  There is more
           to nations than culture.
           \_ Tibet is not revolutioning from china!  Tibet *is* china, not
              colony.  American colonies from many places, not just Britain.
        \_ Your Chinese-faking fu is weak.
           \_ You are splittist!
              \_ yea, I'd like to split yermom's legs.
        \_ China is protecting Taiwan and Tibet from what?

6/11    Anyone ever work with http://BeyondROI.com ?  Worth the cost?
        \_ they hiring?

6/11    I highly recommend Amy Chua's book "World on Fire".  She writes about
        how market-dominant minorities (chinese in SE asia, indians in
        east africa, jews in post-communist russia, whites in zimbabwe, etc)
        disproportionally benefit from free market economy.  Blindly promoting
        democracy and free market leads to disaster in most third world
        countries.
        \_ OMG the jews are dominating the economy in Russia?  Let's drag
           'em all out and gas 'em.  While we're at it, let's nail the
           chinks, the ragheads, and the honkies too.
           \_ Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer, baby.
        \_ Mugabe is solving the problem in Zimbabwe by allowing roaming thugs
           to murder white farmers and take their land.  The result is that the
           already-bad food shortage is getting worse because the farmers who
           were actually farming have been killed.  Oh, and the poaching of
           endangered species there is going through the roof due to the
           disorder.  Yay.
           \_ He isn't "allowing".  It is government sponsored and the thugs
              getting the best land are his own relatives and army generals.
              \_ Sorry about that.  I didn't have any good references that made
                 that claim.  Thanks for clearing it up.
                 \_ I've posted it to the motd before.  I might be able to
                    find it again if anyone cared.
        \_ What you miss is that economies can not transform third world
           cesspools into first world liberal democracies overnight.  A
           complex set of institutions, such as the rule of law and
           property rights, must develop incrementally.  This can be
           a painful experience (although less so than Marxism) -
           as evidenced in Western economic development.
           Also, her thesis, like most liberals, implicitly assumes some
           in vogue 'mascot' group has been victimized by
           another ethnicity, implying the group is unable to govern
           themselves.  This is thinly veiled racism, and only perpetuates
           the problem by deflecting responsibility
           for their actions and the governments they support.  With the
           libs its always Im a victim and its someone else's fault.
           \_ And free markets are the best way to establish the rule of law...
           \_ responsibility?  for one's own actions?  are you a Republican?!
           \_ Name one country that has followed the free market prescription
              to success in the 60 years since the end of WWII. All the
              countries that have tried: Russia, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia,
              El Salvador, etc, are impoverished. The few countries that have
              risen from general poverty have all protected their markets,
              imposed tariffs on imports to help grow local industry, and
              avoided IMF and World Bank meddling: Singapore, Taiwan and
              South Korea. The Free Market ideologues have a good line of
              rhetoric, but a very poor track record.
              \_ For what purpose was the IMF was created? - hint post WWII
                 reconstruction.  Irony is all the states you mentioned
                 have socialist / marxist tendencies.  Chile, incidentally,
                 under the nationalist anti-communist Pinochet has
                 done quite well compared to its neigbors.  Further,
                 'Free trade' and economic liberialism are not equivalent,
                 and if you read my statement, nowhere did I imply as
                 much.
                 [indent corrected]
              \_ just curious on the motd opinions, where does israel fit into
                 these discussions?  aren't they a free market and how was it
                 all established to work so much better than other nations?
        \_ If I order this book through Amazon, do I get put on the FBI
           potential terrorist list?

6/11    Has anyone here switched from cvs to subversion?  What has your
        experience been like?  Is subversion installed on soda?  (I haven't
        found it.)
        \_ switch my entire code base from cvs with it's known bugs and work
           arounds to an early beta quality open source project?  I don't
           like my job but I'm not ready to get fired.
           \_ I guess that's a no.  Subversion has been self-hosting for nearly
              two years now with no loss of data.  I'm thinking of using it for
              my own hobby projects, but not in a production environment.
              \_ Self-hosting sounds good but it also means it's only been used
                 in one specific way.  Hobby: ok.  Production: fired.  Let us
                 know how it goes, please.

6/11    Where did you see that DeBroglie's PhD was 7 pages?
                Author: Broglie, Louis de, 1892-
                Title: Recherches sur la théorie des quanta.
                Published: Paris, Masson, 1924.
                Description: 111 p. diagrs. 23 cm.

                Location: MUDD, Stacks
                Call Number: R10 Pa924

                Dissertation: Thèse -- Univ. de Paris.
        \_ http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2000/002/13.38.html
           I don't know which site is more authoritative.
           -op (posing the original question, yesterday)
           \_ you can also buy it on amazon. it's >100 pages.
              \_ You figure?
                Title: Recherches sur la theorie theorie des quanta. Reedition
                du texte de 1924.
                Place of Publication: Paris: Masson & Cie.,
                Date of Publication: 1963
                Condition: reprint of the 1924 edition; [iv], 125, [1] pp.;
                library hand stamps and other markings, else v.g.+ in paper
                wrappers,
                Keywords: quantum theory, history of science, physics
        \_ Wasn't Einstein's PhD thesis on Special Relativity and really
           short? Maybe that is the one you are thinking of.
                \_ Einstein's PhD thesis was entitled 'On a new
                   determination of molecular dimensions', iirc it
                   was about diffusion and brownian motion.
                   Einstein's paper on SR ('On the Electrodynamics
                   of Moving Bodies') was ~ 20 pages long; what
                        \_ That's when I'm dragging a corpse down a
                           carpeted hallway and it creates static
                           electricity, right?
                   made it extraordinary (other than the subject
                   matter) was not its length but the lack of
                   references . --ranga
        \_ Uh, do I need a UTF-8 capable pager & editor for the motd now?
           \_ ED!
           \_ No, you need to learn French, you ignorant baboon.  -John
                                    \_ s/French/Freedom/g - US Congress
                    \_ EPR is only 3 pages, but it's no phd thesis.
           \_ I'm talking about the high-ASCII characters in the motd,
              \350, \351  small e with acute accent, small e with grave accent
                \_ I'm talking about the high-ASCII characters in the motd, 350
                   and 351 (octal). The small e with acute accent, and small e
                   with grave accent.