6/20    anyone have a good reference on the advantages of nonblocking io?
        some guy i'm talking to is insisting that blocking w/ select is better
        than nonblocking. he says "if your IO is nonblocking, you're going
        to use 100% CPU." ?!!@?$#
        \_ http://tangentsoft.net/wskfaq/articles/io-strategies.html
        \_ kqueue!
        \_ Don't you have to use select/poll with both blocking and
           non-blocking fd's in order to know when you can read/write
           to the fd? How can one be better than the other?
           to the fd? How can one be better than the other? -!*nix hacker
           \_ if you use read or write on a blocking fd then those system
              calls will block too. That's the difference.
                \_ I'm confused. If I select/poll on an fd and select/poll
                   tells me that the fd is ready for reading/writing can't
                   I read/write the fd without it blocking? What is the
                   advantage of making the fd non-blocking?
                   \_ When data can't be read or written from the non-blocking
                      fd, the read/write system calls simply return instead of
                      "blocking" (I thought it was clear from the name
                      "non-blocking"). Why would you want to do that? You can
                      manage multiple I/O streams from a single process
                      without having to use threads. In fact, some people
                      argue that servers that use non-blocking IO tend to be
                      faster than either multithreaded or forking servers.
        \_ It allows var/ dev/ to interlace with the kernel so that daemons
           arent locked.

6/20    Any recommendations for cheap web hosting? Nothing high bandwidth
        nor large storage. For a cal student group (slow OCF sysadmin
        response doesn't cut it anymore).
        \_ Check http://www.webhostingtalk.com  Lots of offers, but definitely
           do a search on the reputation of any company.
        \_ csua?
                \_ We have our own domain name, and the webmaster would
                   change every year, and may not always be a CS
                   undergrad/grad. Would CSUA host this?
                    \_ if slow sysadmin response is a problem for you, don't
                       ask for anything from the CSUA.
        \_ http://he.net
        \_ post your email address and maybe i'll host it for you.
        \_ how much sysadmin time does a student website really need?  I mean
           seriously.  As long as apache answers, what do you care?

6/20    Is there any software that allows a voice modem to screen phone calls
        and act like an internet accessable answering machine?
        \_ You can buy gizmos that do it.  Never heard of freeware that turns
           your v90 into one.

6/20    The great soda motd is unable to provide a solution or even a decent
        lead to perl scripting a robot...
        \_ Helpful responses deleted.  You're an ass.
        \_ 1) It's not our job to spoon feed you anything,
           2) you were given the right places to go to find what you needed,
           3) the other poster is right.  You're an ass.

6/21    I will need to find a place to rent starting near the end of this year,
        1 bed room or even a studio. Almost anywhere in the bay area is OK.
        It must have broadband, not be in a slum/war zone, and not be run-down,
        otherwise just want the rent to be as low as possible.  Where
        should I look into/avoid?  When should I start looking?  Any url?
                                                http://craigslist.org _/
        Ok tnx.                            -- away from BA for many years.
        \_ Adams Point area of Oakland (north side of the lake between harrison
           and lakeshore.  There are a ton of buildings around me with signs
           up.  A 1 bd goes for just under $800 most places.  And there are
           a number of very nice buildings, nice restaurants, decent bars.
           BART and freeway accessible. --scotsman
        \_ can prob find an in-law cheaply in SF in the sunset/parkside
           district.
           Office-- their have some good, not-too-expensive places listed.
        \_ YMCA?
        \_ Your entire running-dog-pound of a country is a war zone.
                Love,  -Chemical Ali
           \_ Didn't this guy get scrubbed in a missile attack or something?
              \_ http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=25679
        \_ If you're an alum, pay your dues and take advantage of the Housing
           Office-- they have some good, not-too-expensive places listed.

6/21    Fun game we played yesterday:
        http://quiz.ngsec.biz:8080/game1/index.php
        some of you should make it to level 10 within 2 hours.  Took us
        2 hours, and yes google is allowed.  Cheers.
        \_ 2 hours?  Took about 15 minutes to zip through. Google? pshaw!
           \_ J00 R ZO 733+!
                       \_ I am so teet?  What?
              \_ I'm so 318 that I'm going to hack your keyboard and make it
                 automatically convert all your future posts to real English.
           \_ If it took you 15 minutes, then congrats, altho I was hoping
              my post would spark discussion about how you did it, rants about
              php, warnings about fopen, discussion about how this could be
              avoided.  But hey if it took you 15 minutes, more power to you.
              \_ Discussion of what?  A lot of it was time wasting trying to
                 guess fake passwords.
        \_ is this something like http://www.try2hack.nl

6/21    Potter mania!!!!  arrrrrgggggg!!!! go nuts!!!!
        \_ Why?  I don't get it.  The HP books are no different than a million
           other kid's books.  They're imaginative and decently written but
           still repetitive in a way kids like but adults can get through
           them.  This is in no way unique to the HP series.  I'm baffled to
           see the bookstores last night packed with mothers with fake scars
           on the heads (often on the wrong side) wearing black hats. --baffled
           on their heads, often on the wrong side wearing black hats. -baffled
           \_ People are sheep.  Clear?
           \_ Actually, I'd say they were mediocre knockoffs.  YMMV.
           \_ I remember a similar craze over the E. Nesbit books.  Seems that
              \_ Ok, they're mediocre knockoffs.  That's fine.  I'm still
              I am unbelieavably old.  Seems that
                 baffled.  --still baffled
           \_ I remember a similar craze over the Narnia books.
              I am unbelievably old.  Seems that
              every 1.5 decades the little kids want to be led a dancing
              and a skipping out of Hamilton through fantasy.  This is
              the same bunch of kids who worshipped barney a few years back,
              remember?
              \_ This is much more dangerous than Barney because it is older
                 kids... I'm telling you, we're about to raise a whole new
                 generation of uberdorks!
                 \_ yeah, if things really go awry, these dorks might end
                    up growing up to spend time on their weekends flaming
                    other computer science geeks on some stupid text file.
                    i shudder at the thought.
                    \_ generation upon degeneration.
                 \_ Dude, the current generation is so much more dork-
                    friendly than my generation that I feel like a grumpy
                    old geek just talking about it.
                    \_ 1) You are a grumpy old geek.  2) The current generation
                       isn't any more friendly.  You're older so they assume
                       you'll have more money to spend on them than some
                       freshman (hopefully a true statement about your
                       financial status) and *that* is *always* attractive to
                       any woman of any age.  They don't give a shit what
                       you're talking about as long as the next round is on
                       your tab and there's a free dinner involved.  As a geek,
                       you're not going to insist they put out afterwards,
                       either.  It's super win-win for them.  Now go out there
                       with wallet in hand and get laid for the first time in
                       your grumpy old geek life!  The older you are, the
                       easier it is to nail all those super hot 18-24 year olds
                       that wouldn't give you time of day when you were young.
                        \__ what the fuck are you talking about?
                       \_ Um.  Actually, I was talking about how the current
                          generation of _kids_ was much more dork-friendly,
                          as evidenced by the incredible popularity of
                          various card games, computer games, console games,
                          and anime.  As a married grumpy old geek, I have
                          no idea how receptive the current legal-age
                          generation is to advances from grumpy older geeks
                          like myself, and, yes, I count my lucky stars.

6/21    soda allows remote logins directly to root??

6/21    http://csua.org/u/3bi
        "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops psyched up on a bizarre musical
        reprise from Vietnam war film "Apocalypse Now" before crashing into
        Iraqi homes to hunt gunmen on Saturday, as Shi'ite Muslims rallied
        against the U.S. occupation of Iraq."
        \_ Damn, I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
            \_ it's the smell of victory.
        \_ Reuters?  It's like reading a Blair NYT article.
           \_ ??? On what basis this comparison?
              \_ Years of reading Reuters and applying critical thinking skills
                 instead of passively accepting what they say.  It's like
                 reading Pravda with an occasional true story in it.
                 \_ Your skepticism foo is much greater than mine, then.

6/21    I have a new computer with Red Hat 8 pre-installed.  I want
        to partition it and install Windows XP.  But I'm a newbie
        with partitioning and GRUB.  I figure it would be more time
        efficient to have an "expert" do it for me, and to learn
        by watching, rather than to struggle with it all weekend.
        If you are in or around LA/OC and have some free time this
        weekend and want to help me out, send me an email.  I'll
        take you out to lunch or pay you a little $$ for your time. -asb
        \_ before you have an "expert" do anything, you might want to
           backup your original install with norton ghost or similar.
           you can also get vmware to run xp in, but I don't know how
           good the performance would be.
           \_ vmware isn't freeware.
              \_ When you're right, you're right. You might also like to
                 point out that Ghost and Windows XP aren't free either.
                 Some things are worth paying for, though. For example,
                 with VMWare you can run windows and linux (or freebsd)
                 simultaneously. And if you're still in school, you can
                 get the cheaper academic version.
                 \_ vmware: $299.  ghost: $29.  xp: already paid for as part
                    of most computer purchases, cost to end user is roughly
                    $99.  In this case, the op already has xp so we'll assume
                    it was purchased.  BTW, ghost is not required to do a full
                    drive backup.  dd will do it without the bells and
                    whistles.  I'm right when I'm right and all other times.
                    \_ well, op never asked about free or cheap versions of
                       s/w. academic vmware is less than 50%, and you can buy
                       ghost/nortonworks for cheap on ebay/craigslist. must
                       also add that dual-booting SUCKS.
                       \_ ok, true he never said for free, but it's still a
                          mega overkill to use vmware just to avoid figuring
                          out how to partition and dual boot.
                       \_ Why does dual-booting suck??
                          \_ Self evident to anyone who uses a computer for any
                             serious length of time each day.
                                \_ Thanks for the useful answer.
                                   \_ proof: obvious!  now just smash the
                                      chalk into the board a few times, and
                                      the theorem is proven.
        \_ there are both freeware and cheap commercial products such as
           partition magic that will easily let you repartition how you like.

6/21    You're at work on the weekend or at night, and you need help from
        a co-worker who knows some piece of information you need.
        by what algortithm do you decide wether to call them at home or to
        wait, but then end up waisting your own time?
        \_ If you ok it with this person ahead of time, then it's ok.
           But most ppl when they go home don't want "work" to follow
           them. Maybe you should think of going home, too.
        \_ algorithm, whether, wasting.  kids these days.