7/13    http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=424237
        It's rare that a Middle East story is funny.
        \_ you have a weird sense of humor.  damn, i've been
        \_ you have a weird sense of humor.  damn, I've been
           trolled!  I hate you.  Where is this palestinian state?
           Sweden?
                \_ It was funny.  But are you really that ignorant?
                   \_ He's trolling.  Don't be so naive.
                \_ You're not trolled.  I really thought it was funny.  -op
                \_ They could move it to the Jewish Autonomous Republic
                   (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Autonomous_Republic
                   Since Jews aren't living there anyways.
        \_ a similar poll shows that 80% of the Israelis believe that a
           peace negotiation would work while 75% of the Palestinians
           believe that a negotiation will work IFF **every single one of
           the Israelis** leave Israel. Go figure.
           \_ Now, *this* is a troll.
           \_ At least the Palestinians are asking for something reasonable.
              They just want their land back and to restore their country to
              what it was before it was stolen.
              \_ please explain why, by your logic, we should not return
                 california to mexico.  or do you think that's a good idea
                 also?
                 \_ and Mexico to all those Native Americans.
                 \_ yes.  everyone should go back to where they came from.
                    what's wrong with restoring the world to the way it was
                    before white people over ran everyone?

7/13    What are the hotel chains operating in Germany and scandinavian
        countries, similiar in comfort level to motels in the U.S. and
        Etap in europe??  Searching the web gives too many (bad) answers.
        (Yes, I know there are etaps in Germany but am looking for more
        choices.)
        \_ There are also some Formule 1 (French chain).  Your best bet is
           probably some small pensions, though.  -John
        \_ If you can afford a little bit more, there are Courtyard by
           Marriott hotels which is clearly an American chain as well.
        \_ Mercure is in Germany at least.

7/13    Similar to the MBA post below, how useless is a MS in engineering?
        If everyone has a HS degree and companies prefer HS or better, then
        doesn't having a BS give you more advantage? By the same token,
        if everyone has a BS degree (which is the case esp. in Silicon
        Valley) and companies prefer BS or higher, then isn't it better
        to have a MS degree? And by the same token, if MANY people in Silicon
        Valley have a MS degree, isn't it better to have a PhD or at least
        a MS degree?
        \_ personally, I used MS degree as a way to change major, essentially.
           Other than poor timing (i got my CS Masters at 2000 spring),
           I actually think it's worth it, mainly because I like the subject.
           For other who are thinking of getting a degree in the same subject
           as your undergraduate, you really need to use your time wisely
           during the 2 years in school.  It is almost too short to get
           much accomplished, and you kind of need to accomplish something
           while you are in school to extract the most of the degree.  This
           means you need to be specific on what you want to do and work with
           a professor in that subject beginning in the first semester.
        \_ Depends on what you want to do and what your other skills are.  If
           you're trying to get by on a degree alone that won't cut it.  You
           *must* have many years of job experience today to get a decent job
           no matter what academic paperwork you've got.  Many places don't
           care what you have as long as you have the minimum degree and then
           they want lots of experience on top of it.  More degree and less
           experience isn't it most of the time.  OTOH if you want to stay in
           the ivory tower, you don't need any experience.  Just keep racking
           up theory classes and publish papers.
        \_ companies don't prefer "BS or better". They want that as a prereq,
           and then look at everything else. An MS might get edge you out over
           someone else if you're close. Also, it might help you get a job that
           they might not give to a BS at certain companies like Google or
           Akamai.
           \_ Google: be at One with the Net.  Join the Google Cult today!
        \_ Figure out how many other people in your field have MS and plan
           accordingly.  Be aware that if you're looking for entry-level
           work (gods forbid), an MS may make you look overqualified.
           work (gods forbid), an MS may make you look over qualified.

7/13    I would like to let my browser (mozilla/firebird) to block any image
        file (typically a gif file) that is 1 pixel by 1 pixel.  Any existing
        tools to do that?  BannerBlind used to able to block image of specific
        size, any other tools?
        \_ Window Washer on windows will do things like that and functions as
           an http proxy.

7/13    Check http://slashdot.org and http://drudgreport.com regularly--then you won't have to
        check the MOTD.
        \_ Yeah let's all agree not to post any links unless its to donkeypr0n
           \_ I didn't say stop posting, I was just giving friendly advice.
        \_ In the meantime, and assuming you have more of a life than the rest
           of us, just visit the motd, and we'll keep posting best-ofs.

7/13    Real Life, Reviewed by Gamespot:
        http://csua.org/u/3m6

7/14    Do DC to AC power inverters cause any strain / damage to car batteries?
        Would the car battery wear out faster from continued use of the
        inverter?  Specifically, I'm looking at the Xantrex XPower 75 watt DC
        to AC inverter, available on http://buy.com at http://csua.org/u/3m8  If it
        does not damage the car battery or the device, is this a good price?
        \_ no, no, yes
           \_ Thanks for the validation.  Quick search on the web shows prices
              of $28-$29 for that model.  One site also showed 60W continuous,
              75W for 5 minutes, 150W surge for the XPower 75.  However, my
              laptop (Tecra 9100) requires 15V and 5A, so it seems it would
              only get charged for 5 minutes.  Is that the case, or would
              laptop batteries charge on 60W continous?  -op
              laptop batteries charge on 60W continuous?  -op
        \_ discharging your battery will destroy it eventually. loading your
           electrical system while the engine is running is fine, as
           long as your alternator isn't on its last legs.

7/14    Einstein "Crop Circle": http://csua.org/u/3m9

7/14    Is there now a proven way to archive HFS(+) volumes on OS X in an
        open format?  I have Retroexpress but it uses a proprietary format.
        \_ Why not just copy the data out to something reasonable?
        \_ You have a couple of options:
           1. Use hdiutil to create a dmg and then use ditto to copy
              the bits from the original hfs+ vol to the dmg. You can
              then use hdiutil to change the image type or compress
              the image, etc. While the dmg isn't exactly a open format,
              hdiutil allows you to convert dmgs into other open formats
              such as iso9660.
           2. Use Toast to create an img of the volume. Toast can
              save imgs in pretty much any open format.
           3. There are extensions to gnu tar/cpio/pax that allow you
              to archive the data and rsrc forks of forked hfs(+) files
              in a platform independent manner (if you extract the
              archive using a non-hfs(+) aware version of tar forked
              files show up as two separate files, the data fork shows
              up as the file and the rsrc fork shows up as a separate
              file (one of: ._<fname>, ./AppleDouble/<fname>, fname.rsrc)
              hfstar: http://www.metaobject.com/downloads/macos-x
              hfspax: http://csua.org/u/3mh  (homepage.mac.com)

7/14    ''India group: Outsourcing saves U.S. jobs''
        http://zdnet.com.com/2001-11-0.html?legacy=zdnn
        \_ Cool.  How much of money saved on outsourcing is going to be spent
           hiring Americans to fix or replace all the crap coming out of India?
           It'll cost twice as much in the long run to get the same results.

7/14    http://salon.com/news/wire/2003/07/14/bush_intelligence/index.html
        Tagline: Bush defends intelligence as "darn good".
        My thoughts: At last!  The media is questioning his intelligence!
        \_ This is pretty dumb, even for a liberal. :p
           \_ The reaction?  It was the first thing that came to mind.  It's
              not witty, but possibly briefly amusing.  Or how about the
              most powerful man in the world using the phrase "darn good"?
              \_ It also goes to show how Californian y'all are.
                 \_ totally.
              \_ whats with with "darn good"? when is the last time you used
                 "man" or "dude" or "chick" or any of a million other slang
                 or non-standard expressions?  the last thing the country needs
                 is an english prof as president.
                 \_ I'm not suggesting an english prof but perhaps we could
                    settle on someone with better English than a freeper.
        \_ Having to defend your honesty is never a good position to be in.

7/14    My girlfriend's mom wants a digital camera for < $200 (after tax,
        shipping, accessories).  I've narrowed choices to:
        FinePix 2650    Big, a year old
        FinePix A303    > $200, smaller than above, also a year old
        Minolta E223    New - can't find user reviews though
        Nikon 2500      Slow boot, swivel lens easy to imprint with fingers
        Canon A60       > $200, new
        Canon S200      > $250, a year old, but popular
        All of the above have optical zoom.  Any suggestions?  Thanks!
        \_ Coolpix 2100 just came out. $213 on http://dealcam.com
        Canon A60       > $200, new
        \_ http://store.yahoo.com/mouled1/capoa60dica.html
           $199 with shipping. Hope she is happy with the 8MB
           memory card though.
           \_ $25 ground shipping to L.A.
              \_ Crap. Buy the A40 then.
        Canon S200      > $250, a year old, but popular
        All of the above have optical zoom.  Any suggestions?  Thanks!
        \_ Why not S230? They just dropped the price. Amazon has it for
           $309 w/ a $50 Gift Certificate, so that's $259...
           \_ Actually, the S230 is offered by another store through Amazon,
              so the $50 deal doesn't apply.  There used to be two links
              for the S230 (one where the rebate was applicable), but no more.
              The http://gotapex.com link is outdated now, I guess.
        \_ What's wrong with optical zoom?  Tried ebay?
           \_ Optical zoom is good, it's just I have no idea what are the
              good non-opt zoom cameras.  ebay ... well, it's for a mom.
        \_ figure out what she wants:
                size?  Quality?  UI?  Simplicity/ease of use?  features?
           \_ She wants it to be < $200.  Seems like she's delegating the
              rest of the choices to me.
              \_ that reduces the selection quite a bit.  which are
                 < $200?
                 \_ The ones above that don't say > $200/$250.
        \_ How about Samsung Digimax 240? $180 at Amazon.
        \_ I don't think she needs >2MP, but the Canon A300 is $200 for
           a 3MP camera (no optical zoom).
        \_ Thanks for the advice.  It looks like it's between the FinePix
           A303, Nikon CoolPix 2100, and Canon A60 (the http://amazon.com $50 deal
           does apply for the A60, which can bring down the price with a $250
           set of purchases).  We'll go to Best Buy and look at all three.
           FYI, the FinePix A310 has been released but not in the states. -op
           does apply for the A60, which can bring down the price with $250
           of qualifying purchases).  We'll go to Best Buy and look at all
           three.  FYI, the FinePix A310 has been released but not in the
           states.  The Minolta E223 and Samsungs just aren't used by many
           people.  http://dpreview.com has been very helpful, too. -op
           people.  Also, you can get the bulky FinePix 2650 for ~ $135 if
           you can spend $71 more at http://amazon.com on qualifying items.
           http://dpreview.com has been very helpful, too. -op