12/1    Anyone tired of coding?  How long till you burnt out?
        Any other alternative fields for you?
        \_ Why are you sick of coding?  Maybe you should try to get a tech
           lead type job so you do more management than coding?  Maybe
           it is the job, do you think you'd enjoy coding more if you were
           working for yourself/something you believe in?  Other ideas are
           try to get a producer/manager/marketing job in the software
           industry.  There is a serious shortage of good technical people
           in those jobs and if you have to people skills to do a decent job
           you will be in high demand.  But if you just want out of tech, well
           you can always go back to school and get a masters or PhD.
           \_ as a grad student i can tell you right now that going back
              to school just because you don't know what to do with your
              life is a bad idea.  as it happens, i *do* know why i'm here,
              but those who don't tend to end up just as unhappy as they
              were before, only with less money.  grad school is for those
              who *really* know what they like, not for those trying to
              figure it out.
              \_ True.  I'm not advocating going back to school just because.
                 Although if you aren't sure a Masters program might be a
                 good way to tell.
                 \_ I dissagree.  As a graduate student your mentors are
                    all people who think an academic career is a great idea
                    and who will try to convince you of this even if it's
                    not right for you.   Even on full scholarship, the cost
                    in lost wages for a two years masters program would buy you
                    an awful lot in the real world if there's something
                    else more fulfilling you're missing out on.
                    Unless you already have pretty much made up your mind,
                    it's a bad idea to even fill out the goddamn application.
                     \_ Look, if there is something you've wanted to study
                        but didn't grad school is an option.  It isn't for
                        everyone and you always have the option to drop
                        out if it is going badly.  I'm just saying that
                        sometimes poeple don't even think about going
                        back to school to do something other than what they
                        decided on in their early twenties.  People here
                        graduated from Cal and are smart and can go back
                        and learn something new and it will be obscenely
                        easy this time around.  So you won't make that much
                        money for a few years, so what?  Obviously money isn't
                        buying this guy much happiness as it is.
                        \_  I'm not claiming that money buys happiness, but
                            I will claim that fulfilling jobs tend to
                            pay well.  An abrupt career change for a
                            successful but unhappy software guy is likely
                            to lead to something that pays enough to
                            own a home and start a family...unless he
                            decides to go to grad school.  Obviously
                            the benefit of grad school exceeds the cost
                            for some people, but I am claiming that many
                            people underestimate the true cost.
                            \_ While some things (married/have kid/have house)
                               may make it harder to go back to school, they
                               can be worked around.  However worrying about
                               the cost of being out of the workplace for
                               a few years seems counterproductive.  A lot
                               of people find themselves hating coding because
                               they worried more about what paied well than
                               what they enjoyed.  If you are youngish, have
                               been paied well for years (and should have some
                               savings) it really isn't an issue.  Does a year
                               here or there really matter?
                               \_ fine. you've convinced me.  i guess being
                                  in a 5-6 year grad program distorts one's
                                  perspective a bit.
                                  \_ Well a phd is a lot more commitment than
                                     a masters.
           \_ Master's or PhD in *what*? History?
            \_ Do you love history?  Do you think you have what it takes to
               get a job as a history prof/lecturer?  Go for it.  There are
               of options outside of the tech field, they all have tradeoffs.
               \_ The point here is that the typical tech guy is only going to
                  be able to get a PhD in a tech field without a *lot* of
                  additional schooling. Not so law school or MBA.
                  \_ Are you FUCKING NUTS?  Are you saying a CS PhD requires
                     less schooling than an MBA?  What color is the sky on
                     the planet you are from?
                     \_ I had to read it a couple times to parse, but I think
                        he was comparing a) PhD tech b) PhD nontech and c) MBA,
                        and saying  a < b, and c < b. Or something.
                     \_ A CS PhD for a CS major is less additional schooling
                        than a history PhD for a CS major. JD and MBA are less
                        than both and probably as satisfying.
        \_ Grad school pays more than unemployment.

12/1    can anyone recommend a good text-based AIM client for Unix (or
        Unix-like) systems?  Thanks.
        \_ naim.

12/1    spamassassin newbie question.  I did "spamassassin -r < foo" where
        foo is a spam msg that got through.  I get this error msg:
        "Warning, unable to report spam"
        And nothing seems to be changed in ~/.spamassassin files.  Is there
        an easy way to tell spamassassin to "learn" this spam mail?  I
        am a typical user, I want it to work without becoming a power user.
        Thanks.
        \_ I never used SpamAssassin, but here is from its README file:
           Since SpamAssassin now includes a Bayesian learning filter (in
           version 2.50 on), it is worthwhile training SpamAssassin with
           your collection of non-spam and spam, if possible.  This will
           make it more accurate for your incoming mail.  Do this using
           the "sa-learn" tools, like so:

           sa-learn --spam ~/Mail/saved-spam-folder
           sa-learn --nonspam ~/Mail/inbox
           sa-learn --nonspam ~/Mail/other-nonspam-folder

Use as many mailboxes as you like.  Note that SpamAssassin will remember
what mails it's learnt from, so you can re-run this as often as you like.

12/2    Question: My Earthlink DSL service is shotty at best (slow speeds,
                                              \_ shoddy
                                              \_ shitty
                                              \_ snotty
                                              \_ shorty
                                              \_ snorty
                                              \_ slutty
                                              \_ scotty
                                                 \_hey! -scottyg
        unreliable connection, etc...). If I switch providers to like SBC,
        can I actually expect things to change? Or is the actual DSL
        connection an inherent property of my house, the wiring, and location?
        \_ probably the same. often when you switch providers they retest the
           pair and if they see something wrong or close to being out of spec
           they will change pairs, possibly improving service... especially
           if it's a change from SBC to Covad or vice versa. i switched from
           Speakeasy/Covad to SBC and they changed pairs on me.
           \_ Out of curiousity, why did you switch from speakeasy?
              --scotsman
              \_ speakeasy was through covad. something happened to my pair
                 and covad told speakeasy that they didnt want to do any
                 troubleshooting. my service went from GREAT to completely
                 out. speakeasy released me from contract and covad refused
                 to do anything. 2 days later SBC turned up a new remote
                 terminal that cut my distance from 10k ft to 2k ft. -shac
              \_ I'm about to switch because I can get (much cheaper and much
                 faster) ADSL from SBC and I can't from Speakeasy (have 144K
                 idsl from them now). -not him (obvi)
                 \_ Speakeasy is increasing their uplink speed to 384 for
                    everyone in February.
                    \_ he wasn't talking about uplink.. he was saying that
                       he is stuck with idsl instead of adsl. this is the case
                       for many people who are too far from the CO. SBC has
                       overcome this limitation for many people by installing
                       remote terminals in many areas. this makes it seem like
                       you are maybe 2000' away instead of 15,000' which is at
                       the edge of ADSL limits

12/1    How many American civilians did the Japanese kill during WW2?
        \_ Wrong Q.  Ask how many Chinese/Filipino/Burmese/Cambodian/
           Malay/Indochinese they killed.  -John
           \_ John's right.  The Japanese killed a lot of Civilians
              in Southeast Asia.  The Americans liberated them.
           \_ You're leaving out a huge group... the Koreans.
        \_ How many babies did American GIs kill in Vietnam?
           \_ A lot less than the number of civilians killed/enslaved by
              the Japs during WWII.
              \_ Japanese, please.
                 \_ He's a persistent little autistic fuck, ain't he?  I'm
                    beginning to wonder if he does that on purpose just to
                    tick people off -- you know, exercise what little power
                    he has in his dorky little world.
                 \_ Can we say "Japs" means imperial Japanese?
                    \_ Can you type four more fucking characters?
                       \_ I was looking for a term that's analogous to "Nazis"
                          instead of "Germans".
                          \_ Tojos?
                          \_ Imperial Japanese
              \_ 5 Million Vietnamese died in the American War. This is
                 far, far more than the number of Vietnamese killed by
                 the Japanese.
                 \_ I enjoy the communist revisionist history. The Vietnamese
                    Civil War lasted over three decades and began with the
                    French right after WWII. And if you think the Vietnamese
                    really like communism, why does every gook I meet want
                    to bring their whole family over to run a donut shop in
                    LA?
           \_ how many grenades where planted on babies by Vietnamese?
              way more than accidentally killed by GIs, way fricken more.
              \_ url please
        \_ I'd actually like this question answered if possible.  What is
           the total # of Iraqi casualties in the latest war + occupation?

12/1    I came back from lunch and the motd was rebooted.  Can I declare
        victory now?

12/1    So, I know people are probably tired of this topic but how about
        polygamy? Are any of you pro-gay-marriage but anti-polygamy?
        \_ My only problem with polygamy is figuring out how to handle
           things like the tax laws, or divorces.  I'm fine with the idea, it
           just isn't as much as a legal nobrainer.  We could have gay marriage
           tomorrow, polygamy would take a little longer to get all the issues
           settled out.

12/1    \_ you seem to be implying that there's some
           sort of punishment here for gay people.
           hetero anal sex fetishists are just as
           unhealthy in terms of likelihood of
           spreading disease.
           \_ Just for completeness, anal sex isn't really a "fetish"
              \_ Ok, you're right. -!op who made the poo comment
                 \_ sure it is, if you really really like it and always
                    want to have anal sex instead of anything else.
                    notice i'm not talking here about your typical
                    "let's try it this way" sort of guy. -op
              \_ Is hot gay sex a fetish?
           \_ However, receptive anal sex occurs with both partners.  In a
              straight couple the woman has a higher risk for infection and if
              she has e.g. HIV then in a later relationship it is unlikely for
              her to transmit it to a male partner.  Not so for homosexual men.
              \_ I'm going to go out on a limb here:  How do you know that
                 all homosexual men are in reciprocal anal sex relationships?
                 Some guys like to give but not receive and some the other
                 way around.

12/1    link:csua.org/u/54k
        Say hello to my boomstick! (dogs maul people)
        \_ What's interesting is that the dogs had attacked people before,
           and the dogs hadn't been shot then.  Apparently the owners hadn't
           even been held responsible.  The freak?

12/1    Who gave the names "Axis" and "Allies"? I mean, do Nazis and Japs
        call themselves "Axis"? or they call themselves something nicer?
        \_ The term Axis was first used by Hitler in one of his speeches.
           \_ 1936 Italian-German mutual assistance pact, "Rome-Berlin axis."
              Expanded later to Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis.  Remember that early
              on, Hitler feared and respected Mussolini (who for example
              forced him to ditch his ambitions on Austria in 1935.)  So
              this was the first of a series of alliances geared towards
              safeguarding the Hun from threats to his flank.  -John
        \_ I think they called themselves the Eigenvector.
           \_ Eigenvolk, eigenreich, eigenvector!
              \_ Eigenhower.
        \_ I think it's just politics. For example what we used to call
           Afghan Freedom Fighters are now called Terrorists, Mujahadins,
           Evil Axis (coined by GWB), etc. I'm guessing most of the names
           are given by politicians, nothing else.

12/1    Can someone tell me the name of the actress for the character Dao Ming
        Fung in Meteor Garden in Ch26 a while ago?  Thanks.
        \_ Bad Taiwanese Actors
        \_ I wasted way too much time searching to come to the conclusion that
           fansites do not know her name.

12/1    Wow.  I didn't know Asimov died of AIDS:
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
        \_ Bad blood transfusion.  Fact of cause of death was withheld for
           ten years after his death.
           \_ right... like we believe that.

12/1    Finally you'll be able to convert and read MS Word documents
        http://news.com.com/2100-1012-5111644.html?tag=nefd_lede
        \_ I'm still trying to convert MS Word users...
        \_ Huh.  That's what OpenOffice is for last I checked.
           \_  Huh.  OpenOffice is a broken piece of shit, last time I checked.
           \_ Huh.  OpenOffice was a broken piece of shit, last time i checked.
              delete it again, and i nuke the thread.
              \_ Whatever.  I didn't delete it.  I use version 1.1 all the time
                 and rarely have problems.  It's also quite useful for opening
                 Word docs that crash Word.
        \_ Does it hurt M$?  If so, good.
        \_ Hmm.  The article says the schemas will be available to "customers
           and partners"  That's not very promising.

12/1    I came back from Thanksgiving and soda was rebooted.  Was it 9 months
        of uptime or so?

12/1    The liberal case for war in Iraq:
        http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/opinion/30FRIE.html?8hpib
        \_ more like the case for reconstruction in Iraq
           \_ correct.  And he's wrong in saying that there's nothing coming
              from the left other than anti-Bushism.  But people are frustrated,
              and the protests are more about that than "making lemonade".