Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2003:December:17 Wednesday <Tuesday, Thursday>
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2003/12/17 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:11488 Activity:nil
12/16   from the nytimes:
        "In a swirl of reports that some police officers joined the
        protest, Captain Challoub made it clear where his sympathies
        lay. "Why did they show Mr. President Saddam Hussein on
        television and humiliate him?" he asked. "He is our president.
        There must be some kind of immunity.""
        Even people risking their lives working for us didn't like
        their former president humiliated.
        \_ Clearly Captain Challoub is living in the past and needs a new
           job.  He wasn't their president.  He was a brutal dictator, not
           an elected president.  The only thing more stupid than this quote
           or your posting it is that I bothered to feed a troll.  Do us all
           a favor and delete your own post.
           \_ It's not necessary to tell us how stupid you are.  It is
              quite obvious that, elected or not, many Sunnis still liked
              Saddam, so why fan the flames?  "Bring it on!"
              \_ Of course the Sunnis liked being a minority group that got
                 to oppress the rest of the country.  I'm sure the South
                 African whites felt the same way.  Did you have a point?
                 \_ Oops, the Sunnis like Saddam.  We can't use the
                    "Liberate Iraqis from Saddam" as the reason for our
                    invasion anymore.  Let's change the reason to "liberate
                    the Shiites from the Sunnis" then.  Oh, wait, the
                    Shiites may not like us there very much either.  Maybe
                    we should change the reason to "help the oppressed Kurds
                    gain independence".  Or maybe we should dig up some
                    WMD, or maybe find Osama's mother in Iraq.
                    \_ Wow, nice way to go off topic and duck my question. I'll
                       take that as a win.  To answer your dodge, we invaded
                       because Saddam was a bastard and Bush Sr. screwed the
                       people over the first time and setting right his mistake
                       was the moral thing to do.  You understand what it means
                       to "do the right thing"?
                       \_ By itself Bush Sr. not going into Iraq is a valid
                          option.  Instigating a Shiite rebellion and then
                          not going in to help is wrong.  There are many
                          ways to effect change in Iraq.  10 years of
                          dibilitating sanctions followed by an invasion
                          and then a clumsily handled occupation is not the
                          "right thing" to do. ---- (*)
              \_ and many Germans loved Hitler.  Your point?
                 \_ Last I checked, Iraq wasn't occupying any foreign
                    country in the last 10 years.  Your analogy is
                    bogus.  In one case we are liberating the Iraqis
                    (only reason we have left), in the other we were
                    liberating others FROM the Germans.  Because of
                    that, the opinion of the Iraqis is critical to
                    the whole endeavor.
                    \_ By your 'logic' we should have stopped at the German
                       borders and left Hitler in power.
                       \_ I don't know where you learned your faulty logic.
                          When your reason for the invasion is to liberate
                          the Iraqis, you better be concerned about what
                          their opinion is.  If you say you are doing some-
                          thing to help someone, you should ask them
                          whether they wanted it, and whether your action
                          is actually helping them, or just for you own
                          selfish interest.
                          \_ Saddam invaded Kuwait. Part of liberating Kuwait
                             should have been removing him. Now it has been
                             done. The analogy to freeing Europe but stopping
                             at the German border is a good one.
                             \_ Your analogy is bogus (see (*) above).  Give
                                it up.
                                \_ I think it was the right thing to do and
                                   the only reason it took 10 years is because
                                   Clinton preferred to take no action.
                                   \_ And I don't think it was the right thing
                                      to do.  Thanks for playing.
                                      \_ Way to reduce your point to a matter
                                         of opinion.
                                         \_ The point has been made already.
                                            You only offered an opinion, but
                                            expect something more in return?
                          \_ The minority ethnic group in Iraq was in favor of
                             continued slaughter and oppression of the majority
                             of the population.  I'm sure you're aware of that,
                             little troll.  I'll bet you were in favor of
                             a political change in SA where the situation was
                             exactly the same.  The only difference is that in
                             SA the minority oppressors were white people and
                             we know white people are automatically wrong and
                             evil at all times, right?
                             \_ Ah, playing the race card again.
                                First, except for the Kurds, Iraqis are
                                ethnically the same.  The Sunnis / Shiite
                                distinction is religious, not ethnic.  The
                                Kurds are ethnically different but they
                                are Sunnis too.  Thus your "minority
                                ethnic group [slaughtering and oppressing]
                                others" is bogus.  There are many Shiites
                                and also Christians in positions of power
                                under the Saddam regime.  While religious
                                and tribal affliations do play a role,
                                it is not in the black and white terms you
                                portray, and your attempt to castigate
                                all Sunnis as oppressors is wrong headed
                                and naive.  If you disregard their opinion
                                and interest, democracy in Iraq is bound to
                                fail.
        \_ You need to realize GW Bush cares more about PR at home than PR
           in Iraq.  So what if Iraqis don't like us.  That just means we
           need to kill a few more insurgents.  Piece of cake.  But hey,
           got to win that election first.
2003/12/17 [Uncategorized] UID:11489 Activity:nil 54%like:10668
12/16   http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2448756945
        Comments are priceless.
        \_ people buy things for scrap metal/spare parts, for other
           strange reasons.
2003/12/17 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:11490 Activity:nil
12/16   Firebird is great 95% of the time, but it sucks for 5% of websites
        (this is not good). Here's one example: just now I was trying to buy
        something on http://gateway.com... I fill out the form and hit submit and it
        says "Please select the user segment to which you belong"... when I
        fill out the form in IE, it works fine. I've had this happen on other
        sites as well... I see why IE users laugh at me... IE+googletoolbar
        is pretty good.
        \_ And then there are sites where IE consistently crashes, while
           firebird works fine.  That's why I use both.
           \_ IE almost never crashes.
              \_ My IE consistently crashes when visiting some sites,
                 both 5.5 and 6.0.
        \_ complain to the webmasters. tell them to use valid HTML.
           \_ i hate paying to do someone else's qa, but ya, i did that
              (this time) while filling out their customer survey card... i
              gave them a shitty score for "overall satisfaction" and told them
              how it is annoying to not be able to use my browser of choice.
              of course, they probably dont care.
       \_ most issue lies upon the javascript.  When I am in this
        situation, I am forced to use IE.  And... if you are in Asia,
        the chance is a lot higher than 5%.
2003/12/17 [Politics/Domestic/Gay, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:11491 Activity:nil
12/16   Follow-up on the Orson Scott Card thing.  If you want to know why
        he's a loony, read this old interview with him:
        http://dir.salon.com/books/feature/2000/02/03/card/index.html?pn=1
        \_ Ok I have got to be one of the most liberal posters on MOTD and
           Card does NOT sound like an asshole to me.  He calmly states the
           standard Mormon reason for "protecting marriage" only when pressed,
           and never states any kind of "affection for communism," so I can
           only imagine what you think you are talking about.  If anything
           the lesbian author of the article editorializes far beyond the
           limits of responsible journalism and comes off as shrill and
           intolerant.  I don't know what her problem is, and she wouldn't
           last two seconds outside of her safe little lefty bubble.  As for
           Card... writing off all Mormons as "loonies" is basically what you'd
           be doing, which is of course your choice.
        \_ But actually, his repugnant views on just about everything are
           right in line with typical motd thinking, besides the weird
           affection for communism that he displays...so never mind.  Don't
           bother. --op
           \_ what "repugnant views" would you be talking about?
              \_ " I believe government has a strong role to protect us
                   from capitalism." C'mon, don't you find that repugnant!?
                 \_ No.  I'm a full on right wing conservative and I do *not*
                    believe in full on fuck-you-all capitalism.  That sort of
                    thing leads directly to slavery.  No thanks.
                 \_ Child labor laws, the EPA, and the weekend are all things
                    the government has instituted to protect us from
                    capitalism.
           \_ jeez, he's just a sci fi writer.  the amazing thing is that
              it would appear that the motd wants to hold its novelists
              to higher standards than its political pundits.
              Card never really claims to be an authority on modern politics,
              just a science fiction writer.
        \_Was this somekind of wierd troll?  The woman interviewing him
          is obviously an idiot.  Card sounds very reasonable, and has
          some interesting points.
          \_ Oh, like that gay rights are "ridiculous," communism is
             something that hasn't even been properly tried yet, and the
             Vietnam war was a heroic and selfless sacrifice?  Its amazing
             how predictable the soda motd can be.  We should just change
             the name of the file to /etc/motd.public.fundies
                \_ the gay rights thing is a little much, but he doesn't say
                   gay rights are ridiculous... he is parroting the same
                   Mormon notion that "marriage" means a particular thing.
                   He also doesn't say the Vietnam war was a selfless
                   sacrifice... he says FIGHTING in it was.  And no, communism
                   was NOT tried in the USSR.  Communism can work on a small
                   scale- go get pizza at Cheeseboard.
2003/12/17-18 [Uncategorized] UID:11492 Activity:nil 58%like:11547
12/16   someone in motd was looking for a kernel developer/storage management
        job.  if you're not hired, can you drop me email at craig@veritas.com
        or charmer@csua.berkeley.edu?  --charmer
        \_ rest of thread deleted for leemness.  give jwm a job.
        \_ why are some people so narcissitic? --suave
           \_ It's a form of stupidity.  --hypercritical
              \_ hey, his last name is "Harmer", and his first initial is C.
                 what's wrong with that  --great_speller
                 \_ you're telling me his dad didn't plan out the great login
                    coincidence when he named his son?  --tinfoilhatguy
           \_ does this mean that "dim@csua" has low self esteem?  --bait
        \_ This entire thread is so lame, that words fail me.   --troll
           \_ Helping someone find a job is lame???
2003/12/17 [Transportation/Motorcycle] UID:11493 Activity:nil
12/16   I see people with really annoying blue lights and white turn signals.
        I've also seen motorcycles with annoying flashing brake lights.
        They really annoy me. Aren't they illegal, and why don't I ever see
        cops pull them over?
        \_ laws regarding flashing headlights and taillights on motorcycles
           vary from city to city
        \_ yes, blue lights are illegal. yes, white turn signals are
           illegal.
           \_ Are the blue lights the OP sees really blue in color?  If it's
              really blue in color, maybe it's illegal.  But if it's one of
              those high intensity white lights that looks blue because it
              looks less yellow than the tungsten or halogen lights, I don't
              think it's illegal.
        \_ Why would they be illegal?  They're all about being noticed.  For
           the motorcycle it's about safety.  Who knows why the rice bombs
           do it?
           \_ because yellow turn signals is universally known and understood.
              because blue can really fuck with nighttime vision.
              \_ Many common vehicles have red turn signals at the rear.  I
                 hate those (because if the driver also taps on the brake at
                 the same time it's very confusing), but they're common.
              \_ The bulb can be silver and the lens can be clear, but the
                 light emitted must be yellow. (There are silver bulbs
                 that emit yellow light when used.)
2003/12/17 [Reference/Military] UID:11494 Activity:nil
12/16   A Gun that shoots around corners:
        http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994487
        \_ They did the same thing on the very old Get Smart show.
        \_ A mounted mirror is almost as good and is simpler and less likely to
           fail.  The only thing is that the shooter has to compensate for
           lateral inversion.
           \_ It's just a gun with all the parts pushed forward.  What's going
              to fail more than any other gun?
              \_ The camera, the LCD, the battery.
2003/12/17 [Recreation/Food] UID:11495 Activity:high
12/17   The narcissistic pretty boy would like to offer some tips for having
        beautiful, radiant skin.  This will be posted over the next few
        months. First, you can't have outer beauty without having inner
        beauty.  You are what you eat.  Stop eating fast food junk food; and
        stop drinking sugar water.  Cut back on meat and all animal products
        and eat more fruits and vegetables.  And drink plenty of water every
        day.  -narcissistic pretty boy
        \_ You'll go far in sf.
           \_ All your dumbass are belong to the motd.
2003/12/17 [Computer/HW/Memory, Computer/SW/OS/Linux, Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:11496 Activity:moderate
12/17   Does anyone know why XP seems to run certain programs that consume
        lots of RAM at full speed right after a reboot, but significantly
        slower after a lot of uptime?  And don't just tell me "obUseLinux,"
        I would if I could, but Cubase doesn't run under Linux.  I'll also
        add that there doesn't seem to be any difference in page file usage
        between "slow runs" and "fast runs."
        \_ Sounds like your app is just allocating more over time (mem leak?)
           or else having to swap stuff back in.
           \_ No visible memory leak that I can discern, but then the tools
              that M$ gives you to evaluate performance are pretty
              rudimentary and I wouldn't be at all surprised if stuff is
              slipping through the cracks.
              \_ memory fragmentation might be an issue too
        \_ If it doesn't run on Linux, it isn't worth running.  Get a new app!
           \_ *laugh*  So can you suggest a MIDI/audio sequencer that does
              low latency audio and runs all the latest and greatest virtual
              instrument plugins in Linux?  Oh wait, you mean there's no such
              product?  Oh darn.  Oh well.  Guess I'll just have to give up on
              making music then, because LINUX IS THE STANDARD!
                \_ obGetAMacRunningOSX.
                   \_ Nah.  Why drop 3 grand on a Mac when I could spending
                      that money on new plugins and gear, and even a cheap
                      new PC to run stuff on?
                        \_ You don't need a $3k Mac to do MIDI stuff. Even
                           a $1k 1GHz G4 can handle that sort of thing.
        \_ Run netstat -an to check if your PC's been hijacked.
2003/12/17 [Computer/SW/OS/Linux] UID:11497 Activity:nil
12/17   I'm setting up a co-located server and just found out RedHat 9.0
        will be "end of life"d in April... will this be a problem/
        inconvenience? make more sense to go w/ debian instead? thanks
        \_ Not really.  Do you plan to upgrade to the kernel of the week or
           just run a stable system?
           \_ I think they'll stop releasing security updates after April, so
              that may be a problem.
        \_ consider Fedora http://fedora.redhat.com
        \_ run debian. keep up to date.
           \_ run gentoo, and keep more up to date. debian stable is, imho,
              ridiculously out of date.
              \_ In order to keep a gentoo based system up to date, it'll
                 have to spend most of its lifetime compiling and recompiling.
                 And I've seen very little performance boost.  You can always
                 run debian unstable or testing, or add apt sources to backports
                 for stable for newer packages.
                 - former gentoo user, now a debian fan-boy
                 \_ i use both debian and gentoo. debian's package system seems
                    rather more convoluted, and running unstable is umm, unstable,
                    while running testing is not so great for stability either.
                    anyway, if you have a decently fast machine, recompiling is
                    no problem, unless you're the kinda guy who must have every
                    single package offered, and keep every single one up to date.
                 \_ aren't stability and newness opposites?
                    \_ no.
2003/12/17 [Uncategorized] UID:11498 Activity:nil
12/17   Isn't it great how first in the wall_log these days never comes from
        students who are still enrolled?
        \_ Cron.
        \_ as do many of the walls. your point? -nivra
2003/12/17-19 [Recreation/Media] UID:11499 Activity:nil
12/17   12:01 AM: Return of the King: +++++++
        \_ 'this movie will make you shit stuff you did not eat
            when you see it'
        \_ I dunno.  The battle scenes were definitely cool, but I thought
           the actors weren't up to their usual par from the first two movie;
           especially the first half.  Most of the characters almost seemed
           like entirely different characters, especially Gollum.
                                               \_ they switched from a PC
                                                  to a mac.
           \_ good allah, i hope so. the idea is for the characters to grow
              and progress, unlike sodans.
              \_ I tried to rationalize it that way, but during the first half
                 of the movie, their acting just sucked.  They were better in
                 the second half.
        \_ I thoroughly enjoyed it. The ending was a tad long, but then again,
           the book's ending was really long, so I think they did a good job
           with it.
2003/12/17 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:11500 Activity:nil
12/17   The little panda is named "Born in USA".  More videos of the cute
        little guy at this web site.
        http://www.sandiegozoo.org/videos/indexpanda.html
2003/12/17 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:11501 Activity:nil
12/17   Wow, Saddam really was involved in 9/11
        http://csua.org/u/5ax
        \_ We shall see. The Iraqi Nationalists have fed us a lot of
           phoney intel before, this looks like more of the same to me.
           \_ Can you say "Ahmed Chalabi"?
              \_ No, actually.  I can't.
2003/12/17 [Finance/Banking, Reference/Tax] UID:11502 Activity:nil
12/17   http://www.fuh2.com
2003/12/17-18 [Computer/SW/Apps/Media] UID:11503 Activity:nil
12/17   I'm a die-hard Winamp 2.x user from way back.  Has anyone used Winamp 5
        and if so, how does its speed and UI compare vs Winamp 2.x ?
        \_ you can make the UI pretty much the same as 2.x by using the classic
           skin. i dunno, it might be slower a bit, but not by much, and more
           features usually do that to a piece of software anyway. otoh, i like
           that it has builtin ogg support finally, so i'm sticking with it.
        \_ A couple of people have mentioned it's a resource hog, especially
           for CPU cycles. I figure stick with what works (2.91).
        \_ I was sticking w/ W2 without realizing that a lot of people were
           doing the same thing.  I really like W5 so far-- it's got j<search
           string> functionality, which I was *really* missing.  I like the new
           UI, seems fast to me.
           \_ Addendum: there's still no intelligent guessing of metadata in
              here.  How hard can it be to let me specify a few common filename
              formats to guess with? "artist - track"; "artist" - "album" -
              "track" "artist/album/track" would take care of at least 75% of
              the misnamed files.
           \_ Thank you, motdformatd
2003/12/17 [Uncategorized] UID:11504 Activity:nil
12/17   Is the line "Long time no see." really common English?  I've use it so
        many times writing to my Asian friends and now I've confused myself.
        Thx.  --- Asian
        \_ Yes, it's common English. My Chinese teacher always guessed that
           it was a direct translation of "chang shi bu jian" that made
           its way into the mainstream of American English back in the 19th
           century.  She had no proof of that though, it was just a guess.
        \_ Use that phrase when you actually see people, not when you write
           to them.
        \_ It's a colloquialism, like "What's up?"
        \_ To be used with friends.  Don't use it with others such as your
           manager at work, for example.  Not a good career move.  :-)
        \_ common phrase.  must have come from the asian community and
           adopted by others.  Am I biting on a troll?
        \_ I wondered about that too.  My guess would be that it is a
           direct translation of "hao jiu bu jian" (using commie
           romanization here).  However I see many white guys using the
           phrase too.
2003/12/17 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:11505 Activity:nil
12/17   DIANE SAWYER:   But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons
        of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move
        to acquire those weapons still
        PRESIDENT BUSH:   So what's the difference?
        http://abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/US/bush_sawyer_excerpts_2_031216.html
        \_ Even better:
           DIANE SAWYER:   What would it take to convince you he didn't
           have weapons of mass destruction?
           PRESIDENT BUSH:   Saddam Hussein was a threat and the fact that
           he is gone means America is a safer country.
        \_ Bush doesn't dance, misdirect, or kickback to you so you'll
           shut up like Clinton.
           Bush just says Fuck you, like any good Republican, and I believe
           most good Republicans appreciate that.
           \_ Yup.  Most good Republicans are dumb frat boys, just like GWB.
              \_ I'm sure it makes you feel superior to think that.  With that
                 loser you idiots are pushing for '04 it'll be 4 more Bush
                 years probably followed by 8 more from Jeb Bush.  As soon as
                 you jerkoffs in the (D) party get it together and stop
                 underestimating the opposition you'll start winning again.
                 Until then, I'm voting Green.  At least when my party loses,
                 I know I've voted my heart instead of voting for the lesser
                 evil who can't win anyway.  Restore the two party system,
                 vote Green in '04!
                 \_ I know you're not a Green.  You're a Republican troll.
                    And by the way:
                    http://www.ericblumrich.com/idiot.html
           \_ Nah, Clark is the one that doesn't dance.  Where is the clip
              where he shut the interviewer up?  Republicans dance.
              Bush doesn't dance not because he doesn't want to but
              because it is beyond his ability.
           \_ In spite of Republican fantasies, you are still not a majority
              party. Keep saying "fuck you" to the independents and
              moderates out there. I really apreciate it.
              \_ They don't vote. People who don't vote don't count. One
                 of the most admirable qualities of Repubs (or which I am
                 not one) is that they actually vote. They say "fuck you"
                 with their votes, which is where it matters.
                 \_ Nail.  Head.  The most infuriating thing about our system
                    is how many people choose not to participate in it, always
                    with the excuse that it means nothing to "their lives."
                    I'm wondering if this will change in a generation with
                    the gradual rise to power of new immigrant groups.
2003/12/17 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:29723 Activity:nil
12/16   I supported the Afghan War (cause Taliban is hopeless and Osama
        is there) but opposed the Iraq War.  I am glad there is some
        progress on the Afghan front:
        http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/16/international/asia/16CND-AFGH.html
        \_ The what?  Ohhh, that thing.
           \_ Not all of us only think about whatever CNN feeds us that hour.
        \_ this is one of my MANY reasons why I oppose war in Iraq.  Taliban
           is bad, but anarchy would only allow extremist and drug trafficing
           florish.  Despite all the progress, there are a lot of things
           needs to be done before Afghan again became a hotbed of trouble.
2003/12/17 [Reference/Celebration, Recreation/Food, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:29724 Activity:nil
12/16   Since mass grave and killing of kurds are considered one of the reason
        why we invade Iraq, we might as well to invade Turkey for what they've
        done, which put Saddam's oppression looks like a child play:
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3325247.stm
        \_ So you would advocate turning the entire middle east into one
           glass-paved nuclear wasteland, punctuated only by oil wells  to
           feed the weestern industrial machine?
           \_ Not western, just American.
              \_ Sounds good to me.
2025/03/15 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
3/15    
Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2003:December:17 Wednesday <Tuesday, Thursday>