1/27    "Most Obnoxious Television Show Ever" poll
        American Idol: .
        American Idol 2: ..
        American Idol 3: ...........
        Simpsons: .
        The one with Nikki Cox and Bobcat Golthwait as the muppet:
        Firefly:
        Anything with Steven Cojocaru in it: .
        \_ Who is he?
        Ed, Edd, and Eddy: .
        The XFL: .

1/27    Anyone have a recommendation for a decent digital sniper rifle scope?
        \_ What's the diff between a digital scope and your bog standard
           tube-with-lenses-at-either-end?  -John
        \_ just curious, what is wrong with an optical one?
                -- can't shoot anything beyond 150 yards
           \_ y00 sux0rz!!1  my gild w1l r0x0rz y00r sux0rZ gild! h@r!
        \_ how are digital scopes different?
           \_ they're kewler!1  i hav wun in doom3, d00de!
        \_ ask on http://www.freerepublic.com
        \_ what's wrong with a leupold vari-x?
           \_ my g1ld doom3 hax0rz sk0pe r0xrz y0r lamER lop0ld!
        \_ you are most likely a troll.  But to those who know,
           what is the advantage of a digital scope?
        \_ http://www.nightvisionplanet.com/atn-dgtlu.html
           \_ Seems like a waste.  You really only need one good reticle,
              and once you learn to use it well it'll be more than
              sufficient.  For those who have the time/interest, there's
              a book by Maj. John Plaster called, "The Ultimate Sniper,"
              that has a chapter on choosing and using various reticles.

1/27    Are Vegas bookies placing odds on the Democratic Primary?  or point
        spreads?  Where can these numbers be found?
        \_ http://tradesports.com
           \_ thanks!
        \_ Here is the Iowa Electronic Markets numbers:
           http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/markets/data_Pres04_VS.html
           Looks like you could make some money if you arbitrage the two.

1/27    Does anyone have any recommendations for a reliable and not too
        expensive small claims process server who'll serve someone living
        in san jose? Thanks.
        \_ Check out the constable. Most counties have them, and they
           will serve papers for a small fee.
        \_ Usually the sheriff will do this for next to nothing and sometimes
           the judge will let you get that from the defendant too.

1/27    Does anyone own or have used the iRiver iHP-XXX hd-based MP3 players?
        If so:
        - Does it have variable playback speed (1/2x, 2x, 4x, etc)?
        - Can you schedule it to record FM broadcasts?
        - Can you access the hard drive natively through a Windows Explorer
          (XP)?
        I'm very interested in getting it if it can do the above.  I've
        emailed iRiver, but haven't had a response, and I haven't come across
        any reviews describing the aforementioned features.  -TIA
        \_ Learn how to format to 80 lines.
           \_ reformatted
        \_ I recently bought an iHP-120.  I'm not sure about the variable
           playback speed (I don't there it has that).  Definitely no to
           scheduling FM recording; I don't believe you can record from FM at
           all.  Yes to Windows Explorer; you don't need to install any
           software on the PC.  Overall I'm really happy with it.  Also see
           this thread: http://csua.org/u/5qd -- jameslin

1/27    In TCSH when i type part of a command and do ESC-p, it searches
        backwards in the command history and matches and completes the last
        command corresponding to the partial command I have typed.  When
        I do the same thing in BASH, it prints a ":".  How do I get the
        history-search-backwards/forward in BASH?  THANKS!
        \_ man bash;  Look for the section on Searching.
        \_ in bash and zsh, use C-r/C-s for emacs-style reverse/forward
           incremental search.
           \_ zsh also supports tcsh-style history-search-backward, if you
              want that.
        \_ Don't listen to these heathen.  tcsh is the One True Shell!  Bash
           is what linux weenies use because, well, uhm, Linus uses it so it
           must be the best!
           \_ Ranting aside, bash really is quite shitty.  There's no real
              reason to be running it with all the other options out there.
              It tries to be everything to everyone, and ends up being
              internally inconsistent.
                \_ Bash is the only shell that is useable for interactive
                   sessions, features a bourne-compatible syntax and ships
                   by default on Solaris, most Linux distros and MacOS X.
                   The only other option for interactive sessions is ksh,
                   which isn't available by default on most Linux distros
                   and MacOS X. (Before you say just d/l ksh or whatever
                   other shell, try to keep in mind that some of us have
                   to use systems where we cannot install/execute software
                   that isn't approved or isn't part of the default
                   install, so we have to be familiar with the tools that
                   are almost always present).
                   \_ Based on the descriptions online, I'm having trouble
                      seeing what makes bash interactive and tcsh not and, FTM,
                      what's the big deal about being interactive. Apologies
                      for lack of clue.
                   \_ Could somebody do me a favor and tell me what the word
                      "interactive" means in this context. Apologies for my
                      lack of clue but it's not like the thing can talk to you.
                   \_ Why is it the only one usable?
                      \_ It doesn't have a builtin spell checker, we know that
                         from his post, heh.
                   \_ bourne syntax is better for programming, not for
                      interactive use.
                      \_ kinda cool how the pro-bash clone eliminated dozens
                         of other options as if his opinion was fact.  i like
                         him.  he'll do well on the motd.
                                \_ tcsh has no advantages over bash (save a
                                   memory footprint of ~ 200kB, which is
                                   meaningless these days). The fact that
                                   it uses c-shell syntax is a huge drawback.
                                   Some of us do use if, for, while on the
                                   command line.
                                   \_ tcsh has plenty of advantages over bash;
                                      better interactive syntax, for one.
                         \_ name some other options that are available by
                            default on most systems.
                            \_ tcsh
                                \_ what part of "cannot install/execute software
                                   that isn't approved or isn't part of the
                                   default install" didn't you understand?
                            \_ it's not really hard to install your own shell
                               locally and run it from whatever PoS login
                               shell you're given (example: bash).
              \_ Since Panther, I've been using bash and I don't esp. like
                 it, but i can't figure out if I don't like it out of
                 lazyness/acustomedness to tcsh or some other reason.
                 Which shell do you recommend? zsh?
                 \_ I would have switched to zsh a long time ago if I wasn't
                    such a lazy fuck.

1/28    Any cookbook to setup WebDAV/Apache2 on Windows?
        \_ Why would you run the ultimate *nix application on windows?

1/28  get a life!
      \_ get a job!!
      \_ Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family,
         Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars,
         compact disc players, and electrical tin openers.
         \_ Damn good movie.
            \_ The novel's even better.
         \_ And some better lyrics.
              \_ !lyrics.  #L
      \_ get a wife!
         \_ That would be worst possible mistake you could make. There
            is no escape, save death, from the living hell that your
            life will be transformed into. You would do far better to
            toss your possessions into the nearest ditch, give your
            assets to a homeless charity or orphanage and then live
            out the remainder of your days under an overpass in the
            middle of the Nevada desert.
            \_ return of Bitter Divorced Guy!
            \_ hear hear!  --Bitter Married Guy
            \_ I think a wife might be ok if you are over 45 and not
               extremely wealthy.
               \_ If you want to spend your declining years in torment.
                  If you really need a woman, get a gf. They are cheaper
                  and can be easily replaced.
            \_ No, please, tell us how you really feel about marriage.
               \_ Imagine going to a dinner where everyone is laughing
                  and having a good time except you. Now imagine that
                  the reason you are not having a good time is that
                  they ripped your heart from your chest and starting
                  eating it in front of your face.
                  \_ I've actually been thinking that this would be a
                     cool tattoo to get, where it looks like your chest
                     cavity has been ripped open and your heart ripped
                     out.
        \_ restored.  -bdg fan
        \_ No way.
           Choose no life. Choose no career. Choose no family. Choose a fucking
           big computer, choose disk arrays the size of washing machines, modem
           racks, CD-ROM writers, and electrical coffee makers. Choose no sleep,
                  \_ ^CD-ROM^DVD^
           high caffeine and mental insurance. Choose no friends. Choose black
           jeans and matching combat boots. Choose chairs for your office in a
           range of fucking fabrics. Choose SMTP and wondering why the fuck you
           are logged on on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting in that swivel
           chair looking at mind-numbing, spirit-crushing web sites, stuffing
           fucking junk food in your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it
           all, pishing your last on some miserable newsgroup, nothing more than
           embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up lusers Gates spawned to
           replace the Computer-literate. Choose your future.
           Choose to SYSADMIN.
           \_ and then get ready to train your Indian replacements before they
              lay you off.

1/28    Slashdot has a story about the DeCSS haiku, which reference's the
        CSUA's collection of zinc haiku.  What is he talking about?  Motd
        historians, your city needs you.
        \_ ~scotsman/pub/humor/zinc_haikus
        \_ Some of you people are getting carried away with the apostrophes.
           \_ What than would you have us do?  It's better then abuse of the
              then/than misspellings.  And corrected; sorry.
              \_ I hope you know you just made a then/than mistake in that post.
        \_ http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/haiku.html -- my article including
           influence of CSUA zinc haiku in my poem about DeCSS.    -- schoen

1/28    kinda like that monkey swatting thing:
        http://meph.eu.org
        \_ Looks like the same thing that was floating around before,
           but with different variables so the distances are longer.

1/28    What is the policy of yahoo in terms of account inactivity?  How
        long does your account have to be inactive before they delete it?
        On their "Terms of Service" page, it says that the account could be
        closed due to inactivity, but it doesn't specify how long.
         \_ It's crazy long.  I talked to a person a yahoo once about an
            account i had setup with fake data (which i couldn't remember
            and so couldn't get the password).  It was my whole name though
            (and an uncommon one) so i figured i could wait for it to
            to expire and re-sign up, (it had already been a year) the guy
            basically said i was doomed.  My other yahoo account i have
            left sitting for over 6 months and come back to it with no
            problems.
        \_ I created the account "ausman" on yahoo and forgot my password
           and switched jobs, so password recovery no longer worked. The
           account still exists. I created it back in 1995 or 1996 and
           last used it in Jan 1997. -ausman
        \_ I had something similar happen with eBay.  They were cool about it
           though.  They put the old account in some special status and once
           no one rescued it after 30 days it died and they let me change my
           user name. -dgies

1/28    To the guy who keeps modifying my posts:  why do you hate me so much?
        I'm just posting common sense advice here.  It's fairly
        non-controversial, I think.  -pretty boy

1/28    How do AV companies come up with virus names?  MyDoom is also called
        Novarg and SCO, but none of these strings show up in the email or
        the attatchment.
        \_ randomly.  how did codered get named?
           \_ Some (Melissa) get names after strings in the payload.  Some
              (I love You) get named after the emails which deliver them.  Some
              (Kournikova) get named after what the payload is supposed to have.
           \_ Code Red got named by the geeks who first discovered it in the
              wild, who decided to name it after what they were drinking at
              the time.  -tom

1/28    I have a pair of Sennheiser headphones that I've had for a long time
        and I really like but recently I've had a problem where the sound in
        one ear (or occasionally both) cuts in and out. I think it's a
        problem with the connector and not the headphones themselves... I can
        order replacement connectors online but is there somewhere in the bay
        area I can take these where i can try out new connectors before I
        buy them and make sure that's the problem? (South Bay would be great
        but I'll go to SF or East Bay if necessary).
        \_ Fry's?  Some audio-video place?  Try wiggling the connector
           around to see if the sound changes.
        \_ Take it to Magnolia Hi-Fi across from Valley Fair. They carry
           Sennheisers, and I'm sure they'd let you connect yours to one of
           their cables. But don't buy from them... way overpriced (i bought
           my HD-590's for over $100 cheaper online)

1/28    Would you buy/trust a used laptop from ebay?
        \_ Yeah probably. I've bought an IBM laptop battery and laptop
           keyboard on eBat. They both work great. Soon I will need a new
           backlight and I plan on looking on ebay if the official parts
           are expensive.
        \_ Once upon a time I bought a Toshiba 486 laptop.  It worked fine for
           a few months, but then the power board shit itself and it wouldn't
           stay on for more than a few seconds.  Just one data point.
        \_ I bought two used IBM thinkpads on eBay. Both worked fine.
           I would recommend that you only bid on laptops offered by
           people with lots of positive points (like 100+). -ausman

1/28    best keyboarD:
        http://louhi.kempele.fi/~skyostil/archive/dump/images/supercoder.jpg

1/28    Hi, anyone know of any good screen recording software for Linux?
        I've seen one weird one that takes X screen shots and strings them
        together.
        \_ Do you need motion or just stills? xwd is standard for stills.

1/28    Trying to find out how Echelon works, the technology it uses to
        filter out data (algorithm, etc), they type of database it uses
        to store huge amount of data, the infrastructure, etc etc. Google
        doesn't seem to help. Thanks.
        \_ "Google doesn't seem to help" because it doesn't even officially
           exist.  obDuh!  Now what I can tell you is that there are places
           in other countries where government/military buildings are sitting
           "just so" in line with public transmitters are almost certainly
           slurping up the air waves.
        \_ This stuff is all classified (why did the AMC delete this comment?)

1/28    invoke 'spamc' and not 'spamassassin' from your .procmailrc

        11:19AM  up 15 days, 18:26, 155 users, load averages: 4.69, 3.58, 3.22

        grep -Hs spamassassin `locate /.procmailrc | grep 'procmailrc$'`
        \_ is spamc reliable now?
           \_ No problems with it since I started using it (2 months ago)
              \_ If spamd crashes then I get a deluge of spam.
                 \_ If spamd crashes mail ROOT.

1/28    ALright what's the difference between:
        http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/nektar/kma/contents35.htm
        http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/nektar/kma/contents32.htm
        besides her left leg going up or not?   -kama sutra student
        \_ For one thing, the man isn't kneeling in one of them.

1/28    So why is Kay blaming faulty intelligence, when Powell's presentation
        to the UN was total crap?

1/27    Lord, now Kinney is posting his drivel on pantsfactory.  It was good
        while it lasted.
        \_ You should kill him.  Hint: no one else gives a shit.
        \_ No one ever answered me about him being mentally ill or not.

1/27    [ No, dans. ]