5/29    [ hi, killing parts of threads is bad.  entire thing nuked.
          have a nice day. ]

5/30    Let's say I have a directory full of subdirectories, each of which
        has a number of files in it. How can I delete all subdirectories that
        have, say, less than 10 files in them?
                   \_ fewer
        \_ There's no single standard command that will do this.  You'll
           need to write something that will count files per directory,
           make a list of targets and pass that to rm.
           \_ might the "find" command help?
              \_ That is one part of one possible solution.  What I would do
                 is write the whole thing in perl.  Perl has a built in
                 find-like function, can opendir() and readdir(), and allow
                 you to easily maintain state and lists of target dirs.  It's
                 a simple two phase process: 1) make target list, 2) kill
                 targets.  Obviously, you'll want to test your code in a
                 test directory or you risk removing the wrong files.
                 \_ mosquito.  SLEDGEHAMMER!  <BABAMMMM!!!!!!>
                    \_ Uhm, yeah, the following are any different?
        \_ Exactly 80 chars:
for(grep{!/^\.\.?$/&&-d}<*>){opendir D,$_;unlink if@{[readdir D]}<12;closedir D}
           --dbushong
        \_ More than 80 chars:
        sub z{my @a=`find $_[0] -type d -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1`;chomp @a;@a};
        for (z(".")) { print "$_\n" if scalar(z($_))>$n; } # --darin
        \_ A bit shorter and more correct:
           use File::Path;
           for(grep{-d}<*>){rmtree $_ if <$_/*> < 10}
           --dbushong
                                           \_ I don't think this works.
                                              scalar(<$_/*>) does not return
                                              the file count. In any event,
                                              the script deleted stuff it
                                              wasn't supposed to and didn't
                                              delete stuff it should. Good
           \_ I don't think this works.  scalar(<$_/*>) does not return
              the file count. In any event, the script deleted stuff it
              wasn't supposed to and didn't delete stuff it should. Good
              thing I backed up. -- op
              \_ Yeah, it needs @{[ ]} around it like mconst's... but use his.
                 And yeah, anytime there's a "shortest perl" contest on the
                 motd, Caveat Executor.  --dbushong
        \_ @{[<$_/{.,}*>]}<12&&`rm -r \Q$_`for<*>       # --mconst
        \- hmm, there are some interesting ways to do this ...
           the exact details vary slightly based on things like, are all
           the dirs only one deep, do you count sub-subdirs are files etc.
           i think it is better to do this modularly rather than trying to
           save characters. here is one different approach:
           find -type f | xargs -n 1 dirname | sort | uniq -c |
               egrep -v '[0-9][0-9]' | grep /
           there are some obvious shortcuts or changes to make more
           robust [e.g. if there are spaces in name], if you are going
           to do this once or mutiple times, performance etc. [yes i know
           the dirname call is expensive ... that can be replaced, but if
           this is a one shot thing, debugging time is more expensive
           than machine cycles]. --psb
           \-and it admittedly relied on a hack to deal with the "less
                 than 10 part" ... but all this is easily remedied. --psb

5/31    Is there a way in Windows XP to make particular files or directories
        password protected.  This would be so that someone could you the
        administrator account, but not be able to access particular
        directories without reentering the password.
        \_ http://www.google.com/search?q=password+protected+folders+windows
        \_ EFS or pgpdisk.  EFS key mgt. is ass, pgpdisk costs money.  -John
           \_ any tips on using EFS and managing keys well for it?  Can you
              just put your key in lots of places (and depend on the password),
              e.g. on your webservers, to not lose it?  Not as secure, true,
              but I'm mostly interested in a casual thief stealing my
              laptop and getting my financial records. (anyone who really
              wants them has probably already broken into them anyway...) -!op
        \_ http://www.cypherix.com/index.htm
           I have never used it, but it claims to be free. Let me know if
           it works.

5/31    Occasionally I can feel drum beat in my apartment. I can't find
        the source but I can feel it, what is the best way to deal with this
        problem? Should I blast back, tell the manager (already tried once
        but she didn't seem to care), or what?
        \_ play electric guitar really loud, when a drummer comes
           and knockks and wants to start a band, kill him.
           \_ Won't work.  Anyone can play guitar, but drummers are in demand.
        \_ is it at 3 in the morning?  'cause otherwise, just deal.  You
           live in an apartment.  One of the disadvantages of sharing walls
           with others is that you can occasionaly hear them. Jeesh.
           (you will live a longer and healthier life if you learn not to
           let stuff like this slide.  Also, people will like you more.)
           \_ yea... there's MANY things worse you could be hearing through
              the walls....
        \_ Keep trying to track it--you'll find it eventually.  Then, ask
           nicely.  Then, ask nastily.  Then, move.
           \_ If a little thumping bugs him so much, it's hopeless.  It's
              a part of apartment life.  He can't even locate it.  How bad
              can it be?  Of course the manager ignored him.
        \_ I once heard my neighbors having sex. She was a blonde, cute
           ex-cheerleader. He was a balding, geeky English teacher. Never
           since have I experienced something so sexy and revolting at the same
           time.
           \_ Well, I hope she at least got an A.
              \_ Or at least an 'O'.
           \_ Sexy, revolting and strangely appealing as it gave hope to you.
        \_ Get 2 microphones feeding into different channels of a stereo
           connector and feed it into your computer.  Set up the 2 mics maybe
           10 feet apart.  Then when he's drumming record the feed into your
           computer.  If you view the wave, you can see a drum beat arrive at
           one mic a little sooner than the other one by comparing the two
           stereo channels in a sound editor.  By varying the position of the
           mics, arrange them to maximize the difference in sound arrival time.
           The line between the 2 mics will point at the drummer.  If you
           move the whole setup and repeat the process you can triangulate his
           position.
           \_ What if he's above/below you?  -John
           \_ Let me correct myself.  You can actually get the most accurate
              directional measurement by rotating the mics so that the sound
              arrives at them at the same time.  This won't tell you what side
              of the arrangement the sound comes from, but with 44kHz recording
              you can resolve about 1/3" of distance difference, and with mics
              a yard apart, that can resolve the angle of origin to within
              about 1% of a radian.
              \_ Why go to all that trouble?  Get a gun, let your neighbors
                 know you have a gun and that you're pissed off at the asshole
                 with the drum, and you just might shoot him in the head.
                 \_ Excellent idea! You probably won't be hearing drumbeats
                    in your jail cell.

5/32    Anyone considered raising alpacas?  http://Alpacainfo.com

5/31    What's up with the NNTP server? I haven't been able to read my
        newsgroups in 2 days.
        \_  I assume agate is among the computers affected by the planned power
            outage.  Can anyone confirm?
            \_ ping agate

5/31    Memorial Day question. Rather than launching D-Day, invading
        Der Vatherland, and getting thousands and thousands of our GIs killed
        (esp. on Omaha Beach), why didn't we just strike a deal with the
        Axis in order to save more lives? What exactly did we gain from
        unconditional surrender? German gold? (not really) German art? (no)
        German women? (maybe) German technology? (yes)
        \_ Part of it was prior commitments to the Russians.  The Allies were
           trying to prevent the Eastern Front from collapsing.
           Of course you may argue that by 1944, it wasn't going to collapse
           regardless of what the Allies did.  Part of it was probably
           realpolitik considerations -- the cost of invading Europe was
           deemed acceptable given the influence the US would achieve in the
           post-war world on the continent.  The US didn't want to leave the
           entire Europe to the Russians.  You may note the US never invaded
           Japan -- the costs outweighed the benefits there. -- ilyas
           \_ Ummm... we were sure PLANNING to invade Japan, the only
              reason we didn't was because to A-bomb worked so well.
              \_ Of course we did.  I claim the US would not have invaded even
                 without the A-bomb.  The US would have negotiated a surrender.
                 The invasion was simply not worth it.  Invasion planning is
                 something the military guys do, because it is their job.
                 The call of whether to invade or not rests with the politicians
                 and if their heads are on straight, they make the right call.
                   -- ilyas
                   \_ The US was not just planning but was going through all
                      the motions required to do so.  I know guys who were
                      in holding areas waiting for the final word to load up
                      in boats and head to the main land.  They wrote their
                      letters home and expected to die until it was called
                      off after the bomb was dropped.
                   \_ DAMN STRAIGHT!!  Actually, I don't think it's clear
                      either way.  It bothers me that 99% of people are
                      certain that the A-BOMB was neccesary to end the war.
                      I think it's an open question with valid points on
                      either side.
                      \_ There are different ways to end a war.  Some are
                         better than others.  A simple cessation of fighting
                         without a change in leadership like post-WWI Germany
                         only sets everyone up for round 2.
                 \_ It all depends on whether Japan/Germany would be
                    willing to surrender. Threat of invasion made for a
                    stronger case. So did the defeat of Germany.
                 \_ I respectfully disagree.  As I recall, the Japanese
                    had already offered to surrender, on the condition
                    that the Emperor be allowed to keep his position.
                    However, removing the emperor and forcing him to admit
                    his not-godhood is basically what permenantly
                    destroyed the Japanese empire.  It's kinda like what
                    would happen to the middle east if we could kick
                    Mohammed's butt and force him to admit that he isn't
                    really a prophet. There just wouldn't be much reason
                    to fight anymore.
                     \_ How long has this been up here?  This is wrong.
                        There is *still* a Japanese emporer.  The Japanese
                        had *not* offered to surrender.  After the bombs were
                        dropped, they surrendered WITH the above condition
                        (that the emprorer be allowed to keep his position).
                        Jeesh, and the guy below thinks that everyone here
                        should know why we launched D-Day. -phuqm
                        \_ You should.  It was only one of the most important
                           military and possibly non-military history events
                           in the last 100+ years.  It only formed the world
                           as we know it today.  Maybe you think who Britney
                           is dating is more important?
                        \_ Wow phuqm.  I'm really impressed you signed
                           your name to a statement showing such amazing
                           ignorance.  Offer of Japanese surrender
                           rejected: http://csua.org/u/7j9 Note that it
                           mentions that the Emporer would be subject to
                           the American military commander.  The Emperor
                           surrendered UNCONDITIONALY after the A-bomb.
                           In other words, he gave up the throne.
                           MacArthur allowed him to continue as emperor,
                           but the magic was gone.  Now he was just some
                           dude. So, in conclusion, there is still
                           an emperor, but he is no longer a demi-god.
                           -jrleek
        \_ Is this a lame troll or are you just a product of the American
           edjumuhkayshunal system?
        \_ Because after spending years villifying the Germans and Japanese
           in an attempt to cajole the United States public into believing
           that WWII was a just cause, FDR became a victim of his own
           propaganda. There was just no way politically that the United
           States would have accepted less than victory over "the Hun"
           especially when it seemed so close at hand.
           \_ well said well said.  everything above is boring junk
              until this.

5/31    http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2709203
        The article itself isn't that great, but at the end is the amusing
        fact: "Now that the police routinely test offenders for drugs,
        they are noticing that certain chemicals seem to be associated with
        certain types of crime. One Home Office study of 3,000 arrestees
        found that those pulled in for burglary and shoplifting were more
        likely to test positive for heroin than anyone else. Muggers and
        purse-snatchers, though, were most likely to be cocaine or crack
        users."  -So, know your area's drug of choice, and prepare!
        \_ The pot heads don't commit crimes?  Stuck at home on the couch
           without the will to go rip someone off?
           \_ Sounds like the beginning of a drug dealer infomercial.
              "Are you a pot head?  Stuck at home?  Just can't get up the
              enery to go out and mug someone?  Then Crack Cocaine may be
              energy to go out and mug someone?  Then Crack Cocaine may be
              for you!  Ask your local drug dealer about Crack Cocaine.
              Side affects may include heart attack and a "hanging around
              with butt holes" sensation.

5/31    On average what is the power consumption of modern computer
        components? I'll start with my estimates, you correct/add as needed:
        Pentium 4: 80W
        200G IDE HD: 10W
        Video Card: 10W ? Mine has a fan on it
        MB: 15W? Mine has a fan on it
        How about transformer? Misc?
        \_ Latest video cards from ATI and Nvidia draw 80-100W
        MB: 15W? Mine has a fan on it
        How about transformer? Misc?
        \_ There are techie websites out there with all this info.
           \_ urlP
              \_ uhm, #t
        \_ You've lowballed a bunch of those numbers.

5/31    Under XP, is being prompted to run fdisk during boot >50% of the
                                           \_ I assume you meant chkdisk?
                                Sorry, was in real-OS mode. -John _/
        time a sign of a failing HD?  I tried this several times, with
        not much luck.  The drive's not making any noises out of the
        ordinary, and my bios has just recently started giving me disk
        read errors (no boot at all).  -John
        \_ Yes.  Your HD is fucked.  dd to another drive, do not collect
           $200 and do not pass go.  Drives are cheap.  Data is expensive.
           \_ Was.  It's dead.  Nothing of import on it.  -John
              \_ And you bothered us with the report of your dead HD because..?
                 Did you want to hear about the excessive wear on my new ties
                 or how my tv remote control buttons are wearing out?
                 \_ No, I want you to eat the peanuts out of my shit while I
                    try to drill into your thick skull that there may be a
                    possibility that I discovered the drive was dead by some
                    other means after posting the question, and thought I
                    would leave it for the benefit of others in case somebody
                    posted some informative help.  Bite me.  -John

5/31    Does soad have more than its fair share of haters or does an
        anonymous motd just make it seem so?
        \_ People revert to pretty juvenile behavior when anonymous.  So
           what?  That's life.
        \_ I don't see any hate thread today. Can you be more specific?
            \_ not talking particularly about today, just in general.
        \_ No, people are just people.  Anonymity allows people to say what
           they were already thinking.  Suppression of speech, Berkeley-style,
           does not suppress thought.
           \_ signing your name wouldn't suppress your speech--just make you
              responsible for it.  -tom
              \_ when the cost of that responsibility is too high, it becomes
                 suppression.  one has the right to say all sorts of things but
                 if one's name was attached to them a lot of things one has the
                 right to say can still destroy a career, get one arrested or
                 a bunch of other bad things.  when the burden of
                 responsibility for speech rises to the point where it can ruin
                 the speaker's life, speech is no longer free.  as someone who
                 has nothing to lose you wouldn't understand that.
                 \_ That's pretty sad.  If you are that fearful of what you
                    say, why bother saying it?  That's not external supression.
                    That's introspection.  I've never said anything publicly
                    that I wouldn't own up to.  Keep a diary if you're that
                    worried.  --scotsman
           \_ Or supression of speech, Catholic Church style, or Miss Manners
              style or however.
              \_ Miss Manners?  Do you ever read her column?  She doesn't say
                 you shouldn't say what you're thinking.  She says you should
                 say it in such a way as to leave the other person with no
                 response (thus preventing escalation) yet without making
                 yourself look like a barbarian.  The Catholic Church hasn't
                 been able to shut anyone up since Luther.  I don't know why
                 you're picking on them.  They've had their day.
                 \_ You have successfully read 100% the opposite of what
                    I intended into what I said. I think I was clear enough.
                    It is your thinking that is muddled. The suppression
                    of speech Miss Manners style does not suppress thought. Is
                    that really too complicated a concept for you?
              \_ everyone suppresses speech to an extent from rush limbaugh
                 to the aclu.. from george w. bush to osama bin laden..
                 \_ I see you agree with me.

5/31    I've decided to give in and try out DDR.  I have a PS2, what should I
        get?  DDR?  DDRMax?  What's the difference?
              \_ DDR == PSone, DDRMax == PS2. i am selling my Ignition 2.0
                 pads (two of them). e-mail if you are interested. --jwang
        \_ Throw away $2 in the arcade first.
           \_ I'd rather rent or buy a used copy than embarrass myself in the
              arcades. :)
              \_ Well, don't forget you need a dance pad as well.  The
                 cheap ones run about $20.  What's the problem with
                 arcades?  No one there will know you, or care for that
                 matter.  I've seem plenty of newbies play.
                 \_ Exactly.  I was going to say, make sure to get good pads,
                    that makes a huge difference.  The Ignitions are good,
                    someone else posted another company that makes similar
                    ones for half the price (~$50).  There are some
                    differences between Max and the older (PS1) versions,
                    I'd suggest getting Max if you have a PS2 anyway.  Look
                    at the online reviews re: song selection, etc.

5/31    In XP, how can I preserve the date of a file when I drag and drop a
        file from my hard drive to a DVD-RW using Explorer?  I checked the
        parameters for xcopy, but didn't see any options.  Is there a way
        to do it natively?  If not, are there any good 3rd party utilities?
        \_ Nero?
        \_ Xcopy?  CLI dos xcopy?  It can preserve dates.
           \_ Which parameter?  None of them seem to be for preserving the
              date.  I know /a didn't work.

5/31    I need some porn. Where can I download some video/pic?
        \_ Me too, I need some free porn to cheer me up on a lonely
           memorial day!

6/1     <DEAD>match.yahoo.com<DEAD> is a scam. 1/2 of the listings keep appearing over
        and over again (over 1 year) and the other 1/2 are fake, they
        send you a generic letter saying that they're interested, and
        before you know it, they are 1) spamming you with porn sites or
        2) refering you to other match sites. I'm never gonna sign up on
        internet scam match again.
        \_ Try craigslist. At least some people there are genuine.
        \_ Cool, so this one chick gave you the contact info for lots of other
           hot chicks?  That's great!  What's it cost to sign up?!
        \_ http://www.anastasiaweb.com
           \_ http://www.anastasiaweb.com/russian-brides/ads-015.htm
              "Profession:  Other".  Classic.  -John
              \_ Get yer ugly mits off the keyboard!  That's *my* next wife!

5/31    According to the History Channel, in WW2, the Japanese targetted
        mainly at big targets (battleships, cruisers, military airfields,
        etc) so didn't really hit civilian ships (food, support, etc)
        the way Germans did with their U-boats. In contrast the US targetted
        a lot of Japanese civilian sites. Why didn't the Japanese do the
        same thing? Were they afraid of retaliation or something?
        \_ The Japanese couldn't.  The Japanese correctly determined that they
           needed to destroy the American carriers first, which they failed to
           do (while losing theirs) at Midway.  Before Midway, they didn't have
           the control of the seas necessary to target infrastructure.  After
           Midway, they had bigger problems. -- ilyas
           \_ They had control of the seas prior to June 1942, and used it
              to attack any infrastructure they could (Philippines, India,
              Singapore, Australia, China, etc.)  Fact is that there wasn't
              nearly as much commercial or large-scale civilian shipping in
              the western Pacific for them to attack.  As for the carriers,
              imperial naval war games had seen their destruction as a
              "nice to have", but weren't particularly concerned when they
              realized that Adm. Kimmel had ordered them out of Pearl Harbor.
              The Japanese advances in 1942 were more focused on securing a
              buffer "rampart" against American attacks on Japanese oil
              transports from the Dutch E. Indies than the actual offensive
              destruction of US power after 1941.  Midway was just another
              attempt to deny the US a forward base, rather than part of
              a strategic offensive against US shipping or the W. Coast. -John
              \_ There was shipping, it's just that after the Japanese
                 simultaneously attacked Pearl Harbor, Malaya, Dutch
                 E. Indies and the Philippines, all civilian shipping
                 in the Western Pacific, South China Sea and the Strait of
                 Melaka, except those serving Japanese interest, pretty
                 much stopped.  I would bet there were still some ships
                 going from India to Australia, and from Australia to
                 the US though.
                 the US though.  Also, the Japanese had their hands full
                 protecting their own shipping, and did have have
                 protecting their own shipping, and did not have have
                 the resources to send uboats all over the Pacific
                 and Indian Oceans.  Compared to Germany, Japan is
                 much less self sufficient in terms of resources.
                 \_ Hence "not nearly as much".  The Japanese also never had
                    a coherent submarine strategy.  -John
        \_ Because most of the fighting took place in their waters.
        \_ Don't forget what the Japanese did in Korea and China.
           \_ also Burma and the Philippines.
        \_ The Japanese didn't have the resources. They were fighting a land
           war in Asia and they couldn't forward base any naval power (as
           America would be able to do in Austrailia). Attacks against America
           were limited to military targets out of necessity. Attempts to
           strike the US mainland were nearly non-existant. The goal was to
           control the Pacific, not to conquer the US.