8/7     Terrorism (ALF) is winning, and nothing is being done to stop it:
        http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/international/europe/08rights.html?hp
        (This kind of terrorism can kill far more people invisibly.)
        \_ I always love this argument that we don't need animal testing
           for medical research.  Just goofy.  ALthough I suppose if
           they're so interested in saving the animals, they could just
           volunteer to be tested on themselves...
        \_ 1. PC in the UK is far worse than any such stupidity we ever came
           up with in the US
           2. It's my personal observation that people in the UK are far more
           likely to jump on whatever bandwagon du jour they hear about in
           the rainbow press
           3. Carrying handguns is all but illegal there.
           Add this up, and you have pretty fertile ground for this kind of
           crap.  -John
           \_ The problemis no one, government, private association, or
              individual, is making an organize resistance to such groups.
              Imagine if someone turns ALF's tactics on itself, it will go
              away in a few months.
              \_ You mean like the way the isrealis have eliminated Palestinian
                 terrorism in a few months?

8/8     What affect does heat have on a digital camera?  In particular,
        suppose I leave my camera in my car all day once every few weeks
        during the summer when it's 90 degrees and sunny outside.  I've
        found mixed results searching the net.  The flash card web site
        claims that no amount of heat will damage any pictures.  The image
        recovery software site says they can recover pics lost due to
        extreme heat.  From other sites, I gathered that the biggest risk
        is that the battery could explode.  If so, would leaving a digital
        camera without it's battery in the car contain no risk, or could
        the camera (or the flash memory) be damaged from occasionally being
        left in the hot car all day?
        \_ I took mine outside once when it was 20degrees F and now I
           have a bunch of bad pixels.
        \_ My manual says that the operating temp range is 32-104 F.  It
           doesn't say anything about storage temp, but I did find specs
           on the web for a similarly priced camera that said that it
           can be stored at up to 176 F, which is probably hotter than it
           would get in any car parked in the sun in 100F weather (I would
           hope).  My manual, however, does say not to store the camera in
           places subject to high heat, without giving numbers.  So, I wonder
           if there's anyone out there who's left their camera in their car
           on a hot day and if this has affected the camera in any
           noticeable way.  I'm thinking it's probably not going to
           be a problem, but is this wishful thinking?  -op
           \_ Temperatures inside a parked car can reach 200F.
           \_ Temperatures inside a parked car can reach 260F.
           \_ Temperatures inside a parked car can reach 360F.
             \_ Can, in the most extreme conditions (black car, 115F
               outside), or will with say, 95 degree heat parked in the sun?
        \_ on a related question, how many times can the compact flash
           store/delete? Someone told me 300, which IMHO is a bit small.
           \_ that's ridiculous.
        \_ Which part of the car stays coolest?  Would it be the trunk
           since it gets no direct sunlight?  Or would the lowest place
           (under the seat, for example) be best, since heat rises?
           \-i'd guess some place with poor convection subject to randiant
             heating, i.e. direct sunlight hitting it at close to 90deg,
             like maybe the the top of the dash or front seat and subject to
             direct light.
            \_ OK, but where is the coolest place in the car among the
               following 4 choices: trunk, under the driver's seat,
               glove compartment, or in the little compartment between the
               2 front seats?

8/8     John, why is the Swiss domain suffix .ch?  What was wrong with .sw?
        \_ Found the answer myself, sorry:
           "Switzerland is also known as "Confoederatio  Helvetica",
            therefore the abbreviation CH.  "Confoederatio" stands for
            "confederation", "Helvetica" derives from the Latin  word
            "Helvetier", the name of the people who lived in the area which
            became  later Switzerland.
           http://www.about.ch

8/8     What level of laser would be necessary to blind a bird? I need to
        eliminate pigeons around my house hazard (health hazard!) Would
        shining a 4.99 mW laser into their eyes do the trick (highest IIIa
        legal)?  Humane stuff is not working and I am limited by what I can
        do due to homeowners association rules ...
        \_ Can't you put up some of those little spikey things that keep
           them from landing?  I see those on buildings where they don't
           want birds to shit all the time.
        \_ that's pretty freaking cruel. just shoot the bird and kill it
           altogether. no need to blind it and make it forever miserable.
        \_ are you in a large city? what is this health hazard? you sound
           like a pretty weird person to want to go shining lasers into
           the eyes of birds.
        \_ Good luck shining the laser directly into the poor pigeon's eye.
        \_ Just hunt 'em with a blowgun.
        \_ You need to buy a .22 rifle.
        \_ Blinding probably won't work.  It would be really hard to get
           both eyes anyway.  A better choice would be a powerful BB gun,
           if you're into shooting them.  I you could keep it up long
           enough, they would also learn to stay away from your house.
           However, probably more effective would be poison bird seed.
           Just mix some rat poison with bird seed, or, even easier, just
           buy some gopher poison, which is usually wheat with cyanide.
           Or maybe try the old bread and alka-seltzer trick, all though
           I'm not sure that works on pigeons.
        \_ This is one of the oddest posts I've ever seen.

8/7     http://www.bamn.com/doc/1997/do.asp?970415-flyer.asp
        \_ why are you posting a 7 year old url?  weird.
        No free speech for fascists!  w00t!
        \_  Note the date.  In other news, any retard with an internet
            connection can make a billion dollars by saying the words
            "dotcom" and "e-business" and the world as we know it will
            end in 2000 with that "y2k" bug.

8/8     So in an effort to rise above the partisan bickering, let me ask a
        serious question:  what do you really believe Kerry has to offer?
        I'm interested in any answer other than !GWB
        \_ For me personally, the most important issues are addressed
           in this document:
           http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/technology/plan.html
           In particular, the current visa system for foreign scientists
           is in a *crisis* state, and seriously threatens America's
           dominance in the sciences.  I've never heard Bush even mention
           this.  Letting the good guys in is actually more important
           for longterm security than keeping the bad guys out.  Also,
           I think Kerry will be much more agressive about investing in
           new technologies that will lead to cleaner energy and a generally
           higher standard of living around the world.  yes, i do give Bush
           credit for the hydrogen power initiative.  I think it's one of
           the few really great things bush has done, but I think a Kerry
           administration would do a lot more in that direction.
           There are many other reasons I'm voting for Kerry, but i have
           a feeling you would classify most of them as "!GWB" type
           reasons.
           \_ While I disagree re "good guys in is actually more important for
              longterm security than keeping the bad guys out", thanks for the
              reasonable response.  That's also part of his platform that I
              hadn't seen. -op
        \_ For me it's 2 things: 1 is that he seems to consider things
           deeply rather than shoot from the hip- long run this will be
           important for reducing/eliminating acts of terrorism.  The other
           is that he has seen war, and he spoke out against it- ordinarily
           this wouldn't be an issue for me, but in the present climate I'd
           like the guy in charge to have a sense of what's going on in the
           trenches.
           \_ What examples suggest "he seems to consider things deeply"?
              Also, do you take issue with Kerry for voting for the war?  How
              about the "I voted for it before I voted against it" bit?  This
              suggests to me that he's just saying what is politically
              expedient rather than noodling it out and finding the best
              solution for the country. -op
              \_ Now you're just trolling; "he voted for it before he voted
                 against it" was about a bill where he voted for an amendment
                 which would have changed the bill, the amendment failed, and
                 he voted against the unmodified bill.  Nothing about political
                 expediency.
                 \_ I'm not trolling.  I know what he meant.  But when he said
                    that it appeared that he was trying to say he was for it
                    and against it.  Furthermore, the amendment was to remove
                    some of the tax cuts.  Instead of a rider, he could have
                    sponsored a separate bill and while I would disagree with
                    the bill, I wouldn't be criticizing him for political
                    expediency. -op
                    \_ This is how Congress works.  It's built into the system
                       now, and while I tend not to agree with this sort of
                       tactic, a congressperson whose policy was never to try
                       this would be cutting themselves off from a fairly
                       political tactic.
                    \_ And how would that have changed his "no" vote?
        \_ GWB needs to pay for his failures, which are significant.
           (note this answer is different from "he's not Bush")
           \_ Looks the same to me.  -!op
        \_ I dont' know where to start.  Foreign policy: picking fight with
           wrong nation such as China, Iraq, Iran, while completely ignoring
           real threats.  Fiscal policy:  run deficit off the roof while still
           gave tax cut to the wealthy.  Running government in secrecy (energy
           task force, classify numerious documents which suppose to be
           declassified), remove all the check and balances created a legal
           blackhole in Cuba and Iraq... stripping civil liberty (ear dropping
           without any oversight?), and worse, ask subordient to bear the
           consequences for things he has done.
           \_ You know, an excoworker of mine now works for the FBI, and
              he explained much of the reasoning behind the Patriot Act
              to me. It actually makes a lot of sense to me.
           \_ This all looks like !GWB.  How is Kerry any different?  BTW, who
              do you consider to be the right nation to pick a fight with?
              What are the real threats you mention and how do you figure we
              should go about dealing with them?  Cuba?  WTF are you talking
              about re: Cuba???
                       \_ His current statement is that he voted no because the
                          amendment failed.  If really supported the ongoing
                          effort in Iraq, he could have voted yes on the
                          $80B funding, and then if the tax rollback failed he
                          could hammer the president for not being fiscally
                          responsible.  -op
        \_ (!GWB answer deleted)

8/8     Has anyone done traffic school via the Internet?  How long does
        it typically take?  Recommedations [for SF]?
        \_ In SF, don't you have to take an inperson test at a UPS store or something?
        \_ Also you can only go to approved online traffic schools:
           http://sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/courts/online_traffic(2).pdf
        \_ About 2 hours. I forgot which one I did (just randomly chose
           one off of the list of allowable places). It was great: fast,
           quick, and very easy.
           \_ Most of them also let you save your progress, so I did just
              a little at a time over three days while watching TV, piece
              of cake.
        \_ I went with http://internettrafficschool.com.  It's supposed to take
           about 8 hours, and they actually time your progress to prevent you
           from skimming- this just means you're watching TV in between
           skimming.  Nice site layout, fairly engaging content.  Customer
           service was fair, took them a few days to resolve my complaint but
           it happened.
        \_ My brother did this a few months ago. He said it took about
           2 hrs total. He did it during his lunch hour over two days.
        \_ I used http://opentrafficschool.com, it was easy.  I don't remember
           exactly how long it took, but 2 hours sounds reasonable.
           They allow you to save and come back, so I spread it out a
           little bit.  The final test had errors in it though.
        \- i did this as well. i just loaded all the pages in different tabs
           so that i could skip to the tests. i surfed the web for about 5-10
           minutes between some of the page loads. i probably spent 30
           minutes on the site itself, but time elapsed was about an hour.
                \_ partha is that you?                          psb #1 fan
                   \_ you are not the psb #1 Fan.  pick your own #.
                   \_ no, the \- was a slip. but thanks for the compliment.
                        - psb #17 fan.
        \_ gf got ticket in San Mateo County. I went online and took her
           test for her, 40 minutes (includes registration time). Damn easy.
           \_ What did you get for doing that? ;)
           \_ They didn't check ID?
     _________________________________________________________________
        \_ what is the purpose of this line?
           \_ maintaing the horizontalness of the motd.
           \_ It's purpose is to prompt question like these.
                \_ its
     _________________________________________________________________
           \_ This is a bad sign: she is lazy, irresponsible, and evasive of
              unpleasant tasks.  Dump her NOW!!!

8/8     any alternative to bttb for backup/splitting large dir to CD?
        bttb tries too hard and the files in each directory are
        spread across too many CDs.... thx.
        \_ How about the "span" option in PKZIP?

8/8     I despise Bush, and will certainly not vote for him in november,
        but IMHO Bush's recent speech at the UNITY conference was the best of
        his presidency.  Definitely worth viewing.  Go to http://www.cspan.org
        and click on "Pres. Bush Remarks at UNITY Conference"
        He actually manages not sound like a dumbass or a right-wing nut for
        over half an hour.  Particularly impressive in front of an openly
        hostile audience.
        \_ 1/2 hour out of 4 years just doesn't cut it.
        \_ Erm, wasn't this the speech where the audience was laughing at him,
           mostly to do with his answer to the question about Indian
           sovereignty?  Something like "sovereignty is well ... sovereignty,
           and if you have sovereignty you are sovereign."
           \_ I said "over half an hour."   There were still some dumbass parts
              during the q&a session.  OTOH the fact that they got him to
              publicly come out against legacies in admissions is pretty
              funny.
              \_ Without legacies how would the next generation of politicians
                 like Al Gore get into school?  We know he isn't smart enough
                 to get in on his own.