8/20    After years' laziness I've finally decided to take my nikon slr to
        an "annual" cleaning.  Which is a good place in BA (south bay
        preferre) for doing that?  The Nikon factory center is down in LA.
        \_ Horizon Electronics in Union City. If all it needs is just cleaning
           they will probably do it while you wait, as well as check the light
           meter and the shutter

8/20    Stop selectively deleting from the motd.  Kill the whole thread or
        leave it alone.  Thank you.
              \_ Purging a serious thread from unfunny smart alec comments
                 is not unreasonable.  These are politically neutral deletions.
                 \_ What you thought was smart alec were some serious replies.
                    We don't need mommy here to keep us safe from unfunny
                    people.
                 \_ I reiterate that whenever I catch people doing it, I
                    nuke everything up to most recent deletion.  I don't care
                    if your motivation is politics, personal animosity,
                    phlegm-filled lungs, or whatever.  You are still an asshole,
                    and I will make the motd useless to you in retaliation.
                      -- ilyas
                      \_ I agree with you in principle, but continue to
                         claim that from a purely tactical point of view
                         selective deletion of tech threads, particularly
                         unix threads, constitutes a more directed retaliation
                         against the fuckers.
        \_ You are the jackass doing the selective deleting my refusing
           to use motdedit and you don't even realize it. Schmuck.
        \_ Whoever is refusing to use motdedit often deletes individual replies
           as a consequence of it. Do not assume that it is malicious.
           \_ motdedit users are probably in the minority.

8/20    Wackenhut Detention Center:
        http://www.samsloan.com/sivajini.htm
        http://www.notinourname.net/detentions/ny-hunger-strike-31oct03.htm
        http://www.lifeorliberty.org/libertyblog/archives/000026.html
        http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl?sid=04/08/16/1415245
        http://www.heatherratcliff.writernetwork.com/AsylumSeekers.html
        \_ I'm not going to read your links because I already know too
           much about wackenhut, and I'll be pissed off all day if I read
           about them now.  Those cocksuckers are actually doing the security
           at the statue of liberty ferry now.  Oh, the irony.

8/21    Can someone please recommend a book on matlab?
        \_ Don't bother with a book...just use the users manual. As long
           as you know how to program (or even write pseudocode), you're
           more than halfway there with matlab; use the manual to fill in
           the rest.
           more.

8/20    1 of 2 neutral swift boat captains decides to take a side:
        http://csua.org/u/8pc (Yahoo!)
        [Yes, this is new news.]
        \_ How about the actual story he wrote?  Any links?
           \_ My bad, won't show up until Aug 22
        \_ Yes.  Thank you.  SBVT are liars.  Pure and simple.  Can we please
           go back to talking about some real issues now?  Fucks sake this
           country has gone to the pot.
           \_ True --aaron
           \_ Censure, and moveon!!  The American people are tired of this!
        \_ The Sunday Chicago Tribune article from William B. Rood:
           http://csua.org/u?8pf    username/pw:  ih8logins
           \_ He doesn't mention the Special Ops guy who was blown overboard-
              was that the same day?
              \_ I think that was what Kerry got his bronze star for, and
                 Rood wrote about how Kerry got his silver star

[ and ilyas is a moron ]
        \_ We all know they're liars and in it for the money so why do you
           waste your time trying to refute anything?  You only lend them
           undue authority.
        \_ If one familiarizes themselves with the circumstances of
           Kerry's awards several obvious holes become apparent.  Kerry
           and his band have given several different accounts of each story,
           some on the senate floor.  Yes the Swift Vets have a few holes
           in their story (eg. Thurlows citation), but Kerry has many
           more.

8/20    End the 527s now: http://tinyurl.com/3mv8o (news.myway.com)
        \_ The Supreme Court has ruled time and time again that you can
           use your money to advocate for any position you want. Are you
           in opposition to this position? How do you propose to finance
           political campaigns?
           \_ I preferred the way it was before when the parties and
              candidates collected unlimited funds but were required to
              report who donated how much.  There is just as much money now
              and they just pretend to not be in control of it and hide who
              is giving how much.  Campaign finance reform was an abysmal
              failure.  I am not in opposition to the SC on the concept of
              spending your money on politics however you want.
              \_ It also had the benefit of not stomping all over the first
                 amendment.

8/21    I asked earlier about John McCain's face, and I meant no disrespect.
        Was he wounded in the jaw or neck area?
        \_ I think I heard that he was wounded in Vietnam when he
           either went down in his plane or when he was at the POW
           camp. I believe the damage was to his vertebrea resulting
           in neurological damage of the spine. The direct result is
           that he doesn't have full movement of his arms and probably
           other areas of his body. I believe that it was similar to
           Bob Dole's damage from WWII.
           \_ Bob Dole: war hero, injured in combat for his country in a just
              war.
              Bill Clinton: self proclaimed draft dodger.
              Election winner:  Bill Clinton.
              Given that history shows the voters don't care about war heroes,
              why is Kerry spending so much time talking about his war hero
              status?  It didn't help Dole at all.
              \_ Eh, Dole had several things going against him: he had even
                 less charisma than kerry, clinton had enormous charisma,
                 and was a VERY popular incumbent.  Also keep in mind that
                 we're a nation at war, and the merit badge of heroic military
                 service at this time is seen as a necessary trait.  I don't
                 think this was true of the clinton era.
                 \_ What country are we at war with? --aaron
                    \_ Uh, Evildoer... uh... onia.
                    \_ None.  It is peace time.  In times of peace we don't
                       need war heroes.  So vote for Bush with us Aaron and
                       let's focus on the economy and other peace time issues
                       instead of 30+ year old war records.
                       \_ I think the soliders dying overseas would disagree
                          with your flip, off-the-cuff analysis.  The idea that
                          we're a nation at peace with soldiers enagaged in
                          daily battles with opponents shooting rpg's at them
                          is pretty stupid, actually.
              \_ You may not remember Bob Dole's "war on drugs?"  how about
                 his 17% tax cut across the board?  Not that he had any chance
                 but he, among other things, choose wrong platforms.  and
                 honestly, I would choose a 90 yr old Dole over current Bush
                 any day simply because Dole's character.       -liberal
                 \_ Are you equating the war on drugs with a military conflict?
                    I don't understand why you mention it.  And what's wrong
                    with a tax cut for everyone that pays taxes?
                    \_ Who's going to pay for it if you give everyone a tax
                       cut?  Cut spending?  Hahahahaha.
        \_ Shortly before it came out that his nurse wife was abusing
           prescription skills at work, McCain had surgery for cancer in
           in his face.  I think that is what you're wondering about.
           And I am talking about in the 1996 race.  -maxmcc

8/21    David Hackworth rips the Swifties a new one:
        http://csua.org/u/8ph (sftt.org)
        Even the Weekly Standard knows its a bust:
        http://csua.org/u/8pi (weeklystandard.com)
        \_ Wow.  Is that all you got out of reading those?  You are amazing.
             -- ilyas
           \_ Well, no, but why post a paragraph summary?  Don't be obtuse,
              ilya.
              \_ Well, those are critical of attacks on Kerry, but in a ...
                 much larger context which was missing in the summary.
                 Your summary made it seem like you are picking and choosing
                 what you want to hear and ignoring the rest.  -- ilyas
                 \_ Uh, no.  Its just the motd.  One sentence is enough.
                    \_ Ok, but you are doing Rush Limbaugh style one-sentence
                       summaries.  It's ok, really, but don't be surprised
                       if people point this out.  I could do a similar one
                       sentence summary for the weekly standard thing:
                       'Democrats afraid of being seen as pacifist wimps.'
                       *shrug*.  -- ilyas
                       \_ Be easy, ilya -- it's not that big a deal.  Really.
        \_ We all know they're liars and in it for the money so why do you
           waste your time trying to refute anything?  You only lend them
           undue authority.
           \_ Without refutation, their claims are given tacit legitimacy.
              It's a shame that they've become such a prominent force, and
              that the Bush administration refuses to excoriate them.  I
              wonder if Kerry's been as scrupulous as he'd have us believe,
              though.
              \_ I guess you missed McClellan's comments when the first swift
                 boat commercial aired.
                 \_ I guess I did -- do you have a URL handy?
                    \_ http://csua.org/u/8pj (Yahoo news)
                       \_ Huh -- that's interesting.  Thanks!
        \_ Hackworth is a great read, but he's been getting a bit loopy lately.
           His first priority is loyalty to the troops that serve and have
           served.  However, his dismissal isn't terribly valuable when it
           reads just like every other dismissal I've seen--including the
           motd--which have been entirely composed of ad hominem, argument by
           authority, and of course guilt by association.  The actual claims of
           the swift boat veterans have not been answered.
           \_ Thank you!  Add to that shill, uninformed denials like the
              performance put on by Chris Matthews when Michelle Malkin
              started talking about the claims that some of Kerry's wounds
              were self-inflicted.  As if someone who lied about atrocities,
              divorced a 300 million dollar wife for a 700 million dollar
              wife, and said nothing against Farenheit 9/11's numerous lies
              which served him, could suddenly be trusted against the
              collective word of over 250 vets, some of whom were decorated.
              \_ And none of whom actually served on the boat which he was on.
                 \_ Kerry's peers were eyewitnesses to his actions, not his
                    subordinates.
                 \_ Except of course for Steve Gardner.
                    \_ And I'm sure we're only one FOIA request away from
                       seeing a service record that contradicts his statements
                       too!
            \_ Yes they have been answered. Which claim is unanswered, in your
               reasoned opinion? Since you're so adamant why don't you sum it
               up for us?
               \_ Was the squad of boats under enemy attack during the
                  Kerry's 3rd purple heart.  If so, why do the other
                  boat commanders say they weren't, why were there no
                  bullet holes and why was no one shot?   Suppressing
                  fire =! enemy fire.
                  By all accounts Thurlow was the true hero that day.
                  More, was Kerry's boat hit by another mine or not?
                  Who's boat was Rassman on?  Why was Kerry's boat
                  the only one to flee, 5000 m in one version, and if
                  it was hit by a mine how could it have sped up to flee?

8/21    Has anyone worked with data archival software? Our microfilm scanner
        still works but the printer has died (it's 30 years old). We're looking
        at replacing microfilm with a digital system. I'm a luddite, so this
        seems like a pretty bad idea to me, but I'm told to see what's out
        there. So I guess I need a decent scanner and document feeder and
        maybe some non-consumer software to create PDFs of what is scanned in.
        Any pointers would be appreciated. On a side note, Google is not great
        when you want to actually buy a new product because you're getting
        targeted ads vs. information.

8/21    Family Guy marathon was awesome. Funny how the "musical" concept
        came up twice. I never watched this show before, but glad it's
        back. I'll have to watch it from now on. -me

8/21    Yeah, its Salon, but very interesting nonetheless.  Eyewitness report
        from the only journalists trapped inside the Imam Ali shrine.
        Apparently the widely reported peace deals have never really
        existed.  And now back to your regularly scheduled Really
        Important SwiftBoat Trolls!
        http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/19/shrine/index.html
        \_ Trapped inside?  How exactly can they be 'trapped' inside?  If they
           want to get out but aren't allowed to then they are hostages.  If
           they want to be there then they are the 'reporter on the scene'.
           \_ Mmmm, maybe you should READ THE ARTICLE and FIND OUT?!

8/21    Motd survey: did you pay your CA use tax this year?
        no: ..
        yes:
        \_ you forgot to ask whether we live in CA or not.
           \_ You are special, aren't you.

8/21    Desperately need apple core-er.  jnat
        \_ NO this is not a computer part! :) I need a device to remove the core
        from actual apples, to make apple sauce, apple pies, apple wine, etc.
        \_ NO this is not a computer part! :) I need a device to remove the
           core from actual apples, to make apple sauce, apple pies, apple
           wine, etc.
           \_ get metal tube from home depot and sharpen edges. add hammer.
              oh, and learn to format.
           \_ Pampered chef has one that's mediocre.  You might want to try a
              hardware store.