8/23    How do I get Gallery to not display the photo captions in the
        view_album pages? I only want the captions to show when people
        view individual photos. Thanks.

8/24    So what exactly did the Wash Po. story on Kerry's
        Swift Boat record verify?
        \_ here is my question.  If DoD gave Kerry a medal for Kerry's
           action, shouldn't be DoD that investigate whatever is in
           question?
           \_ I can imagine the partisan finger-pointing now.

8/24    Question on voting absentee ballot.  I am currently working overseas,
        but I am still can vote.  But which State am I supposely voting for?
        Last time I registered to vote was in California, does it mean I
        am voting a California absentee ballot?

        If, let say, I decided to make my vote more meaningful by asking
        my uncle to register vote for me in OHIO, does it mean I can vote
        absentee in behalf of Ohio resident?
        \_ Right now you're registered in the last state you registered in,
           so you're a California voter.  In order to register in Ohio, you'll
           probably need to furnish an Ohio address as your permanent address.
           You can then vote absentee in Ohio... and pay Ohio taxes, get flyers
           from Ohio candidates, etc., etc.
           Check out http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/voter for more info.
        \_ Try to register in ALL the states, and see who rejects you.
           Maybe you could vote 50 times!  It's all ok, as long as
           you're voting for Kerry!
           \_ Absentee votes always lean towards the Republicans.  Now it
              makes sense.  -tom
              \_ Always?  What makes sense?  We already knew that Republican
                 equals Evil and Evil equals Republican.  What more did you
                 need to know about the world?  Everything I needed to know
                 about politics I learned from the wall/motd.
              \_ the reason is that most absentee are people in the arm forces
                 I am not, and I am trying to make democrat to carry Ohio.
                 my uncle lives in Ohio, i could easily use his address
                 as permanet address.  State taxes doesn't really apply to
                 ex-pats, and I pay my share of federal income taxes. --OP
                 \_ So, you're going to lie?
                    \_ Being a good liar is a strong "motd-conservative" value,
                       such as lying to the police officer about how you shot
                       and killed a clearly unarmed person because you
                       "thought" he was pulling a gun.
                 \_ California expects you to pay state taxes even if you're
                    an ex-pat.  Also, remember that Ohio requires you to reside
                    in Ohio for a month before you're eligible to register for
                    an absentee ballot.  I don't know how they check these
                    things (if at all), but you should do some more research
                    before you inadvertantly commit election fraud.
                    \_ It doesn't sound all that inadvertant.
           \_ Especially if you're dead and voting for Kerry or you're one of
              the people in Pennsylvania who took Gore to over 100% in some
              voting districts.
              \_ Do you have a link for this story?
                 \_ Which story?  That dead Deomcrats in Chicago turned the
                    Kennedy/Nixon election or that Gore received more than
                    100% of the vote in some precincts in Penn. in 2k?
                    \_ I was interested in the Penn. story.
                       \_ I read it on The Free Republic, it has to be true!
                          \_ No, I watched the returns come in that night.
                             \_ Anything that happens in Pennsylvania: EVIL!
                                Anything that happens in Florida: GOOD!
        \_ I also last voted in CA and have no legal association with Ohio or
           Florida, just like you.  I'd also like to vote in another state,
           just like you.  Why can't we all vote absentee in a state we've
           never lived in?  I'm absent from Ohio, too, right?  Duh!
           \_ if you actually live in USA, then, there will be some
              complication in terms of taxations, etc, etc.  The problem is
              less severe if you live outside the USA, absent from all
              the states.               -OP
        \_ Check out this link for info on how you can get your absentee
           ballet oversees:
                http://www.tellanamericantovote.com/usa_iam.php
           \_ thanks  --OP

8/24    Question:  I am green card holder and now I want to go back to my
        country.  Do I need to pay uncle sam for the income I earned in
        my home country?
        \_ i suggest you do it anyway, in case you decided to get
           citizenship later.  It's a pain, but generally
           you won't need to pay a penny unless you are making more than
           $84k per year (the figure changes every year, it's slightly above
           $80k/yr).
           \_ is it true that if you are outside of the US for some period
              of time (>6 months), it would jeopadize your citizenship
              application?
              \_ umm, you should talk to your immigration lawyer about that.

8/24    Not to start another Swiftboat Troll, but did Kerry Volunteer for
        the Navy, or the Naval Reserves?
        \_ For the navy, as an enlisted.
        \_ Actually, his dad used his influence to get him into the
           Massachusets naval reserves, where he failed the exam to be a
           naval aviator, but was allowed to fly jets over Andover
           Mass during the war instead of fight because of his dad's
           influence.  This isn't *so* bad, but swiftboat troll is right
           to point out that it's pretty wrong that he then used his
           dad's influence once again to leave early to go to stanford
           Business school.
           \_ No, actually he wrote himself up for a few purple hearts so he
                  \_ Wrong.
                     \_ /sbin/modprobe sarcasm_detector
              could leave early and then go back and tell the world he and
              his Band of Brothers(c) committed rapes, civilian murders, cut
              off civilian body parts and were generally evil/bad/republican
              people/war criminals so the war should end.
              \_ Actually, in his testimony he said this was what 100+ other
                 veterans disclosed at the Winter Soldier investigation.
                 \_ Keep your filthy stinking facts away from the swift boat
                    troll, please.
        \_ Navy

8/24    Anyone have problem logging into ebay?
        \_ As a security precaution, your account has been suspended.  Please
           take a moment of your time to update your account information to
           keep your account secure.  After you update your information, your
           account will be reinstated.  Thank you.  -Ebay Security

8/24    Real's Rhapsody cheap for Berkeley students?! Gag.

8/24    I have more than $100 in quarters. Is there a place in Berkeley where
        I could exchange this for paper money?
        \_ A Bank?
           \_ Word to the wise is that banks will generally only do it for
              their customers and then only if the coins are rolled.
        \_ Find a coinstar yo!
        \_ There are green machines at Albertson's stores.  But they charge a
           small percentage.
           \_ It's a huge percentage. Buy a bunch of rolls from an office
              supply place and roll 'em yourself while watching Enterprise.
              Most banks will take the quarter rolls. Penny rolls they hate.
                \_ It's irrelevant whether they "hate" it or not.  It's legal
                   tender.  -John
                   \_ Yeah, you go try that.
                        \_ I don't have to try anything.  My bank accepts
                           legal tender.  I've switched banks for less. -John
              \_ I've found I can get rid of pennies by rolling them and
                 spending them at stores no more than 1 roll at a time.
              \_ Huge percentage? I think coinstar machines take about 8%,
                 what's your time worth? It's convenient to dump a big bucket
                 of change in the machine and a minute or two later you get
                 get a check.
                 \_ since he's already got them separated out as quarters,
                    he's already done half the work. He should just roll them
                    up himself.
                 \_ 9.7% actually.
        \_ Las Vegas. There is some chance that you can win big!!!
        \_ That's only 10 rolls of quarters.  It's easy to roll quarters--the
           bank might even have sleeves for you, esp. if you have an account.
        \_ someone should need quarters for laundry. my credit union never
           has quarters. -quarterless_in_SF_with_dirty_clothes

8/24    Is it a good idea to refill the cartridges of my color inkjet printer
        at places like Cartridge World?  Is it harmful to the printer hardware?
        Does the quality of printouts decrease?  That's store's web site says
        it's okay, but they're in that business.  My inkjet is an Epson Stylus
        Photo 1200.  Thanks.  --- yuen
        \_ i've refilled black ink cartridges for my HP with a do it yourself
           kit, where you get this syringe that injects ink into the
           cartridge. generally seems to work okay. the quality probably
           decreases a tiny bit, but not really enough for me to care much.

8/24    Here is the coverage on how we overthrew Iran's democratic government
        for oil and installed Shah:
        http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3865983
        Please stop whining about how Shah was a legit leader.  And freepers,
        the radio segment highlight the reason why 9/11 happened.  Honestly,
        I see our war with Iraq is actually quite similiar to our involvement
        with Iran in 1953
        \_ he may have been a ruthless dictator, but he was OUR ruthless
           dictator. until carter betrayed him.
           \_ Betrayed? HAHAHAHAHA! Oh you young scamps today!
        \_ 9/11 happened for the same reason as other acts of terrorism going
           back for decades: it's a conflict of cultures.  Western culture
           surpassed Islam hundreds of years ago and never looked back.  They
           still want Spain back!
        \_ It wasn't oil, at least not only.  There was a lot of concern
           that Mossadegh was about to cut a deal with the Soviets for a
           gulf port, however mistaken that turned out to be.  And it's not
           whining, the Shah had a lot of good points compared to the lunatics
           currently in power.  -John
           \_ Dictators on your side are always better than those against.
           \_ Red herring, John.  The point is not the Shah's good points
              in comparison to the Revolution he helped provoke, it's the
              Shah's bad points in comparison to the democratically elected
              government that was overthrown in order to install him.
                \_ Fair enough, I was just trying to elaborate on on the
                   reasons for the overthrow in the first place.  I don't
                   claim that it was legit, but there was agitation on the
                   part of the Iranian communist party in the early 1950s to
                   increase contacts with the USSR at the time.  -John

8/24    Economics and ethics question:  The conventional response to a business
        that is engaging in unethical practices is to call for divesture from
        that business.  The problem is that unlike, say a vegetarian choosing
        to not eat meat, divesture has no effect on the amount of harm the
        business is causing.  It may depress the stock price, but that will
        make it a more attractive investment if it is a profitable company, and
        will only serve to hurt those who choose to divest later than you.  It
        would then seem that the net effect of divesture is to make the
        unethical business a better investment for those who continue to own.
        As an example, consider Altria (Phillip Morris (symbol MO)).  They have
        a P/E around 10 and are paying a 5% dividend.  If lots of people
        divested, the P/E might go to 5 and the dividend to 10%.  This would
        not encourage the board to behave any more ethically.  Is there some
        way to invest ethically that actually has a positive effect?
        \_ Well, given corporate America's maniacal focus on stock price,
           depressing the stock price is probably the most effective thing
           you can do ...
           \_ Yes. If the stock price gets too low the company becomes a
              takeover target.
              \_ Well, that wouldn't curtail the unethical behavior, although
                 it would screw the investors in the acquired company.
                 \_ It sure would, because the board would get replaced!
                    \_ No it wouldn't, because the acquiring company wouldn't
                       just throw away a highly lucrative business.
                       \_ The share price fell. This is not the sign of a
                          successful business. The board would be replaced
                          in a takeover. How often are companies bought
                          and *every single* board member is kept? Some
                          might be, but some will lose their jobs.
                          \_ Board members and investors will lose money, but
                             will the newly-acquired company really cease the
                             unethical but lucrative behavior?  If not then
                             divesting was a pointless exercise.
                          \_ They don't want jobs.  They made many millions
                             in the take over.  These are not people concerned
                             with being jobless.
                 \_ You can't stop anyone from doing anything without
                    recourse to the legal system.  All you can do is to
                    punish the company for their action.  Slashing the
                    stock price through divestiture is punishment.  Oh,
                    just a minute.  I am arguing this with a guy who can't
                    even spell divestiture?  I've been trolled.
                    \_ "... punish the company for *its* action" if you are to
                       pick on someone.
                       pick on someone else's English.

8/24    I asked a few weeks ago about good data backup solutions, and I finally
        settled on a large NTFS partition with a 15GB FAT32 "transfer"
        partition (so that I can write to the disk via FreeBSD/OS X).  But I
        still need a good USB drive enclosure; the one I was using grew
        painfullyy hot during normal operation.  Quiet, cool, and low-power are
        my biggest concerns; any recommendations?  tia.
        \_ http://csua.org/u/702  Runs cool for me, no fan.
           \_ On its way, thanks. -op

8/24    IMO, Dubya has been looking pretty tired/beat up recently.  Take note
        of how he looks the next time you see him on TV.
        http://csua.org/u/8qo (Yahoo! News)
        \_ He's supposedly on heavy anti-depressants and psychoactives..
           \_ LIAR!! If he were, he'd look happier.
        \_ I keep seeing photos of Bush like this one with halos / sunbursts
           behind his head- is this intentional?  Were other presidents
           photographed in this way?
           \_ The AP thinks it's cute when it runs photos like that:
              http://www.drizzten.com/blargchives/000576.html
           \_ The halo is just a very common way of shooting portraits.  I
              don't know about the sunbursts.
              \_ I've never seen anyone, especially a politician, photographed
                 this way.  I'd be very surprised to see Clinton in this pose.
                 Or do I just never notice it because the guys were never so
                 overtly Christian?
           \_ Yes, it's intentional, and yes it's a Christian sainthood
              motif. Bush also sprinkles his speeches with coded phrases
              that are grounded in biblical language.

8/24    Can anyone recommend a good, very SMALL cell phone + a provider
        with a good nationwide plan? -eric
        \_ What kind of bells and whistles do you need?  How price-sensitive
           are you?
           \_ Bells and whistles are not necessary.  Not too price sensitive.
        \_ I am using the Samsung A530S from Verizon and I love it. It
           is the smallest phone Verizon has. -ausman
        \_ Best network = Verizon.  I'm using a smallish old LG VX1.  There
           are smaller phones now.  LGs tend to have very good RF performance.
        \_ for GSM, motorola v66 is still one of the lightest and pretty
           small world phones out there, and practically given away these days
           with rebates.  I liked T-Mobile for nationwide service when living
           in Los Angeles.  there are smaller GSM phones if you want to pay
           top dollar, e.g. some tiny panasonics you can buy over the web.
           use the phone finder at http://www.gsmarena.com and you can search by
           weight and other features.

8/24    Can someone articulate a defense of the Electoral College system?
        \_ Because it makes it harder for a charismatic but evil person from
           gaining a large following in small but densely packed places and
           screwing the other 49.9% of the population.  A republic is more
           stable than a democracy.  Pure democracy will not lead to the
           utopia you dream of.  If we didn't have the EC, candidates would
           campaign in about 2% of the country instead of 18% of the country.
           You think that's a better solution?  Also, since the number of
           people in a state is used to calculate the number of EC votes a
           state has, a Wyoming vote is not substantially different than a CA
           vote.  The big problem in our system is the primaries give a
           disproportionate amount of decision making power to the 3 to 4
           earliest voting primary states, while the last 40 or so are just
           a rubber stamp.
           \_ There is a ridiculous fallacy here--that it's important for
              candidates to campaign in large, empty states, rather than
              in states where PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIVE.  Our president isn't
              answerable to prarie dogs in South Dakota, he's the
              representative of the *people*.  Any system which means that
              he has to appeal to more PEOPLE is an improvement.  -tom
              \_ Pure democracy would leave those people permanently out of
                 the political cycle.  But since they don't share your
                 political view, mostly, that's ok, right?
              \_ The EC simply makes states vote as a bloc. So a given
                 state will have a split vote, but casts its decision as
                 a whole. This gives the state more power. It's still
                 democracy, there are actual people in those states, and
                 the EC prevents state minorities from undermining the
                 decision of the state election. However I don't think the
                 case is made that that the EC makes candidates campaign in
                 more areas. It's just different. Without the EC candidates
                 could pick up votes anywhere. Another problem is states
                 that are too large like CA. In huge states the national
                 voice is reduced in the Senate, and you get too many
                 people without enough common ground. Personally I'm against
                 the EC and think it is outdated since states are too large
                 and diverse to justify consolidating their votes.
                 \_ The current EC system does nothing to discourage
                    candidates from campaigning almost exclusively in urban
                    population centers; in fact, the winner-takes-all set-up
                    encourages it.  In order to win California's whopping
                    55 electoral votes (20% of the number needed to win the
                    election), a candidate's energy is best spent appealing
                    to LA and SFBA, where the vast majority of the voters live.
                    A better system would be much more representative: allot
                    votes to individual counties based on population (and set
                    a minimum such that counties without enough residents get
                    grouped with other counties until they form a large enough
                    population to warrant a vote); then award votes based on
                    who wins the majorities in those counties. In this way,
                    Riverside and the Inland Empire could acutally give one
                    of California's votes to Bush, while Austin could give its
                    three to Kerry. Abolishing the EC is silly, but reforming
                    it is a really good idea.
                    \_ Abolishing would not be silly. What you describe is
                       ok but impractical. Like I said, I think it's outdated
                       and as long as we're apportioning electoral votes
                       based on population, we should be counting the actual
                       votes. But it doesn't bother me much. The primary
                       schedule bothers me a lot more, as well as only
                       needing a plurality.
           \_ Isn't the primary date decided by the state legislature? Why
              doesn't CA move it's primary up to the front of the pack?
              There should be at least one west coast state in the early
              primary.
              \_ Because our legislature is full of weaklings.  We used to be
                 so far back it didn't matter if we voted.  Then they moved
                 it up a few months.  Now we're so far back it doesn't matter
                 if we vote.  Uhm... yeah!
           \_ ... but it makes it easier for a charismatic but evil person
              to succeed while screwing the other side which got more votes.
              \_ Please.  Don't start with the butterfly ballot again.
        \_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Electoral_College  (have phun)
        \_ Gives mostly empty states in the center of country actual
           influence as opposed to being totally neglected? Other than that,
           the electoral college system sucks.
           \_ how is giving mostly-empty states a good thing?
              \_ Because they're citizens, too?  Because they should have some
                 say in how their country is run?  But, wait, those are mostly
                 conservative areas.  NO FREE SPEECH FOR FASCISTS!
              \_ That's where we keep the nuclear weapons.  We don't want to
                 encourage them to seccede.
                 \_ The greater the space per capita, the less likely a state
                    will succeed in seceeding.
        \_ People in Wyoming are more important than people in California. -tom
             \_ Yes.  They are.  And?
             \_ yeah, maybe if the succeed then they'll be rich by
                selling us food at extreme prices
                \_ Is there much farming in Wyoming?  Farmers spend a LOT of
                   money on fertilizers and pesticides.
                    \_ well. tons of cattle and horses which produce
                        shit to make fertilizer , and also beef
                       \_ But the cows are generally fed corn, which I don't
                          think they grow a lot of in Wyoming, and it is mostly
                          produced with nitrogen-rich fertilizers made from
                          petrochemicals.
                          \_ The cows are grass fed in Wyoming (duh).
           \_ Now tom, you know this is easy to fix -- just get enough of your
              friends to vote Republican that CA becomes a battleground state
              again.  People will start to pay attention to you! -- ilyas
              \_ I don't have enough stupid friends.  And in any case, even
                 if the presidential candidates bothered to campaign in the
                 most populated and important state in the country, a vote in
                 Wyoming would still count more than a vote in California. -tom
                 \_ The problem is, states fight with each other via the feds.
                    If the US introduced the system you suggest, CA might vote
                    all the water from surrounding states into itself or
                    something like that.  The problem is that states are
                    specific entities from which things can be taken away by
                    law.  You either need to remove states altogether, or give
                    states the legal means to fight for things for their
                    residents.  The electoral college system was a historic
                    compromise, but there was a reason a compromise was
                    needed -- the states didn't trust each other, and with
                    good reason. -- ilyas
                    \_ You're being obtuse.  (Gee, what a surprise).  We're
                       talking about one specific thing--presidential
                       elections.  -tom
                       \_ Why should electing the president have a special
                          exemption from the general system?  The office of
                          the president is another tool the states use to
                          fight each other.  If you think the office of
                          the president only concerns 'the people', why not
                          apply the same reasoning to the rest of the
                          government, say the legislative branch? -- ilyas
                          \_ sorry, you'll have to find someone more gullible
                             to chase your red herring. -tom
                             \_ You are a prisoner of the running 'narrative'
                                on wall, Tom. -- ilyas
                 \_ No, you moron, it doesn't. The ratio of voters per electoral
                    vote may be smaller in Wyoming, but Wyoming is, like CA,
                    a first-past-the-post state. Your vote may count more
                    towards tipping the electoral votes in Wyoming than it
                    does in CA, but Wyoming also has a lot less electoral
                    votes as a state. Your vote doesn't directly correspond
                    to an electoral vote, but to a slate of votes. Depending
                    on how the state's race is shaping up and how the national
                    election is shaping up, your vote has more or less power
                    in any given situation. If CA is a battleground state and
                    Wyoming isn't, your vote is actually MORE significant in
                    CA than it is in Wyoming. --williamc
                    \_ gee, idiot, when 480K people (.16% of the population)
                       decide on 3 electoral votes (.56% of the electoral
                       college), their votes have more weight than when 35
                       million people (11.7% of the population) decide on
                       55 electoral votes (10.2% of the electoral college).
                       Try taking a math class.  -tom
                       \_ 35 million?  No.  Drop the illegal aliens and only
                          count registered voters and the numbers change
                          dramatically.  Try taking a civics class.
                          \_ Are you contending that there are fewer than
                             8 million US citizens in California?  That's
                             what it would take for CA's representation in
                             the electoral college to be proportional to
                             Wyoming's.  -tom
                       \_ We are the UNITED STATES of America. The States
                          make up the UNION. Not the other way around.
                          The states must be accorded their rights as
                          equal sovereign powers. Dealings btw them must
                          be done with recognition of their positions as
                          equals (look up "full faith and credit"). The
                          EC is a compromise, it gives every state as
                          close to an equal say in the selection of the
                          Chief Executive as is possible. [why was this
                          deleted?]
                          \_ Your last sentence is complete hogwash.  An
                             equal say would have Wyoming choosing .16% of
                             the electors, and California choosing 11.7%.
                             Are you going to try to claim again that
                             states have rights?  -tom
                                \_ What part of equality of sovereign
                                   powers do you not understand?
                                   Wyoming has 2 senators and 1
                                   congressman, thus it has three
                                   votes in selecting the Chief Exec.
                                   California has many more people
                                   hence it gets proportionately more
                                   congressmen, which translates to
                                   proportionately more votes in the
                                   EC which means more votes when
                                   selecting the Chief Exec. Maybe
                                   Wyoming gets a little bit more
                                   than an equal say b/c its pop.
                                   is smaller than the min.
                                   threshold for two congressmen.
                                   This is why the EC is as close
                                   to a completely equitable
                                   system as is possible given
                                   the foundation of the republic.
                                   Its seems to me that based on
                                   your logic, Wyoming should have
                                   no representation at all b/c they
                                   have hardly any people. That
                                   is not how it works for good
                                   reason.
                                   Yes, states have rights. Let's
                                   give you an example that you
                                   can understand. You ride your
                                   bike to Nevada. While riding
                                   around you happen to crash it
                                   into the window of a health
                                   food store. You get up and
                                   ride back to California.
                                   Nevada courts have the right
                                   to haul you, a non-resident,
                                   into court to answer the
                                   charges. You can choose
                                   not to appear, but that will
                                   just mean a judgment by def.
                                   If Nevada didn't have any
                                   rights/power, how could they
                                   drag you into court? Think
                                   about that.
                 \_ Republican: stupid.  Stupid: Republican.  It all makes
                    sense to me now.  Half the country is simply stupid because
                    they don't agree with tom.  All Hail Leader Tom!
                    \_ Well, if you're Republican, that at least would be one
                       example.  Try reading it again.  -tom
                       \_ All Hail Great Educator Leader Tom!
        \_ Imagine Florida 2000 across THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.  Be grateful for the
           Electoral College.
           \_ I hope you realize that most democratic countries manage to
              hold elections where the popular vote determines the winner and
              they can actually count the votes properly.
           \_ Actually, if we had Florida 2000 across the entire country, we
              would have each state supreme court ruling on recounts in their
              own state.  On the other hand, if we didn't have an electoral
              college system, and we had Florida 2000 in all 50 states,
              assuming 500-vote margins for Bush x 50 would mean Bush would
              win the popular vote and the Presidency by 25,000 votes.
              \_ Congratulations.  You managed to make a good point at first
                 and then squander it in taking the example to its illogical
                 conclusion.
                 \_ How so?  Because he can do math?
                    \_ He's probably annoyed because "Florida 2000" also means
                       assorted election hijinks by Jeb and friends, and I
                       didn't mention that but ended with a popular vote win
                       for Bush in each state and overall, which doesn't make
                       sense.

8/24    Anyone watched men's gymnastics last night?  During the booing for
        Alexei Nemov, I think I saw American spectators booing for him also.
        That was cool.
        \_ What happened?
           \_ http://csua.org/u/8qn (si.com)
              \_ Also http://csua.org/u/8qm (Yahoo! Sports)
        \_ well...they should. I was sitting on my couch booing for him.
        \_ yeah, that was really cool. Finally, the judges got judged, and
           humiliated.
           \_ What's more cool is that some of us are willing to set national
              pride aside and boo for our rival.
              pride aside and boo for our rival.  Nemov asking the crowd to
              calm down was also a class act.
           \_ It was cool and yet uncool. The whole thing is bullshit. They
              still ranked him fifth based, as far as I can tell, almost
              entirely on the step he took on the landing. While Hamm also
              took a step (a smaller one, but still), plus Hamm's routine
              appeared less difficult and was shorter. All the sports with
              this judge system inevitably run into this crap, pretty much
              in every event the TV commentators question some scores.
              As a spectator it's just frustrating not having a public
              rationale for a score. The rings event where the Greek guy
              won over the Bulgarian looked pretty suspicious to me also.
        \_ I can understand why the two guys before and after Hamm either tied
           him or scored below.  Olympics gymnastics are judged by classical
           moves.  Crowd-pleasing stunts are hard to judge if no one else does
           them.  Judges are looking for demonstrated control and form along
           with strength, and what better way than with classical moves?
           The two judges that changed their scores are tards.

8/24    poll, which school do you think has the ugliest chicks?
        Caltech: .
        MIT:
        Berkeley:
        SJSU:    .
        poll, which school do you think has the prettiest chicks?
        U Hawaii: .
        \_ which school creates the fattest sysadmins?  get a
           life - danh
           \_ that is obvious, CSUA is a sysadm farm. It is CSUA.
           \_ some sysadmins are skinny.  why are skinny sysadmins always
              being left out of this?
              \_ Free the skinny sysadmins!
              \_ Give them a few years, and they'll be fat.
        Caltech: .
        MIT:
        Berkeley:
        SJSU:    .
        Harvey Mudd: .
        'fraud: .
        poll, which school do you think has the prettiest chicks?
        U Hawaii: .
        \_ The women I see wearing UHawaii shorts / shirts @ my gym are
           plenty hot.
        UC Berkeley: ................................................
        \_ You haven't been to campus lately -- this has changed, kiddo.
           \_ For the better? Berkeley had some ugly chicks when I was
              there. I imagine the prettiest girls are at ASU or SDSU.
              I saw lots of pretty girls in Santa Barbara, but not sure if
              that means UCSB.
              \_ There are unattractive people everywhere.  And yes...for
                 the better.
                 \_ They were *all* unattractive. 99.9%.
                    \_ You're either full of shit or have stupidly high
                       standards.  Grow up.
                    \_ gimme some sugar, hot stuff.
        \_ hawaiian girls are the best!!! nice bod, nice tan, nice hair...
           \_ yet weird looking nonetheless.

8/24    Kerry to give first interview on Swift Boat to Jon Stewart tonight:
        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27439-2004Aug23.html
        \_ Whatever.  "They're a bunch of liars, and BushCO is evil and didn't
           show at Vietnam like I did!  Reporting for duty!"
           \_ did you see the clinton+daily show clip?  it was
              entertaining.  if you're a tried and true bush supporter
              you will not care.
              \_ no, but I just simply don't care anyway.
           \_ Don't be a turd.  Stewart has a better track record than most
              "real" journalists at this point.
              \_ I still don't care.  Vietnam is a stupid thing to elect a
                 President over in 2004.  I'm really frustrated that we're
                 not hearing about a) Kerry's 19 years of Senate time, b) the
                 Bush 4 years as President, and c) *exactly* what each plans
                 to do with the next 4 years, not bullshit like "get everyone
                 to like us!" and "kill all terrorists, yo!"  This is the
                 least serious election I've seen since I became politically
                 aware circa 1980 and vaguely in 1976.  I think the 527s have
                 and the fake campaign finance reform have made issues even
                 less visible than before.  Pre-fake-campaign-finance-reform,
                 the ads were directly from the candidates so they were almost
                 forced to not say stupid shit.  Now that they can pretend that
                 Michael Moore and the Swift Boat Vets aren't related and
                 distance themselves from it, the 527 bullshit orgs can say
                 any stupid thing and it gets reported as real news.

8/24    I get 3% packet loss when running mtr (with ICMP echo packets) to my
        dedicated server. Is this amount of packet loss considered normal
        and generally acceptible? Is there a better program for getting
        network quality statistics than mtr?  Thanks.
        \_ How many hops and through what network(s)?
           \_ 19 hops. Through <DEAD>att.net<DEAD> (comcast), <DEAD>shawcable.net<DEAD>, to rackforce
              \_ Damn.  I knew rackforce sucked, but 19 hops to comcast?
                 I'd suggest switching providers.
              \_ Then it can be very reasonable.  -John

8/18    /csua/tmp has been cleaned up; anything older than a year is gone.

8/24    Nope, there's no media bias here.  Bush and the election pops up in
        the middle of a story about the Iraqi Olympic soccer team.
        http://csua.org/u/8qv

8/24    The only practical way to eliminate the electoral college system in
        the U.S. is for a candidate to win the Presidency while losing the
        popular vote by 5-10%, and then having the U.S. go to shit.  This may,
        and I stress "may", generate enough support for changing to a
        popular-vote system.
        \_ Interestingly the support is already there, at least in the 1992 and
           1968 polls (check http://Wikipedia.com).  Its just that you need so much
           support to pass a constitutional amendment that its not practical.
           I find it very ironic that the attempt at an amendment to abolish it
           in 1989 passed the house easily but (of course) failed in the Senate,
           where all states have equal representation.  I'm not even sure if
           the scenario you describe would bring enough support from the Senate
           and 3/4s of the states, but maybe.  There's always a Constitutional
           Convention, but given the dangerous nature of such a thing I doubt
           that will ever happen either.
           \_ With a 5% difference, the President will have an expectedly hard
              time claiming a mandate.  With a "small" difference, like 0.5% in
              2000, people will also say "no mandate", but will be overwhelmed
              by others saying "this goes to show that the system works".

8/24    Springboarding off the quarters thread below.  Where do you get
        rolls of quarters quick and easy?  Lines are too long at my bank
        and all the supermarkets have gone to the auto-change-dispenser
        things.  Right now I go through the BART ticket machines, but
        lugging back that many loose quarters is a pain.
        \_ Go to a casino, by the slot machines. They'll give you all the
           quarters you want.
        \_ If you ask supermarket customer service, they will usually sell
           a roll to you.
           \_ Sorry, I forgot to mention, this usually comes up later in the
              evening, after the customer service counters close.
              \_ Plan ahead: buy two rolls of quarters the next time you're
                 at the supermarket during the day and store them in a safe
                 place.  Then, when you need to do laundry, or play quarters,
                 or put the rolls in a sock so's you can bean someone, you'll
                 have them handy.
                 \_ If I were ever able to go grocery shopping before 11pm...
                    \_ Who are you, Nicolas Cage in _Leaving Las Vegas_?  Hell,
                       even vampires can get to a supermarket before 11pm.
                       \_ You apparently have no idea how entertaining
                          supermarkets can be in the off hours.  High st
                          Super K-mart in Alameda was choice around 3am - all
                          the kids making late night baking soda runs.
                          \_ Or donut shops after midnight.
                          \_ What does one due with baking soda at 3 am?
                             \_ If you don't know, you probably shouldn't know.
                             \_ You can use it to convert cocaine into a
                                smokeable form. I'm assuming that's what the
                                pp is refering to.
        \_ So let's see... you want quarters, and the poster below wants to
           get rid of quarters? ...
           \_ a reliable source of quarters is the issue. for me, my wife's
              bank is reliable, and short lines (BofA). Also, in a pinch,
              a car wash (go to 24hr one, when no lines) and use their
              change machine.
              \_ ps: go on sat mornings. always short lines.
        \_ Every day I put my change in a change bowl at the end of the day.
           When I need change, I take some out. This has worked pretty well
           for me.
           \_ I've been doing that for years and now I have 3 large buckets
              full of random change.

8/24    How do I find out who is on the receiving end of root@csua,
        politburo@csua, etc?
        \_ /etc/mail/aliases
        \_ grep
        \_ /usr/sbin/sendmail -bv root
           /usr/sbin/sendmail -bv politburo
           (This is the general sendmail expansion command. Soda's sendmail
            config might not let it give the right ansers to non-root users tho)
           \_ It actually gives more useful answers if you're not root,
              although the output's kind of annoying to read.  You can run
              ~mconst/bin/expn to get the same data with nicer formatting.
              --mconst
        \_ why the hell are these alum still on the list?
         one-true-root: jon,mconst,brett,scotsman,ajani,twohey,njh,erikk,galen
           \_ why shouldn't they be?
           \_ Because these alums still run the systems -njh
              \_ Shouldn't the elected student VP be doing that?
                 \_ and the elected VP has chosen to benefit from their
                    wisdom and experience.  the VP has also chosen to
                    delegate the responsibilities.
                    \_ The current politburo is about the laziest and
                       most apathetic I've seen in a looong time.
                       Are these guys resume padders or what?
                       \_ This won't help anyone's resume if that's what
                          they think.

8/24    Is there a way to to disable tunneled clear text passwords on a
        per/user basis in OpenSSH? Can this configuration be set in a file
        in the user's .ssh directory?
        \_ They can edit that file so what good is it as a security measure?
           \_ Because I I want to disable password logins for my own account.
           \_ Because I want to disable password logins for my own account.
                      \- just * your passwd/shadow entry. i think this is a
                         good thing to do in nis domains. --psb
              \_ That sounds like it could be useful, though also an easy
                 way for an attacker to lock a user out of his own account,
                 temporarily at least. If this is your own machine, you
                 could write a PAM module that denies password auth requests
                 to users on some list.

8/24    I've been thinking about getting a 2 GB Microdrive for my
        digital camera (Digital Rebel) so that I can start shooting
        pictures in RAW format. Has anyone used a microdrive for
        this purpose? If so, how well has it worked for you? tia.
        \_ microdrives are slow, and very unreliable compared with flash
           media.  you'll do better with multiple, smaller flash cards.  -tom
           \_ "seconded"
           \_ You can buy flash-based drives up to 4 gigs.
           \_ microdrives used to be cheaper and bigger than flash drives,
              which made it popular, but those two are no longer issues.
              and microdrives are very prone to failure at high altitude/low
              pressure.
              \- While I agree flash media is probably more reliable in
                 theory, I dont think microdrives are especially unreliable.
                 I have used them above 13,000ft without problem. So if you
                 have them, I wouldnt worry about using them. If you are
                 buying something new, without looking at price "sweet spots"
                 I'd probably buy 512meg flash cards to avoid putting all
                 your eggs in one basket. These are light, quick to swap
                 so I dont see the point of consolidating. I suppose if
                 you are alays shooting at +50megs per image that is another
                 matter, but I think that is a mistake for reasons I wont
                 go into. I'll be curious if you are still shooting RAW
                 in 6mos. --psb
                 \_ I still shoot only in RAW mode, and have been using it
                    for several months.  Try doing a side by side comparison
                    of tone or curve adjustments in 16bit and 8bit images.
                    I can fit over 60 images on my 512MB card, using RAW mode
                    on my Canon D60.  -meyers
                 \_ I've got a 256mb card right now, and it just isn't
                    big enough to shoot more than a few pictures in RAW.
                    I thought that by getting a 2 GB Microdrive I could
                    at least shoot some pictures in RAW ever now and then.
                    I still intend to shoot the majority of my pictures
                    as fine jpg.
                       \-yes that is fine. i am betting in 6mos you will not
                             be shooting the maj in raw. let me know if i
                             am right. --psb
                         \_ I think he is saying that now.

8/24    Before one moves to a foreign city (or another U.S. city for that
        matter), is there a way to find out which neighborhoods are nice,
        run down, safe, or dangerous if you don't know someone already
        living there?
        \_ Many county and municipal Law Enforcement departments publish crime
           statistics in a variety of formats.  Contra Costa has a clickable
           map on its website.
           http://www.cocosheriff.org/crime_statistics/crime_statistics.htm
           http://www.cocosheriff.org/crime_statistics/crime_stat_maps/stats_clyde_un_concord.htm
           http://tinyurl.com/4w668
        \_ For inside the U.S., go to http://msn.com, click on Buy a House -> Compare
           Cities.
        \_ It's very odd in LA, it's hard to tell by looking sometimes.
             -- ilyas
        \_ Check the housing prices.
           \_ Concur. It's not a 100% indicator when comparing downtown to
              a suburb (the suburb may actually be nicer and cheaper, but
              obviously farther) but it's a good start when comparing apples
              to apples.
        \_ Most of these methods operate on at most a per-zip code granularity.
           So none of them work well when there is variety within a zip code.
           In Sacramento, for example, conditions vary on an almost street-
           by-street basis.
           \_ And the houses on the better streets will cost more.
        \_ Just look for those minorities around. If you see em, you know
           it's a bad neighborhood. Man this is a boring motd entry.
           \_ Most of the residents in the Sunset and Richmond districts in SF
              are Chinese Americans.  Neither district seem to be bad
              neighborhood.
              \_ The Chinese are not a minority.  Just ask UC administration.
                 \_ Asians - the other white people!

8/24    Could someone recommend a self-storage place, for mostly books and
        files, not too far from the south bay?  ok tia.
        \_ My boss used to use the Public Storage on Fair Oaks (right off
           of Central Exp.) He had stuff in storage for several years w/o
           any problems (computers, books, files, furniture, &c.)

8/24    Two Russian passenger jets, taking off from same Moscow airport,
        disappear from radar within five minutes of each other.  One verified
        crash, the other missing.  100+ feared dead.
        http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/24/russia.planecrash/index.html
        \_ It's a Bush dirty trick!  Rove secretly bribed the pilots to
           crash the planes so they can run ads to discredit Kerry.
           \_ Nah, the only dirty trick we're expecting is capturing Osama
              before the election, and other fiddling with the color-coded
              alert system. (I think all major points of interest will go
              Orange 2-4 weeks before the election).
              \_ You think they have bin Laden in prison some where and will
                 trot him out in late October?  And no one has leaked this?
                 \_ nah are you some right-wing weenie?  guess again.
        \_ If terrorism is involved, I would say its highly likely to be
           Chechen rebels.  They have committed plenty of terrorist acts
           before.  Also, this is a RUSSIAN airline we are talking about, so
           you can't rule out massive equipment failure.
           \_ Don't forget the pilots, drinking vodka and letting kids take
              over the plane!
              \_ kids?
              \_ Da Comrade, one for me, one for plane.

8/24    http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/0,39023100,39164010,00.htm
        Intel Prescotts run hotter and slower, comparing complete systems,
        same graphics card (GeForce 6800GT):
        Athlon 64 3800+ (2.4GHz)    82W idle   162W max
        Pentium 4 560 (3.6GHz)     155W idle   258W max
        \_ Old news. Prescott is a dog. Intel knows this and has terminated
           all 90nm Pentium 4 products in favor of Pentium M.
           \_ These are for the latest Athlon 64 and Prescott CPUs, and I am
              not aware of the above data being readily available.  Also, since
              the first Pentium M-based desktop CPU isn't scheduled to arrive
              until 2006, it's all Prescott right now for Intel until then. -op
              \_ It is indeed.  Tejas and Jayhawk, the followons to Prescott,
                 were cancelled: http://csua.org/u/8r4
        \_ 258W is nuts.  Intel can't seriously expect people to build real
           servers in compact data centers with a nuclear reactor like that.
           Even without the graphics card, 155W idle (plus a bunch of drives
           in a server) is insane.  Anyone here work for Intel and have any
           inside dirt on this problem?
           \_ I don't work for Intel, but I worked for another microprocessor
              company that shall not be named.  It's no secret what's going on,
              it's the hottest topic in the industry right now.  Just google
              90nm and leakage power.
              \_ well what I really was asking is what Intel was thinking
                 when they shipped this beast and if they really thought that
                 Intel Inside(tm) was enough to overcome this horrible heat
                 number.
                 \_ Previous to 90nm, most die shrinks came with a reduction
                    in power consumption.  You could just say, "It was too
                    late once they realized they couldn't fix the problem
                    (fast enough?)."  Anyway, their yield is increased with
                    90nm; more chips per wafer; more money.
                    AMD will also be releasing 90nm parts for desktop and
                    mobile; I am curious how they will do. -op
           \_ having worked there I can assure you that NO ONE there knows
              the inside scoop. Everyone's so busy and specialized with his
              own component (cache, chipset, processor, etc) that he/she has
              absolutely no idea what the big picture is.
              \_ thanks.
           \_ I don't work for Intel, but Nocona (codename for next Xeon
              iteration) will have SpeedStep.  Probably they will have
              SpeedStep for Pentium 4.  True, max power doesn't change, but
              idle will lower and you will stay there longer. -op
              \_ Pentium 4 is dead.  They are going to multi-core and Pentium
                 M based desktops.  See the link about about Tejas and Jayhawk.

                 \_ Duh.  I realize this.  I am talking about what they will
                    have available through 2006. -op
        \_ If you care about conserving energy, just turn off your desktop
           machines and monitors when you leave work.  A few people turning off
           their machines and monitors after work saves a lot more energy than
           getting whatever low-wattage server you can find.
           \_ I'm concerned about the heat output in my data center.  You're
              not getting a 3.6ghz machine on your desktop in my company.
              Also, many shops do desktop backups at night so turning off your
              machine is a no-no.

8/24    Just a general question: Does anyone really care about this Swift boat
        nonsense other than the twinks on the motd?
        \_ From the polls I've seen, Kerry's lost about 30 points among
           veterans since the swift boat ads started.  So that's a definite
           maybe.
           \_ He has also gained amongst moderates and fence straddlers.
              So it has been more or less a wash. Most Vets were already
              going to vote Republican. 46 to 37 percent is 9 points, btw,
              so unless you are kidding yourself, he has lost 9 points of
              the veteran vote, not 30 percent.
              \_ I guess I remembered the number incorrectly.  Sorry.
                 \_ Wow, an apology on the motd! Now I feel silly for
                    flaming you...
                    \_ I wouldn't have called what you wrote a "flame".
                    \_ I didn't take it as a flame.  I took it as a factual
                       correction--and when my facts are wrong, I actually
                       appreciate being corrected.  *I* feel a bit silly
                       posting my numbers without double-checking.
                       \_ you fucking moron! --motd

8/24    To those with Cisco/router fu:
        My co-worker walked over and asked me what the "set default interface"
        command does if you don't specify a next-hop IP address.  I said
        you always need a next-hop IP address, unless you expect the
        destination IP address in the IP header to be on the directly connected
        network.  He said it will broadcast on that interface.  I'm googling
        now, but please help if you happen to know.  Thanks.
        \_ I guess the answer is somewhere in here.  Thanks. -op
           http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Routers/Q_21093447.html
           To me this means I'm right, he's wrong.  I'm skeptical, though,
           that Router B will pretend to be Host C, even if Host C is on a
           directly connected network of Router B.  Anyways.

8/24    Anyone has any suggestions to hack a Windows XP system if you have
        physical access to the machine?  Can one just boot from a USB drive and
        start to read other files on the machine?
        \_ Yes.  Assuming the drive isn't encrypted, all you have to do is
           boot to something that will let you mount/slave/etc the winxp drive.
        \_ Lots of programs let you boot off of a floppy and reset the
           Administrator password from there.

8/24    NO CONNECTION AT ALL!
        http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040824_2007.html
        http://tinyurl.com/53727

8/24    Is there any physical difference between USB 1.1 and 2.0?  Google is
        being unhelpful.
        \_ The sockets are the same, but the cable needs to support 2.0 speeds.
           "USB 1.1 certified" cables will work with 2.0 since that's how it's
           spec'd, but not all cables are even 1.1 certified.
           http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Q_21083579.html
           USB hubs and devices are either 1.1 only, or 2.0 and backwards
           compatible to 1.1.
           \_ What, may I ask, makes the difference between 1.1 and 2?  What
              is the cause of the faster speed?
              \_ From what I read, it's an increase in raw signalling rate,
                 with a drop in current to reduce noise, and of course
                 something else to indicate the speed.  google usb nutshell.
                 \_ How would a drop in current reduce noise?
                    \_ You're reading it the wrong way.  It reduces noise
                       for non-USB components.
                       \_ What!??  Please elaborate.

8/24    It could be worse, he could have claimed he was in Cambodia a week
        before he really was:
        http://thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=1704
        \_ There is still zero evidence Kerry was ever in Cambodia.  And
           despite the media blitz stating otherwise two of Kerry's purple
           hearts continue to have gaping holes as wide as the Mekong
           Delta itself.

8/24    Two Russian passenger jets, taking off from same Moscow airport,
        crash within five minutes of each other.  One sent out a hijacking
        signal before going down.  90+ feared dead.
        http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/24/russia.planecrash/index.html
        \_ It's a Bush dirty trick!  Rove secretly bribed the pilots to
           crash the planes so they can run ads to discredit Kerry.
           \_ Nah, the only dirty trick we're expecting is capturing Osama
              before the election, and other fiddling with the color-coded
              alert system. (I think all major points of interest will go
              Orange 2-4 weeks before the election).
              \_ You think they have bin Laden in prison some where and will
                 trot him out in late October?  And no one has leaked this?
                 \_ nah are you some right-wing weenie?  guess again.
        \_ If terrorism is involved, I would say its highly likely to be
           Chechen rebels.  They have committed plenty of terrorist acts
           before.  Also, this is a RUSSIAN airline we are talking about, so
           you can't rule out massive equipment failure.
           \_ Don't forget the pilots, drinking vodka and letting kids take
              over the plane!
              \_ kids?
              \_ Da Comrade, one for me, one for plane.