9/2     I just made my $100 contribution for John Kerry.  I do appreciate that
        he's finally on the attack. -liberal

9/3     Informal Poll: What has been peoples' experiences with Berkeley traffic
        courts?  Did you contest? Did the officer show up? Attitude of the
        judge, formality, etc...
        \_ Had to appear in a Berkeley traffic court over a fixit ticket that
           I inadvertently forgot to pay (broken taillight cover).  I was the
           last one in the dock.  The judge was a VERY mean old man with a
           disconcerting lazy eye.  He ripped into everyone that appeared
           before him, handing out harsh sentences left and right.  Then there
           was me.  Basically he took my story at face value and gave me a $75
           dollar fine...I have no evidence of this, but since I was the only
           white guy there I have a feeling I was benefitting from someone's
           racism.
           \_ Idiot.  You got a $75 fine for a $10 fixit ticket.  That was
              the most he was able to do to you, dumb white-guilt white boy.
                \_ When the last black man leaves the bus, it always erupts
                   into a big party ...
        \_ If you contest it you're going to blow more time,
           your 1st appearance in traffic court is to enter your plea,
           your trial will be scheduled for another day.   the above
           only white man in berkeley poster didn't make it to the trial
           phase, it won't be the same judge.  it sucks that just
           to contest, you're going to waste your entire day, first
           you have to arrive extremely early in the morning to sign
           up for walk-in court, then the judge hears everyone's pleas
           in the afternoon, and your case gets called in a random
           order, unless you don't speak English, in which case
           all of the non English speaking people cases get heard
           first so their interpreters can go home quickly.  That
           might be a good scam and would save your time. - danh

9/3     To the motd liberal who gave $100 to Kerry because he's finally
        on the attack -- can you post some links? I'm getting more and more
        frustrated that the Dems are not capitalizing on some of these
        softballs lofted to them by the Repubs. BTW, what happened to your
        post?
        \_ It was a political post, someone doesn't like them at night.
           The story is on every newspaper's home page, "Kerry lashes back",
           Thursday night.  Mainly attacks on Cheney's chicken-hawk status.
           \_ goodby perl post!  welcome to WWIII!
           \_ It is stupid and useless to attack the VP.  The country elected
              Dan Quayle, among other useless idiots, to be VP.  The VP could
              be my dog but he'd still get into office if they wanted the P.
              The Kerry campaign is run by morons.  That directly reflects
              very poorly on Kerry himself if he hasn't done anything about
              the obviously bad advice he's getting at this point.  There
              is barely enough time now to do anything about it if he made
              sweeping changes right now.
              \_ I don't think I'd have a problem with switching VP.  Not
                 because I don't like Cheney, but it is a little wierd
                 because I don't like Cheney, but it is a little weird
                 that the VP looks like he might keel over anytime.  Isn't
                 he supposed to be the backup system?
                 \_ Exactly. The comparison with Quayle is not valid. There is
                    a common perception on both sides of the partisan split:
                    1) Cheney is in a great deal of control of the country.
                       More so than any previous VP.
                    2) For all but the party faithful, he is somewhat of a
                       liability for a variety of reasons.
                    \_ We elected Quayle!  That alone is proof that no one
                       gives a damn who the VP is.  I'd rather rather have a
                       man a heart beat away who is a heart beat closer to his
                       own death than the man he is to replace than a blazing
                       idiot.  Attacking Cheney is just plain stupid.

9/2     Lose one for the flipper!
        \_ how clever!  moron.

9/3     Okay, http://somethingawful.com is really funny today.
        \_ Thought the Penny Arcade box was the best.

9/3     http://csua.org/u/8wt
        "Because He Says So" (6.2 mb Daily Show quicktime link)
        \_ How about some context before we download 6 megs of quicktime crap?
        \_ "Weapons of mass destruction related program activities"
           Did Bush really say that? He is a funnier guy than I realized...
           \_ How is that funny?
              \_ As time went on:
                 WMDs -> WMD programs -> WMD related program activities
                 Duh.
                 \_ Yes, and how is that funny?
                 \_ Actually, it was more like
                    Eye witness accounts of chemical, biological, and nuclear
                    weapons in mobile weapons labs--wheels and rails-- look,
                    SATELLITE IMAGERY OF A TRAILER PARK, these are WEAPONS LABS!
                    -> WMDs, we're going in, we'll be celebrated
                    -> Mission Accomplished ("Major Combat Operations Concluded")
                       now we'll find those WMDs
                    -> OMGWMDBBQ!  It's a 20 year old mustard gas shell!
                    -> WMD Programs
                    -> WMD related program activities, and we got Osama bin
                       Hussein like I told you we would back in 2001.  Remember
                       September 11th?
        \_ The link doesn't work, but just google daily show and it's the
           first video on the upper-right.
        \_ 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm!!!1!

9/3     Wow, BC is actually kinda funny today.  Can't remember when that
        happened last.
        http://featurepage.creators.com/washpost.html?name=bc
        \_ I guess it's funnier than Mallard Fillmore.
        \_ Sorry, not funny.  He should have stuck to Fat Broad jokes.

9/3     Loved this AP headline:
        "Bush Glosses Over Complex Facts In Speech"
        http://csua.org/u/8ws
        \_ In other late breaking news, things continue to fall due to
           gravity.
           \_ Heh, exactly.
        \_ Nope, no bias there.
           \_ So now the FACTS are partisan? You keep sucking the "liberal
              media" shit out of a tube, we'll keep living in reality.
           \_ Hey, at least it provides a tiny smidge of balance against the
              raw Leader-Worship the networks engaged in after the speech.
              They were comparing him to Churchill!
        \_ Our President is a dumbass, and he has acknowledged this.

9/3     Cool!  Housing market slowing down:
        http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mortgages/20040902a1.asp
        Prices will soon slide down.
        \_ They've already started down, but the questions are how far and
            for how long.
           \_ In what part of the universe do you live where housing prices
              are dropping?
              \_ Prices fell in Ventura and Orange Counties, at the least.
              \_ Prices fell in San Francisco last month. A tiny bit,
                 but still.
                 \_ Speaking of which, can you recommend an online reference
                    for browing through San Francisco apartments and/or condos
                    for sale?  I'm curious what sorts of prices are out there.
                    \_ http://www.sfarmls.com
                       \_ Thanks!  Looks like its still insane: $400,000 for
                          a 1 bedroom!
        \_ Yeah, I'll shed a bitter tear when my house stops going up $75k per
           year in my neighborhood and only goes up $15k a year instead during
           the coming housing bust and slow down.
           \_ will you cry like a big mama if it goes down like 15% ?
              would you recommend people to buy house now like the recent crazy
              motd idiot?

9/3     U.S. economy added 144,000 jobs in August.  June and July job numbers
        revised modestly upwards. http://csua.org/u/8wr
        \_ interest rate hike coming soon???
           \_ In the hopes of crashing the housing market?
        \_ "While the new jobless rate was the lowest since October 2001, the
            drop in the unemployment rate in August came as people left the
            work force for any number of reasons."
           So the jobless rate is low because some people got jobs and some
           people stopped reporting that they were looking for jobs?
           \_ Yeah, but hasn't it always been how these numbers are calculated?
           \_ Demographics.  A lot of women in a large demographic are of
              common marriage age.  They're not reporting because they're not
              looking and never will.
           \_ I love that.  They just left the work force.  They're now eating
              rocks and sleeping in parks--and they're not looking for jobs.
              \_ Married women don't eat rocks and sleep in parks.  Maybe your
                 wife would be forced to, but not most others.  Nice way to
                 ignore previous posts while making a non-point.
        \_ Its a good thing they reported that huge poverty number back in
           August, in a backwater office somewhere with no reporters around.
           \_ Which is why everyone knows about it and Kerry used it in a
              speech.  Riiiiiight.  You know that pverty number includes all
              people, not just citizens.  So ever fresh over the border illegal
              who isn't qualified to be your maid counts as being in poverty.
        \_ ...and note we are 1.7 million jobs short of where we were projected
           to be last February...besides, this number will most likely be
           revised significantly downward just as all the other job reports
           have been.
           \_ Odd to say this when the job report just revised June and July
              numbers upward.  URL that says job numbers tend to revise more
              down than up?
              \_ BASTARD!  Stop bringing facts to the motd!  NO FREE SPEECH FOR
                 FASCISTS!
        \_ The economy needs 150,000 new jobs a month just to keep even,
           so this is actually pretty bad news. Don't look for the press
           to spin it that way, though.
           \_ Yeah, the BushCo controller media is at it again.  Once we take
              control of the press, we'll be able to show the people the true
              way and the people will rise up and crush their overlords and
              the country shall be a socialist utopia and we shall all be
              equals, comrade!  We shall appoint Chris Mathews as the Minister
              of Truth and Propaganda.
              \_ Nice attempt to change the topic. It just makes you look
                 foolish and frankly, a bit nutso.
                 \_ It's exactly on topic, sorry.  The above brought in a bit
                    about the press.  I responded to that.  Tough shit.

9/3     How much does it cost to tear down an old house and rebuild a new
        ~2500 sqft house on a flat lot in the bay area?
        \_ Call a building contractor.
        \_ I seem to remember it's around $200/sf. for 'luxury' homes.
           \_ My house appraised at $150/sq ft replacement cost, but
              it is certainly not luxury. I think the going rate for
              new construction is $250/sq ft right now. I will ask
              my architect friends and get back to you.
        \_ I seem to remember it costing a lot lot more if you tear the
           whole thing down... then it's a rebuild... leaving one wall up
           allows it to be a remodel, or something like that.
           \_ By law or by union contract or what?  I'm not disagreeing with
              you because I don't know about this, I just think this is weird.
              \_ This is usually by city ordinance, but there is a Prop 13
                 aspect as well. If you gut the house but leave something
                 standing it's a remodel and you will pay less tax on it.

9/3     The Russian siege did not end well.
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3624024.stm
        Please, let's have a moment of silence.
        \_ This shit sucks.  How can we be winning the war on terror with
           simultaneous horrors in Israel, Russia, and Iraq?  Poor out a
           40oz for these kids, and the people on those planes as well.
           \_ You're a fool.  Israel and Russias problems are not our
              problems.  The 'horrors' in Iraq are an active issue, troll,
              which is why we call it the "war on terror", not the "we already
              won it war on terror".  Go away, troll.  You're a sick fuck for
              trying to turn this event into an anti-Bush diatribe.
              \_ Israel's problems are not our problems? But the biggest
                 reason given for invading Iraq was that he "supported
                 terrorists" by which Bush meant Hamas vs. Israel. Have
                 you forgotten that already?
                 \_ No, the reason given was WMD.  Have you forgotten that
                    already?  And the terrorists he was talking about which was
                    a secondary reason was Al Qaeda.  I think it's weird that
                    Al Qaeda has been found in Germany, Britain, France, Spain,
                    Florida, Texas, New York, and a few other places, but no,
                    no Al Qaeda in Iraq, no sirree!
                    \_ Go back and reread his SOTU address just before the
                       war. The big two were: 1) Iraq has WMD 2) Iraq is
                       allied with terrorists. This lead to his conclusion
                       that Iraq was a threat to the United States.
                       \_ Uh?  You just confirmed what I said.  Thanks!  I
                          wonder if you even read what I said before you
                          replied.
                          \_ Not exactly. But you can claim that if you
                             want. One is not two, at least not in my
                             math book.
        \_ They weren't even giving the kids water. Ugh.
           \_ One more reason to justify the raid (even though the govt didn't
              plan to do it.)  Even if the hostage-takers didn't plan to blow
              up everyone no matter what, the kids would soon start to die of
              dehydration anyway.
        \_ i was expecting over 1000 would die.  what's the running total?
           \_ Read the article.  Currently up to 150.
              \_ In Soviet Russia, you divide the number of hostages by 3.
        \_ The Russians are just reaping what they sowed.
           \_ You're a real cocksucker.  Those kids didn't sow anything.
              Nor did that Italian journalist, nor did the people in the WTC.
              It sickens me that the governments of the most advanced,
              richest nations of the world cannot summon the wherewithal
              to find a few individual animals and send their intestines to
              their families in tupperware buckets, which is exactly what
              ought to be done with every fucking ogre who does something
              like this.  Not go to war, not declare a crusade, just
              find someone guilty (there's enough broken fanatics) and set
              an example or two.  -John
              \_ Amen, John. --erikred
              \_ the kids didn't sow anything but Putin and the Russian
                 army did.  Once they get their butts out of other people's
                 land, this will stop happening.
                 \_ No it won't.  Viz. two French journalists kidnapped
                    despite craven & opportunistic French diplomacy regarding
                    "muslim" world.  Your argument does not hold.  These
                    fucks will not stop.  And there is _no_ justification
                    for kidnapping children and other innocents, even if
                    "their" army is committing injustice.  Hey, even the
                    fucking koran says so, go figure.  -John
                    \_ It's stupid to think that conciliatory acts will prevent
                       all terrorist attacks, but it's also stupid to think
                       that it has no effect on the frequency of said attacks.
                       \_ no, it is stupid to think that bowing down to terror
                          will yield less instead of more.  dead terrorists
                          don't kill children, genius.
                    \_ nah, chechen's terrorism is a direct result of
                       russian occupation.  russian butchered hundreds of
                       thousands of chechens over the decades.  There
                       wasn't any terrorist acts until the russian sent
                       in their army to crush chechen's legitimate
                       aspiration for having their own nation.
                       \_ Man, I can't wait for that that Native American
                          justice to start. Ask Me Why I Hate America!
                          \_ They already tried it 30 years ago.  Go read a
                             book some time.
                          \_ are you saying it's right for US to kill
                             indians and take their land?
                       \_ You forget about the terrorists coming over the
                          Chechen border into Southern Russia. Russian
                          occupation falls under the same "preemptive war"
                          banner as the US in Iraq and Israel in Lebanon.
                          \_ No, it doesn't.  Each situation is unique.  It is
                             naive to say X == Y in all these very complicated
                             and often decades or hundreds of years old
                             conflicts.  Go read a book.
                       \_ Well, the Chechens already basically won their
                          independence back in 1996. In 1999 Chechens invaded
                          the neighboring Russian state of Dagestan. This led
                          to Russia re-invading Chechnya.
                          \_ no, russia claimed victory in 1996 and still
                             says chechnya is part of russia.  they have
                             never given up that claim, and then they used
                             a minor skirmish with some extremist chechen
                             group as an excuse to invade chechnya.  note that
                             the extremist chechens were fighting the russian
                             army and not committing terrorist acts against
                             civilians.
        \_ Hey look, the Russians took the advice given on the motd!
           \_ No, a bomb accidentally went off in the gym, like I speculated
              last night as the cause of the roof caving in.
           \_ No, a bomb went off in the gym, like I speculated last night as
              the cause of the roof caving in.
              The roof did not cave because the CTs blew a hole in the wall.
              The Ts started it; the CTs responded.
        \_ The world is a safer place! -dubya
           \_ I love when the socialists get cute and snarky!  You always make
              me laugh when you post your little one liners in a poor attempt
              to make yourself feel smart.  Keep them coming!
              \_ It would seem that the primitive one liner scored.

9/3     You know what you guys need?  You need some of this:
  _____ _   _  ____ _  __ __   _____  _   _
 |  ___| | | |/ ___| |/ / \ \ / / _ \| | | |
 | |_  | | | | |   | ' /   \ V / | | | | | |
 |  _| | |_| | |___| . \    | || |_| | |_| |
 |_|    \___/ \____|_|\_\   |_| \___/ \___/
        \_ I am afraid you might be wrong.  I do not require that.

9/3     Serious question for motd conservatives, except for that Freeper

        guy, who I seriously think is nuts:
        Has the Republican Party become the "big government" party these
        days? Bush listed a dozen Great Society programs last night
        that he intends to implement. Now that the Republicans are in
        power, have they discovered that they like government after all?
        \_ Big government is not a part of the republican 'story,' but of
           course they implement certain big government programs.  Sometimes
           it's to get votes (medical stuff), sometimes it's to appear they are
           doing something to respond to a threat, or perhaps for will-to-power
           reasons (homeland security), sometimes it's collusion between
           business and government (subsidies, etc).  Republican big government
           policies are the corrupting delta (the difference between what they
           say and what they do) given our form of government.
           The problem is, democrats will do all these things, but they also
           believe in big government as some sort of principle, so they will
           also do many MORE things.  Fixing things here does not involve
                   \_ What a bunch of rank bullshit.
                   \_ "World would be even more blowed up if Kerry was Prez"
                      \_ Yeah, he would have done something like let Osama get
                         away, fail to secure the ports, or invade a Muslim
                         country and then fail to send enough troops or give
                         them body armor. -knows you were being sarcastic
           voting for someone else, I think, as the flaws are structural in
           the way we run things.  I am beginning to think our problems are
           mostly cultural.  I can't imagine the swiss implementing something
           like homeland security, because they have a long and deep tradition
           of decentralized solutions. -- ilyas (not a fan of big government)
           \_ The Republican camp is responding to both bases of social and
              financial conservatives. For FiCons, they got the lower taxes.
              Then the SoCons get their "Big Government" style agenda items
              passed. These big ticket items (plus the increase in defense
              spending) drop the money available in the general pool. So the
                \_ not in the general economy but in the federal budget which
                   is just fine with me, since its already bloated with crap.
                   the less money the feds have for crap spending, the better.
                   i object to your mixing and hazing out the difference beween
                   the general economy and the gederal budget.  they are not
                   at all the same.
                   \_ I WAS talking about fed budget... Crap is in eye of the
                      beholder. Reps fund their pork same as Dems. However,
                      they aim at removing gov regs to pay for SoCon BG items.
              FiCons cut government funds that regulate business. Plus those
              "BG" items are not always properly funded by the Feds. They
              become unfunded mandates and the states/locals pick up the tab,
              which raises taxes, which brings out new FiCons, who vote in
              more Republicans. The rule has always been unspent money is a
              politician's curse.
              \_ So if the feds pay for it, taxes dont go up but if the states
                 do then taxes have to go up to pay for it?  you have a very
                 fundamentally flawed understanding of where federal money
                 comes from.  ill give you this one: it comes from taxes.
                 \_ No, the Feds DON'T pay for it. But they REQUIRE it. Take
                    "No Child Left Behind." Costs $29B to fund, but feds put
                    little money behind it. States must follow Fed regs so
                    the cost comes from state pockets. State has no money, so
                    it takes it from Counties, who have to raise taxes.
           \_ Hm, usually I think your posts are well-reasoned ilyas but this
              is just a long slimy string of crap.
              \_ I ll be sure to post a short, 2-line string of crap next time,
                 like your good example shows! -- ilyas
           \_ Lemme get this straight... what you are saying is
              that Republicans increase the size of government, though
              they don't belive in doing that, whereas Democrats
              also increase the size of government, but they do believe
              in it. And somehow the former is better? Ok. And how
              exactly does one differentiate between an action that
              one repeatedly does, though does not believe in, with
              an action that one repeatedly does and does believe
              in? Oh, and BTW, the size of government increased
              during the Reagan and Bush II (so far) administrations
              but decreased during the Clinton administration.
              http://csua.org/u/8x1 but don't let the
              facts get in the way of your belief in platitudes.
              \_ Republicans are unprincipled.  Democrats are unprincipled
                 and wrong.  Nader 04, etc.  -- ilyas
                 \_ A democrat would say just the opposite.
        \_ Actually, Bush's big idea is the "ownership society".  Fewer
           handouts, more opportunity.  If you do nothing, there will be less
           of a safety net for you, other than people's and state/local
           governments' (not the federal government's) own charity. -liberal
           \_ Did you even listen to the speech last night? He promised
              more money for K-12, more money for community colleges,
              more money for pell grants and other higher education funding,
              more money to help seniors pay for drug benefits, more money
              for the military, more money for ....
              \_ and more tax cuts!
              \_ Everything you mentioned is consistent with a smaller safety
                 net and increased opportunity.
                 \_ Except the drug benefits, right?
                    \_ Well, since the drug benefits were structured so that
                       the government pays whatever price the drug cos. say,
                       it's really just a giant piece of corporate welfare.
                    \_ Wrong.  It is impossible for most people today to save
                       enough money during their normal life times to pay for
                       their medical expenses post-retirement.  You can thank
                       trial lawyers like John Edwards for a big part of that.
                       \_ Oh. Bull. Shit.  Try HMO and drug company profits.
                       \_ You are trolling, right? You know the numbers
                          show you to be completely uninformed about this
                          issue, yes? Asswipe. --aaron
           \_ The flaw in the meritocratic model that the Repubs tout is that
              the playing field is not even, and not everyone begins with the
              same tools.  If this were the case, then yes, effort and hard
              work would out; the Republican model of believing that anyone
              who works hard can succeed to the highest levels would be true.
              In reality, however, there are already x number of people at the
              top who exert a disproportional effect on who gets to advance
              and who is passed over.  As long as we have old boy networks and
              corrupt politicians, the Republican meritocratic dream will
              remain a fantasy.

9/3     I don't even care who wins the election any more.  I just want it to be
        over so we can get back to yelling about something else.  At least
        once one of these idiots is elected, we'll know we're doomed and by
        what degree.  Who's with me?
           \_ So you think we have a decent choice this time around?  The
              bumbling idiot or the vacillating fool?  No thanks.  Oh, sorry,
              right, I forgot Nader: the egomaniacal Don Quixote wannabe.
              \_ Actually, I'm pretty sick about people who complain that they
                 don't want to vote for "the lesser evil".  The last 4 years
                 have seen secret laws, secret courts, the Patriot Act, and a
                 preemptive war based on false pretenses run by an
                 administration that doesn't even deign to address its obvious
                 conflicts of interest.  What more do you want, Stalinist purges?
                 A public defecation on the Constitution (while saluting the
                 flag)?  I'm not impressed by Kerry, but I'm utterly horrified
                 by Bush's friends.
                 \_ you've just used the "slippery slope" tactic.
                    \_ it makes him feel good, don't pop his balloon.  i could
                       use the same tactic with the manchurian candidate the
                       dems are running but it'd be just as cheap a shot.  or
                       more because im better at this than the slippery sloper.
                 \_ Public defecation on the Constitution?  You mean the
                    Democratic trampling of states rights and the 2nd
                    Amendment?
        \_ I know who I want to win, but almost more than that I hope it's a
           blowout one way or another.
           \_ I do too, actually.
        \_ Coming soon to a theater near you:
           Bush vs. Kerry: Whoever Wins, We Lose.
           \_ Isn't that the new movie from the South Park guys, essentially?

9/3     This is... amusing.  I guess it's worksafe.
        http://www.alluvium.com/%7Ececil/ot/omgwtf.jpg
        \_ Not really work safe.
        \_ The man is making the girl touch his thingy.   Statutory rape?
           \_ Show us on the doll where the man made you touch the doll parts

9/3     Name your favourite work by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
        \_ Why do you hate Tchaikovsky?
           \_ gay. literally.   -russian gay hater
              \_ Why do you hate gays?
                 \_ Actually, he's a gay russian who's also a hater.
        \_ Can you try someone easier like Beethoven or Chopin?  I can't name
           one single Rachmaninoff piece.
           \_ he has several nice pieces that are pretty popular. the rach 3
              made famous by the movie "shine", of course. the rach 2 is
              nice as well. the darkish, brooding prelude in c# minor (iirc)
              is popular too. as is rhapsody on a theme by paganini.
                \_ they say that he didn't like c# minor, but everyone else
                   liked it and asked him to play all the time and he was
                   so sick and tired of playing it that he just got mad
                   and walked away the stage whenever people asked him to
                   play it.
           \_ More obscure:  Favorite prelude/fugue from Bach's "Well-Tempered
              Clavier"?
        \_ The piece based on the Paganini Caprices is fun to listen
           to, as are some of the Preludes.
        \_ Rach 2, II Adagio Sostenuto

9/3     I'm kind of glad Bush was President 2000-2004.  We needed to be total
        assholes to lock up the U.S., and Republicans are good at that.
        (Democrats aren't as practiced at being assholes.)  Now the Democrats
        can take over for 2004-2008 and restore good relations with our
        neighbors (who were right about Iraq after all), say it was all a bad
        Bush dream, and peel back some of the really bad civil rights
        violations and unnecessary security precautions.
        \_ Lock WHAT up? Innocent US citizens? They haven't locked down
           SHIT, least of all our port facilities. --aaron
        \_ Well, ONE good thing Bush did is inspire me to give money to the
           Democratic party for the first time.

9/3     for ax
        http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004410174,00.html
        http://ahcabron.com/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0&page=1
        \_ Is it really that difficult to type "not safe for work"?

9/3     You know what you guys need?  You need some of this:
 _____ _   _ _  ___   _  ___  _  ___   _    ___   ___   ___   ___
|  ___| | | | |/ / | | |/ _ \| |/ / | | |  / _ \ / _ \ / _ \ / _ \
| |_  | | | | ' /| | | | | | | ' /| | | | | (_) | | | | | | | | | |
|  _| | |_| | . \| |_| | |_| | . \| |_| |  \__, | |_| | |_| | |_| |
|_|    \___/|_|\_\\___/ \___/|_|\_\\___/     /_/ \___/ \___/ \___/
        \_ No Ur... we'll double his pleasure! -Ignignokt

9/3     AMC:  Why do you hate FUKUOKU 9000?

9/3     Sigh.  Big bounce for Bush.  http://csua.org/u/8x3 . Yes, I know.
        It's unreliable.  It's pre-debates.  It'll disappear.  It still sucks.
        \_ Its also an outlier with the other polls, and it was done mostly
           *during* the convention...
           \_ Yes, it still sucks.  Did they do the same poll during the
              Democratic convention?
           \_ How can it be an outlier when it's the only reputable poll taken
              during the convention?  It can only be an outlier if there are
              other reputable polls taken during the convention which show
              a small lead or none.
              Do not easily dismiss the Ah-nold and Giulani effect.
              Do not easily dismiss the Ah-nold and Giulani effect, and the
              fact that Dubya delivered a speech that sounds very good.
              \_ Zogby, through 9/2: Bush 46, Kerry 44
                 American Research Group, through 9/1: Bush 48, Kerry 47
                 \_ I found the URL for you:  http://csua.org/u/8x4
                    Hard to tell who's right, since Zogby leans a little left
                    and IMO Time leans a little right, and one day can make
                    a difference (especially with the Chechens).  I'd wait for
                    more polls, but Dubya definitely has his "We got a bounce!"
                    line, unless Time comes out saying they goofed, which I
                    doubt will happen.
                    \_ Apparently even the Bush people are saying this poll is
                       an outlier, although it seems most of the data was
                       gathered before Bush's actual speech.  Its actually the
                       media which is currently doing the "Bush GODDA BOUNCE!"
                       dance.
                       \_ Well, Time is.  I think the news media would have
                          no problem saying "Tiny Bounce For Bush!  Race still
                          deadlocked!"
                          \- did the idea futures mkts move of bush v kerry?
                             \_ Tradesports has him as a 57/43 favorite now,
                                where it was even right after the Democratic
                                convention. It was 57/43 about six weeks ago,
                                just before the Democratic convention, so they
                                cancelled each other out essentially.
        \_ Not that big really, since he was +2% by that same poll a week
           ago. So it was an eight point bounce and that poll has a margin
           of error of +/- 4%. So the move was less than the total
           margin of error. Or am I confused about my statistics here?

9/3     Man walks in Denver with Rocket Launcher:
        http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3703268/detail.html
        \_ Right to bear arms!
           \_ Right to arm bears!
        \_ The police TOOK them?  Why didn't they just ask him to wrap
           them up or something?
           \_ This really winds me up.  I mean, I'm all about banning assault
              weapons, etc. but to take these relics is just plain abuse of
              power.  I hope he sues.
              \_ Well, strictly speaking, they're probably still property of
                 the army, not that they'd miss them.
              \_ While I can support the right to own fake/uselss versions of
                 extremely powerful weapons, do you honestly think they should
                 have let him walk around in public with them in plain sight?
                 \_ Of course not.  He should be made to cover them up. Taking
                    them is an overreaction.
                    \_ Well, transporting them as he did may constitute a
                       crime.  Taking them from him, may be an overreaction,
                       but it's hardly a travesty of justice.  If he comes to
                       the police station with a proper means to transport them
                       and they don't want to charge him with recieving stolen
                       property, then I see no reason not to give them back.
                       \_ If they think he's guilty of a crime, they should
                          say so. They said they took them so as not to panic
                          the other citizens.  Call it like it is, or don't do
                          it.
        \_ Man walks in Denver with used, useless rocket launcher.
           \_ disposable rocket launchers?  Is it really better/cheaper?
              \_ I doubt it's cheaper, but you do avoid the issue of cleaning
                 servicing and reloading in the field.  Plus you are no longer
                 required to make different warheads conform to a standardized
                 launcher.
              \_ I don't know, but it would probably really suck to have your
                 rocket launcher jam.

9/3     NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER!
        http://tinyurl.com/636ba (Yahoo News)
        \_ The article neglects to mention that some of the signatories of
           the SBVT's letter never signed it and don't agree with it.

9/3     Is it safe to upgrade to XP SP2?
        \_ that entirely depends on what you use it for.
           If it's work related, you should check with your IT staff.
           There is already 1 issue reported related to compat. with
           NetApps.
        \_ The most common issue is the new firewall.  If you are currently
           running a firewall or have apps that take incoming connections, be
           prepared to do some reconfiguring.
        \_ I told everyone in my company not to do it and if they did, they're
           on their own.  Having SP2 installed fucked up a remote QA test.
           We thought the site was broken until the tester switched to *any*
           other machine.  It was fucking up the tcp handshake in a bad way
           that ethereal could see/report.
           \_ So instead of trying to track down WHY SP2 was screwing up your
              tcp/ip stack you simply just tell people not to install SP2.
              Good job. Now, when people start buying new machines with SP2
              already installed you won't know how to fix it. -williamc
              \_ MS itself posted a very long list of applications that have
                 various problems with SP2, not just because of the firewall.
                 Portions of SP2 itself also have security issue.  OP may not
                 have elaborated sufficiently on his reasons, but I think
                 it's legit to recommend not installing it until some very
                 fundamental problems have been addressed.  SP2 is a horrid
                 mix of fixes for shit problems and new features, and few
                 people know what it really "does".  That said, a combo of
                 good firewall and AV software should cover you until SP2's
                 implications are well enough known.  -John
                 \_ Perhaps, but saying "we don't install SP2" isn't an exactly
                    an answer I would want from my IT team. I would want an
                    answer like "we are having issues with SP2, we have
                    contacted our vendors and are trying to resolve it, in
                    the mean time sit tight." That's the way we do things
                    in our IT dept. whether it's SP2 or a Solaris patch. If
                    software screws up, it's IT's responsibility to figure
                    out why. "If you install SP2 you're on your own" is not
                    a valid answer.
                    -williamc

9/3     Can anyone recommend a good introductory PHP book?
        \_ The API on http://php.net is superb if you know perl.
        \_ On a related note, do people really like embedding code in HTML via
           PHP?  It seems incredibly hackish and error-prone to me.
           \_ I worked at a place during .ASP.  It become a nightmare when
           \_ I worked at a place doing .ASP.  It become a nightmare when
              trying to do site updates because of the fuzzy line between
              code and content.  We wanted content updates to be fast and
              easy but code updates to be heavily QA'd but when your code and
              content blur lines like this, yes it does become incredibly
              hackish, error-prone, and hard to deal with in a professional
              software shop.
           \_ How is it more error prone that using non-embedded code?
              Yes, some people like emdedding code in HTML as ASP, PHP,
              mod_perl/Masson, and similar technologies are extremely
              popular on the web.
              \_ With code fragments here and there, I see the potential for
                 (1) reuse via copy and paste and
                 (2) "losing" the flow of the code in the html
                 (3) if some page elements are conditional, it has the
                     potential to be very confusing.
                 \_ HTML sucks too! Use all text/plain.
                    \_ My non-trivial HTML experience was with Perl and MySQL,
                       using a template library for rendering the HTML.  I
                       liked the separation of code and content.
                       \_ What is your point?
                    \_ My only non-trivial HTML experience was with Perl and
                       MySQL, using a template library for rendering the HTML.
                       I liked the separation of code and content.  PHP looks
                       like a mess by comparison.
           \_ These are process issues, not language issues.  When I write PHP,
              I put all of the code possible in functions that go in (usually
              auto-)included lib files.  Then all my web-accessible PHP (HTML)
              files have in them are ifs, foreachs, etc.  (All the same stuff
              you'd use in any templating language; why use another language?)
              --dbushong
        \_ ORA's new "Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL" just
           came out a few months ago. It covers PHP 5 and whichever
           MySQL version was current at the time of publishing. Yes, you
           might learn it on the web too, though, I still prefer reading
           books myself..

9/3     "The order of events is still unclear. But one eyewitness has told
        Russian media that one of the many bombs stuck with tape around the
        gym fell and exploded. The roof caved in and hostages started to run.
        The attackers fired at them as they fled, prompting the troops outside
        to shoot back."
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/world/04/russian_s/html/2.stm
        Outside the school:
        "Evidence suggesting that Russian forces had not planned a storming of
        the building could be seen around the two tanks, whose soldiers milled
        about, evidently in confusion after the initial blast, before rallying
        and heading into a battle that continued this afternoon. Only after
        the fighting began did three helicopters appear overhead. There also
        seemed to be a shortage of ambulances at the scene, as the majority of
        the wounded were ferried in whatever could move."
        link:csua.org/u/8x6 (nytimes.com)

9/3     Right.  Go ahead.  Censor the only amusing thread.  Go on with your
        big bad self, Mr. Smarty Pants Man.

9/3     If you were to study 1 or 2 programming skills/standards/languages
        to improve your resume/marketability, what would they be?
        \_ Something which is not python.
           \_Why? Because it is easy to use and therefore won't impress?
        \_ Business degree.  Thick rolodex.
        \_ (1) Database programming, (2) .Net
        \_ Linux device drivers
           \_ very funny
        \_ Visual India .NET

9/3     What's the difference between XP Home Ed and XP Pro?  Can I map
        company network drives if I dial in with XP Home Ed?  Thx.
        \_ You can't log into a domain with Home.
        \_ http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx
        \_ Price.

9/3     Bears may delay start of Romanian school year:
        http://csua.org/u/8x5 (Yahoo! News)
        \_ That's why I oppose the right to arm bears!
        \_ They are "seeking a solution?"  Doesn't killing them still
           solve the problem?  Oh no! Zombie Bears!
        \_ Let the bears pay the bear tax!  I pay the Homer tax!
           \_ dammit, I wanted that one.
        \_ GO BEARS!
           \_ You mean GO BEAH!