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2004/9/10 [Reference/Military] UID:33454 Activity:nil |
9/10 The NY Times has a fair and balanced summary (really) of various studies of the effect of the assault weapons ban and its loopholes. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/10/national/10guns.html |
2004/9/10 [Transportation/Car, Politics/Domestic/911] UID:33455 Activity:high |
9/10 I guess we are learning from Britain... http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/090904_ap_ns_camera.html \_ For all Americans who've not yet visited the UK (it's worst in London) and who can't imagine why massive CCTV surveillance is a bad thing: -It hasn't cut down on violent crime (in fact, the various face recognition trials conducted in the UK failed to snag a single suspect) -It's leading to suggestions of even further surveillance (such as satellite monitoring of car "black boxes" by the police, or even the ability to shut down a vehicle remotely if it's speeding) -Most cameras are connected to their equivalent of the DMV which will have a ticket printed and in the mail, fully automatic, within seconds of nailing you -Fantastic amounts of CCTV footage, supposedly kept confidential under "trust us"-type privacy legislation, finds its way into sensationalist TV shows not even worthy of fox (like people having sex in their car, with voiceovers from the cops watching and making fun of them.) In short, be very very very afraid. -John \_ More taxes, less effectiveness! w00t! |
2004/9/10 [Politics/Domestic/Election, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:33456 Activity:kinda low |
9/10 New poll shows Bush stomping Kerry. I guess people like it when they know where someone stands. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/Vote2004/bush_campaign_poll_040909 .html \_ Dubya delivered a good speech, but it's aaaaa-llll baloney. Take it from me. -smart liberal \_ No, the *new* poll has Bush with a two point lead. Do you really only check the poll that Rush tells you to look at? http://www.pollingreport.com/wh2004.htm Has a survey of all the pollsters. |
2004/9/10 [Politics/Foreign/Canada] UID:33457 Activity:insanely high |
9/10 A little bit of commentary for the first year of working with a Canadian about how things are different in the U.S. and Canada is great; more than year of condinued bitching and insults on the other hand...is just absurd. Is there some online resource about things that suck about Canada? In particular, any problems they may have had with voting would be very much appreciated. Things that are specific to Quebec or the Quebecois would be particularly appreciated. \_ Their paratroop regiment kicked the shit out of a bunch of Somali prisoners and killed them a few years ago, Paul Martin is a prick, the RCMP is in favor of some pretty odious police-state chicanery, they claim jurisdiction over international waters for the arctic passage, and I suggest you search http://economist.com for "Canada", as they have some fairly hilariously negative articles about just about any country you could think of. Plus, they're the remora of the US and annexing the bastards would cut missile time to Beijing by a few minutes. -John \_ huh? can't we just put the missiles in alaska? like I said, "John, all guts, nothing else." \_ Boy, anonymous insults are sure effective. I wish I were as intellectually differentiated as you are. -John \_ Why do you want to kill Chinese people? \_ Kill? Just get them huffy, like self-righteous Canadians when they get all nationalistic. \_ huh? an american complaining about others being self-righteous and nationalistic? \_ I know you don't travel very much, but nationalism is *NOT* unique to the US. Really. \_ In my experiance, the US is one of the least _nationalist_ countries I've been to. Of course, I live in CA, so... \_ you should come to the midwest, and check out all the american flags flying everywhere, comparable to nazi germany. \_ he's upset that the "human torpedo" crushed him in bowling. -chiapet \_ You may have crushed me this time, human torpedo, but ah ha! I did not sustain massive pin-shaped headwounds or bowling alley chest hair burn! -John \_ what makes someone a "human torpedo"? \_ Yeah, stupid nationalism can get pretty annoying. This guy is Canadian, and he's generally pro-canada, but he covers some stuff you'd be interested in. Like why the Canada isn't really very democratic, and all the arguments about the constitution. See chapeter one, and anything else that looks interesting. He See chapter one and anything else that looks interesting. He also mentions some books you could look up in "Other Information." http://www.filibustercartoons.com/canguide.php \_ that's what I was looking for, thanks. I mean no disrespect to canada, btw, I love Canada; I'm just sick of the CANADA GOOD USA BAD crap. \_ Yeah, I think that if I was in your shoes and he said, "This election is going to be another fiasco." I would say, "Yeah, but at least we don't have to wait for Bush to call the election himself." \_ Een America, election eez called by your campaign manager and fishing buddies. \_ Or we can say "At least we don't have the queen of another country on our currency." (Although technically Canada and Britain have their own separate queens, which just happen to be the same person.) \_ Do you work for a company in Marin that handles shipping of autos? I'm wondering if I know this guy \_ I'm 3000 miles from Marin in a physics lab, but I think there are quite a few people like this. -op \_ Yeah, even the Canadian I served with on my mission was like this. He hung a Canadian flag in his room, and was always worried that people would mistake him for an American. (No one else hung flags in their rooms, no matter where they were from.) The joke was, he was half-American, had dual citizenship, went to college in the states, and traveled on a US passport. Go Canada! -jrleek \_ There's something about Canadians. I have similar issues with some Canadian friends. So I asked them if Canada is so great, why are you here to work??? \_ Obviously you've never met American ex-pats in other countries. They can be just as annoying AND they can't remember the words to the national anthem. \_ They can be, although I've found the obnoxious ones to be either spoiled rich kids (HS & college) on holidays or exchange, or expats who band together in clubs. -John \_ Well, we have Dubya as our president. I don't know how you can defend that. \_ Who the hell runs Canada? No one even knows. \_ The new Prime Minister has passed a law forbidding us to drink wine! And he has taken away our sodomy! \_ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/chiefs/index.html \_ Irritate him even more by playing up his American stereotypes. Hang up some NASCAR posters in your cube. Next time you go out to lunch with him, order some Freedom Fries. Get a W in '04 bumper sticker. Respond to his ant-America statements by calling him a commie bastard. \_ Say "Eh?" a lot as well. \_ the only candian I met who really talked like that was from BFE seskatchewan, and he's not a tool about the US vs. canada thing at all. \_ Is there any bumper sticker that reads "Canada - the 51st state" or something along that line? |
2004/9/10 [Recreation/Woodworking, Computer/SW/Mail] UID:33459 Activity:insanely high |
9/10 Someone reboot soda, "no more process"??? wtf? \_ Somebody's imapd spun out of control. all fixed. btw, there's no reason other than an updated kernel to reboot soda. \_ What if there's a runaway process like this? main() { while(1) fork(); } \_ Then squishy-squishy goes you! \_ what does it mean? why do I get this? \_ it means too much politics. troll less. \_ So now my pine mailbox is inaccessible because i can't kill the old running pine. I can't even seem to kill the old pine job. Any ideas? Tx. \_ Kill the login that spawned pine. \_ Already did - still can't kill that pine job. \_ What signal are you sending to kill? \_ Just "kill ######". \_ Standard kill sends SIGTERM which is equivalent to "Please exit right now". Try 'kill -9 ####' which sends SIGKILL which is "You die now!" \_ /bin/kill -9 -1. Kills *everything* you are running on the machine. "It's the only way to be sure" \_ Thanks - worked. |
2004/9/10 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:33460 Activity:very high |
9/10 Someone stop this mrehrer guy and his 3K imapd daemons. Thanks! \_ Looks like it's well past time to upgrade soda. "No more processes" indeed... \_ Sometimes I wonder what the CS in CSUA stands for. \_ It stands for Counter-Strike! l00s3R5 Win! \_ Cum Shot. \_ chimp sex \_ And then you remember THAT is the kind of computer science they teach at Berkeley. \_ Cheney Sucks \_ I have a CS degree from Cal! -- cognitive science major \_ I'm an expert in Customer Service! \_ someone explain why this guy isn't squished? In the old days, he'd be squished in a jiffy, no warning no appeal. \_ Incompetant hoserism is not as bad as malicious hoserism. |
2004/9/10-12 [Consumer/PDA] UID:33461 Activity:high |
9/10 Can someone please recommend a good palm OS PDA? Preferably not too expensive, please. Any positive recommendations on that palm/phone combo? \_ I have had a Tungsten T for a little over a year and love it. You can find a Tungsten T or T2 new for very little and they are pretty small. Alternatively you could get a Tungsten E. I would definitely stay away from the Sony devices as they are getting out of the Palm business, so getting support for it will become impossible very soon. \_ I have a Palm Tungston E and I'm mostly satisfied. \_ Thanks. What don't you like about it? \_ I fail to understand having a Palm device that does not have a phone built in. -Treo 600 Owner. \_ Samsung's Palm flip phone for SprintPCS works great. \_ Treo600 rocks! \_ Really? is it really worth the price? \_ second that. I bought it for $450 9 months ago. However, I would urge you to wait for Treo 650. They usually have "upgrade special" which will knock a hundred or two dollars off. |
2004/9/10-11 [Science/Electric] UID:33462 Activity:moderate |
9/10 I know what an alpha and beta release are, but what is a "gamma" release ? \_ That's what happens when The Hulk is your QA engineer and the restroom is occupied. \_ NERFAMC is back! \_ Gamma release? Do you mean "gold master" release? \_ Educated guess: release candidate \_ when someone in RE realizes that the product that went into beta has changed so much it needs a new name. |
2004/9/10-11 [Politics/Domestic/Gay] UID:33463 Activity:insanely high |
9/10 What Alan Keyes really said about Gay marriage. (Interview, not one question. Doesn't fit in 10 second sound bite.) Particularly interesting in its detailing of media tactics. http://www.dailyherald.com/special/election/ele_story.asp?intID=38232320 \_ please promote alan keyes as much as possible, thanks \_ Telling the full truth is not promotion. Everyone will make of it what they will but they should have access to the full story before deciding. \_ why are you trying to defend alan keyes? he's hilarious but even i will admit he does not speak for the republican party. - danh \_ I'm defending truth and honest debate. I don't care either way about Keyes. I would say the same thing about anyone. I don't know that much about Keyes and don't care to. But, if people here are going to talk about the man's positions they should know what they are, not a sound-bite. See the line below calling him a whackjob? Based on what? Nothing I can see explained on the motd. Just the smear. \_ He's still a whackjob, whether it's a 10 second sound bit or and hour long talk. \_ Can you argue that homosexuality isn't inherently hedonistic? \_ Sure -- why wouldn't you be able to? \_ Go ahead. \_ it's no more inherently hedonistic than any other kind of sex. \_ What's wrong with hedonism? -- ilyas \_ this is the correct question. -phuqm \_ For the question of marriage, I think most would agree that the main rationale is the encouragement of stable families. It's up up to homosexuals to make the case that society should formally sanction gay unions. Of course, marriage is already a lot weaker culturally than it ever was, with premarital sex expected and divorces near-customary, and the stigma of "born out of wedlock" pretty much nonexistent. \_ Also you can bring up childless marriages which are sort of pointless except from a symbolic standpoint, and gay couples with children. -John \_ My proposal is to separate 'marriage' (a private/religious/personal thing) from 'union' (a public/bureaucratic/legal term). 'Unions' are granted to anyone, 'marriages' are up to people themselves. Everyone is happy, except Christian statists. -- ilyas \_ Exactly. I think that hedonism has already become a big part of our culture. But people think of it as a bad word, and so they don't want to call a spade a spade. \_ one could make a reasonable arguement that the sex one has in an attempt to procreate is not "inherently hedonistic". Not an argument I'd want to be forced to defend too seriously though.-phuqm \_ Ban sex! Artificial insemination only! \_ "you're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything" -tom \_ "when I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed. say something once, why say it again?" -TH \_ Are you the lips that do not speak? |
2004/9/10-12 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:33464 Activity:kinda low |
9/10 If anyone here can read Arabic, would you mind telling me what the gist of /csua/tmp/pic.jpg is? I got it at a flea market in southern Spain (no, it's not a pilot's manual.) -John \_ The first few lines are the start of a prayer; I'm assuming the rest follows along. \_ Thanks! It's hanging in my hallway, so I was curious. -John \_ It's not just "a prayer". it's al fatihah: http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/arabicscript/1/1.htm it is the first surah of the qur'an. for an interpretation: http://www.geocities.com/thematicinterpretation/001 -ayatollah ali rahimi. \_ Cool, thanks. I read a translation of the koran a while ago, and didn't think of comparing it. Is the weird- looking writing at the top of the image one of those bits of arabic at the beginning of every surah that nobody can interpret? I seem to recall reading something along those lines. -Rev. John |
2004/9/10-11 [Uncategorized] UID:33465 Activity:low |
9/10 Listen to Rachmaninoff's variation on Bizet trans. L'Arlesienne, Suite No. 1, Minuet. It is lovely. \_ misha is that you? -- ilyas |
2004/9/10-12 [Computer/SW/WWW/Browsers] UID:33466 Activity:nil |
9/10 Is there a way to get mozilla to wrap lines in .txt files? \_ u talking about in the browser? or email-client? |
2004/9/10-11 [Uncategorized] UID:33467 Activity:nil |
9/10 What's the name of the env variable to have tin use a different news server? NNTP? NNTP_SERVER? thx. \_ try NNTPSERVER -dwc |
2004/9/10-11 [Uncategorized] UID:33468 Activity:nil |
9/10 buh? \_ That's what I say. |
2004/9/10-11 [Uncategorized] UID:33469 Activity:nil |
9/10 I just got spam with the title: "online dating nweaver" ...and I am not nweaver. Ick. |
2004/9/10-11 [Politics/Domestic/California] UID:33470 Activity:insanely high |
9/10 Is it legal to shoot somebody who is unarmed, but threatens you? Do you have to wait for them to actually harm you? Seems like if someone runs at you, and you shoot, it would be hard to prove that there was a threat. \_ they have hands and feet which are weapons \_ Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6. \_ Better carried by 6 than prison raped by 12. \_ I'll take my chances on a trial. Though I've heard more than one cop recommend that if you do shoot, make sure it's a fatal shot, just so it's your word against no one's else's. \_ Police are different, they are given a greater latitude when dealing with potentially deadly situations. \_ You must show that you had a reasonable fear for your life and safety and that you had no other course of action to defend yourself, such as running. One can presume deadly intent on the part of an assailant if it is a "surprise" attack or if an asssilant breaks into your home or business while you are inside. If say you were a 4'1" 75 pound person and a 6'5" 240 pound man charged you, yeah, you'd have an easier time showing reasonable fear for life and safety. \_ This is pretty accurate. Mainly, the crux of the case will be on whether you can show that a 'reasonable person' would have felt in life-threatening danger with no reasonable recourse but to shoot. -POC \_ I don't have a clear idea of "reasonable". Also, how about non life-threatening danger? Such as someone trying to rape your girlfriend. I suppose the law requires letting him do so with impunity while you call the cops? And attacking with something other than a gun would be assault? (Never mind that trying to intervene physically could get you killed.) \_ *sigh* If you're really that worried and clueless, read up on it -- the materials aren't hard to find. If someone is raping you (or your gf), then I'd be inclined to say that the 'life-threatening' condition has been adequately met (I mean, duh). Attacking with something other than a gun would also be assualt if you have no proper justification (although it would likely be battery). You are allowed to defend yourself in CA. Really. \_ your right to defend yourself also extends itself to others you choose to defend: the gf, your friend, your son, an innocent person you see being held up at gunpoint or knife or being beat up by a group (careful with the last case though) \_ The original poster asked about a situation involving him(or her)self, not someone else. The answers were given in that context. Learn to read. \_ So what, I asked a related question. \_ You will have a surprisingly difficult time if this was done not on your property. It's even worse in Britain, there's a famous case of a guy going to prison for shooting a burglar in his home. -- ilyas \_ happened in LA just a few months ago. You can only use a gun in protection of your life, NOT your property in Cali. \_ Are you referring to the one where the guy who broke in left when he saw the gun and was running down the street when the owner shot him in the back? \_ I am SO fucking out of Cali as soon as I graduate. -- ilyas \_ there's super-cheap land available in the matsu valley. http://www.matsuvalleynews.com all they talk about in their paper is property rights and you can buy a 0.50 magnum pistol at the 24 hour k-mart. expect to slather your body with DEET for 3 months of the year, though. year, though. Oh, yeah. and there are NO TAXES! no sales tax, and no state income tax. they send you a check every year from interest on a fund of money saved up from oil revenue. \_ I was thinking Wisconsin. Wisconsin's a battleground state, so I can be sure I contribute to a government that will lower taxes, brutalize criminals, despoil the environment, and RULE YOU LIKE A KING. -- ilyas \_ is alaska that bad with mosquitoes? that sucks. \_ it really depends on time of year and how far you are from the ocean, but in the interior in the bad season it's pretty insane. \_ Well, when I think about it there are lots of mosquitoes here in CA. Ran into lots in the Santa Cruz woods and in the some in the Sierras. And we have the West Nile stuff here now. \_ I know--what's up with Cali and all that shite about 'life being valued above property'. Fucking pansy ass liberal wimps. Back in the day, not only could you kill a man for stealing your property, if you killed him you were entitled to his property as well. Bring back the days of the libertarian utopia, I say!! \_ You are confused. See, criminals, by virtue of not respecting my property rights, give up their rights. For instance, their rights not to be killed like a dog This is why we lock criminals up, and make them work, and don't call that a violation of rights. Or are prisons a part of a 'libertarian utopia' too? You make a great impression on behalf of liberals everywhere, buddy. -- ilyas \_ BWAHAHAHA! Your prejudices are showing, ilya. I'm not a liberal. I also believe in the right to bear arms, and intend to join the NRA. It's possible to value life above property (while still believing that criminals should be punished in proportion to their crimes) without being a 'liberal'. You make a great impression on behalf of libertarians everywhere, son. \_ I value life above property too. Are you saying criminals don't give up rights when they commit crimes? -- ilyas \_ No, I'm not. Nevermind, ilya. Don't worry your pretty little head about it -- just leave California when you graduate, as you suggested earlier. \_ So what ARE you saying? Are you just upset someone called you a liberal? Next time a big guy without a deadly weapon breaks into your house and starts looting (without actually threatening your life, just sort of pushing you away), you make sure to tell him how much you value life above property. As far as I am concerned, if you are in my house without my invitation, your life depends on my good graces, I prefer to live in places that let me defend myself. -- ilyas \_ like Wisconson! Live free or die! MY cheese! |
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