9/pi    Election

9/0     Boring

9/15    http://www.electoral-vote.com
        Has nice popups per state which shows currently numbers and the way
        each state voted in 2000, gives details on how the numbers are
        gathered, compiled, and generated.  Excel spreadsheet and xml is
        available free from the site.  Updated once per day in the morning.
        \_ woah! bush wins!  I guess we don't have to have an election now,
           since the compueter and the polls tell us who should be president.
           \_ you're a moron.
        \_ This is a great site.  It was posted on the motd a while ago and
           I've been following it for a few weeks.  Every time a state poll is
           conducted the thing jumps around.

9/15    RARE 1961 IBM 72 SELECTRIC TYPEWRITER GREAT FOR FORGING
        Ebay: http://csua.org/u/91n

9/pi    Election
        \_ huh. and i thought that collecting old, crappy, typewriters
           was a useless hobby.  I'll notify my brother in law at once.
        \_ Mechanical typewrites are good for filling out forms.

9/pi    Election
        \_ Uh oh.  If trolls are on transendental numbers and other posts
           are on integers, we're doomed, since transcendental numbers
           are uncountable.
           \_ Example of transendental number please?

9/15    Dear god no.
        http://www.lifegem.com/secondary/whatisLG.asp

9/15    Suppose I see this hot girl in Soda hall, but she's a senior. What
        are the chances that she'll go out with me?     -sophomore in CS
        \_ I doubt it has much to do with senior vs sophomore.  It's just
           that girls in CS are a much sought after commodity.  On the
           other hand, it can't hurt to ask.  Despite how many guys
           are secretly after every girl in Soda hall, Karen has told me
           on numerous occasions that she rarely gets asked out by CS
           nerds, we're all to scared.  From the other side of the fence,
           if she says no, don't ask again. -jrleek
           \_ 1) how do you know the op is talking about Karen
              2) have you ever asked her out?
              3) can you please post a picture? If she's hot I'll make a
                 special effort to ditch work and drive all the way from
                 San Jose
              \_ 1) I don't.  In fact I think Karen in a junior.  I was
                    just using what she told of her own experiance as a
                    female in Soda Hall as an example.
                 2) No, I didn't want to date Karen, but we are friends.
                 3) I don't think I have any pictures that anyone would
                    find interesting.  Besides, I have moral problems with
                    posting pics for you guys to drool over.  Ask her your
                    self if you're so interested.  You could even do
                    something sneaky like suggest that we should have
                    politburo pictures up on the website. -jrleek
             \_ Damn you people are pathetic. -- ilyas
                    \_ pot.  kettle.  black.
                       \_ Yeah, when did I recently threaten to drive up from
                          LA because OMG A HOT GIRL WAS SPOTTED IN SODA!!!``1!!
                          w00t!!!!!!!!  Get lives people. -- ilyas
                          \_ LA TO Berkeley, 400 miles
                             SJ to Berkeley, 40 miles
                             ilyas dating a chick, priceless.
                          \_ and when was the last time you posted a long
                             philosophical rant to the motd?  Oh yeah, almost
                             every week.  Watch it with the "get a life"
                             comments.
           \_ A friend of mine is dating a CS PhD student that is incredibly
              hot (and also friendly and easygoing).  Why didn't these exist
              when I was an undergrad?  hot  TA ACTION!!!1

9/15    Someone please post a picture of karen. I have no idea who she is
        and I'm curious                                 -far away alumni
        \_ http://csua.org/u/91p
           \_ NSFW.  Asshole.
              \_ ditto
        \_ Stalker alert!  Stalker alert!

9/15    Anyone own a 2004/05 Mercedes E320?  Have you had any problems
        with it?  I noticed that the 2003's have had a lot of issues,
        primarily electrical, and overall reliability is down for Mercedes
        the past 10 years.
        \_ Yes, the E-series has had a lot of issues - check Consumer Reports.

           Overall Mercedes reliability has fallen into strictly average
           territory, but keep in mind that all automakers have generally
           improved their quality.  The difference between makes is not
           as stark as it once was.  The real issue with a Benz is that if
           something breaks and you're out of warranty, the replacement
           cost is ludicrously high.  If you want a super-reliable car,
           get a Lexus... though they're not as exciting to drive, IMHO.
           \_ Based on all the reliability issues I've read I'm leaning
           towards a Lexus, but MB really does know how to make their cars
           feel classy (interior/exterior).  I test drove both and the
           Lexus really does feel like a upscale Toyota (current Toyota
           driver).  Interested to hear any real-life E-Class '04/05
           experiences though.
              \_ You might consider a BMW.  My '02 540 has been mostly
                 trouble free, and its styling might appeal more than a
                 Lexus'.  I'd stay away from the i-drive 7's, but the newer
                 5's are supposed to be nice.  You might find this from
                 JD Power useful.  http://www.jdpower.com/pdf/2004055.pdf
           \_ Sorry, can't help you with that.  I had an SLK and it never
              had a single problem, but other than the engine its a completely
              different car than the E-series.
        \_ My friend's family has a 300D.  Got 300K miles on it and it's still
           running.  Guess MB doesn't make solid cars anymore.
           \_ Ah yes, the 300D.  The days of that sort of Mercedes are long
              gone.  I think the last gasp of the bank vault build was the 190E
              in the early '90s.  Anyone know if this had to do with Daimler
              moving a shitload of its manufacturing to the former East
              Germany?
        \_ According to Consumer Reports, Mercedes has gone A LOT further
           down from merely "average".  It's now the 2nd LEAST reliable brand
           according to their surveys, only Volkswagen being lower.  That means
           that people driving around Buicks and Hyundais have more reliable
           cars.  NEVER buy a car without first consulting Consumer Reports
           to see if the model you are thinking of buying doesn't have some
           red flags associated with it, reliability-wise! I own a 2000
           Mercedes E320 ... In the first year there were lots of funky
           software/electrical type glitches in the car, but since then the
           car has been problem free.  Note that the Mercedes ML was rated
           the LEAST reliable car in Consumer Reports' survey when it first
           came out, which is hard to do given some of the competition
           (Chevy Camaro, etc.).
           \_ I'd be very careful buying a car in its first model year.
              You're just asking for trouble if you do that.
              \_ My 2004 Sienna seems fine.  (Major redesign this year.)  But
                 then it's a Toyota.
           \_ keep in mind though that Hyundai had the biggest _improvement_
              in reliability of almost any major manufacturer, and in a very
              short period of time.  My point that the difference between
              makes is much more narrow than it once was is still valid.
              And yeah, Benzes are rattle-traps these days.  Very stylish
              rattle-traps.
        \_ Mercedes was the top-rated brand 15 years ago and (like someone
           else said) is now one of the worst. The C class and E class
           are especially bad. With S, SL, and CL you are still getting a
           nice car. Not sure about CLK, SLK, and others. Lexus will be
           the most reliable luxury brand, along with Acura. Dunno about
           Infiniti. Stay away from Audi. BMW (which I own) isn't as good
           as it used to be either, but at least the problems are not
           with the engine. Porsche is one of the best. Volvo and Jaguar
           seem to be hit and miss. Both are making better cars these
           days, but my neighbor hates her Volvo because it overheats and
           the dealer can find no reason why it should (lemon!).
           \_ Does anyone else wish Acura would make at least SOME RWD
              cars?  What's with these FWD 5-series knockoffs?  NSX doesn't
              count as its basically an exotic.
           \_ Porsche is one of the best?  I once heard that Porsches spend
              more time at the mechanic than on the streets.  Has it changed?
              \_ My sister has owned two Porches. One was a 1978. The
                 other is a 2003. No problems. One of the highest rated if
                 you read the mags.
                 \_ But didn't they rate dead last in the JD Powers initial
                    quality survey?  Something like over 150 problems reported
                    per 100 vehicles.

9/15    http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1302718,00.html
        The confused Iraqi resitence.
        I don't know man, if you've got problems with the security and
        economy of Iraq, I think maybe you could try NOT blowing things
        up.  How does this logic work? "Too many things are blowing up!
        I know, let's blow some things up!"
        \_ Maybe it's similar to the "logic" of ghetto riots.
        \_ they're trying to make iraq a total hellhole to embarress
           the US and make us leave, duh!

9/15    Emmanuel Goldstein at the RNC:
        http://www.2600.com/rnc2004
        \_ Yeah!  Civil disobedience!  What?  You mean I might get
           arrested for breaking the law?!?  NO FAIR MAN!
           \_ No, you get arrested for not breaking the law.
              Do you seriously support jailing people for their political
              beliefs?
              \_ No, I support people being arrested for breaking the law
                 though.  I just pointing out that it's really amusing how
                 protesters always seem to think that civil disobediance
                 should be legal.  I'm not saying that that's what
                 everyone in New York was doing, but it's obvious
                 even from this report that a lot of "civil disobediance"
                 was going on.
                 \_ Goldstein was not breaking any laws.  Did you read the
                    link?
                 \_ What site did you read?  It sounds to me like a whole bunch
                    of people just got rounded up on the street and arrested
                    for no reason.  Certainly *some* of them were breaking
                    the law, but to just arrest everyone when most are being
                    peaceful and law-abiding is political repression, plain
                    and simple.
                    \_ Well, we're only getting one side of the story. If
                       the NYPD arrested people without charging them, then
                       that's a tort case for illegal imprisonment. One would
                       have to read the charges to get a clearer picture.
                       I wonder what the total number of protestors was, the
                       percentage arrested was probably very small.
                       \_ So you don't see anything vaguely... oppressive
                          about mass roundups and incarceration of people
                          in order to arrest a few scattered people?
                          \_ Interesting, you assume that one side of the
                             story is valid without having heard the other.
                             Since neither you nor I (and please correct
                             me if I'm wrong) have all the facts pertaining
                             to the incident you presuppose that mass
                             oppression has occurred. I suppose it depends
                             on your definition of oppression. If incarceration
                             is simply oppression then all people incarcerated,
                             whether guilty or not, are oppressed. Being
                             detained can definitely be viewed as a type
                             of oppression. However, if you are trying to
                             infer from that that we are living in an
                             oppressive society then I believe that your
                             argument is rather weak. Sure, there is oppression
                             in the criminal justice system. I'm not quite
                             sure how you could have it any other way.
                             At least we don't guillotine people on the spot
                             and afford them the right to due process and
                             a right to seek damages through torts from
                             the government.
                             \_ You may wish to consult Amendment I, regarding
                                "freedom of assembly." [restored]
                                \_ Yer gonna need a permit for that. -troll
                          \_ nah, it didn't happen to supporters of the
                             President so no one cares.  There were no
                             terrorist incidents, either, so it must have
                             been a good policy.  Be proud of NY City's
                             finest! -troll
                       \_ This happens all the time in SF. Last time it
                          did, The City had to pay out $10k to each
                          person illegally incarcerated. I expect NYC
                          to end up doing the same thing. Municipalities
                          probably consider it money well spent. I
                          consider it a violation of civil liberties.

9/15    It would be nice to have a list of the current politburo members
        on motd.official.
        \_ with pictures.  in fact, just a picture of karen will do.
           \_ Here, again: - pst:
              http://www.xcf.berkeley.edu/~paolo/brc2004/3444600-R1-034-15A.jpg
           \_ Why not just friendster her. I'm sure she's on there.
              \_ actually she's not, she's on http://tribe.net - pst
                \_ pst, call me, 301-948-3103                   -sophomore
                   \_ SOPHMORE STALKER ALERT!!!!
           \_ Misleading troll deleted.
              \_ Go eat an aborted fetus, why don't you.
           \_ Who is the karen? -97 grad who havn't been back...
              \_ are you confusing karen and kane?
                 \_ who's kane?
                    \_ KANE IS A LESBIAN!
                       \_ Well, that changes the meaning of the "rosebud"
                          comment.

9/15    It's no use to anonymously criticize ilyas' life-dom.

[ don't sign my name to stuff i didn't write, thank you.  bitch. -- ilyas ]
\_ SQUISH HIM!!!
\_ How we know you're the real Ilyas?  That text looks suspiciously like it
   came out of Microsoft Word, and we KNOW Ilya only uses vi.
   \_ I am not Ilyas.  My login isn't capitalized, and my name doesn't contain
      an s.  How do I know you are the real anonymous troll?  -- ilyas
\_ So, Ilya, technical issues aside do you support anonymous or logged motd?
   \_ "I voted for a logged motd before I voted against it."  I support the
      current quasianonymous motd.  (a) Removal of anonymity will remove a lot
      of motd content, for better or worse.  I would rather not implicitly
      censor what people say.  (b) People will find a way to hose anyways,
      it's a social problem not a technical one.  My solution is to make
      the motd unpleasant if people are hosers, in the hopes that people will
      be less likely to be hosers in the future. -- ilyas
      \_ Logged motd is the way to go.  But on the other note, I'd be glad
         to share my plans for motd solutions with ilyas. - pst
      \_ wow...making people sign their name is implicitly censoring what they
         say?  You really are a moron.  -tom
         \_ you mean kind of like how secret ballot voting makes people not
            afraid to vote? Who's the moron here...
            afraid to vote?

9/15    TOM VS. ILYAS, ROUND ONE, FIGHT!!!!

9/15    To whomever wanted to beat up on sca ppl.  Thursday evenings,
        Rockridge bart.  Both rapier and medieval combat.  You don't have to
        bring anything but your soon-to-be-bruised body.  Any more details
        mail me. -pst
        \_ What the hell are sca ppl and why would anybody want to beat
           them up other than beating up people can be a good thing?
        \_ Can I bring my .50 cal desert eagle?  someone on motd said it was
           teh suk.
           \_ Then go subscribe to dharry@csua and lets all go to jackson arms.
           \_ that's Aquila Deserae (help, mr latin?) 1/2
        \_ Uh, sir!  You acknowledge that you are talking to a chaotic-neutral
           8th level half-elf ranger-illusionist, and you treat me with that
           respect!

           I did not sew these leather breeches myself so that I can't get a
           goblet of non-alcoholic mead when I ask for it!

           Oh mighty Odin, where is thy cleansing thunder bolt?

9/15    It's no use to anonymously criticize ilyas' lichdom.
        \_ Funny, I always thought of him as a sort of 1st Edition demilich.
           \_ I played Koshey the Deathless in a school play once. -- ilyas

[ don't sign my name to stuff i didn't write, thank you.  bitch. -- ilyas ]
\_ SQUISH HIM!!!
\_ How we know you're the real Ilyas?  That text looks suspiciously like it
   came out of Microsoft Word, and we KNOW Ilya only uses vi.
   \_ I am not Ilyas.  My login isn't capitalized, and my name doesn't contain
      an s.  How do I know you are the real anonymous troll?  -- ilyas
\_ So, Ilya, technical issues aside do you support anonymous or logged motd?
   \_ "I voted for a logged motd before I voted against it."  I support the
      current quasianonymous motd.  (a) Removal of anonymity will remove a lot
      of motd content, for better or worse.  I would rather not implicitly
      censor what people say.  (b) People will find a way to hose anyways,
      it's a social problem not a technical one.  My solution is to make
      the motd unpleasant if people are hosers, in the hopes that people will
      be less likely to be hosers in the future. -- ilyas
      \_ Logged motd is the way to go.  But on the other note, I'd be glad
         to share my plans for motd solutions with ilyas. - pst
         \_ I support logged motd. I also support turning "more /etc/motd"
            on by default for new users, and instruction on how to post
            to motd and wall on the main CSUA web site.
      \_ wow...making people sign their name is implicitly censoring what they
         say?  You really are a moron.  -tom
         \_ no, making people sign their name is explicitly an invasion of
            the right to privacy, moron. -williamc
         \_ you mean kind of like how secret ballot voting makes people not
            afraid to vote?
      \_ Well, those who are hosers are likely to continue their behavior at
         points where they don't care about your attempts at unpleasantness.
         \_ This doesn't appear to be true.  I see no further ilyas bait today.
            \_ perhaps because ilyas hasn't written anything since?
            \_ This isn't the first time ilyas has done the motd wipe.

9/15    How do sites like http://sigalert.com work- do they have cameras along the
        freeway, or are there sensors in the road?  Also, how do they have access
        to that data- is it public or does the DoT provide it on some sort
        of contract?
        \_ I think CalTrans provides the data; they must have some sort of sensors
           and cameras scattered throughout the freeways. However it works, itsure
           is useful.
        \_ I think CalTrans provides the data; they must have some sort of
           sensors and cameras scattered throughout the freeways. However it
           works, it sure is useful.
        \_ see latest issue of EE times.
           \_ looked for it online, but didn't find anything - what was the
              title of the article?
              \_ i looked at the hard copy version.  anyways, basically
                 it's inductors at different locations.  each car running
                 over the inductors will induce a current.  by monitoring
                 the current (each car is unique), one can approximate
                 how fast a car travels from point a to b.
        \_ Fastrak transponders.  Read the paragraph "How is my FasTrak
           transponder used for traffic information purposes?" at
           http://www.511.org/fastrak/faq.asp

9/15    hey pussies, leave the motd alone. let's resume normal motd talk.
        \_ hey pussies, don't pretend to be other people, don't delete threads
           of others, don't be hosers. -- ilyas
           \_ ilyas telling people not to delete other people's threads??
              I must be in BIZARRO world!!!  -meyers
                \_ I have not met Ilya and thus can't really judge this, but
                   have found that he's willing to back his points up and
                   stick by them.  Also, he's not an anonymous numbnut.  So,
                   If you feel he is being a hoser, I would be dead curious
                   as to why you think so, since most of the time it appears
                   to be ilyas making rational, calm arguments vs. anonymous
                   prick making lame, ad hominem attacks.  Dunno, maybe I'm
                   missing something here.  -John
                   \_ ilyas will routinely purge, though not totally nuke,
                      the motd if he feels personally slighted because a
                      thread was deleted "out of order."  He's stated he
                      will ruin the motd for everyone if a thread he's
                      participating in gets deleted.  Sounds like a hoser
                      to me.  -meyers
                      \_ What does it mean to delete a thread "out of
                         order" anyway?
                         \_ The closest answer I've received from ilyas on
                            this is he goes by creation date and position in
                            the motd.  If the CalTrans thread above got
                            deleted before this one, even though this is an
                            active thread and that isn't, ilyas would have a
                            fit and "ruin the motd for everyone"  -meyers
                            \_ No, he has to care about the thread first.
                               It makes sense. When I have an interest in a
                               thread, and someone decides to censor it or
                               do something else hoserish to it, and not
                               just delete it as part of normal stale-thread
                               deletion (in which case it wouldn't be taken
                               "out of order"), then it's reasonable to
                               retaliate by deleting the rest of the motd.
                               We create a policy where you understand that
                               fucking with my posts will get your posts
                               fucked also. Mutually assured destruction and
                               all that. So it's not ilyas but the instigating
                               hosers that cause this crap.
                               \_ So what you're really saying is
                                  "BUT HE STARTED IT!!!"
                                  \_ Yes, that's exactly what he is saying.
                                     Out in the real world, it's important
                                     who starts. -- ilyas
                   \_ I find many of ilyas' posts to be infuriating, and
                      I dissagree with him on many issues, but I think
                      he adds enourmously to the motd by making things
                      interesting.  Overall, this would be a duller place
                      without him.  I don't see what signing ones name
                      has to do with any of it.
                   \_ I think what meyers was refering to is ilyas' post here
                      where he says that he is going to delete threads when
                      he feels it is appropriate. http://csua.org/u/92h
                   \_ We were in the same room once briefly, but weren't
                      formally introduced. -- ilyas
                   \_ nah, usually it's ilyas who start throwing things
                      like "bullshit" in any semi-serious debate. check
                      out mehlhaff's archive 20040403 and search for
                      "bullshit".
           \_ I'm with ilyas on this one.  it's annoying when this happens, but
              the only way to solve it short of actually finding out who's
              doing it and squishing them, which will never happen, is
              to engage  in full scale nuclear war until the retard
              censors get it out of their system.
              \_ the idea that deleting threads in the MOTD will keep people
                 from deleting threads in the MOTD is ridiculous.  -tom
                 \_ When nuking the motd is outlawed, only outlaws will
                    nuke the motd.
           \_ ilyas is a dick
              \_ Back to OOP design class for you, "is a" != "has a".
                 \_ This is obscenely stupid.  Please don't post to motd
                    anymore.

9/15    Spaces or tabs?