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| 2004/10/18 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:34187 Activity:high |
10/18 According to http://taemag.com, Kerry is "supported by 10 Nobel prize winners, intellectuals, scientists, etc. These elitists live in ivory tower and are not your typical mainstream Americans. In another word, they are out of touch with reality." That is really cool! I've been elite all these years and didn't even know it. I feel good about myself thanks to the Republicans. \_ I think http://www.aei.org is a better site. But you are right, you, Carter and Arafat are kindred souls. \_ You've been a Nobel prize winner all these years? \_ What exactly do you have in common with any Nobel prize winners? \_ He's in Cal, like some Nobel prize winners. That's all. |
| 2004/10/18 [Politics/Domestic/Abortion, Health/Women] UID:34188 Activity:very high |
10/18 THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC ABOUT TO STONE A 13 YEAR-OLD GIRL
http://csua.org/u/9j0
\_ No, he's just totally 133t!
\_ That's "ABOUT TO STONING". Read the damn article. -John
\_ They're been stoning little girls and women for a long time in
Muslim countries. So what? You want to invade? We're not the
world's police. This is an internal cultural issue.
\_ America, Fuck Yeah!
\_ We have death penalty for minors here... what's the big deal?
the death penalty or the offense?
\_ Death by stoning, think about it...
\_ For one thing, it's a 13 year old pregnant by her 15 year
old brother. I highly doubt she propositioned him. The
brother is NOT getting the death penalty. (He's getting 150
lashes, which, depending on the kind of lash, could be a
death penalty. Anyone know what the approved lash is in
Islam?) I think they're just angry about the gross double
standard. |
| 2004/10/18 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:34189 Activity:nil |
10/18 Anti-Kerry spot for the "In the Face of Evil guys." I think it's
funny. http://vbuttons.com/ec/5629/index.php?em_id=1424386 |
| 2004/10/18 [Politics/Domestic/California/Arnold] UID:34190 Activity:nil |
10/18 For the memory-challenged individual below, who stated that there were
no Davis/recall/Ah-nold flamewars on the motd:
http://csua.com/?q=recall+davis
http://csua.com/?q=recall+arnold |
| 2004/10/18 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:34191 Activity:moderate |
10/18 Jesus this thing is gonna be close. Zogby has Bush and Kerry tied
at exactly 45%. Zogby tends to be far more accurate than Gallup.
Photo finish indeed.
http://csua.org/u/9j5
\_ They do? How'd Zogby do in the midterm elections? Zogby got
lucky in 2000. The others had stopped polling because it was
going to be a Bush blowout until the Dem's dropped their ancient
DUI garbage bomb a day before everyone voted. Zogby's
methodology is use blindly use the same percentages by party as
voted in 2000. This looks good on paper but is naive and ignores
all current events and worse ignores what people are actually
telling him about their own voting habits and intentions. He
trusts them to say who they'll vote for but not if they'll vote?
\_ I like that you defend Gallup's completely off-base result
by blaming it on the DUI issue. You really think that swung
the election over 8 points in one day? You're smoking crack.
By the way, Zogby got within one tenth of one percent in 1996
as well. As for Gallup, this is not a partisan thing, although
Moveon is trying to make it into one. There are serious problems
with Gallup's likely voter methodology - there are plenty of
statisticians concerned about it. Anyway, anyone who thinks this
race is anything other than tied is drinking serious Koolaid.
\_ BUSH LANDSLIDE IN CALIFORNIA!!!11!1 |
| 2004/10/18 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:34192 Activity:nil |
10/18 Vietnam Veteran sues anti-Kerry filmmaker for libel
http://csua.org/u/9j4 (yahoo! news)
Interesting. Aren't US libel cases almost impossible to win?
\_ Sheesh. Micheal Moore-like editing techniques make this guy
look bad.
\_ Yeah, I'm thinking he doesn't have much of a case. Unlike
UK law, libel in the US requires the accuser to prove deliberate
malicious intent. The "dog ate my homework" excuse is
essentially a valid defense.
\_ It has happened here and there but generally, yes. The 1st
amendment is generally interpreted as broadly as possible. |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:34193 Activity:nil |
10/18 So I registered to vote online two weeks ago, and just received my
form on Friday. It says I need to sign and return it. My question is
if I drop it off in the mail today, is it too late? Do I need to find
some place where they have voter registration and hand the form to
them? I am in foster city.
\_ No, it's not too late. You're registered in the system, but they
need your signature to activate it.
\_ I'm not so sure about that. The online fill-out-the-form, we
mail it to you system seems more like a service to me. Until
you sign it and mail it in, I don't think anything is done
with it. As to the time-line, iirc, voter registration just has
to be postmarked by the specified date, while absente-ballot
registration must be received by the specified date.
\_ Urk. Good call. According to the State, however, today is
the last day to register, so op will be in luck if he sends
in his card today. -pp
\_ Can't you cast a provisional ballot regardless of whether you
are registered?
\_ Yes. See the following URL and search for "Provisional":
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/hava_section_1.htm
\_ Called the Secretary of State's Office for you. They say your card
is good as long as it's post-marked by today (Monday, October 18).
\_ Thank you all! I've mailed it at the post office! |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Consumer/Audio] UID:34194 Activity:high |
10/18 Hi, I just got a 46" projection TV. I'm going to upgrade to a
progressive Philips DVP642 DVD player. I guess I want component video
cables since it separates the colors onto three wires.
On Amazon, I see Recoton ones for $15, and Monster ones for $60-100.
Is there really a diff? Is there a better place/brand to buy? Thanks.
\_ The DVP642 is the DVD player that plays divx right? I have this
player, and if you're planning to play divx movies, it will sometimes
crop bottom of picture (some subtitles may be unreadable).
I used standard RCA cables (1 video + 2 audio) for component video
and it worked fine, but I'm pretty indifferent to picture quality.
Give it a shot (you will probably already have the RCA cables handy),
and see if that's satisfactory.
\_ Not really a difference. You could maybe go for gold plating over
silver, but it's not going to really make a difference in the
picture. What makes a difference there is the type of cable, and
in doing component video you should already be a step up.
\_ Monster uses the worst sort of pseudo-scientific BS to try and
justify their product. As PP said, gold plating is good, but
only really matters if you expect their might be corossion.
You should only worry about expensive cables if you're trying a
really long cable run, at which point attenuation and overpriced
shielding become an issue.
\_ I've only heard of people using gold-plated cables for analog audio
connection, not analog video.
\_ What's the difference between an analog audio signal and an
analog video signal? Why would those differences affect whether
the connector is gold-plated or not?
\_ I'm not an audiophile and I have no idea.
\_ Was actually just looking into cabling today myself - trying to
figure out why a 75 ohm coaxial video cable is really necessary
for a digital DVD->receiver link? What would be the effect of
using a vanilla composite cable (rca) instead? (it's also short
distance)? thanks! - !op
\_ You really need someone on motd who can test this for you and
post first-hand knowledge, but from what I've read, well, with
audio you are dealing with sound up to 22 kHz. Video is a LOT
more bandwidth intensive, so speaking in an analog sense, the
data is up there at much higher frequencies, and theoretically
cable quality matters at those high frequencies.
\_ I run plain vanilla rca cable for component video between
the dvd player, receiver, and tv. Works fine for me, and
\_ just wondering, what exactly does "component" video mean,
in comparison to composite video and 75 ohm coaxial
digital video? - 75 ohm coaxial question guy
\_ Perhaps you should read http://csua.org/u/9jf .
\_ OBTW, in cases where the wavelength of a signal is
>> the wire length, the impedance of the wire is
dominated by the R of the wire. In the case of audio
and video cables, unless you plan to have really long
runs (say 10 meters), I would just make sure the cable
is made of something that looks metallic electrically.
I could discern no difference in quality from when I used
"expensive" Monster cable instead. I didn't do any quality
comparison with Video Essential or whatever test disk, and
there are plenty more expensive cables than Monster cable,
so YMMV.
\_ Monster cabling is even more insulting when you consider
that there is a known technique for eliminating interference
with analog audio cabling called "balanced cables." These
are par for the course in the professional audio world.
They work by carrying mono signals on either "stereo" TRS
cables, or XLR cables.
This has never gained favor in the consumer
audio world because the signal degredation caused by
interference is usually too small to make any difference
to almost any listener - including "audiophiles."
For more info see this URL:
http://homerecording.about.com/library/weekly/aa082697.htm
\_ You might be interested in my friend's attempt
connecting a Sony DVD player to a Dolby Labs decoder
via 2 soldered together wire coat hangers.
http://csua.org/u/9je , via the web archive.
\_ too bad the pictures are all broken links, would
have liked to have seen the end result! :)
\-OP: what speakers do you have? If you dont have pretty
nice speakers, the cabling will be irrelevant.
whether the cables make a different with nice
speakers is debateable and possibly dependent
on your hearing, room etc. many things, including
the speaker cables [not the device-device inter-
connects], should probably be upgraded before the
interconnects. ok tnx. <DEAD>--psbspeakers.com<DEAD>
interconnects. Good practical advice here:
http://csua.org/u/9jq ok tnx. <DEAD>--psbspeakers.com<DEAD> |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Politics/Domestic/Gay, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:34195 Activity:kinda low |
10/18 For the guy who claimed that the majority of geeks lean left...
still waiting for the url backing that up. -- ilyas
\_ I don't think anyone has specifically surveyed "geeks," ilyas,
so you're probably not going to get an url from him. But I believe
there have been surveys showing that the more educated a person is,
the more likely they are to be center/left leaning. Geek doesn't
necessarily correlate with "more educated," I admit.
\_ Actually, I heard it's more of a bell shape -- the richest
and poorest tend to vote DNC, the middle tends to vote RNC.
Similarly, for education, high school dropouts and grad students
for DNC, the rest for RNC. -- ilyas
\_ I thought I said education, not income level, but whatever.
\_ Reading comprehension >>> you.a
\_ Reading comprehension >>> you
\_ I got what he said. I just don't know why he started
talking about income level, because that is not what
we were talking about.
\_ 2000 election
No HS degree: +20% Gore
HS degree: +1% Bush
Some college: +6% Bush
College grad: +6% Bush
Post-grad deg: +8% Gore
Just goes to show, a little education makes you smart enough
to watch O'Reilly and think you're smarter than those damn
tax-you-to-death, government-handout, eternal victim, take
no personal initiative / responsibility liberal elite.
\_ This left-right thing needs a lot more defining. There are
anti-abortionists who support gun control and pro-choicers who
oppose gay marriage. If you're talking pro-DNC or pro-RNC, I
think ilyas has answered well above.
\_ saved by the Jargon File
http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/politics.html
I have found much evidence to support the JF's claim that many
geeks (hackers, whatever) tend to be libertarian leaning. I
think framing this discusion in terms of right/left is really a
bad way to look at it right now in our current politcal climate
where even the repub pres is not really a conservative by
most definitions. - rory
\_ I ll buy that geeks tend to lean libertarian, because that
actually matches my (anecdotal) experience fairly closely.
-- ilyas
\_ Hey, if someone told me:
Liberal Democrat = more freedom, more government
Conservative Republican = less freedom, less government
Libertarian = more freedom, less government
... I'd go libertarian every time. It's not that complicated:
"Duh, hey, I'm a libertarian, I'm fucking 1337! Go away tax-and-
spend liberals, go away nazi pro-lifers."
The key criticism with libertarianism is that the U.S. is still
a two-party country, and well, there are a lot of libertarian
geeks, and who wants to hang out with the nerds?
\_ If Bush is anything to go by, Conservative Republican =
less freedom, more government.
\_ exactly my point. Bush is not a conservative Republican
by the traditional def.
\_ It seems that once the Republicans became the dominant
party, after years of playing the underdog, they realized
that they didn't hate this government stuff all as much
as they thought they did. Spending is much easier to
support when it benefits you directly.
\_ its easy to say you want to shrink govt when you
disagree w/ the people running it.
\_ THAT is the "key criticism" of libertarianism?
\_ Okay, let's just say "An important criticism".
Then you can tell me what the key one is.
\_ libertarianism appeals to nerds (esp mathematically
minded ones) because it is based on a supposedly
objective series of rules and says that, if left to
their own, these rules will naturally and justly
govern people. The key criticism of it is that these
rules are not as natural as people think... they are
based on societies and social order, etc. ie, people
say, "hands off, let the market regulate"... but
the fact is you cant have good markets w/out good
gov'ts. - rory
\_ I wonder sometimes where 'good governments' come
from. Lately, I've been leaning towards 'good
culture' as the wellspring of 'good
government.' -- ilyas
\_ why is that any easier to define?
\_ It's not. But I am not sure good government
can spontaneously happen if the culture is
not ready for it. Introducing a representative
republic in Dark Ages Europe would have done
no good. To respond to rory, you are thinking
of anarcho-capitalism (which I admit I find
appealing, I just don't see how it would work).
Libertarianism has inherent tensions because
it generally dislikes government but
acknowledges its necessity (i.e. it's not a
'terse' belief system like A-C). -- ilyas
\_ gawd, if libertarianism is this complicated, I can
understand why it's not popular. I would much prefer
it if it were described just as "more freedom, less
government". Otherwise I'd just settle with
calling myself a small-government Democrat or
personal-freedom Republican. (Yeah, silly, but not
as bad as objectivist Libertarian.)
\_ Can I still have the FDA, fire departments,
health inspections of restaurants, product
safety commissions, etc., or will I just have
to gamble with my life and hope for the best
anytime I eat something, buy a new product,
buy prescription drugs, or need emergency
services?
\_ It will be just like ebay ratings! You go with
the ones with good feedback. Sure, sometimes
someone decides to screw over a few thousand
or million people and then move to Turkey, but
think of the freedom! |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Computer/SW/Mail, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:34196 Activity:nil |
10/18 $ uptime
12:15PM up 50 days, 8:21, 175 users, load averages: 60.94, 54.81, 44.90
help
\_ Wizard needs sendmail fu BADLY. |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Computer/Companies/Ebay, Computer/SW/Security] UID:34197 Activity:low |
10/18 Has anyone been a victim of ebay fraud?
\_ Yes, although it was for shipping costs rather than the full
price of the item. Sold $600 of records to a buyer in the UK.
Shipping was over $200. He sent me a "FedEx id number" that the
FedEx driver accepted, but which later turned out to be fraudulent.
I was later charged the full amount for shipping and threatened with
collections if I did not pay up. The buyer disappeared, and since
I had already given him "good feedback" for his payment of the
goods cost, I couldn't ding him through the feedback system.
Ebay was COMPLETELY unresponsive on this issue, and I have heard
*very bad things* about their response to fraud issues.
\_ If I were selling $600 stuff on ebay, I'd have required buyers
w/ excellent feedbacks only. What was that guys's feedback?
\_ Uniformly excellent.
\_ Isn't this a special case of the 'collusion problem'
Google's trying to solve? -- ilyas
\_ Not necessarily. This guy got ripped off but has
now joined the others who gave positive feedback.
\_ Right. Lesson learned: don't give any feedback
until ALL costs are sorted out, and never believe
that a FedEx or UPS account number is real until
double checking. --ripped off guy.
\_ Is there some credit-reporting agency in the UK you can talk to
to shit all over this guy's credit?
\_ I have. Bought an item and similar (but less valuable) item was
shipped in return. I took it as a loss. I had very many good
experiences also, but I am thinking fraud is more common now
than it was when I used eBay more heavily (5-6 years ago).
\_ I was indirectly. A company I briefly worked for had a service
where you could buy a money order with a credit card and have it
mailed to a purchaser (to allow eBay buyers to pay with a money
order). When I heard about this my immediate reaction was something
like "Um, isn't this a huge risk?". The next month we lost $5000 in
charge-backs from people who didn't get their purchases. They all
bought from the same seller who did good business for 4 years and
then moved to Turkey. Oh yeah, when I heard about this I looked at
the seller's address and recognized it as the International House. |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic] UID:34198 Activity:nil |
10/18 Alameda County still needs pollworkers! Please sign up!
http://www.co.alameda.ca.us/rov/workers.htm
\_ Yeah right for a mandatory 6:30am to 9pm shift.
\_ If you signed up for it, is it really mandatory? |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Uncategorized] UID:34199 Activity:nil 50%like:34709 |
10/18 Hey, how's that GOOG short doing, guy?
\_ I'll let you know when we are legally allowed to short it, guy. |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Recreation/Computer/Games] UID:34200 Activity:high 53%like:34936 |
10/18 Half-Life 2 has gone gold. Street date: November 16
http://www.vugames.com/news_story.do?storyId=1963
\_ Not released via Steam until it's available on store shelves.
Boo!
\_ I think this is apropos...
http://penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-10-15&res=l
\_ Steam purchase == activation. I never buy products with
"activation"
\_ I thought steam was just a way to activate something you
downloaded, rather than running out to buy a physical
copy? Unlike some products which require you to go buy
a hardcopy, then activate online. -John
\_ Steam is nice in that it gives you an account, and
you can actually use the game from your account
on multiple systems. The disadvantage is the net
MUST be working for you to be able to play!
\_ You don't get the equivalent of a cd key you can take
somewhere with you? I mean, with a hardcopy, you need
to have the booklet/case/piece of paper with the key
on it along... -John
\_ The games you can play are tied to your password-
protected account. It's just like AIM or MSN
Messenger. Login to multiple PCs with your account,
download the full game to every PC - but only one
person can play at a time (using your account).
\_ Yes you do, but you have to connect to the online
service to activate even if you just want to play the
single-player version (only once per install).
\_ The retail boxed version won't require product activation?
\_ Not as far as I know. CD-Key only.
\_ I wasted an unhealthy percentage of my weekend in Counter-Strike:
Source. It's the same old thing but I had forgotten how addictive
it is. I think I'll quit again now though. I had AK-47 sounds
\_ AK-47 sounds cooler in real life.
replaying in my head when trying to fall asleep. Yesterday played
with team kill turned on which was a new twist for me.
\_ Well, and aiming is a lot more forgiving. You can be zipping
left and right and your first shot will always be dead in the
center. Aim is primarily affected by "recoil" now.
Plus, there are less aimbots with CS: Source.
\_ fewer
\_ but yermom wants more
\_ Plus there are the motivational posters like:
<DEAD>_render_.blogspot.com/2004/10/cssource-motivational-posters.html<DEAD> |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Computer/SW/Unix] UID:34201 Activity:low |
10/18 How do I get GNU find to seach on all local files systems but
no NFS filesystems?
\_ man find see -fstype type |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Politics/Domestic/Gay] UID:34202 Activity:nil |
10/18 Talk about an unfortunate title for the article:
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=3515
\_ Talk about an uninformative title for a motd post!
\_ "Anglicans deal major blow to gay priests" |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Computer/SW/Languages/Misc] UID:34203 Activity:nil |
10/18 Is there a way to disable domain login script on XP? |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Uncategorized] UID:34204 Activity:nil |
10/18 Burn Hollywood Burn:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SBGI&d=t
\_ Shareholder lawsuit? $50M lost in market cap. (as of 4:30pm mst)
\_ ^Hollywood^Sinclair |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:34205 Activity:high |
10/18 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/opinion/18safire.html Safire: Stupidest NY Times op-ed columnist ever. \_ "Until that moment, only political junkies knew that a member of the Cheney family serving on the campaign staff was homosexual." When did Safire get replaced with a pod person, and why didn't Herb Caen tell us about it? \_ calling someone a lesbian is a horrible incident, when they happen to be out, and they head their father's efforts to appear non evil to gay people? that rules - danh \_ Andrew Sullivan has the best take on all the Mary Cheney nonsense. \_ Well, I admit what Sullivan says in nonsense. I looked it up just to read "the best take" and all I got was, "A couple of Republican crackpots did some gay baiting too, why isn't anyone complaing about that?" Umm... because there's a bit of a difference between a presidential canidate and some RNC flyers in some crackpot backwater? \_ If that's all you got out of it, you didn't really read any of his entries. \_ That's the one at the top of the page, I assumed it was the one you meant. \_ I'm not the guy who suggested Sullivan, but he probably meant this: http://www.electablog.com/2004/10/on-couch-with-mary-cheney.html \_ Well, it's still retarded, but at least it makes a little more sense. \_ My theory is still that Lynne Cheney's evilness is being spun into fake righteous outrage. Lots of people disagree with me, but I'm right. \_ Surest sign of this was that it was no big deal when John Edwards mentioned it - in fact, Dick Cheney thanked him for mentioning it. It only became "righteous outrage" when it happened in the presidential debate where Bush forgot that he said he wasn't concerned about Osama. \_ The original article covers that pretty well. \_ What happened to csuamotd/csuamotd. Did they just delete this account or did someone just change the passwd? \_ Try http://BugMeNot.com \_ It's kinda silly, she hasn't come out supporting gay marriage. Just because she's gay doesn't mean she does. Therefore, Kerry using her to push gay marriage is silly. \_ The debate question was about whether one believes homosexuality is a choice or not. Kerry said Dick Cheney's daughter Mary, if asked, would say that it was not a choice. The question was not about gay marriage per se. Stupid conservative/independent/libertarian/liberal/peon! Pay attention! \_ Oops, sorry. Does any know if Mary Cheney has ever made such a statement, or was Kerry just making that up? \_ Do you realize Kerry said Mary Cheney "would" say that if asked? See http://csua.org/u/9jk search for "daughter". Kerry said that he believes that if you talk to a gay person, they will tell you it's not a choice. I urge you to find your nearest gay person and ask them what they think. \_ I know, but that's a sterotype. Maybe she thinks it is a choice. The Greeks sure did. \_ The Greeks had pretty different ideas about sexuality than we do. \_ kchang? psb? What do YOU think? \_ What do I think about the politics or lesbians? I think all political trolls should be offloaded to motd.troll so that /etc/motd.public could go back to what it used to be-- technical/social (foodP) forum. That is what I think. -kchang \_ motd was never used for foodPs... \_ Yeah, but who would want to archive a bunch of foodPs \_ One thing kchang and tom have in common is an uncanny ability to tell just what precisely IS a troll, and what is not. -- ilyas \_ one thing ilyas has is an uncanny ability to use sarcasm to make a point and then thinking that he's so smart. \_ Is this a troll? |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Recreation/Computer/Games, Science/GlobalWarming] UID:34206 Activity:high |
10/18 sexy women kicking men's ass in Counter Strike: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/fun.games/10/18/games.swedishgirls.ap/index.html \_ Wow, it's great that women today are judged on their abilities, not their short skirts. Nice legs, though. -John |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China] UID:34207 Activity:nil |
10/18 Here's a nice scam: selling a process to guarantee that someone's
child will be the gender they choose. When it works, $5000+ from
eager Chinese couples! When it doesn't, no biggie just give back the
money (which you earned a few months of interest on).
http://csua.org/u/9jm |
| 2004/10/18-19 [Politics/Domestic] UID:34208 Activity:nil |
10/18 world'so smallest political quiz:
http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html
\_ It says I'm a libertarian, but that's bullshit. The whole point
of this test is to convince people who agree with libertarians
on certain issues that they are in fact libertarian.
\_ God forbid! P.S. The test is lame. -- ilyas
\_ hey look I'm NOT a Liberal afterall! I'm a Centrist. You guys?
\_ I'm a liberal. No surprise there. -liberal
\_ Same here. |
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