11/18   J. Crew magazine has nothing but the superier Ayran race. Why
        are they not getting sued by greedy nigers, chinks, and beaners
        like Abercrombie and Fitch?

11/17   I'm about to go from a full time employee to a contractor.
        I'm going to miss certain things like stock options, med
        insurance, life insurance, ADD (accidental death or disability),
        etc etc. Can someone who has done this before give me a more
        comprehensive list of these services, and how much they will
        cost me if I get them through venders myself? Thanks.
        \_ Unless you see the doctor a lot more than I do, it's easy to get
           a highish ($1000) deductable PPO plan at less than $100 a month.
           Dental/vision is poor value, just pay out of pocket.  Disability,
           otoh, is very hard to get as an individual.  (I) Don't need life.
        \_ ~ $300 per month to continue a premium plan (BlueShield) through
           COBRA; probably much less for Kaiser, but you get what you pay for.
           Dental and optical are another $100 per month.  Keep it, though;
           once you're off the books, you'll have a fiendish time getting
           pre-existing conditions accepted by any new carrier.
           \_ you can only cobra for a few months
              \_ Up to 18 months depending on your former employer. Ask.

stupid race-baiting troll deleted
        \_ You beat me to it. Thanks.

11/17   SICP for physics: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicm
        \_ drool.  thank you.
        \_ OMG this rocks! Thank you.

11/18   J. Crew magazine has nothing but blond Caucasians and occasionally
        very white looking darked haired people. Why are they not getting
        sued by blacks, hispanics, Asians like Abercrombie and Fitch?

11/18   What does the "safe mode" in Firefox do?  Thx.
        \_ I think it runs Firefox with all extensions disabled.

11/18   Does anyone know where the cache directories in Firefox under NT and XP
        are?  I can't find it in Help.
        \_ %USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<name>\Cache
        \_ If you want to change it, google.  I changed mine yesterday.

11/17   http://www.google.com/scholar rocks. -- ilyas
        \_ It's kind of frightening to find that somebody actually cited my
           one refereed paper - and misunderstood it, to boot. -- ulysses
           \_ LIkewise, but I ain't complaining. --elizp

11/18   Should taxi drivers be tipped?
        \_ of course. though I (and I think most people) usually just
           round up to the next dollar, and if that is less than 10%,
           add a dollar.
        \_ Why tip them?  They are being paid for the services.  Who started
           this kind of tipping system.  It so ridiculous.
           \_ shut up, overpaid software engineer - danh
                \_ also taxi drivers make like $2.00 an hour.  I know
                   it's not your job to make their careers viable
                   but it's something to keep in mind. - danh
                \_ If your're going to tip taxi drivers, barbers, waiters, etc,
                   you might as well tip other people providing services to

                   you such as garbage collector, postman, cashiers, etc.
                   \_ Well, if all those other jobs had their wages lowered to
                      reflect expected tipping, then sure.  Now if you want to
                      question which, if any jobs should be largely paid in
                      tips, that's another matter.
                   \_ Don't forget to tip your local software engineer.
                   \_ Most civilized people give their garbage collector,
                      postal delivery guy, etc a Christmas gift of some kind.
        \_ You can lament the tipping system all you want, but the fact is
           that, particularly in the U.S., we've adjusted salaries based on
           the expectation of tipping, so in a real sense you are only paying
           for the service if you tip the expected amount.  -tom
           \_ Well I was really asking what's "THE STANDARD". -op
              \_ http://www.tipping.org/tips/TipsPageTipsUS.html.  -tom
                  \_ You need to tip furniture delivery person???  I tip
                     people all the time but never to a delivery person.
                     \_ http://csua.com/?entry=11672
                     \_ Please tell me you tip your pizza delivery guy at least
        \_ Oddly topical article from last Friday:
           http://www.kcrg.com/article.aspx?art_id=92666&cat_id=123
           Gist being that driving a cab even in Cedar Rapids is dangerous.
           \-so is it ok to not tip if the service is seriously bad ... and
             i mean stuff under the service employee's control. --psb
             \_ No; you should tip the expected about even if the service is
                  ^ should be a comma.
                    \_ No. It should be a period.
                        \_ A semicolon is perfectly correct, if a little odd,
                           as it is.  The sentiment, however, is wrong -phuqm
                seriously bad, according to Miss Manners.  -tom
                \_ Miss Manners can suck a dick.  The whole point of tipping
                   vs. salary is that with tipping the customer can punish the
                   employee for doing a bad job or reward them for a good job.
                   It's basically an economic system of performance evaluation.
                   \_ Wrong.  15% tip for the waiter is part of his salary.
                      You can give more for good service.   -tom
                      \_ It's part of their earnings, but not part of their
                         salary.  If it was, it wouldn't be a tip.  They're
                         not entitled to a tip if they do a terrible job, and
                         that's borne out both in custom and law.  I always tip
                         but if someone was really rude or incompetant I would
                         not feel obligated.
             \_ Yes, of course.  The understanding implicit in tips is that
                your pay is performance-based.  Bad performance = less or no
                tip. --erikred
             \_ Sure, but some people feel it's OK to withold a tip for things
                out of a server's control, like bad food or a slow kitchen.
                \-yeah i dont mean for a minor slight like "my water glass
                  was empty for 5min. i mean something like a seriously
                  fucked up haircut. or a taxi driver who gets lost after
                  you specifically asked do you know where X is. --psb
                  \_ If I ask for more water twice and it doesn't come, that's
                     bad service.
                     \- if the wait person is stupid vs. surley vs. the
                        restaurant is understaffed, those are all different
                        scenarios in my book. there is bad service and then
                        there is stuff that actually will cost you money ...
                        waiter spills liquid on your clothes. it's the latter
                        cases where i think it is not unreasonable to imply
                        "this is coming out of your tip". --psb
                        \_ and of course, you think it's fine for people to
                           withhold your salary based on their own criteria,
                           and never tell you why.  -tom
                           \_ I have a legally binding contract governing my
                              salary.  I may also receive an additional bonus
                              as an incentive to perform; said bonus may be
                              allotted on purely subjective criteria, so
                              essentially, yes.  Service industry employees
                              hold jobs which involve providing service.  I
                              pay for this service already.  If they are not
                              being paid enough, it is a contractual issue
                              between themselves and their employers.  It is
                              not my problem.  I am already compromising far
                              more than I feel obliged to by adhering to
                              cultural norms suggesting I pay the service
                              staff extra for making an effort to provide
                              particularly good service.  -John
                              \-holube: do you think it is "better" that
                                to you tip a waiter than drops soup on you
                                and then write a letter to management
                                suggesting he/she is a lamer? the analogy
                                to "me and my employer" doesnt work because
                                one relationship is between 2 parties and the
                                other is between 3 parties ... and norms
                                that are sustainable in long term relationship
                                may not work in one-shot cases. it is not
                                feasible for me to tip 15% and then go to the
                                employer and ask for a partial refund because
                                of some problem. again i am talking about
                                cases where something fairly dramatic has
                                gone wrong. also the restaurant case is
                                likely different from others because tip
                                pooling is likely. there are certanly micro-
                                differences in service and tipping is one
                                place to allow for some flexibility [are you
                                a regular who is seated before other people
                                who got there before you? are you seated next
                                to the bathroom etc]. so why arent flight
                                attendants tipped? --psb

11/18   anyone see the Leonids? what time is good?
        \_ Caught one on a smoke break last night. about 12:30am
        \_ http://Space.com says 1 a.m. PST, but don't expect more than a dozen per
           hour, since the comet in question has all but left the area.

11/18   I think the motd is mostly posted by the same few people over and
        over again. I am getting bored. There's not enough variety here.
        Can't we bring some of the undergrads into the motd? I mean seriously,
        This is my connection to Berkeley and I want to be up to date. I
        feel old arguing with the same motd hosers all the time. I want to
        feel young again, can't we bring some rookie sodans to the motd??
        \_ We do have newbies -- unfortunately they're chicom troll and/or
           swift-boat guy.  Personally, I think they're the same person, but
           you never can tell.
        \_ BUD DAY does not like your tone, son.
        \_ The fact that the motd is no longer displayed at login by
           default is probably greatly curtailing any new blood.  Also,
           most people who want to discuss things online have moved past
           "world-writable" file technology.  I think most people just
           aren't all that interested in the motd.

11/18   What I learned from "The Play": never quit, never say die; sponte-
        neity and improvisation are valuable qualities; pray for a couple
        trombones in the endzone.
        \ Winners never quit, quitters never win, but those who never win
          and never quit are idiots.
          \_ But shouldn't you quit after winning? Always better to quit
             while you're ahead. And why would losers quit before winning?
          \_ Hmm, this confirms my suspicion that most of us on the motd
             are, in fact, idiots.  We just keep arguing and arguing without
             conclusion.
        \_ Having the world's most obnoxious marching band is not always an
           asset.
        \_ What year was The Play?
           \_ 1982, sez my T-shirt.

11/18   Can someone give me a link on a survey of the public perception
        of different wars (ww2, vietnam, iraq) and why people feel that
        way? For example, why the average folks back in 1967 didn't
        care about bringing freedom to the S Vietnamese, but that
        we (at least 53% of the voters) think that the war on Iraq
        is a good thing?
        \_ Helloooo, I didn't know if you noticed, but in Iraq we
           actually conquered the whole country? Vietnam was like Korea,
           the U.S. didn't fight to win, they fought for a stalemate.
           The insurgency in Iraq is definitely troubling, but unlike
           Iraq you don't have a North Vietnam to deal with. The casualty
           rate is also much lower for U.S. troops this go around. In order
           to reach the casualty numbers of Nam we'd have to go at it for
           another 40 years.
           \_ It took Vietnam 15 years to rack up all those casualties, and
              we've only been in Iraw for about 1.5 years.  We're averaging
              maybe 3 deaths a day and I think about 4 times as many injuries,
              many of which are permanant and disabling.
           \_ We never conquered the whole country.  We deposed the government
              and disbanded their army, but roving bands of insurgents have had
              free reign in areas ever since.  We may be able to retake areas
              controlled by the insurgents, but we don't have enough men to
              control the whole country at once.
              \_ We can't even keep Afghanistan under control, but the
                 "liberal media" doesn't like to report what goes on over
                 there.  Do you have any idea the effect of the surging
                 opium growth in Afghanistan
                 \_ Oh man how I wish I was a heroin junkie right now.
        \_ WW2:  Pearl Harbor.
           Vietnam:  Draft.
           Iraq:  9/11.
           You don't need a survey.
           \_ WW2 had a draft also. But it also had a huge propaganda
              machine supporting it. If you think the US news media
              did too much to promote the Iraq war, that's nothing compared
              to how WW2 was promoted.
              \_ Pearl Harbor trumps Draft.
           \_ The draft was less important than the key question of "why are
              we fighting?" Plus the constant reassurance of victory by
              political leaders ("light at the end of the tunnel") was given
              a severe blow by the Tet Offensive and constant television
              imagery. Quiz time! Compare and contrast the impact the images
              of the RVN general executing a captured VC vs the US Marine
              killing the injured insurgent.
              \_ Tet was a major disaster for the NVA and VC.
                 \_ Nope, major success for the PVN, as it essentially won
                    them a huge PR victory (a) and wiped out most VC cadres
                    in the RVN which might have caused trouble after an
                    eventually PVN victory.  -John
                 \_ But it was a larger disaster for US political opinion.
                    At the time the US was talking about the end of the war
                    by Christmas. The month-long battle to take Hue back was
                    a huge slap in the face of the public.
              \_ Quiz response:
                 For Vietnam, the U.S. did not have Pearl Harbor or 9/11.
        \_ What about Korea? That's almost a forgotten war. Other than MASH
           nobody ever talks about it.
           \_ Korea was a war of great expectations. The US and most of the
              others who eventually joined were fighting against communism.
              The US and the rest of the world became war weary after the
              battleline stagnated. The question of "Why are we fighting?"
              came up again and US opinion were more than happy to settle
              for a tie.

11/18   Is there a way to disable the "Additional plugins are required to
        display all the media on this page" pop-up in Firefox?
        Flash is a dog in Firefox, and I just don't want to install it.
        \_ Get a cat
           \_ I can't spare the $1000 that a cat costs.
        \_ Use The Source Luke!

11/18   Can someone give me a link on how much BASE taxi drivers/waitresses
        make? I always thought it's illegal to make below minimum wage,
        but I guess that's not the case in certain industries.
        \_ First hit on google "minimum wage tip".  Something like
           $2.13 per hour (with maximum of $3.xx of your tip making up
           the rest of the minimum wage).
                \_ http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm
                   In CALIFORNIA the min wage is $6-8.
        \_ taxi drivers are often hilariously classified as independent
           contractors so they have no benefits, pay their own gas,
           and get raped by the taxi cab license holding companies
           with gate fees. - danh

11/18   Sowell on the killing of the wounded insurgent.  I was wondering
        the same things.
        http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20041118.shtml
        \_ "Terrorists are not enemy soldiers covered by the rules of
           war. Nor should they be. They observe no rules." I stopped
           reading after this. By the same token, the Genova convention
           is obsolete, because anyone can say the enemy is not covered.
           \_ i'm not losing sleep over it.
           \_ Hello.  I do not condone the murder of the wounded man, but
              people who do not act like an organized military are not
              afforded Geneva Convention protections.  End of story.
                -- ilyas
              \_ Ilya, war is no longer declared between nations and fought
                 by cavalry regiments adhering to strict rules of combat.
                 It's a dirty, filthy brutal mess, and you're going to see
                 more and more irregular forces fighting wars.  The Geneva
                 Conventions were not designed to strictly protect "soldiers"
                 based on some static definition of who wears what; the
                 brutality committed against civilians and irregulars in wars
                 since they were signed has been despite them, not as a
                 result.  The Conventions seek to limit the damage done by
                 wars as a natural result of the kind of barbarism unleashed
                 in a war of any kind.  If you were to capture OBL himself, if
                 he is defeated and can no longer defend himself, it is your
                 responsibility as a combatant to treat him according to a
                 basic set of standards.  You may _not_ sodomize, shoot, or
                 torture him.  Period.  Legalese aside, the US must follow a
                 higher standard of conduct than terrorists, undemocratic
                 states, irregulars, tyrants, etc.  There is no argument that
                 can justify anything that goes against this imperative.
                 None.  The only justification that the USA have for engaging
                 the rest of the world, unless it is against some body that
                 has directly attacked us, is moral authority.  When that
                 fails, the whole basis for being the (necessary) world
                 policeman is destroyed as well.  -John
                 \_ The only 'moral' argument I can offer is of a utilitarian
                    nature, and that is if you must wage war, wage it as
                    quickly and brutally as possible, so it is over as
                    quickly as possible.  I simply disagree with your morals.
                    A captured, ununiformed man who tried to kill soldiers
                    forfeits his life, in much the same way a civilian who tries
                    (or does!) kill a cop.  There is no way to wage moral war,
                    by the way.  War is inherently immoral. -- ilyas
                    \_ Quickly, yes.  Brutally?  That is counterproductive.
                       A democracy should not wage unprovoked offensive war,
                       which is essentially what we have done, but even if you
                       disagree with the {morals,ethics} of this, being
                       purposely nasty to people _after the fact_ has never
                       in any war, ever accomplished anything.  Furthermore,
                       it is not in the authority of an individual soldier to
                       mete out summary justice or punishment, ever.  It is
                       his duty to win, and it is the duty and authority of
                       a military chain of command to deal with uninformed
                       soldier-whackers and their ilk.  This is a simple,
                       black and white issue; if a captive is killed in self-
                       defense while trying to harm a soldier, it is (as with
                       your cop example) regrettable but probably unavoidable.
                       If it is a captive killed after the fact of trying to
                       harm a soldier, it is a crime.  Period.  -John
                       \_ I also disagree that a democracy should not wage
                          offensive war, I simply don't see why offensive war
                                  \_ You've obviously never played Civilization
                                     \_ EU or Victoria >> Civ. -- ilyas
                          is always unjustified.  Similarly, I don't see why
                          executions of ununiformed people, if properly
                          authorized, are wrong (they certainly were not in
                          this case, and the soldier will be dealt with).
                          I think given that a certain portion of the population
                          (or, in the case of Iraq, mostly foreigners)
                          is actively soldier hunting with guns and bombs, I
                          think the situation has moved past pleasant
                          discussions, and basically such people need to be
                          killed.  If captured, they can possibly be killed
                          after a trial or some such, but a short military
                          trial is not unreasonable in my eyes.  These people
                          are not conscripts of a state, they are not taking
                          orders.  They can leave at any time, yet they fight.
                          There is a reason GC is applied to uniformed
                          soldiers, it's not just a quaint 19th century
                          cavalry thing.  Btw, brutality and quickness are not
                          tied together just as a turn of phrase.  Brutality
                          really is the most efficient way.  Not moral, of
                          course. -- ilyas
                          \_ I'd love to prove you wrong, but some baboon
                             keeps overwriting my reply.  Screw it.  -John
                             \_ Ironically, it's probably ilyas, esp
                                considering how active he is in this thread.
              \_ this is total bullshit. I never understood how people
                 get away w/ calling our enemies in this Iraq war
                 "terrorists" instead of soldiers or whatever other
                 military jargon people use.
                 Isnt this what the british said about the US in the
                 Revolutionary War? (I mean, not literally about the
                 Geneva convention per se, but this mentality)
                 \_ Because they _aren't_
                    soldiers.  Soldier = in a chain of command, wears
                    uniform, etc.  Certainly, armies employ 'spies'
                    and other unconventionals.  But if they are caught,
                    they are not afforded the GC protections, are
                    tortured, etc.  This has been done in every war, by
                    all sides.  This is a distasteful business, etc.
                    but why is this new to anyone?  People can't seem
                    to separate 'distasteful', 'reprehensible', etc.
                    from 'unlawful.'  US is not being unlawful. -- ilyas
                    \_ Thank you John Yoo Jr.  Sodomizing and torturing
                       innocent people or executing guerilla fighters are both
                       against the Geneva convention, and both these groups of
                       people ARE covered, as much as the administration would
                       like to argue otherwise.
                       \_ Sodomizing innocent people is against the rules of
                          war.  Is there a link detailing protections
                          ununiformed people (guerillas, random fuckers with bombs,
                          etc.) are granted?  My impressions are such folks
                          are shot on the spot if they are lucky, or 'questioned'
                          if not.  Methinks you be full of shit.  You can't expect
                          the military to gingerly handle folks who are out to
                          kill them. -- ilyas
                          \_ I'm not asking them to shake hands and be polite,
                             merely refrain from torture and executions.  Is
                             that too much to ask of the US Army?
                             \_ I dislike torture.  I think executions are morally
                                justified.  YMMV.  I have yet to see a document the
                                US signed which forbids either being applied to
                                ununiformed folks with guns/bombs.  -- ilyas
                 \_ It's called 'framing the debate'.  This way it's about how
                    you treat terrorists.  If you call them rebels or
                    insurgents or, god forbid, freedom fighters that opens up
                    all sorts of unpleasant questions about what they're
                    fighting for.
                    \- i agree with your sentiment but i dont think you have
                       picked a good example. i think a better example [i have
                       not giventhis huge thought, so there may be even better
                       cases] is agent orange. i bet in the NVA were spraying
                       american troops with agent O, "we" would have called
                       that chemical warfare. i dont like the writing
                       especially but you may wish to see waltzer: just and
                       unjust wars. --psb
                    \_ Why would calling them rebels or insurgents open up
                       unpleasant questions? I don't think you can call them
                       freedom fighters. I don't think they're calling
                       themseves that. I suppose Bush would say they're
                       freedom fighters -- they're fighting freedom!
                       \_ Hahahahaha!!!
              \_ Just to add more facts:
                 Dubya says Al Qaeda and other foreign terrorists are not
                 afforded GC protections.  Former Baathists and other Iraqi
                 nationals fighting aginst Americans probably are covered
                 as long as they are easily distinguishible from civilians.
                 \_ Ummm.. yeah.  If they were wearing uniforms and acting
                    like soldiers, then sure.
                    \_ This whole 'uniforms and be in an army' thing just seems
                       like trying to justify raping people with glowsticks.
                       Uniforms don't matter because you should not be
                       commiting war crimes on civilians either, and if someone
                       is pointing a gun at you you know they're a combatant.
                       The 'act like soldiers' thing is meaningless.  Do they
                       not deserve protection because they did not surrender
                       when the invaders disbanded their army?  Guerilla
                       warfare is a perfectly valid battle tactic, just not one
                       the the US army handles well.
                       \_ Guerilla Warfare != Terrorism.  Car bombing
                          civilians and beheading hostages is not
                          "Guerilla Warfare"
                          \_ Of course not everything they do is guerilla
                             warfare, and I never defended terrorism or
                             brutality.  It is a perfectly legitimate tactic to
                             take sniper shots at an occupying foreign army.
                             Denying these people the GC protections is a bad
                             thing.  Realize that the Iraqi insurgency is not
                             some unified force for evil, but many people
                             fighting for different reasons and using different
                             tactics.
                             \_ That's true.  So far I haven't seen a lot
                                of evidence that the army is lumping them
                                into one group.  But sometimes it's
                                better to be safe than sorry.
                          \_ Like pp said, al-Zarqawi != The Insurgency
                    \_ Unlike previous battles in Iraq, the Fallujah
                       insurgents have been easily distinguishable from
                       civilians.
                       If you say:  "That isn't enough, you need to wear the
                       uniform of the Iraqi armed forces", well, then who cares
                       about the occasional GI who got hit in the face the
                       previous day and doesn't want to take any chances?  He
                       could have nuked all five guys in the mosque, in which
                       case, he would only need to show he didn't violate the
                       rules of engagement.
        \_ I just don't think we can condemn the soldier out of hand.  We don't
           know the circumstances, and "insurgents" have been booby trapping
           dead bodies and running suicide missions.  We kill Japanese just
           fine in the same situations.
           \_ "He's fucking faking he's dead!  He's fucking faking he's dead!"
              *brapbrapbrapbrap*
              "Well he's dead now."
              == He's going to unload a wad of C4 on you!
              In the mean time, the entire video is replayed over and over
              again in Iraq and across the Arab world while U.S. citizens
              are trolling http://freerepublic.com and /etc/motd about hidden
              grenades and uniforms.  U.S. broadcast and cable networks
              cover nekkid Desperate Housewives character jumping into the
              arms of a uniformed NFL football player.

11/18   Bill Gates receives only 4 million spams a day:
        http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/11/18/gates.spam.ap/index.html
        \_ What's his email address?
           \_ i've read it's billg@microsoft.com. try it.
              \_ i highly doubt that's it. I just emailed that address w/ a
                 SUPER low m o r t @ g e offer and he didnt even reply, so...
                 \_ Offer him discount Windows XP for only $20.

11/18   POC, you're a piece of cock. And williamc, I can't believe you
        graduated from Berkeley. You're a dumb fuck. Get a life.
        \_ Wow.  This is the first time I've been singled out in the
           motd.  I think it's the US Army==child rapists guy getting pissy
           because he's being asked to do some research before
           jibber-jabbering about things he doesn't know anything about.  I
           think this makes my day.  Thanks, op.  :)                -POC
           \_  I really wonder sometimes about the whole chicom troll
               phenomenon.  Is it all one guy?  Is it several similar
               people, or is it one guy who started it and was a real nutjob
               and another guy who immitates him for amusement?  To me this
               kind of question is part of what makes reading the motd so much
               fun.  There's really nothing else quite like it.
               \_ who is chicom and who is POC?
        \_ who is POC?
           \_ Piece Of Crap?
              \_ Piece of cock, as mentioned above.
        \_ Hey, they graduated you too.
        \_ Who the fuck are they and what does it have to do with the motd?

11/18   UC Berkeley sociology prof reports Florida statistical anomalies
        http://csua.org/u/a0p
        "According to the study, counties with electronic voting machines were
        significantly more likely to show increases in support for Bush
        between 2000 and 2004 compared to counties with paper ballots or
        optical scan equipment. This change cannot be explained by differences
        between counties in income, number of voters, change in voter turnout,
        or size of the Hispanic/Latino population, said Hout."
        Again, I say how THE FUCK did we end up with voting machines without a
        paper trail in the 2004 election?
        \_ How the fuck are you stupid enough to believe in statistics?
           There are competing studies at three other universities, including
           one from MIT and Harvard, all of which refute one another. Before
           you present something as factual try to read up on competing
           papers before you jump to conclusions.
           \_ Interesting, where can I find the competeing papers?
        \_ This is serious. Hout is among the leading quantitative
           social scientists.
        \_ Because HAVA intentionally sucked.
        \_ Hey! I went to Berkeley!
        \_ Hout will die of a mysterious disease soon.
        \_ But the feds and everything is under the republican's control.
           By the time the truth comes out, Bush will be long dead and it
           won't make a difference.
        \_ Hehe, I like how the study is called the _effect_ of the voting
           machines on blahblah. -- ilyas
        \_ The election equipment is purchased by local county election
           boards, all Democrat in these questionable districts.
        \_ You guys do realize that these machines are made in Omaha,
           Nebraska, home of the most red and devout church going
           people? Secondly, there is no system in place that checks
           or audits the machines. There no accountability whatsoever.
           Thirdly, the report coming out from a school known for its ultra
           leftism, will make sure that most of the right wingers will ignore
           this report.
           \_ This comment reminds me of Lakoff's work on metaphors.  It's
              good work and all, but he couldn't resist making some jibes
              at the conservative world view at the end there.  Kind of
              spoiled the whole thing for me, his biases oozing through
              otherwise good work like pus from a boil. -- ilyas
              \_ oh my, you are so smart and we're all eager to know what
                 you think, ol great one ilya.
              \_ thank you! we are all eager to hear the important stuff
                 you have to say, ol great wise ilya s. Share your
                 wisdom and we shall worship you!
              \_ This metaphor (pus from a boil) doesn't work in context.
                 You just said it's otherwise good work. So to be consistent
                 the biases would have to be oozing from something otherwise
                 good, which a boil is clearly not.
                 \_ Eh, you are right.  Meh.  Maybe I can beg off on my
                    poor-russian-immigrant-boy status, or something.  I guess
                    I should have said it was like seeing an otherwise
                    beautiful face with an ugly ass witch mole.  -- ilyas
                    \_ or, it's like seeing an Ayran but only to find out he's
                       just a Russian Joo.    -conservative
                        \_ Hey, I'm a Russian Jew.  -John
                       \_ That sounds pretty damn ironic. - a. morissette

11/18   In firefox (OS X), how do I reset the alert for enter/leaving a
        (non)secure page and/or posting info over (non)secure channel?  I
        pressed return for defaults too quickly and then could not find them
        under preferences.
        \_ This has been here for two days and nobody took a shot at it.
           How strange.  Anyway, I don't know about OSX specifically, but
           you can type about:config and see all the configuration stuff.

11/18   [ idiot ]

11/18   http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138985,00.html
        Scroll down. Republicans are going to take the 2008/2012/2016
        elections too. The Democrats are screwed. The Dark Age has begun.
        \_ For heaven's sake! Start working on finding someone decent to
           nominate!  I mean, come on, Edwards?  Who thinks THAT'S a good
           idea?  Hillary?  Yeah right.  Suddenly it's clear how Kerry got
           nominated.
           \_ Michael Moore for president!

11/18   The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of:
        http://www.vietnamwar.com/MyLai.htm (The Charlie Company)
        http://hnn.us/articles/1802.html
        http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/Research/HNatureProposalsArticles/RapeWarfare.html
        http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0438/turse.php
        \_ I can only assume you mean "I'm so out of touch, I've never
           heard of all these Vietnam War crimes."  Since I'm pretty sure
           the rest of the civilized world has heard of them before. Pver
           and over, in fact.

11/18   Can the owner/president of a private company hire/fire
        whomever he wants, for whatever reason? If so, does that
        include race-based reasons?
        \_ Yes, if there is no standing contract other than an at-will
           employment. There are statutes that protect for wrongful
           termination based on discrimination.
           However, if the employer (the correct term) is smart about it
           they will simply fire you because of lack of work and state
           that employment was at-will. You can
           bring a lawsuit against your former employer, and the usual
           song and dance is if an attorney finds enough merit in your
           case there will be an out of court settlement.
           If there is an employee handbook explaining the terms of
           employment and what is a fire-able offense then it's a bit
           harder.
        \_ no, you can't hire/fire based on race.  See the Civil Rights
           act.  That's why if you do go see a lawyer the first thing
           they will ask was "was it race based".  If you say "no" then
           they probably will lose interest in talking to you.
        \_ Yes, but if the reason is race/gender/religion you can't say
           that's the reason why, unless you want to get suuuued.
           http://www.expertlaw.com/library/pubarticles/Employment/at_will.html
        \_ Get a cat
           \- I dont know a tremendous about employment law, but I believe
              there are two factors to consider: 1. who is covered and
              2. what is the standard. 1. re: "who is covered" obviously a
              public sector employer or subcontractor is prohibited. But
              today probably almost all employers will be covered ... this
              is the famous (ab)user of the interstate commer clause to
              give the federal govt jurisdiction in these matters. A famous
              quote talks about how the "ICC lets the fed govt regulate an
              elevator operator's job in kansas city" [elevator -> cant
              move like say trucking or bread production]. so by default
              you are probably covered.  some exception are things like
              religious organization ...  ostenisbly a hindu temple can
              prefer to hire hindu for a number of positions. even a sole
              proprietorship like a bar is probably covered [alcohol
              license] ... but i am not sure if all very small commercial
              enterprises are covered [you run a home business and hire
              somebody to stuff envelopes]. 2. using racial or relig [or
              the other categories mentioned on the expertlaw] WEEB page
              call the "strict scrutiny" standard, which means it needs the
              highest level of justification [and some more obligations].
              it's easier to "discriminate" based on "must be able to life
              80lbs" or "but be at least 5'6" than "no women" "no chinese"
              etc. this applies to more than employment relationships ...
              it's been argued about for laws [e.g. a case where the
              drinking age was lower for women], education, club
              memberships etc.  this expasion of federalism through the ICC
              is one of the philosophical debates at the heart of the
              rightwing turn of the court. unless the new breed of
              republicans go totally nuts, this is more likely to be the
              ground the gives way than Roe v Wade. ok tnx. --psb
              \- BTW, for a similar dilemma see BATSON v. KENTUCKY [and
                 its successors like Wilkerson v TX and Swain v. Alabama for
                 context] which says you cant kick someone off of a
                 jury because or race [i.e. a peremptory isnt really a
                 peremptory any more] ... so now lawyers make up a
                 reason other than race [kickng offf based on gender also
                 not allowed but i forgot the SupCt case] to kick people
                 off. Of course the only people who explicitly say they
                 are doing things based on race are people looking for
                 a fight [like the "white only" scholarship case]. --psb

11/18   Who is the blond in the old navy commercial dressed in a phone
                   \_ blonde
                      \_ Don't be a pedantic dipshit. "Blond" is also
                         correct (look it up). -not op
        (bare shouldered) who sings: "no contractual obligation". Are
        there other pictures/video of her out there?  She really flips
        my switches.
        \_ Ditto! Only for the asian-ish looking girl.
        \_ Ditto! Only for the amish looking girl.
        \_ But does she really put the cheese in your macaroni?
           \_no, i'm not fond of macaroni and i'm not sure what cheese
             symbolizes, but it usually ain't good.  I'd like her to
             row my boat though, if you aren't happy with the switches
             metaphore.
             \_ A true gentleman would row his own boat.  Heh.
             \_ But does she really boil your cabbages?  Does she really
                put your petunias in the bowl?
        \_ Get a cat
        \_ you need to provide pictures. i don't watch tv commercials anymore.