11/28   soda back up.  took waaaaaaay too long due to incredibly awesome
        hardware problems and harddrives from a certain big blue company.
        as a result, plans to upgrade to storage were cut back to just
        upgrading /var/mail which is now about 4x as big and about 10x
        as fast as the old /var/mail.  quota upgrades could be on the way.
        root needs caffeine.  send caffeine.  lots of it.  and a love ewe
        for njh.  --root

11/28   thread describing totally realistic plans to upgrade soda storage
        has been nuked.  --root

11/30  Maybe one of you dickhead conservatives can explain why the "Liberal
       media" don't consider the release of a new Al Qaeda tape on Arab TV
       to be news.
       http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A4A45BBC-FB34-4E9D-A1D6-7182623B9E1F.htm
       \_ Al Jazeera is a little too johnny-on-the-spot for my tastes.

11/30   It's colder than...
        A witch's tit:
        Dick Cheney's black heart: .

11/30   New AMD 90nm CPUs kick yermom's ass (see power consumption)
        http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-90nm_5.html
        We are back to ~ Pentium III land in terms of power consumption.
        \_ Wow.  TMTA's last puny leg to stand on was their "low power
        \_ Wow.  TMNT's last puny leg to stand on was their "low power
           consumption at 90nm" technology.  Looks like I got out of that
           hellhole just in the nick of time.  --ex-TMTA
           \_ TMTA?
           hellhole just in the nick of time.  --ex-TMNT
           \_ Which turtle were you?  I was always partial to Leonardo.
              \_ Teenage Mutant Technical Associates
                 \_ I...don't think I remember that one.  Are you sure you
                    don't mean Mike or something?
           \_ TMNT?
              \_ Too Many Tortured Acronyms
                 \_ It's a fucking stock ticker symbol, you Communists.
              \_ Sigh...Transmeta. --ex-TMTA
                 \_ Too Many Thickheaded Academics
              \_ Sigh...Transmeta. --ex-TMNT
              \_ Heroes in a half shell!
                    \_ Sadly, that just about sums it up. --ex-TMTA
              \_ Sigh...Transmeta. --ex-TMTA
              \_ Heroes in a fuck you!
                 \_ pp is right.  Transmeta is TMTA.

11/30   Tom Ridge resigns. Finally!
        \_ what was so bad about him? - danh
                \_ He came up with the color coded terror threat level thing.
                   \_ yeah that was pretty much waving the "i'm a moron" flag.
        \_ I think he had a really thankless job, he had to build from the
           ground up an insanely huge agency.  he was one of the lesser
           evil cabinet members, maybe not evil at all. - danh
           \_ Not really from the group up, he just merged a bunch of
              existing agencies.
              \_ that is still an important task.
              \_ Actually, this may have been much harder than building it
                 up from scratch. Trying to merge large departments together
                 to work with one another can be exceedingly difficult.
                 \_ I was there.  The amount of politicking and special
                    group project compromises were astounding.  Our gov't
                    contracting co was affected, and we were on the periphery
                    (src/bin evals for USN).
        \_ Can't they replace him with that torturer?
        \_ Can't they replace him with that torturer Gonzalez?

11/30   (Semi-)humorous threads deleted.  Scorched earth policy continues.
        \_ One of these days one of us will find out who you are.  Fuck
           you and die.  you're playing with fire, motherfucker.

11/30   [Probably deserves its own thread]
          I don't think I've ever seen an official upgrade proposal or
          a request for donation.  Do you have a pointer to either?
          \_ I could have sworn there was an official posting on
             this... I'll look around or post again.  Soda is gettin
             some dual P4 Xeon luvin (I have yet to figure out how to
             get them to burn a hole in the machine room wall, but I am
             definitely trying).  Ooodles of disk space and RAM come
             with it too.  Depending on how our finances look (ASUCk
             money, donations, etc), we are seriously considering
             offloading mail handling to another machine (and putting
             virus scanning into the mix to kill off some of that
             pesky virus-laden mail).  We are also looking to give some
             of the other servers face lifts (upgrades to somewhat
             modern technology like motherboards without ISA slots like
             a high-end PIII or something cheap).
             Everyone will be getting some quota love... maybe up to
             100-150MB (don't quote me on this, it isn't set in stone
             yet because we don't know how much disk we can buy or
             even what is considered reasonable).
             I'd love to give official specs on what we are planning,
             but those are changing because of finances. - jvarga
             \_ I think everyone else on the motd has asked already,
                but why dual Xeons?  It's a fine choice, apart from
                the fact that it runs warmer, slower, and is more
                expensive.
                \_ Why? It's a stable and proven platform supported
                  by a wide range of integrators (including Dell).  I
                  don't give a damn about  whether AMD is 15% faster or
                  slower as long as the reqs. above are satisfied.
                  Chances are you won't notice the speed difference as
                  CPU is just one of several components that impact it.
                  (not speaking for the CSUA though).
                  \_ As an organization living off the kindness of
                     others, I would certainly hope that the CSUA
                     is prudent with its spending.  Xeon is likely
                     not the best performance/cost trade-off cpu.
                     AMD64 is in IBM, HP, and Sun, I think, and is
                     just as stable a hardware platform.
                \_ We've all asked and have never been given an answer.
                  I think they pulled the choice out of their spleen
                  and have no satisfactory reason.
                  \_ Xeons are just cool.  They SOUND cool.  They sound
                     like ZENA, which of course gets all the comp nerds
                     all in a titty twister over the whole thing.
                     \_ Not to mention the NEAT-O Intel Inside sticker
                        you get with a Xeon box!
                      \_ It's Xena, foolio!
                  \_ We wanted to go with a dual CPU system.  This
                     leaves us with PIIIs, Athlons, Opterons, or Xeons.
                     PIIIs aren't worth buying, I've heard lots of
                     problems with the Athlon chipsets, FreeBSD has
                     been reported unstable on Opterons, which leaves
                     Xeons.
                     \_ Sounds reasonable to me.  I've had some
                        trouble with Linux on Opterons as well.  --PM
                     \_ This is no longer true with the 5.3 release.
                        \_ Hardware was purchased about a week before
                           5.3 was released. --njh
                           \_ That's a shame.  I am sure there were many
                              people here (me included) tracking the 5.3
                              release, and we could have given you a heads
                              up.

11/30   I am looking for some handymen to do termite, gutter, basic carpentry
        works, etc. around South Miltipas / North SJ.  Anyone has any
        suggestions for some reliable handymen or sites recommending such?
        \_ I've used a guy named Virgilio Baclig in San Jose for a one-day job
           to fix up a hole on a dry wall, replace broken lawn water pipe,
           seal the bath tub edges, and other little things.  Very reasonable
           labor price.
           \_ how much would should i expect to pay a handyman to fix a dry
              wall hole? (it's about the size of a tennis ball). do they
              generally charge by the hour or by the job? how much did you
              pay your guy? -!op
              \_ I don't remember how much he charged for just fixing the
                 volleyball-size hole on my wall.  For all the items together
                 he gave me a quote of 8 hours of labor at a rate which I
                 forgot.  When he finished, I paid him $255 for labor plus
                 material.  I think it's a good price because another handyman
                 once charged me $90 for merely replacing a bath tub faucet.
           \_ Would you please send me contact info for Mr. Baclig? - tse, !op
        \_ Si is muy facil, puedes hablar con la gente cerca de Home Depot.
        \_ Si es muy facil, puedes hablar con la gente cerca de Home Depot.
           \_ Sí, es muy fácil....
              \_ No quiero la ASCII-alta
                 \_ Bien, pero debes usar "es" en vez de "is" por lo menos.
                    \_ Ah, no vi ese error, lo corregi.

11/30   Anyone one have the show "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" on dvd?
        \_ i thought i was the only person who watched that show.  are you
           12 too?
           \- you can watch the french version: http://csua.org/u/a5h
           \_ "12 too"? Are you making fun of P&P fans? Its a great show.
           \_ Well, I was 12 when it first came on.  It's a great show
              though, well worth buying on DVD. -op
        \_ I too used to love this show... I sent away for a casette tape
           of the theme song and some other music once from a cereal box
           or something. the band was called Polaris. lemme know if you
           want some mp3's.                     - rory

4/28    No, really.  Fuck you.
        \_ You can get that from Target now: http://csua.org/u/a5l
           \_ Easter egg?
              \_ Target and Amazon use the same database backend, so anything
                 you can find at Amazon, you can pull up a Target page for.
                 Also available are 'Anal Massage' and 'Marijuana'.
        \_ No, really, why? Here's your chance to convert them!

11/30   So can we get a hardware summary (purchased and planned) for the new
        soda machine(s)?  It sounds like there's a dual Xeon getting an OS
        somewhere-- what kind of ram, what kind of storage does it have?
        How much was it?  How much disk does/will it have?  Maybe a file in
        /csua/tmp would be helpful.  Thanks.
        \_ Maybe a CSUA wish list would be helpful.
        \_ I would like to see this too, but purely out of curiosity.
           I think that the CSUA admins are probably doing something
           pretty reasonable.  --PeterM
           \_ Seconded... I'm kinda excited about what we're getting

11/30   At what age did people start wearing glasses (reading glasses
        not included)?
                \_ The bronze age?
        \_ 2nd grade: ..
        \_ 3rd grade: .
        \_ Junior High: ...
        \_ 10th grade: ..
        \_ Sophomore year of college: ..
        \_ Kindergarten: ..
        \_ 27: .
        \_ Never! (so far): ...

11/30   Perl question, I want to make a sub do_these which when called as
        do_these(('foo','bar')); will call foo() and bar()
        will something like
        foreach(@_) { &$_(); }
        work?
        \_ Yup.  If you get an error about "strict refs", add the line
           "no strict 'refs';" at the beginning of sub do_these.  --mconst
        \_ I'd suggest looking through hoserchat source code (locate hoserchat
           on soda) and look at how the function pointers are done there.
           \_ mconst says I'm good to go, but the way hoserchat does it is to
              use function references, not dereferenced fuction names.  Is
              this a TWTOWTDI situation, or is it illegal to dereference a
              function name, since $_ will after all be a string?
              \_ TMTOWTDI.  Real references are sometimes safer: they work
                 regardless of what package you're in, and they keep working
                 even if the original function gets renamed or undefined.
                 (That's why "use strict" disables the ability to use a
                 function or variable name as a reference.)  It's usually
                 not a big deal, though.  The cool thing is that your code
                 will actually work either way -- if you want to use real
                 references, just call do_these(\&foo, \&bar) instead. --mconst
        \_ OK, because I'm calling specific instances of a class function
           (probably should have mentioned that)  I actually needed to use
           $self->$_ in do_each(), as &$_() just gave calls to member function
           of an uninstantiated class.  All in all, thanks a bunch to both of
           you. -op

11/30   As requested, here is some information about the soda upgrades.  It is
        a little incomplete, but I'll fill it out as comments are made.
        http://csua.berkeley.edu/~jvarga/new-soda or directly in my home dir
        at ~jvarga/public_html/new-soda/ .  plan.current would be the link
        to the most current version of the plan (duh) - jvarga

11/30   Yahoo! News - Netherlands Hospital Euthanizes Babies
        http://csua.org/u/a5n
        Helping people wanting to die to kill themselves is one thing, but this
        is completely different and I think it's horrible. -Friendly Troll
        \_ I bet you're pro-life, too, right?
           \_ As President Bush looked up to see who he was greeting [Canadian
              pro-life activist] Reid said, "Thank you for being pro-life."
              The President responded, "You bet." The President then turned to
              leave. He stopped however and turned back. Looking directly into
              Reid's eyes, the President said, with obvious sincerity, "I
              appreciate that."
                \_ Pro-life until you are born, then the death penalty is ok.
                   \_ There is a difference between an innocent unborn and
                      a death row inmate who was judged to have commited some
                      heinous crime.
                      \_ Hey man, don't let facts get in a way of a liberal
                         motd zinger.  Honestly, are you new here?
                         \_ And the death penalty is always administered
                            fairly, without bias, and the courts are never
                            wrong.
                            \_ And the "pro life" people here have repeatedly
                               stated that it's ok to kill innocent people on
                               death row as long as they get to kill the
                               "really bad guy."
                               \_ Reference please, especially since you
                                  claim "repeatedly".
                                  \_ Are you really this incompetent?  One
                                     quick search on KAIS for "death penalty"
                                     turned up several threads.
                                     \_ Since you made the claim, please
                                        substantiate by posting the URLs to
                                        the specific threads.  Note threads,
                                        since you claimed "repeatedly".
              http://csua.com/?entry=13449 _/
              Use your favorite motd archiver which has more data than KAIS
              and grep for '"death penalty" innocent' for more.
                           \_ Yes, *one* entry.  So much for your claim of
                              "several threads".  Now can you substantiate
                              your claim of "repeatedly"?  Or were you just
                              exagerating for effect?  Again, you made the
                              claim, now prove it.
                              \_ what a stupid red herring.  The issue is that
                                 the death penalty is known to execute
                                 innocents; why do you support it, knowing
                                 that is the case?  -tom
                  \_ Don't they execute the mentally retarded in Texas now?
                        \_ Obviously not, Bush became governor of that state.
                     \_ Actually, Clinton did that in Arkansas.
                        \_ If you're going to level a serious charge, post URL.
                           \_ From http://amnesty.org.uk, http://csua.org/u/a62
                              under the title "Mental Retardation And The
                              Death Penalty",
                              "The second case is that of Rickey Ray Rector,
                              a black man executed in Arkansas during the 1992
                              presidential campaign of then Governor Bill
                              Clinton. Rector had shot himself at the time of
                              his arrest and had sustained organic brain damage
                              that reduced his intellectual capacity
                              dramatically."   Not only was Rector executed
                              during Clinton's term as governer, Clinton
                              personally "flew home to oversee the 1992
                              execution".  http://Time.com, http://csua.org/u/a63 .
                              \_ Maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture, but
                                 sounds like the guy commited the criminal acts
                                 while still capable of making an informed
                                 decsision.  I don't understand clearly how
                                 this would affect the case.  Any motd armchair
                                 criminal lawyer people care comment?
        \_ No where in the article is there anything about parental consent.
           If doctors start euthenizing horribly ill babies without parental
           consent, I'd be more worried.
           \_ the state is your parent
           \_ The 7th paragraph: "The guideline says euthanasia is acceptable
              when ......, and when parents think it's best."
        \_ http://tinyurl.com/47ub2
           \_ How is this "High Stress Levels Linked to Cellular Aging" article
              relevant to this thread?

11/30   who has the photo iPod?  What makes it Good?
        \_ Kool-aid in color!
        \_ Portable Porno.

11/30   I posted the plan stuff.  See motd.official for more info. - jvarga
        \_ Yes, but where does the motd and wall fit into your plans?  After
           all, what is the CSUA without motd and wall?  And how dare you
           try to discuss this plan using modern web board. --bitter alum
           \_ Fuck motd, fuck wall.  Set up a wiki. Get Over it.
              -- progressive alum.
              \_ Wow. Somebody came out and said it! I wonder if the alums
                 (such as myself) who post on the motd and give a rat's ass
                 about it can be considered part of the OS cruft soda must
                 contend with.
           \_ Is this supposed to be funny?
           \_ My plans for the motd include 3 barrels of Flan, some packing
              peanuts, a pony and a midget.  Any other questions? - jvarga
              \_ You forgot the lube.  Can't have midgets without lube.
              \_ OOOH I'VE ALWAYS WANTED A PONY.  JOYYYYY!
                 \_ I'm a pony! I'm a pony! http://csua.org/u/a5u

11/30   This should surprise no one: http://csua.org/u/a5o
        \_ Hmmmm. No explanation of where they found 29 "non homophobic men"
           in Georgia.
        \_ Which is why everyone in the catholic clergy are gay.
        \_ that study has been used by gays to get heteros to sleep
           w/ them since 1996
           \_ You mean "you want to beat me up but that really means you want
              to have sex with me?"
        \_ 35 homophobic and 29 nonhomophobic.  Isn't this sample size too
           small?
           \_ For 54% of the homophobic men, it wasn't small at all!
        \_ Kind of goes hand in hand with the grammar school idea that "if
           you like a girl, hit her".  -John

11/30   At what age did you receive your first blow job?
                \_ The bronze age?
        \_ 2nd grade: ..
        \_ 3rd grade: .
        \_ Junior High: ...
        \_ 10th grade: ..
        \_ Sophomore year of college: ..
        \_ Kindergarten: ..
        \_ 27: .
        \_ Never! (so far): ...