12/13   I thought I went to Cal, not Stanford:
        http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=ap-banbcs
        \_ By a Republican Cal alum!
           \_ Graduated in '64, back when political distinctions mattered.

12/13   When I moved recently, the manager inspected my apartment and told
        me that I cleaned it well enough so that I do not have to pay for
        cleaning the kitchen and bathroom.  However, 2 weeks later I received
        a letter from the company owning the property that I owe $85 cleaning
        fee in addition to the carpet cleaning that I knew I should pay.
        I also found that on the move-out checklist that the manager and I
        both initialed she checked neither the clean nor the not-clean column.
        I am away and traveling and cannot (afford to) fight them in small
        court even if I have ground to win.  What can I do?
        \_ Send them a copy of the checklist and demand the $85.  Ask your
           former manager for help.
        \_ whoa, the exact same thing happened to me earlier this year.
           Basically verbal agreements mean... nothing. Did you record the
           conversation? If you did, you'd have a case. Otherwise, :(
           I learned my lesson, I hope you do too.
           \_ Recorded conversations are not admissible as evidence w/o the
              consent of those being recorded. What you need is statements in
              writing.
              \_ Why is that? So we recorded the terriorists conversation but
                 cannot use against them because we don't have their consent?
                 If we cannot apply the same kind of laws to our so called
                 enemy, then the law we think is so great, isn't so.
                 \_ Just so you're aware, there's a little leap from damage
                    charges on a rental to fighting int'l terrorism.
                 \_ That's a provision of civil law, not criminal.  For
                    wiretaps occuring in this country, you need a warrant, but
                    outside of this country, I don't think so.
                    \_ But why do we need their consent? If you overhead Simpson
                       said, "Yeah, I killed that bitch", but you can't use it
                       because obviously you don't have his permission? What about
                       all those movies where the agents are wearing a tap?
                       It sounds silly if the otherside knows that you are
                       recording, what the fuck do you expect to get?
                       \_ Re-read what I just wrote.  In criminal law, you need
                          a warrant, not permission from the other party.  In
                          civil law, it's meant as a reasonable safeguard of
                          privacy and free speach.  Otherwise you could just go
                          privacy and free speech.  Otherwise you could just go
                          around recording everyone all the time.
                          \_ Further clarification: You CAN go around recording
                             everyone all the time. Some people do. You cannot
                             submit any of it as evidence unless you have the
                             consent of those being recorded, though, acc to,
                             as pp above says, civil law.
                             \_ Actually in some cases (phones for one)
                                recording someone without telling them
                                is illegal.
                                \_ Not in New York! (but in CA, illegal, yes)
        \_ Call the manager, recall the conversation, and ask her to contact
           the company owning the property on your behalf.  While this may get
           you nothing, and everyone may be out to screw you, it's equally
           possible that this charge is something they hit everyone with
           reflexively; they may not even realize they've mistakenly hit you
           with it.
           \_ I once lived in a shitty apt. in the ghetto which got bought by
              some evil corporate real estate speculating fucks.  I spent months
              calling them every other day or so to try to just get a fucking
              lease to no avail.  It was literally impossible to talk to a
              real, competent human at this company, so with no lease, we just
              moved out(after giving them written notice a month in advance).
              I then spent weeks again trying to get them to give me the
              security deposit, again getting blown off, trying to call people
              who have pager numbers only and never call back.  After weeks
              and weeks of that, a check showed up for exactly twice what it
              should have been.  Fuck 'em.  If it had been a real human landlord
              I would have given them half the money back in a second, but
              I just kept the money, and i'm positive that they'll never know.
              I think they actually lost all the paperwork, and ended up just
              guessing an amount for the check.  Sometimes what looks like
              malice is in fact just stupidity.  In other words, I agree with
              you.

12/13   http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/12/13/cold.flu.desk/index.html
        Your cubicle can make you sick. Now clean it up you lazy ass.

12/13   The manpage for fflush says that fflush(NULL) will flush all open
        buffers-- is this POSIX (or another standard), or just a BSDism?

12/13   A curious thing. Just a couple of days ago I ran "sa-learn --dump
        magic" and the output indicated I have gone from >200 hams to 0
        somehow. As a results, Bayes reporting has shut off since I am now
        below the minimum. Stranger still, I attempted to re-train on my
        mail folders and the results indicated SA already knoews about the
        messages. Time to update to 3.0, perhaps?

12/13   Can you still get MP-40/44s? Or are they expensive antiques now?
        \_ Yes to both.  http://tinyurl.com/5qaf6 .  A friend of mine is
           into collecting machine guns--I can ask him if you want.  You
           may have just the teensiest of issues with shipping, though.  Also
           check http://www.machinegun.com -- they have some in the classified
           section from time to time.  The one MP40 I found is $15k.  -John
           \_ Whoa. You can buy 10 M16s or 15 AK47s with that. Why would you
              want an old outdated gun that doesn't even shoot as well?
              \_ You are clearly trolling, but in fact old WWII german guns
                 are very good.  The AK47 (and similar designs like the Galil)
                 are basically copies of the Stwg44 that fell into russian
                 hands at the end of the war.  Many good modern bolt actions are
                 based on the mauser action found in the kar98k.  Finally,
                 the belt fed machine gun the germans used (the one responsible
                 for about 90% of german-inflicted casualties) was basically
                 copied by NATO countries.  Did you know that gun uses sand
                 as lubricant?  Don't dis german guns. -- ilyas
                 \_ Second that. Them guys knew what they were doing.
              \_ He's been playing call of duty too much. he wants to hold
                 the gun in his hands and feel like those old soldiers of
                 the Wehrmacht. Get a Luger to go with it and go on a rampage
                 at his local Safeway.
                 \_ All because of republican fuckheads in congress
                    refuse to ban assault weapon. Yeah sure, the
                    average John Doe needs a machine gun to protect
                    themselves. You know what, I think I need a
                    nuclear bomb to protect myself too. You want to
                    mess with me, we die together. I absolutely
                    positively must need that. Just think about all
                    the profits this could bring, building all these
                    portable nuclear weapons, lots of money for
                    republican fuckheads who have vested interest in
                    those companies. They'll have you believe even a
                    teenager needs a M16. Dickwads.
                    \_ I was watching some TV show and it says the
                       original constitution gives people right to
                       form armed militia. Does this still apply? Can
                       you actually form an armed militia without
                       being nuked by the government? I don't think
                       so, so why do we still allow weapons on the
                       streets? It's like the default fall through for
                       case statement in C, it's causing more trouble
                       than its worth. But who gives a fuck if you get
                       killed by a drive by shooting, I feel safe in
                       my rich neighborhood.
                       \_ You guys keep masturbating each other. -- ilyas
                          \_ Are you jealous that no one is masturbating you?
                             \_ "Yes, I am gonna marry a carrot." -- ilyas
                     \_ Aaron? Is that you man?

12/13   is there a website that keeps track of where all
        the blogs of soldiers in afghanistan/iraq are?
        \_ obGWB censored blogs

12/13   Video codec question. I used to be able to use my VideoWave
        program to convert AVI to MPG-1 (for VCD). However after
        trying a few video sharewares and uninstalling them, I can
        no longer convert AVI to MPG-1 using VideoWave (it keeps on
        crashing). What is going on and how would you fix it? ok thx
        \_ I'd fix it by using TMPGEnc (free) instead. --jameslin
         \_ just tried it, but it doesn't wanna load *.avi files :(
            \_ Can you even load these AVI files in WMP?  Sounds like you've
               hosed your system.
               \_ yes no problem. TMPGEnc asks for TWO files, audio and video.
                  But I only have 1 file, the AVI file. Now what?        -op
                  \_ It asks for a video source and audio source.  If they
                     happen to be from the same file, you just select the
                     same file for both.

12/13   Will you buy generic gasoline?
        \_ Yep, why pay for advertising?
           \_ isn't it dirty (the gas)
              \_ Do what your car's manual recommends. If it calls for
                 premium, then get premium gas. If it says you'll be
                 fine using regular, then using premium will NOT get
                 you any benefit.  If your car wants preimum, chances
                 are it will run OK with regular gas, but you will
                 lose performance (a bit) and in the long run may
                 cause problem with the emission control system.
                 \_ 1. The OP is talking about namebrand gas vs. unknown brand,
                    not regular vs. premium.
                    2. The problem with using regular gas on engines requiring
                    premium gas is knocking, where the air-gas mixture starts
                    burning before the engine piston finishes compressing it
                    and fires the spark plug.  This pushes the engines in the
                    reverse direction.
                    \_ Most modern cars/engine will automatically
                       adapt the engine timing to work with regular
                       gas. Whether you want to do that is
                       questionable, but it should not cause knocking.
        \_ I used to go to Thrifty on Telegraph, until one day the fuel pump on
           my car failed and the dealer said they need to replace the fuel pump
           and clean the fuel tank because there's some dirt in my gasoline.
           Now I only go to Chervon, Shell and 76.

12/13   Poll: Enter your favourite cartoon from childhood, I'll start:
        Smurfs:
        Tiny Toons: .
          \_ "We're Tiny, we're toony, we're all a little looney!"
             Ah those were the good 'ol days I miss dearly.
             Those were the days that mom and pop were still
             together and we ate Thxgiving/X-mas meals together
             and I even got X-mas gifts. Now I just sit in my cramped
             up stinking cubicle 6 days a wk 60hrs a wk debugging
             other ppl's code and talking to dumb ass clients.
             I hate Silicon Valley.
        Transformers: ...
        Animaniacs:
        \_ Wow. Young kids on here? As in undergrads? No way!
           \_ bh
        GI Joe: .
        Robotech:.
        Gummy Bears: .
        Thundercats: .
        Nu Pogodi: .
        La Blue Girl: .
        Macross: .
        \_ if you combine the top two entries, you may accidentally read:
                Lacrosse Girl
        Voltron: .
        He-man: .
        Star Blazers: .

12/13   http://khason.biz/blog/2004/12/why-microsoft-can-blow-off-with-c.html
        Why Microsoft Can Blow Off with C the Language (humor/funny)
                                                       \_ not really.  -tom
             that's because tom holub is the anonymous humourless nuker _/
        \_ Feel the babelfish flow through you.
        \_ Any body who thinks Fortran hasn't seen widespread acceptance hasn't
           spent much time outside of the world of software development and
           systems administration, methinks. Out where I do my civil
           engineering thing, Fortran is the standard langauge. -- ulysses
        \_ Not the law is clear? There is a beard - there is a success.
           There is no beard - you are guilty.

12/14   Has any Sodans dated anyone from aboard? Like China or India?  I
        am sure there are success and failure stories. Anyone care to
        comment?

12/14   Over the years I have gained a deep hatred for both fedex and ups.
        Can anyone recommend one of their competitors?
        \_ If you like your packages being shot at by surface-to-air
           missles, DHL is a good bet.
           \_ links??
              \_ google??
        \_ USPS
        \_ Ummm...  Well, if we knew what your greviences were, it would
           help.

12/14   Anyone have any experience with distributed computing using Matlab?
        -nivra
        \_ yeah, install matlab locally on every compute node.

12/14   Soda brothers, I've found the girl of my dreams.  She's beautiful,
        kind, hardworking and has a great personality.  Be happy for me!
              \- Is she a bitmap?
                 \_ No, her name is Rosy Palm.
                    \_ "Looks like it's me and you again tonight, Rosy."
        \_ Good for you.  Now get her into a long term contract ASAP.
           \_ Are you kidding? He probably hasn't even asked her out yet.
              \_ good point
        \_ 5 minutes till someone says STFU
           \- i think "pix?" will come first.
              \_ Pix please?  Seriously.
        \_ Does she do anal?
           \- i stand corrected
        \_ Please define "found". If she's your gf, then I am happy for you,
           if you just found her, then good luck! :)
        \_ I was gonna ask if she was good in the sack, but someone sort
           of already asked that for me.
           \_ Because you define "good in the sack" as anal?
              \_ Not exactly. A woman can be good in the sack and not do
                 anal, but I have yet to meet any women who did anal
                 who were not good in the sack. I suppose it is possible.
                 who were not also good in the sack. I suppose it is possible.
                 \_ You mean you had more than one woman? Fuck off!
                    \_ I believe that is what was involved when he got
                       more than one woman!
           \_ what is "good in the sack"?
              \_ Doesn't struggle too much after you kidnap her.
                 \_ I didn't know we had an Iraqi here at the CSUA!
              \_ % webster sack
                 ... snip ...
                 5 a : HAMMOCK, BUNK b : BED

12/14   If I have a C function like this
        void foo(void) {
          static const char unused1[] = "one";
          const char * const unused2 = "two";
          ...... some code ......
          return;
        }
        Is a compiler allowed to optimize away both unused1 and unused2?  When
        I do this in M$ C/C++ v13, it only optimizes away unused2 but not
        unused1.  I can't find any compiler switch to tell it to throw away
        unused1.  Any idea?  TIA.
        \_ I'm not certain of this, but I think the static declaration is
           preventing the compiler from optimizing away unused1.  If memory
           serves, internal static variables, external static variables, and
           global variables are all stored in the same region of memory
           (though I could see how alternate implementations are possible).
           Thus, at a certain point in the compilation process, static
           variables become indistinguishable from global variables.  Local
           variables are much easier to optimize away than global variables.
           I'm guessing that the optimizer either lacks the context needed
           or simply isn't smart enough to make the distinction so it doesn't
           even bother trying to optimize unused1 away. -dans
           \_ A compiler can optimize away any code if it doesn't affect the
              program.  You describe a common implementation but one that isn't
              required by the standard.  This is really a QoI question (Quality
              of Implementation).
        \_ v13?  What is that?
           \_ I meant Version 13.
              \_ And what is "Version 13" of an MS compiler?  Is that the
                 version of cl.exe for Visual Studio .Net?
                 \_ It's the version of cl.exe that comes with my DDK.
                    "Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version
                     13.00.9176 for 80x86"
                     \_ Okay, that's from Visual Studio .Net (7.0), not the
                        latest from http://VS.Net2003 (7.1).  Just checking.

12/14   This is not new, but I'm inflicting it on you anyway:
        http://www.globalspec.com/trebuchet
        How the hell do they get those high scores?
        \_ The simulation is hideously broken.  Try:
            Proj. mass: 10   Counter. mass: 100    Counter. Height:  100
          Launch angle: 31         Gravity: 0.815             Wind: 7
          No virginia, that doesn't happen in real life.
          \_ That's hilarious.  Thank you.
                \_ why? That's highly plausible. You shoot an object high
                   up with a head wind, hence the X velocity decreases while
                   the Y velocity goes according to gravity.
             \_ why? That's highly plausible. You shoot an object high up with
                a head wind, hence the X velocity decreases while the Y
                velocity goes according to gravity.
                \_ Not that sharply, and I thought it was a tailwind.
                  \_ ever played golf? Hitting the ball with say, a sand
                     wedge or 9 iron, head wind, and with lots of back-spin?
                     That's the projectory you get.  -golf player under 80 par
                     \_ Yeah, I've played golf, and you do know that the
                        physics of a light spinning golf ball are different
                        than a heavy slug, right?
                        \_ I really don't think you can change gravity and
                           then try to use your intuition to determine what
                           would happen "in the real world."  -tom
                        \_ Physics are the same. If physics were different
                           for different objects it wouldn't be physics,
                           it would be, uhm, religion. What I think you
                           meant to say was that the characteristics of
                           a slug vs. a golf ball in an aerodynamic
                           environment are different, so a spinning golf
                           ball has a drastically different drag co-efficient
                           vs. a slug.  Also, I believe it's "trajectory", not
                           "projectory".
                           \_ No need to do lots of math to decide this one
                              way or the other.  Just say it's "intelligent
                              design" and proof that God exists.
                           \_ You moron.  "The physics of" is a common idiom
                              for "the physical characteristics of", etc.  Are
                              you really this stupid?  Not only does a spinning
                              golf ball have a different drag coefficient, it
                              also has a different vector because of the
                              difference between the leading and receding sides
                              of the ball.  Is this a troll?

12/14   Has anyone successfully gotten ssh/scp public key
        authentication to work on Mac OS X?  I'm going from a 10.3.6 client
        machine to a 10.3.6 Server machine, but it doesn't seem to be
        looking at the key.  Is there some strange config setting I'm
        missing or am I just a tard?   -sax
        \_ - On client machine type: ssh-keygen -t dsa
           - Enter nothing for passphrase
           - Add ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub from client as a line in
             ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on server
           \_ You can actually have passphrases and not have to wrestle
              with the authentication agent. Check out keychain
              (http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/keychain/index.xml It works
              great, I use it all the time on my Mac. (as for the ssh prob,
              I don't have anything to add that hasn't been said) - ajani
        \_ I have, and I don't particularly recall any voodoo needed to make
           it work.  Try connecting with -vvv, and see what it says.  You
           could also try turning sshd's log level way up. -dans
        \_ Are PubkeyAuthentication and RSAAuthentication both set to yes
           in /etc/sshd_config?  (They should be by default)
           I haven't had a problem getting this to work with OS X. --ranga
        \_ As a follow up, I've gotten passwordless dsa keys to work from
           my client->soda, soda->client, and server->client, I just can't
           get anything to work going into my server.  I even tried over-
           writing my sshd_config with both soda's and my client's files,
           to no effect.  I can ssh to the server, it just won't recognize
           the public key.  I'm not sure if this is a configuration problem,
           or something particular about 10.3 Server...  I'm now going to
           try some of these suggestions, thanks!      -sax
           \_ Turns out it's an ownership problem of the home directories
              on the server.  The server was set up as an AFP server, and
              the permissions on the home folders are screwy.   -sax

12/14   Anyone know what tool I can use to convert real player files
        into DVD? I have about 5GB of rm files from an asian television
        series. I want to convert it to DVD, fitting as much as possible
        on each disk. (each episode can just be a title by itself and
        it'll be good enough for me.) Thanks.

12/14   Instead of letting Scott Peterson get off easy with a painless
        lethal injection, how about we let Laci Peterson's mom cut off
        his head with a large knife and let Fox televise it?  I'm sure
        it's get great ratings in this country, and would do more to
        deter crime than the current death penalty.
        \_ Sounds like a good idea to me.
        \_ You won't be making this joke if your loved one is killed.
           \_ Her mom wants vengeance!  Did you see her during the
              sentencing??
        \_ The punishment is death... by Unga Bunga!
           \_ is that joke that popular? i heard that freshman year ('96).
              \_ It's a lot older than that
              \_ Man I feel old, my freshman year is 92.
                 \_ you are old. -another '96
                    \_ Ah, youngster, I remember you now. -'92 grad

12/14   Another libertarian patriot, defending himself from the big evil
        government, is sentenced to death by the liberal justice system.
        STW for "san leandro sausage king"
        \_ You're joking, right?  It's not very funny.

12/14   Besides drinking water, what else can I do to help recover from
        a cold?
        \_ Trader Joes Zinc tablets work great for me. -- ulysses
        \_ Rest.  Drinking water won't help you recover, but it will keep
           you from getting dehydrated.  -tom
        \_ Pack of smokes, a glass of scotch, and you'll be like new. -John
        \_ Eat healthy, including a multivitamin and lots of vitamin C if your
           diet may be lacking.  Avoid too much caffeine or any alcohol.
        \_ Take some Zicam.
        \_ chicken soup really does help.  Try Brand's "chicken essence"
           6-packs from a 99 Ranch near you.  -abc
        \_ There are some things with a certain form of Zinc that are supposed
           to help. Such as "Cold-Eeze" lozenges, or spray-into-your-nose
           stuff. But they say you need to use those at the first sign of the
           cold to get the most out of it.
           \_ Where do we get these placebos?
              \_ Walmart
           \_ Way to fight a cold
              Use the sacred essence, Zinc.
              Not a placebo!
              \_ You are a jackass
                 You are a big fat jackass
                 You are a jackass
                 \_ Your poor haiku lacks
                    the word that can make all well
                    Sir, you dropped your zinc.
                    \_ Haiku is for sucks
                       I say you are a jackass
                       Yermom drops her pants.
                       \_ I already popped
                          Yermom's big ass zinc buttons
                          Pants fall to the floor
                       \_ Bitter padawan
                          Doesn't get enough of his
                          daily dose of zinc
                       \_ So what is a suck?
                          I believe that is a verb
                          Haikus are gay though
        \_ Codeine
        \_ royal jelly (what the queen bee eats) in honey.  1 table spoon
           in the morning, 1 table spoon in the evening.  helped me
           recover from a month-long allergy and cold attack here in
           bitter cold chicago.  Prayers help too.
           \_ Local honey for local allergies.  I'm not sure how much this
              would actually do for a cold other than taste good.
              \_ Scotch & cigarettes are good too... -John
                 \_ Agreed --scotsman
              \_ The claim is that it improves your autoimmune system.
                 It worked for me.  I tried many medicine my doctor
                 prescribed, and none worked, only making me unable
                 to sleep.
           \_ Royal jelly could help you become desensitized to the
              allergins in pollen. I doubt it does anything for your
              cold, though. Prayer probably helps if you believe in it,
              but probably not if you don't, interestingly enough.
        \_ When I catch a cold, I usually take one Vitamin C pill a day and it
           seems to help.  It's the kind I get from Costco that gives 1666% of
           FDA daily amount.

12/14   What's an easy way to create a DVD image out of a whole bunch of
        .vob/.bup/.ifo files I ripped straight from another DVD?  Been STFW
        for hours with no luck.  I'm looking for something I can mount
        on a virtual DVD drive under windows (like with d-tools) and watch
        with something like WinDVD, in lieu of schlepping the actual discs
        around.
        \_ Use daemon tools on windows to mount your DVD image.
        \_ Burn them to an image.  Nero has a virtual disc recorder that
           should be to create a mountable ISO.

12/14   attention Nerds - Lord of the Rings ROTK Extended Version out today
        \_ pfft.  you're so 16 hours ago.
           \_ Indeed. -- ilyas
              \_ you're so 16 years old.
                 \_ Yeah, I wish I could stay 16 forever. -- ilyas
                  \_ Mentally you have!  Half is better than none right?