12/26   kate blanchett makes up for any sins committed in lord
        of the rings by being awesome in "The Aviator"
        \_ What sins were those, exactly?
        \_ Check her out in 'Elizabeth'.
        \_ Sins? I thought her Galadriel was one of the best things about those
           movies. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

12/25   Merry Christmas and God bless our troops, may they come home safely!

12/26   Well, look who's a proponent of affirmative action for religious
        minorities all of a sudden:
        http://csua.org/u/ai8

12/26   motd restored.  fuck all y'all.

12/26   mail problems again?  anyone know why this keeps happening? Thanks.
        /dev/da0s1f   992M   918M  -4.8M   101%    /var
        \_ I cleaned 400MB of crap out of /var/tmp yesterday; don't know what
           filled it up so fast.  Might have been the 25k odd mail processes
           throwing junk in the logs.  Am looking into things. - jvarga

12/26   Anyone who has written device drivers for Windows and Linux befor?
        I would like to know your opinions on what are difficulties for
        mediocre programmers to get started on writing device drivers for
        Linux.  lack of IDE tools? lack of tutrial code segment?  thx
                                -kngharv
        \_ I have written file system drivers for both, and have written
           some USB/serial filter drivers for Windows. What would you
           specifically like to know? -williamc
           \_ cool.  I'll email you for things I want to know.  for those
              who are interested in the subject, let me know so i put you
              in the loop.

12/26   Blast From The Past:
        http://www.minimumeffort.com/nutshell.html
        \_ Reason why we invaded Iraq: Because Bush doesn't like Saddam
           Hussein. Duh.
        \_ Here is a better one:
           http://www.aaiusa.org/news/aainews031803.htm

12/26   Dear soda Francophones:  What is the proper way to pronounce
        'Noilly Prat'?
        \_ approximately "nwaYEE pra".
           \-bonjour, as with "Moet" as in Moet && Chandon, the t in "Prat"
             is pronounced. Proper nouns may not follow the usual rules
             [sometimes for arbitrary reasons, sometimes for "good" reasons,
             like it isnt originally a French name]. General rule for French
             is to pronounce these final consonants: CaReFuL. chevaL blanC,
             pinot noiR, neuF. I am not sure whether "Prat" or "Pratte" would
             be better (not that anybody could tell), but it is not "Pra".
             ok merci. --psb
             I think it is often reasonable to pronounce foreign words
             in the "natrual" manner of the local language... say with "Paris"
             in the "natural" manner of the local language... say with "Paris"
             but not always ... Lyons. ok merci. You may enjoy attempting
             to pronounce "Reims". --psb
             \_ You do not pronounce final 'c' or 't'.  No Frenchman I have
                ever met would pronounce 'prat' like that.  Otherwise it's
                'pratte' (feminine) which doesn't exist.  Yes, my dad's a
                French teacher.  Sorry, Partha.  Final 't' is only
                pronounced before a starting vowel in the next word (Moet
                et Chandon).  -John
                \-The pronounciation of the T in Moet is not the ellision
                  with the "et". I will happily bet you a bottle of moet
                  on this. you can call up the House of Moette and ask them.
                  Your parent will surely know proper nouns commonly have
                  exceptions. you dont pronounce the final c? how do *you*
                  say medoc, languedoc, cognac, listrac, armagnac, pauillac?
                  what is the former french unit of currency? --psb
                \_ ooooo, John kicks psb's butt! I love John. By the way,
                   I notice that there are similarities between the Swiss
                   yoddlers and the Bavarian country people in those Bavarian
                   festivals, do they speak similarly or something? What's
                   the connection? ok thx.              -John #1 fan
                   \-http://www.superbrands.org/242 just google for
                     "pronounce moet". somewhat ironically, "prat" is
                     english slang for a doofus or lamer, as in "john is
                     being a prat". --psb
                     \- There appears to be a WEEB site for Noilly Prat.
                        Maybe somebody can watch the video and settle this ...
                        I have broken Flash on my computer. It does confirm
                        "Prat" is a last name. http://www.noillyprat.com --psb
                        \_ On the video 'Since 1813...' they pronounce the two
                           names seperately.  'Noilly' is nwa-YEE, as others
                           said. 'Prat' is pronounced hard, as in the word
                           'prattle'.

12/26   [47] soda //var/>df -h /var
        Filesystem    Size   Used  Avail Capacity  Mounted on
        /dev/da0s1f   992M   915M  -2.3M   100%    /var

        trouble.  can't send email.
        \_ Fixed, with jvarga's help.  Thanks for reporting it.  --mconst
        \_ thanks, jvarga

12/26   So apparently William Hung is really big in Asia. Has anyone
        bought a CD of his? I think it's sweet irony that he's become
        bigger and more famous than anyone on Teen Idol.
        \_ Does the motd go into reruns over the holidays?
        \_ My god, that retard is still on the news?
           \_ milking it for what it's worth.