1/13    VMware performance tuning *experts*, I have a question for you.
        Suppose you don't pre-allocate entire 80G of HD during VMware
        configuration. You have an option of limiting file sizes to 2G
        or have a file that can grow up to 80G. What are some
        advantages/disadvantages of limiting VMware file sizes to 2G?
        Say you have one big file that eventually grows close to 80G,
        wouldn't it be hard to defragment it on the host machine? The
        advantage of 1 big contiguous file I suppose is performance, but
        suppose you don't have enough space to defrag it, then wouldn't
        that option be useless in the first place?

1/12    I got a refurbished digital camera (Canon A60) with no CF.  It only
        zooms in one direction.  Should I return it already or should I buy
        a CF to see if that solves the problem (weird if it does)?
        \_ Return it.
        \_ My Canon S330 (similar age) can zoom and do everything but take a
           picture if there's no CF.  It sounds like a lemon to me.
        \_ What's CF?  Continuous focusing?
           \_ Compact Flash (memory card)
           \_ Cyber Fuck, you moron.

1/12    How much should I be worried if a used car with fairly low miles
        (say 30-60k) has had the clutch replaced?  Does that mean it was driven
        hard, or is plagued with mechanical problems, or just bad luck?
        \_ I'm no expert but I'd guess it was driven hard or by someone who
           didn't know how to properly use it. I don't see how it would
           indicate other particular problems, unless by inference you might
           suspect things such as general maintenance. What kind of car? Maybe
           somebody was drag racing it or something.
        \_ lots of people have no idea how to drive a stick, and yet continue
           to do so.  what kind of seller?  how many owners?  if it is newish
           (not cheap) i'd definitely get a qualified mechanic to inspect it
           prior to purchase.  pay for it yourself if serious, and run the
           other way if the owner refuses or won't let you choose the shop.
           \_ not to be a biggot or anything but was it driven by a straight
              guy, a straight gal, a lesbian, or a gay? And which ethnic/age?
              \_ He was driven straight by a lesbian gay?  err, what?
              \_ I don't think I am a bigot for thinking that a 20-something
                 guy, family with teenage drivers, or obviously type-A
                 seller may be worse for a car.
        \_ I got a Celica with 15k used, by 45k the clutch went out.  The
           previous owner was a female, most likely her 1st stick and wore
           heals.  Also from NY moving to hilly SF, where sticks can go out
           very quickly if you don't know what your doing on the hills.
           Anyways, after I replaced it at Clutchmart (Ashby) with a generic
           clutch I'm now at 140k with still no problems.  I know how to
           drive a stick.
        \_ My '96 Cherokee is now at 97k.  Still has original clutch.  First
           owner.
        \_ '98 cherokee, 138k miles, original clutch.
        \_ So I go through clutches pretty quickly since moving to San
           Francisco. What else is there to do on a steep hill, other than
           slip your clutch massively or use the emergency brake?
           \_ I think the emergency brake is preferred to massive clutch abuse.
              At least not sitting there slipping it for a stoplight or sth.
           \_ A good teacher and some patience would show you a third way.
              Even in S.F. you should be able to go from brake to throttle
              and clutch w/o much slippage and with only about 6-12 inches
              of backwards roll.  E-brake is a nice crutch, particularly
              when parallel parking or otherwise working in tight spaces.
              What most people are not taught is that your foot should go
              from clutch floored to foot OFF pedal in a smooth motion
              lasting at most 1-2 seconds (2 is too high, really).
        \_ like above, my dad had an '82 toyota pickup w/ original clutch
           to 170k miles including teaching three sons to drive on it.

1/12    Can library fines affect your credit rating?
        \_ Just pay them; a library is one of few institutions
           that could probably use the money for a good cause.
           \_ In general, I agree.  These are fines from over 10 years ago
              from the town where I went to highschool which I never intend
              to return to.  The librarians there are evil assholes who exist
              only to persecute everyone who is not a bitchy old lady like
              themselves.  They refuse to accept payment by mail, and demand
              that I return to their shitty library to pay the fines in
              person.  If it were any other library in the world, I never
              would have let it get to this point in the first place.
          \_ hahahaha good cause? I don't think the public library is
             all that great. This is one fine example where the tax
             dollar is used inefficiently. How about less tax and more
             money for people to buy good books? Fuck all government
             aided infrastructures, let the people rule.
                                     -less tax more self-reliance guy
                \_ Go look up the budget for your town and decide whether the
                   library even makes the top 50 list for pork.  Seriously.
                Go look it up.
                \_ Go look up the budget for your town and decide whether the
                   library even makes the top 50 list for pork.  Seriously.
                   Go look it up.  Also, every time I go to my local library
                   (I live in a medium sized city), I see some kind of job
                   training or literacy program being hosted there, and I see
                   a lot of poor people reading who I'm guessing would not
                   otherwise be.  It seems to me that this translates directly
                   into more economic productivity for poor people, hence less
                   welfare outlay and more tax revenue for the government.  So
                   if you're just going to look at it in terms of tax revenue,
                   over a long period of time, I'm pretty sure the library is
                   a net gain.
                   \_ People become poor and unable to afford books because
                      the government allows (in fact entices) them to be
                      lazy through things like welfare and public library.
                      Once you cut them loose you will be amazed how self-
                      reliant they can be.  Besides, why do people who cannot
                      support themselves deserve to read anything anyway?
                      \_ I have zits on my ass that could troll better than
                         you.
                                    -less tax more self-reliance guy
                      \_ Uhm, the majority of people who are unemployed or
                         poor aren't lazy. Ever heard of supply and demand?
                         When the labor demand goes down, the supply stays
                         the same and people end up being unemployment and
                         as a result poor. No matter how self-reliant you are
                         when the economy is bad everyone loses. It's like
                         being in a tsunami. You're just one person. If the
                         environment is not conducive to you being employed,
                         you don't have much control over it. Most people
                         don't realize how easy it is to be completely wiped
                         out until it happens to them.
          \_ Library fines don't go to the library.  Typically they go to the
             city (or county) general fund. --married a librarian
             \-Dear Married to a Librarian: can you ask your spouse what is
               the typical lag time between an anticipated book coming out ...
               say something by a major author like Tom Wolfe, but not
               something like Harry Potter, and the library gettin it on their
               shelf? It seems like it is more than a "couple of days".
               I could understand the delay if it was somehow cheeper to
               go through some special publisher's channel but as far as I
               know, that is not the case [I believe the SF Pub Lib paid
               more per copy of Harry Potter than was the AMAZONG price].
               ok tnx. --psb

1/13    Dear Liberal who suggested that I tell my 2 conservatives
        friends about David Kay/Duelfer-- I just have one thing to say
        about their reactions. If you have to explain something in more
        than a sentence or two when their minds are made up, it
        sounds like blah blah blah to them. Any more suggestion?
        \_ Tell 'em the President said they've found no WMDs.
           \_ Incidentally, that's what I told my younger brother last night.
              Looks like he's still joining the National Guard though.
              \_ Does he know what jobs he wants to get?
        \_ Write them off with the libs who think there was disenfranchisement
           in Florida in 2000.
           \_ ...or those who would pretend you're not a pathetic troll.
              \_ Feel bad about being written off?
                 \_ No more than you feel bad about being a troll.
           \_ There is disenfranchisement in every election. If you don't
              realize that, you are really too stupid to participate
              in the conversation.

1/13     "Looking back, do you think the United States did the right thing
         in taking military action against Iraq, or should the U.S.
         have stayed out?"
        Did Right Thing 46%
        Should Have Stayed Out 48%
        \_ "Do you think the U.S. made the right decision or the wrong
           decision in using military force against Iraq?"
           Right 49%  Wrong 44%
         \_ "Is the OP an idiot who has nothing better to do with his life
             other than to re-ask the same stupid question over and over again
             about something that nobody cares about?"
             Yes 100% No 0%
             \_ Oh boo hoo hoo, no one but me cares about the most
                important political issue of our time. Right.
                Were you one of those morons who helped beat the
                drums for war 2 years ago and now wants to forget
                about the whole thing and pretend like it never
                happened?
                \_ In a word, yes.
                   \_ As long as American soldiers and Iraqi civilians
                      are being killed as a result of this choice, I refuse
                      to shut up about it. Help me bring the troops home
                      and you will never hear one word about it (from me
                      at least) again.

1/13    Gun nuts, to me!
        http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/njio-sfa121604.php
        Whatcha think? Good, bad, indifferent?
        \_ I don't even own a gun, but this looks an awful lot like government
           mandated DRM.  I think it's bullshit.  Once people accept that
           their technology can be keyed in a way that they don't have control
           over, we enter a *very* dangerous realm. How long before you get
           medicines that "turn off" when the drug companies want,  TV's that
           turn off when something non-christian comes on the TV in some
           southern state, cars that won't start when you don't pay your parking
           fines, etc. etc. etc.  When I own something, I have the right to
           take it apart and rebuild it in any way I want, i.e. to hack it.
           This right is in danger.

1/13    Where would I buy a small basket that can be used as a bird nest?
        You know those kind of like a gift basket. There are a few
        birds that seem to like to stay in under the roof of my deck
        standing on the rails at night. There's nothing in that area
        that would allow them to make a nest. I believe those birds
        are hatched from another spot under the deck roof a year or
        two ago, but that spot is no longer available due to me fixed
        something. I am thinking if I hang a small basket under the
        rail, they eventually might figure out to use it as a nest?
        \_ Michael's or similar, any of dozens of locations around.
           You want to be careful about birds. They'll chew up your
           roof and attract vermin if you don't get rid of them. Better
           if you found them a nice tree to stay in.
        \_ one of those arts and crafts stores?
        \_ <DEAD>PETCO.com<DEAD>?
        \_ Cost Plus

1/13    I like how http://CNN.com suddenly pulled the No WMDs in Iraq online poll
        and replaced it with Prince Harry w/Swastika.
        The poll was running 69% mistake 31% not a mistake.

1/13    I need to buy 3 boxes 1 desktop 2 servers to send to Montreal.
        Where is a cheap/reliable place to order them from?
        \_ Dude, get a Dell!
            \_ Actually, i might.  Dells are cheap but it is annoying that
               to upgrade from a 40 to a 160 gig drive costs $60, but to
               upgrade to a 250 gig drive costs $410.  A 250 G drive doesn't
               cost anywhere near $410.  Damn.
               \_ So just buy some 250 gig drives and stick them in yourself.
                  It's not exactly hard you know.
        \_ You will get heavy duty levied by the custom, won't you?
           \_ NAFTA should save you if the equipment is made in the US.
              \_ When entering canada from US they hand out custom forms
                 that states an exemption of certain value (200 can $?).
                 There is no mention of NAFTA nor made-in-America exemption.
                 Besides, are there any computer boxes without some imported
                 elements?

1/13    I need help fixing someone's Win2K box.  Setup:  Win2K box -> D-Link
        router -> DSL modem.  The Win2K box cannot obtain a DHCP address
        (other computers can).  So, I assign a static IP, and set the default
        gateway and DNS server to be the D-Link router.  After this, the Win2K
        box can access web pages on the Internet as long as you specify the
        web site IP address directly -- but DNS doesn't work.  Computer used
        to work fine, something about installing Windows updates hosed it
        (they are on SP4).  To summarize, the following is broken:  can't
        obtain DHCP-assigned IP address; when setting static IPs for host and
        gateway/DNS, DNS doesn't work.  Other computers on router are fine.
        Thanks!
        \_ Sounds like TCP/IP stack is broken. I've seen this happen
           before. The only solution I've found to work reliably is
           to unfortunately do a repair/reinstall off of the Win2k CD.
           \_ Yeah, I kind of agree.  A full re-install will be the last
              option.  I did try sticking in a new network card -- all drivers
              installed fine, but same DNS/DHCP issues.  I will try to Add/
              Remove Windows components and try to take out networking. -op
        \_ I assume you can't ping by name either? Did you go from SP3 to SP4?
           I would look to see if the address that the machine used to have
           isn't reserved on the router.
           \_ We used 192.168.0.99 for static.  That might be it, since
              DHCP-assigned IPs are all .100 or higher.  Don't know about
              ping by name, but nslookup definitely didn't work for
              http://www.yahoo.com or soda.  I'll try everything suggested this
              weekend.
              \_ Are you connecting via wireless or with a wire? My
                 roomie "upgraded" to XP SP2 and now WEP security does
                 not work. I had to turn it off for wireless to work
                 for her.
                 \_ wired.  fyi, encrypted wireless to the same router works
                    fine too.  I use both that and 100BaseT when I'm over.
        \_ As noted above, try "ping http://yahoo.com"; if you get no response, try
           setting the DNS servers manually (I'm a fan of 206.13.28.12, myself)
           If you're using IE, go to Connections->LAN and make sure the
           "Automatically detect settings" box is unchecked. Also, can you
           ping the router?
           \_ I set the DNS server to 192.168.0.1 (the router), didn't work.
              I'll try the IP you provided.  pinging yahoo and soda's IP
              address worked fine.  I'll uncheck that box too.
              \_ If you can ping Yahoo's IP address but not the name http://yahoo.com,
                 it's almost certainly a DNS issue. The quick fix is to set
                 the DNS server to the address above. Please post how this
                 works out, and good luck.
        \_ Did he use Adaware recently?  That can hose your registry where tcp
           settings are.  At least on XP.  The fix I found for XP was WinSock
           XP Fix.  Don't know if there are easy win2k solutions.
           \_ I'm going to try Ad-aware this weekend.
              \_ Just to clarify, Ad-aware can damage your tcp stack and
                 produce exactly these symptoms.
                 \_ Wow, I didn't know that.  Thanks.
                 \_ It can? I run AdAware and Spybot every month or so on my
                    Win2K machine, and I've never seen this happen.

1/13    I'm looking for a fun, cool electronic gadget toy for $100 or less.
        Suggestions?
        \_ Ipod shuffle crap.
        \_ The OMRON HJ112 pedometer at Amazon for $31!
           (Or, just click Top Sellers and Electronics category)
           \_ does it work?  Is it accurate?
              \_ the user reviews on Amazon all say it's the bees knees
                 of course if you wanted to be elite, you could get a GPS
                 pedometer which will be more exact about how far you've gone,
                 but I think they're too big these days
        \_ Laser pointer.  Some dogs like to chase the dot.
           \_ i hear green ones have a really long range, enough for airline
              pilots to see ...
           \_ pet lover.
        \_ If you like to cook, I got a digital probe thermometer for $18 at
           Target.  It takes all the guesswork out of doneness and it's kind of
           neat watching a roast's internal temperature creep upwards.
        \_ GameBoy Advance SP.  $80 + cost of games.
        \_ Handheld GPS

1/13    I need to replace my water heater. Anyone got any recommended
        plumbers in the south bay? Thanks.
        \_ Go to HomeDepot and the 5-year warranty model.  They will set
           you up with a reliable plumber.
           \_ This is bad advice, but I cannot recommend a plumber in
              this area. FWIW, this is something almost anyone can do
              unless you want to go tankless.

1/13    Flying water to the tsunami victims from the opposite side of the
        globe:
        http://www.bart.gov/news/features/features20050107.asp
        The fuel is going to cost much more than the water.  What a waste of
        resource.
        \_ yeah, definitely stop buying Perrier too
           \_ I drink 2 bottles a day and I _have_ stopped buying Perrier,
              Apollinaris, and other imported minneral waters. At over $2 for a
              1L bottle it's becoming kind of overpriced when you can buy
              Calistoga for almost 2x less. Granted, I suspect the falling
              dollar has to do more with it.
              \_ Uh....doesn't it bother you at all that most cities have
                 higher standards for their tap water than that bottled
                 stuff, and that it's free?  You could just put tap water
                 in a bottle.  That's what I do.
                 \_ Tap water is definitely not "free"
                    \_ In Alameda County (ACWD), it's about $0.002 per gallon.
                 \_ but tap water doesn't have sparkles in it.
           \_ Hey, if it's not Kaballah (TM) water, it's not worth it.
        \_ We import crap even though we could build it here because it saves
           pennies.  Fuel for transportation is cheap ... for now ...
           \_ Fuel for sea transport is cheap, but this is airlifting.
              \_ You can admit you don't know what you're talking about any
                 time, you know.  Getting water to an area with no clean water
                 is something that needs to happen _now_ish.  Sea transport
                 would take too long to do any good.
                 \_ Oh come on, what could be the probelm with drinking a
                    little sea water?  They might get a little thirsty out
                    there treading water after the tsunami?
                 \_ The sea transport being cheaper than airlifting reference
                    was in response to importing crap vs. building it here.
                    I wasn't saying we should sea-transport the water.  I was
                    pointing out that there's gotta be some other water source
                    on either side of the globe that is closer to the victims
                    than 12 time zones away.
        \_ Water water everywhere but not a drop tp drink.
        \_ BTW, does the USS Lincoln have the facility to desalinate sea water?
           \_ Likely, but mass-desalination is expensive.  There is desalination
              equipment being sent to the disaster zone from a number of
              countries.
              \- this plan is so retarded,i cant believe it is not a hoax.
                 or that BART came up with the idea. --psb
              \- this plan is so retarded, i cant believe it is not a hoax.
                 i could believe BART came up with the idea. --psb
           \_ 400k gallons per day.
              http://people.howstuffworks.com/aircraft-carrier3.htm
              This ought to be enough for the victims to drink.
              \_ The population of Aceh was 4.2 million in 2000.
                 Can anyone find numbers on how many of those people
                 are without fresh water?

1/13    Go rent Control Room on DVD.  Documentary on Al-Jazeera.  Has a lot
        of footage of a U.S. liason, too.  Rated 8.0 on http://imdb.com.
        \_ Saw it in the theaters. Thought it was interesting and thought-
           provoking. Was sad to see it overshadowed by the other documentaries
           last year.
        \_ Does it have a political agenda or is it a true documentary?
           \_ A documentary can't have a political agenda?  Go home, little boy.
                \_ No, it can't, to answer your question, fag.
                \_ No, it can't, to answer your question, fag. -chrchan
                        \_ I love how someone signed my post for me, as if
                           that's supposed to piss me off or something.
                           \_ When someone is that stupid, it's good for
                              everyone to know who it is
                              \_ Seconded.  Thanks. And the beauty is, the
                                 jackass acutally verified it for you.
                                \_ Whoever said the person who signed my post
                                   got it right, bitch?
                                   \_ Chris, you're wrong.  Grow up.
                                        \_ Comedy gold. Like now I'm supposed
                                           to be freaked out that someone
                                           knows how to use finger, w, and
                                           cron. Is this the same person who
                                           thought that one guy was running an
                                           online pharmacy on here?
                                           \_ Freaked out?  Why on earth would
                                              you be freaked out over this?
                                              Get a grip, dude.  I think it's
                                              more to do with either accepting
                                              the fact that people now
                                              associate your name with
                                              stupidity, or continuing to freak
                                              over something so dumb as being
                                              'outed' on motd.  You have GOT
                                              to be an undergrad.
                    \_ Yes, it can, moron. -phuqm
                       \_ I saw 9/11 and it had no agenda whatsover. Nope.
                          Nada. Nothing. Totally unbiased.
                          Nada. Nothing. Totally unbiased. -fag
                          \_ Noone said it was.
           \_ It's a feature about Al Jazeera. It presents Al Jazeera as being
              reasonable, rational, and concerned with doing the right thing.
              Most of those interviewed are moderates, although they tend to
              get (understandably) strained after a stray US bomb kills one of
              their field corespondents. It's interesting because it's a point
              of view you're not likely to have seen on the American news.
              \_ "Stray bomb" isn't exactly the right phrase.  "Missiles
                 deliberately targeting journalists" is probably closer.
                 \_ I'm still not convinced "journalists" is the right term
                    for the enemy propogandists at Al Jazeera, but I guess
                    I'll have to rent the DVD and decide for myself. I'll
                    rent it tomorrow.
                    \_ Looking forward to your take on it.
                 \_ I also watched Control Room.  I think it's possible that
                    Al-Jazeera's Baghdad office (whose location the coalition
                    forces had) was deliberately attacked, but I think it's
                    more likely the A-10 pilot thought the guy with the helmet
                    pointing the videocamera at him was aiming a shoulder-
                    mounted SAM.  I've also read one report suggesting that
                    this was the first time an A-10 was in the area, so he
                    probably either freaked, was trigger-happy, or there
                    really was someone firing at him from the same building.
                    The last explanation was the official U.S. one, but I
                    don't think it's correct given eyewitness reports.
                    -liberal
                    - idiot liberal
                    \_ Yeah, just make conjectures based on no proof. How
                       are you any better than those who you condemn?
                       \_ I just read the previous post twice, and I'm still
                          trying to figure out who you think he's "condemning".

1/13    I don't want to talk about Iraq anymore, it makes me feel bad
        so I just delete any mention of it on the motd.
        \_ Would you please just stop reading the motd instead?
          \_ Would you please stop posting about Iraq. I think OP has
             a point. The Iraq thing always devolves into some stupid
             postings about how many people think we should be there,
             how many people don't, how everyone who's a liberal hates
             America and how everyone who's a conservative is a red-neck.
             It's just boring, we don't need the same posts over and over
             again, that's what the motd archives are for. And if you can't
             talk about anything else other than Iraq, you need to broaden
             your horizons. Talking about Iraq on the motd doesn't help anyone,
             it doesn't chagne anyone's minds, it doesn't do anything. If you
             really care about Iraq go out and do something and stop wasting
             bits on the motd.
             \_ Hey, asshole. We're at war. I'll say it again.  We are at
                war.  If you think the same shit is just getting re-hashed,
                try adding something new. Saying it doesn't matter makes
                you a bad person.
             \_ Don't contribute and skip over it then. Censoring it again
                and again is just going to make me more determined than
                ever to post about it. And yeah, I talk about plenty of
                other stuff too, but ignoring problems usually does not
                make them go away. And I know at least one person whose
                mind was changed because of what he read her, so you can
                mind was changed because of what he read here, so you can
                take your stupid idea that talking to people never changes
                their minds to someone who might buy it.
                \_ Neither does harping about it constantly. you're a moron.
                   If you really want to do something about Iraq either:
                   A) Go serve your country and join up.
                   B) Get involved in politics. The motd isn't the place
                      to harp about Iraq. It's been done, it does nothing.
                      I suppose you're one of those people who insists on
                      pounding a screw with a hammer even though people
                      keep telling you to get a screwdriver.
                   \_ I am involved in politics. This is part of what
                      politics is all about, using your soapbox to
                      try and influence opinions. As far as "A" is
                      concerned, I have friends in family in Iraq
                      concerned, I have friends and family in Iraq
                      right now, both civilians and military. I would
                      go myself, but my wife would leave me.
           \_ No, everyone should talk about what I want to talk about
              to the exclusion of everything else.
        \_ Write a filter instead and read the filter.  Then you can avoid all
           the topics you want.
           \_ But that will make aaron angry, and he'll spend all his time
              thinking up alternate spellings of "Iraq."
              \_ Aaron is always angry, it's just a chemical thing with some
                 people.  Nothing causes it except his own body.
              \_ Hasn't aaron been squished yet?

1/13    This is fucking hilarious.  Maybe Bill Clinton can move to Australia
        and run for parliament.
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4170869.stm
        \- re: anonymity -> shortages. this brings a new meaning
        \- re: non-anonymity -> shortages. this brings a new meaning
           to "reap what you sow". --psb
        \_ What the fuck does this have to do with Bill Clinton you dickwad?

1/13    The documentation of my Dell LCD is saying that the contrast
        button is not functional when the LCD is connecting with a DVI
        port. I assume you can still adjust it from the OS? How can I do
        it from Linux?
        \_ If you want to lower the brightness, you can achieve the same
           result by lowering the RGB value at the same time. That's what
           I did to achieve a comfortable viewing brightness for my Dell.
           Right now I am at 0% brightness, and RGB at 48%, the picture is
           really nice. Dell 2005fpw.
           \_ I got one of those 2005fpw's and I think I'll return it. The
              size wasn't as impressive as I thought so I want to wait for
              something better. But another thing was that if I turn out
              the lights and look at a black background, I can see uneven
              light leaking from the top edge. My LCD at work doesn't have
              any trace of that. Then again the 2005 is brighter. But it
              also has a weird viewing angle effect... even just sitting
              in front of it moving my head a bit I notice a purplish
              sheen at some angles. I won't buy another before seeing
              it in person. I hope they get OLED working well soon, that
              would be the proverbial shit.
              \_ purple tint, high viewing angles, good response rate?
                 Sounds like IPS tech!
            http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/lcd-guide_23.html
                 I like my Samsung 193P from http://jr.com, but the 16ms MVA panel
                 used on the update of the Viewsonic VP191b at http://newegg.com
                 looks good too (you need models manufactured Dec 2004 or
                 later).  I have the 25ms VP191s and it ghosts, but nice
                 otherwise.
              \_ Hmmm, I have none of the problems. Maybe sample variation.
                 I am really pleased with mine, and I am very picky when it
                 comes to monitor calibration.
           \_ I have no problems with brightness since the brightness button
              does work. -op
              \_ So what do you need to adjust the contrast for? Be more
                 specific on what the problem is that you are trying to
                 solve...
              \_ I wish there were a button on my monitor to turn up the
                 intelligence.  There's a button called "brightness," but it
                 doesn't work.

1/13    Measuring cups suck for middling to large volumes of liquid.  Anyone
        know where you can get some sort of flowmeter gadget that's foodsafe?
        E.g. a gizmo you hold between the faucet and the pot that tells you
        how much water's flowed through it.  Google didn't help much.
        --dbushong
        \_ How much water are you talking about here? If you look under
           "process control and instrumentation" theres a section of flowmeters
           on the Mcmaster site:
           http://www.mcmaster.com
           They don't say what's foodsafe, but they tell you what materials
           they use, so you can figure it out.
        \_ How about the cheap way:
           (a) weigh pot (using bathroom scales),
           (b) weigh pot + water
           (c) find out volume using the density of water.
             -- ilyas
        \_ What is "middling"?  What are you cooking?
           Maybe engrave some graduated lines in a metal pot.
           \- uh for what kind of cooking do you need titration-level
              accuracy. i assume if you have to add 6q of water to
              something, you can probably be a bit off ... and use a
              marked pot of some kind.
              \_ just answer the fucking question, idiot.
        \_ Read the water meter outside your house.
        \_ I can't imagine it's that much of an imposition to measure one cup
           at a time.  But if it is, there are clear glass measuring pitchers
           that go up to a quart or two, and if you want to be real anal about
           it, you could buy a large graduated cylinder.  I see them from a
           few mL all the way up to 4L (over a gallon).
           see http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail
               /-/B0000644FF/102-5043733-0699315
           \_ You underestimate dave's lazyness.

1/13    I recently switched my display's color depth from 16pbb to 24bpp
        and was embarrassed to discover now obvious flaws in images I had
        created and posted on the web.  If you are making RGP images with
        your display at 16bpp, beware, what you see may not be what you get.
        \_ That's why 24bit is referred to as "true color"

1/13    Can ordinary people still change the world with ingenious inventions
        and patents (like Edison and light bulb) (or at least make themselves
        rich) or is this now completely in the hands of large corp with
        crackpots making noise on the side?  This is a serious question, not
        a troll about bad patents.
        \_ http://66.70.64.5/news/0501,essay,59733,2.html [village voice]
        \_ I know for a fact that there are independent inventors who make
           good money, and occasionally millions off of their inventions.
           As far as changing the world the way Edison or better yet
           Tesla did?   Probably not.
           \_ On a vaguely related note, I hate Edison.  I think he's a nasty
              glory hound, and an ass.  You forgot the google founders, you
              can reasonably say google changed the world. -- ilyas
              \_ ilyas, don't you think these are precisely the quality that
                 made him a successful man in the real world?
                 \_ Probably. -- ilyas
              \_ Not really. The preceding engines (altavista, webcrawler,
                 etc.) weren't dramatically different... Google just did
                 better, but also avoided making the main page an ugly adfest.
                 The concept of building a searchable web index is also a
                 rather natural extension of the world wide web which is the
                 underlying innovation.
                 \_ And the www was really just a friendly front end to
                    ftp, which is simple a way to move information around,
                    much like a pile of tapes in a truck or even books on
                    a horse drawn wagon, and there is no new thing under
                    the sun.
                    \_ ftp simple?  have you looked at the protocol?
                 \_ By this reasoning the light bulb was just a natural
                    evolution of the candle which, in turn, the sun was the
                    underlying innovation.  Heh, nothing new under the sun
                    indeed.  If you're religiously inclined, the underlying
                    innovation was when God said ``Let there be light.''
                    \_ No, that's not my reasoning at all. My main point was
                       that Google didn't invent crawling search engines.
                       My secondary point is that even without that, I think
                       the interactive WWW would retain a big part of its
                       usability. It would take too long to defend that idea
                       to you motd rabble.
                       \_ Google's main contribution isn't crawling, but
                          using links to rank.  That's what makes (made?)
                          google good.  The problem is that link popularity
                          is succeptible to collusion, which is a nasty
                          can of worms.  I don't know how you use the
                          net, but my usage would suffer a lot if
                          google went away.  Of course, I use scholar
                          for 50% of my queries, and link ranking works
                          great for publications. -- ilyas
                          \_ I was used to using more terms/exclusions/phrases
                             to get results, and first switched to Google for
                             UI and speed. Google is good, and something like
                             scholar didn't exist I guess. But the ideas here,
                             well, I remember searching periodicals on the
                             library PC way back. The concepts don't seem like
                             genius to me but the execution is excellent.
                             \_ The concept of link ranking may not be
                                genius to you, but neither one of us thought of
                                it.  It's easy to be a hindsight innovator.
                                  -- ilyas
                                \_ Actually I don't know if I thought of it.
                                   I can remember reading some stuff about
                                   search engines and ranking schemes way back.
                                   If it occurred to me that linking is a
                                   measure of relevancy I wouldn't have done
                                   anything with it... I mean there are only
                                   so many basic parameters associated with
                                   web pages. I know what you're saying but
                                   look at the speed involved. If Google didn't
                                   do that someone else would in short order.
                                   \_ I think that's true for almost any
                                      significant innovation. -- ilyas
                          \_ If Google went away you could use lycos,
                             hotbot, altavista, and so on. I actually
                             dislike using Yahoo! now compared to when it
                             ran Inktomi. I don't see any value-added in
                             Google over any other search engine.
           \_ Recent people in history in IT who have changed the industry:
              Jobs and Wozniak (Jobs was a slacker, Wozniak was an i
                                engineer at HP)
              Mitch Kapor (he used to be a disc jockey and
                           entry level programmer)
              The guy from napster (just a college kid)
              Nolan Bushnell was supposedly just a second rate EE when
              he stumbled onto Pong.
              Linus Torvaldis - smelly kid from Finland who had too much time
                                on his hands and fate conspired to kill
                                BSD because of the lawsuits.
              \_ What about coming up with a great idea that is not patented
                 (a couple times) already, then have someone else bring it to
                 market?  All the above examples are people who got help from
                 VC and built the stuff they conceived.  (Except Linus, but
                 he falls in a different category altogether.) They are more
                 entrepreneur than inventors.  Not all inventors are or want
                 to be entrepreneurs.
                 \_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
                    Edison was an entrepreneur also.
              \_ Bill Gates - Before Gates, everybody in IT thought only good
                              or okay products could dominate a market.
        \_ Some other people who have changed the world w/ their ideas and
           inventions are: K&R (no unix/c w/o K&R), James Gosling (most ugs
                           \_ unix was created primarily by ken thompson.
           don't even learn C these days), Larry Wall, Seymour Cray (invented
           the multi-proc concept), Shockley (no computers w/o transistors),
           Tim Berners-Lee, &c.
        \_ Ordinary people never change the world.  That's why they're
           ordinary.  (BTW I'm ordinary)
           \_ I think the OP meant "individual people".
        \_ How about people like George Soros or Charles Schwab? Do people
           who invent new understandings of economics or who invent new
           ways of doing business count in your book?
           \_ Burton G. Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street.  He
              didn't originate the efficient markets theory, but did a lot to
              champion it, and arguably is responsible for Vanguard's creation
              of index funds that `ordinary' (read people like you and me
              without millions to invest) people could invest in.