3/5     Welcome back soda! To check out motd you missed go to
        http://csua.berkeley.edu/~kchang/intellidiff/?incr=1

3/5     I have a problem with X. Let's say I open up xemacs. If I don't do
        anything to it after 15 minutes, connection would die and I'd have
        to restart it. How do I make it more persistent? ok thx
        \_ you're connecting through a NAT gateway, aren't you... and X11
           forwarding throuh ssh?  Turn on connection keep-alives
           \_ NAT yes, X11 forward no (raw forward). Where is the option?
              \_ your NAT translation is timing out due to inactivity.  If
                 your router has an option to configure this, raise it.  If
                 not, perhaps you can script emacs to do something that
                 generates some change in the screen (maybe a redraw screen
                 command) every 5-10min.  But in openssh, it's something like
                 TCPKeepAlive. -dwc
                 \- You can put the time inthe mode-line, for one.
                 \_ I had a netgear router that would drop cxn's after 5 min.
                    Firmware upgrades wouldn't fix the problem, but the v2
                    box they started selling didn't have the problem. bastards.

3/5     So I want to buy an extra camera battery.  If I buy one with
        the name of the OEM on the battery, it's about $45.  If I buy
        one from a 3rd party, I can get it for around $12 and it has more
        Amp-hrs.  What's the deal?
        \_ I've heard that cheaps brand don't last as long and/or that the
           Amp-hrs they claim is not accurate, but I've yet to seen a
           study on it. Maybe consumer rights activists should benchmark
           these things . However, as you pointed out $12 is a good deal
           so it's probably worth the try. BTW I don't personally buy name
           brand anymore... you're mostly paying for the stupid name.
        \_ http://csua.com/Science/Battery
           Look for entry 12256 which has pointers to info on batteries
           \- The batties start to die upon mfgr, so I suspect some of the
              really cheap batteries are middle aged. For the Nikon D70, a
              Nikon branded battery is about $40-44. There are repuatable off-
              branded sources for $30 ... I image those will perform ok and
              not leak and destory your machine. Not so sure about the $8
              ones from ebay. I dont mind being out $10 for a poor battery,
              but I dont want something that will leak.
        \_ This is one reason why I chose a P&S camera that takes AA batteries.
        \_ I have a Canon 1100 A-Hr battery and a No-name 1800 A-Hr battery
           that I bought in Singapore. Both work fine w/ my 300D. However,
           the 1800 A-Hr battery has degraded a bit (fewer shots in a full
           charge) since I purchased it, but the 1100 A-Hr Canon battery
           seems to be able to take the same number of shots. I have used
           the 1800 A-Hr battery in many more cycles than the 1100 A-Hr
           battery, so perhaps the 1100 merely appears better b/c it has
           been through less cycles, I'm not sure

3/5     Looks like the big thread on Mormonism got smoked.  I just want to
        reiterate that if you're looking for non-biased research on the LDS
        religion, goto http://www.equip.org  They helped me dig up the complete
        passages that make up the Pearl of Great Price, Book of Mormon, etc.
        It's a tough cult to get out of once you're in it.  If you're
        doubting the religion and want to talk to someone who's left it after
        being part of many generations of Mormons, please feel free to
        email me at egwall@csua.berkeley.edu.
        \_ Fuck your christian brainwash site.  If you think that site is a
           source of real information, it is you who need help getting out
           of your jesus cult.
        \_ You had to "dig up" passages of the Book of Mormon and such?
           Ummm... they're availible completely for free here:
           http://scriptures.lds.org
           \_ That's what the LDS church wants others to see.  Try digging
              a little harder. -egwall
              \_ Just an observation, but you should probably differentiate
                 between their official bible-type stuff and the various
                 "the truth behind mormonism" sites--it may be a sham, or at
                 least based on one, but if one of them says the online
                 bits you found match his scriptures, I'd probably take that
                 from the horse's mouth.  -John
              \_ It matches my printed LDS scriptures, and I routinely use it
                 to prep classes, etc.  How's that tinfoil hat fitting? -emarkp
                 \_ Check this out http://www.irr.org/mit/jsfalpro.html -- documented
                    false prophecies from the founder of the Mormon church.
                    Enough said.  The LDS church is a sham.  Sad but true.
                    \_ Check this out: http://www.irr.org/yoga&christianity.html
                       -- documented evidence that your wingnut "institute"
                       declares that Christians should not do yoga.  Sad but
                       true.
                    \_ You need to improve your reading comprehension (read
                       those "prophesies" carefully and look up the original
                       sources.  Then note that your comment has nothing to do
                       with the above comment.  Oh, and sign your name you
                       wimp. -emarkp
        \_ This is hilarious.  If it's so hard to get out of, why have I spent
           so much time trying to figure out if people who are on the
           membership rolls still live in the area?  Hint: you're a crackpot.
           -emarkp
           \_ Whatever, and uh, thanks for the insult. -egwall
              \_ Hey, you called my religion a 'cult'.  Cry me a river. -emarkp
        \_ Hee hee. From http://www.equip.org/free/CP0301.htm
           "First of all, Mormons are taught that the Bible has been corrupted
           through the years and is no longer reliable"
           Yeah, we're not Bible literalists or believe the Bible is inerrant.
           Oh no.  Shoot me now.  -emarkp
           \_  Who is "we're"? -egwall
               \_ We LDS. -emarkp
           \_ Do you believe the Book of Mormon/Pearl of Great
              Price/whatever is inerrant?
              \_ Sorry, didn't see this until today (3/7).  No. -emarkp
                 \_ So if you believe there are errors in it how do you
                    know what those are? What can you really believe and
                    who determines that?
                    \_ Sorry, there's no checklist. -emarkp
                       \_ Just curious then, because it seems one can pick
                          and choose what is accurate and what is a
                          mistake.
                          \_ There's been a /lot/ of work trying to figure out
                             which (of the many) manuscripts are best for the
                             Bible.  That's simplified in the LDS case because
                             there were only two manuscripts for the Book of
                             Mormon (one by the scribe, which was copied to
                             take to the printer).  I've never seen a flat-out
                             contradiction except where the Bible has poetic or
                             allegorical accounts. -emarkp
                             \_ So, the church is actually putting together
        a "critical text" of the Book of Mormon (on copmuter) that will
        include all the various versions of the Book of Mormon that have
        existed and diff functions to show what has changed.  There were a
        number of minor differences in different versions.  Chapter
        divisions changed, as well as a lot of punctionation and some
        grammar.  JS edited the original printed version for grammatical
        errors.  The current version is the edited one.  Furthermore, when
        they found part of the original manuscipt, some copying errors
        were discovered. Nothing important, just stuff like "as powerful
        as the (s)word of the Lord."  The 's' was omitted in the copy.
        Anyway, none of the differences really changed the meaning of
        anything, and none of this is "secret." -jrleek
        \_ I would argue to cult of atheism is harder to get out of once
           ensnared, and has done far more damage to vastly greater numbers
           of people.
           \_ Fuck you.
           \_ Examples?
              \_ Don't encourage the wanker.  You know without having to hear
                 his drooling horseshit that he's refering to communism.
                 Rather than hear this particular red herring for the thousanth
                 time, better to keep the message simple: "fuck you" seems
                 right to me.
                 \_ There is nothing inherently atheist about communism.  In
                    fact, the cult-of-personality phenomena of many
                    totalitarian regimes with a communist ideology have a
                    decidedly religious vibe to them.  If anything, 'communism'
                    seeks to supplant religion while taking advantage of
                    religious feelings, whatever the ideology might say.
                    -- ilyas
                    \_ I agree with you 100%. *I* was not equating
                       communism with athiesm, I was just trying to guess what
                       mr. "cult of athiesm" was going to say if he got the
                       chance to start rambling. -pp
                    \_ this statement is so blatantly apocryphal and
                       historically ignorant it really doesn't
                       even deserve a serious response.
                       \_ Marx does not 'own' communism.  Just because he said
                          something about masses and opium does not
                          automatically link religions, and the ideological
                          conception of economics/history that a card-carrying
                          communist might have. -- ilyas
                          \_ Do you know anything about the Russian and Spanish
                             civil wars, for example?
                             \_ Gee, why would I know something about the
                                Russian civil war?  Next thing you know you
                                might accuse me of knowing Russian. -- ilyas
                                \_ But don't accuse him of _being_ Russian,
                                   he might ilyas the motd!
                                   \_ Omg!  Hi Rob!
                                      \_ nope, I haven't posted much in awhile.
                                         Better work on your scripts. -meyers
                                \_ don't you speak/read/write Russian?
                                   \_ Someone's sarcasm detector is busted.
                                \_ and what makes you think you have a
                                   monopoly on slavic genes?
                 \_ I think my argument is buttressed by these manifestations
                    of your psychoses.
        \_ How do you know the 's' was omitted and the word wasn't 'word'?
           \_ As emarkp stated, there were 2 'original' Book of
              Mormon manuscripts.  The real original, which was written by
              a number of different scribes as JS dictated, and a copy,
              which was sent to the printer.  The orginal had been lost,
              but part was recovered.  I understand about half it had
              deteriorated.  Anyway, the phrase in question appears
              multiple times in the Book or Mormon, all of which say
              'sword,' save the one instance.  Upon examination of the
              original manuscript, it was discovered that the scribe that
              wrote that portion of the manuscript wrote funny 's's.  In
              this case, the s had kind of merged with the following 'w,'
              so it just looked like 1 'w.' It was easy to misread, and
              the copying scribe had misread it. -jrleek

3/5     How many pieces of 8.5 x 11 paper can I fit in an envelope before
        I need to use 2 stamps?
        \_ I've heard "seven" as the conventional wisdom, but the official
           constraint is "1 ounce", so the exact count would presumably depend
           on the type of paper used. -alexf
        \_ What's the weight of the paper?  20 lb. paper is 500 sheets of
           double-wide, double-tall paper.  So that's 2000 sheets to weight.
           For normal 20 lb. paper one sheet weighs 20 * 16 / 2000 ounces.
           Which makes 6.25 sheets/oz.  What about the weight of an envelope?
        \_ If you are using ave printer/copy machine paper, 5 or less
           sheets is generally okay for 1 stamp.
           \_ Is it correct, then, that with 2 stamps, I could send
              up to 10 sheets?  -op
              \_ yes.
              \_ If you are using a regular envelope I wouldn't send more
                 7 or so sheets b/c the thing might fall apart.
        \_ From http://www.usps.com/customersguide/dmm100.htm#PostageRates
           "Tip:  One ounce is approximately equal to four sheets of paper plus
           a standard envelope."
           Or you can use the gsm (grams per sq meter) to calculate.  For me, I
           just go to the cafeteria at work and weight it with the salad scale.

3/3     ilya ya khotel by perepisyvat'sya s vami. govorite li vy po russki?
        \_ govorit on, govorit. a chto, email poslat' trudno?
            -ne ilya, i daleko ne perviy i ne posledniy tut russkogovoryaschiy
           \_ alex?
        \_ kakoy ilya imeetsa v vidu?  Ya vizhu tri. -- ilyas

3/4    Dear egwall, of all the anonymous cowards who attacked emarkp, you're
       the only person who stood out and signed your name. You have a lot of
       guts standing up for your belief knowing that you'll be ridiculed over
       and over again by a stubborn, annoying religious crackhead. It takes a
       lot of guts & faith to do that, and I respect that a lot in a man.
       egwall, you're one fine man in my book, and you're totally cool.

3/5     Can a PC boot from external (usb or ieee-1344) hard drives?
                                            \_ did you mean 1394?
        \_ depends on your bios support.  Quite a few now can boot from
           external usb-anything
           \_ If you're trying to boot XP, look for Bart's PE Builder.  For
              a USB-bootable Linux, have a look at
              http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12964
              I have another one lying around somewhere, so drop me a mail
              if you want me to dig for it.  -John