3/22    imap, pine, pop3s, ssh/sshd, and (most importantly) nethack
        updated.  Okay, a bunch of other random stuff that no one
        ever probably uses has also been updated. Send bugs
        (other than high score resetting) to root.

3/22    Is Terri's CAT scan that bad?  Why has she not had PET or MRI?
        My Grandmother's Brain -- OK -- But Would I Stop Feeding
        My Grandmother?
        http://codeblueblog.blogs.com/codeblueblog/2005/03/csi_medblogs_co.html
        \_ oh wow, replies by real doctors with fancy medical
           terminologies that I don't understand. I wish that I had
           done pre-med. Instead I'm just a stupid code monkey barely
           surviving in Silleycone Valley
           \_ It's never too late for medical school, if you want to go.
              We have all heard stories of the 40 year old guy in there
              with the 22 year olds.
              \_ In fact, medical schools *like* older students.  There is
                 a shortage of family/general practice doctors, and that's
                 what most older med students end up doing.  Older students
                 usually don't have the lifespan and stamina to go for the
                 longer and/or more intensive residencies.  Unfortunately,
                 family docs make the least money.
                 \_ How easy is it to work in medical research without
                    seeing patients? I never wanted to be a surgeon or see
                    people to diagnose/prescribe for them... but I get the
                    impression that's required.
                    \_ When I first read your post, I thought you said
                       "without seeing patents".
                    \_ If you are a researcher then you don't have to have
                       a practice. I know someone who does this and she
                       never sees any patients. I also know a doctor who
                       does a lot of research and selects his patients
                       based on it. This seems more interesting than being
                       a GP, but pays a lot less.
        \_ not a doctor, but I have looked at a lot of fmri and pet scans.
           There's a ton of degeneration in that brain.  I've seen some
           lesioned and post-stroke cats and mri's, too.  Nothing that bad.
           But, he is right.  There is some minimal cortex left.  He does
           leave out an important fact though.  Gradual atrophy in a fully
           functioning individual is different than severe sudden atrophy
           and recovery.  For example, a study was done of 80+ year old
           nuns, and it was found that all the nuns had similar degrees
           of massive cortex atrophy in the brain.  However, the nuns that
           had a stroke had a post-trauma sudden onset of Alzheimer's that
           the non-stroke nuns didn't have.  Likely something from the
           stroke triggered onset of Alzheimer's. Thus, comparing Terri's
           brain to fully functional 85 yr olds who have had gradual
           atrophy without functional loss is not entirely kosher.
        \_ The CT scan is old, and unless I see the original DICOM data I'd be
           hesitant to conclude anything.  My company works with that kind of
           data all the time and you can adjust contrast controls, etc. to make
           a CT look like just about anything.  Furthermore, your typical CT of
           the brain doesn't look like much.  Which is why a tool like Image
           Fusion (shameless plug: http://www.prowess.com/products-img.php
           allows you to compare the MRI (on the right) with the CT. -emarkp
        \_ I think it is all a distraction from the more pressing issues
           of war, recession and ignorance that plague this country. Bush's
           numbers are down to 45% and the Republicans are desperately
           and transparently trying to change the subject.

3/22    What is your opinion on the definition of life? Is life a
        combination of your mind, body, and soul? Does it have to have
        carbon, water, and ability to think and act? What if an alien
        life form visits us but instead of carbon based, it is silicon
        based, is it a life-form? How about human beings with fully
        functional body but without the mind/soul behind it, is that
        considered 1) alive and 2) a life-form? I'm interested to hear
        from scientists and religious people. ok thx.
        \_ scientist's view: life requires metabolism, hence includes
           fungi, bacteria, etc. but probably not viruses nor prions.
           \_ aren't prions just a different functional form of a protein
              that naturally exists?
                \_ Yes, if you mean mad cow disease prions.
        \_ reductionist philosopher's view: souls are a crutch of
           the imagination to prop up self-image.
        \_ The opposite of what sodans do.

3/22    In Firefox, after I visit a page that requires a plug-in, it displays
        "Additional plugins are required ......" on top with an "Install
        Missing Plugins..." button.  When I click the button, it says the
        missing plugin is Macromedia Flash Player 7.  I click "Next" to see
        the license, and "Next" to try install.  Now it stays at the "Firefox
        in installing plugins..." dialg forever.  I tried in 1.0 several times
        before and now in 1.0.1, and the problem always happens.  Any idea?
        TIA.
        \_ What if you go to macromedia and manually download and install
           the plugin?
           \_ Hmm.  I go to the same page with IE6.0 on the same machine, and
              IE can play the animation fine.  Does that mean the plugin is
              already present on my machine?  Are plugins shared between FF and
              IE?
              IE?  -- OP
              \_ Okay, I go to macromedia and manually download and install the
                 plugin, and now it works.  Still wondering why clicking
                 "Install Missing Plugins..." doesn't work.  -- OP

3/22    Charlie lied, andt the Royal Bitch will become Queen after all.
        http://csua.org/u/bgi (Yahoo! News)

3/22    Has anyone played the game "Postal"?
        \_ Yes.  You know there are two?
           \_ no i did not.  explain.
              \_ Postal is a ~1997 isometric-prespective kill-em-all game.
                 Postal 2 is a ~2003 mission-oriented first person shooter.
        \_ yes, why?

3/22    Hello fellow l0s3r5, I mean g4m3rz.  If you want a brain-dead RTS
        with lots of spiffy graphics and a wacko plot but for some reason
        you'll enjoy, try Act of War: Direct Action.  Still $38 at Fry's.
        http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/actofwardirectaction/review.html
        \_ I would have gotten this except the French developers kept
           playing scenarios of nuking the white house.
           \_ sounds like a selling point!
           \_ What's wrong with that? I hate French people, but I hate
              the current administration even more.
              \_ Do you honestly hate French people? Or just go along with
                 that because it's cool. Now personally, I can find a lot of
                 things to complain about if I wanted about Frenchies but I
                 can do that about any group of people.
                 \_ I wish that America would exterminate the French gene
                    from the human race.
                    \_ That sounds like something Hitler would say!
           \_ Why do you care either way?  It's a game.  -John
              \_ If they were "just games" I don't think the Army would be
                 advertising so heavily on video game sites, and producing
                 their own video game.

3/22    Here is an amusing thought experiment. Turn on Rush Limbaugh or
        Michael Savage or Ann Coulter and everytime you hear the word
        "Liberal" replace it mentally in your head with the word "Jew."
        \_ This is interesting or meaningful because...?
           \_ Throw the Liberal down the well, so my country can be free!
              \_ How dare you contaminate our precious water supply.
           \_ I guess it illustrates their brand of hatred.
              America-hating Jews, the Jew media, communist Jews...
              America-hating Joos, the Joo media, communist Joos...
              pretty much fits the 1936 agenda...  -!op

3/22    I am wondering, do other countries have kids shooting other kids
        in school? What about England? Europe, Asia, Japan?
        \_ no, in Asia they kill themselves (suicide)
        \_ No guns in Japan, but knives
 http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/archive/200406/01/20040601p2a00m0dm004003c.html
 http://202.221.217.59/print/news/nn02-2005/nn20050216a2.htm
           \_ I remember a story from about 7 years ago where some
              Japanese High School Kid killed classmates with a katana.
              \_ is this the "bamoidooki" and "sacred experimenter" case?
              \_ and I bet freeper troll put it on the MOTD as a fallacious
                 refutation of the need for gun control.  -tom
                 \_ curious tom, when you say gun control what do you have in
                    mind? what's your preffered gun control scheme?
                    mind? what's your preferred gun control scheme?
                    \_ I don't see any fundamental problems with the UK's
                       scheme.  -tom
              \_ There was the kid who cut off the head of a 10yo and put it
                 in front of his school. That guy, btw, never had his name
                 revealed bc he was a juvenile. Now that he's an adult, they
                 had to let him go. He's at large, in Japan, and his ID remains
                 unknown.
        \_ Never heard of it in Hong Kong.  Gun control over there is much
           better.  Gang members in bad schools stabbing each other are common,
           but kids going postal and stabbing random classmates are very very
           rare.
           \_ Probably a lot harder to kill 10 people with a knife befoe being
              stopped.
        \_ They use knives and brickbats in the UK.  Just as violent, the
           little fuckers, and apparently far more prone to bullying.  -John
           \_ I've wondered if the Brits I've met are just bottom of the
              barrel or if there is a predisposition to beatings/physical
              violence w/ drinking.  One thought was that it comes from a
              lack of concern that the response to a punch might be a
              .45 in the face.
              \_ "God created man, but Sam Colt made them equal."
        \_ Don't Japanese people use samurai swords to kill each other?

3/22    Are you ready for the Bay Area housing crash?
        http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html
        \_ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4373687.stm
           Good, I can't wait. I missed out while everyone around me is buying
           a second home or a vacation home in Arizona and all they can say
           is how stupid I am for not buying something.       -frugal saver
           \_ In some parts of the country the market has been stagnant.
              Likewise, when it is stagnant in the Bay Area it might be
              hot somewhere else. I personally would not buy right now,
              but it was certainly smart to have bought a few years back.
              When prices fall, what do I (as a homeowner) care?
           \_ Well you are and you aren't. It's like the dot com boom... you
              were right if you thought it was stupid... but you also missed
              out on the boom. Still unlikely to see a real drop in prices
              in bay area for a couple years I think, there's no recession
              here and tons of demand.
              here and tons of demand. But it does look a lot like 2000 in that
              a) prices seem ridiculous but keep rising, leading to b) ordinary
              people hyped up about house appreciation gains and speculating,
              just like every Joe was buying Cisco back in the day with no
              regard for investment principles.
              I look at the low interest rates like a money faucet the fed
              turned on, that seems to mostly go into housing because it's
              easy to do and touted as low risk. Ordinary folks don't normally
              buy a ton of stocks on margin etc., nor do they have the savvy
              to borrow to start successful businesses. So if the housing
              market is like a money balloon filled from low interest rates,
              the question is when it would deflate... I have the feeling that
              it won't really deflate here due to low housing supply. Then
              again a lot can happen in a couple years.
        \_ Rather than being like nweaver (maybe Sour Grapes Housing Guy
           is really nweaver), and pretending like predicting for 4 years
           that prices will at some point stop going up is clever, why don't
           you do something useful and tell us when the turn-around will
           happen, and how much it will drop?  Because home values are up
           probably 50% since you started posting this crap.  -tom
           \_ You want to start a crash pool?
              \_ No, I want Sour Grapes Housing Guy to give a real prediction,
                 rather than going on for the next N years about how a drop
                 in housing price is imminent, and then saying "see I told
                 you so!" after one happens, while ignoring the fact that
                 prices rose 100% during the time he was predicting a
                 crash.  -tom
                 \_ tom is just following the common strategy of Wall Street
                    stock analysts.
                   \_ You lead an impoverished life indeed.
                 \_ The Sour Grapes Housing Guy is just following the common
                    strategy of Wall Street stock analysts.
           \_ I would also like to know when the nadir will be reached so that
              I can buy at that moment. +/- a year is fine. Thanks!
              \_ Home prices will start to fall in Q4 of 2005 and reach
                 a nadir on Nov 17, 2007. -Swami the Magnificent
                 \_ Wow, well if you're right we'll give you respect and
                    accolades.  If you're wrong, I'll personally hire four
                    large white supremacists to come to your house and sodomize
                    you until you squeal like a pig.  Whaddya say?
                    \_ Swami the Magnificent is above your petty threats.
                       \_ Hey, if you're confident enough to bet your
                          prediction against being gang-sodomized by big angry
                          white supremacists, then I'm going out to buy some
                          popcorn for the show.
                          \_ I think Swami swings that way already.
        \_ has some interesting points, but much of it is ruined by the
           crackpot sensationalist exaggeration.  Many of the points are
           assuming the crash has already started/happened, which is blatantly
           false.
           \_ Yeah, he starts off ok but if you've looked at buying something
              lately you'll know prices are higher than ever. And he makes
              crazy statements like this: "under current conditions, a renter
              would be able to live in a house for 30 years, then buy that
              house outright with the saved principle payments, and have an
              extra $227,200 of savings on top of that".
              \_ I think he is correct. An average home in Noe Valley costs
                 $1M. You can rent the same house for ~$2800/mo. PITI on
                 a $1M house are ~$7k/mo, which if you are in the 40%
                 overall bracket come out to ~5800. This means you save
                 a $1M house are ~$7k/mo, which if you are in the 37%
                 overall bracket comes out to ~4800. This means you save
                 $2k/mo by renting. $2k/mo invested in 6% bond for 30
                 years has got to be worth over $1M. Let me do the math
                 and get back to you. -motd thought leader
                 Okay, it is more like pay off the $1M house and have $1M
                 left over. But this makes the unsupportable assumption
                 that the house will not appreciate in value in 30 years.
                 \_ Also the unsupportable assumption that your rent won't
                    go up in 30 years.  -tom
                    \_ Yeah, there are other varibles too, like the fact
                       that the mortgage deduction is worth less as you
                       pay off the loan. But I think those two probably
                       cancel each other out. SF has rent control, so
                       rents can't go up *that* much. -mtl
                             \-SF doesnt have that serious rent control
                               if you move in today.
                               \_ You are obviously not a landlord in SF.
                                  \_Yes the annual permitted rent increase
                                    may be small, but I think something like
                                    stuff built in the last 25 yrs is not
                                    covered. Some people are highly protected
                                    but overall, it's not as onerous as
                                    Berkeley or as it used to be.
                                  \_ Please kill yourself, fucker.
                       \_ What rent are you paying now compared to 15 or 30
                          years ago?  -tom
                          \_ 15 yrs ago, my family rented a 4br house in
                             Cupertino for $1k/mo.
                          \_ If I had gotten the maximum allowed annual rent
                             increase according to law, my rents would have
                             gone up 45% since 1989.
                             \_ but what if you had moved?  -tom
                 \_ In 30 years $1M is not a whole lot.  But the $1M house
                    could worth $10M n 30 years.
                    \_ At a very conservative 3% yearly appreciation rate,
                       the home is worth more than $2M. -mtl
                 \_ You'd have almost exactly $2M.
        \_ "Even a broken clock is right twice a day." Brilliant.
        \_ "It's a house. Wherever one lives is a home, be it apartment,
            condo, or house. Calling a house a 'home' is a manipulation of
            your emotions for profit. "  This guy probably never owned a house.
        \_ "This winter's sales volume in Santa Clara County is only 44%
            of what it was last summer, the worst ratio in at least 10 years.
            Prices are already down every month for Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb."
            1) Sales volume means nothing.  (Could be low supply)
            2) Winter months volume are typically lower than summer months
               for obvious reasons (holidays, weather, etc).
            3) Where did he get the numbers that prices are down every month?
               From what I've seen, prices have gone up.
            \_ I think he was comparing the ratio, not pointing at lower volume
               itself. I don't know where this data is though.

3/22    Chinese Wifi:  http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000510037092

3/22    Interesting. China can put a man in orbit but needs to buy night
        vision goggles from EU?
        \_ Who said they *NEED* to?  Maybe the EU sells better ones and China
           hasn't gotten around to ripping off their technology yet.
        \_ The US put a man in orbit 50 years ago. When were night vision
           goggles invented?
        \_ China wants to buy offensive weaponry from the EU, e.g., the
           Tiger attack helo, being built by a joint French-German-Spanish
           venture.  80% of the airframe will be constructed of lightweight
           composite materials.  First deliveries are this year with 80 for
           France and 80 for Germany.
        \_ We can put a man on the moon, and we need to buy computers from
           China.
        \_ We invented the Internet, and we download Japanese pr0n.
        \_ Regardless of whether China really needs the night vision goggles
           and other European-made weapons (they have been buying pretty much
           anything they want from Russia throughout the last 10 years), the
           lift of the European weapons sales ban would certainly be a very
           significant political victory for PRC.

3/22    CNN front page:  "But when 443 of the 909 polled were asked whether
        they supported private retirement accounts in exchange for a reduction
        of guaranteed retirement benefits, support fell to 33 percent, while
        opposition rose to 59 percent [+/- 4.5 points]. ...
        Fifty percent said they understood the debate over Social Security
        "somewhat well," and 31 percent said they understood it "very well."
        Only 18 percent said they did not have a good grasp of the matter.

3/22    Who woulda known that http://anus.com is *not* porn.
        \_ Nor was http://www.powergenitalia.com
        \_ Who would expect that http://www.whitehouse.com is porn.
        \_ I recently had reason to go to http://www.ballsonline.com

3/22    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151206,00.html
        Hey you fucking dumb ass pro-lifer conservatives, do you actually
        agree with this lame Fox News commentary?
        \_ No, I'm too stupid to type, so I can't respond to this you fucktard.
        \_ Ya know, I'm vehemently pro-choice as far as abortion goes, and
           am ambivalent on the Schiavo case, but I can't for the life of me
           what about this piece is so upsetting (well, except for the last
           paragraph, but I still don't really see how that merits your
           frothing at the mouth). Enlighten me? -alexf
           \_ I bet op is angry because the writer makes it sound like he's
              so reasonable but he's a filthy liar, and by being on TV at
              regular times gets both widespread distribution and credibility.
              See:
            http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55441-2005Mar21.html
              In any case, I do agree with the Fox News guy in the sense that
              you shouldn't kill her by starvation.  My opinion (and he
              doesn't say this) is, once you have established beyond a
              reasonable doubt her desire to die if she knew she were in an
              irreversible, persistent vegetative state, then she should be
              killed using something quicker.
              \_ Agreed.  But assisted suicide with pills, injections, etc
                 is illegal, and mostly because of conservatives.  So now
                 they're arguing how inhumane it is to let her starve when
                 they also block euthanasia.  Hypocrites.
              \_ Funny how Michael remembered she wanted to die only after
                 receiving over a million dollars in a malpractice suit,
                 money that was specifically awarded for her rehabilitation.
                 You want to guess how much of that money was spent on
                 Terri and how much on Michael's pro-euthanasia lawyer
                 Felos?  Felos' hospice is also under investigation for
                 Medicare fraud for bringing in 150+ patients who should
                 not have been there.
                 This is the same hospice Terri was moved to.
                        \_ You're right about him remembering her wishes
                           after coicidentally receiving $1M, but lately
                           he's been offered much more money to give up
                           the fight and keep her tube in, and he's turned
                           that money down.
                           \_ taking the money is really not a
                              possibility, it would make him look
                              terrible.  Plus, there will be plenty of
                              money from book deals and film once Terri
                              passes.
                           \_ He *claims* he was offered $10M.  I haven't seen
                              anything to prove it. -emarkp
                              \_ Would your opinion on the case be
                                 different if you believed he was arguing
                                 his position in good faith?
                              \_ He can't stop the proceedings now, anyway.
        \_ The GOP loves vegetables and hates fruits.
           \_ Hilarious! This is the funniest thing i've seen on the
              motd in some time.

3/22    "We've found Jewish Nazis, gay Nazis, blacks who wanted to be white
        supremacists. The reason it isn't so unusual -- these are powerless
        people to whom images of powerful people are appealing."
        http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/22/school.shooting
        \_ The boy killed his 60 year old grandpa and his **30** year old gf.
           \_ Native Americans have big equipment.
        \_ Wears bullet proof vest during the killing spree before shooting
           himself to death. I mean, what's the point of wearing bullet proof
           vest?
           \_ Presumably to increase the odds that all but one bullet gets
              used on victims.
        \_ you know, we spend billions on the Iraq war to protect ourselves
           from terrorists, yet our own people terrorize ourselves. 86
           billion dollars spent on war is a lot of money that could have
           been spent on civic and social programs that might have prevented
           this tragedy. FUCK YOU GEORGE BUSH AND BUSH SUPPORTERS. I hope
           you guys go to hell and experience eternal sodomization by satan
           \_ Yeah, and had we spent that money on places like Afghanistan
              Syria and Iraq BEFORE 9/11 we could've prevented around 3000
              deaths. C'mon, people, are you forgetting the people who lost
              their lives because of terrorism?
                 \_ uh, yeah williamc, war in Iraq and Homeland Security
                    have made US much safer than before, I can just feel it
                    \_ To Canada with you!
                       \_ To Iraq with you, and you fight with the Army you
                          have, not with the Army you want!
           \_ But...what if they like it?
        \_ From http://www.nazi.org/nazi/national_socialism/judaism
           "thus we are supporters of the Zionist state, Israel, insofar as it
           confines its influence to its own activities."