5/14    Did you know that Iran has the world's second largest gas reserve,
        and the best thing is that it has not been fully tapped yet?
        http://www.netiran.com/?fn=artd(3550
        \_ The Middle East has been blessed with plentiful oil and plentiful
           natural gas.  The oil is much easier to exploit.  With GTL cranking
           up much more of their natural gas can be used.
        \_ This is GREAT news! We can go into Iran, LIBERATE the people there
           and be greeted with uttermost awe and respect for Americans, while
           we tap into their rich resources.
           \_ Your sarcasm is only highlighted by your idiocy over Iraq. Yeah,
              we're really raping Iraq of its oil. My gawd oil prices are low.
              \_ There are numerous factors besides Iraq that determine
                 the price of gas. Who knows, maybe the price would have been
                 higher had Iraq not been 'liberated'. Or not. Who knows.  -pp

5/14    'The sites which have been closed, such as LokiTorrent, UK Torrent
        and s0nicfreak, now carry warning messages from the MPAA that read:
        "You Can Click But You Cannot Hide."'
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4545519.stm
        \- Well it appears you can hide. See paper "Is p2p dying or hiding".
           --psb

5/14    Someone wanted an amusing link:  http://csua.org/u/c2p
        Sort of like a mix between Walter Miller, The Eye of Argon and
        enormous amounts of drugs and too much free time.  -John
        \_ On a scale of 0-10: Funny if sober=-1, funny if you're a retards=10
           \_ get a sense of humor.  It was amusing.
           \_ "if you're a retard" without the 's'.

5/15    Star Wars anti-Bush?
        http://csua.org/u/c2r (Yahoo Movies)
        \_ "Lucas said he patterned his story after historical transformations
           from freedom to fascism, never figuring when he started his prequel
           trilogy in the late 1990s that current events might parallel his
           space fantasy."
           Let's see, Bush=Dark side, storm troopers=Marines, and US=facsist?
           If that's what Lucas is trying to convey (consciously or
           subconciously), I totally endorse him. GO LUCAS!
           \_ Cue Empire / Darth Vader music.  You should all play Kotor 2:
              "With all that talk about standing up on your own two feet, I
              shoulda known she was with the Dark Side!"
        \_ http://www.filibustercartoons.com/archive.php?id=20050511
           \_ I think it is pretty clear "turning to the dark side" is a
              reference to homosexuality and sodomy.
                \_ The more seductive side of the force?
              \_ And here I thought it was a reference to stouts.  "Once
                 you go black, you'll never go back."
        \_ I actually think Star Wars I (the very first one) favors
           conservative/religious thinking. In the end, when Skywalker flys
           the X-plane and disengages his computerized scope in favor of
           using the "force", it is like a subtle way saying that science
           and engineering is no match for the almighty super-natural force.
           It's not clear what that force is, but one can easily interpret it
           as the force of Jesus, Allah, or whatever you want it to be.
              \- mysticism != organized/dogmatic religion. i think it is more
                 a case of romantic anti-rationalism. although "ironically"
                 the man in metal perhaps puts this best: "Don't be too proud
                 of this technological terror ... insignificant next to the
                 power of the Force." ... That's part of the reason it seemed
                 leem when the whole midichlorlian thing came up. ok tnx.--psb

5/15    Humor for liberals only. http://dontblamemeivoted4kerry.com
        Also, read hate mails from conservatives:
        http://dontblamemeivoted4kerry.com/page2.html
        \_ You're wrong.  That's comedy gold for us conservatives too.  Heh.
           \_ Not according to all those conservative hate mails

5/15    17 dead in Afghanistan, and now Newsweek apologizes.
        http://csua.org/u/c2q
        \_ Woohoo! Go newsweek!
        \_ uh oh, they're gonna lose subscribers, just like CBS. GO FOX NEWS!
        \_ They are owned by the Washington Post. They are responsible
           for Admiral Boorda's death.

5/15    Has anyone upgraded from a 300D (digital rebel) to the new
        Rebel XT?  I was thinking of cl'ing my 300D and getting an
        XT this summer b/c the XT is lighter/smaller than the 300D
        and has usb 2.0, but I wanted to know if the reduced weight
        and size is noticable.

5/15    Rethinking the Articles of Confederation
        http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1403342/posts

5/15    Indictments Mount for Hillary Aides
        http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1403701/posts

5/15    Interview with Intelligent Design leader Phillip Johnson:  Attended
        Harvard one year early, graduated first in class at Chicago law, and
        a Boalt professor emeritus - http://csua.org/u/c2t (Post)
        \_ Gee, I always get my biological science from lawyers.  -tom
           \_ Indeed, those do seem to be odd qualifications. -emarkp
        \_ Lawyers should stay out of science, scientists have always
           voluntarily stayed out of law.
           \_ munson@csua graduated cum laude in astrophysics, went to law
              school, worked as an attorney, and is going back to get his
              astrophysics doctorate.  So much for that theory :-)  -John
           \_ Lawyers and empirical scientists are both interested in
              causation (the former to determine responsibility, the latter
              to determine laws of nature).  The business of law and science
              is not that different.  -- ilyas
              \_ Lawyers are interested in winning, regardless of the
                 truth. Scientists are interested in winning too, but
                 at least the data has to stand up to empirical truth
                 \_ Some lawyers.  Just like there are some good politicans.
                 \_ You are thinking about litigators, most lawyers
                    don't litigate.  So far what I've learnt is that
                    being a lawyer is a lot like being an engineer,
                    you try to design solutions that will keep your
                    clients out of trouble and make thier lives
                    easier.
              \_ I think it's a matter of knowledge not principles.

5/14    I just flunked my theory of computation midterm. I'm a bit baffled
        at one of the questions that I got wrong. According to the answer
        key, L is finite state, but I'm pretty sure it's not.
        L={uvu^R | u,v  in {0,1}*, |v| is even}
        So I see that u and u^R are reverse, which already tells me that
        this is like Leq (need counting), hence not finite state. Is the
        answer key wrong, or I'm missing something obvious and stupid?
        \_ u^R means u backwards, right?  If so, any even-length string is in
           the language (let u be empty, and put the whole string in v).  No
           odd-length strings are in the language, because |v| would have to
           be odd.  So L is just the language of even-length strings.  --mconst
           \_ Thanks, yes L must be even. However, FS means that I'm able
              to build a machine with finite states, which means I should
              be able to represent it using regular expression. However,
              I can't possibly represent uvu^R because I need a push-down
              automaton to count for the reverse, so the answer should be
              be that L is NOT finite state, right?
              \_ /csua/tmp/regular-language  --mconst
              \_ How much space do you need to tell if a string has an
                 even number of characters?  -- ilyas
                 \_ Yes you're right, it is L={v | |v| is even}. I get
                    confused by that u^R thinking the string MUST conform
                    to that, but when in fact, it doesn't have to.
              \_ If your getting confused by uvu^R thinking you have to check
                 to make sure u is reversed with u^R, think of this:
                 Let v' = uvu^R.  Then consider u' = {} (and u^R = {}).  Now
                 u'v'u'^R is in the language because it was a string originally
                 in the language (its just uvu^R).  Maybe you can start to see
                 that the language is all the even strings, because just
                 consider both u and u^R to be the emptystring.  So you just
                 need to insure v is even (and hence can be recognized with a
                 DFA.)  -mrauser
        \_ Who takes midterms on May 14th?
           \_ Many people do.  I had two on May 14th.
              \_ What kind of whacked quarter/semester system in that?!

5/15    Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? If so, is it a good book
        to pick up? I'm split over whether to read it or not, based
        on reviews on amazon (which either love it or hate it).
        \_ This is a notoriously "difficult" book, so take reader reviews
           for what they're worth.  Some people that I know who have read
           it say that it's difficult for the sake of being difficult, and
           others like it for the "depth."  I couldn't finish it because
           all the years of video games and the internets have fried my
           attention span.
        \_ I read it twice: once to myself (I tend to skim) and once to my wife,
           out loud.  (You have to read every word when you do that, though
           curiously you can zone out while doing it, intone every word
           perfectly, do different voices, and not remember the content of the
           last few pages.)  At any rate, when I skimmed it I enjoyed it.  When
           I read the whole thing I realized I was definitely "not tall enough"
           to be reading this book.  If National Treasure is the working man's
           version of the Treasure w/ Clues Hidden Throughout History genre,
           this is the one for lit. majors.  YMMV, but I probably understood
           this is the one for lit. majors.  YMMV, but I probably under stood
           95% of the vocabulary and 35% of the literary and historical
           references.  (I was not a lit. major)  Oh, and if you read this first
           then read DaVinci Code you'll have definite dejM-a vM-y. --dbushong
           then read DaVinci Code you'll have definite dejá vù. --dbushong
           \- I thought Name of the Rose was quite a good story. I didnt
              think FP was a great story. I think there were individual
              paragraphs which were well written. I think they would have
              been worth reading for an aspiring writer who wanted to see
              some samples of nice descriptions, but again from a plot/
              characters/entertainment perspective, didnt do well "in my
              book" ... I finished the book in part because I was on
              expedition and it was one of the only books I had with me.
              I like history but I wasnt into all the stuff about
              I like history but I wasnt that into all the stuff about
              publishing. I dont understand why people consider it "hard".
              I think the Iliad is hard. There might be details one misses
                          \_ No, Ulysses is hard :). -- ilyas
                             \- I have read Ulysses once and the Iliad
                                6 times. I think the Iliad is more
                                rewarding. IMHO, U is much more for
                                people interested in literature while
                                I has more to say about "life". U (and
                                even more FW) in some ways are a little
                                bit of a game or deliberate, conscious
                                challenge while I is a stright up profound
                                work. As they say, YMMV. Parenthetically,
                                I think the Odyssey is very enjoyable but
                                much more "partial credit" friendly than I.
                                BTW, Professor Bishop is giving a talk about
                                FW on 5/26 at UCB.
              in FP, but it's pretty amenable to "partial credit" unlike
              a work with high "barriers to entry". If you have not read
              'Rose, read that. If you want other historical fiction
              recommendations, state your parameters. --psb
              \- BTW, one of the best historical fiction series I have
                 read is Les Rois Maudits [The Accursed Kings] series
                 begining with Le Roi de Fer [The Iron King] by Maurice
                 Druon. It is difficult to find a (english) copy to own,
                 although libraries ought to have them. It is about
                 although libraries ought to have it. It is about
                 Philip IV le Bel of France and his progeny. --psb
           then read DaVinci Code you'll have definite dejá vù. --dbushong
                 Philip IV, Le Bel, of France and his progengy. --psb
                 Philip IV, Le Bel, of France and his progeny. --psb
              \_ Name of the Rose was utter pap.  Long-winded rants, unresolved
                 plot threads and unsatisfactory endings don't make good books.
                 Highly overrated (though far less irritating than the Da Vinci
                 Code).
           \_ Da Vinci Code was Foucault's Pendulum light. FP is better
              written, more engaging, and imparts much more information
              than Dan Brown's rehashing of "Angels and Demons" and "Holy
              Blood, Holy Grail."  The reading level for FP is high, though
              straightforward; the literary and historical references are
              sometimes obscure. If you enjoy this, you may also enjoy the
              works of John Crowley, and you may even enjoy the Illuminatus!
              trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson. As for The Name of the Rose,
              it was brilliant, but it is so well-written in the style of
              the period that the prose quickly becomes unwieldy to the
              modern reader. --erikred
        \_ I liked it. I did not understand all the historical references
           though I did have some knowledge of the history of secret
           societies during the Crusades, from my past experience as
           a DeMolay (Masonic youth organization). I liked the fact
           that parts of the puzzle were "missing" for me, because
           they were missing for the main characters as well and
           it kind of put me in their mind state. If you can stand
           being baffled half the time, it is a great read. -ausman
           \- FYI, Les Rois Maudits more or less opens with the scene of
              Demolay et al roasting over an open fire on the Ile de la Cite.
              \_ Jacques DeMolay, you are avenged!
           \_ It has great references and a fantastic premise but the writing
              style and conclusion left me a bit unimpressed.  -John
        \_ Like Partha and the rest here, I read "difficult" books by choice.
           (With my name, how could I not?) I found FP to be like listening to
           the rant of a well-educated schizophrenic vagrant. It is
           occasionally brilliant but mostly just pleased with its own level
           of detailed erudition. The story beneath all the noise was hardly
           compelling, either. The Name of the Rose, on the other hand, I
           recommend. -- ulysses
        \_ I read it 10 years ago, so it's a little fuzzy, but I remember
           enjoying the book, though I wouldn't say it's a must read. The
           writing style and story are actually pretty straightforward, so,
           in that sense, it isn't particularly difficult, but I did find
           it really boring at points. The highlight of the book is a 200-300
           page section in the middle in which the development of the
           Knight's Templar, Rosicrucians, etc. is historically explained.
           I thought that part was awesome.  -ciyer

5/15    Justin Black, please expand all freeper URLs instead of using IPs.
        Until you do that, I'm deleting all of your stuff.
        \_ % finger jblack
           I'm confused. There are a lot of Clinton bashing, Reagan
           worshipping trash, mixed with quotes that point out why private
           land ownership is bad, mixed with why gun control is bad.
           Who the hell is Justin Black?

5/15    Does anyone happen to know generally how accurate getrusage() is?
        Can other activity on the system significantly influence the cpu
        time reporting? Thanks.