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| 2005/6/21-22 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:38216 Activity:moderate |
6/21 Boy, it's a good thing Bush knows how to support the troops!
"Marine Units Found To Lack Equipment"
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/06/21/marine_units_found_to_lack_equipment
\_ I'm glad you rely on the fourth estate for all your military
information. You'll make a fine draftee because you buy into
the lies much easier than way. Don't let reality get in the
way and believe that under a Republican President the military
has more supplies and more of what they want.
\_ Yeah, it pisses me off when the press goes to people who know
nothing about the situation for their information. I mean,
c'mon.. The Marine Corps Inspector General... What a liar.
\_ So you think missing Humvees and tanks that don't work while
hundreds of billions are siphoned from the taxpayers wallets
is normal and acceptable?
\_ Um.. there's a war going on. But even before that, ask
any soldier serving under Clinton, things were scarce.
\_ How many soldiers were killed in their un-armored
humvees by roadside bombs under Clinton?
\_ How many engagements did Clinton start w/o UN
approval also? Don't know? Ever wonder?
Your argument is like gun control. Blame anyone
else but the crook.
\_ Other than kosovo? dunno.
\_ Bush has gotten every cent he's asked for on Iraq.
It doesn't take 5 yrs to backorder flak jackets
and humvees. Hell, it doesn't even take 2 years.
If supplies were low at the start of the war, why
not send up an appropriations bill to pay for them?
Don't pass the buck. It stops @ Bush.
\_ Actually, it's probably more accurate to say it
stops at Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld is the highest up
guy who is a believer in the 'leaner military.'
I would be interested if anybody did any homework
on WHY on earth there would be shortages in the
military. It might well not be a money issue at
all. Blaming Bush might be satisfying, but it
doesn't really explain anything. -- ilyas
\_ Didn't we already have this discussion? The
suppliers of vehicle armor came out after
Rumsfeld said they were producing armor at
full capacity and said "Uh, no. We could
boost output if the Pentagon ordered it."
They tried to do this on the cheap and have
failed because of it. In WWII domestic car
sales were stopped so the factories could be
repurposed to provide new war vehicles.
Have we been asked to sacrifice? At all?
No. We were told to go out and shop.
They don't want us to notice that there's a
war.
\_ So I don't understand. The
\_ This article does not imply the shortages
the Marines are experiencing has anything
to do with fundamental industrial capacity
issues, but with poor planning regarding
replacements. Is there actually an
insufficient production problem, or a money
problem? -- ilyas
\_ Sorry, I sort of talked against myself
there. I believe it's poor planning,
period. I don't think it's a production
capacity problem, and for money, Congress
has been more than willing to loosen the
purse strings. I think it's the civilian
authority not listening to their military
which I think stems from political
concerns.
\_ I agree that it's a poor planning
problem, and I am interested to learn
where the problem actually lies.
I wouldn't be surprised if a part of
it was just large bureaucracy overhead
the military always seems to incur.
I think the military just has the
same kinds of horrendous inefficiency
issues which plague NASA, for much the
same reasons. I am not sure if this
can explain all shortages though.
I would be interested if there was,
indeed, the tradeoff between sacrifices
the civilian population makes and
sufficient stuff for the military.
I am guessing not -- the US isn't
that poorly off. -- ilyas
\_ But it's all systemic. I think
the administration under-requested
because they're trying to keep the
costs low. I think they're trying
to have their cake and eat it too,
what with taxcuts in wartime and
big pushes of war dollars to
private contractors. If the war
had been necessary, we could have
accomplished it without going
far deeper into debt, by asking
the people to tighten their belts
for the good of the nation. Instead
we're heading for a point where we
can only afford paying interest
on our debt.
I wouldn't be surprised at the
level of inefficiency in the
military. But I think looking at
the troops as a bottom-line item
that can be squeezed is disgusting.
\_ As I said, I am not at all sure
this is a real tradeoff (troop
supply vs belt-squeezing). We
aren't Russia, we have mind
boggling industrial capacity.
-- ilyas
\_ What do you suspect is the
problem then?
\_ I think the real problem
is inefficiency and
corruption, not any
particular conscious
evil ploy. -- ilyas
\_ What would you say
to a Truman-like
commission
\_ Creating oversight
is good, but I would
be more interested
in what is it about
the military
structure that caused
this sort of thing
to happen.
Commissions might be
a good short term
solution, but I am
more interested in
building a government
robust to corruption
and inefficinecy
is good. -- ilyas
\_ You're correct, but what pp
is saying is that it's a
politically motivated trade-
off, not an economically
motivated one. -!pp
\_ So we agree there's a planning problem.
That makes it Rumsfeld's problem. I hold
the view that Bush should be held
accountable for poor planning that's
been ongoing for 2 years.
which I think stems from political
concerns.
been ongoing for 2 years. -!pp
\_ Bush? Naw! He's a good guy. He can't
help it if some hardworking Americans
under him make mistakes now and again.
What's important is that they're good
people working hard for America.
\_ You can blame Bush for almost
any given thing that went wrong
during his tenure, and be right.
But, again, it's not a helpful
thing to point out because you don't
explain any particular failure --
usually a complex affair. -- ilyas
\_ Bush changed 80% of his cabinet for his
second term. He declined to change Rumsfeld.
You're argument is like blaming the Director
of IT for a 5 year IT systems debacle while
exculpating the CEO.
\_ Nice diversion. Now let's talk about "support the troops"
Bush. -tom
\_ God, that was classic Bushie: if you haven't got a point,
blame Clinton. |
| 2005/6/21-23 [Consumer/Camera] UID:38217 Activity:low |
6/21 Has anyone seen Triumph of the Will (1934)? What are your
thoughts on it? Should this piece be banned from the film
studies class or does it actually have substantial historical
and educational value in it?
\_ Nazi propaganda film? I think you are a troll.
\_ No, I'm asking because it's included in many film studies classs
and I'm surprised it's not banned or anything like that
\_ "If we fail to know history, we are doomed to repeat it."
\_ also, she did a lot of very interesting things with the
editing that were kind of mind-blowing at the time, but are
taken for granted nowadays. It's educational from a film
history perspective, even if the content does make me want
to vomit. -sax
\_ I don't really recall, I think I saw it when I was 12. I
remember it being interesting from a historical and film
technique perspective. Very effecitive propoganda. Worth
seeing. Another similarly influential/horrifying file is
"Birth of a Nation." I remember that one with a lot more ire,
but I saw it much more recently as well. I especially liked
presdient Wilson's quote at the beginning calling it
"history written in lightning." THAT made me want to vomit.
\_ The cinematographic techniques in it are absolutely fascinating,
as is the whole thing as a phaenomenon in and of itself. There
are far spooker Nazi propaganda films, such as "I accuse"
(forget the German title) and most of the not-so-in-your-face
ones. They're extra-scary because of the banality with which
they present what to most people is plain evil. If the topic
interests you, there are some rare late interviews with Leni
Riefenstahl that shed some light on her motivations. As for
"Birth of a Nation", it's much plumper in its propaganda. -John
\- Do you read Hannah Arendt?
\_ No, nor her books. I assume you're referring to her
idea of the destruction of familiar social contexts as
a basis for totalitarianism? I think the "scary shit"
I'm referring to would better be described as "chutzpah".
\_ "Eichmann In Jerusalem" should be required reading for
anyone, but I'm a little confused as to how it would
apply in this case.
\- the expression "the banality of evil" is most
tightly bound to HA. |
| 2005/6/21-22 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:38218 Activity:nil |
6/21 Tim Russert interviews VP Cheney on his predictions on post-war Iraq
prior to the invasion http://csua.org/u/cg6 (Post)
\_ It's amusing how quiet the motd conservatives are now that they've
been shown to be wrong in so many ways.
\_ We've learned that there's no point trying to discuss things
rationally with crazy wing-nut lefties who don't give a shit
about facts. -conservative
\_ Facts that are verifiably untrue don't help in a rational
discussion.
\_ "Ah. I'll have to think about that more carefully. That
does suggest a problem in my reasoning." -emarkp
(From yesterday's thread)
\_ w00+! +5 points for using someone's desire to learn
and be rational as an insult!
\_ hey, it's not a crack @ emarkp. At least he gives
"a shit about facts," unlike the previous nutjob
conservative above. -nivra
\_ Yeah, you could scarcely conceal your glee on
wall though. You are pathetic.
\_ Wow. anonymous ad-hominem attacks. I'm honored.
-nivra
\_ There was no attempt to insult. I will spoon-feed it
to you:
"there's no point to discuss things rationally with
crazy wing-nut lefties" conservative guy wrote.
Yesterday, emarkp (another conservative guy) was
discussing the Lancet article with nivra (lefty).
They had a rational conversation, and emarkp
(conservative) left saying nivra (lefty) had a point.
This contradicts the idea that "there's no point to
discuss things rationally with crazy wing-nut lefties".
Got it?
\_ Are you implying that nivra is a "crazy wing-nut
lefty"? I'd guess that the "It's amusing" guy is
(but have no knowledge of nivra's political
leanings).
\_ I'm liberal. And yes, conservativeguy(TM)
will probably view me as a "crazy wing-nut
liberal" as long as he's stuck in his warped,
faith-based right wing echo chamber. -nivra
\_ http://csua.org/u/cg9 (kchang's archive) |
| 2005/6/21-25 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:38219 Activity:low |
6/21 Most SUV drivers do not have any environmental guilt: "Not
surprisingly, few SUV drivers have been buying them. Most have gone
to owners of fuel-efficient cars that produce relatively few
pollutants."
http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/funonwheels/06/17/car_smog_pay
\_ If they had any environmental guilt/conscience they wouldn't
buy an SUV in the first place. QED.
\_ I am an SUV owner, and I can say I have more enviromental
conscience than many people in my company because I use public
transit to commute to work even though it takes longer than
driving, while other co-workers living in the same area drive to
work.
\_ I saw a "BIN LADEN USED YOUR GAS MONEY" bumpersticker last week.
\_ Do you know who our largest oil importer is?
\_ Your momma's scalp?
\_ Seems kind of pointless. Just tax gas more and people will drive
more fuel efficient cars or take the bus.
\_ Ah yes, I'm sure our awsome Governator would be amenable to that
\_ it's not fair to SUV drivers. Most people do not have any
environmental guilt. how many people willing to leave their
car at home and seperate garbage for the sake of environment?
\_ I do. -ausman |
| 2005/6/21-22 [Science/Electric, Computer/Companies/Google, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:38220 Activity:nil |
6/21 Does anybody have current contact info for blojo@csua? I've
tried to email him, but I'm not sure he still pays attention
to the CSUA mail. -vadim
\_ google has his web site as first hit
mailto:jon@number-none.com
whois the site shows his name/address/phone/email address
\_ Thanks, I was googling for the wrong thing. -vadim
\_ That should have gotten lots of hits on google too. |
| 2005/6/21 [Uncategorized] UID:38221 Activity:nil |
6/21 Has anyone seen Triumph of the Will (1934)? What are your
thoughts on it?
\_ Nazi propaganda film? I think you are a troll. |
| 2005/6/21-22 [Reference/Military] UID:38222 Activity:low |
6/21 Draft these people http://tinyurl.com/b3bpe \_ HAH AH A this is HILARIOUS thanks for the joke (fyi it's about Confederates fighting Star Trek guys) \_ Highly amusing, thank you. Check the date on it as well. |
| 2005/6/21-23 [Uncategorized] UID:38223 Activity:nil |
6/21: Is there a way to tell diff to diff the two lines it finds
different rather than just listing the two lines and
leaving it to me to figure out how they are different
(these are really long (>>80 chars) lines)
Thanks
\_ ObUsePerl
\_ you could probably use a combo of diff + {od/hd} to do this |
| 2005/6/21-22 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:38224 Activity:nil |
6/21 US 'concealing' Saddam's secrets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4115976.stm
\_ The world needs to know Saddam's brand of undies! |
| 2005/6/21-23 [Reference/Tax] UID:38225 Activity:nil |
6/21 Is it worth winning a trip on a gameshow when they
set the prize's worth to like $4000 to make it sound good
when you can just book a the same vacation for like $1500?
since you have to pay taxes on it and all anywayz
\_ took me five minutes to find, but here it is:
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/06/03/aa_free_plane_tix_co.html
\_ what gameshow? You also have to consider that it might be
fun participating in a gameshow. |
| 2005/6/21-25 [Finance/Investment] UID:38226 Activity:nil |
6/21 I can understand why GM's stock is in the dumps, but why is
Toyota's (symbol TM) stock so cheap, with trailing PE of 11?
\_ Yeah, HMC is even cheaper, which is why I loaded up on
a bunch back in 2003. Japanese stocks in general are very
cheap, mostly for good economic reasons, but these two
have solid growth prospects. |
| 2005/6/21-23 [Reference/Law/Court] UID:38227 Activity:nil |
6/21 Regarding the Killen trial. He was tried in the 60s and the jury
deadlocked (11 for and 1 against conviction). How come we can
try him again? Is it because there are new evidence?
\_ Was it declared a mistrial for the hung jury? If so, there's no
statute of limitation on murder. The plaintiff can refile. IANAL |
| 2005/6/21-22 [Finance/Investment] UID:38228 Activity:moderate |
6/21 How aggressive are you in your stock portfolio?
\_ so aggressive that i quit jobs just so i can
put all my 401k into Iras so I can buy individual stocks
\_ very aggressive with my own money. more conservative managing my
mom and my girlfriend's money. while their holdings are beating
\_ My company's 401k has an option to buy individual stocks myself
instead of mutual funds. But I chose a mutual fund anyway.
\_ very aggressive with my own money. more conservative managing
mom and my girlfriend. while their holdings are beating
the market, mine have been hitting home runs since oct 2002, when
I regrouped after the bubble.
\_ So what are your 'home run' picks past and present?
\_ gains or losses > 30%
homeruns:
crxl 8/03 ~ 540%
nvda 10/02 11/02 66%
bby 11/02 12/02 31%
hele 11/02 10/03 123%
hele 11/02 11/03 123%
utsi 3/03 9/03 91%
gric 3/03 5/03 75%
fosl 5/03 6/04 111%
vip 8/03 10/03 46%
tlk 8/03 10/03 40%
cyd 7/03 11/03 277%
ivan 9/03 10/03 95%
arlc 10/03 2/04 132%
ach 10/03 1/04 55%
bhp 11/03 5/05 47%
mbt 11/03 4/04 75%
rio 7/04 ~ 84%
pbr 12/04 ~ 31%
crxl 8/03 ~ 540%
ifn 11/03 ~ 47%
eurox 11/03 ~ 55%
maptx 11/03 ~ 35%
strikeouts
ysp.ca 11/03 12/03 -44%
cyd 11/03 11/04 -48%
utsi 12/03 11/04 -53%
nxg 2/04 6/04 -30%
asx 2/04 11/04 -35%
spil 2/04 6/04 -33%
current holdings - held for some time:
held for some time:
crxl, rio, pbr, tsm, mbt, rtp, ifn, mchfx, epp
macsc, eurox, mjfox, maptx, tavix, dvy, bjbix
macsx, eurox, mjfox, maptx, tavix, dvy, bjbix
current holdings - bought in the last 2 months:
recent buys (few days to 2 months)
desc, nile, sgtl, atyt, mot, snda, tm, fdx, vz |
| 2005/6/21-23 [Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:38230 Activity:high |
6/21 My math and/or perl fu is weak. Is there a way to get integer
multiplication in Perl the way it's done in C? i.e. limiting
to 32 bits. Like 1588635697 * 1117695901 = 1166976269 in C.
\_ Can't you just multiply and then mask all but the last 32 bits?
\_ I don't think so; that's not the same as mult overflow.
> perl -e 'print (1588635697 * 1117695901)'
> 1.77561160671918e+18
> perl -e '$foo = (1588635697 * 1117695901); printf("%u",$foo)'
> 4294967295
> perl -e '$f=(1588635697*1117695901)&0xffffffff;printf("%u",$f)'
> 4294967295
I guess I could call C from perl but I'd rather not. Or construct
my own slow 32-bit binary multiplier in Perl, haha.
\-ObUseLISP
\_ People sometimes give me a hard time for disliking Perl, but I
really do feel it's not a well-designed programming language.
This is one example of why. Most other high level languages
have a notion of a native integer and native floating point
type. Lisp and ML languages certainly do. By the way,
what you want to do is 'use integer;'. In other words:
perl -e 'use integer; $f=(1588635697*1117695901);printf("%u",$f)'
-- ilyas
\_ Perl never claimed to be strong computationally. It's
a text munging engine at its core. That "use integer"
is required isn't all that surprising.
\_ Neither Lisp nor ML claim to be strong computationally
either (they are both meant for symbolic processing).
This does not stop them from having good design, and
a GC that doesn't leak. Matlab, which is often used
for numerical tasks, has a base numeric type that is
a complex-valued matrix! This excuse is neither here
nor there. Perl's poor quality coupled
with Perl's popularity really lowered consumer
expectations, I feel, which is a pity. -- ilyas
\_ Thanks, that works... except I had to play around a bit.
For example this case doesn't work:
perl -e 'use integer; $f=1117695901*(3177271395/2); printf("%u",$f)'
> 137188522
The division seems to throw a wrench in it. But it works
if I put only the multiplication in a block by itself,
with 'use integer' there. I'm not sure I trust this thing.
\_ how do you get the C-integer behavior in Lisp?
\_ Lisp, by default, uses bignums in case of overflow,
but it is possible to get around this with some
syntax verbosity, for instance in cmucl:
(defun f (x y)
(declare (optimize (safety 0)))
(declare ((unsigned-byte 32) x y))
(the (unsigned-byte 32) (* x y)))
(print (f 1588635697 1117695901))
There's probably a shorter way, but I don't care
enough to find it. At least it does the Right Thing
always, unlike Perl above. Notice that Lisp treats this
issue as one of type safety -- setting the safety knob
to 0 forces it to use the unsigned 32 bit integer type
for the result even if it cannot prove the result will
'fit.' -- ilyas
\_ well those people are idiots. Perl is not a programming
language, it's a bunch of ugly hacks that look like a
programming language. The fact that Perl is so popular
is not so much that it is intuitive or has features of
good languages, but the fact that it has one of the
most comprehensive libraries out there. I hate Perl,
but I also hate writing stuff in Java or scripts where I
need to build or find my own CGI lib, XML parser, code
generator, sql mod, and all the extra nice things that
are readily available on Perl.
\_ You should give Python a try. It has plenty of
drawbacks, like any interpreted language, but its
a million times better than Perl IMO. And you get a
huge set of the aforementioned bells and whistles that
are roughly comparable to what Perl has. Note that
one of the first complaints about Python is usually its
use of whitespace as a block delimiter, so if you can't
get past that you're probably SOL.
\_ I feel Python is a poorly implemented, inelegant
Lisp with decent library support. See Norvig's
essay on this subject. -- ilyas
\_ From Norvig's site: "The two main drawbacks of
Python from my point of view are (1) there is very
little compile-time error analysis and type
declaration, even less than Lisp, and (2)
execution time is much slower than Lisp, often by
a factor of 10 (sometimes by 100 and sometimes by
1). Qualitatively, Python feels about the same
speed as interpreted Lisp, but very noticably
slower than compiled Lisp. For this reason I
wouldn't recommend Python for applications that
are (or are likely to become over time) compute
intensive. But my purpose is oriented towards
pedagogy, not production, so this is less of an
issue."
Overall from what I can tell, he seems to *like*
Python despite these objections, and his main
objection seems to be that you can't compile it.
I've done tons of useful production work with
Python, so while I see where he's coming from I
don't see the practical downside of his complaint.
I can see why a computer scientist might object
to Python, though.
\_ You have to understand that Norvig works at
Google now, and Google has standardized on
Python, like it or not. I am not really
familiar with internal politics over there,
but it wouldn't surprise me if he was somewhat
pressured to not hate Python too much. I feel
scheme + SICP is the best pedagogy tool for
CS. There are a lot of really clunky things
about Python I don't like, but then again,
that's true of most languages. That's why I
want to roll my own one day. Also, the kinds
of things I like in programming languages are
fairly obscure, hard to explain and verbalize
things. -- ilyas
\_ Well, roll your own then. It's
actually pretty easy these days. Jim
Gray is quoted as wondering why
everyone isn't doing it.
\_ Writing is easy. Designing is hard.
-- ilyas
\_ "A poorly implemented, inelegant Smalltalk
with decent library support," is probably
a more accurate description of the language.
- ciyer
\_ How do you feel about ruby? -aspo
\_ Yeah, ruby is a new take on smalltalk
(dynamic typing, everything is an object).
Python resembles lisp more than
smalltalk. -- ilyas
\_ So. What do you think about ocaml?
\_ I don't like ocaml as much as I once
did. It's a good implementation
(which is rare), but I have been
finding design problems. E-mail me
if you are interested in a serious
discussion rather than half-hearted
trolling attempts. -- ilyas
\_ Foolish me for thinking that perl used bignums instead of
magically converting ints to floats. -pp
\- people who think perl is good as opposed to useful
typically have not been exposed to something actually
good. while one can debate what is the "Right Thing"
it's pretty pointless to debate what somebody else
finds useful. i use perl now and then but at the back of
my mind i am always a little nervous because of all the
things it is doing behind the scenes [to allow sloppiness]
which i dont understand. although admittedly i havent
seen perl do too many really crazy things since perl 4
[where you would hit crazy implementation as opposed to
design bugs like you would reorder a case statement and
all of a sudden perl core dumped. it's funny how berkeley
unix was the example of "worse is better" in the famous
"essay" and now BSD Unix is sort of the gold standard.
\_ psb, did you write some Open Source polynomial solvers
in Lisp? I came across some code by a "psb" at my
last job.
\- um, i did write some stuff for MACSYMA a while ago.
this was sort of pre-open src so it was more like
i threw it out there. this actually indirectly came
out of a ucb linear algebra class. a dumbass friend
of mine brought us what he said was an extra credit
homework problem, but turned out sort of a hard
problem [maybe a Knuth 42] and this lead to some
useful stuff being written. the only place i was
aware this was being used was IBM.
\_ My favorite thing that Perl got wrong is their
garbage collector, which leaks on cyclic data structures.
There is even an AI koan about this very subject.
-- ilyas
\_ point is valid. Luckily, most Perl programs
like CGI/PHP don't persist too long. Perl doesn't
scale well for real huge programs.
\_ Is that a GC bug or a result of the way it was
designed?
\_ It was designed that way. -- ilyas
\_ It was designed that way. See koan #2 here:
http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?AI+koan
-- ilyas |
| 2005/6/21-22 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:38231 Activity:nil |
6/21 Show me the love, Palestine:
http://csua.org/u/cgd (jpost)
\_ "Another Gaza resident responded: "May God protect us against such
weird and dangerous ideas. The next thing we will hear is that we
need a party for gays and lesbians."
In America we call people who think this way "Republicans." Maybe
Bill Frist should run for president of Palestine. |
| 2005/6/21-23 [Politics, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:38232 Activity:nil |
6/21 World's first solar sail in jeapardy: http://csua.org/u/cge \_ Does it say anything about the reliability of Russia's ballistic missile? Or is that an outdated missile model no longer used by the military? |
| 2005/6/21-25 [Computer/SW/Unix] UID:38233 Activity:nil |
6/21 What's the currently accepted "best" fastest way to write a lot of
little data to a file in Unix? Is it still mmap/memcpy, or is there
something more advanced nowadays? Maybe send me e-mail? -- Marco
\_ I'm curious as well, so please post responses here. --darin
\_ I think you will find that it depends entirely on the hardware
platform and in most cases the programming style only affects
a few percent on the fastest RAID drive arrays. this is because
RAM and CPU are so much faster than disks. trying to do high
bandwidth network I/O, on the other hand can be tricky and
interesting if you are into that sort of thing... zero-copy
asynchronous bulk I/O.
\- i agree, a lot of little details matter. is it totally
concurrency domainated, what kind of device is being
written to, is it ok to write to cache or do you need
to flush to metal, can you use some hack like immediate data
[veritas], is locking an issue? does your application only
use traditional sematics [supercomputing uses have special
ways of doing large i/o], can you choose your file system,
is byte range locking an issue? is the rate at which you
are given inodes an issue? etc. it would be interesting to
see how IBM/GPFS would do at this. |
| 2005/6/21-25 [Science/Space, Reference/Religion, Politics/Domestic/RepublicanMedia] UID:38234 Activity:kinda low |
6/21 What is the most overrated book you have read?
The #1 overrated book of ALL TIME is: ZatAoMM
\- BTW, many of the 1star AMAZONG reviews are enjoyable
to read and are small compnesation for this ass book.
Notice the two themes: 1. the author is *actually*
insane 2. feel sorry for the son.
\_ anything by Jack Welch
\_ The Bible. Delete this again and the thread dies.
\_ Beloved by Morrison
\_ The Bible. I still don't understand why, given that the whole thing
is translated anyway, the English versions always have to have such
awkward language and style.
\_ Beloved by Morrison
\_ I really enjoyed it. --scotsman
\_ Cyptonomicon. God that book sucked. -aspo
\_ Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one who hated that book. Is
everything by Stepherson that bad? A friend thinks I should
read Snow Crash. -jrleek
\_ I think everyone who went to Cal should read The Big U.
It's a satire of American college life. I think Stephenson
went to BU, but a lot of the stuff is amazingly familiar.
\_ snow crash wasn't too bad.
\_ seconded
\_ snow crash is good. Zodiac is short and
amusing.
\_ Zodiac's his only book with an acutal ending.
\_ The Name of the (stinking) Rose. Blah blah blah blah blah -- SHUT
UP ALREADY AND TELL A STORY. Whew. Glad to get that off my chest.
\_ What, you don't like vicissitudes?
\_ Atlas Shrugged
\_ Anything by Ann Coulter
\_ The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Heinlein
\_ The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
\_ SICP. (ok, just kidding)
\_ Dianetics.
\_ The New Testament. But the old testament is wicked cool.
\_ Design Patterns
\_ Abelson & Sussman. Ugh. -John
\_ E_TOOSHORT
\_ Design Patterns
\_ The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Look, fuckhead who keeps deleting
this, I am entitled to my opinion. If you don't agree then say
why, don't just censor me.
\_ Trouble with the motd is you are interacting with some
serious idiots. Either you get censored repeatedly or you
can't even delete some 4-day old dead threads without them
getting restored. Maybe by the same idiot.
\_ The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.
\_ Stupid additions were deleted. You do not understand the
question, although not as badly as the people answering
"The Bible" or "Anne Coulter". I had hoped you would have
realized that after a couple of selective deletions, but
it looks like you are beyond being reached. |
| 2005/6/21-22 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton] UID:38240 Activity:moderate |
6/21 DeLay is just a good honest Republican:
http://csua.org/u/cgt (Yahoo news)
\_ Dan Rostenkowski, and Jim Wright, are good
honest Democrats too. Please! Both sides cheat,
the trick is not to get caught. If you don't know
who those two are, you are yet another person
who thinks politics extends back only to Clinton.
\_ The point is that he's the GOP House leader, and GOP folks
are more hypocritical / much less apologetic about corruption,
politicking, and screw-ups.
\_ Heh. -- ilyas
\_ Dan Rostenkowski, Jim Wright, and Jim Traficant are good
honest Democrats too. Please! Both sides cheat, the trick
is not to get caught. If you don't know who those three are
you are yet another person who thinks politics extends back
Clinton.
\_ Rostenkowski was what? Wright was what? Talk about less
apologetic - look at Traficant.
\_ Shock! Surprise! Politicians are all scummy! "Your politicians
are scummier than my politicians! nyah!" Whatever on all of you.
These sorts of "your guys are more corrupt and hypocritical than
my guys are corrupt and hypocritical" noise is sheer idiocy from
both parties. I vote for people who believe in what I believe in
not for a party.
\_ delay is much more powerful than rostenkowski or traficant
ever were. my memory doesn't go back far enough to comment
on wright. it is funny that the 5th in command
republican is such a slimeball. - danh |
| 2005/6/21-23 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd, Uncategorized/Profanity, Consumer/Audio] UID:38241 Activity:nil |
6/21 Hey native russian speakers, what the hell is this:
http://www.dusha.su/main.html
I can't figure it out. .su is Siberia... I think?
I didn't know Siberia had split off already!
Who is this guy? http://tinyurl.com/72luo - danh
\_ .su is leftover from soviet union.
\_ Where did you hear about these guys, Dan? They are a cult, by
the way. E-mail me for details. -- ilyas
\_ share all the juicy details with the rest of the motd.
\_ Eh, why should I? Motd treats me like shit. -- ilyas
\_ motd treats us all like shit |
| 3/14 |