Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2005:June:27 Monday <Sunday, Tuesday>
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2005/6/27 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Domestic/RepublicanMedia] UID:38308 Activity:nil
6/27    "If you look up 'last throes,' it can mean a violent last throe,"
        Rumsfeld said on ABC's "This Week." Violence may escalate, he said,
        because insurgents "have so much to lose between now and December."

        "Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years," Rumsfeld
        said on "Fox News Sunday."
2005/6/27-28 [Computer/SW/P2P] UID:38309 Activity:nil
6/27    Supreme court rules against Grokster and Streamcast in Grokster vs. MGM
        Discuss.
        http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/technology/27cnd-grokster.html
        \_ All your torrents are belong to us.  Unanimously.
        \_ Better tack an extra 1% onto Federal income tax, because, who
           knows, everyone could download illegal shit.
           http://thepiratebay.org/legal.php  -John
        \_ The reason SCOTUS ruled unanimously against Grokster was because of
           internal e-mails, business-to-business e-mails, and interviews where
           Grokster reps clearly wrote that a core purpose of their software
           Grokster reps clearly said that a core purpose of their software
           was to take over the Napster user base, which was losing users
           rapidly because they put in controls on copyrighted media -- right?
           If this is the case, then for Grokster specifically, this is open
           and shut boys and girls.  I don't believe there was any fundamental
           change in any policy.
           change in any law.  If Comcast wrote in internal e-mails, "We want
           to improve bandwidth so all the people trading the z3r0-d4y will
           keep their subscriptions with us!" then they'd be fucked too.
           If, on the other hand, the creator of BitTorrent is on-record as
           saying he's never used the software he created to download a single
           pirated file (he beta'd the software with pr0n) ... well, maybe you
           can go after businesses trying to make money off BitTorrent.
           The only things interesting IMO are that:  lower courts were so
           farking stupid to write that Grokster was covered under Betamax;
           and that media is covering this as if SCOTUS ruled against P2P
           software in general.
        \_ "The record is replete with evidence that from the moment Grokster
           and StreamCast began to distribute their free software, each one
           clearly voiced the objective that recipients use it to download
           copyrighted works, and each took active steps to encourage
           infringement" -Souter
2005/6/27-28 [Computer/Networking] UID:38310 Activity:nil
6/27    A big win for cable companies:
        http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/27/technology/broadband_ruling
2005/6/27 [Uncategorized] UID:38311 Activity:nil
6/27    The Next Big Idea (for liberals):
        http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2005/06/26/the-next-big-idea
2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Taiwan] UID:38312 Activity:kinda low
6/27    I'm a Taiwanese citizen and my password renewal is only $36 at the
        Taiwanese Cultural Center (Embassy in Los Angeles) and takes
        about 2-3 weeks. My gf is a US citizen and her passport renewal is
        $55 and takes about 6 weeks. Her expedited fee is $60. Can someone
        tell me why there's a big difference? Like government more/less
        efficient, funding issues, 9/11 background check, etc?
        \_ It isn't a big difference.
        \_ Perhaps tw population is only 23 million, and u.s. is 300 million?
        \_ Probably because they assume Americans have more money.  When
           I applied for a travel visa at the Chinese consulate in SF it
           was $100, but a lot cheaper for Chinese citizens.
        \_ Shrug, I didn't do expedited and my U.S. passport came in the
           mail in 10 days last year.
           \_ I got my US passport in about a week as well.
        \_ American government worker efficiency can be easily characterized
           as those who work as efficiently as DMV. Go Europe!!! Fuck America!
        \_ Cheap Taiwanese labor
        \_ Seriously though - when you renew your Taiwanese passport (or any
           other foreign passports) in their respective embassies/consulates,
           you seldom get the maximum renewal period. So if you go back to
           Taiwan and renew your Taiwanese passport there, you might get 6
           extra years while here in LA you only get 3 years extension. The
           idea is to give you enough time and encourage you to renew back in
           Taiwan. US passports are more expensive to renew, BUT you get
           something like 5-10 extra years, so the $$$ is a wash.
           \- this is an artificial number. the time is what the govt
              wants it to be. it's like asking why library A allows 3weeks
              + 3 renewals and another library allows 1month + 2 renewals.
              however the costs may be affected by the USD exchange rate.
2005/6/27-28 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:38313 Activity:high 66%like:37321
6/27    How's that Google short going?
        \_ I think Google buyers have lost their damned minds.
           \_ you thought that when it was at 100, and you didn't have
              any justification for it then.  What is your justification
              now?  -tom
              \_ Same as it was then: overvalued. It was overvalued at
                 100.
                 \_ According to what?  -tom
                    \_ Well, P/E of 120 is a bit higher than normal.
                       \_ Normal compared to what?  What about forward P/E?
                          You can't just look at a number in a column at
                          http://finance.yahoo.com and conclude that a stock is
                          overvalued (or undervalued).  -tom
              \_ So buy some options instead of shorting the stock directly:
                 Controlled downside as well as upside.
                 \_ yeah, you can only lose 100% of your investment!  -tom
              \_ http://www.smartmoney.com/pricecheck/index.cfm?story=worksheet&symbol=GOOG&nav=pc_snaps
                    \_ Better than losing 10x your investment...
                    \_ You can avoid this by buying a mix of call and
                       get options.
                       \_ Most people should leave the hedges for
                          professionals.  (Certainly people who were planning
                          to short Google at 100 should.)  -tom
                          \_ Heh, most professionals should leave hedges
                             to professionals should leave the hedges to
                             someone else as well.  I understand most
                             hedge funds fail.
              \_ http://csua.org/u/ciy -not the GOOG short guy
                 \_ A few things about a tool like this.  It's useful, and
                    a lot more meaningful than looking at P/E ratio.  But
                    there are a number of subjective assumptions in the
                    design, which not everyone may agree with, and the numbers
                    they are plugging in are conjecture at best.  Will Google
                    grow at a 31% average annual rate over the next 5 years?
                    Right now it's growing at a 100% average annual rate.
                    If you set the 5-year EPS growth rate to 50%, that
                    calculator spits out $384 as a price.  If you leave
                    the EPS growth rate at 31% and set the "perpetual"
                    EPS growth rate to 5% it spits out $305.  If you set
                    the benchmark return to 7% it spits out $340.
                    In summary: You have to know what all those numbers
                    mean to use that calculator to come up with a valuation.
                      -tom
                    \_ Valid points, but I think it's clear you are a GOOG
                       shill at this point. I still think I will be right
                       in the end. I've had arguments with people over
                       stocks like ENE that I seemed to have lost at the
                       time, too. GOOG stockholders are a cult at this point.
                       No one in their right mind would buy that POS at
                       current valuations. It's (so far) a self-fulfilling
                       prophecy. In fact, I will put my money where my
                       mouth is and buy puts on this dog.
                       \_ I am not a GOOG shill.  I do not own GOOG and I
                          never have.  I just am tired of people who clearly
                          know nothing about investing making pronouncements
                          \_ "know nothing...making pronouncements"...
                             to hear those words from tom.
                          like "GOOG is overvalued at $100", when $100 would
                          currently mean a forward P/E of $15.  Its forward
                          P/E is lower than Yahoo or EBay (two other stocks
                          I don't own).  And to call it a "POS" is ridiculous;
                          this is a company that is currently growing
                          revenues at 100% per year!  The Google story is
                          not about the stock price.  -tom
2005/6/27-28 [Uncategorized] UID:38314 Activity:nil 60%like:38321
6/27    How much do people trust http://www.anonymizer.com  Do they have a good
        reputation for privacy, and how much can they protect your infomation
        if they are subpoenaed?
2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:38315 Activity:nil
6/27    Pro-Iraq-War editorial:
        http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006876
        (login with: dontbug@coldmail.com)
        \_ Eh, try Pro-Iraq-War editorial.  And I think the assertion that
           the insurgency lacks native roots is wishful thinking.  I would
           hope they were right, as their rosy conclusion is very comforting,
           but I doubt they are.
        \_ So the Journal is pro-war and biased in its reporting. What a
           surprise.
           \_ What, you don't believe the editorial and news are separate?  So
              long NYT then.
        \_ Q: Did anyone here hear about the Sunni's signing on a few weeks
           ago?  I didn't hear a peep about it.  Why is that?
           \_ It was covered in http://latimes.com, http://nytimes.com, http://washingtonpost.com.
              Probably http://CNN.com, but it got outplayed by even more people
              blowing up more often.
        \_ It is amusing to watch the pro-war crowd switch from trash
           talking to the blame game. They are trying to pin their failures
           on everyone but themselves now.
        \_ They should add this quote too to the top:
           "If this does go on for four, eight, 10, 12, 15 years -- whatever
           -- and I agree with General Myers, we don't know -- it is going to
           be a problem for people of Iraq." -Def Sec Rumsfeld (June 23 2005)
           If one side is saying the insurgency is in its last throes, which
           it isn't, and the other side says this is bullshit, I think we can
           conclude that the WSJ editorial board is bullshitting us too.
           If they wanted to be more honest, they could just say, "Listen, VP
           Cheney lied to us, but it's your patriotic duty to focus on only
           the positive developments in Iraq and to not call something
           bullshit even if it is."
2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Domestic/Crime, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:38316 Activity:moderate
6/27    Agriculture - The Worst Mistake In The History of the Human Race?
        http://www.agron.iastate.edu/courses/agron342/diamondmistake.html
        \_ There are so many hilarious logical flaws in that article I don't
           know where to start.
           \- Helo, this seemed absurd to me too, but I really dont know
              much about anthropology or pre-literate societies. I have
              read a little bit of GGS and some of that stuff seems pretty
              interesting [also well-beyond things I have significant
              understanding of]. On the other hand, I believe much of what
              he says in Collapse seems tenuous. I think there are more
              he says in Collapse seems tenuous. I feel there are more
              compelling explanations rooted in economics. It would be
              like trying to explain prisonner dilemma by "studying the
              criminal mind" instead of the spare axioms of rationality
              or trying to explain tragedy of the commons by sociological
              factors or "first/second image" explanations [in the sense
              of Waltz: Man, the State and War]. I think it would be
              interesting to ask him if he things hunt/gather societies
              could have evolved universities, libraries and other such
              knowledge-oriented institutions and labor specialization.
              I think he's a pretty smart guy, but I wonder if after
              becoming a "public intellectual" he feels obligated to
              come up with big, provocative ideas that are a little beyond
              his core knowledge [the extreme example is when physicists
              win the nobel prize and start talking about world peace].
              I do imagine he would have some rebuttals to your hilarious
              logical [not empirical?] flaws which you failed to know
              where to begin enumerating and leave unstated. ok tnx.
              \- btw, JD is giving a talk in SF in about 2 weeks.
2005/6/27-28 [Recreation/Computer/Games, Politics/Foreign] UID:38317 Activity:low
6/27    Has anyone been lucky enough to get to play a preview/beta version
        of Battlefield 2? What are your thoughts? Is it better than
        Battlefield Vietnam or 1942? "In Battlefield 2, players will choose
        to fight for one of three military superpowers: the United States,
        the Chinese, or the newly formed Middle East Coalition."
        \_ May I humbly suggest you try out Forgotten Hope?  I am really
           looking forward to their BF:2-based version.  It's the best mod
           I've seen yet.  -John
        \_ I tried it without ever seeing BV or 1942.  Way too complicated.
           Way too much loading time.  I uninstalled the demo pretty quick.
        \_ Try the demo.  Much better than BF:V.  Memory hog though.
           --paulwang
        \_ Its the best thing since sliced bread, and more addictive.
           Way better than previous Battlefields, with the new dimension of
           squads, so there is a big push for teamwork now.  Loading time
           only happens when loading the level.  This game is a resource hog
           though, even more than HL2.  Downsides:  Snipers got nerfed big
           time, and often require 2-3 shots to take someone down.  Reloading
           time seems a lot longer too.  If you are at all interested, get
           the demo.   -rollee
           \_ Is that 2-3 head shots, or just anywhere shots?  I think
              recently snipers have been way too powerful in many games.
              My favorite example is AvP2, where the tougher aliens could
              take 5 anti-tank rockets to the head, but one sniper bullet
              kills them.
              \_  According to the forums, headshots are not instant kills.
2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan] UID:38318 Activity:high
6/27    God, I really envy the Japs. Why don't we have something like this?
        http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/06/27/bt.japan.bullet.train.ap
        \_ Japan has a much higher population density?
           \_ You can't compare Japan to the US; you should compare to
              California, or the eastern seaboard.  Obviously you can't
              support bullet rail in Wyoming, but California has plenty of
              population density and travel to do so.  -tom
              \_ Japan also doesn't have the kinds of politics the US does.
                 http://tinyurl.com/7myk2 -- I recall midwesthsr being
                 throttled by every 2-bit politician wanting a stop in his
                 town in return for voting for it, sort of like the Washington
                 airport expressway.  By the way, the pic on that tinyurl link
                 is of a Zurich commuter train--very un-high speed.  -John
              \_ Japan is not at all comparable to California.  Try flying
                 above the CA coast and looking down vs. the same in Japan.
                 Japan is smaller than CA and 3.5x the population.
              \_ Hmmm, I wonder how a bullet train from SF to LA would do?
                 \_ There is a proposal for it, which of course the airlines
                    are fighting tooth and nail.  They killed a similar
                    project in Texas.  I think a high-speed rail connection
                    between SF and LA, with downtown embarcation, would
                    be heavily used.  -tom
                    \_ As someone who hates airports and flying with a passion,
                       I think this country could use more high speed rail.
                         -- ilyas
                       \_ Who do you expect to pay for the infrastructure to
                          build this high speed rail, oh libertarian?
                          \_ Charitable donations from Republicans, of course.
                             Big corporations rip off average consumers so
                             that they can make big donations to the poor.
                             All heil Waltons, Bushs, and Gates   -Libertarian
                 \_ "The train is expected to make the 360 mile trip between
                    Tokyo and Aomori --about the distance between San Fran-
                    cisco and Los Angeles -- within three hours ..."
              \_ Population density:
                 San Francisco:  16,632 per sq. mi.
                   Los Angeles:   7,990 per sq. mi.
                         Tokyo:  33,617 per sq. mi.
                 \_ California is not as populus as Japan, but it is as
                    populus as many places which have extensive rail networks.
                      -tom
                    \_ Whatever.  My numbers were for cities.  Also, high-speed
                       rail needs local city transportation as well, else no
                       one will ride if they can't get the last 1-5 miles.
                       \_ Yeah, that is why no one is willing to fly
                       \_ Yeah, that is why no one is willing to fly in
                          airplanes. They can't get out of the airport.
                          \_ I remember an article in the SFCron a few
                             years ago that driving to LA from SF was
                             superior to flying.  It took less time, and
                             you had a car when you got there.
           \_ Grammatical question for you. How do you know when to say
              "Japan has much higher population" and "Japan has A much higher
              population"? Ditto with "the" and others.
              \_ Yermom has rabies.
                 Yermom has a cold.
                 Yermom has the mumps.
                 There are general rules, but sometimes you just have to
                 remember.
                 \_ I seem to remember that when I was a kid people used to
                    say "the Ukraine", but now the "the" has disappeared.
                    What's that about?  Any Ukrainians want to comment?
                    \_ I think the difference is that now Ukraine is a
                       country, rather than an area of Russia.  On the
                       other hand, I still say, "the Ukraine."  Maybe it
                       should be Ukrania?
              \_ Plural vs. singular. In this case "Japan has higher
                 population density" would be incorrect; "population density"
                 is singular and requires the "a". Population is also properly
                 singular. Unless it's the verb form.

        \_ Yes, let's envy those whom we deride with racial slurs!
                          \_ I remember an article in the SFCron a few
                             years ago that driving to LA from SF was
                             superior to flying.  It took less time, and
                             you had a car when you got there.
                             \- i am surprised SF-LA train proposals have
                                found any "traction" at all [that really
                                was unintentional]. i am not sure what
                                problem it solves. it seems to me the only
                                people it is good for is people near the LA
                                terminus wo want to come to downtown SF for
                                a few days. how much would a SF<->LA fast
                                train ticket cost ... actual cost [without
                                weird cross subsidies] and what would the
                                out of pocket ticket price?
                                \_ The problem it solves is that flying is
                                   a pain in the ass.  Taking the train is
                                   fun.  -tom
                                   \- do you actually think that is a
                                      serious answer? a fun choo-choo
                                      train != multi-billion dollar rail
                                      project. is a fast train more fun
                                      than the Coast Starlight? you might
                                      take a trian for fun, but that isnt
                                      why you build one.
                                      \_ Actually, yeah.  I've both
                flown from Seoul to Pusan (Korea), and taken the new
                bullet train.  The train is superior.  It's more
                comfortable (wieght is not such an issue), runs more
                often, and you don't have to hang around the station for
                an hour and a half before hand. Of course, that doesn't
                mean it will be so nice here, but.. -jrleek
        \_ Yes, let's envy those whom we deride with racial slurs!  Is it
           so hard to type out "Japanese"?
2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Domestic/911, Academia/GradSchool] UID:38319 Activity:nil
6/27    Not sure what to major? Now you can have a degree in
        Homeland Security in University of Connecticut
        http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/06/24/homeland.security.ap
        \_ "Students spend five weeks of the 20-month program at UConn's
           main campus in Storrs. The rest of the program will be done online."
           Online... what kind of credibility can that possibly have. -mrauser
2005/6/27 [Computer/SW/Apps, Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:38320 Activity:nil
6/27    PDF -> Excel question.  In a PDF file there are rows and columns
        of numbers (a spreadsheet).  Is there an easy to to copy and paste
        that into excel and preserve the format?  I tried it many times
        and spent a lot of time dicking around with the "paste formatter"
        manually putting in column delimiters.  And it still didn't come
        out ok because the columns couldn't line up.   Is there a third
        party software that can do this?  or some other way like export
        the highlighted PDF segment into some other format/document and
        then move it back into excel?   This is not for a small table.
        It's huge and I probably need to do this for several PDF files.
        Manual input is out of the question.  Thanks.
        \_ perl, Perl-PDF and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel  -tom
2005/6/27 [Uncategorized] UID:38321 Activity:nil 60%like:38314
6/27    How much do people trust <DEAD>anonymizer.com<DEAD>?  What's their reputation for
        privacy, and what can they do (how much of your information can they
        protect) if they are subpoenaed to turn over evidence?
2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Taiwan] UID:38322 Activity:high
6/27    What exactly would a PRC invasion of Taiwan look like?  Naval blockade?
        Massive landing of ground troops? Bombing? Some sort of coup by
        pro-mainland agents inside the government?  Thoughts?
        \_ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/taiwan.htm.
           Short summary: a conventional military invasion of Taiwan will fail.
             -- ilyas
           \_ What about this:
              http://www.washtimes.com/specialreport/20050626-122138-1088r.htm
              "We left the million-man swim behind in about 1998, 1999 ... And
              in fact, what people are saying now ... is that it's a moot
              point, because in just amphibious lift alone, the Chinese are
              doubling or even quadrupling their capability on an annual
              basis. ... In the '07-'08 time frame, a capability will be there
              that a year ago we would have said was very, very unlikely. We
              now assess that as being very likely to be there."
           \_ Throwing 5 million guys at the problem often worked for the
              Soviets.  -John
              \_ China will need, using a very rough estimate, 600,000-1mil
                 amphibious troops, and a perfectly executed plan that was
                 somehow concealed from the US.  If the US gets involved at any
                 stage before most of these troops are on the island, it's
                 stage before most of these troops are on the mainland, it's
                 over.  Given the stakes and the cost of failure, I do not
                 believe China will mount a conventional invasion.  This is
                 also assuming massed troops have the same value today as
                 they did in 1944.  It's actually the case that massing troops
                 puts one at a severe strategic disadvantage in today's
                 technological environment.  Aside from the amphibious
                 capabilities needed to mount such an attack, China will also
                 need to project sufficient naval power to make American
                 Navy a moot point.  This will not happen in the next 20 years,
                 and perhaps never.  I should also repeat, going into an open
                 war with the US that the US will have the spine to fight is
                 suicide for any state, China included. -- ilyas
                 \_ The US would not be enough of a factor to stop an
                    invasion, although they could cause significant damage
                    afterwards.  Supply distances are too long, and carrier
                    task groups are too vulnerable to attack.  The US,
                    especially given its low international standing now,
                    would not use tactical nukes first, and if the PRC were
                    to annihilate a few carriers with a sub-launched nuke,
                    there's your "most of them on the island" already.  -John
                    \_ I am curious if there is any concrete information known
                       about the PRCs possible plans to zerg carrier groups
                       with missiles.  I am not aware of any concrete (i.e.
                       actual existing ships involved) criticisms of carrier
                       group vulnerabilities.  I remain sceptical about PRCs
                       missile technology's ability at this time to pose a
                       genuine threat, but it is a concern.  No known submarine
                       will survive to deliver a first strike on a carrier
                       group, unless I am missing something obvious. -- ilyas
                       \_ The PRC is not currently known to have sufficient
                          SSM capability.  That doesn't mean they don't have
                          it--remember, the Soviets spent the better part of
                          30 years perfecting the idea.  And it wouldn't have
                          to survive the first strike, just get the bloody
                          things off.  First strike, remember?  Bang.  I
                          rather think the PRC is keeping off invading Taiwan
                          because (a) it would lose most of the "goodwill"
                          it's spent the last decades bribing the third world
                          into according it, and (b) the cost of having its
                          shit fucked up by the US (which it would) would
                          exceed the gain from successfully invading Taiwan
                          (which it would.)  Given time, that equation may
                          change... -John
        \_ PRC doesn't need to invade.  If Taiwan declares independence, PRC
        will just freeze all Taiwanese assets in China, lob one or two
        missiles, and Taiwan will capitulate and come back to the
        negotiation table.  In the silly fantasy scenario of an
        actual invasion, it's not going to do any stupid massive amphibious
        landing assault.  Instead, it will attempt a lightning strike.
        PRC will strike with its missiles (and planes) to try to
        incapacitate Taiwan's airforce, then it will drop airborne
        troops to try to decapitate Taiwan's leadership, and sow
        chaos all over the island.  It will attempt to do all this
        before US carrier group arrives.  This will throw Taiwan's
        people into a massive panic even if the actual operations
        aren't too successful.  What some people don't understand
        is that the will to suffer massive losses (economic and
        in terms of human lives) for an extended period is there
        for PRC if Taiwan declares independence.  It's not that
        Taiwan's military sucks or anything, it's just that
        people in Taiwan are not willing to sacrifice what it
        takes to attain dejure independence.  As for PRC, nah, it won't
        invade Taiwan without cause anytime soon like the recent silly
        articles surmised.  It will just continue to bid its time, and
        integrate Taiwan economically.
                 and perhaps never.  -- ilyas
                    \_ I don't know if China has any concrete plans to zerg
                       the carrier groups in some way with missiles
        for PRC if Taiwan declares independence.
        integrate Taiwan economically, as long as Taiwan doesn't declare
        independence.
        \_ this is the closest to what will happen in reality.
2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Domestic/Crime, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:38323 Activity:low
6/27    http://csua.org/u/cj5
        What is the penalty for War Profiteering?
        \_ $10,000 fine and no cookies before bedtime.
        \_ It's not profiteering nor illegal unless there are people in office
           who are not on your side.
           \_ And murder isn't murder if it's a hooker.
2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:38324 Activity:low
6/27    What's the best way of getting cash while traveling in Europe?
        \_ atm. atm fix everything.
           \_ Ass to mouth?
        \_ I second that. Western Europe, Eastern Europe, doesn't matter.
           Pick a well-established bank's ATM and check with your bank to
           see if they have any partners so withdrawals are free. But even
           if they're not, it's a better deal (and easier) than money
           exchanges.
        \_ And remember, unlike U.S. banks, almost all European banks do NOT
           charge ATM fees for using your own ATM card. It's YOUR bank back in
           the U.S. who might charge you for using a different bank (so at
           least you won't get double-dinged). You can alleviate this by: a)
           finding a bank that waives such fees for certain combined balance
           (Citibank comes to mind), or b) bank with an Internet-based bank
           that already have a ATM fee reim- bursement program. (e.g.  they
           pay up to 8 ATM withdrawals a month, etc)
           \_ Many do, but they will usually warn you.  Also take a few
              travellers checks for emergencies.  If you have a credit card,
              get a PIN code for it, as that's usable as an ATM card.  -John
        \_ Also, be warned that the keypads on European ATMs may not have
           alphabets like in the U.S., so memorize NUMBERS instead of LETTERS.
           \_ I've never seen an ATM that had letters on the keypad.
2005/6/27-28 [Transportation/Car] UID:38325 Activity:nil
6/27    Where does http://511.org get its traffic speed information?
        \_ probably sigalert
        \_ Traffic data is big bucks.  There are lots of companies that sell
           that.  http://511.org however probably gets it right from the governmental
           source rather than having to buy it from a reseller.
        \_ Your FasTrack transponder. CalTrans installed sensors on some exits
           or overhead passes and calculates checkpoints. (e.g. transponder A
           hits first checkpoint on University Ave exit on I-80W at 9:16:05,
           and it hits second checkpoint on Ashby Ave at 9:20:03, therefore
           speed is distance between exits divide by # of elapsed time). I
           remember some privacy-nazi complained that CalTrans collect such
           data from their FasTrack. Grow up!
           \_ is the above true?  Could you point me to an article on
              the web about the technical details? - danh
2005/6/27-28 [Consumer/Audio] UID:38328 Activity:nil
6/27    "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting
        its use to infringe copyright, as shown by the clear expression or
        other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the
        resulting acts of infringement by third parties."  --Justice Souter
        This would seem to be a fairly narrow ruling that doesn't overturn the
        Betamax case - i.e., Apple will not be sued by the record companies for
        the iPod, and Berkeley will not be sued for inventing FTP (okay, absurd
        example, but this is the record industry we're talking about...)
        \_ Depends on how "promoting its use to infringe copyright" is
           interpreted next time around.  -John
2005/6/27-28 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:38329 Activity:kinda low
6/27    For anyone who's owned a G5 running OS X (10.3 or 10.4), how often do
        you need to reboot if it's being used as a workstation?
        \_ Occasionally you will run into the Windows NT syndrome of the system
           needing a reboot for a system software patch - I'd say about once
           every couple of months on a stable release, and once or twice a
           month on a new one.  Other than that, I have never seen a piece of
           software completely bring down an OSX machine to the point where it
           needs to be rebooted - that's not to say it doesn't happen.
           \_ Ha! I have! Even Safari and IE can do it with the wrong
              web site! I really like OS X, but it's about as stable as
              Win2K or XP, which is to say fairly stable but nothing like
              most *NIX.
        \_ Specifically, I'm wondering about rebooting due to general OS
           slowdown. -op
           \_ I've never had to reboot due to general OS slowdown.  I've also
              never had to reboot due to my browser.  I had some physical
              hard disk issues, but other than that pretty much all my
              reboots have been software installs.  It is disappointing how
              much Apple hasn't gotten away from the "one person logged in
              on console" paradigm.  But OS X on a G5 is far more stable than
              any Windows box I've used.  -tom
              \_ I'd also argue that its more stable than most Linux boxes
                 I've dealt with, although that's probably more due to the
                 tightly coupled nature of Mac hardware and operation system.
2025/03/15 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
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Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2005:June:27 Monday <Sunday, Tuesday>