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| 2005/7/7-8 [Uncategorized] UID:38446 Activity:kinda low |
7/7 eric, is it safe to assume that people with last names like
"Van De Whatever" and "Van Der Whatever" must have had
Dutch ancestors?
\_ How about adoptions?
\_ How about adoptions? Or a native taking up the the last name of
a colonial?
\_ How about people how change their name to that just because they
feel like it?
\_ "van" means "from" in Dutch, so unless that's true for another
language that's most likely the case. Note that Dutch or variants
of Dutch are spoken in multiple countries - eric
\- where is mario van peebles from?
\_ He was born in Mexico. I'm going to guess that somewhere
down the line he has family from Holland or one of the
Dutch colonies like Aruba, Indonesia, or South Africa. |
| 2005/7/7 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:38447 Activity:nil |
7/6 http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/quickfix/coolgerman.shtml UK BBC has a great page on learning German. BTW they also teach you how to say "Gibt es hier einen Schwulenclub". Is this one of those lame attempts at humour? \_ http://csua.org/u/cmi anyway, as we all know, all Germans are black turtleneck wearing homosexual pseudo-intellectuals, or beefy militaristic beach-towel-pool-chair-occupiers. -John \_ German Teacher, Andrea Hoffman from Humboldt Univ is a BABE! Check her out! Babes like her make me want to move to Germany to meet pretty German babes, to learn beautiful sounding German language, and to eat world famous German food. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/lj/intros/index.shtml \_ She is BUXOM TEUTONIC MAIDEN. SHE VILL KRUSH YOU VHIZ HER MIGHTY THIGHS. \_ Mm, run Lola run! |
| 2005/7/7 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:38448 Activity:nil |
7/7 Any recommendations for Mac OS X (TIger) chinese word processor
software? Ideally for professional use and cross-platform.
Previously used NJStar on windows. Thanks.
\_ MacOS X has Chinese input built in. You don't need a separate
Chinese word processor -- just use Microsoft Word, or whatever
word processor you prefer. The same is true for Windows 2000
and above.
\_ thx! -op |
| 2005/7/7 [Computer/SW/Apps, Recreation/Humor] UID:38449 Activity:nil |
7/6 http://www.geekcruises.com \_ I thought this was a humor link until I clicked further and saw a plethora of PDFs that contain real information, or information too detailed to not have been a joke. \_ Wow. I've only known about Linux Lunacy. Didn't know there so many others. The Photoshop Fling and Roaming Reflection seems like a good option for a photographer. |
| 2005/7/7 [Uncategorized] UID:38450 Activity:nil |
7/6 Hipster Zombies Vs. Live Action Role-Playing Nerds!!!!111!!
http://csua.org/u/cmh |
| 2005/7/7 [Uncategorized] UID:38451 Activity:low |
7/6 Hello, I am the Chimp in Chief and I approve this message:
.-"-. .-"-. .-"-. .-"-.
_/_-.-_\_ _/.-.-.\_ _/.-.-.\_ _/.-.-.\_
/ __} {__ \ /|( o o )|\ ( ( o o ) ) ( ( o o ) )
/ // " \\ \ | // " \\ | |/ " \| |/ " \|
/ / \'---'/ \ \ / / \'---'/ \ \ \'/^\'/ \ .O. /
\ \_/`"""`\_/ / \ \_/`"""`\_/ / /`\ /`\ /`"""`\
\ / \ / / /|\ \ / \
See no casket Hear no terror Speak no dissent God Bless Monkey
\_ HA HA HA HA! That's SOOOOO funny!
Oh wait, no it's just stupid. |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:38452 Activity:nil |
7/6 Australian housing bubble.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/realestate/05aussie.html |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Computer/Networking] UID:38453 Activity:nil 80%like:38458 |
7/6 Steal someone else's wifi, go to jail:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/techbits_wi_fi_theft |
| 2005/7/7 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Domestic/Crime] UID:38454 Activity:high |
7/6 So wait, a member of the "liberal" New York Times just took
a fall for the Bush Administration? How is Rush Limbaugh
going to spin this one?
\- when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
\_ Interesting data point:
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/7/1148/62336
Miller's filthy. I don't know that she should be in prison
for "protecting sources", but she definitely needs to be in
prison.
\_ it hurts my head to sort out the timeline of how this
happened, maybe someone could summarize. judith miller
spewed a bunch of horseshit about Iraq leading
up to the war and has no friends.
\_ Judith Miller is one of the reasons that the WMD "threat" was
so badly reported and covered. Fuck her and fuck the NYT.
\_ I think Judith Miller is a putz too, but I think that
reporters being able to maintain the confidentiality of
their sources is even more important. --liberal
\- this is not the relationship of a journalist and a
source, it is the relationships of a criminal suspect
and an (unwitting?) accomplice. it is a narrow case and
the procedurual obligations are adequate to limit the
chilling effect. it has nothing to do with miller
being a putz but the nature of of what was revealed
being against public policy. i think the one thing you
can reasonably argue for is the journalist should be
entited to his or her own jury trial [so jury nullification
is an option beyond judicial checks and balances, should
some secrecy obsessed "hypothetical" executive branch
pass some law making all whistleblowing/leaking a crime]
and not subjec tto detention by a sole judge for contempt.
this is not an absolute right but one for a certain
public policy end and thus is limited to a scope consistent
with those ends. |
| 2005/7/7 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:38455 Activity:high |
7/7 You think BA public transit is bad?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4659243.stm -John
\_ I can't tell exactly which tube lines were bombed and where. I have
several friends in London and I'm wondering if they were affected.
--lye
\_ Goddammit. None of the American media seem to care WHERE the
bombs were, just that they happened. --lye |
| 2005/7/7 [Uncategorized] UID:38456 Activity:nil |
7/7 Hey Motd Pruner! Could you leave entries up for 24 hours at least?
\_ Low importance threads pruned for London discussion. Discretion
was used.
\_ So... who pruned the London thread?
\_ restored. -not pruner |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:38457 Activity:high |
7/7 LONDON'S BURNING
\_ Nuked again. You're a moron. I did not write this, and
I will continue to put this here. Keep it up. -John
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4659243.stm -John
\_ Don't you just love CNN's tasteless "WE JUST WANTED TO DIE"
headline?
\_ http://CNN.com is definitely the most tabloidy of the major
online news sites. Even http://foxnews.com is respectable.
Is it bad then if http://CNN.com is the 10th most visited web site
in the entire world?
\_ I just got through to my cousin in London. She said that
every line through King's Cross was affected. She normally
takes a train that passes through King's Cross around 8:45
AM but today she was late for work and missed the train.
Thank god. --ranga
\- you know about half the lines go through King's X/Pancras
routing cloud.
\_ I'll take your word for it. I've only been to London
once and I didn't really pay attention to the tube
stations other than the ones I absolutely needed to
know about.
Anyway, my cousin says that the news over there still
isn't saying which train(s) the bombs were on but
that several trains in and out of Kings Cross were
damaged by the bombs. I'm just glad that she wasn't
anywhere near there today. --ranga
\_ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/07/tube_explosions
...three explosions on tube trains between Aldgate and
Liverpool St, at Edgware Road and between Russell Square
and King's Cross...
...There was also an explosion on a Number 30 bus -
travelling from Hackney to Marble Arch - in Tavistock Square...
\- if it went off in Tav. Sq, that is near the Russell Sq. Stn.
Marble Arch is not close to that area. If you know London
slighly, one was north of the City of London, two north of
the British Museum and one near Paddington Station.
\_ Sounds like everyone I know should be okay, then, although
I can't even imagine the transit nightmare that they are
dealing with at the moment - how many millions of people
use the tube every day? --lye
\_ Apparently the bus system is also shut...
\_ I can't tell exactly which tube lines were bombed and where. I have
several friends in London and I'm wondering if they were affected.
--lye
\_ Goddammit. None of the American media seem to care WHERE the
bombs were, just that they happened. --lye
\_ And this because we "invaded" 2 Arab countries? How can you people
continue to believe this is not a matter of us vs. them?
\_ "You people?" Can we at least wait until the fucking blood is
dry before starting the trolling and flame wars? Fucking
christ on a stick.
\_ The blood's been dry since 9/11
\_ Don't you just love CNN's tasteless "WE JUST WANTED TO DIE"
headline?
\_ I just got through to my cousin in London. She said that
every line through King's Cross was affected. She normally
takes a train that passes through King's Cross around 8:45
AM but today she was late for work and missed the train.
Thank god. --ranga
\- you know about half the lines go through King's X.
\- you know about half the lines go through King's X/Pancras
routing cloud.
\_ I'll take your word for it. I've only been to London
once and I didn't really pay attention to the tube
stations other than the ones I absolutely needed to
know about.
Anyway, my cousin says that the news over there still
isn't saying which train(s) the bombs were on but
that several trains in and out of Kings Cross were
damaged by the bombs. I'm just glad that she wasn't
anywhere near there today. --ranga
\_ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/07/tube_explosions
\_ Map with blasts: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4659957.stm
\_ And this because we "invaded" 2 Arab countries? How can you people
continue to believe this is not a matter of us vs. them?
\_ "You people?" Can we at least wait until the fucking blood is
dry before starting the trolling and flame wars? Fucking
christ on a stick.
\_ The blood's been dry since 9/11
\_ Oh give it a rest. Try to have some respect for the dead.
\_ Who is denying that it's a matter of us vs. them? I think the
main point of the reality-based community is that we should be
pursuing terrorists, not trumping up reasons to invade
countries with secular governments and no ties to terrorists.
-tom
\_ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/07/tube_explosions
...three explosions on tube trains between Aldgate and
Liverpool St, at Edgware Road and between Russell Square
and King's Cross...
...There was also an explosion on a Number 30 bus -
travelling from Hackney to Marble Arch - in Tavistock Square...
\- if it went off in Tav. Sq, that is near the Russel Sq. Stn.
marble arch is not close to that location. if you know london
\- if it went off in Tav. Sq, that is near the Russell Sq. Stn.
marble arch is not close to that area. if you know london
slighly, one was north of the City of London, two north of
the British Museum and one near Paddington Station.
\_ Sounds like everyone I know should be okay, then, although
I can't even imagine the transit nightmare that they are
dealing with at the moment - how many millions of people
use the tube every day? --lye
\_ Apparently the bus system is also shut...
\_ The Taliban govt was a secular govt?
\_ No, I supported the action in Afghanistan and thought
it was foolish to split our efforts by invading Iraq.
We still have something like 5-10 times the number of
troops in Iraq compared to Afghanistan. -tom
\_ I know what you're trying to say, but both the Tablian
and Iraq had well known ties to terrorists. Sheesh.
\- ^Iraq^Pakistan
\_ umm... hello... Iraq had no fucking ties with Al-Qaeda,
and no fucking ties with 9/11. I can't believe you're
just wildly spewing baseless talking points.
\_ I don't recall saying "Al-Qaeda" or "9/11."
Saddam pays Palestinian Suicide Bombers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2846365.stm
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,48822,00.html
\_ oooh... palestinian terrorist support. Do you
have any idea how many arab countries have given
money and support to palestinians over the years?
Why aren't we invading them? Why don't we invade
Pakistan and their support of terrorism in Kashmir?
For fuck's sake, you want to go rooting out
regional terrorism in every part of the known world.
\_ Seesh, are you being trollish on purpose? As
I said, I know what tom meant, and I even
agree, invading Iraq wasn't exactly a
brilliant idea. All I said was that the
statement "[Iraq had] no ties to terrorists"
is factually incorrect.
\_ Apologies for jumping down your throat. Your
original statement lumped both Iraq and Afgh.
into the same group, and they clearly aren't.
\_ What terrorists did Iraq have well-known ties to?
The rest of the world has no idea what you're talking
about.
\- Abu Nidal lived in Baghdad. Iraq had terrorist
ties but not sig ties to the 9/11 effort.
If we dont limit to 9/11 lots of countries
have "terrorist ties".
\_ LOOK! It's a missing white girl on an island with
lots of black people! Oooo! Shiny!
\_ Good point. Also see: http://csua.org/u/cmq
\_ Including the US. Remember the Contras?
\_ Without *trying* to sound callow about all those wounded and
killed today, I think that if killing 40+ innocent civilians
is the best that Al Qaeda can do after months/years of planning
then the organization is weak indeed. One loon with a gun at
a McDonald's managed that. Britain is the US' best ally and
that's all they can come up with?
\- one theory about AQ is there are have little self-help cells
which come up with their own plans. so this may not have been
something with 100s of players behind the scenes. the IRA
bombing campaing didnt kill that many people but it sure
\_ Maybe not their bombing, but the IRA did kill 1500+
\- so did the israeli army.
affected a lot of people. this will certainly have repercussions.
\_ What they're saying is that what they did in Spain they could
do in London.
What you could be asking is, "What kind of security did they use
on those London trains, and how much does it differ from BART
security?"
You can assume Spain was the first time they tried something like
that, so they weren't ready for that shit.
\_ The goal of this form of terrorism isn't about killing the
enemy. It's about getting them to leave your people alone.
Numbers are important only because it gets attention. The London
bombings are just a little reminder that AQ is out there, a
spitwad in the back of the neck. Now comes the overreaction by
the English public (internal domestic retribution) and additional
self-doubt about policies in Iraq.
\_ So I guess it was an overreaction from the Spanish public and
additional self-doubt about policies in Iraq? Cowards!
\_ Domestic overreaction is great news for AQ. One of the
hardest things to do in espionage is to create a true mole,
someone who works on the inside of the opposition, but is
totally commited to your cause. The slightly disaffected
English Muslims can be pushed into an extremist position
if the English public reacts badly. The problem with
demanding an answer to 'us or them" are the people who
say "us" but no longer believe.
\_ I guess 9/11 really worked out well then from Al Qaeda's
point of view. We're leaving them alone more than ever
now.
\_ 9/11 was publicity. AQ played it badly in Afghanistan
when the Taliban couldn't control the warlords, but came
back when the Coalition invaded Iraq. AQ's ranks have
expanded with help from the percieved "new Western crusade"
against Islam. AQ's line has always been "leave us alone."
The problem WAS getting enough support to actually do it.
Now they are gaining new extremists who believe in the
cause.
\_ Even if they got zero recruits, there goal is not
to isolation. You can not reason with it.
\_ Sure you can. There is a compromise situation. It's
just unacceptable to a huge majority of the people it
would affect. The "us" mentioned above mean forcibly
creating a state of tens to hundreds of millions
similar to Afghanistan circa 2000, including many
Muslim holy places and all of Israel. It would make
"Jesusland" look like Las Vegas. |
| 2005/7/7 [Computer/Networking, Computer/SW/Security] UID:38458 Activity:nil 80%like:38453 |
7/6 Steal someone else's wife, go to jail:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/techbits_wi_fi_theft |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Politics/Domestic/California] UID:38459 Activity:nil 66%like:38434 |
7/6 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050706/ap_on_sp_ol/oly_2012_bids London Upsets Paris to Win 2012 Olympics. \_ Most of my English colleagues didn't care about the olympics, they just wanted to piss off the French. Chirac making disparaging comments about Finnish food when the difference was 4 votes, 2 of them Finnish, also was pretty smart. -John \_ Is it like the relationship between us and Stanfraud -- we don't care if we win the ACM, we just want to beat Stanfraud? \_ Wonder if the committee is having second thoughts now. |
| 2005/7/7-9 [Recreation/Humor] UID:38460 Activity:low Cat_by:auto |
7/7 Here's a fairly amusing comic about being an exchange student in
Russia:
http://www.bigcheesepress.com/brandt.php?n=f
\_ Wow. It's like a blog, but much, much more work. I like.
\_ I read through the lot of them, overall it's okay, but this one
made me laugh out loud:
http://www.bigcheesepress.com/brandt.php?c=2005-07-01
-dans
\_ HAHA. That guy looks just like someone I know from Ukrain.
\_ Heh, cute. I like, too. And I got a kick out of the same one dans
did, too. -alexf
\_ IMO, the Russia strips are kind of week compared to her ones from
home, though the once I picked out above is still my favorite:
http://www.dailycardinalcomics.com/everyonedrunkbutme
-dans
\- i have no idea what any of the above means but i though
comment at #7 by ucb math prof R. BORCHERDS was pretty
entertaining, from: http://csua.org/u/ahe
Feel free to gift me any of those books. ok tnx.
\_ "Bogoliubov was probably the leading Soviet field theorist.
The claim on the back that this is an undergraduate textbook
should not be taken seriously outside Russia." Haha! -- ilyas
\- my other russian associates also found this pretty
humorous [berkeley physics phd, ucsf phd]. |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:38461 Activity:low |
7/7 "We will find them. We will bring them to justice." -- Bush
\_ "If [Osama bin Laden] thinks he can hide and run from the
United States and our allies, he will be sorely mistaken."
-- Bush, 9/15/01
"I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend
that much time on him"
-- Bush, 3/13/02
\_ Oh this oft-quoted comment taken out of context.
You libs ever read the ENTIRE speech? Look it up!
You may find the 2nd half a little more interesting.
\_ It wasn't a speech. It was a press conference. He
says OBL has been marginalized which is highly debatable.
He said that we have a strategy and it's working. Do
you believe that? And if so, please explain it to us
so that we too can support this strategy.
\_ I'm sure your years of military/CT service will
help you with your Monday morning quarterbacking.
The truth is, these numbers are tiny. The enemy
is elusive and unable to directly fight.
\_ And of course we gathered our friends and allies
and took a systematic, worldwide approach to
tracking them, their money, and their associates.
Oh, wait. No. We invaded Iraq instead.
\_ The second half says that there are more important
things like 1. our soldiers are well supplied, 2.
our strategy is clear, and 3. our coalition is
strong. Well, Bush failed on all three. So how
is that "more interesting"?
"[Osama bin Laden is] either alive and well, or alive and
not too well, or not alive."
-- Rumsfeld, 10/7/02
\_ He forgot the "zombie - neither living nor dead" option.
\_ Osama the Undead! Maybe he could be the last boss in
the next Resident Evil game.
\_ Osama bin Zombie!
\_ Send more special forces! |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/Canada] UID:38462 Activity:high |
7/7 Poll, who do you think is behind the London attack?
IRA:
Osama:
Muslim fundie:
Local British:
\_ havent heard from IRA for a while, what happened?
\_ They declared a cease fire in 1997. Some splinter group
did some minor stuff since then, but mostly it has held.
Osama:
Muslim fundie:
Lord British:
\- possibly a self-help AQ "franchise" ... who may not have hierachical
ties to OBL but wont be disowned by AQ-Central.
French Olympians:
CIA:
The chickens are coming home to roost:
http://csua.org/u/cmy
\_ If this in any way shape or form is meant to imply that "they are
now paying for xyz", you are a fucking baboon. If not, ignore this.
The fucking cunts who do this sort of stuff HATE YOU. THEY HATE YOU
BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO BEARD AND BECAUSE YOUR SISTER KNOWS HOW TO READ.
THEY DON'T NEED AN EXCUSE. There, just had to get that out of my
system. -John
\_ You don't fight terror with more terror. That just leads to
situations like Northern Ireland and Gaza. Who cares if someone
10,000 miles away doesn't like me, if he leaves me alone, I will
leave him alone. The vast majority of the world feels the same
way I do. Only a few crackpots want to hunt down everyone who
lives differently than them and exterminate them. These few
crackpots, on both sides, have somehow taken control of world
military and foreign policty.
\_ I was making no statements about how to fight it. I simply
stated that the whores who do this do not need a justification
for their acts--your very way of life suffices. Yes, I know
that a lot of American international policy is flawed, but to
be honest, I think kidnapping a few people and sending homw
a finger or two is not beyond the pale and can be very
effective. -John
\_ do you think the united states and our citizens would have
the same standard of living if we didn't mess with the rest of
world and just took your isolationist/conservative view of the
world?
\_ Yeah, we might have to live like Canadians or Swedes.
\_ You think the entire West doesn't benefit from the US
being as it is? You think Canada could afford to be so
happy-go-lucky if they had to defend themselves like
nations traditionally have had to do so? We live in a
unique period of history where one global hyper power
has taken a reasonably benevolent stance towards the
rest of the world, allowing most people to get on with
living. If the US were the vicious bastards some make
us out to be, Canada would be the first nation to fall.
\_ No, I don't think Canada or even the United States
really benefits from the flawed "beat them until
they love you" strategy. Let's look at it with
regards to a similar, but domestic problem. If the
United States decided that the best way to deal
with gang violence was to bomb neighborhoods where
gang members were known to live and to order air
strikes on gang members homes, killing the gang
member and his family alike, do you think it would
decrease or increase the amount of violence in
America?
\_ False framing. Let's look at it another way: if
the US decided to deal with gang violence by using
special forces to knock on doors, confiscate
weapons/drugs, arrest those with caches and shoot
those who resist violently, do you think gang
violence would increase or decrease? Anyway,
this is not at all what I was getting at. My
point being that your conservative/isolationist
head-in-sand strategy will not make the world a
better place for anyone but dictators and other
assorted brutal murderers. |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:38463 Activity:nil |
7/7 AP reported that Netanyahu was warned about the bombings. The Israeli
government denies it. Who's running the AP?
http://csua.org/u/cml
http://csua.org/u/cmm
\_ Whatever this persons's posting method is completely evades kchang's
scripts. |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:38464 Activity:moderate |
7/7 If only the CIA didn't fuck it up by telling Dubya that Saddam had WMDs
... then we might actually have caught Osama, had Afghanistan as a
beacon of post-9/11 success and a template for international
cooperation, and had reserve forces at home ready for real threats.
Instead ... U.S. soldiers are in Iraq saying "We don't fucking have
enough troops" and Dubya's people are saying "We won't send any more
fucking troops because it will make things worse", enabling terrorists
to get trained and exported from Iraq. SNAFU. Doh.
\_ I think gwbush made up his mind about invading Iraq long
before any intelligence from the CIA got to him, I think it's
dumb to blame the CIA
\_ Indeed, Bush was talking about invading Iraq as far back as
1999.
\_ Well, that's certainly an opinion held by many Americans, just
like the opinion that Dubya relied on intelligence that was dead
wrong. I could see the latter group calling your opinion dumb,
which doesn't get us anywhere. -op
\_ Take a look throught these essays, letters, and editorials:
http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqmiddleeast2000-1997.htm
Several of them are signed by both Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld, and
they wanted to invade Iraq since 1998 or before. For better
or for worse, they planned this war long before 9/11.
\_ The CIA didn't fuck up, they did exactly what they were ordered to
do -- they told Dubya what he wanted to hear ; what he wanted them
to tell him.
\_ Yes the world would be safer with Saddam in power. Al-queda would
leave the West alone. And we all sing kum-by-a around the fire
place at night.
\_ Yawn. Your sarcasm is misplaced.
\_ We are definitely not singing kum-by-a now after removal of
Saddam.
\_ Whether Saddam supported terrorism or not, it's no great
stretch to imagine terrorists taking refuge in Iraq with
Saddam's blessing.
\_ I can imagine you storing 5 golf balls up your ass,
does that make it true?
\_ !AQ. There were ideological differences between the two
that could not be reconciled.
\_ Yes, but now we don't have to imagine it.
\_ I can imagine all kinds of things, but I think we should
deal with real threats, not imaginary ones.
\_ Saddam had the perfect reason to not allow terrorists
within his borders. They would have been the perfect
reason to invade/continue to deny sactions/stop the
oil-for-food sales.
\_ Do you actually think capturing OBL would be good? It would only
turn him into a martyr and rally support around him. The best
thing we could possibly do is keep him contained and let him
fade into obscurity IMO.
\_ That's because you're an idiot.
\_ No.
\_ No, the best thing we could do is to convert to Islam. That
way he will be less inclined to attack us. We should also
hide Korans in all major terrorist targets. That way, when
they are blown up the burning Korans will fly out everywhere
and land in gutters &c. Then we can denounce bin Laden,
exploder of Korans.
\_ Doesn't work. Muslim terrorists blow up mosques full of
Korans all the time. It's only bad if an infidel
accidently holds on with one hand. That's way worse. |
| 2005/7/7-9 [Computer/SW/Languages/C_Cplusplus, Computer/Theory] UID:38465 Activity:nil |
7/7 I never took AI but I'd like to learn something about Bayesian
belief, inference, etc. Something like a 10 page intro PDF or
a URL would be useful. Recommendation?
\_ http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~murphyk/Bayes/bayes.html
Kevin is a former Cal grad student, btw. Very smart guy. -- ilyas
\- how do you know kevin?
http://home.lbl.gov:8080/~psb/ASSOCIATES/Mike+Kevin81.jpg
He actually fits into this story:
*Boredcast Message from 'psb': Mon Aug 4 15:22:19 2003
||let's see: A is hosting B for a few days ... B
||who used to date C who is marrying D who was
||interested in A and was told by B to go out with
||A. D was the roomate of the office mate of E who
||used to date X and later dated F who got
||together with B.
||A = psb
||X = rob pike
I note in passing B also works on graphical models and
was formerly trafficking with various UCLA and Harvard
and Berkeley Bayesians.
\_ I worked on Kevin's toolbox a long long time ago.
We took some classes together also. Kevin interviewed
at UCLA for a faculty position, but didn't take it.
-- ilyas
\_ spasibo ilya! That is exactly what I was looking for. You are
a very cool guy. Why do people make fun of you?
\_ Probably because I am considered the motd retard. -- ilyas |
| 2005/7/7-11 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:38466 Activity:nil |
7/7 So my old first gen Apex 600 dvd player is starting to show its age.
It has served me well over the years. What the new "cool" dvd
player to get? Region Unlock and ability to play DVD-R is at the
top of the requirement. Thanks.
\_ when was apex ever "cool"?
\_ Any dvd player that has the "you should not be here" menu
is cool.
For OP - if you don't mind mod'ing, I'd say go w/ an xbox.
\_ It was the first well known dvd player in US to play every media
you throw at it and can disable region encoding and macrovision
right from the secret menu. It sold out at most Circuit Cities
when the word got out and had weeks-worth of waitlist. It
practically created the hobby of modding set-top dvd players.
\_ Go to http://videohelp.com, click on DVD Players, Order by Rating, select
options you want, click Search, identify the ones with lots of
reviews. E.g., the Philips DVP642 (available on Amazon for $63)
supports DivX, progressive scanning, can be region-hacked by
pressing buttons on the remote, and has lots of positive reviews.
On the other hand, if you search for DivX + progressive + DVI/HDMI
output, you only get 7 hits. Fun.
\_ Of course the Philips DVP642 has a crappy remote, can't fast
forward faster than 8x IIRC, and barfs on many DivX files. I
returned it within 24 hours of buying it.
\_ What do you have now?
\_ An old AIWA that needs to be replaced. But its remote is
fantastic and I can't find anything else I like.
\_ I'm currently thinking about getting this:
http://tinyurl.com/8kjhc (amazon.com) |
| 2005/7/7-10 [Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:38467 Activity:nil |
7/7 Is there an easy way in Perl to parse command-line arguments like:
-opt1 val1 -opt2 val2?
\_ Getopt::Std module
\_ Ah, thank you--both for the useful answer and the quick reply.
\_ Specifically, look at the getopts() function in there.
\_ How about in Python?
\_ python has a standard getopt too. stfw. |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Politics/Domestic/911] UID:38468 Activity:high |
7/7 Isn't it amazing that Timothy McVeigh's 1 bomb killed 168 people in
open space, but 4 bombs in the London tunnel killed 1/4 of that? Thank
god Al Qaeda isn't compenent enough to build McVeigh-strength bombs.
\_ there's nothing complicated about a truckload of ANFO. Al queda
could easily do the same thing.
\_ Al Qaeda didn't use any bombs on 9/11.
\_ It's pretty tricky to get a Ryder truck on the subway.
\_ The IRA set of a truck bomb (with ~1 ton of fertilizer) in the
City of London in 1993. That was on a Saturday morning, and only
1 was killed. (I actually went to a meeting near Bishopsgate the
day before the bomb went off.) In comparison, the McVeigh bomb
had ~3 tons of fertilizer, and it was set off on a Wednesday
morning. The McVeigh bomb killed 168 people.
\_ I heard the IRA used to call the police to give out warning for
evacuation between when a bomb was planted and when it would go
off.
\_ Actually, the IRA would call and warn for evacuation and
sometimes there was no bomb. I was in Covent Garden for one
of these. My fellow employees explained this happened
frequently. The truth was planting actual bombs was a losing
affair for the IRA. Causing a disturbance without the negative
vibe from actually injured/killed people was working for them
pretty well. It's still FUBAR if you ask me but quite
different from my perceptions when all I knew about it was
what I learned from the news. -- ulysses
\_ The London police was in the middle of evacuating the City
when the bomb went off. I am not sure if the information
source was an illicit informer or back channel. The IRA
even used to apologize when their bombs accidentally kill
kids.
\_ If you set off a bomb it doesn't "accidentally" kill
children. Sorry, buzz. A random terrorist bombing kills
people big and small. Fuck the IRA pretending they
are better than any other terrorists.
\_ The IRA kills a lot fewer people by accident than
the US Air Force does. Fuck the Air Force pretending
they are better than other terrorists.
\_ Be careful Jim. They are watching liberals like you.
\_ Oh boo hoo, I am really fucking scared of idiots
like you, Mark. Call the FBI and tell them I
said something bad about the Air Force on the
motd.
\_ Oh fuck you with a broken broomstick. If you can't
understand the difference between war and PUTTING A
FUCING BOMB IN THE MIDDLE OF CIVILIANS INTENTIONALLY
go choke on a broken-glass sandwich.
\_ The Air Force deliberately puts bombs in the
middle of civilian places all the time. Why
is that okay, in your book of moral relavancy?
Was firebombing Dresden a war crime or not?
I am sure the IRA killed far fewer civilians
per bomb attack than the Air Force does.
\_ [insert "Dresden was transit hub for German
troops" vs. "Dresden was cultural center"
debate here]
\_ Very simple. The US Military wears
uniforms, and operates by the rules of war.
Terrorists do not. This is why you extend
Geneva to soldiers but not terrorists. This
is why civilian casualties in war is a different
animal from terrorist casualties. There is
also the matter of intent. The US Military
doesn't want to harm civilians, and is going to
extraordinary lengths (unheard of throughout
history) to avoid harming civilians, even if
this means putting its soldiers under extra
risk. Terrorists harm civilians as a goal.
There is a difference in law between
manslaughter and first degree murder for a
reason. Finally, learn to fucking spell.
-- ilyas
\_ yeah, this is why we use napalm. to
avoid civilian casualties.
\_ Napalm has its legitimate war use.
But of course you never bothered to
read or study the lengths at which
the military avoids collateral
damage. Your frame of thought is
one life accidently killed is too much.
I hope one day you are a plane with
Al-queda when it dawns on you that this
is a numbers game.
\_ I disagree. Mass civilian casualties was the
\_ Bullshit. Mass civilian casualties was the
stated intent of the firebombings of Dresden
and Tokyo. And we are discussing the IRA,
which went out of its way to avoid civilian
casualties, too, not some mythical
"terrorist" bogeyman you dreamed up.
Deliberate targeting of civilians is
always a crime. And killing civilians,
except in self-defence, always should be.
The War in Iraq was in no sense a war
of self-defence.
\_ Wait. The IRA went out of its way to
avoid civilian casualties when it
planted bombs? That's a new one on me.
What do you suppose the purpose of those
bombs was for? What was the intended
target? -- ilyas
\_ Knee-jerk uninformed "US army = teh
ghei baby kilerz" b.s. aside, he's
actually right--the IRA's main point
was to show "hey, look what we can do,
whenever we feel like it." Civilian
casualties, like at Hiroshima, were an
"oh yeah, by the way" sort of thing.
Unlike ETA, which wants to kill
civilians. And Dresden _was_ part of
a deliberate campaign to both disrupt
strategic communications and terrorize
people--a legitimate but regrettably
uninformed and ill-conceived goal at
the time. Do yourself a favor and
ignore the "everything the US does is
terrorist" trolls. -John
\_ http://csua.org/u/cn0
See table 2.
The IRA targeted the British
Army, RUC and UCR, mostly.
http://csua.org/u/cn1 (PBS)
Okay, this analysis is biased,
but it gets to the heart of it.
\_ The problem is terrorists don't kill
enough people with their bombs. The
US and its allies was able to kill
hundreds of thousands in a single
bombing run. It's like that quote:
"Kill a man, and you are a murderer.
Kill millions of men, and you are a
conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are
a god." Or Stalin: "one death is a
tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic"
In order to be legitimate, they'd need
to wipe out large chunks of cities
on a regular basis.
The IRA targetted the British
military and RUC, mostly. |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Computer/SW/Database] UID:38469 Activity:nil |
7/8 Is there a good website to check the origin of a last name?
searching the web turns up lots of useless pay sites.
\_ You could put the name into the Ellis Island database:
http://www.ellisisland.org
They list the home of each listed immigrant there, so you can
get an idea of where people with that name were comming from.
\_ ask on the motd |
| 2005/7/7-12 [Uncategorized] UID:38470 Activity:nil |
7/7 Anyone here works for mySimon? How is the company doing? |
| 2005/7/7-10 [Politics/Domestic] UID:38471 Activity:kinda low |
7/7 Endowment per student:
Princeton: $1,492,065
Harvard: $1,147,146
$tanford: $ 602,217
Cal: $ 61,594
\_ Interesting discussion of endowments in the Ivy League:
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/cheri/wp/cheri_wp16.pdf
The 90's drastically increased the wealth gap among universities,
even just within the Ivy League.
\_ rich private, rich private, rich private, PUBLIC SCHOOL.
get a life, eat shit, go away, etc.
\_ it would be interesting to see how much UT Austin's endowment/
student is since I believe their endowment is second only to
Harvard's in absolute terms
\_ Yes we know. We got the same pamphlet in the mail.
\_ Why? Because Princeton treats their students like a mother treats
her children, whereas Berkeley treats their students like the
real world treats them. Berkeley treated me like SHIT, why should
I donate a single penny. If they want us to donate anything,
maybe they should cut costs on stupid things like athletic
equipments and field upgrades and spend it on BASIC things that
matter, like better/more housing, less student-to-prof ratio
in introductory classes so that we don't have to CRASH them
all the time. Also the L&S administrators are aloof and don't
seem to care about anyone. And while I'm at it, they just should
do something about long lines and red tapes. Oh well, it'll never
happen.
\_ So? Cal also has more students. What do you expect?
\_ So? Cal also has more students.
\_ But Cal is also funded in part by the state (although that
funding is drying up), so in a sense all Californians are
endowing it.
\_ you're not exactly clear what is meant by "endowment" here,
are you?
\_ No, I'm not, are the numbers meant to be total endowment
amount or just private endowments? When figures like this
are posted one tends to automatically think "private
endowments." If that's the calculation including public
endowments then it is a sad state of affairs. However,
does public endowments automatically include what the
state directly and indirectly supports? What about
endowments to graduate programs?
\_ My endownment is large and tax free.
\_ Cal doesn't invest the donations it recieves, it spends them
as fast as it can. Otherwise, the State would give it less
money.
\_ do you see cal's spending habits as a good thing? wouldn't it
be nice if uc or at least cal wasnt entirely depending on ever
shrinking funds from the state? had they invested all the money
all these years instead of whatever they did with it, would cal
be better off financially today?
\_ If Cal had invested it, Davis or Schwartzenneger would have
just raided it the first time they got in trouble. AFAIK,
Cal mostly built buildings with it, which is fine by me.
\_ Not if it is in some trust for that purpose. What would
have happened is the UC system would have ended up
financially independent and got nothing from the state
except maybe a capital expenditures budget. Ya know...
buildings.
\_ Why do you think there is no such trust? The Trustees
of the UC aren't political naifs. They know that the
existence of a huge enodowment would prove irresistible
to greedy politicians. They would use it as an excuse
to cut the UC budget entirely.
\_ Or the unions would just strike until they got it.
It's useful to be able to say you don't have any money
in a public organization. School districts expend an
incredible amount of effort on hiding money from the
teachers unions so that they have some for something
else. |
| 2005/7/7-8 [Uncategorized] UID:38472 Activity:low |
7/7 Brit Hume's first thought on hearing of London attacks? Time to buy!
http://mediamatters.org/items/200507070007
\_ Talk about deceptive titles. Can we just drop http://mm.org? His whole
quote (bold in the http://mm.org article):
"I mean, my first thought when I heard -- just on a personal basis,
when I heard there had been this attack AND I SAW THE FUTURES THIS
MORNING, which were really in the tank, I thought, 'Hmmm, time to
buy.'"
\_ How does that make it better?
\_ Because his thought resulted from seeing the futures numbers,
not simply by hearing about the attack. And he's right on.
\_ So you don't find it at all tactless?
\_ Are you kidding? He was asked a question about the
futures. He saw the futures dip. He answered the
question. It's not tactless. What I find appalling is
http://MM.org's deceptive title.
\_ Wow, you sure twisted yourself in knots to excuse
the heartless bastard. Way to go!
\_ Well, you're an idiot. Just because he saw the
futures numbers and didn't ignore them doesn't
make him heartless. Where did the quote indicate
that he didn't have sympathy for the injured or
killed? How is this heartless? |
| 2005/7/7-10 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Troll, Reference/Law/Court] UID:38473 Activity:nil |
7/7 Can someone with some more legal experience clue me in to why
Berkeley theatres aren't open to anti-trust violations? They
actively try not to compete. This is in my mind today because
I intended to go see "Fantastic Four" tommorow, but it is not playing
in any of the 6(?) local theatres. The closest is like 20 blocks
north. -mrauser
\_ Oh no, you might have to go all the way to OAKLAND
\_ I like this quote from a "positive" review: "It's not great but it's
not utter crap either." Which leaves room for being mostly crap.
People should be more selective and not support shitty films.
\_ I appreciate the extent to which you both have not answered
my question at all. And as for it being crap, I'm not supporting
a shitty film, but a hot actress. I still think there is
\_ Mr. & Mrs Smith! -John
\_ Ug. Miss Worm lips really turns
me off.
something very wrong about how berkeley theatres decide to show
or not show movies. -mrauser
\- the answer to your question is indeed "drive to oakland".
you dont understand the basis of anti-trust. i dont think
"the motd" needs to give you a lecture on the framework.
years ago a roll of kodak film was $8.50 at the top of
the empire state bldg. the vendor there indeed had a
local monopoly. but clearly there was no public policy
reason to bring anti-trust action agaisnt him. a more
interesting challege might be to the "no bringing in your
own food" for ballparks [?] and movie theaters.
the FF movie might not have been offered to one of the
ass theaters in berkeley. --psb
\_ Why don't you get the city to flex their ED might to put in
a 30 screen multiplex? Seriously, just take the BART to
Eville.
\_ Anti-trust has been gutted by 2 decades of neglect.
\_ Dear vladimir, dear comrade, why do you hate Capitalism? |
| 2005/7/7 [Uncategorized] UID:38474 Activity:nil |
7/7 This is test. |
| 2005/7/7-10 [Politics/Domestic/911, Reference/Religion] UID:38478 Activity:nil |
7/7 About time American Muslims made statements like this:
http://www.ing.org/latestnews/default.asp?num=23
\_ From the same site: "(San Francisco Bay Area, 9/11/01) - Joining
Muslims around the country, the San Francisco Bay Area based Islamic
Networks Group is appalled by and strongly condemns the terrorist
attacks in New York and Washington." The American Muslim community
is simply not the problem. As Thomas Friedman pointed out yesterday,
however, we're still waiting for a fatwa from any international
muslim leader condemning Bin Laden.
\_ Further proof that even a broken clock (i.e., Friedman) can be
right twice a day. |
| 2005/7/7-12 [Uncategorized] UID:38479 Activity:nil |
7/7 Is there a way to change the host name resolution order on MacOS X 10.3
so that /etc/hosts is being used before netinfo (and dns)? |
| 2005/7/7-12 [Transportation/Motorcycle] UID:38480 Activity:nil |
7/7 Hello, I low-sided my motorcycle and the front fairing broke into
pieces. I tried to fix it instead of getting new ones since they're
pretty expensive. I've put on fiber-glass cloth, bondo, and sanded
it to the exact same shape it used to look like. Here is my question.
Where do I get decent paint? Someone told me that auto paint shops
actually do color matching for DIY spray paints, has anyone tried it? |
| 9/22 |