8/2     FTP mount back online.  I need a vacation. - jvarga

8/2     Read NRO writer's last column (dated yesterday) before he was shot to
        death in Iraq
        http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/vincent200508020823.asp
        \_ typical conservative column. Blame it on the Iraqis!
           \_ Huh?  The article is almost entirely a quotes from the
              Manager of the Power Distribution Directorate.  Nor does it
              shy away from meantioning that we destroyed a lot of the
              infrastructure.  What, exactly, is your problem with it?

8/2     http://www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com
        Interesting read. -- ilyas
        \_ Oh no! An ultra conservative writer got killed. BOO HOO!
           \_ Yeah, the life of anyone who disagrees with your political
              philosophy has no value.  Good way to win friends and
              influence people.
              \_ "There is only room for one party in this country"
                 \_ How can you equate gloating over someone's death with a
                    random trollish political statement?  Nevermind....
                 \_ Wow, talk about delusions of grandeur.  Do you always put
                    quote marks around your comments?
                    \_ He is quoting one of the motd Conservatives. Or perhaps
                       a troll posing as a motd Conservative. Sometimes it
                       is hard to tell the difference.
                       http://csua.org/u/cwn
                        \_ Ah, hiding behind http://csua.org. Are you ashamed
                           of the real URL?
                           \_ Wow, you're dumb.  Or maybe just deeply paranoid?
                           \_ No, the full URL was too long to put on one
                              line in the motd. Did you even look at it?
        \_ Uh, ignore the liberal drones above.  That wasn't the point of that
           url at all. -- ilyas
           \_ Don't you even asscociate some of the above with the Liberal
              Team - we don't want 'em.  -Liberal Team Management

8/2     I work at a company where we do all our engineering work on unix.
        But most of our documentation is done on MS Word. Each of us writes
        our own docs and someone combines everything in the end resulting
        in 600 pages of unreadable crap. I'm looking for a unix-based
        documentation tool that stores individual parts of a document
        in some sort of text format (like XML) and that lets multiple
        people collaborate on a single large document using revision
        control like CVS. Any suggestions?
        \_ DocBook is what you need
           \_ Thanks. This was the type of stuff I was looking for.
        \_ What's wrong with HTML?  -tom
        \_ latex!  i still haven't found a better alternative for this kind
           of collaborative work.  and try to reduce the amount of
           formatting people are allowed to do w/ some style conventions.
           i also put xfig figures in CVS and use makefiles to automate
           generation of EPS, PDF, etc. from these diff-friendly text
           formats.
           \_ Ok, I'm one of those people who thinks that "Anyone can
              learn C++" or "anyone can learn unix". I mean, you'd be
              a total moron if you can't, right? But you can't
              reasonably expect most people to. "Grandma, I got you
              a new computer. All you have to do is check up on security
              updates, download a new kernel source tree, recompile,
              and install. It's not that hard. Anyone can do it."
              I'm not going to ask an entire group to learn latex.
              \_ I've found that M$ Word's "ease of use" is largely
                 illusory.  It's not that much harder to look up
                 and use \tiny for a text size than screw with a bunch
                 of menus and buttons.  And if you do it once and work
                 from a template, it's actually easier than using Word...
                 \_ This is a common mistake--Word's _overall_ "ease of use"
                    is a fairy tale.  However, getting it to quickly do basic
                    shit without too much fidgeting is a lot easier for Joe
                    Schmo than LaTeX or other, more powerful tools.  The same
                    goes for StarOffice and many other "wysiwig" toys, the only
                    difference is that Joe Schmo will eventually get a doc
                    written in word which "looks different" in StarOffice.  As
                    for your \tiny example, yes, for us it's not much harder.
                    However, for most non-technical people, and yes, they do
                    exist, something visual like a button is way more intuitive
                    than a line of text.  The danger of this, though, is that
                    most people/companies will inevitably want to do more
                    complex shit, at which they have already worked themselves
                    into a hole with buttons and similar "easy" crap. -John
                 \_ While I agree that LaTex is not that hard, especially
                    if he was to set up a nice standard set of macros
                    and scripts for everyone to use, I can see why a
                    Wysiwyg editor would be preferable.
        \_ How are you currently having your Unix programmers do
           documentation in Word?  Also, While LaTex is not that hard,
           especially if you were to set up a nice standard set of macros
           and scripts for everyone to use, I can see why a Wysiwyg editor
           would be preferable.  Unfortunatly, I don't know of a good one
           for this task in ANY OS.
           documentation in Word?
        \_ I believe this is the sort of thing Adobe FrameMaker was
           made for. You may also want to look into TeXmacs. I think
           the HTML suggestion is a good one, though.
        \_ Pick any other word processor that runs on your flavor of unix.  Or
           use OpenOffice 2 (you must be using a different machine for Word,
           right?).  Since no one knows how to use Word anyway, there won't be
           a retraining cost.
        \_ Why not use a wiki?
           \_ Probably depends on the kinds of control and approval issues they
              have.  My current client is really really word-dependent because
              they have such incredible regulatory and audit needs that they
              had to have some format that'd let them exercise a lot of
              control over changes (note that I am in no way advocating ms-word
              as a good way to do this.)  -John

8/3     Look!  Intelligent Design!  Forget about Rove's treason!
        \_ I'm sure Rove invented Intelligent Design years ago to get his name
           off the front page now.  It's all a Rovian plot.
            \_ Bush didn't invent gay marriage either, he just used it
               to mobilize the forces of intolerance and fear to get his
               constituency out to vote.
               \_ No no no.  That was Rove too--the all-seeing Rove.
                  \_ Rove's rover
                     http://www.beechlog.co.uk/blog200501/rover.jpg
        \_ I saw this on the news right after the Bolton recess appointment
           and before something similarily fucking dumb.  I think a part
           of my brain melted from exposure to stupidity.  -John

8/3     If the Space Shuttle can re-enter atmosphere safely after the two gap
        filler are removed, why were the gap fillers installed in the first
        place?
        \_ If a 747 can fly with 3 engines, why do they install 4?
           You over-engineer things like that.  (Although it has not been
           shown that the shuttle can re-enter without the gap filler).  -tom
        \_ The purpose of the gap filler may be to protect against vibration on
           lift off, hence once they're in orbit they don't matter.  But then I
           actually have no idea why they're there, and you probably don't
           either.
           \_ Of course I don't.  That's why I'm asking.
           \_ Don't forget that the airframe expands and contracts much more
              than the tiles.  The tiles are attached to the airframe.
              Therefore, you need gaps between the tiles.  What goes in
              between the gaps.  Gap filluhs!
              \_ We need gaps, then we need gap fillers to eliminate the gaps.
                 Hmmm ...... :-)
                 \_ You mean we have a gap-filler gap?
                    \_ Well, I, uh, don't think it's quite fair to condemn a
                       whole program because of a single slip-up, sir.
                    \_ No big deal.  Just apply some gap-filler-gap filler.
                    \_ The Russians have more teenagers w/ poor taste
                       in clothes??
        \_ Some more gap-filler info:
           http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050729_sts114_iss.html
           http://www.suntimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/basket7st/basket7st1122901969.aspx

8/4     Chevron invoiced Nigerian death squads
        link:www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12285441.htm - danh
        \_ "I don't see what's wrong with corporate feudalism..."
           --the ilyas of Christmas Past
           \_ Misquotes from anonymous morons, yay! -- ilyas
              \_ "Fast food is nutritious."  --the ilyas of Christmas Past
                 \_ dict nutritious, troll.

8/4     Heh.
        http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/05.08.02.DemocracyinAct-X.gif

8/4     Suppose my lame MPEG still decoder could only decode I-frames.  If I
        had an I-frame and a P-frame, is it easy to combine them into a new
        I-frame and feed it to my decoder?  Maybe just copy over the
        non-trivial slices from the P-frame to the I-frame?  Am I insane?

8/3     Malnutrition in Iraqi children now higher than in Burundi:
        http://csua.org/u/cwl
        \_ A great testament to Burundi's progress?

8/3     dear motd LGPL expert:
        I'm using an open source LGPL library at work. I need to make some
        minor changes to the source code of the library to get something
        working, and am not sure exactly what I need to do to legally use
        the modified library in a commercial application. My vague
        understanding says that I need to make the source code changes
        "available" (even though the change I made is really simple),
        but what does this mean? (what exactly do I do to make them available?)
        \_ Why don't you just submit your bug fix/enhancement to the
           project team?
        \_ You are going to distribute the modified library with your
           commercial product, yes?  You can:
           a. Distribute the source code to the library too.
           b. Wait for someone to ask you for the source code to the
              modified library.
           c. Submit your changes back to the library maintainers, and then
              it's not an issue.
        \_ I've been in this spot before and we shipped the src to the
           library along with the patch containing our changes. We also
           send the changes to the maintainers, but it took some time
           for the changes to be incorporated and for us to pick up the
           new version so shipping the src and the patch covered us until
           that time.

8/3     "Brig. Gen. Carter Ham ... acknowledged that U.S. and multinational
        forces have faced a number of direct attacks from rebels. The reason,
        he said, is that U.S. and multinational forces have swarmed the
        western Iraq area, limiting rebels from fleeing towns and perhaps
        causing more direct confrontations. When asked whether U.S. forces
        have been able to diminish rebels from inside Iraq or Syria from
        operating, Ham said, 'Absolutely not.' Marines acknowledge many more
        troops would be needed to have a permanent presence in every guerrilla
        enclave along the river, stretching for hundreds of miles to the
        Syrian border. But Ham said today he was uncertain whether the spate
                 \_ Probably these horrible "flush-less" urinals they've been
                    putting in highway rest stops over here--they have a valve
                    at the bottom which drains the things when they fill past
                    a certain degree, and don't let any smell out of the pipe.
                    Needless to say, the bits you pee on above the pipe also
                    smell.  A lot.  -John
        of deaths would lead to more troops being deployed in the area.
        ... Army Gen. George W. Casey, America's top commander in Iraq, set
        November as a goal for U.S. troops to wrest away control of Iraq's
        western borders."

8/3     Eco People: Are you willing to give up your flush toilets?
        \_ You mean using 0.6gpf urinals instead?
           \_ Urinals don't work too well when you crap in them.
              \_ Exactly.  So what's the alternative that the OP proposes?
                 \_ Probably these horrible "flush-less" urinals they've been
                    putting in highway rest stops over here--they have a valve
                    at the bottom which drains the things when they fill past
                    a certain degree, and don't let any smell out of the pipe.
                    Needless to say, the bits you pee on above the pipe also
                    smell.  A lot.  -John
        \_ I use a composting toilet and then use the fertilizer on the
           organic vegetables I sell down at the farmer's market.
           \_ that's done it for me, no more farmer's markets
              \_ Nah, just boil 'em.  Koreans used human excrement as
                 fertilizer for hundred of years.
                 \_ Chinese do that too, but I don't think they boil it first.
                    \_ Not the excrement, the food. Before you eat it.
           \_ Do you also jerk off into that toilet?
                \_ that's it, returning those carrots

8/3     Roberts will go after Griswold vs. Connecticut:
        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201913_pf.html

8/3     Watch freepers rant and rave about the liberal MSM and it's reporting
        of the death of an Iraqi Major General while in U.S. custody
        http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1456310/posts
        http://csua.org/u/cwq (Post)

8/3     I'm not recieving email any more.  Anyone else having problems? -scottyg
        \_ Worked for me.  E-mail went across from outside to soda in ~ 5
           seconds.  Using mutt to check e-mail locally.
        \_My Quota was full...my bad. -scottyg

8/3     Roberts will go after Griswold vs. Connecticut:
        http://csua.org/u/cwr (Washington Post)
        \_ What about Griswold vs. Wally World?

8/3     New pictures of Amanda today at http://bustywebshots.blogspot.com

8/3     Dell sends me catalogs all the time.  I don't care.  I like trees.
        How do I make them stop sending me catalogs? - danh
        \_ Tell them at http://dell.com.
        \_ http://www.dell.com -> Privacy Policy -> Mailing List Removal/Change
           of Address -> "Click here to opt-out of direct mail ...... Home and
           Home Office customers".
                \_ wow, thanks! - danh
        \_ First, you tell them (Michael Dell and his management) to stop using
           Dell corporate money to donate 90% of their total party funds to
           the Republicans. When that happens, you'll buy their products.

8/3     The optimus keyboard: http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus

8/3     Sorry for the short notice, but it looks like I have time to work on
        home directory issue tonight.  I'm going to start breaking stuff...
        badly... bugs to root@csua. - jvarga
        \_ Erm, what, exactly, does this mean?
           \_ With luck, the quota upgrades will come tonight. - jvarga
              \_ I love you like I've never loved another man.

8/3     Another nutty Palestinian:
        http://csua.org/u/cx5 (sfgate)

8/3     Okay, basically this looks like the funniest shit ever:
        http://accstudios.com/f/comicpreview_page_cover.htm
        \_ Yawn. Dismissed as crap months ago.