8/30    Happy birthday psb!!! How old are you?
        \- This is my decoy bday.
           \_ What's your decoy age?
        \_ My analysis of partha based on years and years of observation:
              \- do i know you?
                 i seem to have really gotten under your skin.
           Partha, I think you're very insecure of yourself. You constantly
           ask people whether it's socially acceptable to <stick in whatever
           trivial thing here>. A normal, grown up confident man doesn't need
           the approval of his peers. Secondly, you're not in your GAP
           Banana Republic age (20s); you're in your 30s, single, yet still
           care excessively about looks, fashion and trying to impress the ppl
           you hang out with. There's no need for that. How about trying
           to be Partha instead of being a comformist? Thirdly, it seems that
           you have a need to be with companions. You're not a teenager
           or in your early 20s, you don't needs friends to go to nice/hip
              \- i dont like "hip" restaurants.
                 i do like nice restaurants.
              \- i dont like "hip" restaurants. i do like nice restaurants.
                 i guess my tastes have gotten snootier
                 in that i dont eat a lot of 99cent burgers
                 but have moved on to $5.50 burritos and quesedillas.
                 i guess my tastes have gotten snootier in that
                 i dont eat a lot of 99cent burgers anymore but
                 have moved on to $5.50 burritos and quesedillas.
           restaurants. At your age, you should act your age, and feel less
           conscious about being by yourself. Partha, you're cool, and you
           should just feel confident about yourself and occasionally try to
           do things by yourself without the approval of your peers. Doing
           so will give you CHARACTER instead of a bland comformist that you
           are now. You don't need approval, and you don't need to fit in.
           Happy 30 something birthday Partha.     -your anonymous friend
           Happy 30 something birthday Partha. -your anonymous friend(brain)
                \_ Wow one of the biggest loads of BS I've ever read in the
                   motd and that's saying something.
           \_ Yes, this analysis does seem off.  Not that I've spent enough
              time with psb to form real judgements. --PeterM
           \_ Haha!  Do me next! -- ilyas
              \_ I didn't know you're a homosexual. I think Big Bad
                 Vodka Drinking Misha would like to do you.
           \_ Are you "the" motd stalker? Or are there more like you?
        \_ http://home.lbl.gov:8080/~psb/TRISHUL_00/Economist_17k.jpg

8/30    http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/September-October-2005/feature_motro_sepoct05.msp
        http://redirx.com/?3hc5

        "Some people claim that the Oslo process was deliberately designed to
        segregate Palestinians into isolated enclaves so that Israel could
        continue to occupy the West Bank without the burden of policing its
        people. If so, perhaps the map inadvertently revealed what the
        Israeli wordsmiths worked so diligently to hide. Or perhaps
        Israel's negotiators purposefully emphasized the discontinuity of
        Palestinian areas to appease opposition from the Israeli right,
        knowing full well that Arafat would fly into a rage.

        Neither is true. I know, because I had a hand in producing the
        official Oslo II map, and I had no idea what I was doing." - danh
        \_ Why are you an anti-semite, danh? RACIST.

8/30    Can anyone recommend a good book on writing modules in C for Apache2?

8/30    Hey politburo, how much MONEY did you guys actually get? Do you
        guys have enough to start a CSUA investment club? Or use the
        excess money to invite hot sorority girls to a nice CSUA party?
        \_ It doesn't cost money to invite people to a party.
           \_ It does if you want to impress sorority sluts.
              \_ Bullshit.
        \_ Let me explain a bit how CSUA money works.  Programs money is
           given to us through the ASUC every semester and is very limited
           how we can spend it (only certain % on food, the rest needs to
           go for things like books or comp hardware).  We get around 1,200
           this year.  This money goes poof if not spent through the year.
           Our money that comes from alumni donations, EECS department,
           bake sales, car washes, and jvarga hoe-ing out to various
           companies goes into our Miscelaneous (sp?) fund.  That fund
           persists even if we don't spend the money, and typically is spent
           on food for general meetings if we go over our %, hardware, and
           93 subscriptions of playboy for the office.  In conclusion,
           donate more money... NOW! (Its tax deductible too).
                -mrauser, keeper of the coin
           \_ Why 93 subscriptions of Playboy?  One is enough.  Just make sure
              you wipe it clean before you return it to the shelf for then next
              person.  Then we can allot the extra $ for one subscription of
              Penthouse, one subscription of Hustler, etc.
           \_ It's tax deductible?  I thought only donations to charities are
              tax deductible.

8/30    So.  Much.  Space.  *twitch, twitch*          -mice
        \_ If it really hurts you, I am more than happy to mod you back down to
           20MB/25MB... - jvarga
        \_ Fill it with cream.
           \_ Creampie?
        \_ How much?

8/30    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050830/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/census_poverty
        Poverty level in the US rises to 12.7 percent. Luckily, the wealthiest
        people in the US are also one of the most generous in the world.
        I'm sure they'll start building more art museums and donating
        expensive softwares to enrich everyone's lives.
        \_ It is important that someone uses all those old copies of Office.
           \_ Microsoft is the leader in this regard -- donating its own
              software to settle the antitrust lawsuit.
              software to settle the antitrust lawsuit.  I wonder if it doesn't
              even bother burning CDs and just offer free downloads which costs
              it next to nothing.
              software to settle the antitrust lawsuit.  I wonder if they don't
              even bother to burn CDs and just offer free downloads which costs
              them next to nothing.
        \_ And yet the news of the jobless claims going down doesn't get
           reported.
           \_ Eliminate unemployment compensation entirely and the jobless
              claims will drop to zero!  How could such such an awesome idea
              to fix the economy have escaped the republicans thus far?
           \_ I see reports of it all the time. What are you reading that
              you don't see it? It is in the business section, granted....
        \_ Wal-Mart Stores said it would donate $1 million to the Salvation
           Army for relief assistance such as meals for victims and emergency
           and rescue personnel. See? They're generous.
                                      \_ *pshaw*  Only to people that don't
                                         work for them.
        \_ Someone clue me in on what I'm missing:
           "The number of people without health insurance coverage grew from
           45 million to 45.8 million last year, but the number of people
           with health insurance grew by 2 million."
           Is it that there are 2.8 million births?  -mrauser
           \_ Dependants relying on parents'/spouses' coverage, maybe?
           \_ Immigrants.

8/28    Why were the Israel/Palestine map link and the Bell Curve link
        deleted?  There was good stuff at both links.  Neither link went
        to anything trollish.
        \_ restored but at the end. TROLL.
           \_ I didn't post either link.  In what way are either of them
              trolls?  The Israel/Palestine map link was about how diplomats
              who are so careful with words are so poor with maps which
              requires a different set of skills.  The Bell Curve link is
              a summary refutation of the Bell Curve by someone who actually
              read it.  Unless you think "Israel/Palestine" or "Bell Cuve"
              automagically means "troll", there was nothing trollish in
              either link.  You *did* read the links, right?

8/28    Why is it that Germans are dominating Yahoo's Oddly Enough section?
        Is this a conspiracy from the Jewish dominated Yahoo to get
        back at Germans? I've listed a few examples:
        - German mayor criticized for welcoming S&M festival
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050830/od_nm/wowereit_festival_dc
        - German cat burglar
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050830/od_nm/germany_cat_dc
        - German man scratching large penis-shapes into 300 cars arrested:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050826/od_nm/germany_vandal_dc
                \_ "German man scratching large penis ..."  What?
        - German beer drinking has Shroeder ahead:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050826/od_nm/germany_election_dc
        - German women crashes her car because of a spider:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050825/od_nm/germany_spider_dc
        - German Honecker offends in Berlin:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050825/od_nm/germany_honecker_dc
                \_ This one isn't oddly enough.
        - 76 year old German male attacks a woman over his favorite chair:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050824/od_nm/germany_pensioner_dc
        - Why Germans stink more, literally
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050801/od_nm/germany_fungus_dc
                \_ What's with this title? It makes no sense dumbass.
                   The thing "literally" stinking is the fungus.
                   \_ Why does no one in the CSUA have any sense of humour any
                      more?
                      \_ Because we're American, and have senses of "humor"?
        \_ It's a result of inbreeding.  --PM
           \_ Is John an example of inbreeding?
              \_ No, I'm an example of what the stud geniuses of this world
                 could be breeding if they weren't all at yermom's house.

8/30    2 Openings at AvantGo in Dublin (great reverse commute from the East
        Bay!):
        /csua/pub/jobs/AvantGo/senior-web-applications-engineer
        /csua/pub/jobs/AvantGo/senior-systems-administrator
        --dbushong

8/30    http://video.google.com
        \_ I have to install a special viewer?
           \_ And it doesn't work w/ Mozilla, just Firefox & IE.
              \_ It _is_ a beta...
        \_ I searched for "Pamela Anderson" and "Paris Hilton".  Nothing
           interesting.
           \_ Where can I get the Pamela Anderson videos?

8/30    They should have bought a sky-rise condo!
     http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WEATHER/08/30/katrina/top.1535.katrina.orleans.ap.jpg

8/30    http://cbs5.com/business/finance_story_228124420.html
        Interesting map idea, but I think would would be even cooler is
        a 3-D satellite map. Right now Google has a 2D satellite map,
        but if they can scan, interpret, and re-render the terrain in
        3-D that'd be even cooler

8/30    Post the cutest Asian female you can find on Friendster. I'll start:
        http://www.friendster.com/user.php?uid=12144925
        http://www.friendster.com/user.php?uid=3111058
        http://www.friendster.com/user.php?uid=2693650

8/30    Police join in looting Wal-Mart in New Orleans
        http://csua.org/u/d73
        \_ That's nice you get to sit and get fat hacking away
           at your "job" so you can criticize someone who would
           take a bullet for your fat-ass.
           \_ Mmm.. kneejerk.  do you like police corruption?  granted, this
           \_ Mmm.. kneejerk.  do you like corrupt police?  granted, this
              is not the same as swiping drugs/money from evidence lockup,
              but still.. Or have we all been trolled?
           \- Where is a photojournalist/sobody with a cell phone camera
              when you need one:
                   Another man rolled a mechanized pallet, stacked six
                   feet high with cases of vodka and whiskey. Perched
                   atop the stack was a bewildered toddler.
           \_ You don't know much about New Orleans' cops.
        \_ "At least one officer tried futilely to control a looter through
           shame. 'When they say take what you need, that doesnt mean an
           f-ing' TV'"
        \_ I thought this kind of things only happens in a third world country.
           \_ What do you think New Orleans is right now?
        \_ Black people loot, white people borrow:
           http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/44689
           \_ "It fell off a truck"
           \_ And Asians... ?

8/30    Chavez offers us fuel and food on top of free eye surgery.
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050829/pl_afp/usweathervenezuelaoil
        Now we REALLY need to assassinate him.
        \_ Ha! He has succumed to the dreaded threat of Pat Robertson!
        \_ I don't think he understands that we kick our poor people when
           they're down.
        \_ Hehe.  I actually think he's pretty funny.
        \_ Al Capone was actually a hero in the 30s to the really poor
           people in Chicago. He setup cafes to feed the people who
           would have starved to death during the great depression. How
           he got money to setup cafes is another story. Today, we are
           in need of another hero. We need someone to take money from
           Bill Gates, Walmart Waltons, and other super wealthy kings
           to give wealth back to the poor. We have no such hero today.

8/30    Do you guys have good ideas on increasing the readership and
        the participation on motd? With fierce competition from newsgroups,
        Yahoo groups, friendster & orkut network, and many other facilities,
        how can we keep our unique 70's style of newsgroup going for
                                                 \_ http://ucb.org.csua
        decades? Serious responses please. Thanks.
        \_ Does it really need more participation?  I don't think I'd want to
           read much more traffic than it gets now.  -- FT job haver
           \_ Seconded.  I think we have enough traffic.
              \_ Enough traffic, but not enough variety. ;)
        \_ I think we should turn automatic motd display back on for new
           members.
           \_ I think this by far the simplest and most effective method.
              The motd is dominated by old farts. It's time to get new blood.
              jvarga, help?
        \_ Hey, kchang: how about adding an RSS 2.0 or Atom feed to KAIS Motd?
           \_ this will only increase the motd addiction for existing users.
              it's like adding more nicotine in cigarettes. it won't increase
              the number of suckers who are interested in smoking.

8/30    "... the parliament designated the World War II hymn 'Kimigayo' as the
        national anthem in 1999 ... same one sung as the Imperial Army set
        forth from Japan ... strongly backed by Shintaro Ishihara, the governor
        of Tokyo and an outspoken nationalist, as a way to strengthen classroom
        patriotism.
        ... The school board's mandatory rule has had a visible effect. At
        graduation ceremonies in 2004, 198 teachers refused to stand. After a
        series of fines and disciplinary actions, Nezu and nine other teachers
        were the only protesters this year."
        http://csua.org/u/d71 (Wash Post)

8/30    My company debuted the public version of our radio product.  Check
        it out:
        http://www.pandora.com
        Trackback feed of related coverage:
        http://del.icio.us/tconrad/pandora-music
          -- lye
        \_ the idea behind this is fascinating. i think there are some issues
           with the UI flow.
           \_ Could you be any more specific?  I'm not involved with the UI
              programming per se but I can always pass things on to the
              person that is. --lye
              \_ i'll send you some e-mail. -pp
        \_ the idea behind this is fascinating.
        \_ This is really cool.  It's too bad you're not licensed to replay
           songs or rewind.  Can you at least play short clips of songs you've
           already heard?

8/30    http://www.outpostnine.com/editorials/mating3.html

        You think: You two are growing closer...so the relationship
        must be around the corner.
        She thinks: "Yay! Emotional support! A friend!
        Now I need to go find some jerk to fuck."
        \_ Not as amusing as his kancho material, but the overall gist is
           good.

8/30    Am I the only one who finds comparisons of this hurricane to the
        Boxing Day tsunami as tacky and out of proportion? --expat alum
        \-  "I can only imagine," Gov. Haley Barbour said slowly,
            "that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago."
           \_ wow, now if they'd just try a holocaust simile we
              could have a truly tacky trinity.
        \_ A city of about 500K is underwater.  Sorry, I think you're an idiot.
        \_ A city of about 500K is underwater including many white people.
           Sorry, I think you're an idiot. -emarkp
           \_ Hundreds dead vs. hundreds of thousands dead.  Days of warning
              vs. minutes of warning (if at all).  Hmm ......
              vs. minutes of warning (if any).  Hmm ......
              \_ I'm sorry, I didn't know there was an accurate count of the
                 dead.  Did you know they're painting black marks on houses so
                 they can go back and collect the dead when cars can get
                 through?
                 \_ "Hundreds" is not an accurate count.
                    \- the biggest difference is whether yo live in a society
                       with a social safety net or not. the best comparison
                       is to various bay of bengal monsoons and the effect
                       on bangladesh. the hiroshima "comparison" is just dumb,
                       but it is pretty much "free" for pols to make comments
                       but it is pretty much "free" for people to make comments
                       like this [or for pat to make comments like he made
                       recently]. --somebody who has done a fair amount of
                                    travel in societies without soc safety nets
                       recently].
           \_ what the hell does "including white people" mean??  I slightly
              modify my orignal impression, as the news here in S.E. Asia
              was talking about 70 dead when the tsunami simile appeared. But
              I still wonder about comparing it to an event that killed at
              least half a million people w/ an hour's warning. -op
                    \_ I enjoy spending time with white people.
                       Do you have a problm with that? Are you white? -emarkp
                       \_ I have a problem w/ people assigning more value
                          to lives wrapped in one skin color or flag, yes.
                          And yes I am a white American.
              \_ Yeah, but WHITE PEOPLE died in New Orleans. Even worse,
                 conservative white people. Oh the humanity!
              \_ Where did you get the 500k number?
                 \_ I mispoke and should have said "up to" half a million.
                    Those were the trends being reported here in SEA when
                    people seemed to stop counting.  Indonesia alone lost
                    whole towns and cities and cannot count accurately
                    but was being estimated at a quarter million as I recall.

8/30    In A.D. 2005, hurricane was approaching.
        \_ And it created an unexpected hero, President George W. Bush.
           \_ Who golfed everyone right out of trouble.
           \_ Yeah, sure.  Whatever.
           \_ Don't you know that Katrina is a Rovian plot to divert
              the public's attention from the War and Cindy Shennan
              and BUSHCO's shenanagins?
        \_ In 2005 AD, the hurrcane triggered a global recession more
           severe than the hurricane itself.

8/30    Hey politburo, how much MONEY did you guys actually get?
        \_ Let me explain a bit how CSUA money works.  Programs money is
           given to us through the ASUC every semester and is very limited
           how we can spend it (only certain % on food, the rest needs to
           go for things like books or comp hardware).  We get around 1,200
           this year.  This money goes poof if not spent through the year.
           Our money that comes from alumni donations, EECS department,
           bake sales, car washes, and jvarga hoe-ing out to various
           companies goes into our Miscelaneous (sp?) fund.  That fund
           persists even if we don't spend the money, and typically is spent
           on food for general meetings if we go over our %, hardware, and
           93 subscriptions of playboy for the office.  In conclusion,
           donate more money... NOW! (Its tax deductible too).
                -mrauser, keeper of the coin
           \_ how much alumni donation have you been getting during the
              past year (ballpark figure)?
              \_ I think the cabinet members are enjoying their new
                 money. I think they should start an investment club and
                 and make lots of money to buy a dorm designed for engineers,
                 with 24 hour cafe (when they go hungry doing projects) and
                 setup a special social etiquette finishing school inside
                 the dorm.

8/30    Holy shitpackers Batman.  Katrina hits just before Labor Day weekend,
        the biggest driving weekend of the year.  How high will those gas
        prices go?
        \_ $.50?  more?
        \_ $2.97 at Shell on Lawrence and Kiely this morning, I'm guessing
                             \_ Aren't those streets parallel?
                                \_ Sorry I ment Kifer.
           over $3 by this weekend.
           \_ Is this for 87 octane?
              \_ Yes.
           \_ Tower Gasoline in San Francisco, which generally has the
              cheapest gas in the city (which isn't saying much) has the
              following prices today as I recall:
              $3.07 for 87 octane
              $3.15 for 89 octane
              $3.25 for 92 octane
        \_ Roughly 25% of US refining capacity is in the area.  High.  And
           no, they won't come back down after everything is cleaned up and
           back to normal.  Invest in energy companies.

8/30    US Army auditor who blew whistle on Halliburton contract is fired:
        http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article309072.ece
        \_ In another news Halliburton is hired to rebuild Louisiana.

8/30    For those Flying Spaghetti Monster devotees in the audience:
        http://www.frozenreality.co.uk/comic/bunny/index.php?id=357

8/30    Get a $2000 tax break next year by going solar:
        http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/knock_4000_off.php
        \_ Yay!  I can spend $20000 and save $4000.  What a deal!
           \_ Actually, do the math.  Between the state and federal credits
              and discounts, it's a pretty good deal vs. the "real" cost.
              That being said, PV is still a pretty poor price performer.  But
              if you're in a high electricity tier and going PV could drop you
              a couple tiers and you finance the PV installation and you're
              collecting all of these discounts, you could end up money ahead
              every month, starting now, and more in the future.  --dbushong
                \_ Not to mention the fact that we don't know the future of
                   electricity prices.  What if they start going up 10% a
                   a month for a few years? Those with PV panels will have
                   no change to their $0/mo electric bills.
                   \_ A solar system is also a home improvement which
                      increases the value of the house, so the cost is
                      at least partially recoverable, even leaving aside
                      the electricity bills.  -tom (Zero kwh usage for three
                                                    months now)

8/30    Photo from eye of Katrina:
        http://csua.org/u/d76 (en.wikipedia.org)
        \_ Wow!  What kind of airplane was it?
           \_ The caption says: "...as seen from a NOAA P-3 hurricane hunter
              aircraft."
              \_ Got it.  A 4-engine propeller plane.  Thanks.  I thought it
                 had to be some powerful jet figher to be able to safely fly
                 close to a hurricane.
                 \_ http://www.aoc.noaa.gov/aircraft_lockheed.htm
           \_ It has to be a slow plane in order to go with the hurricane.
              Something too fast would require a lot of turns.