9/6     http://csua.org/u/d9l (Wash Post)
        "Many of the towns along the river have been subject to domination by
        foreign-led fighters, despite repeated Marine offensives in the area
        since May. Residents and Marines have described insurgents escaping
        ahead of such drives, and returning when the offensives end."
        \_ Are they talking about Iraq or New Orleans?
           \_ yermom.

9/6     http://csua.org/u/d9k (Wash Post)
        "Is the problem the Bush administration's ideological fervor for
        small government? Does the White House really believe that primary
        responsibility should fall on volunteers, church groups and
        individuals? Or is it just stunning incompetence and lack of
        foresight?"
        \-OWNERSHIP SOCIETY
        \_ last time I checked, number of people on Federal payroll is
           actually *INCREASED*.  Further, we ran from huge surplus
           to huge deficit.  hmm... I don't know.  Ideology aside,
           from the number of it, Bush is more of a big government type
           than Clinton!
           \- i believe fed govt increase/decr is better predicted
              by whether cong and white house are same party than
              whether president is R or D. structure trumps ideoology. --psb
              \_ agree.  my problem is that Republican kept bitching
                 about how democrats are pro-big-government type, nothing
                 more.
        \_ GWB to US: You've been pwn3d!

9/6     what 'woman is in charge of LA', ilyas?  I don't live
        in LA and have no idea what you talk about.

9/7     When I used wget -k -r to get stuff recursively, it doesn't translate
        URLS like "http://hello.com/Application?key=val" I think it is
        confused by the ? and other stuff. Also I need to convert them to
        HTML. Do you know how to make wget translate properly? ok thx.

9/6     Do you think we're at the Dawn of the Age of Aquarius?
        \_ The Age of Aquarius
           \_ The Age of Aquarius
              \_ Aquarius
                 \_ Aquarius?

9/6     "At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the hotel
        saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you've
        got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts. When the girls
        refused, they said 'Fine' and motored off down the road in their boat."
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4217022.stm
        \_ Oh no! The horror! Men being scum! Cops acting corrupt!
           We must outlaw this with an amendment!
           \_ Please state for the record which party most recently tried
              to amend the constitution for purely political reasons.
              \_ I'm sure those cops, and their unions, were 100% GOP.
                 As if that had anything to do with the above.
           \_ Sounds good to me. Where's the petition? -non-scum man
              \_ If you victims are dead, how will you know who to
                 press charges against?

9/6     I filed a small claims, and upon receiving the small claims, the
        asshole^H^H^H^H^H^H^HDefendant decided to give me a full refund
        today. However my court date is next Monday. How do I cancel my
        small claims? Thanks.
        \_ Make sure the check/payment clears. If there is doubt, call the
           court and ask to have your case postponed (reason: possible
           settlement). If it does clear and everything is okay, call the
           court and let them know you settled out of court.
           \- if you have incurred significant extra costs, you can
              ask for those too. if you have done all your prep and you
              can get him on the phone, you might say "you need to pay me
              $X extra in costs otherwise see you on monday" ... if he doesnt
              show up you should get a judgment against him. at his point
              detail matters ... is it a business or somebody judgment proof,
              are we talking $20 or $500 etc.
        \_ Hello, I'm the op. If you want more info, here:
           http://csua.com/?entry=33294 2004-09-02
           http://csua.com/?entry=39006 2005-08-04
           I wrote several letters and even complained on BBB but nothing
           worked. The manager was a dick, and kept saying "refund denied."
           Then when I filed for Small Claims they did a 180. They had some
           other guy giving me a lengthy apology apologizing. They gave me
           a full refund with 2 free nights at Holiday Inn Express. I learned
           my lesson: talking and complaining is a waste of time. Just sue
           the SOB.
           \_ Two letters and two phone calls should be the base. I find SCC
              better as a last resort. Postpone your court date, make sure
              the check clears, then call the court up to say they settled.
              Congrats. Victory is yours!
           \- i dont think your "lesson" is correct for two reasons:
              1. i think many many cases can be resolved by a complaint
                 letter. you might have to make some compromises but it
                 will take a lot less of your time and you can "move on"
                 without it hanging over your head. in fact there is some
                 chance if it is a company that has long/repeat customer
                 relationships, they will throw yo a bone. obviously you have
                 to normally keep sane and cant ask for the person who pissed
                 you off to be asked to lick your ball or somesuch.
              2. if it goes to court, IT WILL LOOK BAD if you didnt attempt
                 to settle. a big part of the court system are practical
                 issues designed to bring trials to an end and a specific
                 conclusion and not to end up in jardyce v. jarndyce land.
               3. certainly a case against a sole proprietor who is being
                  unreasoanble and who has already lost your business is a
                  different matter than a large corporation where there is
                  an appeal chain.
                  \- BTW, i suspect what is useless is the BBB
                     \_ The BBB has gotten me action in three cases
                        where complaint letters did not. -ausman

9/6     Where is the best place to buy ergonomic computer chairs?
        \_ I bought my steelcase leap chair on Craigslist for under $300.

9/6     Relief efforts: Callous, racist, and inept.
        http://www.dissensus.com/showpost.php?p=27528&postcount=30
        http://www.dissensus.com/showpost.php?p=27529&postcount=31
        \_ "sheroes" is one of the stupidest words I've ever heard.  -tom
           \_ Sexist!
        \_ this sounds fabricated.

9/6     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050906/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices
        Gas prices start to fall again. Yay, it's time to buy SUVs again!!!
        \_ Too bad. I was enjoying the nice flow on the freeway for the
           past few days. It was so... wonderful, like sex. Now it must end.

9/6     http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20050905/cm_huffpost/006844
        My mother always told me that when a person dies, one should not say
        anything bad about him. My mother was wrong (regarding Rehnquist).
        \- No matter what you think about CHITCHENS, you have to admit this
           is nicely phrased ... --psb
           \_ What are you talking about, that essay is by
              alan dershowitz - danh
                   \- i am talking about the quote below:
                   \- it's possible AD also re-quoted the same
                      samuel johnson quote but CHITCHENS is quoted
                      below and i have heard CH repeat the same quote
                      slightly differently phrased in an interview.
                      What are you talking about?
                A man is not  on his oath, said Samuel Johnson,
                when he  gives a funeral oration.  One ought to
                try and contest the underlying assumption here,
                which  condescendingly excuses those  who write
                nil nisi bonum of the dead.

9/6     Probably old news to some of you, but what do you all think of the
        "Street Performer Protocol"?
        http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue4_6/kelsey
        \_ I'd probably never go for it.
        \_ I think the ideas sounds interesting in parts, but I don't
           see how it could work as the primary mechanism for funding of
           copyrighted works.  An author who wishes to publish his first
           novel will not be able to get donations, so he needs someone
           else (i.e., a publishing house) to decide he is worth it,
           market the book and put it in stores.  That publishing house
           needs to have control of the copyright to at least some extent,
           because they publish and promote a lot of books by first-time
           authors and most of them don't make money, so to fund their
           operations they need to make their money from the few successful
           books.
           The idea might work for Stephen King.  -tom
           \_ Stephen King tried it and it failed him if I recall.
              \_ King tried putting his books up for download by serial,
                 with small payments, but without any escrow.  So very
                 few people actually paid for them because they were all
                 available on the the file-swapping services for free.
                 If he said "OK I want to make $100K off this book" and
                 waited until there was $100K in escrow, the file-swapping
                 problem would be mitigated.  -tom
        \_ It's overly optomistic about a performer's skill. One of the
           greatest resource of a publishing house is it's editors. First
           novels are hardly ever insta-classics without the vicious advice
           of an editor. Plotholes, meandering writing, lack of character,
           inaccurate facts, etc. sinks books even before they are finished.
           A good editor will fix that. Plus, a partially written book does
           nobody any good. Authors should create a finished product or they
           will find themselves lost like a potter  trying to glaze a wet
           piece of clay.

9/6     Dear John and ilyas, please proceed with the duel. I'm willing to
        lend you guys my taser guns. Why taser guns? Because it is safer
        than guns yet equally effective. Also I just want to see my new
        taser guns work in action. I'll setup a place where you guys
        can duel. How does Foster City sound? I know a perfect place for
        this kind of stuff, at this long, beautiful bridge in near where
        I live. Ilyas, since you have no friends you're more than welcome
        to stay at my apartment.
        \_ Tell you what, I was trolled while in a foul mood and responded a
           lot more aggressively than I should have.  I also duly apologized
           to ilyas.  I do, however, invite ilyas to join me in challenging
           you to a GUN DUEL.  Are you scared?  -John
        \_ In all seriuosness, a quake death match tournament between
           the various motd trolls would be fun.
        \_ I think you've been trolled, man.
           \- they have decided to resolve it by DUELING BANJOS. --zell@soda
              \_ SQUEAL LIKE A PIG BOY!
                 \_ He shore does have a purdy mouth.
        \_ I have a couple of 1911s you can choose from.
        \_ I'd love to see a wimpy nerd zapping a big German coward, or
           the other way around. The thought of them electricuting each
           other, with the shaking and the sparks... it'll be quite a show.
           They should open up a Hate Duel Shop where two opponents settle
           their score by each depositing money in an account (the shop takes
           X% of the deposit), and let the two duel using sticks, tasers,
           or some other non-legal but effective weapons. The winner takes
           the entire pot. This is much more entertaining and much more
           profitable than say, Small Claims.
           \_ Cool, heil cherman john guy got a little helper!  It's an
              especially nice touch how you throw out seemingly relevant
              insults, including "coward", anonymously.  -John
        \_ this is awesome. what would be even cooler is if one of you guys
           shot the other one fatally while holding the office of vp of the
           unites states, and later became involved in several attempts to
           bring down the us government.        --aaron burr #1 fan
           \_ Without milk.  -John

9/7     Is there a way to change passwords on windows from the cmd line?
        I only have a telnet session... Thx.
        \_ Your google fu is weak.
           http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=149427    -John

9/6     Ballmer goes nutzoid!
        http://news.com.com/Court+docs+Ballmer+vowed+to+kill+Google/2100-1014_3-5846243.html
        \_ Developers Developers Developers
        \_ Why is this so weird?  I would expect this from my CEO.
           I want my CEO actively plotting to destroy the competition.
           Should Ballmer have sent Schmidt a nice card?  - danh
           \_ Yes, but I can't say I've ever heard my CEO say "we're going
              to FUCKING KILL <insert name of competitor>".
              \_ When I worked at Documentum, the founder/CTO was fond of
                 saying things like, "If we do X, we're going to fuck Filenet.
                 That's my goal -- to fuck Filenet."  It made our all-hands
                 company meetings pretty damned unique.          -mice
        \_ fyi, the guy who recounted the Ballmer argument:
           http://mark-lucovsky.blogspot.com/2005/02/shipping-software.html
           http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/p2p2001/view/e_spkr/1079
           "Being a 16 year Microsoft veteran, a Distinguished Engineer, key
           architect and code writer for windows, architect of the largest
           source code control and build system ever attempted, I deeply
           believed that Microsoft knows how to ship software. ... I am not
           sure I believe anymore, that Microsoft 'knows how to ship
           software'."
           It's no wonder Ballmer had a shit-fit, with a talented old-guard
           grunt leaving, and probably not the only one.

9/6     Did ilyas really challenge John to a gun duel, and then say he was
        leaving motd because it had turned into soda wall?
        Someone please tell me it was someone posing as ilyas who wrote that,
        or that he was totally kidding.
           \_ John, I challenge you to a gun duel.  Are you scared? -- ilyas
                    \_ Come get some.  You're right, I'm craven because I
                       don't go seek out random scrawny geeks I've never met
                       who challenge me to GUN DUEL on the soda motd.  Do you
                       challenge people to GUN DUEL often, Ilya?  -John
        \_ http://csua.com/?entry=39490
           People like ilyas and John are making motd as dirty as wall.
           This is the reason why politburo disabled motd for newbies.
        \_ No.  It was a troll.
           \_ So ilyas was trolling John about the gun duel?
              \_ No.  I think it was a third person acting as a poser troll.
                 \_ What do you mean "I think"?  Either you know (because
                    you're ilyas, the troll himself, or ilyas told you) or
                    you don't know.
                    \_ You're getting waaaay too worked up about this, man.
                       \_ Don't change the subject.
                          So does the guy know or is he just guessing?
                          \_ He knows.
                             \_ Okay, it's cleared up by the URL.
                                ilyas posted that it wasn't him but a troller.
                                For the record, ilyas did not aaron himself,
                                did not challenge John to a gun duel.
                                For the record, ilyas did not challenge John
                                to a gun duel.
                                "No.  It was a troll." guy could have saved
                                a lot of trouble by posting something to
                                that effect and/or the URL earlier.
                                \_ Uhm, that rather assumes I'm willing to go
                                   to the effort on your behalf.  Considering
                                   the nature of the whole thing, that's just
                                   ...odd.
                                \_ "A lot of trouble"?  Didn't cause me any
                                   trouble at all.  *shrug*
                                   \_ no duh.
                                      \_ You're taking this all too seriously.
                                         Trust me, it's not worth the energy.
           \_ See URL to confirm that, for the record, it was someone posing
              as ilyas.  ilyas did not challenge John to a gun duel.
        Someone please tell me it was someone posing as ilyas who wrote that,
        or that he was totally kidding.
        \_ It was a poser troll, so be of good cheer.
        \_ That was an imposter. Ilyas always uses motdedit, a mechanism that
           KAIS MOTD logs very well. The duel post shows that whoever posted
           as ilyas, did not use motdedit.
           \_ It was a poser troll, so be of good cheer.
           \_ You sure he "always" uses motdedit?  I thought he used vi all
              the time and merged in changes where he could.
           \_ John, I challenge you to a gun duel.  Are you scared? -- ilyas
                    \_ Come get some.  You're right, I'm craven because I
                       don't go seek out random scrawny geeks I've never met
                       who challenge me to GUN DUEL on the soda motd.  Do you
                       challenge people to GUN DUEL often, Ilya?  -John
           \_ You sure he "always" uses motdedit?  I thought he used vi all
              the time and merged in changes where he could.
        \_ ilyas appears to have aaroned himself.
           \- ilyas stayed in the sauna too long. he is going to challege
              john in the russian style of naked sauna wrestling.

9/6     Has anyone worked with data archival software? Our microfilm scanner
        still works but the printer has died (it's 30 years old). We're looking
        at replacing microfilm with a digital system. I'm a luddite, so this
        seems like a pretty bad idea to me, but I'm told to see what's out
        there. So I guess I need a decent scanner and document feeder and
        maybe some non-consumer software to create PDFs of what is scanned in.
        Any pointers would be appreciated. On a side note, Google is not great
        when you want to actually buy a new product because you're getting
        targeted ads vs. information.
        \_ it totally depends on your requirements.  Does it need to be
           accessible to the web?  Will you submit your info to a large
           digital repository so you can use their finding aids?  How large
           is the archive?  Do you have a database already in existence that
           can work with digital images?
        \_ There have been a few threads on this on http://slashdot.org with a
           couple of gems among the chaff.  Might be worthwhile spending an
           hour or so going through their archive.  Also, I think that if you
           have basic questions about Microfilm->digital archive transferral,
           Kodak does a lot of work for large companies on this; you might
           want to start looking there.  My gf's dad used to do this for them,
           if you want, I can ask him for some pointers.  -John

9/6     jblack, your test failed miserably. Join me and our brethren in
        the new conservative motd: http://csua.org/motd

9/6     RIP Gilligan:
        http://tinyurl.com/7nqoa
        \_ Goodbye, little buddy...
        \_ Good, I hated him with a passion.  I don't know about him as a
           person, but his character was the most annoying in the history
           of television and cinema.  I definitely would have killed him
           had I been on the island with him.  They could've have got off
           that stupid island so many times!!!
                \_ Um, Jar Jar Binks -- no charge for the correction

9/6     http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=1101220
        "Microbiologist Paul Pearce found total sewage bacteria in a water
        sample from in New Orleans' Ninth Ward to be 45,000 times what would be
        considered safe for swimming in a pond or a lake. ... Pearce also found
        2.2 million parts per unit of human waste bacteria in the floodwater,
        which is off the charts."
        \_ nice to see the celtics forward has an off-season hobby

9/6     When Wal-Mart sent three trailer trucks loaded with water,
        FEMA officials turned them away, he said. Agency workers
        prevented the Coast Guard from delivering 1,000 gallons of
        diesel fuel, and on Saturday they cut the parish's emergency
        communications line, leading the sheriff to restore it and
        post armed guards to protect it from FEMA, Mr. Broussard said.
        \_ urlP
           \_ #t
           \_ Go to http://nyt.com and do a search. http://www.csua.org seems to have
              been taken over by porn links. Dunno why.
        \_ http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/06/D8CERTB80.html

9/6     If you had any doubt that the Washington Times is a right-wing
        media outlet:
        http://www.washtimes.com/national/pruden.htm (Editor in Chief)
        \_ "The vultures of the venomous left" -- I love it! I want a t-shirt
           proclaiming me a vulture of the venomous left!

9/6     Gay marriage bill passed by California legislature with minimum
        required votes, goes to Ahnold
        http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1478960/posts
        \_ Judicial activism!  Think of the children!!1!1  Oh wait...
        \_ Feel the love.
        \_ Passed under cover of Katrina, ignoring Prop 22, etc.
                \_ Make up your mind -- do you want it made legal by activist
                   judges or activist legislatures?
                   \_ Neither.

9/6     Firefighter volunteers were used as FEMA PR specialists:
        http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php#006430
        http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3004197
        "As specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a
        team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for
        Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush
        as he tours devastated areas."
        http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050903/ids_photos_india_wl/ra2838142191.jpg
        \_ that's nice. keep trolling.
         \_ You don't know what trolling means do you?
        \_ "This could look bad for OCP.  Assemble our best spin team."
        \_ Impeach GWB now. -mrauser
                \_ The foxes are currently guarding the henhouse.  Actually,
                   it's more like the foxes are guarding the foxhouse.

9/6     FEMA Chief waited until after storm hit before asking his employees
        to New Orleans, and gave them two days to arrive:
        http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050907/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_disaster_response
        \_ dude, give him some slack.  He knows more about horse racing
           than diseaster relief.  Consider his non-existance background,
           I would say he is pretty good for a beginner.
                \_ It's not like people are dying or anything.
                   \_ i was trying to be sarcastic
                        \_ So was I, but I guess I didn't succeed
        \_ um, generally FEMA helps out w/ reconstruction AND the aid
           requested by gov of LA was to help w/ clearing roads and
           building temp house, &c. [ There are plenty of other reasons
           to think that FEMA messed up ]

9/6     http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050906/od_nm/russia_train_dc
        Russian train goes over a man sleeping on the track. Apparently
        the man didn't wake up, and that was what saved his life.

9/6     At the White House news conference earlier today GWB finanlly explained
        why the hurricane relief efford was so slow: "The Katrina was just a
        part of the new 'Survivor' series. No, no this wasn't a disaster. These
        were Challenges which were just part of the show. I can forgive those
        critics who said that the government should have helped sooner because
        they didn't know that New Orleans was just one of the Challenges.
        If we called for help, that would be breaking the rules and everyone
        still remaining in New Orleans would've been disqualified from the
        game."