9/27    http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050927/economy.html?.v=6
        New home sales declined by 9.9% in September, more than twice
        what analysts were expecting.
        \_ HOUSING WILL KEEP GOING UP!!!!!11! NEW ECONOMY!!!! LALALALALALAAL
           \_ wow, bitter paying your rent lately?
           \_ When my house is paid off in 15 years or so it will be worth
              the price of one (1) single family residence. That's always
              a lot of money in every economy. Whether it goes up or not
              is sort of irrelevant, because I can still live here. The
              sooner you buy the sooner you will pay it off. When I bought
              I thought prices were high, but now I've paid enough
              principal that I can actually sell for a 'loss' and still
              have made money over renting. I guess some people don't get it.
              \_ The sooner you buy your first home, the sooner you can buy
                 your second home, so on and so forth, and this goes on
                 until 99% of the land in/within 10 mile metropolitan is
                 gone and 1/2 of the homes are investment homes that make
                 landowners happy. This is truely an American dream! Everyone,
                 buy your home now!
              \_ 15 years is a long time.  How do I pay off my house in 5
                 years?
                 \_ Pay more each month.
                 \_ Move to Podunk.
                 \_ http://www.condoflip.com
                 \_ *****************
           \_ The same article says "Even with the slowdown, the median sales
              price rose 2.5 percent from July's level to $220,300."

9/27    I want to unlock my Motorola GSM phone. Can anyone recommend
        some place in SF that can do this? Thanks.
        \_ Are you T-mobile?  I had my phone unlocked at a T-mobile store
           gratis.  Did it just once, but I've heard from other people that
           T-mobile will do this for customers in good standing.  YMMV, of
           course.
           \_ I am -- they said they'd unlock it after 90 days, but I'd like
              to use the phone with my provider back home before those 90
              days are up.
        \_ If you don't get any recommendations, try searching on craigslist.
           Just enter your phone model and you should see dozens of ads
           advertising unlock service.
        \_ I hear the 90 days thing is just a "for typical customer requests"
           policy.  Just explain your situation, that you are leaving the
           country prior to those 90 days and INSIST on having the phone
           unlocked.  Escalate enough, and someone will unlock it for you.

9/27    Vo ist die restaurant vom Lowe?

9/27    What do failed and humiliated politicians do? Do they sit at home
        and eat papas y drink beers and watch TV all day? Is that what
        Gray David and Al Gore are doing now? It's been a while since
        I've heard from these two losers. I wonder if they go through
        therapy or something.                   -bored and curious troll
        \_ Don't they go on the paid-speech circuit?
        \_ Al Gore saves people out of hurricane damaged areas on his own
           dime.
           \_ Yeah but how much coverage did he get on the media? Loser.
              \_ Erm, his withheld his name from the project so it wouldn't
                 turn into a political football.  he's a better man than all
                 of us.
                 \_ the MOTD needs to be Closed Captioned for the Humor
                    Impaired.
                    \_ No, MOTD "humorists" need to learn how to be "funny"
                       \_ You need to be able to detect sarcasm, whether or
                          not it's funny.
              \_ Well it's not really fair, he can't grab firefighters away
                 from their pamphletting jobs to walk around for the cameras
                 so it looks like he's doing something useful.
        \_ Al Gore has been giving speeches at the Commonwealth Club and
           the like. He is well loved by the DailyKos crowd. I have not
           heard one whit from Grey Davis. Let's hope he is fly fishing
           somewhere.
        \_ ALGOR taught some classes at UCLA and he serves on Apple's
           Board of Directors. Not sure what Gray is doing - probably
           enjoying all the money he got from the Enron.
           \_ I think Gray Davis is practicing law here in LA.
              \- i think many become influence peddlers of some kind ...
                 either as registered lobbists or as law firm partners.
                 i think some teach briefly at places like KSG but i doubt
                 those are long term careers.

9/27    Where is ilyas? Motd's been quiet lately without his drivels. Good.
        \_ He has an email address.  Mail him if you want to know.  Motd would
           be a lot better without anonymous trolls. -emarkp
           \_ You seem to be annoyed at anon trolls. Good. FUCK YOU. -anon
        \_ ilyas declared the motd beneath him and left in a huff.
           \_ When exactly?
              \_ Did you see the TASER DUEL thread?  It upset him deeply.
                 I think he's still biting his pillow somewhere.
                 \- It was a GUN DUEL. But John did not agree. There were no
                    takers for the TASERS.
                 \_ No, it has nothing to do with the TASER DUEL thread.
                    It's more like he asserted something stupid and is
                    too embarrased to admit anything so he aaron'ed himself.
                    FYI: Aaron was a pro Bush War zealot who wrote prolific
                    arguments for the war in 2003. A year later in the midst
                    of all the anti-war movements he decided to nuked the
                    entire wall archive, and with it, evidence of his
                    pro Bush War rhetorics. Aaron has not logged in since
                    the incident.
                    \_ ilyas's reasons for leaving weren't quite as obvious as
                       aaron's.  As the kchang link shows below, ilyas's last
                       motd thread was about pinning blame for the Katrina
                       response on state and local government.  After John told
                       him he could be less of a "sanctimonious fuckwit", ilyas
                       re-iterated his point, and then said, "Anyways, I think
                       I am done with the motd. It's finally turned into wall."
                       (John replied to this by clarifying that ilyas was
                       painting an incomplete picture by blaming only state/
                       local government, when all levels of government were at
                       fault.)
                       I also agree that the GUN DUEL fake post apparently
                       occurred after ilyas declared his intention to leave
                       motd, but perhaps cemented things.
                             \- Smells like ... VICTORY.
                       \_ I'm surprised he didn't do that earlier to be honest.
                          The problem with the motd is its resident population
                          of idiots, weirdos, and generally unpleasant humans.
                          Who make fake signed posts and form little fan/hate
                          clubs. Unlike other public forums the motd prevents
                          squishing these prokaryotes.
                          \_ Why would you?  Crazy people are funny.  -John
              \_ http://csua.com/?entry=39490
                 \_ It's amazing that CSUA motd has become so big that
                    there's an entire external website dedicated to
                    archiving its contents. My company's motd is just a
                    warning message saying that you will go to jail if
                    you steal company secrets.
        \_ It's clear to me that ilyas generates trolls, and talking about
           ilyas generates even more trolls.
                    \_ Like this?
                >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
                >>>                 NOTICE TO ALL USERS                     <<<
                >>>                                                         <<<
                >>> This system is the property of YerMom, Inc. It is for   <<<
                >>> authorized use only. Users (authorized or unauthorized) <<<
                >>> have no explicit or implicit expectation of privacy.    <<<
                >>>                                                         <<<
                >>> Any or all uses of this system and all files on this    <<<
                >>> system may be intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, <<<
                >>> audited, inspected, and disclosed to authorized site,   <<<
                >>> operations and law enforcement personnel, as well as    <<<
                >>> authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic   <<<
                >>> and foreign. By using this system, the user consents    <<<
                >>> to such interception, monitoring, recording, copying,   <<<
                >>> auditing, inspection, and disclosure at the discretion  <<<
                >>> of authorized site or operations personnel.             <<<
                >>>                                                         <<<
                >>> Unauthorized or improper use of this system may result  <<<
                >>> in administrative disciplinary action and civil and/or  <<<
                >>> criminal penalties. By continuing to use this system    <<<
                >>> you indicate your awareness of and consent to these     <<<
                >>> terms and conditions of use.                            <<<
                >>>                                                         <<<
                >>> LOG OFF IMMEDIATELY if you do not agree to the          <<<
                >>> conditions stated in this warning.                      <<<
                >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
          \_ And how may trolls are generated talking about talking about ilyas
                generating even more trolls
          \_ And how may trolls are generated talking about talking about
             ilyas generating even more trolls
             \_ ilyas has generated a new category of troll, the meta-troll

9/27    Are there routers out there that do bandwidth limiting or
        protocol priority? I run a LAN in my house but my roomates
        seem to hog up connections making my SSH connection intolerable.
        \_ http://www.m0n0.ch/wall + http://www.pcengines.ch  -John
        \_ Think the term you are looking for is traffic shaping
        \_ Some manufacturers sell a "gaming router" which traffic shapes on
           its own.  Linksys WRT54G has basic traffic shaping features.  You
           can extend the feature by putting in one of the many third-party
           firmwares for it out there.  These would be the cheapest method.
           I'm currently running m0n0wall router package which also has
           traffic shaping, and would be free if you already have extra
           computer at your disposal.
        \_ r0x0rz!
           http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-15140-1368-x-x-x
           http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833127158

9/27    CSUA minutes:
        "Getting new games: $120 dollars for as many games as possible;
        passed 5:0 Who gets new games: Edilac will get new games, bring
        in front of politburo, see people want what games."
        A few questions. How much money does politburo have, and why
        should donations be made to them so they can enjoy while  all
        I had played was stinkin' netrek?
        \_ Didn't you play Risk?
        \_ get Titans?
           \_ Titan is an enormously long game for people who aren't
              experienced with it.  Better games for the CSUA office are
              simple things that can be played by a few people sitting around.
              Carcassone, Bohnanza.  -tom
              \_ Not to mention that a Titan set costs more than 120 these
                 days.  Damn me for letting mine get water damaged. -aspo
                 \_ http://colossus.sourceforge.net
                    "Colossus is a Java clone of Avalon Hill's Titan(tm)
                    boardgame." I've actually tried a previous version
                    of it. Works well. Reminds me just how long a Titan
                    game takes and how I totally forgot how to play. -bz
              \_ CSUA was founded on Titans.. *gasp*
        \_ Netrek.. the card game..
           \_ the _collectable_ card game..
                \_ get the "Mojo Riser butt" (torping) special edition
        \_ We decided to allocate more money for games because it was said
           that a PS2 in the office was a large draw to attract people.
           Anything for more members. -mrauser

9/27    http://csua.org/u/dj4 (sfgate.com)
        "... graduated summa cum laude in 3 1/2 years with a 3.84 GPA ...
        ... worked on a master's degree in history while playing professional
        football ...
        Pat [Tillman] said, 'You know, this war is so fucking illegal.' ...
        Another soldier in the platoon ... said Pat urged him to vote for ...
        Sen. John Kerry.
        ... Tillman subscribed to the Economist magazine ..."
        \_ It's not true, I tellz ya. It's just not true:
           http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Hannity-Colmes-Coulter-Tillman.wmv
        \_ "Tillman created a makeshift base library of classic novels so his
            platoon mates would have literature to read in their down time.
            He even brought gourmet coffee to brew for his platoon in the
            field in Afghanistan."
           Dude, that is so... GAY!
               \_ Army coffee rations are horrible. Most coffee drinkers
                  brought their own, though, couldn't afford gourmet coffee.
            \_ He married the coach's daughter in 2002 after dating for ~ 4
               years, and he says he wore his hair long and dirty before that
               to keep the other women off him.
        \_ sad story.  Lack of will of diciplining soldiers is catching up
           to US military.  I am not bothered by this friendly fire incident,
           but deeply disturbed by the fact that Pentagon is not being
           straight forward about this whole thing.  Why is that?

9/27    Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
        http://tinyurl.com/buhsw
        \_ I'm not fan of creationism or organized religion, but this study
           sounds pretty damn dubious.
        \_ can they break it down by State and see the red/blue state stats?
           \_ Um, I think they really need to break it down to "religious
              people" vs. "non-religious people".  CA has a lot of religious
              people.
        \_ The irony of this is that this "study" sounds about as scientific
           as the concept of creationism...

9/27    So, how long can the White House cover up Goerge's drinking?
        \_ It has already been published in the National Enquirer
           and has been on the front page of the Drudge Report,
           so my guess is that they have already failed.
        \_ Is he really drinking again? Most people I've known who
           give up drinking never go back.
           \_ Wow.  This is a troll, right?
              \_ No, I'm serious. Most people I know who stopped
                 drinking haven't ever gone back.
                 \_ Way to go Anecdotal Evidence Man! I suggest a googling of
                    "alchoholism" and a quick perusal of the literature.
                    "alcoholism" and a quick perusal of the literature.
                    \_ Apparently he thinks the plural of anecdote is data.
                    \_ Was the pres. alcoholic? If so, then what you are
                       saying could be relevant. I don't know (and frankly
                       I don't care - yeah it show a weakness of character
                       to drink, but then again I think the 18th amd was a
                       good idea)
                       \_ Alcoholics are just drunks with low self esteem.
                       \_ Again, consult the literature.  You seem extremely
                          ignorant about the symptoms of alcoholism.
        \_ how about the story of he smoked cocaine when he was young?

9/27    Copyright dispute over subway maps:
        http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,68967,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2
        \_ Don't compete with our taxpayer funded efforts to disseminate
           this information!

9/27    mrauser, how much money does politburo have now? Do you guys have
        enough to buy a big plasma for the PS2? How about a nice CSUA
        30 year celebration party, with a big cake where a girl in bikini
        jumps out and starts stripping? We want Nick Weaver party II!!!

9/27    Is there a Federal law somewhere that bans gun duels?
        \_ Crime, such as dueling, is generally a matter for the states
           and not the feds.
           \_ What's the big deal? A duel is a fight between two consenting
              adults. It is an agreement, a civilized way to settle scores
              between two individuals. What does the government have anything
              to do with private contracts between two individuals?
              \_ You obviously failed contracts. There's a thing called
                 illegal bargains.
           \_ uh, have you heard of "felonies"?
              \_ uh, are you serious?  A "felony" is not the same thing as
                 a "federal offence."
                 \_ But they can be, and in this case they are. It's called
                    either "murder", "attempted murder", "manslaughter",
                    "criminal assault", or "criminal homicide".
                    \_ I think there would have to be some reason for the
                       Feds to get involved.  I don't think just having a
                       duel would cut it. A duel between international
                       drug trafficers would do it.
                    \_ uh, no. murder, attempted murder, &c. are generally
                       crimes under state law (see Cal. Penal Code Secs.
                       187, 188, &c.) While there maybe federal equiv. of
                       these crimes, those generally include a jurisdictional
                       element related to a federal interest (interstate
                       commerce, federal property, federal officers, &c.)
                       FYI, until 1994 Cal. Penal Code Sec. 225 made dueling
                       a separate offense. Now I think that it is charged as
                       attempted murder (or murder, if someone dies).
        \_ No, but they're frowned upon in general.  -John

9/27    Rumsfeld: Mr. President, yesterday 3 Brazilian soldiers
                  were killed.
        Pres:     That's terrible. [ long pause ] Exactly how
                  many is a brazillion?

9/27    Dear motd, my best friend (married guy) with whom I haven't
        spoken with and emailed back for the longest time, wrote back
        with a depressing tone. Basically for the past few months
        his company has been shipping him to other countries to train
        employees abroad, and his wife screams that he doesn't spend
        enough time at home, and his kid misses him. He is depressed,
        and I feel pretty much helpless. What can I do or say to make
        him less depressed? Thanks.
        \_ Marriage therapy time.  There's nothing more you can do or say
           or suggest.  It's not like his pet rabbit died.  His marriage
           is falling apart.  Either his wife is a selfish idiot or he's
           a selfish idiot if he has a high travel job that he doesn't
           actually need.  She may also be concerned he's out there doing
           those "cheep. foreign. hos." as someone suggests below, which
           isn't an unreasonable thought.  You're only hearing his side of
           it.  Suggest therapy and then STFU if you ever want to talk to
           your friend again.  Do not bag on his wife.  He'll tell her what
           you said and then you're toast.
           \_ While therapy is a fine idea, it doesn't help the immediate
              problem of him travelling. There are a few key ideas for
              solutions. Communication: have friend talk like it's going out
              of style to wife when on the road. See if the company will pay
              or change cell phone plan. They need to feel involved in each
              other's lives. Off-time: Take a vacation between travel times.
              Recharge relationship with family. Limit travel: Yeah hard to
              do, but see if they can send someone else for a few trips.
              Change jobs: Rather radical, but your work should not be your
              only life. Concentrate on family during non-travel time: If
              you can't take a vacation, get involved like crazy during your
              non-travel times. Therapy: If they can't talk, they can't figure
              things out. Good luck best friend.
        \- cheep. foreign. hos.
           \_ partha, are you gay or straight?
              \_ The psb transcends your petty binary notions of sexuality.
                 -psb fan #6
                 \_ I have an ointment that clears that right up.
        \_ The job market's improving in some sectors; start looking for
           something else.
        \_ He needs to ditch the bitch and find someone who appreciates
           how hard he works to keep them in house and home. It's too bad
           about his kid, but the world is a harsh place and not everyone
           is lucky enough to be born rich.
           \_ Once again ranga gives out yet another useless advice.
        \_ communicate, my friend.  She needs to understand he travels
           only when he has to and current job market demands a lot from
           an employee.  I have obseved that when a woman complains his
           man is not spending enough time with her, it usually means she
           is bored.  She needs a job or a hobby that consumes her.
           \_ Thank you this is very useful. Again thank you, and god bless.
              \- the problem with the wife is not her being bored, but
                 her being a utility monster. [if you google "utility
                 monster" you may need to throw in "nozick" to avoid getting
                 truck-related WEEB pages].
        \_ I doubt your friend is very happy traveling either.  His wife
           complaining about his travel is just an extra stress on top of
           that base stress.  (Women like to complain about things, even
           when they can't be changed.  Men usually mis-interpret this to
           mean that their wife thinks that they are a bad husband.  This
           is not usually the case, but it does stress men out.) I don't
           know how much you can really help, he probably just really
           misses his family and hates traveling, but feels trapped.
           Hence, depression.

9/27    Free credit report with credit score:
        http://www.mbnaprivacyassist.com/yourreport

9/27    Penguins secure b/c of minefield:
        http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/09/27/falklands.penguins.reut/index.html

9/27    Invisibility cloak:
        http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1860
        \_ fake!  it looks nothing like a +1 cloak!  :-)
        \_ what's the big deal? he's projecting an image of the background
           on a retro-reflective mac. it only makes you invisible in a very
           controlled environment.
        \_ A better link:
           http://projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/projects/MEDIA/xv/oc.html
        \_ Yeah, that's been on slashdot.  It's a complete hoax.  There is
           nothing in any of the videos that can't be done with a green screen.
           -emarkp
           \_ is the following a hoax as well?
              projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/projects/MEDIA/xv/images/mirror.mpg
              \_ Of course it is.  The front of the "mirror" is a green screen
                 over a stationary background which was filmed as a still and
                 placed on the green bit in post production (or possibly live).
                 Note in this movie:
    http://projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/projects/MEDIA/xv/images/oc-wired.mpg
                 there are discontinuities in the video screen as the person
                 moves around, which can't be explained by the claimed
                 technology, but is entirely consistent with a pre-recorded
                 loop that was imperfectly put in the video sequence. -emarkp
                 \_ emarkp, I understand that you believe that you have an
                    alternate explanation for how they achieved the effect,
                    but your ability to posit such an explanation does not
                    necessarily make it a hoax; please provide an in-depth
                    examination of the supposed discontinuities, preferably
                    on a website so the laypeople can judge for themselves.
                    \_ I /do/ have an alternate explanation which doesn't
                       multiply entities.  You know, Occam's razor?  Nothing in
                       the videos is even hard with a green screen.  Why accept
                       the extremely difficult claim of an invisibility cloak
                       then?  I'm not willing to invest the time to smash this
                       right now, because it /should be obvious/.  Look at the
                       "wired" video at the 9 second mark (the guy wearing
                       the hood) and as he moves side to side watch the people
                       in the video on the screen behind him.  If you don't see
                       the discontinuities, you're blind. -emarkp
                       \_ I'm blind! That explains everything! ...except why
                          I can see that you're shouting louder rather than
                          contributing constructively. Perhaps I'll see your
                          explanation on http://snopes.com.