| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 2005/11/1-2 [Politics/Domestic/California, Reference/Tax] UID:40370 Activity:low |
10/31 Second homes accounted for 36 percent of all home sales last year.
Is this historically normal?
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/051031/316081.html?.v=1
\_ randomn guess... no :p how many of your parents' friends own
more than one home 10 years ago?
\_ dunno, that'd depend on how rich my parent's friends are. is
that a statistically reliable sample set?
\_ lots of kids are also living with their parents past 30, when
they should get off their ass and buy a house.. Is that
normal either? I believe it evens out.
\_ Is it 36% of all successful sellers sold their second homes? Or is
it 36% of all successful buyers bought their second homes? |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Health/Disease/General] UID:40371 Activity:moderate |
11/1 Stupidity watch: Religious groups opposing usage of 100% effective
vaccine against HPV. One of these people has been placed on the CDC
advisory board by Bush.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/31/MNG2LFGJFT1.DTL#story
\_ Not stupidity. Evil. Just call it what it is.
\_ How about evil stupidity? Fortunately most people can see
this for what it is: a Taliban level of desire to put
religion above the well being of people. It's truly
disgusting that this is even an issue in a supposedly
advanced country like the United States.
\_ How about evil stupidity? Fortunately most people can see this
for what it is: a Taliban level of desire to put religion above
the well being of people. It's truly disgusting that this is
even an issue in a supposedly advanced country like the United
States.
\_ we live in a fundamentalist Christian government. get used to it.
\_ uhm ok, i think im the only one here who RTFA. they oppose making
it mandatory for all kids, giving parents the choice about what goes
into their kid's drug stream. HPV isn't a plague upon the earth
killing millions of people every year. It isn't going to cause an
epidemic in school like typhoid. they aren't trying to ban the
shots from availability. when everything looks like a big deal,
nothing ends up looking like a big deal.
\_ Do you understand anything about public health?
Or for that matter HPV?
\_ Yes, what about it? Did you RTFA? Do you have something to
say about it? Glad to chat.
\_ not gonna eradicate a disease like that. If it can be eradicated
then people won't need it at all, in a decade or so. and really,
what the religious groups are doing will only hurt the lower class
who won't know any better. It's too bad they didn't know any
better when they voted in Pope Bush II.
\_ that's correct, allowing people to choose will not lead to
eradication. correct me if i'm wrong but isn't it the case
that we have yet to eradicate *any* disease despite having
active programs around the world and working vaccines for
decades for many things and a mandatory shot before entering
school? why is that so? once bush is out of office will all
these diseases suddenly become eradicated or is there some
other thing going on besides the bush boogey man?
\_ We are talking about the United States. Smallpox &
\_ We are talking about the United States. Smallpox, measles &
Polio seem to be pretty well under control here.
\_ You can't isolate a large population like 300m in the
US and claim you're eliminated a disease. We're talking
about the entire world. Giving mandatory shots to
American HS girls won't eradicate any diseases.
\_ Huh? When did we have control over other parts of
the world?
\_ We didn't and can't. Thus the concept of disease
eradication being the reason for mandatory shots
is silly. Glad you agree.
\_ But it has been eradicated HERE.
\_ Disease is world wide. And no, things we
once thought were eradicated HERE are
back and spreading again because they
were not eradicated world wide. Nothing
has been eradicated HERE for that reason.
\_ http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm
\_ god damn it... i thought we went through this 20 years ago...
The reason why conservatives doesn't want to make this vaccine
mandatory is because it actually has side effect of protecting
one from certain form of STD. Under that logic, we need to get
rid of condomns, and hepatitis vaccine as well, as Hepatitis
strictly speaking a STD too!
\_ And the reason for that is, according to the conservative and/or
extremist Christian brain, that if you cure STDs everyone will
sleep around nonstop and start having sex at age 8. Dying
from AIDS and suffering from STDs is preferable to that.
start sleeping around and having sex at age 8. Dying from AIDS
and suffering from STDs is a much better than that scenario.
\_ Some say that. Others say vaccines have caused other medical
problems and putting something in your body should be a choice.
You *are* pro-choice, aren't you?
\_ Parents should be allowed to opt-out. It's not easily
contagious.
contagious. It's STUPID because the downside is increasing
the chances your child will die from a cancer.
\_ Yes, it is truly stupid and I'd get my kids the shots
but I wouldn't *force* another parent to do so if they
didn't want to. It won't hurt my kid if their kid gets
cancer or HPV. Their kid can go get the shot themself
later as an adult (or probably younger than 18 frankly)
if their parents are that extreme. For something
contagious and nasty, yes, I believe enforced vaccination
is the right thing to do, but not HPV.
\_ Clearly you don't know much about HPV infection
statistics. You almost certainly have it already.
Vaccinating after you become sexually active is
pretty much useless.
\_ So I'm going to get cervical cancer? Uh oh....
HPV = STD. A kid who is having sex is going to
get a lot of things. Making a mandatory shot for
something you say I have and is doing nothing of
note to me is ridiculous. This isn't polio. This
isn't the plague. And mandatory shots are not
going to eradicate anything. Make it available,
make it free, whatever. Don't make it mandatory.
It has nothing to do with school, education, or
anything like that. It is not going to spread
at random by sneezing kids in the hallway. Again,
I ask, aren't you pro-choice? Shouldn't we have
the right to decide what does and does not go
into our bodies and what we do with them? That
is the underlying philosophy behind the right to
abortion, air pollution regulations and a bunch
of other things. Why are you forcing something
into some 9 year old's blood stream against her
parent's wishes?
\_ You're a blithering idiot. HPV might not
"do anything to you," but you can pass it on
to any female partner who can then contract
cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is one of
the leading causes of death in women. Condoms
can't really do jack shit to stop it. A women
could do the "right thing" and stay a virgin
until marriage, and still die because she
contracts the disease from her new husband (who
is very difficult to test for this virus and
likely has no idea that he has it). This is
a public health issue, not an issue of "choice."
Or do you just want anyone who ever has sex
to die?
\_ This made me laugh, thanks. "THE SKY IS
FALLING!" Yes, on my way to work I saw at
least 3 dozen women dying by the side of the
road of HPV induced cervical cancer. Again,
this is not a plague. It is not contagious
like many real killers. It is public
health issue in the way that drug use and
alcohol are. I'm glad you have such faith
in the pharmceutical establishment, but
they have a spotty record of selling us
things that turn out later to cause birth
defects, death, sterility, and pretty much
anything else you can think of. If an
entire generation of little girls finds out
they're sterile, you're going to say what?
"At least you're safe from HPV!"
\_ 250K deaths/year in the world isn't
nothing. And they are doing studies
on this first.
\_ Heh, so when I talked about the world,
I'm told we're talking about the US.
When I talked about the US, I'm told
we're talking about the world. I've
said my piece and don't feel like
playing catch-22 rhetorical games in
place of actual topic discussion. If
you have something to actually discuss
I'd be glad to continue. I'm not at
all interested in dormie-style point-
scoring intellectual dishonesty.
\_ You're talking to multiple people.
Deal with it.
\_ I already answered both the
US-only and World-wide people
with no real response. Nothing
to deal with. People who want
9 year olds to get mandatory
drug injections for diseases
that aren't spread in that
environment and aren't causing
polio-like problems are anti-
choice. If they're pro-choice
elsewhere they're inconsistent
and intellectually dishonest.
Dealt with. Done.
\_ So what should be done about
the measels/mumps/rubella
shots that are mandated now?
Are you working against those
because you're so pro-choice?
\_ There's a big difference
between the imposition of
being made to take a shot
and being made to give birth
against your will. The
difference is such that
calling someone who is for
mandatory immunizations
logically inconsistent
because they also support
abortion rights is totally
ridiculous. --PeterM |
| 2005/11/1 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:40372 Activity:nil |
11/1 What's the best tool for Mac OS X that can tell me what other
wifi access points (including non ESSID ones) are in the area,
and what channel they are on? |
| 2005/11/1 [Finance/Banking] UID:40373 Activity:high 66%like:40377 |
11/1 This daylight savings time sucks. Has anyone tried boycotting it by
just moving your schedule an hour "earlier": same astronomical time?
If so, how did it work out?
\_ By "dalight savings time sucks", do you man that ending daylight
saving time sucks, and that you want it all year, or do you actually
hate daylight saving time and want to be on the winter schedule
all year?
\_ Not the OP, but I prefer PDT all year.
\_ You could always move to Arizona.
\_ Or Hawaii
\_ You probably have more success bribing Ah-nold to change the daylight savings
for California. |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Uncategorized] UID:40374 Activity:nil |
11/1 piss me off, people start to censoring motd again.... |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:40375 Activity:nil |
11/1 Hi, I'm really new at real estate so please forgive me if this is
stupid. I know that agents on both sides (seller/buyer) typically
take about 3% of commissions, totally 6%. Does that mean that
if I buy a house that is worth X, I have to spend an extra
0.06X? On the other hand, if I buy a completely new place where
I don't have a seller, do I still pay the other 3%?
\_ The seller pays the commission, not the buyer. And when
you sell the commision is negotiable. Lately commissions have
been closer to 4% because houses sell so easily. Although the
market is entering a downturn now so that will change. |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Computer/SW/OS/Solaris, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:40376 Activity:nil |
11/1 what's the name of a general login machine in berkeley cs?
please email dpetrou@cs.cmu.edu. -dpetrou
\_ argus
\_ http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/clients.cgi
That is a list of everything. -mrauser
\_ failure to read directions. |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Finance/Banking] UID:40377 Activity:nil 66%like:40373 |
11/1 This daylight savings time sucks. Has anyone tried boycotting it by
If so, how did it work out?
\_ Some Asian countries don't have it. Many Asians are smart. Many
Asian girls are smart and pretty. Therefore it is smart to not
have daylight savings. -asian fetish guy
\_ Having an entire country that covers the same amount of
longitude as the U.S. be on the same time zone is the opposite
of smart. Wouldn't it be great if the whole U.S. were forced to
be on the same time zone as Washington, DC?
\_ By "dalight savings time sucks", do you man that ending daylight
saving time sucks, and that you want it all year, or do you actually
hate daylight saving time and want to be on the winter schedule
all year?
\_ Not the OP, but I prefer PDT all year.
\_ I guess I should have been more clear, I like PDT too. -OP
\_ Well, I realize that I'm being a pedantic assmonkey about
this, but technically you want *more* daylight saving time,
not less. Also, it's daylight "saving" time, not "savings".
Anyway, I agree with both you and pp that it should be all
year round.
\_ You could always move to Arizona.
\_ Or Hawaii
\_ You probably have more success bribing Ah-nold to change the daylight savings
for California.
\_ Except Phoenix.
\_ You probably have more success bribing Ah-nold to change the
daylight savings for California.
\_ (Pls don't shoot the messenger) - the daylight savings time is
switching to an earlier time (methinks early March?) and will go
all the way through mid November - beginning 2007. Part of the energy
bill recently signed by Dubya. On another note, while Europe and Aus-
tralia observe Daylight Savings Time, their switch date actually
differ than the U.S. I believe right now the rest of Europe does not
switch to DST until a week after we do. STFG for details.
\_ Supposedly this will save the US 100k barrels of oil a day during
that period.
\_ NO PDT FOR BIG OIL! HALLIBURTON! |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:40378 Activity:low |
11/1 "America's badly damaged image in the Muslim world could take
more than a generation to set right."
http://csua.org/u/dw3
I remember being roundly mocked two years ago on the motd for
suggesting that this would be the result of the Iraq War.
\_ right, and this has nothing to do with partisan grandstanding...
\- lots of people said so immediately after AbuG. search wall
archive for "for a generation"
\_ The media storm over it almost certainly made it worse.
\_ That damn liberal media. Especially the liberal state
run media in Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
\_ nice red herring. of course the state run media in
places like that blames the west, israel and everyone
but the dictators in charge on their countries. duh.
\_ How is it a red herring? The place where it was
"made worse" don't read American newspapers. Do
you honestly think the Iraqi insurgency cares
about what the NYT prints? Get over yourself.
They care what Iraqis think.
\_ Only a generation? The Turks and Greeks are still fighting. So
are the Serbs, Croats, and Albanians.
\_ Apples and oranges. Turks conquered, annexed, and then ruled
Greece for centuries. After attaining independence, large chunks
of historically Greek territories still remained in the hands of
Turks who later ethnically cleansed most of their Greek
population during WWI. Later Turkey illegally occupied about 30%
of Cyprus, a conflict that hadn't been resolved up to this date.
\_ I don't remember your saying that in those words at that point in
time ... what did you write about specifically that would damage
the U.S.'s image in the Muslim world for generations?
\_ KAIS motd is broken and I don't know how else to search
old posts.
\_ hint: America never had a good image in the Muslim world. this is
all status quo. here's mine: I predict that if you continue to not
give me all the money I want, the sky will still be blue some where
in the world 2 years from now and will stay that way for
generations!
\_ The "not good image" goes back to the time when the Muslims
invaded and conquered the eastern Roman/Byzantine provinces.
Followed by the Crusades and such and WW I.
\_ If Bush had just understood their culture better, the Romans
and Byzantines would have stood aside while the Muslims just
went about their business and just doing their own thing and
wouldn't have attacked us on 9/11. HALIBURTON!
\_ Well Britain did fuck with them quite a bit in the 20th
century in Iraq and stuff. Britain and US have done some
evil shit in the middle east and this is the most recent
stuff to look back on for them.
\_ Far more in the way of bad shit has happened in
history than good. The thing that alot of people
don't seem to realise is that they are not the
only one's being fucked with. Almost everyone has
been. Time for some people just to cut the damn
cord and get on with your life and stop pointing
fingers. [formatd]
\_ I found it interesting in a horrible sort of
way that one of bin laden's gripes is losing
muslim control of spain and he wants it back.
\_ Why Spain and not the Balkans?
\_ Maybe because Arabs were in Spain, but
it was I think mostly Turks in the
Balkans? The Turks are trying to become
European anyway. Maybe bin Laden has
written them off.
\_ Turkey is on a slow slide away from
a secular government. The bin laden
types are patient people. |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Computer/SW/Languages/C_Cplusplus, Computer/SW/Editors/Emacs] UID:40379 Activity:nil |
11/1 In emacs, I'm editing a C++ header file in C++-mode. However,
when I tab, it only goes 2 spaces instead of 4. Tabbing in a source
file does work, but not a header file. TIA.
\_ I think the 2 spaces are for "public:/private:" lines; then another
tab and you can get to the 4 spaces for member vars, decls, etc. |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Reference/Military] UID:40380 Activity:low |
11/1 How would one go about buying a fully-auto AK-47 in the U.S. and finding
a range where you can get away with firing it?
\_ You'll need be in a state that allows personal ownership of a
machine gun or have a FFL 3 license. Finding the range is secondary.
http://www.vectorarms.com/instructions/how_to_own.html
\_ Thanks! I actually had assumed these weapons were flat-out
illegal, but in my state this does not look so hard.
\_ If I was going through the trouble of getting an FFL 3 license
I would rather get an M16. Much more accurate =)
\_ My coworkers own several. I live in Nevada. |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Uncategorized] UID:40381 Activity:nil |
11/1 Power just went out in SF Civic Center. Anyone hear a bang? |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Uncategorized] UID:40382 Activity:nil |
11/1 As a review for editing the motd:
- Set your tabstop to 8 chars, new threads start at that indent.
- When you reply, use \_ or \- (hi psb!) to indicate who you're
responding to.
- Indent \_ using spaces to consume the least whitespace possible at
the left.
\_ Please indent with three columns like "\_ " instead of two like
"\_". |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Uncategorized] UID:40383 Activity:nil |
11/1 Besides trashing my leftover Halloween candies, what else can I do with
them. They are not in their original big bags, but still have their
packaging.
\_ Give 'em away to work buddies? Eat them? Package them up nicely
and give 'em to your SO?
\_ Put 'em in a big bag and drop them off at your local recreation
center.
\_ Put them in the fridge until the next Halloween.
\_ When I empty my vacuum bag, what should I do with the
contents? -OP
\_ Sorry, I didn't know you eat dirt from your vacuum bag.
\_ Put them in the fridge until the next Halloween.
\_ Insert in mouth, moisten thoroughly, stick to parked cars. |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Academia/Berkeley/Classes] UID:40384 Activity:nil |
11/1 I have a technical phone interview with Google this week. The HR
recruiter told me that it'll be 45 minutes and will be mostly
theoretical, and that it's not a bad idea to spend a day or two
preparing for it. What should I emphasize my preparation on,
cs150, 152, 162, 170, etc? Thanks.
\_ Yes you should study mostly cs150.
\_ lol. i recommend 170, 172, 174.
\- just tell them you are a person of deep faith and
believe in following ANSI. and rob pike is the most
smartest person EVER.
\_ ANSI? Tell them you're up-to-date and follow ISO
instead. But then they might ask you "why do you hate
America?"
\_ Google doesn't pay that well for non-Phd non-super geniuses.
The options/stock party is over. They work their asses off in a
cult-like atmosphere. Why would you want this? Go get a better
paying job somewhere that won't have you working 60-80 hours a
week and have a life away from your keyboard.
\_ Out of curiosity, do you know how well they pay for phd super
geniuses?
\_ I've read of more than one making $1 million+. These are
people long established careers and big names within their
fields. |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Computer/Theory, Politics/Domestic/President] UID:40385 Activity:nil |
11/1 Anyone watch Prison Break? I caught a few episodes but I have no
idea what this 'fibonacci' thing is people are looking for.
\_ According to a quick google search, Fibonacci is an informant.
... a person, by the way...
\_ http://www.entertainyourbrain.com/prisonbreakrev.htm
\_ F(0) = F(1) = 1, F(i) = F(i-1) + F(i-2) for i > 1. |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:40386 Activity:nil |
11/1 http://csua.org/u/dw5 (Wash Post) Fitzgerald appeared prepared to indict Rove heading into last week for making false statements, according to three people close to the probe. But that changed during a private meeting last Tuesday between Fitzgerald and Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin. ... [Matthew] Cooper's attorney ... said ... "that [Fitzgerald] is going through each of those things [that Rove presented] and seeing if they can be verified or not" ... \_ this has been posted like the 100th time. Search the f*** archiver |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Recreation/Dating] UID:40387 Activity:kinda low |
11/1 My lady's birthday is coming soon. All the obvious hints for gifts are
significantly more pricey than what she bought for me on my birthday
(we both have the same salary (within 5K). Is it still the case that
the guy is supposed to throw money at the girl ? -- puzzled
\_ Promise her anything, but give her the tab key.
(point taken)
\_ Well, your girl is giving you hints. You can: 1) Take them and
have a happy girl, 2) Ignore them and hope she's fine with
that, or 3) Find a low-maintenance girl. It's pretty common for
guys to spoil girls, yes. It's the price to pay for keeping
your ding-a-ling happy.
\ ding-a-ling == sex life right ?
\_ she's not a girl. she's a lady. -OP
\_ She's a lady! Whoa whoa whoa! She's a lady!
\_ We named the dog "lady".
\_ she's not a girl. she's a lady. like the dog. -OP
\_ Arf. http://tinyurl.com/e26ed -John
\_ Obviously you chose your present poorly. Now you pay for it.
\_ He hasn't chosen it yet. He chose his GF poorly.
\_ His *own* birthday gift. It's his fault he asked for crap
and she wants a Maserati.
\_ A relationship shouldn't be about "scorecards". If you love her
that much, it shouldn't matter the price.
\- search for "surprise" at:
http://home.lbl.gov:8080/~psb/Articles/Politics/DeBeers=Evil.txt
\_ We have a family policy against diamonds until I can get
cheap synthetics.
\_ Why cheap? I'd be more than happy to pay hight prices
\_ Why cheap? I'd be more than happy to pay high prices
for synthetic diamonds if it helped some company recover
their R&D expenses that made the diamonds possible.
Of course, I have other reasons for wanting synthetic
diamonds, but I think developing them is a good thing for
the world for several reasons. Diamond is an amazing
material.
\_ Ok, sure. But I'm a cheapskate. Although I
certainly do want to support the inventors, and I
don't want to support DeBeers.
\_ Heh. I think it's safe to assume that the DeBeers
are not likely to be inestors in any synthetic
are not likely to be investors in any synthetic
diamond venture.
\_ http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-10-06-man-made-diamonds_x.htm
\_ Geez, at least she's giving you hints. "Surpise me!" is FAR
worse.
\_ Yeah, it means your girlfriend has a speech impediment. -John
\_ Out of curiosity, what did she get you and what is
"your lady" lobbying for? Your use of "my lady" makes
me wonder about you. I suspect you are lacking balls
and are looking for affirmation.
\_ Does not parse. "speech impediment" was referring to
"surpise me (sic). You cannot see my testicles, as
they are currently teabagging yermom in my search for
affirmation. Sit. -John |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Finance/Banking, Consumer/Camera] UID:40388 Activity:moderate |
11/1 A friend has his film X-rays on loan from the lab but needs to
transfer them to digital format so's he can take them for a second
opinion. What's a reliable method of doing this without sacrificing
image quality (and thereby rendering the exercise worthless)? Would
the old lamp and scanner trick work here, or would there be too many
flaws to make it worthwhile? Since this is to document the progress
of arthritis in his back, the level of detail must remain high.
TIA. --erikred
\_ Kodak PHOTO CD. you need to find who does it though. This would
cost you $75 per scan. it is probably your best option besides
real drum scan. I would not trust regular flat-bed scan due to
lack of dynamic range for most of CCD scan. do *NOT* mistaken
"PHOTO CD" service with "Picture CD" service. kngharv
\_ What's the difference between the two?
\_ *HUGE* difference. PHOTO CD is designed for art works and
professionals who requires very deep (wide dynamic range)
scanning. picture CD is a nice version of negative
scan which is relatively consistant, to JPEG files.
Given the fact that you are scanning a B/W X-rate
positive film, I would not trust regular CCD scanning
as your life is probably depend upon how well these various
degree of shades are represented.
\_ He can just have copies made/sent to the other doctor. Why
bother with digitizing unless this is somehow just fun for him?
\_ His films are stored at various and sundry labs. It would be
more time-consuming to coordinate the copy/send than to
digitize. --erikred
\_ He already went to the trouble to get the x-rays on loan.
He could've just asked for his own copy at that time.
\_ Thank you. I'll pass that on. Now, do you have any
suggestions pertaining to the original request? --erikred
\_ Have him ask for his x-rays in DICOM format. There are
free DICOM viewers. Typically film like this (if
scanned) uses a proprietary scanner (cost is thousands
of dollars) to scan to a standard image format (BMP or
JPEG2K, etc.). -emarkp
\_ What ever happened to JPEG2K? It was the next big
thing, woo! woo!.. then silence. Not being built
into Mozilla, that I can see, which pretty much
implies it's dead... unless I'm missing something.
\_ I guess this answers my question: legal crap:
<DEAD>bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=36351<DEAD>
-pp
\_ Just out of stupid curiosity, can't you just scan them? -John |
| 2005/11/1 [Uncategorized] UID:40389 Activity:nil |
11/1 I am zipping files from a newtwork drive and I wanted the compressed
files to go to a local drive say /data. I can do bzip2/gzip/whatever
-c /mounted/drive/file > /data/file.gz, but there are LOTS of files
and I'd rather just do a gzip --dest=/data /mounted/drive/*. What's
the easiest way to do this? |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:40390 Activity:low |
11/1 Hello I'm a newbie shopping for a condo. I've been doing research
lately and saw this 400 unit complex I like. According to Google's
cache, in August they only have 50 units left. Looking at
their current web site however, they still say they only have 50
units left. I called them up, and sure enough, 50. What's going on?
\_ we're not psychic. why don't you call them up again and ask?
\_ Ok I just called them up. They said 1/2 of the units are
"reserved" so they can't sell them. Whatever that means.
\_ that means that they adjust the reserve over time such that
there are always <= 50 units left
\_ uh, how about you ask followup questions until you're not
confused anymore? i mean ask the condo people, not the
motd.
\_ Maybe op is afraid of condo folks thinking op is stupid.
Here at the motd, we assume it.
\_ I'm the op. Yes, after making a few stupid calls
the condo people started to realize how stupid and
desperate I seemed and raised the prices by about
20K for a 500K condo. This is exactly why I don't
want to keep calling them, because it shows how
badly I want their place.
\_ maybe they're lying to you ...?
\_ They haven't sold any more since then? They have, but some
others fell out of escrow? What does it matter?
\_ Housing market has cooled. Mostly people see it has topped out
and are all selling so there is a huge amount of inventory on
the market. Total sales are still going up but since so many houses
are on the market prices are coming down a bit. Very very good time
to buy.
\_ Time to buy has passed. I wouldn't buy now.
\_ (Pulling number out of hat): Let's say you're currently eyeing
a $700k house in the bay area. What price would it have to
drop to before you'd buy it? Assume you like the house, it
is a good location for you, etc. Only price is the issue.
\_ Why is this an issue? I just need to exercise 1/2 of
my GOOG options and I can buy it cash next week.
\_ In that case, exercise all of your GOOG options,
and diversify. Heck, you could easily retire if
you moved someplace cheaper.
\_ That's all you got from your options?? That's pretty
chincey.
\_ Do I already own a house? Is this for investment?
\_ Your call. What $# is the right price for you? With
all these people saying the numbers are too high, there
must be some lower number at which they don't feel that.
I'm just curious what that number is.
\_ If I already own a house I will buy cheaper than
if I don't. I'd say maybe $400K for an investment
and $500K or more if I don't own a house already.
I do think the price can (but will not necessarily)
retreat all the way to $400K. The time to buy
is when prices start to rise again after they've
fallen for a while (at least 3-4 years). The
number is less important than the direction of
the market, which is clearly down now. Cycles
are about 7-10 years, so I'd reanalyze the market
again in maybe 5 years. However, if I am renting
right now then I may buy as soon as I can
reasonably afford to make a 30 year fixed
mortgage on the place.
\_ thanks. that's what i was looking for.
\_ I think even more important than price is the interest
rate and terms of the loan. Even if the price comes down,
it could become unaffordable quickly if the interest rate
jumps up or the amount of down payment is increased.
Back in '02, every 1/10th % increase meant $200 more per
month for a $400k loan.
\_ Ok, pick any reasonable rate you want. How much would
you offer and feel ok?
\_ The depends on income does it not? If I'm making
$2M/year then I buy that $700K house now. If I'm
making $80K/year I wait.
\_ He's asking what you personally would pay now.
\_ That's useless information, because my
situation isn't yours or his. *Someone*
would pay $2M for it and *someone*
wouldn't pay over $100K.
\_ then apply your personal situation. the
on going topic has been about housing being
over priced. fine. so all im asking is what
do you consider "not over priced". it isnt
that hard. sheesh. nevermind then.
\_ It's not that it is overpriced, but
that we seem to be near a top. It
will some day be worth even more
than it is now, but that doesn't
mean the time to buy is now with
interest rates rising and sales
cooling. |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:40391 Activity:low |
11/1 WHAT?! Could this possibly be true? " Sarkozy says that violence
in French suburbs is a daily fact of life. Since the start of the
year, 9,000 police cars have been stoned and, each night, 20 to
40 cars are torched"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/31/news/france.php
\_ French cops won't go into a lot of suburban areas--I've not seen
anything equivalent in the US to the massive areas of highrises
you get in Italy, France, Spain and Germany--the crime is mad, and
there's usually fairly volatile mixtures of African/N. African/
E. European immigrants and very poor natives. -John
\_ How does a place get so bad even the cops won't go there?
That's maddness.
\_ They allow way too many poor immigrants in and provide free
housing for them in concentration. Why they do this is
unknown.
\_ cheap labor
\_ No, they just end up there because the housing is
inexpensive and many of the ethnic communities are the
natural place for new, poor immigrants to gravitate to.
Look at the the historical concentration of Russian,
Irish, Swedish, Mexican, Chinese, Puerto Rican, Irish,
Italian, &c arrivals to the US in the 19th century. -John
\_ You making some kind of point about the Irish? -mice
\_ Yeah, you wanna step outside for GUN DUEL, yer
corkie barstird? -John
\_ Don't make me BLACKLIST you, ya limey barstard.
-mice
\_ Sigh. We need more controversial words.
\_ I bet you never used controversial words.
\_ I bet BUD DAY doesn't appreciate your
tone, son. |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Science/Electric, Science/GlobalWarming] UID:40392 Activity:low |
11/1 PC problem: is it possible for a PC to crash during graphics-
intensive operations (i.e. games) if it's not getting enough power?
I have a new box I put together, and it locks up during some really
big graphics "moments"--I can't think of any other reason for it (tried
everything else I came up with.) Is this plausible? -John
\_ Yes it is. HEIL JOHN!
\_ I think the answer is "yes" ... if your power supply is too wimpy
and everything is trying to suck down maximum juice it can crash.
\_ Absolutely. My brother put together a machine with an ungodly
graphics card, and his computer crashed like clockwork. Turns out
he needed a bigger power supply. Installed it, and crash-free
ever since.
\_ Thanks, I would have thought a 450W Arctic PSU would be enough
(Asus EN6800, 2GB, Athlon 64 3500+, 1 HD and a bunch of USB
devices.) I'll get a 500+ one. Does a gfx card need more power
when displaying something like, say, a big series of explosions
in an FPS game than when showing regular gameplay? -John
\_ wow, 450W sounds plenty. but then again, vid cards (esp.
nvidia) are power whores. i have a 3200+ w/ 6600GT and a
400W PSU, and i don't seem to have any power issues. oh,
and newer MBs have multiple power connectors now (part of
the ATX2.0 standard). do you have all of them plugged in?
\_ along these lines I think a lot of graphics cards are
now having thier own direct power connections that you
can plug in for increased stability. -mrauser
\_ This one does. All power connects plugged in. My
colleague who postulated this as a possibility says he
needed a 2550W supply (!) -John
\_ Uh no, he doesn't. Unfortunately the likely answer
in your case is all XYZ Watt PSs don't supply that
much power in reality. Get a higher quality PS.
Read some reviews. And yes, high intensity graphics
that use more onchip features and require more on
board vram, etc, are going to eat more power. Also,
it is possible that you have a heat problem as well.
You've got a micro nuclear reactor inside your case
being cooled by some dinky fans. Heat can cause
all sorts of weirdness.
\_ I've got 4 120mm arctic case fans--the thing's
running at 59C under the CPU, and less on the GPU.
I may try a 450w arctic PSU, we'll see. -John
I may try a 1450w arctic PSU, we'll see. -John
\_ I had a couple of games that moved too much data across the AGP
or Northbridge and crashed the system regularly due to shitty
MB/Chipset design. Underclocking the frontside bus fixed the
problem but is obviously sub-optimal.
\_ I've had a problem in the past where in certain graphics intensive
games my computer would lock up. I called the card manufacturer
and they told me to uninstall graphics driver and reinstall.
Apparently you shouldn't just install them on top of each other.
It worked for me, you may want to see if that'll help you. |
| 2005/11/1 [Uncategorized] UID:40393 Activity:nil |
11/1 Never mind, the best way is a for loop, as is often the case. |
| 2005/11/1-2 [Computer/Theory, Computer/SW/Languages] UID:40394 Activity:high |
11/1 Teaser: write an algorithm for finding prime numbers.
\_ boolean isPrime(int x) { return true; }. It correctly identifies
any prime number as being prime. And boy is it fast. For
non-prime number use boolean isPrime(int x) { return false; }
which works JUST AS FAST! Note that sometimes users may have
problems with the package because they use the wrong function
for a given piece of data. Morons.
\_ That doesn't answer the question. Try this instead:
int findPrime() { return 37;};
\_ How about an algorithm for getting other people to do your
homework for you?
\_ Here's a homework hint: go look up the strict definition of
"algorithm".
\_ Al Gore does more of that bizarre swaying thing. I don't think
he has much rhythm at all.
\_ Are you new to math or new to programming?
\_ Are you new to asking homework questions on the motd? |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Health/Eyes] UID:40395 Activity:nil |
11/1 Finally, bionic eyes:
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2005/11/the_implantable.html
\_ But if you implant it, you lose a little bit of your humanity.
\_ W00t! I want the little gold Zeiss-Ikon writing around the edge
of the cornea. -John |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Transportation/Airplane] UID:40396 Activity:nil |
11/1 dear motd travel agent / airline hassle advisor:
I was scheduled and confirmed on an international flight through
Northwest airlines that leaves less than two weeks from now. I got a
call letting me know the flight has been cancelled. They have offered
to reschedule me on an alternate itinerary but it's pretty crappy,
involving an additional stopover and a long layover. Can I demand a
flight that would work better for me (there seems to be one available)
or do I have to put up with the alternative they gave me? any advice
on how to bitch them out to get what I want?
\_ You can get basically anything you can talk your way into, from
free tickets to first class upgrades. In fact, it is possible to
pick up a payphone and call customer service from the airport
the second you get fucked and go out on a flight two hours later,
upgraded to first class, while the other suckers from the same
flight sit in the airport and bitch. The key is to have a written
list of grievances against the airline to use as a crib sheet while
you're on the phone, and to be polite but
forcefull and consistent, always reiterating your grievances and
pushing for compensation.
\_ No, but the Travel Tab feature of AvantGo will help you keep track
of your wildly changing itinerary. Plug plug. --dbushong
\_ It all depends on how much of a damage you're suffering from.
If the reschedule puts you at your destination more than 3-4 hrs
later than the original time, you may request some kind of a con-
sideration. This applies to both paid and award/miles travel, so
do call NW and ask (nicely!) what they can do for you. Good luck!
\_ NW has been good to me in the past. They've even compensated
me for times when I've been an idiot and missed flights. I'd
say to try nicely to get what you want for free (seeing how
you've already given them money), and if they don't play nice,
you can always talk with someone else and register a complaint. |
| 2005/11/1-3 [Health/Men] UID:40397 Activity:low |
11/2 You've heard of the Twinkie Defense? It's got nothing on the Large
Penis Defense:
http://torontosun.com/News/OtherNews/2005/10/29/1283746-sun.html
\_ Johnny Cochran already used "if it doesn't fit, you must acquit!"
\_ RIP JC.
\_ "If the dick's too big, this ain't the pig!"
\_ I can think of a few websites that blow that defense, no pun
intended. |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Politics/Domestic/President, Politics/Domestic/911] UID:40398 Activity:nil |
11/1 Kind of ironic that the American Gulag is in Eastern Europe:
"The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important
al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according
to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101644.html?nav=rss_email/components
\_ while(bushinoffice())reasons_to_impeach++;
\_ so the actual impeachment would never happen...
\_ Of course not, you think a republican congress would ever
impeach a republican president? there is no way. It might
happen if democrats win the house in '06, but still unlikely. |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/Companies/Yahoo] UID:40399 Activity:nil |
11/1 You know what I really hate about Yahoo email? You can only
make 10 'filters'. I can add 3000 Gmail filters. Why is
Yahoo so lame?
\_ Yeah no kidding. I also found that Gmail let me use "AND"
and "OR" in the filter terms but I couldn't get Yahoo
to do that. Yahoo's UI is also slower to get around.
Yahoo better get with the program.
\_ yea, you have to pay (yahoo plus) to get more filters,
and to not have ads.
\_ since when? last i checked (like, now), gmail claims 20.
\_ shhh! speak not foul words of the Holy Google or Smiteth Thee
Holy Rankings shall fall upon thine website!
\_ I have about 30 filters in Gmail. works for me.
\_ Is there in Gmail a way to tag all existings messages? When I
search for all messages from "John" and then hit "select all" it
only selects the first 20 messages, not the hundreds that I
actually have.
\_ I can send you some if you want. -John |
| 5/22 |