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| 2005/12/9-11 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:40929 Activity:high |
12/8 Housing bubble? Yes yes yes!
http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/08/news/economy/housing_bubble_jobs
\_ You know, I really do honestly feel bad for the younger people
here who weren't able to buy a house years ago and now just can't
but posting articles that say housing is going to fall back to
more normal levels of price growth and screaming "bubble! bubble!"
is not going to make housing prices drop. The article you posted
but didn't read did make me wonder how many of the 800,000
construction jobs are legally held, though, and what increase,
if any, we'll see in unemployment claims as housing goes slowly
from "way too hot" to "normal expected growth rates".
\_ I don't have generous Asian parents so I've been trying to
save enough money for a decent down payment. BTW I graduated
almost a decade ago. But no matter what, it seems like the
price of homes in the past 5 years keep outpacing the
rate at which I can save up. I'm at an age where I really
want a home *now* but it's impossible. Almost everyone older
than me say that I should buy a home. But it's so easy for
them to say that when they bought their homes several years
ago when the prices aligned with income and savings. Now it's
all out of wack. Had I been older and saved up, of course
I'd buy a home. Life is arbitrary and random, and this whole
home buying deal is even more arbitrary and makes life seem
so meaningless. Do I feel bitter? Of course I do. And I'm not
the only person who feel this way.
\_ My theory is that this is the result of all the tax cuts.
With wealth so much easier to generate, the people with
money can easily generate and keep more after taxes. Couple
that with $250k tax free profit (if you're single), meant
lots of people could speculate on less desireable locations,
like Modesto or Gilroy.
\_ The tax cuts were trivial as a percentage of income for
people in upper brackets. Going from 70 to 50 was a big
cut. Going from 50 to 39 was a big cut. No recent tax
cuts were of any note.
\_ Yes, life is unfair. I have no easy answer for you. Have
you looked in other parts of the country?
\_ That is, in fact, the easy answer. Some people in the Bay
area don't seem to have any conception of how out of whack
prices are there, even compared to other "expensive" regions
back east and in the Northwest. I live about 70 miles from
nyc, and I know people who are paying mortgages on
decent homes with a grad student stipend. That would be
harder now than it was three years ago, but still doable.
I'd say housing where I live, where everyone is complaining
about prices is roughly a factor of ten cheaper than the
Bay area. Is the Bay a factor of 10 more desirable? Not
to me.
\_ Your problem is that you are not financially savvy. Saving up
for a downpayment is silly. I used to think like you. I
was trying to save $50K to put down on a (then) $200K
house. However, interest rates got so low and lenders got
so lax that I didn't have to save that much in the end. I
bought my house for $10K out of pocket. Sure, I didn't
have much equity then, but I sure do now. I think you are
too tentative. You could've had a house by now and now
it's too late (for this real estate cycle). I bought my
house when I made $40K/year less than I do now and so did
many of my friends. It was difficult to make the payment.
If you are expecting to magically "save up" to buy a
house stress-free and also buy (say) all of the gadgets
you do right now then you will never make it. If you
graduated 10 years ago then you missed your chance. I
feel badly for the kids who graduated 2 years ago, but
that's not you.
\_ I graduated two days ago. Can I feel bitter? -!pp
\_ Sure, but your situation isn't so bad. When you are
ready to buy in 3-7 years housing will probably be
more affordable. I'd like to add that if I was
saving that $50K I'd probably have it about now,
5 years later, and it wouldn't do me any good. Even
making $40K more I probably couldn't buy my own
house and my mortgage payment (after interest
deductions) is less than many 'housing bubble whiners'
are paying for rent. Your first house is always a
stretch to buy, but to me it's been totally worth it.
Even if it hadn't more than doubled in value, but
merely stayed flat it would've been a great buy.
Heck, I think I'd be happy even if the value had
fallen somewhat. Home ownership is that important
to me. Maybe it is less important to others. If it
is important to you and you can afford it then do
it, whatever will happen to the market.
\_ I graduated in 1993 and my Asian parents are not generous to
me at all. Yet I managed to buy a house in 2000 while putting
my sister thru Cal (paying out of state tuition) and then
supporting my parents with $1k/mo (non-tax-deductible). And
no I didn't make big bucks from dot-com stock options. I
think it's just a matter of what fancy car you drive, how
often you eat out, and how many vacation trips you go in a
year.
\_ Don't feel too bad. In the Bay Area these days it takes
two incomes to make a housing payment. You will probably
be able to afford a starter home when you have a spouse.
\_ Just rent for now, and be flexible with your home buying
plan. Don't listen to the stupid advice asking you to
put money saved for a housing downpayment in a CD.
There are lots of ways to invest and make money. Take
the stock market for instance. I've been getting 30%
annual return the last 3 years. That will double your
money fast, and unlike a house, it's liquid. And the
S&P500 aggregate PE ratio is lower now than when it was
in 2002, unlike the ridiculous price/rent ratios of
homes in the Bay Area.
money fast, and unlike a house, it's liquid, so unlike
money fast. Also, it's liquid, so unlike
a house, you are not stuck in a single type of investment.
And the S&P500 aggregate PE ratio is lower now than when
it was in 2002, unlike the ridiculous price/rent ratios of
homes in the Bay Area. Now some will claim that stocks
are risky, but the housing market is just as risky,
especially now. And check out Japan, Hong Kong,
Singapore, etc. over the last 15 years and you will see
how badly home prices can fall.
how badly home prices can fall. - homeowner
\_ A first home is not an investment. Don't treat it like
one or think of it like one. |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Uncategorized] UID:40930 Activity:nil |
12/7 How do I add pictures to http://maps.a9.com? \_ I think you need to work there. |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Uncategorized] UID:40931 Activity:nil |
12/8 Where can I find the controversial SFPD video? -ausman
\_ http://cbs5.com/video/?id=%209130@kpix.dayport.com
\_ Thanks for the four clips on the http://cbs.com website.
Is the whole thing available anywhere? |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Computer/SW/Languages/Misc] UID:40932 Activity:low |
12/8 How do I make a non-italicized greek letter in Latex?
\_ If you use them as mathematical characters, they're
always variables. (I know this doesn't help much.)
\_ Thanks to the person who nuked my reply. Most fonts probably
do not have non-italic Greek, and most LaTeX packages probably
don't support non-italic Greek. You need a font that has glyphs
for non-italic Greek (probably you can find some native Greek
fonts for this) and then a package that has options where
you can select those glyphs (like, say, the MinionPro pkg).
\_ You hit the nail on the head, dude. Thanks. I just put
in a modern greek language font, and am using that without
going into the math environment at all. Problem solved (although
I briefly ended up with my whole 180 page document in greek
characters when I put my {} in the wrong place, which was
amusing.
\_ You're welcome. Glad it worked out. --dude |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Uncategorized] UID:40933 Activity:nil |
12/9 Innocent Israeli civilians are...
http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/05.12.08.FailingGrade-X.gif |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Recreation/Computer/Games, Recreation/Dating, Recreation/Humor] UID:40934 Activity:nil Cat_by:auto |
12/9 New game teaches female sexual gratification:
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/08/videogame_teaches_fe.html -John |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:40935 Activity:nil |
12/9 Someone posted this below. I read it for school but had forgotten it
until now. I think it's worth a repost on its own:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/melian.htm
\- "if you liked the melian dialog" ...
you may also wish to read 1. the agricola [short]
2. the germania [short] 3. all of thucydides history of the pel
war [long] especially say the declaration against megara.
if you are really interested in the pel war, you can read
the D. Kagan series, but that is pretty tough going.
it begins with http://csua.org/u/e8j btw, D KAGAN is sort
of a crazy right wing loose canon. BTW, i'm not a normative
believer in might makes right. i list the mel dialog for aesthetic
reasons. for a framework about how to think about power and
the international system, see "theory of international politics"
by k.n. waltz. however "man the state and war" is really a
prerequisite to TIP ... both are very very good, but TIP is a little
hard to follow ... it is denser than you might think.
btw, the melian dialog has come up many times over the years
here. see /csua/lib/wall archive. --danh
\- "It was the business of a diplomat to cloak the interests of
this country in the language of universal justice."
--Minister Walewski to OBISMARCK |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Computer/SW/Languages/Java] UID:40936 Activity:nil |
12/9 Anyone know why Java requires super() to be the first thing in the
constructor?
\_ Probably because if it's not, you're risking that operations are
being done using a partially constructed object. |
| 2005/12/9 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany] UID:40937 Activity:nil 100%like:40939 |
12/9 nazi werewolves
http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_guide/full_details/World_history/programme_2412.php |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Computer/SW/Languages, Computer/HW/CPU] UID:40938 Activity:nil |
12/9 Does anyone know if there are FOSS diff tools that are somewhat
syntax-aware? E.g., it would understand that comments and whitespace
don't matter (well, for languages where it doesn't), and that
expressions can span several lines but still be the same? It doesn't
even have to be smart enough to strip redundant sets of parentheses
or anything. Thanks.
\_ Compile the code and "cmp" the binaries. :-)
\_ Canonicalize the sources and diff those, e.g. run through a
pre-processor and auto-indenter? Or, get your hands on MOSS,
depending on what you're trying to do? |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany] UID:40939 Activity:nil 100%like:40937 |
12/9 nazi werewolves
http://tinyurl.com/cshf6
\_ LOL. I've been waiting 2 years for someone to bring that up.
Cf. the Lars von Trier film "Zentropa" (aka Europa). Now stop
bothering to come up with analogies between these guys and the
current Iraqi issue.
\_ Huh? -John |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Industry/Startup] UID:40940 Activity:moderate 77%like:40941 |
12/9 Looking for a job? Come work with us at AvantGo (now a service of
iAnywhere Solutions). It's fun and neat and all that stuff. Take a
look at /csua/pub/jobs/AvantGo for the latest postings, and feel free
to drop me a line with questions or whatnot. --dbushong (i'm lazy)
\_ "iAnywhere Solutions"? Ugh. -tom
\_ it doesn't matter what name the marketing department comes up
with for a product or service. it'll be changed next quarter
anyway. it only matters what they pay and how good/bad it is
to work there.
\_ How many companies with awful names like that can you point
to as successes? -tom
\_ Pretty much all of them. WTH does "Pepsi" mean? It's a
silly made up word but you own stock in it.
\_ Pepsin. It's named after an enzyme which helps
\_ Pepsidase. It's named after an enzyme which helps
digestion.
\_ If you think "Pepsi" sounds anything like
"iAnywhere Solutions", there's no point talking to
you. -tom
\_ Both are stupid. I own stock in neither. What does
Pepsi mean anyway?
\_ Pepsi is a much better name than CarbBev or
something, which is what iAnywhere is akin to.
\_ Perhaps it peps you up? Kinda like Dr.
Pepper?
\_ "Kodak" was specifically chosen because it didn't
mean anything. I agree with tom, if you can't
see why "Pepsi" is a better name than "iAnywhere
Solutions" then the discussion is useless.
\_ It isn't as bad. It is still stupid. And
none of this has anything to do with whether
or not it's a good place to work. If you
are actually specifically aware that it sucks
to work there or they pay low, let us know,
otherwise, bagging on the name is idiotic
and trollish especially considering this is
job posting which might be helpful for someone
who is.. ya know.. looking for a job. If you
don't have any real information about working
there, you are contributing nothing. We can
all see the name without your questionable
input.
\_ "Pepsi" is a simple, evocative name.
Apple, Sun, Yahoo, Google, Microsoft.
I'm not telling anyone not to work there,
I was just making a comment, although I
would add that the company will definitely
not exist under that name 10 years from
now, and choosing a name like that
would worry me as to what level of clue
the people steering the ship have. -tom
\_ So apple gets to name all of their
products iProducts but other companies
can't use the same naming scheme?
\_ First of all, it's not a product
name, it's a company name. Second
of all, Apple's i-products are
noun-based, which makes them sound
far less stupid than "iAnywhere."
(Though tangible nouns, like iTunes,
work better than others, like iLife).
And third, when you're several years
late to the iParty it just sounds
pathetic. Get your own schtick. -tom
\_ I don't disagree it's stupid, but
it's not stupid enough to rant
at length about it, that's all.
\_ tom's first reply was *1* line!
\_ Pepsi is a multi-Billion dollar
product and the only way they
get people to drink their
product, which is much worse for
you and yet much more expensive
than ordinary tap water, is by
marketing. So saying Pepsi is
bad/stupid marketing is kind of
arguing against the facts.
\_ They're #2 last I checked.
Maybe if they didn't have
such stupid marketing they'd
be #1 over the other company
that sells expensive and
unhealthy drinks?
\_ Pepsi has been making
big gains versus Coke
as per yesterday's
paper.
\_ Who is #1 and #2? "If
we can get just 10% of
this multi-billion $$$
market we'll be set!"
If I had a dime for
everytime....
\_ Coke $100 B,
Pepsi $98.2 B
\_ It is called that because it originally contained pepsin
and Pepsi-Cola sounds better than Pepsin Cola
\_ There is a third and perhaps fourth criterion that some
of use to decide whether to work at a place or not. One
is "are they going to be successful"? It sucks to spend
years of your life working on a failure. Also, you can
make a lot of money with stock options in a successful
company. Fourth, does it do anyone any good? I prefer to
work at companies where I can see the benefits of the
product the company offers. -ausman
\_ You can't predict success. If you could you'd be way
better off investing in individual stocks than working
for a single company for years. Does it do anyone
any good? I dunno. I haven't seen the market research
into whatever it is they do. I'm only saying that
dismissing a job opportunity because some temp in
marketing had a clever idea that quarter is a weak
reason to do so. Why is iAnywhere any better or worse
than "Snapfish" posted below which got no comments from
the peanut gallery?
\_ Because Snapfish is a good name?
\_ It is? What does it mean?
\_ I always figured it was like a snapper pussy.
That's what it sounds like to me. Not a bad
name as long as all you sell is sex toys.
\_ You keep worry about what a name means.
That's not what's important in a corporate
name. "eBay" doesn't mean anything, but it's
a highly successful identity. -tom
\_ So Pepsi and eBay are good names because
they're successful but iAnything is unlikely
to be successful because it has a bad name.
So if you're wrong and they're successful
does that magically make it a good name?
You're going in circles here.
\_ No, Pepsi and eBay are good names because
they're simple and distinctive. -tom
\_ eBay is a stupid name for a company.
\_ Pepsi is nothing special either. If
eBay had bombed, you'd say it was a
stupid name, as proved by it bombing.
A lot of dead dotcoms had simple and
distinctive names. Why are you so
obsessed with the idea that
name=success? Is your degree in
marketing?
\_ Unfortunately for you,
http://strawman.com is already taken.
-tom
\_ You were doing better when you
were silent instead of trying to
reply with something snarky
and almost clever.
\_ I think the original assertion was
"iAnywhere Solutions" is dumb
\_ Which was clarified to mean
"iAnywhere Solutions is going to
fail *because* it has a dumb
name".
\_ Clarified? I think that's
a biased extrapolation.
\_ Sheesh, go re-read what he
posted. No extrapolation
has occured.
\_ *shrug* I did -- maybe
you should too.
\_ i did before posting.
you really need
quotes?
\_ nope. Thanks,
though.
\_ He hasn't
shown up to
say otherwise.
I stand by it.
\_ Whatever
floats your
boat, dude.
\_ Maybe you can predict success and maybe you can't.
Of the three companies I have worked for any serious
length of time since graduation, two have gone
public and the third one (Wired) came damn close.
Until recently, I didn't have money to invest
so all I had was my time. And yes, I applied for a
job at Google (twice even!) but they turned me down.
But I agree with your basic premise, which is that
you should not dismiss a job opportunity just
because the company has a dumb name.
\_ Wired sold to Lycos for pennies. If you weren't
one of the top 2 execs or a founder's best
friend you got zippo. Google called me three
times (I never applied) but I guess I didn't
have the right "I'm in awe of all that is
Google" and didn't get an offer the first two.
After seeing the place the first two times, I
was certain I didn't want to be there and
rejected their offer the third time. I'm quite
happy with that decision. I've been at several
other companies that had 'good' names and
appeared to have good products but went nowhere.
You can't know how a small company will do. If
they're not public already, everything is a
secret and they'll lie through their teeth about
their situation. Dumb names: I still think
Google is a dumb geeky name, but according to
some on this thread, since they were successful,
it must be a good name.... And they think
*I'm* the troll... sheesh.
\_ Wired applied to go public twice in 96 and
even got to the pricing stage the second time
before being pulled. The other two are CPTH
and LGBT, both of which I started working for
in the pre-IPO stage. I agree that it is hard
to guess how a private company is doing but
I have had some luck. Probably dumb luck.
\_ I was at Wired, too. Did you have any
faith in Beth V.? She had nothing going.
\_ Who are you? Drop me a line or something.
No, I had no faith in anything any
of the execs there said, except perhaps
AA.
AA. -ausman
\_ Yeah, uh, don't worry about the name. "iAnywhere Solutions" is
a wholly owned subsidiary of "Sybase, Inc." Better? --dbushong
\_ Sybase is supposed to reassure people?
\_ What a stupid name for a company. :-) -John |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Recreation/Computer, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA, Computer/SW/Security] UID:40941 Activity:nil 77%like:40940 |
12/9 Looking for a job? Come work with us at Snapfish (now a service of HP).
It's fun and neat and all that stuff. Take a look at
/csua/pub/jobs/Snapfish for the latest postings, and feel free to
drop me a line with questions or whatnot. - ajani |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Uncategorized] UID:40942 Activity:nil |
12/9 In Google Groups, is there a way to put a footer in the emails? |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Reference/Law/Court] UID:40943 Activity:moderate |
12/9 Hey, I'm looking at Tookie's case right now, and it really looks like
he's being convicted of circumstantial evidence -- and where there are
witnesses who said he did it, they're all bad people as well and/or who
are in a position to get something out of testifying against Tookie.
Tookie had been a thug at the very least, but like I said: on the
murder convictions, circumstantial, and questionable witnesses.
I know that's the way Americans like it -- you can be convicted and
executed based on circumstantial evidence if a jury makes the
conclusion that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The crimes themselves are heinous: Shotgun blasts to a guy lying face-
down on the floor, and one- and two-shot blasts to two defenseless
elderly folks and their daughter.
\_ but he wrote children's books and found jesus on death row! Free
\_ Which no one has read!
\_ You wouldn't read Tookie's books to
your kids (assuming you had any)?
Why do you hate Tookie? Free Tookie!
tookie! tookie for the nobel peace prize! nominated 5 times
already, maybe this is his year!
\_ that doesn't matter. this American thinks it's fine to lock him
up forever no matter how much good he does, but it's not fine to
execute him if it's a circumstantial case.
\_ what good has he done?
\_ some people say he's a different person and he writes kids
books, but I think that hardly is enough for letting him go
free based on the evidence provided. like I said, lock him
up forever.
\_ some people? you forget he found jesus on death row and
writes children's books and is a 5 time nobel peace
prize nominee! free tookie!
\_ "Tookie is a very bad man" sounds like you're admonishing your cat.
"No you can't have my chicken pot pie! That'a bad Mr. Tookie!"
\_ MEOW!
\_ post updated.
\_ It's very frequent that there is no direct physical evidence, but
circumstantial evidence can be overwhelming.
\_ I've seen CSI! If the glove don't.. oh wait... nevermind.
\_ I'd by happier if it was "death = no doubt", and "life
imprisonment = beyond a reasonable doubt". yeah, this means I
think you can be executed based on circumstantial, as long as
there is "no doubt" he did it all -- yeah, you leave it up to the
jurors to decide what "no doubt" means (but you're already
leaving it up to them to decide what "reasonable doubt" means,
which is a tougher concept)
\_ overwhelming enough to make one certain! ... but not as "a matter
of fact". anyway, that's the system, and people like it that
way.
\_ the standard isn't "certain". it is "beyond a reasonable"
doubt. feel free to change the entire justice system to one
of "certainty" if you'd like. it'll suck to be a civilian
but at least the jails won't be full anymore.
\_ http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/anthrax/8482.html
\- what i think is sad is that people like aldridge ames,
robert hanssen, eric rudolf etc have managed to cook up
deals to avoid the death penalty. the lesson we learn from
the eric rudolf case is "hide a bunch of explosive in the
hills before you go on your killing spree so you have
something to tradeto have the death penalty taken off the
table." i think arguably that is a reasonable use of
torture. --psb
\_ sorry guys, I was being stupid. I deleted this post but
someone restored it for some reason. New one below:
\_ sorry guys, but that post was flawed. stop responding to
\_ sorry guys, but this post is flawed. stop responding to
\_ sorry guys, I was being stupid. stop responding to
it. I deleted it and someone restored the post for some
reason. New one below (which I wrote before noticing any
of the responses):
reason. New one below:
\_ I'd by happier if it was "death = no doubt", and "life
imprisonment = beyond a reasonable doubt". yeah, this means I
think you can be executed based on circumstantial, as long as
there is "no doubt" he did it all -- yeah, you leave it up to the
jurors to decide what "no doubt" means (but you're already
leaving it up to them to decide what "reasonable doubt" means,
which is a tougher concept)
Also, to address what another person wrote, I support "beyond
a reasonable doubt" on convictions, but "no doubt" on capital
punishment. The only thing you change is the sentencing part
for capital crimes, not "the entire justice system"; you are
still convicted on "beyond a reasonable doubt".
\_ how could you execute a man with such soft lips?
\_ MEOW! FREE TOOKIE! |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:40944 Activity:nil |
12/9 http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article.asp?aid=12005029_1 Norman Podhoretz on Iraq. Posted mostly because I like the part where he bashes the "stability at any cost" types about half way down. |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:40945 Activity:nil |
12/9 Krauthammer manages to make a lot of sense on the Saddam trial
http://csua.org/u/e8t (Washington Post)
\_ Yeah, I've been wondering about this myself. |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:40946 Activity:nil |
12/9 Larry Elder column that basically amounts to a fisking, but it's
kinda funny:
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/larryelder/2005/12/08/178212.html |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Computer/HW/IO] UID:40947 Activity:nil |
12/9 Any suggestions for cool (electronic) gadgets for myself or as gifts?
\_ http://ThinkGeek.com
\_ cool site.
\_ Sharper Image
\_ http://realdolls.com
\_ You mean http://realdoll.com? BTW there is no electronic version yet.
\_ faker, yer just a troll!!!1
\_ http://dynamism.com |
| 2005/12/9-10 [Uncategorized] UID:40948 Activity:low 85%like:40954 |
12/9 Prince of Russia: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=515642196227308929&q=russian+climbing&pr=goog-sl \_ That is just fucking awesome. Thanks. -John \_ Parkour also shown in the movie "Banlieue 13". |
| 2005/12/9-11 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China] UID:40949 Activity:nil |
12/9 "20 Reported Killed as Chinese Unrest Escalates"
http://csua.org/u/e90 [nyt]
\_ This is apparently just outside Shanwei:
http://csua.org/u/e92
Not too far away from Hong Kong.
\_ My favorite part is "there were 74,000 riots or other significant
public disturbances in 2004". Wow.
\_ Only 20? In a country of 1.6(?) billion.... |
| 3/15 |