2/1     I saw the flag at a post office at half-mast this morning. What is it
        for? -clueless
        \_ someone going postal down in Goleta
        \_ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_re_us/post_office_shooting

2/1     Western Union finally discontinues Telegram services.
        http://www.westernunion.com/info/osTelegram.asp
        \_ Re: telegraph jokes (stop)
           Please (stop)

2/1     http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/387392p-328749c.html
        "Fitzgerald, who is fighting Libby's request, said in a
        letter to Libby's lawyers that many e-mails from Cheney's
        office at the time of the Plame leak in 2003 have been
        deleted contrary to White House policy."
        Can anyone say "18 1/2 minutes"
        \_ Please explain?

2/1     So, when is the gubmint gonna give me my "direction and love"?
        I'm tired of getting romance advice from motd.  I want it straight
        from Laura's mouth.
        \_ that's what mr. clinton said
           \_ Mr. Clinton wants it straight from Laura Bush's mouth?
              \_ Hot interpartisan sex!

2/1     http://deepakr.wordpress.com/2005/12/30/next-gen-computers
        \_ I've said this before, the mere idea of using such a crappy
           excuse for an input device as a laser keyboard... well... just...
           UGH.
           \_ I doubt this will be very popular. No tactile response makes
              it very easy to make errors.
              \_ I think if they could come up with an _instant_ response short
                 distinctive tone per key then audio response might go a long
                 ways towards helping with this problem.
                 \_ I'm thinking more of fingers touching keys and not pushing
                    down while the user thinks or considers items. The error
                    rate for mistaken keystrokes would be tremendous.
                    \_ Agreed.  This reminds me of the Atari 400 whose keyboard
                       drove me crazy.
                       \_ Hmmmm. Chicklets..
        \_ "PENS WITH HIDDEN CAMS ?????"  No, I think they're abstract
           illustration of copulatory positions.

2/1     http://csua.org/u/ev6 (LA Times)
        "experts point out that the U.S. gets ... about 10% -- of its oil
        imports from the Middle East. In fact, the majority now comes from
        Canada and Mexico -- and Bush said nothing on Tuesday about them."
        http://csua.org/u/ep1 (doe.gov)
        Nov 2005 crude oil imports (barrels/day) published Jan 23, 2006
        - Percentage of total crude oil imports into U.S. -
        Middle East             ~ 22% (Saudi Arabia + Iraq + Kuwait)
        Canada+Mexico           ~ 35%
        Nigeria+Venezuela       ~ 22%
        Other countries contribute a maximum of ~ 7% each.
        These are ~ approximations because only the top 15 countries are
        listed (imports from other countries are assumed negligible).
        \_ Do you seriously think.... that if the Middle East stopped exporting
           oil....  that our prices would not increase?
        \_ it's a global market anyway.
        \_ So which one is correct?  10% or 22%?
           \_ Maybe it's 22% of the imports, 10% of all oil.
              \_ Then the article should read "about 10% -- of its oil from the
                 Middle East" instead of "about 10% -- of its oil imports from
                 the Middle East".
                 \_ I think you're expecting too much from the newspapers.
                    You're lucky if you get information that's correct to
                    the first order, and there's almost no chance they will
                    get anything subtle right.
                    \_ Agreed.  Newspapers are ok at the "what," not so great
                       at "how," and absolutely dismal at "why."  I imagine
                       historians have to pretty much discount any newspaper
                       account of an event as misinformation.  The only thing
                       you can say is that they're a damn sight better than
                       television news, which is dismal at pretty much
                       everything.
                       \_ I remind myself that these journalists probably
                          couldn't even handle high school calculus.  Then
                          I am not so annoyed or surprised by the quality
                          of their analysis.

2/1     Where to buy relatively cheap DVDs?  I tend to like Marimax
        type of semi-independent films... where can I get those for
        cheap?  I live overseas most of the time, so, Netflix is out of
        question.  I don't mind buying things used/previous viewed.
        \_ Where to learn English?  (sorry, j/k)

2/1     Anyone reccomend a pain reliever for joint (bad shoulder -- ligament
        damage) pain. 1000mg of acetominaphen is not helping and getting a
        timely doctor appt is not easy. Thanks
        \_ I've known several people with chronic back pain who've found
           accupuncture to help a lot.  And unlike back surgery, there's no
           potential downside.  Based on what I've seen, I wouldn't trust
           a back surgeon unless the *only* alternative were to be totally
           crippled for life.
           \_ No potential downside?  What about catching HIV from the needles?
              \_ Right.  Or the accupuncturist could knock you out with a tire
                 iron and sell your organs on the black market.  Good point.
              \_ gee, total strawman there
                 \_ Are they required to sterilize the needles in autoclaves?
                    \_ They cleanse the needles with fire and the sword.
           \_ My mom had successful spinal surgery. Find a surgeon who
              does it with an endoscope. Her surgeon (in the SF Bay
              Area, even though she lives elsewhere) said he hadn't had
              a patient with bad effects of the surgery in over 1000
              performed. Surgery is not like it used to be.
              \_ One time, my drunk friend pulled donuts in an icy parking
                 lot while we took turns hanging on the roof of the car.
                 No one was hurt.  Icy parking lots aren't like they used
                 No one was hurt.  Icy parking lots just aren't like they used
                 to be.
                 \_ If he did it 1000 times maybe you have a point.
                    \_ To extend the analogy, if my drunk friend made more in
                       a month than your yearly income to con people into taking
                       icy parking lot donut rides, would you really take his
                       word for it about the 1000 successful rides?
                       a month than your yearly income to con people into
                       taking icy parking lot donut rides, would you really
                       take his word for it about the 1000 successful rides?
                       Fuck back surgeons.
                       \_ Had a bad surgeon or something? I'd take the
                          surgeon's word for it based on my mom's results.
                          \_ Not me personally, but someone I know was
                             seriously fucked up by one, and based on that
                             whole experience I wouldn't go near one unless
                             life would really really be uliveable without
                             one.  On something like this, I think anecdotal
                             evidence on the negative side is much more
                             important than anecdotal evidence on the positive
                             side.
        \_ Clair Davies: Trigger Point Therapy.  Medically-based personal therapy
           for long-term myofacial pain, which may be your problem.

2/1     Where is jblack these days?
        \_ Why do you hate America?
           \_ Obviously you've never served.
              \_ Are you chinese?  Do you understand the effect
                 the opium trade had on China?
                 \_ I bet BUD DAY understands the effects of the opium trade!
                    \_ Not after a GUN DUEL he won't.
                       \_ um, RIDE BIKE!

2/1     "I can't believe the grade school behavior exhibited by the Democrats
        during the address this evening. Maybe they met in the playground
        beforehand to agree that they wouldn't be supporting the president
        by their stoicism. The Democrats seem to have forgotten that they
        were VOTED into the seats they were so firmly planted in with their
        smug, rueful smiles. Run for the presidency if you think you can do
        it better. The only message sent was that the Democrats wouldn't back
        the president in the most relaxed forum. How will they respond under
        pressure or disaster? It's about egos and posturing, not about
        listening and showing your voting citizens that you can rally around
        the leader for the good of the whole."   Judy (Winona, MN)

2/1     Wonderful speech, Mr. President. It felt so great to see Alito and
        Roberts sitting near by. The speech of the address was to the point
        and showed that you have our country on track. I am looking forward
        to the rest of your term!                Fred (Chicago, IL)

2/1     "Thank you, Mr. President, for standing firm and resolute through
        all that's been thrown at you from natural disasters, to the worst
        tragedy our country has ever seen with 9/11, to fighting terrorism
        here and abroad, and through all the constant mean-spirited antics
        from the Democrats. One would think that by now the Democrats would
        start to realize that in order for our country to move ahead to get
        things done they need to step up to the plate. This is about America.
        Let's get to work. Great speech!"               Kathy (Maine)
        \_ Is this before or after we try Bush for War Crimes and Crimes
           against Humanity?
        \_ Kathy is a true patriot. Kathy should be the next president.

2/1     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_competitiveness
        With 2/3 dollar going to companies that do research, I will ask
        again. What are some research stocks that would rise as a
        result of Bush's new initiatives? Again, I don't give a damn
        about good/bad Bush's policies, I just care about how this
        affects me as an investor. Thanks.
        \_ buy XOM, BP, CVX. The oil companies will all have to figure out how
           to make money if petroleum consumption decreases.
        \_ If you want to make money keep holding the oil companies. As
           supplies dwindle, profits will go through the roof. A much
           better investment than alternate energy research. Try: SU, CNQ.
        \_ CVX and COP are still very cheap.  Other oil stocks I own like
           PBR, SU, OXY have appreciated a lot already, but may be buys on
           dips.  SU is alternative fuel (canadian oil sands).  PBR is
           brazilian company with expertise on deep sea drilling, and has
           been aggressively and successfully adding to its reserves, but
           it is a little overpriced currently.  DESC is an alternative
           energy stock.  I rode it from 3 to 7 in like 3 months by pure
           luck, and it is now 10 plus.  The game may be a little late
           now, but who knows.

2/1     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_re_us/wal_mart_contraception
        Wal-Mart doesn't carry morning after pills in most of the states
        except Illinois where it is required by law. Go Republicans!!!
        \_ Wal-mart != R.  Just ask Hillary Clinton.

2/1     Yes, we can all read the foxnews link below.
        [Random drivel nuked]
        \_ who is jblack #1 fan?

2/1     Cool, I hated the ClearType-looking fonts of IE7 beta 2 that you can't
        seem to turn off, but it looks like a related feature is that page
        zooms are much more natural.  Now theoretically my mom can read those
        tiny Chinese characters a little better.
        \_ clear type or anti-alias font is not very good for small fonts.
        \_ So what's cool about IE7 vs. FF?
        \_ Why do you care about IE7?
           \_ "page zooms are much more natural" (good)
              "ClearType-looking fonts [can't turn off]" (bad)
              I'm also interested in any good things in IE7 being copied in FF
              besides the first being good for mymom, I'm interested in any
              good things in IE7 being copied in FF
              \_ Perhaps I was unclear.  I use Firefox and Opera instead of IE.
                 Why would you expose yourself to all the IE problems by using
                 it?
                 \_ It's for mymom.  She reads a lot of Chinese web sites.
                    Firefox is poor at rendering zoomed in Chinese web sites.
                    I also had her on Firefox initially but it had problems
                    with IE-limited web pages (don't ask me, they just had
                    problems with FF), so she's using that anyway.
                    \_ Have you tried Opera?  It's got the best zooming IMO.
                       \_ not for a year or so, but I'll try it.  it's
                          really the Chinese character rendering.
                          really the Chinese character rendering while not
                          screwing up the page layout.
                    \_ I am sorry, but that is not the issue.  I read Chinese
                       site everyday, and I found that setting minimum font
                       size does most of the trick.. and I set minimum font
                       size to 18 due to my poor eye sight.
                       \_ Mymom uses a 17" LCD (she won't accept a bigger one
                          because the 17" one was a joint gift from the
                          children).  Anyway, I set the minimum font size
                          to 32 and compared FF to IE7, and IE7 wins IMO ...
                          that means I'm probably gonna install that for her.
        \_ What is "page zoom"?
           \_ Font size smaller / bigger, but in IE7, I think it uses
              vector scaling or something like that, AND it also zooms
              the images appropriately, which is something I forgot to
              mention.
           \_ Magnifying the whole page, including images and fonts, by an
              arbitrary percentage and it all "just works".  Before this
              feature was introduced, I think you could only do font size
              bigger/smaller for IE and FF, though it sounds like Opera zooming
              is good.  Yeah, just googled, Opera has it, but not FF (yet):
              http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/23555
              Okay, googling further there's an FF extension in beta:
              http://www.memb.jp/~deq/mozilla/pagezoom
              \_ The browser on <DEAD>MyTurn.com<DEAD>'s Global PC had this feature six
                 years ago.  (Yeah the company went under.)
        \_ Okay, I found out where to turn off the ClearType.  It's yet
           another option in Tools -> Options -> Advanced. -op
        \_ I would urge you move your mom to Firefox for security reason.
           IE and its ActiveX plugins is too insecure for average-joe to
           use it.

2/1     "As an Independent, I have to say Mr. Bush did a very good job
        addressing my questions. I was disappointed by the Democratic stances
        and feel they are out of touch with mainstream America. Democrats seem
        to want to damage this president, even if it damages the rest of
        the country."            Kim

2/1     The Democrats were disgusting in their behavior. I guess it's
        true you never really leave high school. -Samantha (San Diego, CA)

2/1     "I was so pleased that President Bush pushed partisan politics in
        Washington to the front of his agenda and addressed the issue at the
        beginning of his speech. Before we begin to discuss foreign policy
        and spreading democracy, the bickering on Capitol Hill needs to end.
        With an audience full of captive Democrats, hopefully some of them
        took the president's words to heart."  Kristin (Miami Lakes, FL)

2/1     I thought the president gave a good speech. The Democrats in the
        audience were acting very childish.     Donald (Grove City, OH)

2/1     "I think the speech was wonderful. I am so thankful that the president
        always remembers to thank our troops and our fallen heroes. I met
        the president at Ft. Bragg and he promised me that we would not pull
        out of Iraq until the job is done, so that my son would have not lost
        his life in vain. He always continues to keep that promise. He had
        me in tears. It amazes me how the democrats can make such fools of
        themselves. There was one shot of Hillary Clinton rolling her eyes.
        What a wonderful president she would be!"                Pat

2/1     "This was one of the most important speeches of President Bush's
        term in office, and was very good. I was very glad to see him address
        Iraq and the heavy attack of Democrats. Great job of calling for
        bipartisanship, as the democrats try to drag the administration
        through the mud. Do they not realize how it makes America look?"
                                                 Jeff (Arnold, MD)
        \_ Who keeps posting the trolls?
        \_ Doesn't Bush realize how he makes America look?

2/1     Dear old farts. What was the consumer end of telecomm like before
        the 1983 divestiture of AT&T into 7 baby Bells, in terms of price
        for consumers, sound quality, reliability, and service?
        \_ Most of you youngin' were too young to remember this but back
           then long distance calls were prohibitively expensive. On the
           other hand, you didn't have tons of long distance carriers to
           choose from each with confusing plans, and you didn't have to
           worry about MCI or 1010220 or 1010-RIPOFF that exist today, each
           ripping you off one way or another because you didn't read the
           fine prints. The quality and reliability of service was CONSISTENT,
           meaning it wasn't all that great by today's standards but at least
           you knew that your line sucked as much as everyone elses. Nowadays
           the quality varies so much (cell, landline, voip) that it's hard
           to make an informed decision on choosing a good plan-- e.g. in
           one year Cingular's great, but next year it'll be oversaturated
           again. To sum up, I miss the accountability and consistency of
           service in the old days. I miss not having to read 10 different
           plans before choosing one. I miss the easy to read telephone
           bills-- you ever read today's bills and see how confusing it
           is?  I wish that today's companies would offer more
           accountability, more independent auditing of quality of service,
           and above all else making plans and fine prints much clearer for
           consumers to make informed decisions.                -old man
        \_ i thought it's just AT&T :p  the quality and reliability was
           pretty good in my experience.  During Chinese New Year time,
           however, I would have to keep dialing for hours at the time to
           get the international phone call through.  Long Distance phone
           call was expensive.  The most important thing, IMHO, is that there
           isn't much innovation when AT&T dominated the phone landscape.
           Call-waiting, call-forwarding, caller-ID, i think all these things
           cames up *AFTER* the break up of AT&T.
                - cant wait to see wave of innovation comes out after we
                  breaks up Microsoft
           \_ Let's see how many units M$ can break up to: OS, browser and web
              server, dev tools, games, office apps.  Browser and web server
              might need to break up further into two.
        \_ I remember standing in line with my dad so he could get a phone.
           You would rent your phone from AT&T, you didn't own it.  I read
           an article about little old ladies who have been paying the phone
           rental fees for 20+ years because the phone companies never bothered
           to tell them they can have their own phones for free now.  It's
           a not-insignificant revenue stream.
           \_ I might be wrong, but from what I recall you could own a
              phone or rent one. However, it was expensive to buy one
              and most people rented.
              \_ You could own a cheap one, but it voided out your AT&T service
                 agreement. If something happened, they would "check the line"
                 since your non-standard equipment might have caused the
                 problem. Since your agreement was now void, they could charge
                 you whatever and take care of it whenever they felt like.
                 Mmmm... Taste that monopoly goodness. Then AT&T figured they
                 could get around complaints and make money by selling AT&T
                 approved phones. Welcome Princess and Slimline phones!
        \_ Cost of long-distance calls (let alone international calls) was
           prohibitive. For a modern equivalent, cf. Japan's NTT five to
           ten years ago, complete with phone renting, no competition.
        \_ "So I feel like a real consumer fool about my money, and now
           I have to feel like a fool about my phone, too. I liked it
           better back when we all had to belong to the same Telephone
           Company, and phones were phones -- black, heavy objects
           that were routinely used in the movies as murder weapons
           (try that with today's phones!). Also, they were
           permanently attached to your house, and only highly trained
           Telephone Company personnel could "install" them. This
           involved attaching four wires, but the Telephone Company
           always made it sound like brain surgery. It was part of the
           mystique. When you called for your installation
           appointment, the Telephone Company would say: "We will have
           an installer in your area between the hours of 9
           A.M. October 3 and the following spring. Will someone be at
           home?" And you would say yes, if you wanted a phone. You
           would stay at home, the anxious hours ticking by, and you
           would wait for your Phone Man. It was as close as most
           people came to experiencing what heroin addicts go through,
           the difference being that heroin addicts have the option of
           going to another supplier. Phone customer's didn't. They
           feared the power of the Telephone Company.

           I remember when I was in college, and my roommate Rob
           somehow obtained a phone. It was a Hot Phone. Rob hooked it
           up to our legal, wall-mounted phone with a long wire, which
           gave us the capability of calling the pizza-delivery man
           without getting up off the floor. This capability was
           essential, many nights. But we lived in fear. Because we
           knew we were breaking the rule -- not a local, state, or
           federal rule, but a Telephone Company rule -- and that any
           moment, agents of the Telephone Company, accompanied by
           heavy black dogs, might burst through the door and seize
           the Hot Phone and write our names down and we would never
           be allowed to have phone service again. And the dogs would
           seize our pizza."   --Dave Barry

2/1     The State of the Union offers the president the chance to show off
        his best and argue his case to a national (and international)
        audience. It is also an occasion for http://TNR.com to make its case to
        you, our reader. Simply put, The New Republic Online provides you
        with the most insightful, original, and intelligent analysis of last
        night's speech. In this important election year, we feel that the
        press's job is to report honestly, to hold Democrats accountable,
        and to provide our readers with the ability to understand events
        being discussed and, more important, those that are not. We strongly
        urge you to subscribe today, for as little as $9.97, so you won't
        miss out on the timely, comprehensive analysis that can be found both
        online and in our weekly print edition.
        \_ The press's job is to hold one party responsible?
           \_ The press's job is to maximize profits for their shareholders.
           \_ They say "accountable" for what it's worth.  Anyway, this is
              at least honest unlike, say, the NYT which is a biased crap
              paper that pretends to be straight.
              \_ It has to be that it pretends. It never even tries, right?
                 Yes, honesty is so virtuous. You know, if some corrupt
                 politician was honest about it, I think we should love that.
                 After all, all politicians are corrupt. So the one being
                 honest about his corruption must be better than the rest.
                 \_ There's a world of difference between political corruption
                    and news reporting.  They are apples and oranges.  I would
                    prefer that each news source I'm reading tells me flat
                    out they have a particular bias so I can judge the source
                    with that in mind rather than assuming they're straight
                    and *maybe* finding out later they're not.
              \_ What is the NYT biased towards?
              \_ If this is a reference to media being liberal leaning,
                 then I think you should ask why that is the case.
                 Most conservatives (i.e. read uneducated farmers in the
                 Most conservatives (i.e. most likely uneducated farmers in the
                 Mid-West who carried Bush in 2004) are totally unread in
                 terms of current events and what happens in the world.  Nor
                 are they particularly well-educated about America and it's
                 history (both the good and the bad). I mean, seriously,
                 if everyone were equally educated on the circumstances
                 of Iraq, Bush wouldn't have been able to continually spout
                 that Iraq and Al-Quaida were related for 4+ years.  I knew
                 that before the war started.  What percentage of Bush
                 supporters knew that?  How bout know that today?
                 that Iraq and Al-Quaida are linked for 4+ years.  (They
                 weren't linked at the start of the war, but obviously
                 they are now. Al Quaida took it upon themselves to fight us
                 whereever we go.)  Now I knew all of this before the war
                 started.  How many Bush supporters can say that?  How about
                 even today, 5 years after the start of the war?
                 Perhaps there's your answer for why respected organizations
                 like the NY Times are "liberal".
                 \_ Wow, this is wrong in so many ways... where to start?
                    The midwest is just dumb farmers and all the coastal
                    people are smart because they're well educated?  CA has
                    one of the *worst* public education systems in the
                    country.  You have to go to the deep south into the poorest
                    areas to find a shittier school system.  Have you ever even
                    met someone educated in the mid-west?  Your elitist little
                    cliche is bullshit.  As far as Iraq/Osama links are
                    concerned, if you were so edjumakaited like you are then
                    you'd know there was contact in both directions for years
                    and there's still hundreds of thousands of untranslated
                    intelligence documents slowly being read through that may
                    provide more light on this subject.  This is not in any
                    way, shape or form a done deal.  Only the ignorant and
                    unread would believe that.  Now I've know that for years.
                    How many NYT koolaid drinkers can say that?  How about
                    even today, 5 years (not really but I'll go along with
                    your ignorance on this point) after the start of the war?
                    Actually, no, I won't go along with it.  You don't even
                    know how long it's been since we attacked Iraq and you
                    hold yourself up as some elitist uber genius.  Please
                    do all the smart people a favor and stay home for future
                    elections.  It is the least you can do for your country.
                    \_ California post-secondary institutions are still the
                       best in the world. Our high schools are not so hot,
                       but not as bad as you portray. The percentage of
                       our population that is college educated is pretty
                       high. -not the guy you are replying to
                       Oh, and if you are still trying to make a case for
                       the Cheney/Wolfowitz line that SH and Al Qaeda were
                       close buddies, you really have no business accusing\
                       someone else of being a kool-aide drinker.
                       close buddies, you really have no business accusing
                       someone else of being a kool-aide drinker.
                       \_ Not so hot but not as bad?  Seriously, go to another
                          state, find some average middle class mid westerners,
                          talk to their children.  CA kids are totally hosed.
                          Cheney/Wolfy: I'm only saying what I said: there are
                          a zillion documents that remain untranslated and
                          there was some contact between them for many years.
                          I make no claims beyond what is known.
                          \_ Both of you seem to have neglected the fact that
                             the Midwest has more swing voters than just
                             about anywhere.  Kerry could have fucked a goat,
                             and he'd have taken New England and California,
                             and Bush could have fucked a goat and he'd have
                             taken the deep south and texas, but those
                             midwestern states tend to be up for grabs.
                             \_ Oh contraire, mon frere! :-)  I never said the
                                midwest was conservative nor stupid.  I said
                                their kids are getting a much better education
                                than CA kids are getting.  Since my debate
                                buddy, the elitist, tells us that education =>
                                smart voter, those smart mid westerners are
                                not in anyone's pocket, and thus swing voters,
                                as you say.
                                \_ K-12 is definitely better in the mid-West,
                                   which I know from the studies as well as
                                   personal experience. post-secondary is
                                   better here, that is my point.
                                   http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm
                                   Has liberal New England and Minnesota
                                   the highest, The Southwest and The South
                                   at the bottom.
                                   \_ Uni's take students from all over the
                                      country, including those 'dum hiks' from
                                      the midwest who went to better k-12
                                      schools.  So a mid westerner has a better
                                      k-12 and at least as good a uni edu.
                                      \_ Now you're just being fucking retarded.
                                         So, because people from a region can
                                         go to school at the top universities
                                         go to school at the top universtities
                                         which are mostly in New England, all
                                         of those places have "top post
                                         secondary education"?  Ok.  So every
                                         sedondary education"?  Ok.  So every
                                         poor African nation that sends a few
                                         kids a year to Harvard now gets to
                                         claim Harvard as part of their
                                         education system?  I'm not going to
                                         disagree with you about the k-12
                                         thing, but you've strayed into kooky
                                         land here.
                                         \_ Stop being obtuse.  Unis are
                                            nationwide.  Especially odd of you
                                            to name Harvard since they truly
                                            pick and choose from the country
                                            and a bit from the rest of the
                                            world.  Where'd you get the stupid
                                            idea that living geographically
                                            near to Harvard makes you more
                                            likely to get accepted?  The entire
                                            US gets to claim Harvard as part of
                                            the educational system as well as
                                            every other top tier school, which
                                            are all taking students from the
                                            entire country.  Maybe *you* chose
                                            Berkeley because you lived in
                                            Oakland or something but most
                                            do this thing called "going away
                                            to college" which involves travel
                                            beyond the Jones' farm and it is
                                            even further away than Next Town
                                            Over for most.  You can blather
                                            all you like with ad hominen but
                                            you consistently fail to adhere
                                            to the same reality the rest of
                                            the country lives in.  At least
                                            you figured out the midwest has
                                            superior k-12 schools so there's
                                            some hope for you.
                                            \_ So are you saying that CA
                                               is subsidizing its world class
                                               universities for the benefit of
                                               students from other states? I
                                                \_ Wasn't the topic.  I said
                                                   nothing about who paid what.
                                                   But since we're here, out
                                                   of staters pay a much higher
                                                   rate.  Unimportant.  Shrug.
                                               disagree. Not only is tuition
                                               cheaper for CA residents, but UC
                                               is mandated to accept the top
                                               percentage of CA grads. An
                                                \_ Not seeing where you're
                                                   going with this.  Are we
                                                   subsidizing out of staters
                                                   or are they subsidizing us?
                                               out-of-state student who
                                               performs better in high school
                                               than an equivalent CA student
                                               may still not get in to take
                                               advantage of the superior
                                               college-level schooling.
                                                \_ Priority is given to UC as
                                                   a whole.  The gem of the
                                                   system, Berkeley, takes
                                                   whoever the hell they want.
                                                   I still don't see what this
                                                   has to do with anything.
                                                   \_ Point being that
                                                      someone educated
                                                      in CA has a better
                                                      chance of getting
                                                      into (and affording)
                                                      a UC education than a
                                                      "better-educated"
                                                      out-of-stater.
                                                      Therefore, it is not
                                                      correct to claim that
                                                      UC belongs to everyone
                                                      equally.
                Last I knew Berkeley takes the top ~3% of CA students, the _/
                other UCs take the top ~5-7% (I dont remember exactly) and
                fill out the rest of their spots from out of staters.  To get
                into UC, you already have to be top notch, at least compared
                to the other educationally challenge k-12ers you went to
                school with.  Yes, UC will have fewer spots for OoSers but
                UC isn't the only good system available for all those sharp
                mid-western educated k-12 kids who already have a step up in
                life on public school edjumkaited CA k-12ers.  There are also
                plenty of decent schools in the midwest.  You don't have to go
                to Cal to get a good education and frankly most people will do
                better in life with a 4.0 from almost any reasonable 4 year
                school than the lower grades they're likely to get from Cal
                and they won't have to work as hard to get that higher GPA.
                I did k-8 somewhere else and then moved here.  Getting into
                UC wasn't terribly difficult when so much of the competition
                had trouble keeping their pencils inside the bubbles on the
                SAT.  ;-)

2/1     The 12 Muhammad pictures the religion of peace is declaring war on
        Denmark for:
        http://www.michellemalkin.com/archives/004413.htm
        \_ I'm sure Pat Robertson wouldn't mind declaring war on Islam.
           \_ Pat Robertson isn't actually attacking people right now.
        \_ Wow, those are pretty tame.
        \_ Cool, other newspapers have reprinted them out of principle.
           http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1700224,00.html

2/1     http://tinyurl.com/89o3f (scienceblogs.com)
        What excatly Bush meant by campaigning against human chimeras.
        \_ What is the law? No spill blood.

2/1     Oh great, Iran again threatens full-scale enrichment if they're sent
        to the Security Council, and the IAEA vote on this is tomorrow
        \_ They were going to do enrichment either way and for all anyone
           knows may already have been for years.  What does it matter what
           they say they'll do?

2/1     Never mind folks, you can forget about the energy discussion.
        "Knight Ridder Newspapers
        WASHINGTON - One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's
        dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent
        by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said
        Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally."
        http://csua.org/u/evb

2/1     Hello, I used to have Fidelity 401K when I worked at this company.
        The plan had about 20 not so spectacular mutual funds. I'm now
        working at a place where they use 403B and have over 100 mutual
        funds... also using Fidelity. I'm tempted to transfer ALL of
        the 401K over to my new 403B plan which includes specific foreign,
        utility, and energy mutual funds. Is this a good/bad idea?
        Any advice? ok thx.
        \- helo, pp is not me. ok tnx.
        \_ you can transfer to an IRA from a brokerage.  But be careful
           to do it correctly or you will get a tax hit.  Fidelity
           can convert it to a regular IRA where you can choose any
           funds that Fidelity sells.
        \_ You can transfer to any brokerage.  Make sure you do a
           direct transfer where the money goes directly from the
           401k to the brokerage, or you may get a tax hit like
           the above poster mentioned.  Money I manage myself
           consistently beat the meagre selections my 401k offers
           by 20 percentage points, so I couldn't wait to transfer
           the money out everytime I change job, which unfortunately
           hasn't been very often.
           \_ My company's 401K plan has a "fund" that lets individuals choose
              what to invest on with their money in the accounts.  You can
              short GOOG or buy bonds or whatever.
              \_ You usually cannot short or buy derivatives in a
                 retirement account. I don't know any brokerages that
                 allow this.
                \_ <DEAD>Brownco.com<DEAD> allowed you to sell covered calls in IRA 5
                   yrs ago when I was investigating. --oj
                   \_ They don't now.

2/1     In apache2 how do I make certain directories execute as certain
        user? Say I have the following and I want
        http://mydomain.com/bobby to execute as user 'bob':

        UserDir public_html
        <Directory /home/*/public_html>
          AllowOverride FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
          Options Indexes SymLinksIfOwnerMatch IncludesNoExec ExecCGI
        </Directory>
        Alias /bobby/ "/home/bob/public_html/"
        Alias /bobby "/home/bob/public_html/"
        \_ Not in currently released code from apache.  they used to
           have an MPM that did something similar that never got enough
           work.  But, you may want to lookup the "metux" MPM works
           along the same lines but is not "official" apache  --Jon

2/1     I want to take a poll, how many people are occassionaly recieving
        duplicates of the same message in your email? -mrauser
        \_ Not me.  Are these mailing list messages?
           \_ Not exactly.  Not the CSUA/Announce/Jobs anyway. -mr

2/1     My friends's long time girlfriend told me she "has feelings" for me.
        Should I make her tell him about this, or just let it go?
        \_ OK , I probably shouldn't have posted this, but thanks for
           the responses. -op
        \_ flattered but your friendship is more important?
        \_ Let it go. If you tell him he will hate you and her both.
           \_ Not necessarily. I mean, that would be irrational.
              Not every single person is irrational like that.
              \_ Irrational? If he believes you then she's a slut. If not,
                 you're a liar. I'd be suspicious of both, personally.
                 Yes, people shoot the messenger all the time. How would
                 you react if I told you your girlfriend wanted to bone me?
        \_ yeah if you go physical with her and she says i cant
           hurt her bf, then you're screwed
        \_ just pretend you never heard it.
        \_ dump her and use http://tinyurl.com/8raom
        \- you need to figure out what end point you want and pick what
           to do based on that. if you need sloda to tell you want end
           point to pick, you should just kill yourself.
           \_ Hmm. Ok.  I guess I wasn't clear.  I'm not going to act
              on it.  I've been advised to make her tell him or do it
              myself, by it seemed kinda mean.  I thought maybe I'd
              just let it go.
              \_ Don't tell him at all. It's better to stay out of such
                 matters. My best friend's wife was a bitch, but I never
                 told him that. She died tragically. I am glad I didn't
                 say anything and I think he knew anyway. Friends say
                 they want you to be honest and tell them bad news, but
                 the truth is they are better in denial. Just support
                 him when the skank eventually leaves him.
                 \_ how did she die?