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| 2006/2/6-7 [Science/Space, Science/GlobalWarming] UID:41714 Activity:nil |
2/6 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/science/04climate.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin "In October, for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add the word "theory" after every mention of the Big Bang..." \_ You're saying the big bang thing isn't a theory? A lot of *very* smart people in the field would disagree with you. \_ You're ignoring the context of the order. It's very clear that he meant it not as scientists define "theory" but in the "it's just a theory" ID-crazed-uninformed-nutjob manner \_ Perhaps. But Deutsch is a Dubya appointee, so obviously the edit is motivated by politics and not science. |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Troll, Computer/SW] UID:41715 Activity:high |
2/6 Not new, but scary anyway:
http://images.google.com/images?q=tiananmen vs.
http://images.google.cn/images?q=tiananmen
Cue ChiCom Troll. -John
\_ too bad google doesn't have any thing interesting when I searched
"Bonus Army."
\_ do not troll the chicom troll. the chicom troll is not against
valid and constructive criticism of the Great and Mighty Middle
Kingdom. - chicom troll
\_ I knew chicom troll, and you sir are no chicom troll. -John
\_ shutup! I am the chicom troll! who is the one who
first used the term on the motd?!
\_ Right here, yo. -John
\_ Whoa, really? So you're part of the motd cultural
legacy? As my french foriegn exchange student exroommate
Nathalie used to say: "Wouww!" May I touch you? -mice
\_ Exactly. And you used it on what I wrote. So
I am the official Chicom Troll.
I am the official Chicom Troll. Now STFU!
\_ Exactly. And you used it on what I wrote, when you
lost the argument and got red faced.
\_ No, I used it on what you wrote when you were a
fucking moron. Fortune cookie says: "close, but
\_ No, I used it on what you wrote when you were an
utter moron. Fortune cookie says: "close, but
no Yichang cigar". And yes, your ex-roommate may
touch me. -John
\_ Cigars? You have expensive tastes. I prefer
cheap Panda brand cigarettes. As for my ex-
roommate, I doubt he would be interested,
unless he is drunk, and you dress up as a
fat swiss milk wench and start yodeling.
\_ I'm dressed up as a fat swiss milk wench
right now, yodeling this post at my PC. And
I meant mice's former roommate, so yours is
SOL, sorry. -John
\_ Oh John, you tease! You're so cruel! -mice
\_ Near the bottom of the .cn page it reads something like "In
accordance with local laws, rules and policies, some search results
are not displayed." |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:41716 Activity:moderate |
2/6 The cartoon controversy: the Saudi factor
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/5/13149/60748
\_ too bad he based this entire thing on bad dates from a single
source. but it isn't a bad theory overall.
\_ cool article. I've been saying all along that Saudi is problematic.
if we are serious about curbing Islamic Extremist, we need to deal
with them. FYI, Aljazeera did a survey, something like 66,000
out of 78,000 muslims said that official apology from the original
Dannish newspaper is good enough.
\_ This presumes two things: (a) that there is something wrong
with what the Danish paper did (maybe it was in questionable
with what the Danish paper did (it was in very questionable
taste and judgment, but that is different) and (b) that "islam"
and the umma as such have some inherent right for their
sensitivities to trump some of the core values and rights that
lie at the heart of what we so cavalierly call "Western culture."
Neither (a) nor (b) is the case. As for Islamic extremism, one
can only hope that pictures of people threatening to bomb
embassies and kill paper editors over cartoons will bring what
we keep being told is the "moderate majority" of muslims to
their senses, and make them realize how truculent, thuggish and
frankly, prone to infantile outbursts their co-religionists are.
To be honest, I don't see anyone asking for an apology from
anyone in the "islamic world" over the sort of acceptance you
get towards pictures of people having their heads cut off because
they are infidels, or over really vile anti-semitic shit that
you get on a lot of islamic web pages. Regarding what I see as
western kow-towing to this sort of horseshit collective temper-
tantrum, I've written a number of retailers that have removed
Danish products from their shelves in many countries, explaining
that they don't deserve my custom, for what little it's worth,
and I hope others will do the same. -John
\_ What if some CEO of company, President of a country, or
university made some anti-semitic remarks, or remarks
offensive to feminists, and some members of said groups
decide to boycott products of the company, not visit the
country, etc., will you be against that?
\_ The point of the article was that the Saudis deliberately
inflamed the issue, in order to distract attention from the
fuckup of the Hajj stampede.
\_ Yes, I know, I like the article. I was mainly venting,
the whole thing is pretty disgusting. As for boycotts,
go ahead; however, I find knuckling under to a fairly
barbaric condemnation of a society's fundamental values
(have you read what some of these signs say?) to be pretty
sad. I think this is not one of those cases where you
can even claim there is a gray area. -John
\_ a) It is not up to *YOU* to judge rather the cartoon
is offensive or not. b) don't you get it? they
are not attacking our value. They are attacking our
100 years of imperial foreign policies of supporting
repressive regime, overthrown democratic governments,
carve out their homelands to server other Western
interest, etc.
\_ Are you saying there would be no outrage if the
cartoons were published by a newspaper from a
non-imperialist, non-supporting repressive regime,
etc., nation?
\_ I don't give a shit if the cartoon was offensive
or not. They are not attacking "our" anything,
this is DENMARK we are talking about. HELLOO? It
is your and my right to even consider arguing about
this on a public (or any) forum. And it's "serve
other interests". -John
\_ Re-read and meditate, young padawan. Cosmic truths
may suddenly become clear. -John
\_ so Islam is a Religion Of Peace and we made them
beat their wives? if only their wives had just
listened and done what they were told they wouldn't
have had to beat them. |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Finance/Investment] UID:41717 Activity:moderate |
2/6 My brother got married recently and they insisted they didn't want
anything and refused to register anywhere. Obviously I have to get
something, but since they're poor the most practical thing would be
cash. If I have lots of disposable income and make $X/yr, what is a
good amount for a wedding present?
\_ make an Indecent proposal.
\_ $X
\_ Not knowing any of you, I'd say a few hundred bucks. Don't shame
them by giving a large amount. By not accepting anything they're
saying to the world, "This is true love, we're not getting married
to scam you out of some gifts"
\_ agree. couple hundred bucks is good enough. anything more than
that is going to be too offensive... unless you sure he doesn't
mind.
\_ how poor are they? i'm sure there's something that he could use,
be it a DSL subscription, or a computer, or porn DVDs (being a
computer nerd, it makes sense to get him those things) or even
something like repairs for his beat up corolla. That way, you're
not giving him charity (which he already said he doesn't want),
you're thinking about him (and his wife, i guess). you could even
get him something like a Safeway gift card, and say it's because
you didn't know what kind champagne he liked.
\_ Miss Manners says that's it's rude to tell people that you don't
want gifts; it's the giver's choice what to give. If your
brother wants to be insulted at generosity, that's his problem.
-tom
\_ Who cares about MM? What does Emily Post have to say?
\_ Ironic that you'd be a MM reader.
\_ Have you read Miss Manners at all? She does the best
smack-downs of any columnist this side of Savage Love. -tom
\_ Yes, I have. As I said. Ironic.
\_ give them stock or a savings bond. i got the latter several
times as a kid and it's good karma.
\_ A small quantity of stock is just a pain in the as for
somebody who isnt an invester. Just give cash if you are
somebody who isnt an investor. Just give cash if you are
thinking this route or a gift certificate to Amazon.
In fact just ignore all the other advice except maybe the
trip if you have a good idea there and get them Amazon.
\_ that makes a lot of sense. i like amazon certificates. -pp
\- yes i know that. i get an AMAZONG CREDIT for all
my associate who have new children.
\_ A good gift is a trip somewhere. Where are they honeymooning?
\_ If they're serious about not receiving gifts and you're serious
about giving, you can always donate money to some reasonable
charity in their name.
\_ give them stock or something. i never did something like that,
but it sounds like it'd work great if i were into that. savings
bonds are for kids, but might be appropriate if you think they're
addiction-prone or won't know how to sell stock. they'll probably
realize they can take you out for a nice dinner if they ever sell.
\_ I got married 6 months ago and suggested people do this. -bz
\_ How about just taking your brother out, telling him over a beer
that you'd like to do something nice for them (it is possible to
tell someone that you are financially well off and would like to
share in a non-arrogant way) and just ask him straight-out in
private what he'd like? And Miss Manners can bite my ass. -John
\_ He lives 300 miles away, makes himself difficult to contact,
and has been delicately asked this a few times already. -op
\_ Just a thought -- if they intend to procreate, and
depending on how much you want to spend, consider opening
a trust fund (cash, bonds, whatever) for the kid. -John
\_ A few casino chips
\_ Toaster! |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Politics/Domestic/911] UID:41718 Activity:nil |
2/6 Those brown people are all terrorists right?
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1156497,00.html |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:41719 Activity:kinda low |
2/6 George Bush lies^H^H^H^H misstates the truth again:
Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way,
any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap,
it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed,
by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're
talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important
for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act,
constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is
necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.
-Dubya 4/20/05
\_ I think he just misunderestimated the truth.
\_ At that time it was a top secret operation. Lying in to protect a
state secret is legal, I'm pretty sure.
\_ It was an _illegal_ top secret operation. Lying to protect
an illegal act was what forced Nixon to resign.
\_ It was _illegal_? Who says?
\_ Arlen Specter.
\_ Congressional Research Service. Congress is finally
getting off their ass and starting oversight hearings,
but they've started them by NOT SWEARING IN THE AG...
\_ Starting hearings != determined was illegal. Sorry.
\_ mebbe he was only talking about domestic-to-domestic wiretapping
\_ Everyday I wonder how George Bush can consider himself a Christian.
\_ Everyday I wonder how George Bush considers himself a Christian.
\_ I don't think the Bible discusses wire taps. Was that in the
Book Of NSA? |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:41720 Activity:moderate 90%like:41694 |
2/3 Amazing view, simply amazing:
http://tinyurl.com/bdz5o (forbes.com)
\_ No backyard.
\_ These are all like living in a hotel. I don't see the
allure, except for perhaps the one in NYC where there are
no real alternatives nearby.
\_ yes you're absolutely right. Every single person on this
planet prefers living in the suburb that's nice and
big and quiet and have huge backyards. People who think
otherwise are dim-wits, like the ones who live
in the city.
\_ I never said that. I said that it's like living in
a hotel. The city is fine, but paying $15 million
to live in a hotel isn't my cup of tea. Most of those
cities (except NYC) have pretty nice housing
available, so why live in a hotel except for the view?
\_ some people prefer the view over other things. Somehow
you seem to think that people like what you like.
In case no one ever pointed this out to you, you
seem pretty narrow minded and above all, dim-witted.
\_ I'm just expressing an opinion. Why do you have
a problem with that? You seem like the
narrow-minded one.
\_ It's..."different". We have a penthouse in Santiago
that looks over the city (no, not anywhere even near
any of these places, but a nice duplex that we got a
good price on during our stay here.) It's furnished
and has maid service, but it's not like a hotel at all.
I'm used to both houses in the countryside and city,
as well as apartments, and it's just something you get
used to. And frankly, if I had the kind of wealth that
let me blow $15 million on a place that I really really
liked, why not? -John
\_ Anyone blowing lots of money on condos, apartments,
and such either has no financial sense, or is
just stupid. If I had so much money I'd invest
in a nice single family home where I have a lot of
space and freedom, where I have a nice
garage to do garage/repair work, a nice yard with
dogs (you can't have pets in the city), and a
nice driveway where I can wash my car. When you
live in the city, you have no privacy and you
have no freedom.
-pp and I maintain that the
city life is for stupid people
\_ I guess arguing with someone as open-minded
as yourself is going to be rewarding, but then
again, it's nice that you are so clear about
your preference in housing choices. This sounds
vaguely like the bitter people you see scoffing
at the guy having a great time in his Ferrari
(who doesn't realize they're there.) And by
the way, we're getting a dog, my building has a
nice clean car wash space, I have no neighbors
peering over my fence, and a whole city's worth
of space. But your choice, more for me. -John
\_ You must be a young yippie who loves to
drink latte and capuccino and likes to wear
nice designer clothes. Above all else you
probably never exerienced marriage and
have no kids. The city is big enough for
single men like you but one day you will
mature and your perception will change,
drastically. My word of advice to you--
be prepared. You're still young, and stupid.
-pp
\_ how come with all that space in the
suburbs, 60% of Americans are classified
as obese?
as obese and overweight?
\_ Because a huge number of them live in
tightly packed cities and don't have
enough space to "stretch their legs"?
\_ How come obesity is especially
prevalent in the midwest and less
common in bigger cities like NY,
Boston, etc.?
\_ Because 43.74% of all statistics
are made up on the spot, except
on the motd where that number
rises to a statistically confirmed
86.263%. Are you done making shit
up yet?
\_ This is common knowledge.
You need to read more, or be
You the to read more, or be
more observant. check out
indiana, michigan, wisconsin,
illinois, ohio. compare with
new york, massachusetts.
midwest == fat. ok south
even fatter:
http://tinyurl.com/3rfta
\_ Now go find statistics that
say *who* is fat. It is
poor people due to shitty
fast food diets. You need
to understand your statistics
not merely blindly quote
them. Stat 2.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/2269064/detail.html
\_ If you have enough money, you can have
all the space you need, even in the city.
-40 year old, married with kids living
in The City and loving it
\_ Alright I've been trolled enough.
All I have to say is that you're old
and still stupid -pp
\_ Exactly, which is why I don't
really like these glorified hotel
rooms. The exception (as I said
before) is NYC, where apparently
$70 million still won't get you
anything but a (huge) apartment.
\_ Are houses (and penthouses) more affordable
in Santiago? Are we talking about Chile or
Dominican Republic Santiago, Panama Santiago,
Minnesota Santiago USA, Spain Santiago Compost,
Cuba Santiago, or Argentina Santiago del Estero?
\_ Pedant! :) Yes, Chile, and they're vastly more
affordable than in the US. -John
\_ I used to work at a company that occupied the whole penthouse of
the Great Western Building on Shattuck. Not much view, though.
\_ Gee, that's what ... a short bldg in the middle of Berkeley? |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Recreation/House] UID:41721 Activity:nil |
2/6 Exterior House Paint: Anyone reccomend going with either
Kelley Moore or Benjamin Moore? Two of the firms I talked to so
far prefer KM saying that all in all its a better value eventhough
BM is more expensive/higher quaility; that only really matters
for interior painting. For exterior painting; I should save some $$
and use KM. Are they telling the truth? >-- thanks
\_ If your choice is only one of those then go with Benjamin
Moore. You say yourself it's higher quality (which it is).
Higher quality means easier to work with, better UV
resistance (color fading), and so on. The difference per
gallon can't be much, so why mess with cheap paint? I used
Dunn-Edwards for my house, but I know Sherwin-Williams,
Pratt & Lambert, and BM are all good paints.
\_ Behr Premium Plus (Home Depot brand) routinely wins consumer
testing thingies.
\_ Behr does not have a good reputation.
\_ Behr Premium Plus (Home Depot brand) routinely wins consumer testing
thingies. |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iran, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Others] UID:41722 Activity:nil |
2/6 Iran asks the IAEA to cease "all voluntarily suspended non-legally
binding measures", which includes:
- Removal of all surveillance cameras and seals, by the end of next
week
- Sharp reduction in number of inspectors and types of inspections
(including surprise inspections), effective immediately
- Formal date for resumption of full-scale enrichment, with some
("voluntary"?) IAEA inspector oversight
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_on_re_eu/nuclear_agency_iran
\_ We should send in DELTA FORCE in inspector outfits and take out their
nuke labs.
\_ We should send in LANDSHARK. -John
\_ Candygram!
- Sharp reduction in number of inspectors and types of inspections
(including surprise inspections), effective immediately
- Formal date for resumption of full-scale enrichment, with some
("voluntary"?) IAEA inspector oversight
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_on_re_eu/nuclear_agency_iran |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Troll] UID:41723 Activity:kinda low |
2/6 I missed the Superbowl completely. Where can I find archive of all
commericals, perferably in anything other than Flash format so I can
archive it locally? TIA
\_ my gf was looking at it last night. it was probably http://ifilm.com.
\_ anyone knows how to capture them from iFilm? the rstp URL is
very painful to find.
\_ http://video.google.com/superbowl.html
\_ flash :(
\_ http://nfl.com has them, realplayer format
\_ thanks. capturing them now may be convert it to AVI
\_ You didn't miss much. Mike Jagger didn't have a wardrobe
mulfunction. Darn!
\_ You didn't miss much. Mick Jagger didn't have a wardrobe
malfunction. Darn!
\_ WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH USING ARTICLES? -John
\_ easy. Articles in English is very very hard. Don't you think
the fact that I managed to go through high school / Berkeley
with such disfunc English skill reflect the true state of our
public school system?
\_ No, I think it reflect the true state of the you're a lazy
moron and teh poor troll. I certainly hope you're not
seriously this linguistically defective, because if you are
not motivated enough or capable of, god forbid, making the
slightest fucking effort to form complete sentences with the
benefit of a Berkeley education, you should have a sentence
diagram shoved up your ass. -John
moron and teh poor troll. Don't make me whoopass you with
a sentence diagram. -John
\_ Woot! Sentence diagram! Yes!
\_ Good grief, those were pathetic. I can't believe they paid that
much to show that drivel. :P |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:41724 Activity:nil |
2/6 Anyone else receiving email messages that have headers but
no content? I confirmed with the sender that there was in
fact content in what was sent. Perhaps the recent downtime
plus massive mail delivery to catch up is to blame, but I've
never observed this particular symptom. -srgordon
\_ I received a couple of emails like this too. - ciyer
\_ I received at least 1 email like this. Also, I did
not receive one particular email that was sent either
Sunday or Monday afternoon (it's already Tuesday morning
as I write this).
\_ Me three. --PeterM
\_ It has been asked multiple times on MOTD, and I don't recall ever
seeing a technical answer. So what is causing the recent soda
instability?
\_ amckee fostered a culture where socializing and mentoring
freshman/sophomore candidates for the CS major were prioritized
over technical clue, in particular system administration. At
\_ Stop criticizing amckee. You're either with amckee, or
against amckee. Even if you don't criticize him he may
launch an preemptive attack in Operation Squish Dissent
until Mission Accomplished. How? His conservative buddies
in politburo spies by reading secret root motd log and
email without warrants. Amckee is right. He is always
right and resolute. So bring it on, dans. God Bless.
\_ Kindly explain how a factual recount of recent history may
be considered `criticism.' Anyway, it be broughten. -dans
\_ I think you missed the joke. --someone else
\_ Joking at the expense of amckee is a sorryable
offense.
the same time he alienated many alumni including some root
staff. Thus, present day ops staff (i.e. VP) get less insight
and assistance than they did in the past. Present day ops staff
may or may not have clue, I don't know, I've never met them.
That said, the motd has never been an official politburo/root
outlet. Consider mailing politburo, root, or, bettery yet, show
up to a politburo meeting.
-dans |
| 2006/2/6 [Computer/SW/Languages/Misc] UID:41725 Activity:nil |
2/6 Maybe I am missing the obvious; but what do you need to do to ensure
a bourne shell script, that does nothing more than start some other
programs and send some status messages to stdout, continues to run
after you logged out the t-shell from when started it. Thanks
\_ nohup ./yourscript.sh & --dbushong |
| 2006/2/6 [Recreation/Food] UID:41726 Activity:high |
2/6 Favorite fast food poll. Or have you outgrown fast food?
\_ McD fries |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Uncategorized] UID:41727 Activity:nil |
2/6 dim and john, round 2, FIGHT!
\_ It's FITE!!!11! Get it straight.
\_ The MOTD is overdue for a good GUN DUEL
\_ shut up, psb
\- i have not made any motd posts above this line. |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Politics/Domestic/Crime, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:41728 Activity:nil |
2/6 Uh, so why is Gonzales not testifying under oath?
\_ Because congressional Republicans have decided that castrating
themselves at the altar of Bush is a fine way to run a country.
\_ It's a crime to lie to Congress whether you're under oath or not.
But not putting him under oath means no symbolic photo of him
raising his right hand. Propaganda war is everything.
\_ U.S. Code, Statements http://tinyurl.com/7p7q6
U.S. Code, Perjury http://tinyurl.com/9shkt (both http://cornell.edu)
Okay, I am not a lawyer, someone pls figure out the diff.
"I think what we did was legal." (but you actually think it wasn't)
It turns out to be legal, but proof is found showing you didn't
actually think it was legal (you knowingly lied about what you
thought).
Perjury: Yes.
Materially false/fictitious/fraudulent/misrep statement: No.
Gonzales was not sworn in, so cannot be found guilty of perjury, but
can be for false statements. I am not a lawyer. -op |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Reference/Religion] UID:41729 Activity:nil |
2/6 Muslim Complaint Box
http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3565 |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Politics/Domestic/SIG, Politics/Domestic/911] UID:41730 Activity:moderate |
2/6 Democrats, not Republicans, want to grow the Army to far bigger:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_on_go_pr_wh/budget_defense_6
"His approach, which is opposed by many Democrats in Congress who
believe the Army in particular is being stretched too thin and needs to
get far bigger, ......"
\_ I actually support the idea of bringing back the draft, although
not on the scale seen in early decades (and certainly not with the
unfair Vietnam-era deferments). The currently professional
military does not accurately reflect American society as a whole -
generally it is more conservative, more Christian, more macho,
and more working class than America is as a whole. A fair draft
would make the Army much more reflective of society as a whole,
and probably less prone to form a distinct special interest
"power bloc." Not to mention the fact that more Americans
would have a direct stake in American military action, either
directly or through family ties. --liberal
\_ You want your military to be Politically Correct or to save your
ass when The Bad Guys show up? Who gives a shit if the army
isn't quota perfect? Few things are. Is this some bizarre
troll or do you really actually believe all that crap?
\_ I'm completely serious. We fought WWII with a military
made up of everyone. Stop jerking your knees and think
\_ Uh.. Tuskegee Airmen?
about it for a second - I'm not talking about quotas.
The Founding Fathers had good reason to fear an entrenched
warrior class - see also Eisenhower's "military-industrial
complex" speech.
\_ The average soldier in the army is not what Eisenhower
was talking about. You want to go back to WWII style
combat where they lose 5000+ men a day in every major
conflict and sometimes more? What was so great about
that? Today we have a highly mobile, all volunteer,
professional army much much smaller than WWII which kicked
the hell out of Sadam's WWII style draftee army in GW1
and GW2. Morale, training, effectiveness, and every
other measure of army quality has never been higher. I
don't think a draftee PC Army can *ever* approach the
quality armed forces we have today. When I need a
plumber, I don't check to see if he's properly reflective
of the make up of the community. I want to know that he's
the best plumber I can get for my dollar. Seriously, go
look up the WWII loss totals for various battles. WWI
was even worse and the deaths even more pointless. (I'll
grant that GW2 isn't a 'fair' comparison since it was
really just the long awaited end of GW1 but Iraq still
had a number of well equiped units that got flattened
if they didn't flee).
\_ I'm not op or supporting a draft but GW and Afghnstn
are not good examples of our superior army over WWII.
We had overwhelming superiority in equipment and
air support, and the enemy knew it. That aspect is
not a draftee vs. nondraftee issue.
\_ The Soviets had overwhelming superiority in equipment
air support, numbers, and everything else, but still
got their asses handed to them in Afghanistan. They
use draftees. We don't. We bombed the place and
used fast light highly motivated ground forces when
needed. 10 years later the Soviets retreated in
shame. 10 weeks later we owned the country.
Draftee armies just suck. There's a good reason for
that if you think about it for 2 seconds. When it
comes to protecting my skin, I'll take the
professionals who signed up for it over a much
larger group of enslaved walking targets who only
want to get home alive, thanks. Maybe you know
something that the top military and civilians in
our government don't know. Write a letter, maybe
they'll do a draft for you. There's no way you're
going to convince anyone that a drafted army is
better than an all volunteer professional force.
\_ The Soviets were fighting against guerillas
armed with the latest US technology and with
US support. Afghanistan would be totally
different if, say, France was helping the
rebels. Even now, only the capital is truly
under control and the rest of the country is
as lawless as ever.
\_ France? Huh? The Soviets are the WWII army
you say you want. I don't care who they were
fighting. They got their asses kicked. I gave
you a professional vs. draftee example. I gave
you another WWII vs. volunteer example. You're
just trolling now. I can not 'create' a war
that will satisfy your ideal conflict. Such an
event has never taken place and never will.
You have yet to show a place where draftees
came even close to beating professionals or
volunteers much less the 2 ass kicking examples
I gave of the opposite. Good bye.
\_ How about the Hessians losing to the
Americans in the Revolutionary War?
Weren't mercenaries also at the root of
the military problems of ancient Rome?
Anyway, that is beside the point I was
making about Afghanistan, which you ignored.
\_ Professional army was cool until US had to
occupy Iraq for the long term. Now there isn't
enough manpower, and regimes like N. Korea and
Iran knows that US's hands are tied. The
other problem with professional army is that
now that they have Iraq, they had trouble
getting new recruits.
\_ In one of the letters that Osama bin Ladin addressed
to the American people, he stated that his goal
was to bankrupt the United States. It doesn't
really matter if we have overwhelming superiority
in equipment. Our net gain from this war (and
from Vietnam) will be zero, if not negative. And
we are just playing into the hands of Al Quaida....
\_ Math is good. Compare the cost of GW2+Afghan+
DHS+everything-else to the federal budget.
AlQ hasn't done jack in the US since 9/11. I'm
failing to see the failure in the current policy.
\_ The American economy is only doing well due
to massive government stimulus. If the
Iranian Oil bourse starts chipping away at
the dollar's current place as the
reserve currency of the world, Asia will
stop buying up all our debt and the economy
will crumble. We will no longer be able to
inflate away our $8 trillion debt.
\_ huh? why would we not be able to
inflate away our debt? asia not buying
our debt will only help, cause it
causes dollar to fall and improves our
exports and reduce trade decifit. debt
is in US dollar so it will stay constant
(and become smaller relative to exports).
\_ China's currency is pegged to ours.
If they stop buying our debt we have
to raise our interest rates. A lot. |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Science/Biology] UID:41731 Activity:nil |
2/6 Utah Mormon Republicans against Creationism (or whatever they're
calling it this week). http://tinyurl.com/c3x7h [nyt]
'"I don't think God has an argument with science," said Mr. Urquhart
[Republican majority whip]... Mr. Urquhart says he objects to the
bill [to require science teachers to offer a disclaimer on evolution]
in part because it raises questions about the validity of evolution,
and in part because the measure threatens traditional religious belief
by blurring the lines between faith and science.'
\_ Why are you posting articles from that crap paper?
\_ Your comments make me understand what it must be like listening
to Scott McClellan in the WH press briefings. |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Health/Disease/AIDS] UID:41732 Activity:nil |
2/6 http://tinyurl.com/8ujew (reuters.com) An injection of two drugs normally used to treat HIV patients completely protected monkeys from becoming infected with the AIDS virus, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. ... The monkeys were then exposed to a combined human-monkey AIDS virus called SHIV, using a rectal method aimed at simulating male homosexual contact. That happened daily for 14 days and the monkeys also got daily injections. \_ It's that what Vanilla Ice claimed happened to him? He got a SHIV in the butt? \_ There aren't animal-cruelty issues related to butt-raping monkeys? \_ Nono, those were GAY monkeys and they really enjoyed butt-raping \_ Not if butt-raping monkeys could save human lives. |
| 2006/2/6-7 [Recreation/Woodworking] UID:41733 Activity:low |
2/6 I love wood work, I love building my own things. In HS I was the
best student in wood shop. When I was in college I got a nice 18V
Makita drill/screw driver set... best investment ever. Later in my
life I bought a jig saw to speed up cutting, and I bought a nice
variable speed Ryobi. Later on when I needed to cut straight edges
precisely and quickly, I bought a circular saw. I also bought a nice
Makita hand sander, which is heavily utilized. Now I'm at a
point where I need a router but I'm not sure if it's actually worth
the investment. The reason is that routers are actually quite
expensive and I only need it occasionally to round off edges of
wood pieces but beyond that it'll not be heavily utilized the way
drills/sanders/saws are utilized. Any advice? Ideally I'd like
to have an easy/any-time access to a wood shop, with a nice
stationary drill, table saw, and other goodies. Either that, or
I can start building one in my garage which will cost a lot, and
take up too much space. So... router? or wood shop?
\_ You can do a lot with a good router. See the show
"the router workshop" where they make pretty much everything with
just routers.
\_ My advice is: stop saying "utilized" instead of "used". It doesn't
make you sound smart.
\_ And stop saying "investment" when you're buying the tools for
your toys projects.
\_ If you're in the south bay, there's one place that was mentioned
in the sjmerc of a warehouse that some guy had converted into a
walk-in woodshop. If you only need certain expensive things
occasionally, it might be more cost efficient to go there. I think
Home Depot also rents tools like these.
\_ Both Berkeley and Oakland have tool lending libraries. -tom
\_ In the long run, if you want to take the time to really learn
how to use the router, it will be worth it. You probably won't
use it as much as, say, your drills or circular saw, but it'll save
you a lot of time when you do need to use it. Like having a drill
press versus handhelds.
In the short term, tool lending libraries. |
| 11/22 |