2/20    A few years ago I switched from the Brita filtration pitcher
        system to the Pur filtration pitcher system because Pur filtered
        out certain microbial cycst and other things. I used the 3-stage
        Pur pitcher filter happily for a few years till now. Now I can't
        even find the 3-stage *pitcher* (not faucet) filter from Savon,
        Walgreens, Costco, and other stores that used to offer the filter.
        What's up?!??!
        \_ I am using the Pur desktop dispenser. Costco use to carry
           the filter, but now they only carry faucet mount filters. I
           guess supply and demand. Last time I ordered my filters
           from http://drugstore.com. Target also has it I believe.
        \_ What area do you live in?  Got any kidney stones yet?

2/20    Video converting issue:  Does anyone knows where xvid stores its
        setting in Windoze?  I would like to save it somehwhere, as Stoik
        Video Converter tend to reset all my settings.  Thx

2/20    What's up with weird sports like skeleton and luge? Where do people
        actually do that in the US? Also, they should just combine the two
        events. I mean, let them choose head first or not, whatever is
        fastest should win.
        \_ Thats pretty simplistic.  Its not like the guys decide whether they
           will go head first of feet first as they are starting thier run,
           you train differently for either.  Also, the luge would beat like
           every skeleton guy (except ones that don't finish), so its really
           not right to compare the two side by side time wise.
           Apples vs Oranges?
           \_ I haven't watched the Olympics this year (no TV), what is
              the deal with skeleton?  Why is it slower than luge?  Wind
              resistence?
           \_ Well, they'd train for whatever they want and do that.
              Of course, one has running start and the other doesn't.
              Maybe get rid of that. Basically I don't see why there should
              be both of these similar events. The basic skills seem the
              same. Also they might as well have watersliding as a summer
              event.
        \_ The Olympics is chock full of weird sports.  What's one more?  It
           gives everyone another chance at upping their medal counts which
           makes everyone happy.  I stopped watching years ago when they
           stopped pretending they were anything other than paid professionals
           in most of the big events and every score was a 9.9998 or higher
           in gymnastics.  "Oh look!  She blinked at the wrong moment, her
           chances at gold are over forever!  9.999999997!"
        \_ What makes these sports any weirder than a bunch of dudes
           smacking a piece of plastic around the ice or strapping some
           planks to your feet and jumping off a hill?  -John
           \_ Where can you even attempt to do these sports, assuming
              you were so inclined? I've never heard of anyone doing
              skeleton. Upate: ok I read http://www.newsliders.com/faq.htm
              So: there are 13 tracks in the world, 3 in North America.
              So I could go do it in Utah.
              \_ Yeah so?  There are a bunch of luge schools, and while it's
                 more of a specialized sport than, say, skiing, a lot of
                 people enjoy watching it (and there seems to be a large
                 enough pool of people engaging in it.)  And before you say
                 "same for ice sailing", there's no reason that couldn't be
                 a discipline (think Jamaican bobsled team.)  -John
              \_ The majority of US athletes training for luge, bobsled,
                 skeleton and the like do so at Lake Placid.  Also, wrt your
                 numbers, while there are probably of hundreds of ice rinks in
                 the US, only a handful make up the elite training centers
                 that actually produce Olympic class figure skaters, those
                 being the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, The Detroit Figure
                 Skating Club, Lake Placid (though most of the athletes
                 actually train in Monsey, New York), and one or two in
                 Colorado and Delaware. -dans
           \_ For the record, hockey pucks are made of rubber.  A plastic puck
              would be an abomination. -dans
              \_ Rubber is technically a type of plastic.
                 \_ Really?  I thought rubber was organic (i.e. comes from
                    rubber plants), and plastic was synthetic (produced from
                    Oil).  Of course, I'm not a chem major and don't know what
                    officially qualifies something as a plastic.  Please
                    correct me if I'm wrong. -dans

2/21    "The official poverty level is $19,307 for a family of four, $12,334
        for a family of two. But the calculation includes only cash income
        before deductions for taxes. It excludes capital gains and it does not
        take into account accumulated wealth or assets, such as a home."
        http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/21/politics/main1331693.shtml
        \_ it depends on what the meaning of "poor" is
           "the bureau said the rate might be as high as 19.4 percent, or as
           low as 8.3 percent, depending on how income and basic living costs
           were defined"

2/21    Any Olympians on soda or relatives of Olympians?
        I thought somebody had a sister who might be in the Olympics?
        \_ I know a couple of Olympians, but not for the White and Boring
           Olympics.
        \_ My uncle Zeus...
        \_ Yes. -dans
           \_ I briefly saw a Jamie Silverstein in Ice Dancing.  Related?
              \_ Yes, she's my sister. -dans
                 \_ For those too lazy to look themselves:
              http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1599042613665365796
                    \_ That's their free dance.  See also:
                       http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/1500195/detail.html
                       This features their compulsaries, though I find
                       compulsaries terribly boring (everyone skates the same
                       pattern). -dans
                       \_ Congratulations to her, and your entire family
                          for what she has done.  Why don't you visit
                          Torino?  Or are you there?
                          \_ Thanks, though I think most (all?) of that should
                             be directed at her.  My only hand in this was
                             spending two hours a day schlepping her to and
                             from the rink in heavy traffic for two years when
                             I was in high school. :)  Several family members
                             are in Torino, but my presently broke ass could
                             not afford airfare, one week's housing, and
                             event tickets. -dans

2/21    What is the best way to get the current method name in Java?  So far
        I have seen 3 approaches:
        1. Create new Exception, grab the first frame off its stack trace.
           Inelegant, requires creating a stack trace (expensive).
           \_ Yeah it sucks.  Yeah it does much more work than you need.
              Yeah it is really fragile and may break when you switch java
              implementations because some moron changed how stack traces
              are printed.  Still, the few times I've seen libraries
              that generate method names this is how they did it.
        2. Generate new stack trace, grab the first frame.  Same problems as
           above but slightly better.
        3. For each method, define a static final String containing its name.
           Very fast, but makes the code 'brittle' in terms of refactoring and
           makes classes needlessly cluttered.
        Anyone know a better way?
        \_ A little more information about what you are trying to do would
           be helpful. The obvious answer is you wrote the method, you
           should know what name you gave it, but I assume this is not
           tenable in your context. Have you looked at com.sun.jdi?
           \_ Trying to provide debug-level printouts of what the current
              function is, as in:
              public void fooFunc() {
                System.out.println("Entered fooFunc()");
                ...
              }
              \_ I think AspectJ is the solution for you, then.
                 See: http://csua.org/u/f19  - pp
                 \_ That is neat.  I don't suppose there's any good system
                    for debugging AspectJ code?  That's the main thing that is
                    keeping me away.
                    \_ AspectJ generates vanilla java bytecodes. Any
                       debugger should be able to debug it.
                           http://csua.org/u/f1a
                       I think Eclipse might have some dev support. - pp
                       \_ Just because a debugger can debug it doesn't
                          mean it is debugable.  Just try say, breaking
                          at a line number and having ANY chance at being
                          right.
                \_ My my, the motd is buzzword compliant today.
                   \_ Why?  The use of 'solution' to describe a solution?
                      \_ AspectJ is buzzword-ware.  It's amazing how many
                         inelegant solutions like AspectJ exist to get around
                         Java's stupid limitations.
                         \_ Well what language has good support for
                            'crosscutting concerns'?
                             \_ CLOS. The CLOS Meta-Object Protocol is where
                                many of the AspectJ ideas come from.
                                \_ Lisp?!  Nooooooo!
                            \_ I recommend "Beyond Java" for a good overview of
                               why Java is a pain in the ass, and why
                               "frameworks" and "design patterns" are often
                               inelegent attempts to get around inherent
                               defects in the language.
                               \_ Gee, the man behind on of the most inelegent
                                  java frameworks ever wants to tell me how
                                  to write an elegant language?

2/21    Go to Google News and put in "Ferrari" + "Malibu"
        Then look at these:
        http://www.postwhore.biz/albums/userpics/10061/Ferrari%20_1_.jpg
        http://www.postwhore.biz/albums/userpics/10061/Ferrari%20_10_.jpg
        http://www.postwhore.biz/albums/userpics/10061/Ferrari%20_2_.jpg
        http://www.postwhore.biz/albums/userpics/10061/Ferrari%20_3_.jpg
        \_ I like the part where it says the driver ran away (passenger stayed)
           and the car may have been registered in a foreign country.
           Passenger identified as "Stefan Erikssen, of Bel-Air", and
           investigators believe the driver was alone and was racing ...
        \_ Wow, lucky guys.
        \_ Money quote: '"You pay a million bucks for a car, you expect
           safety," Brooks said.'
           \_ Did Brooks mean he thinks the two survived because of the $1M
              car's safety features rather than pure luck?
           \_ Anyone would be stupid to think that they survived because of
              the $1M car's safety features rather than pure luck.
              \_ It certainly looks like the safety features worked well.
        \_ I like how the news video starts with "Fatal Crash" in the bottom
           info bar and as it progresses and they say "from the air it didn't
           look like anyone could have survived that, but now it appears both
           occupants did" and the infobar changes to "Malibu Crash" or something
           like that.  Heh.
           occupants did" and the infobar changes to "Malibu Crash" or some-
           thing like that.  Heh.

2/21    http://www.yesyesserver.co.uk/temp/WeAreSinking.swf
        Humor. Titanic ship sinking. German coast guard to the rescue.

2/21    In an effort to reduce paper clutter, I'm thinking about scanning
        my old tax and W-2 related papers, convert them to PDFs, and
        shred all physical copies for good. Is this a good/bad idea?
        \_ Okay idea, but it's probably better to just to keep them around.

2/21    If I sign up for e-statements, how far back do statements go
        back for the following companies? I'll start:
        \_ Etrade: seems to go back forever (when I started in 2003)
           Verizon: go back only 6 months. Piece of shit
           Bank of America: ???
           Wells Fargo: about 6 months as well.  pretty crappy.
           ING Direct: ???
           \_ My Wells Fargo goes back to 11/15/00, although I've had the
              same account since '96.  After logging in, click the Account
              Services tab, then click View Checking/Savings Statements on the
              right side, then View Prior Statements.
        \_ None go back far enough. Print to PDF and save them.

2/21    Haha.  Dubya says he'll veto any bill which would block the UAE port
        deal, and says he expects people to explain why it should be blocked.
        The people who want it blocked says Dubya should explain why the deal
        should go through.
        The same thing happened with Social Security.  Dubya said critics need
        to propose an alternate plan.  Critics said it's up to you to come up
        with a good plan.  Then it died.
        \_ If he did veto, it would be his first.
           \_ George Bush got his SSI stuff written into the new federal
              budget anyway.  Doom!
              \_ CW is that the budget bill is DOA.
                 \_ CW?
        \_ Yeah, I'd just love to hear how putting a middle-eastern company
           in charge of our ports is "making America safer"
           \_ You must not question the King!
           \_ racist
              \_ Nothing racial about it.  The UAE's banks funded terrorist
                 groups who attacked us.  The company that is buying the ports
                 is run by the UAE.  Why does Bush hate America's ports?
                http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-09-02-terror-dubai_x.htm
                 \_ How do you feel about profiling airplane passengers?
                    \_ Disregarding the State vs. Individual distinction you
                       fail to make in this non-sequitur, profiling doesn't
                       work.  How would you feel if North Korea bought United
                       Airlines?
                       \_ The government of North Korea is hostile to the US.
                          The government of UAE is an ally.
                          The government of UAE is not.
                          \_ Hmm... One says "We don't like you!" The other
                             says "no, we won't help you track down the people
                             who attacked you, nor will we change the channels
                             they used through us."  Which is more hostile?
                             Or is that just "the cost of doing business?" aka
                             the Saudi Arabia argument.
                             \_ The UAE passed anti-money laundering law and
                                imposed monitoring procedures on charities.
                                Can it do more?  Sure, but the "characteristics
                                that make it an ideal place for legitimate
                                business also attract militants and others
                                with suspect motives."  Is friendly relation
                                with the US a suicide pact?  I guess you want
                                it to be.
        \_ You know the funny thing is, I really hate Dubya, but I just
           can't get that excited about this. I think it is just politicians
           of every stripe grandstanding as usual.
           \_ At one level, I agree with you.  On the other hand, some elements
              of this budget have the potential to do real good and others
              have the potential to do real harm, so any political battle over
              this budget, no matter how petty, can have serious consequenses.
        \_ Where was the ourtrage when Hutchinson Wampoa (read Chicoms) took
           over the Panama Canal and Long Beach.

2/21    Michael Morales, convicted of brutally murdering a 17-year-old
        A-student who had sung in church choir and who was working part-time to
        earn money for college, has had his execution indefinitely postponed.
        FYI, his sentencing judge formally recommended commutation from death
        to life-in-prison w/o parole last month, after it was found that the
        prosecution's star witness had lied about a Morales making a
        confession.
        \_ Uhm, yeahhh.....
           http://tinyurl.com/l2yua    (reuters)
           \_ "Killer's Execution is Postponed Indefinitely"
              http://csua.org/u/f1l (latimes.com)
              Original post implied it was postponed because of the trial
              judge recommendation.  This was incorrect.  Delay is for
              review of execution procedures, hearing scheduled May 1. -op
           \_"The sworn statements of six jurors supporting the clemency bid
              and another statement from a prosecution witness recanting her
              testimony were proved to be forgeries by the prosecuting team."
             Dude, Ken Starr is fucking tool.
              \_ Yeah, but even so, the trial judge supports commutation
                 to life w/o possibility of parole because of the star witness
                 to life w/o possibility of parole because the star witness
                 lied.
        \_ But didn't he also claim to have "turned his life around" and
           "sought forgiveness"?  Doesn't that imply he, at least after his
           initial trial, was admitting guilt?
           \_ I think there is no doubt he did it, but I also think that there
              is a question whether the jury would have went with death w/o
              the star witness.  I think that's why the trial judge said
              what he said.

2/21    Silly poll: What is your favorite design pattern?  Gang-of-Four or not.
        \_ Template method: .
        \_ Houndstooth: .
           \_ Is that structural or creational?
        \_ POLKA DOT: .
        \_ I've never seen a really good reason to use design patterns other
           than the fact that some of their concepts are built into the
           language (i.e. Java Swing, etc.). I suppose it makes sense on
           a language level (better designed, more OO languages, etc.), but
           I've never seen a very well designed piece of code using
           the concepts as described by the GOF. In fact, I've seen over
           designed projects, especially when someone decides to drag in
           Rational Rose and they go UML crazy. I suppose it works on
           Really Large Projects (TM), but it certainly holds no place
           in mid or low level projects, at least not in my experience.
           I think there's a major disconnect with academia's concept of
           software engineering and what really goes on in the nitty gritty
           real world (big surprise). The whole concept keeps on
           reminding me of the chapter "no magic bullet" from The
           Mythical Man Month.