2/23    Tom, I've obtained some more information about DKDY.  Have you
        changed your mind about them?

2/23    http://www.flickr.com/photos/debbiecbs/61800478/in/set-1336728
        Barbie porn. NWS.

2/22    [ nuked as promised.  FEEL THE POWER! ]
        \_ Your ultimate ninjaness is exceeded only by your wisdom.
        \_ Please explain why anyone gives a shit about this long, context-
           free excerpt or I'm nuking it.  You have till 23:59 2/23 -dans
           \_ I'm glad I have provided a tiny forum for you to exercise
              your ultimate ninja power!
              \_ No, if I had ultimate ninja power, I could kill anyone I
                 wanted!  I could cut off the op's head and not even think
                 twice about it.  Though that is a tempting option, I've
                 already thought about it three times.  Clearly, I lack
                 ultimate ninja power. -dans
                 \_ You mean REAL ULTIMATE POWER!
                    \_ AWESOME POWER!  NO CONTROL!
                       \_ No, I mean REAL ULTIMATE POWER.
                          http://www.realultimatepower.net
        \_ Wow it would be cool to be a leader of a cult and wake up one
           morning and decide something like "hey red is good" and tell your
           underlings everyone should wear red and pretty soon millions of
           sheeple are wearing red every day.
           \_ Take off that red shirt!
              \_ Old jungle saying: Never wear red shirt.

2/24    Does anyone use a solar panel to power their laptop? If so,
        what brand do you use/recommend? I use a G4 iBook in case
        that makes any difference. tia.
        \_ Is this for travel or home use?
           \_ Mostly for travel, so I could take it w/ me in my
              backpack.  It would be nice if I could stick it in
              the sun and charge my battery while sitting outside
              btwn classes or something as well.
        \_ On a related note, is there any solar panel for general
           purpose usages?
           \_ Unlikely.  Anything smaller than rooftop won't provide enough
              power to drive 110V AC effectively (and you'd need a power-sapping
              inverter), thus they all output DC, but there's no real standard
              for DC power plugs except sort of cigarette lighter plugs.
              You can buy panels with lighter plugs out, but they're usually
              just for trickle charging your car battery at a rate just
              sufficient to avoid draining while leaving your car sitting.
              In short: they're just too weak.
              power to drive 110V AC effectively (and you'd need a power-
              sapping inverter), thus they all output DC, but there's no real
              standard for DC power plugs except sort of cigarette lighter
              plugs. You can buy panels with lighter plugs out, but they're
              usually just for trickle charging your car battery at a rate
              just sufficient to avoid draining while leaving your car
              sitting. In short: they're just too weak.

2/24    Extra battery for a Prius:
        http://www.gizmag.com/go/5252
        \_ That's way cool.  I'd pay $5K to not have to gas up again and
           with time-of-use metering it would be cheap to charge at night.

2/24    $70K/yr income could qualify you for housing assistance in FL:
        http://tinyurl.com/s5ocr (sun-sentinel.com)
        \_ Damn.. Median house price is $339k and they do this?  SFBA is
           fux0red.
        \_ It's higher in most of the bay area.
           \_ sourceP
              \_ personal experience; 70K income was the cutoff to
                 qualify for "below market rate" condos. (.3M$ instead
                 of .6M$ market.) No idea about 'higher' though.

2/24    Released today -- "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and
        Betrayed the Reagan Legacy"
        http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385518277
        \_ Sigh.
           \_ Why sigh?  Anything that gets fiscal conservatives to not vote
              for another imposter like GWB is a good thing for the whole
              country, AFAIC.
           \_ All the guy seems to be saying according to the editorial
              reviewers is that GWB isn't a real conservative and doesn't
              act like one.  We all knew that Republican != conservative for
              a while now.  No real news here.

2/24    The motd has mutated and spread to dirty trucks:
        /tmp/motd_summedup.jpg
        \_ That so wasn't worth an scp.
           \_ Oh, I'm sorry. Here's a URL if you'd prefer to skip scp:
              http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~erikred/motd_summedup.jpg

2/24    The Republicans running Congress won't take time to investigate record
        oil industry profits (which I think is a stupid thing to do anyhow),
        but they *will* investigate Citgo for offering discounted heating oil
        to the poor.  Good to know they are fighting hard for the little guy!
        http://tinyurl.com/qctl8
        \_ Why should Congress investigate any industry's profits?  Congress
           isn't a brilliant investigative arm of the government.  It's always
           just showmanship for the cameras.  Or baseball hearings... sheesh.
           \_ "Which I think is a stupid thing to do anyhow"

2/24    More spam is bypassing our spam blocker.
        \_ Give up.  Either forward all your email to a Gmail account,
           or alternatively forward your email to your Gmail account
           with a special header and let Gmail's spam filtering
           take care it, and forward the non spam email back to your
           soda account, then accept your robotic Gmail masters.
           \_ Actually, I do forward all my mail through gmail first - while
              it catches quite a bit, spamassassin on csua still does a better
              job (in the sense that it catches the ones that gmail let
              through incorrectly)

2/24    Screenshots of Windows Vista Feb build
        http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3672_7-6443714-1.html?tag=nl.e501

2/24    Reading back through that wine post, it's really astounding how
        many puritans play the motd game.
        \_ Repeal the 21st amend!
        \_ Remember that story about Jesus turning water into wine?

2/23    http://rrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnhhhh.blogspot.com

2/23    Hello ascii tatami guy. I've built a BIGGER ascii tatami
        mat, bigger than your tiny little microscopic 9'x9' tatami
        mat. This is more proof that we have large American chinpoke
        much bigger than your microscopic Japanese ones:
              +---+---+  +---+---+
              +-+-+-+-+  +-+-+-+-+ Two different 12'x12x ascii tatami
              | +---+ |  | | | | | using 8 mats. These are BIGGER
              +-+-+-+-+  +-+-+-+-+ than what you have.
              +---+---+  +---+---+
        \_ the arrangement on the right would probably not be used.
           \_ indeed.  four corners touch.
        \_ you're odd
        \_ stop lying.  you don't know tatami.  you only know dirty
           carpets.
        \_ only little japanese likes tatami.
           japanese saying, "a peasant sleeps on one tatami, and so does
           a shogun".
           a shogun". (i.e. no matter how rich and powerful you are, you
           can still occupy only one tatami when you sleep)
           \_ what if you're really fat?
           mongolian saying, "the heaven is my blanket, the earth my bed"
           \_ american saying, "my sleep number is 11"
              \_ americans not allowed to have sayings.  you can only have
                 sayings when you have 1 millenium of history.
              \_ americans not allowed to have sayings.  you are only
                 qualified when you have 1 millenium of history.
              \_ americans not allowed to have sayings.  Minimum
                 qualification is 1 millenium of history.
                 \_ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked up jet
                    engines.
                 \_ There's an old saying in Tennesse -- I know it's in Texas,
                 \_ There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas,
                    it's probably in Tennessee -- that says fool me once,
                    shame on... shame on you. It fool me -- you can't get
                    fooled again.
        \_ My tatami is bigger than yours!

2/24    I'm going to Paris and want to bring back some really nice local
        French wines which I can't get in the states. Can anyone suggest
        a few in particular?
        \_ Well, erm. You probably won't find those in Paris. You will
           have to go to the wine country to find wines from small
           producers. Anything noteworthy (with a big name) is available here
           in the US. Most fine French wine is available for export. Your
           best bet is to find unusual wines like some Rhones (especially
           whites), Condrieu, Alsatians, Champagnes from small houses,
           white Bordeaux, and similar oddballs. The problem is most of
           the really boutique stuff probably won't be easy to find in
           Paris either. You'd have to go to the wineries, same as here
           in the US (compare San Francisco wine selection versus, say,
           going directly to Napa).
           going directly to Napa - or even, say, Portland since Paris
           isn't that close to that much of the wine country).

2/24    http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2006/financesurvey.pdf
        Income gap continues to widen.  Check out the huge difference
        between median and mean incomes and net worths.  Average (mean)
        family income dropped 2.3% from 2001-2004 after inflation adjustment.
        \_ So what is wrong with that? The rich got richer through
           Reagon's new tax cut initiatives in the 80s. Money trickled
           down to the poor, stimulating an economic boom never been
           seen in the history of US. Unfortunately the Clinton
           administration unfairly took credit for it all. Why do
           you hate rich people? Are you a communist?
           \_ if history is any guidance, the poor will eventually rise up
              and overthrow the rich.  Do you want that to happen?
           \_ When did you stop beating your wife?
              \_ the political slant of motd today is: ultra socialist
                 left. Why do you guys encourages lazy people to be even
                 lazier? A great man once said, self-reliance, lower tax,
                 free-market, family values, small government, and fiscal
                 rectitude will save America. The fact of the matter is,
                 commu-socialist programs don't work. Never has, never will.
                 \_ unfortunately the current administration is fiscally
                    irresponsible, corrupt, expanding government, cutting
                    taxes for the rich mainly and taking away assistance
                    for those who want to get an education.  Clinton was
                    the one who cut welfare and forced lazy people to
                    \_ Yeah that was in his agenda from the get-go, he
                       also secretly wrote the Contract With America.
                       \_ Was that before or after he invented the blowjob?
                       \_ congress can make a lot of noise.
                       \_ exactly.  congress can make a lot of noise.
                          but the president gets the job done.
                    get jobs.  And he kept government spending in check:
                    http://tinyurl.com/nuo8b
                    The average American is self reliant and not lazy,
                        \- in what countries are
                           people lazy "on average"?
                           \_ are you implying that peoples of different
                              countries all work equally hard?
                    yet his income has been falling.  As for good ole'
                    Christian family values, sorry, but lying, giving
                    money to Halliburton, torturing people, and
                    eagerness to go to war doesn't cut it.
                    eagerness to go to war don't cut it.
                 \_ The fact of the matter is, the average American are
                    some of the most hardworking and self reliant people
                    in the world, yet their income is falling.
           \_ Average income going down... why do you hate average people?
        \_ BUSHNOMICS WORKS!!!!!! I JUST REFI'D MY MCMANSION TO BUY A
           PORSCHE!!!  FUK OFF COMMMIE!!!!!!11!!!!

2/24    Hey kngharv, I just want to thank you for replying to my posts.
        When I was younger I didn't care much to learn about my culture
        and my own people. Now I'm older, I'm constantly asking who I am,
        where I came from, why I eat Chinese food, why my parents came
        here, why they talk funny, etc. You are my bridge to my root.
        Thank you kngharv.
        \_ Wouldn't this kind of thing be better expressed in an email?
           \_ Nah, the motd needs more bonhommie. -!op
        \_ Feel free to ask more questions. I'll do my best to answer them.
           I am also struggling with what you are struggling, in a slightly
           different level.   In a twisted way, people in mainland China
           is strugling with this very same topic, as there is a gap
           a whole generation wide that knows nothing about their own root.
                                kngharv

2/24    What's the best way to transfer your Firefox bookmarks from
        one computer to another (home->work during the day, then
        work->home at night time) over and over again?
        \_ cron+scp/rsync?
        \_ just use http://del.icio.us or something like it, then make a
           Firefox Live Bookmark out of the RSS feed of the tags.  It'll be
           one extra click to go to bookmarks, but if you have a lot at least
           they'll be well organized.  I also have a cron job to back up the
           bookmarks using their XML dump of it so if they go "poof" I haven't
           lost all my bookmarks.  (Though this seems unlikely now that they're
           Yahoo!)  --dbushong
        \_ I keep my bookmarks in subversion and then sync them whenever
           I change them.
        \_ doesn't moz/ff have a "remote profile" settings http/ftp/ldap?

2/24    Any good/bad experience to share about ubid?
        \_ I had a negative one about 4 years ago on an item they claimed
           had a mfr warranty that was an OEM product that didn't.  I had
           trouble getting either the mfr or ubid to make good on that when
           the product died.
        \_ I've used it to buy 2 monitors, one back in 2000, another last
           year.  Both were Sony, refurbished.  Both worked great and the
           buying process worked nice.  I like them, but I speaking from
           limited experience (2 purchases, one item category).

2/23    I had to share.  Don't ask why.
        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080846/usercomments
        \_ Saw this back in the early 80s, on TV. Must say that, at age 12,
           this was simply epic. Watching it now, however, would just be...
           sad.
        \_ http://www.badmovies.org/multimedia/moviesu/hawkslayer1.mpg

2/24    S.D. legislature passes near total abortion ban - no exception for
        rape or incest.
        http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/abortion_rights_debate
        \_ Which is consistent at least.  If you believe abortion is killing a
           human life, why should those be exceptions?
           \_ The so-called Christians who are behind this are usually
              also strongly in favor of the death penalty, so no, they don't
              even get to claim consistency.
              \_ Your knee is jerking.  There is a difference between innocent
                 life and a person condemned for a capital crime.
                 \_ I guess Pope John Paul II must have been another misled
                    knee-jerk athiest who just needed a patronizing talking-to
                    by one of the motd's asshole rightwingers.  Too bad you
                    missed your chance.
                    \_ LOL.  good one.
                 \_ Actually, if you follow fundamentalist Christian
                    doctrine, there isn't.  What matters is that you accept
                    Jesus into your heart.  If you sin on earth, God (or the
                    devil) will punish you.  It's not man's place to mete out
                    punishment.  At least, that's what the Christers believe.
                    -dans
                    \_ sorry my friend, but that's not the case.  christians
                       have always recognized the necessity for earthly
                       authorities to mete out justice.  we do have a
                       responsibility to ensure that it is just.
                                               - socialist christian.
                       \_ I have a hard time understanding how you can be a
                          socialist and a *fundamentalist* christian.  The two
                          seem likely grossly incompatible philosophies. -dans
                          \_ what do you mean by fundamentalist christian?
                             and how would that be incompatible with being
                             a socialist?
                             \_ Fundamentalist Christian: an individual who
                                believes that G-d spoke directly to the
                                authors of the bible, i.e. old and new
                                testaments, who then transcribed His without
                                alteration.  Consequently, Fundamentalists
                                believe in the literal truth of the bible, and
                                that it is not subject to *any* interpretation.
                                As jrleek suggested, Jack Chick would fit this
                                definition.  This gives rise to contradictory
                                and patently absurd ideas.  For example,
                                their are passages in the Bible that state
                                that hearing the voice of G-d would destroy
                                the frail form of any human who hears it.
                                Similarly, Fundamentalist Christians believe
                                the earth is only 3000 (5000?) years old,
                                which flies in the face of the geological and
                                fossil record, i.e. dinosaur bones were put in
                                the earth by G-d to test our faith.  Socialism
                                simply is not compatible with this literal
                                interpretation.  Clearly, Mormons do not fit
                                this definition since they believe in the Book
                                of Mormon.  One might posit Fundamentalist
                                Mormons who believe the    literal truth of
                                all three books, but I have not ever heard
                                of someone who follows such a belief. -dans
                                \_ There are so many things about this post
                                   that are stupid, and I wouldn't even know
                                   where to begin pointing it out.  Since
                                   you've acutally chosen to sign your name
                                   to your idiocy, I'll just let it stand.
                                   \_ I take it by your lack of a counter
                                      argument and swift resort to ad hominem
                                      attack that you find my post offensive,
                                      but correct.  And you are correct, Many
                                      things that Fundamentalist Christians
                                      believe are stupid. -dans
                               \_ My friend, according to the Bible, the
                                  early Christians do not own any possessions
                                  and shared everything they had.  You may
                                  also be aware of the Bible, both the Old and
                                  New Testaments, teaching us to take care
                                  of the widows and the orphans, to help
                                  the poor and the aliens, to forgive the
                                  debts of others, and so on.  There are
                                  also mentions of not worrying about
                                  accumulating earthly wealth, being rich
                                  making it difficult to get into heaven,
                                  trusting in the Lord to provide your
                                  daily needs on a day to day basis (eg.
                                  mannah while in the wilderness), etc.
                                  There are also things like bringing the
                                  Israelites out of slavery in Egypt,
                                  Jesus admonishing the corrupted religious
                                  leaders (Pharisees, etc.), Jesus including
                                  all in his salvation, bringing the gospel
                                  to the samaritans, greeks, romans,
                                  ethiopians, eunuchs, slaves, peoples to
                                  the end of the earth, all to be included
                                  in his church as one, as brothers and
                                  sisters.
                                  \_ My friend, the bible also teaches that
                                     you should be honest in your dealings.
                                     If you believe in its teachings, why do
                                     you argue in bad faith by presenting such
                                     a one-sided, saccharine sweet description
                                     of exclusively noble teachings from the
                                     bible?  Afterall, lies of omission are
                                     still lies.  What about the myriad of
                                     truly atrocious practices that the bible
                                     explicitly permits when read literally?
                                     Nice fluffy things like owning slaves
                                     and stonings in the public market place?
                                     Treating the bible literally means you
                                     don't get to pick and choose which
                                     testament and teachings you do or don't
                                     follow.  As a lark, why don't you attend
                                     the next local IWW meeting and suggest
                                     that owning slaves would really advance
                                     the cause of socialism, see how that goes
                                     over and report back to us. -dans
                          \_ I think the problem is your narrow definition
                             of fundamentalist christian.  You seem to
                             think it means "Jack Chick" -jrleek
                          \_ Google "liberation theology."
           \_ Actually that's the fun part. The law declares life begins at
              fertilization. So if you see a pregnant woman drinking, smoking,
              taking drugs or engaging in behavior that may endanger the
              pregnancy, can she be arrested for child endangerment?  If she
              she miscarriages, is that manslaughter?  Fun, happy thoughts.
              \_ Why stop there?  Eating fatty foods, not taking enough niacin.
              \_ No. See Section 4, the act explicitly exempts the mother
                 from liability.
        \_ OK, but doesn't Roe v. Wade make abortions legal and doesn't that
           have precedence? (I don't know the details of law-making, which
           is why I'm asking.)
           \_ Roe v. Wade was a crappy decision based on crappy law making
              from the bench.  If anyone was serious about making abortion
              truly legal someone would've made a constitutional amendment
              regarding everyone's right to their own body, medical info, etc.
              \_ $20 says you weren't even born when Roe v. Wade was decided.
                 Your vast leaps of logic would be amusing if they didn't give
                 of such a stink. -dans
                 \_ Get your $20 out.
                    \_ Sign your posts.  So you attended Cal before 1991?  Not
                       many folks that old on the motd. -dans
           \_ Roe is no longer controlling on abortion. It has been largely
              superceded by Casey, 505 US 833 (1992). Under Casey one looks
              at whether the regulation is pre or post viability to determine
              constitutionality.
              1. If the regulation is pre-viability, then it is only invalid
                 if it imposes an "undue burden" (ie it is not possible to
                 get an abortion.)
              2. If the regulation is post-viability, then it is only invalid
                 if it does not contain a health exception. ("Subsequent to
                 viablity, the State [may] ... proscribe abortion except where
                 it is necessary ... for the preservation of the life or health
                 of the woman." - which is basically the same as in Roe, but
                 note that this does not explicitly require the state to make
                 an exception for rape or incest.)
                 of the woman." - which is basically the same as in Roe)
              SD has done something very interesting. Section 4 contains the
              health exception, as required under Casey. Section 1 attempts
              to get into Casey prong 2 by defining post-viability as starting
              at the moment of conception. It is unlikely that this definition
              will be accepted b/c Casey strongly suggests that viability can
              be advanced to a "point somewhat earlier"  than the 24 weeks in
              Roe. The earliest that even this ct is probably willing to go is
              16 weeks (20 weeks from Webster - generally accepted 4 week error
              re date of conception).
              The SD Legislature seems to expect this as shown by the sever-
              ability provision in Section 10 and the reinstatement provision
              in Section 11.
              [ Yes I know that Alito dissented in Casey, but it was based on
                the sufficiency of the challenger's evid re undue burden not
                on the underlying law, therefore I doubt that he would vote
                to reverse ]
              16 weeks (20 weeks from Webster - 4 week error). [ Yes I know
              that Alito dissented in Casey, but it was largely based on the
              sufficiency of the challenger's evid re undue burden not on the
              underlying law ]