3/8     Poll. I use soda mostly for:
        confession: .
        information:
        entertainment: ..
        outlet for frustration:
        motd: .
        trolling the ghost of paolo from 5 years ago: .
        fantasizing about tom's hard sweaty forged in a storm
          of sweaty iron unicycle sessions up mountains
          down valleys and up Spruce abs: ..
        mail: .
        Conducting silly polls: .
        Calling tom on his bs: .
        \_ hello dans!

3/9     So I've now seen two wonderful movies with disappointing endings in one
        week: Corpse Bride and Howl's Moving Castle.  How can they put so much
        work into having such beautiful movies, then so obviously blow the
        endings?  Bah, I say!
        \_ you got sucked into watching it and paid the same amount of money
           had the ending been better. So, u=teh suxor.
           \_ Eh, they were still worth the ~ $1.07 I pay per movie on the
              2-at-a-time Netflix plan.  What frustrates me is that they were
              so good...until the endings.
        \_ just like War of the Worlds?
           \_ Yeah, I gave that one some slack for being based on a book,
              though I guess Howl's was too.
                             \- "I saw the best movies of my generation
                                destroyed by bittorrent ...
                                destroyed by piracy ..."
                                \_ Huh?  (I get the song reference, but not
                                   why)
                                   \_ Clearly you don't get the reference.
                                   \_ I hate the beats, but you make me sad.
                                      google for "ginsberg" and "howl"
                                      \_ Hah, never knew that.  I never thought
                                         to see where the TMBG lyrics came
                                         from.
                                   \_ The MOTD makes the baby Cassady cry.
                                \_ This is not related to this song, is it?
     http://www.lyricsdepot.com/they-might-be-giants/i-should-be-allowed-to-think.html
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/they-might-be-giants/i-should-be-allowed-to-think.html
        \_ How would you have like Corpse Bride to end?  I thought it
           was a normal, predictable ending.
           \_ Exactly!  It didn't fit the movie at all!

3/9     The latest SAT scoring debacle is yet another proof that ETS is run
        like Enron; slow, inefficient, and full of crooks who are free to
        do whatever they wish because they are not accountable for anything.
        \_ Huh? Url?
           \_ I assume OP means:
              http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/03/07/sat.scores.ap/index.html
              \_ If so, I don't get what OP's talking about; the article
                 indicates that the error was restricted to one sitting, not
                 a systemic problem.

3/9     U.S. military to transfer detainees from Abu Ghraib to new
        facility within three month, so that they can continue torturing
        in secrecy. News at 11 on CBS liberal biased news.
        \_ The really sad thing is that there are valid needs for security and
           secrecy in some military operations, including some involving
           prisoners, but the current "regime" we've got has lost ALL
           credibility for handling anything without intensive oversight.

3/9     OpenBSD 3.9 available for preorder:
        http://www.openbsd.org/39.html
        \_ When they changed binary formats and the only real upgrade path
           was "back up your data, install to a fresh disk and reinstall", I
           gave up, went to FreeBSD, figured out how to get 'pf' running on
           FreeBSD (it wasn't as well supported on FBSD then) and moved on.
           OBSD has that whole super security thing going on and CARP and
           whatnot but for a box doing anything more than just firewalling I'm
           a lot happier with FBSD.  I'd still use OBSD for a pure firewall,
           though in most circumstances.
           \_ FreeBSD did a binary format change at some point too.  Have you
              noticed how much of /csua/bin/ doesn't run now with exec format
              errors?
              \_ I think you can compile into the kernel binary compat
                 of older versions but i might now know what i am talking
                 about.
                 \_ You can compile in binary compat as far back as 2.x--each
                    version has had some form of binary change, although
                    between most major version changes, it didn't affect most
                    binaries as I recall.  The only one where I had to do a
                    ton of recompiling was 4.x to 5.x  -John
              \_ Between what versions?  I didn't use FBSD until 5.x.  Anyway,
                 what I was getting at is that OBSD was too limited in other
                 ways and that if I had to start from scratch anyway I was
                 going to use the more feature rich system that was 'secure
                 enough' for my needs.
                 \_ I completely agree. I pretty much only use OpenBSD for
                    firewall/routing. For everything else I use either FreeBSD
                    or OSX. It would be really k3wl if OSX started using pf
                    for its firewall.

3/9     World largest Bio-diesel plant to open in Indiana:
        http://www.in.gov/serv/presscal?PF=gov2&Clist=1_3_4_6_11_16_61&Elist=85999
        \_ If a significant portion of the cars out there were bio-diesel we
           would be up to our armpits in soot.  That stuff is filthy.
           \_ buckminsterfullerene!  yay

3/9     OMG, TOM VS. DANS GUN DUEL!!!!!!!!!!11!!

3/9     Holy SHIT.  This makes google Earth look like some kind of cheap hack:
        http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov
        Prepare to waste time after you download this.
        \_ Have they updated it?  I tried it about a year ago, then when Google
           Earth came out I was impressed by how much better Google Earth
           worked (and how much faster).  You can't zoom _quite_ as far in,
           but meh.  --dbushong
            \_ It depends on where you are.   I guess I was excited because the
               zoom is quite a bit better on the nasa one for a particular
               area I care about, and because the USGS maps are integrated.
           \_ Agreed.  Clunky interface on the nasa one.

3/9     US urged to abandon force-feeding at Guantanamo
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060310/ts_nm/guantanamo_dc
        So, ok, isn't suicide illegal in the US?  If you announce that you're
        going to kill yourself by starving yourself to death, can't the
        authorities force you to eat?  Why the hell do prisoners get more rights
        than I have?
        \_ How does an individual have a "5-month hunger strike"?
           \_ Do you understand what "force-feeding" is?
           \_ The lengthiest period spent without solid food was
              382 days when Angus Barbieri lived on tea, coffee, soda
              water and vitamins in Maryfield Hospital, Dundee in the
              mid Sixties. He lost more than 20 stone.
              The human body is pretty fucking amazing.
              \_ Jesus... 20 stone is 280 pounds.  That better have been
                 one fat fuck.
              \_ Most, if not all, infants can survive a year without solid
                 food. :-)
        \_ I didn't even know dubya was a feeder.

3/13    What's a good birthday gift for a 19 year old girl?
                                                      \_ woman
                                                         \_ says who?
                                                            \_ US law
                                                               \_ *laugh*
        \_ So very, very many possible responses to that.  Let's keep it clean
           and say "Amazon Gift Certificate"
        \_ What's with the RESTRAINT shown for this motd topic?  Frankly I'm
           not impressed.
           \_ Jeez. We're not pedophiles.  Wait a few days and re-post the
              question with the girl being 19 and see what happens.
        \_ Gift certificate. Tailor to taste.
        \_ Hot beef injection.
           \_ Instant transformation of a 19-yr-old girl to a 19-yr-old woman,
              making the argument above moot.
              \_ US law!

3/9     No really.  Tom and dans, it's either time to GUN DUEL, or shut the
        hell up.
        \_ let them vent. It's not like they're actually going to DO anything
           anyways. Just lots of extra characters on motd, nothing more.
           All talk, no action. No harm. No worry. Let them vent.
        \_ Actually, CSUA should sponsor like a charity event where Tom and
           Dans battle it out in a ring. We could make them wear those stupid
           Sumo Wrestler suits, film it, and send it to America's Funniest
           Home Videos. We could title it "geek v. geek" or something. It
           will consist no doubt of a lot of hand slapping.
        \_ mlee vs. psb, boring
           John vs. ilyas, INTERESTING!
           \_ Wow I'm flattered.  -John
           tom vs. dans, boring.
        \_ Like I said before, it would be dishonorable to engage in combat
           with an individual like Tom who has such a tenuous grip on reality.
           -dans
           \_ Yeah you keep saying that, irrespective of the fact that tom's
              version of events is both credible and coherent, and yours
              really isn't.
              \_ Tom, when you read all the criticism and mockery, some of it
                 justified some of it not, do tears well up in your eyes and
                 do you cry a little?  Does interfere with your sleeping at
                 night?

3/9     Larry Ellison to drop from the top 10 billionaire list. Hahahaha.
        That sucker deserves to go to hell. Fuck you Debacle.
        \_ Yeah, I'm sure he losses sleep over it. BTW, how many billions
           do you have? Oh, zero?
           \_ Yes he's losing sleep over it. I used to work at Debacle and
              my boss knew the VPs who knew Larry. Unlike Andy Grove and
              HP founders, Larry is an asshole who doesn't care about anyone
              else except himself, and everyone at the company knows that.
              All that talk with "Oracle's world's 2nd largest software
              company" is just bullshit and annoying to hear every single
              day. Back during the dot-com days Larry tried numerous
              spin-offs on nicely packaged but horribly designed software
              in an attempt to diversify his 1 trick pony, and ultimately to
              generate more revenues not for the company, but for himself.
              During media interviews Larry even admitted that his goal was
              not to create AIDS foundations or help with famines and such.
              His goal in life was to become a samurai and to beat Bill
              Gates so that he could become the world's richest man. In my
              < decade of working there I NEVER saw him working, once, and
              neither did my bosses. He loved yachting, flying planes, or just
              fucking Japanese whores. Larry losing sleep over not being on
              the top 10 billionaire list? You bet he is.
              \_ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/20/DD160291.DTL
              \_ http://tinyurl.com/m4gl9 (sfgate.com)
                 \- You may also wish to see: http://csua.org/u/f7w

3/9     http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060309/od_nm/stone_sex_dc
        Sharon Stone to be naked in the next movie. When she was younger
        in Basic Instinct (1992), that was cool, but now, I don't know...
        It's almost like watching your aunt naked or something.
                                       \_ hot!
                                          \_ MILF!
        \_ http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=162
        \_ She just turned 48. That's still young enough to look good if
           she's taken care of herself, which she seems to have done.
           \_ I don't understand you people.  At 48 you will all
              be pasty formless blobs of flesh from sitting down
              all day and licking your monitor while encoding
              podcasts of Slashdot.  You would praise Allah
              daily if a woman as hot as Sharon Stone smirked
              at you.  Are you manlier than Phil Bronstein?
              Do you wrestle alligators?
              \_ Sure, she's a babe. She's still 48 and that's much older than
                 most of us.
           \_ I wouldn't kick her out for eating prunes in bed.  -John
        \_ Hey, wikipedia says she has an IQ of 150+ and grew up a
           bookworm and introvert, going to college at 16 - perfect mate
           for the soda virgin geeks.
           \_ Big fucking deal.  Most people reading this started
              college at 17.
              \_ exactly, cause you are soda virgin geeks.

3/9     http://www.csua.com/?entry=36278
        Read bullet #2 on Iraq. Pretty lame considering our failure in Iraq now

3/9     So, I'm curious, who exactly is EVIL LORD MULLALLY?
        \_ The sysadm of CS cluster. Not sure why he's evil though. He's a
           very nice guy when you get to know him.
           \_ In fact he is in the CSUA's good graces right now for being
              very helpful in getting us some temp-accounts for our SQL
              workshop.
              *leaves his sacrificial offering of fruit and ramen at the feet
               of the all-powerful sysadmin*
              -mrauser

3/9     Poll on Iran. We will:
        attack iran:
        talk tough: ....
        send tom and dans to mediate the conflict: ..
        \_ Dude, are you trying to start a civil war? -dans

3/9     Welcome to Dongmakgol: http://imdb.com/title/tt0475783
        Aside from the main characters being idiots in the end, an
        excellent movie. Magical, almost have the feeling of a Hiyazaki
        movie sans the cute monsters. Must for Korean movie buffs.

3/9     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/forbes_billionaires
        Number of Billionaires to a record 793. Who says Bushconomy sucks?
        \_ I think that includes foreigners, who sure benefitted from
           our spending and more spending.
        \_ I say it sucks and I'll explain to you.  Bush uses my tax dollars
           to go fund his illegitimate war and go and take all the spoils
           for himself.  Plus I will almost certainly be paying higher
           taxes to offset his record deficit that he's created.  So
           tell me how I benefit from this again????  Bush better be planning
           to pay back the "loan" that he's taken out from the American
           people, cuz I sure as hell don't want to be paying extra taxes
           cuz of the stupid debt he's racked up at our expense.
           \_ Just like when we had Reagan as a President, we owe him a debt
              we can never repay ...
              \_ You must be on crack if you believe Reagen was responsible
                 for the economic boom of the 90's.  If you can explain how
                 Reagen administration was more responsible than, say, the
                 rise of the Internet for the 90's boom, I'll give you a
                 Nobel prize.
                 \_ Who commercialized the Internet?
                 \_ In a way the defeat of Soviet Communism and the resulting
                    demilitarization supported the boom of the 90s. Reagan
                    embraced and executed an active policy to defeat, instead
                    of contain, the USSR. This policy, combined w/ economic
                    conditions in the USSR, largely worked.
                    Specifically WRT supply side economics, I agree that it
                    is not clear that this economic policy resulted in the
                    boom of the 90s.
                    \_ complete BS.  Soviet would of fell apart on its own
                       weight regardless.
                       \_ It is very hard to say that the USSR was in such
                          bad shape in the 80s that it would have died w/o
                          Zero Option, &c. I am not saying Reagan single
                          handedly killed TEH COMMIE, just that his policies
                          were a contributing factor.
                       \_ It isn't so important that they collapsed, per se,
                          but what they became after.  Had they been crushed
                          by anything other than the US their odds of becoming
                          a more democratic nation would have been zero, simply
                          replacing one dictatorship with another.  There were
                          a few attempted non-democratic coups that went no
                          where.  Some historical what-if for you: Had the
                          Nazi's survived WWII and into the 90's, would the
                          Soviets have still collapsed?  Likely so.  Would it
                          have turned into a more western nation?  You decide.
        \_ 1) Is that inflation injusted and yes 2) "Bushconomy" is VERY good
           for rich people, I don't think anyone will disagree with that.
           The disagreement is over whether good for billionaires == good
           for everyone else.
           \_ You're not getting it. If you argue with a wealthy conservative,
              he/she will say that if everyone else's income didn't increase
              it is because they didn't work as hard [as the wealthy folks].
              In the conservative world, YOU are self-reliant and you, and
              no one else, can make yourself wealthy. The rich conservatives'
              argument is that if you tax the rich more, then you'll fall
              under socialism (which Ronald Reagan declares as EVIL!!!) and
                    \_ Socialism *is* evil.
              no one will have incentives to work hard anymore. So, fuck
                    \_ See "Collapse of Soviet Union under own weight" above.
              social programs, cut taxes, and faggots need to go to hell.
              That is the platform of the American conservatives.
              \_ You've clearly never talked to a conservative, rich or
                 otherwise.  Would you like to hear what the "extremist
                 ultra liberal" platform is?  You know it wouldn't be difficult
                 to paint your beliefs into a tidy little strawman and then
                 knock it down, so why do you do that to other people?
              \_ There is something to be said that a grim socialist
                 completely state controlled economy is the bane to
                 economic growth, witness eastern bloc countries before
                 the fall of the soviet union.  current conservatives
                 in power though appear to want to take everything to the
                    \_ There are no conservatives in power at the moment.
                       There are pro-business Republicans.  If the Dems had
                       put up something better than that mindless
                       Republican-lite playboy they would have won in 2004.
                       Stop running stupid candidates so we can have better
                       candidates from both parties running.  If you run
                       Hillary in 2008 she'll lose and we'll get another 4-8
                       years of pro-Business Republicans again.
                 complete logical extreme with no oversight on business
                 by government in even the most egregious examples.
                 \_ http://www.nowartax.org can help you out with your tax
                    problems

3/7     Look tom and dans. Both of you have points and supporting facts. But
        most of us aren't concerned at who's right/wrong. So how about shaking
        hands with your enemy for now, and even if the other side is still
        unforgiven, at least fake a truce. That way you can attack when the
        time is right and we'll have our peace on motd. Thanks
        \_ hey I wanted to see where it goes. don't delete it til tomorrow.
           Why do you need peace on motd? How boring.
           \_ There's a famous novel I read in HS to which I forgot the title
              but basically it described a guy truck driver driving on the
              highway, saw a turtle on the road, and swerved in order to
              crush it. Then a gal driver saw the turtle, swerved in order
              to avoid it. So, I guess you're the driver and you're trying
              to cause harm in order to get pleasure from it, or something
              \- turtle novels: blade runner is the standard but you probably
                 mean grapes of wrath. you know it just occurred to me, it is
                 not unlikely i read GoW before you were born. did you read
                 a certain novel involving a tree and a prep school and
                 conflict and hate, too?