5/8     We are the cyclists.  The most energy efficient beings on the planet.
        Everything we do aimed at conserving the earth's resources.  Altho
        the construction of our tungsten graphite bicycles emitted 14,000
        metric tons of carbon dioxide, mine is a lovely red.
        Behold a traffic jam - we will cycle on the pavement for we are
        above mere traffic regulations. (Hits dog).
        Do not worry, your dog was biodegradeable.

5/7    >./news.cgi
Can't locate XML/RSS.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /etc/perl /usr/local/lib/perl/5.\
8.8 /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.8 /usr/lib/perl5 /usr/share/perl5 /usr/lib/perl/5.\
8 /usr/share/perl/5.8 /usr/local/lib/site_perl .)
        Can someone install the XML/RSS module?  Thanks.
        \_ Done.  --mconst

5/8     Is it just me, or has quota not been working for the past week?  It
        seems there is a mail quota, but no disk quota.

5/8     Gotta love socialism
        http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,194557,00.html
        Chavez wants to be president for next 25 years
        http://mosnews.com/money/2006/04/28/venezuelaoil.shtml
        Venezuela oil production down 60%, buys from Russia
        \_ It's not Socialism, it's Bolivarian..uh..ism.  I am seeing first-
           hand how a lot of S. American countries are getting very scared
           of Chavez; here in Chile they're paranoid about how he prodded the
           Bolivians into nationalizing their gas production (even though they
           did the same with copper at one point.)  The Argentines are playing
           along because they're dependent on cheap energy, and Brazil
           isn't doing much about it.  Basically the only country really
           raising its voice against Chavez is Colombia, and then mainly
           because they're pretty sure he's using oil cash to supply massive
              \_ Chavez' term, interestingly translated, not mine.  -John
           amounts of guns to FARC.  -John
           \_ Bolivarianism?  How did you pick that word?  Right now
              Bolivia is kind of apeing Argentenia, aren't they? -op
              \_ The Economist says its Bolivarianism, so it exists.
                 \_ Ah, it's not from "Bolivia" it's from "Bolivar"
                 \_ Ah, it's not from "Bolivia" it's from "Bolívar"
                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarianism
              \_ Chavez' term, interestingly translated, not mine.  -John
        \_ Dictators wear many masks.  In the past it's been Communism,
           fascism, democracy, divine right of kings, fundamentalist [
           islam, christianity]....  The problem is that most people don't
           see the monster behind the pretty mask.

5/8     Want to be ranked as a good professor?  Be 'hot,' or teach an easy
        class.
        http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/05/08/rateprof
        \_ bullshit. read freakanomics. causation vs. correlation.
        \_ bullshit. read freakanomics. correlation's not causation.
           very well could be (and in fact, i would argue it is) the case
           that students who really like a professor come to see them
           as "hot" ... also same could be said for "easy": if you like
           a prof, its probably because his/her explanations make sense
           to you and allow you to perform well on the subject. - rory
           \_ When a prof gives little work and covers little material
              (or puts out with no resistance) and gives high marks,
              you could call that 'easy'.
        \_ The best professors are hot and easy.
           \_ ^professors^girls

5/8     Teaching taiwanese traditional chinese characters (30 million)
        vs Communist China simplified chinese (1.3 billion):
        http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/08/MNGJLINAOP1.DTL - danh
        \_ haha: "creator of Hanzi Smatter"

5/8     I noticed the posting about about CGI being enabled again, but
        my CGI files don't seem to work.  Has the setup changed in some
        way, are others also still having problems?  Thanks
        \_ CGI scripts don't seem to be working for me either. --jameslin
        \_ They were enabled, but due to a misconfiguration, i.e. choice of
           user/group for CSUA home page, someone used a random hoser's badly
           written cgi to deface the CSUA web page.  Thus, they were disabled.
           -dans
           \_ ouch!  thanks for the info.  So is CGI not going to be available
              any more, then?  Should we be using PHP or something else instead?
              \_ I'm not on soda root, I'm just filling in folks on current
                 history.  As tom indicates, PHP suffers from similar
                 problems.  My understanding is that they are working on it,
                 but, being students, have lots of other obligations that
                 supercede making improvements to our little playground. -dans
           \_ The solution to that is to do a find and fix files owned by
              nobody/www, not disable CGI.  You can do the same thing w/ PHP!
              \_ Yes, and now the web server is running as "nobody", which I
                 think is not ideal practice ("nobody" is used by too many
                 things; the web server user should be unique to the web
                 server), but should remove the concern about CGIs (which
                 are no more problematic than PHP).  -tom
        \_ Ed claims he just enabled CGI's. -dans
           \_ Okay, now I'm getting "Premature end of script headers" errors,
              but these scripts worked fine on the old FreeBSD iteration of
              soda.  I'm basically just doing:
                 #!/bin/sh
                 echo "Content-type: text/html"
                 echo ""
                 echo "<html><body><p>blah</p></body></html>"
              Also, are the permissions on the apache logs going to be changed?
              It's sometimes useful to be able to read the error log to figure
              out what's failing.
              \_ It's really hard to say without seeing your script.  Maybe
                 your path to echo is not set properly?  I'm not root, and as
                 far as I know, root doesn't read the motd (at least not as a
                 source of the more things to do).  Why don't you try mailing
                 root? -dans
              \_ Perl cgi is working fine. Most likely, path is not set
                 properly.
                 \_ No, it's not a path problem.  The problem went away when
                    I made the script world-readable instead of just
                    world-executable.  Why should that matter?
                    \_ because the web server can't read the script if it's
                       not readable.  duh.  -tom
                       \_ You're begging the question.  Why does the web server
                          need to read it?  It doesn't need to read it to
                          execute it, and it did it fine in the previous
                          incarnation of soda, so I'm still curious what the
                          rationale is.  Does the web server do some analysis
                          of the script beforehand to see if it does unsafe
                          things?
                          \_ It's a *script*.  You need to be able to read
                             a script to execute it; how else will the web
                             server see #!/bin/sh?  -tom
                             \_ not only that, scripts are INTERPRETED.  You
                                can't read shit out of them unless they're
                                read.
                             \_ Yes, that makes total sense.  I'm an idiot.
                                I guess I was misled by it working before, but
                                I suppose that's because soda used to use
                                suexec?
                                \_ yes, probably suexec was su'ing to the
                                   user before it tried to read the script,
                                   therefore it was using the user permissions
                                   instead of the world permissions.  -tom

5/8     why you are getting all that blue frog spam
        http://q.queso.com/archives/001917 - danh
        \_ While I'm not ready to call it outright bullshit, I'm skeptical:
           * Most DNS operators with a clue set TTL values to cache records
             for 24 hours to one week.  The DNS notify mechanism leaves much
             to be desired.  Thus, changing a DNS pointer is unlikely to
             divert a DoS attack.
           * Many DoS attacks hard code the ip of the target both to avoid the
             added complexity of DNS lookups and because, if the code is
             written by a script kiddie moron, he may botch it and do the DNS
             lookup before sending each packet which slows things down
             spectacularly.
           -dans
           \_ and I call bullshit here, because the TTL values of a domain are
              under control of the domain's owner (or at least the nameserver
              the domain is master'd from), and any DoS attack hardcoded to
              an IP is trivial to defeat by changing the IP of your web/service.
              And TTL only comes into play when an address is cached, which
              isn't likely to be the case with all the clients participating
              in a DDOS.
              -ERic
              \_ Correct, ttl values of a domain are controlled by the
                 domain's owner, but if ttl values are set to sane values,
                 e.g. 24 hours to 1 week, then it will be 24 hours to 1 week
                 before reducing them will have any effect on cache behavior.
                 If DDoS clients actually perform DNS lookups, then the vast
                 majority of lookups will go through caches, which won't
                 refresh their content until ttl expiry.  It would be
                 enlightening to see what http://bluesecurity.com's DNS records
                 looked like the week prior to the attack.  Also, changing the
                 IP of your service doesn't help if you just hop to a new IP
                 address on the same network, since modern DDoS attacks
                 overwhelm your upstream network pipe(s), and not just an
                 individual host running a sppecific service. -dans
        \_ This guy doesn't really have any idea what he is talking about:
           he can't explain correctly how Blue Security really works and
           instead of bothering to learn, he just argued with the people
           trying to teach him. Finally, he just turned off comments rather
           than accept that he was wrong. He sounds a bit like Bill O' Reilly.
           I wouldn't really take his explaination for what happened at
           face value, given his record. -ausman

5/8     apologies if this has been asked recently: friends are asking me
        whats a good windows antivirus software and I've heard this
        thing AVG is good -- and free. anyone use this? is it good? thx
        \_ From the motd archive:
           AVG used to be good when it was the only free program around.
           Most people say that Avast! and AntiVir are better, though.
           --jameslin
           \_ How about ClamAV?
        \_ I use both Avast and ClamWin--not bad.  -John
              \_ ClamAV also is good but doesn't have an on-access scanner.
                 \_ Hence both.  Running AdAware and Spybot S&D occasionally
                    and keeping your box patched also doesn't hurt.  -John
           \_ According to this article, Antivir seems better.
              I have only used AVG. I think AVG is easy to use, hopefully the
              others are too.
              http://antivirus.about.com/od/antivirussoftwarereviews/a/freeav.htm
        \_ I use both Avast and ClamWin--not bad.  -John
              \_ ClamAV also is good but doesn't have an on-access scanner.
                 \_ Hence both.  Running AdAware and Spybot S&D occasionally
                    and keeping your box patched also doesn't hurt.  -John

           \_ Why bother with ClamWin then? Is there reason to believe it will
              catch stuff that say Antivir won't? Are there any performance
              comparisons with it?

5/8     Blair says nuclear strike on Iran is "absolutely absurd".  This is
        identical to Dubya's position that such talk is "wild speculation".
        Straw, who was fired, added that a conventional strike wasn't coming
        from the U.S., diluting Dubya's "all options on the table".
        \_ Don't worry we won't attack Iran unless the evidence is a
           "slam-dunk"
           \_ like the 'evidence' we used to 'justify' the attack on Iraq?
              \_ No one in England pays attention to Blair these days.
              \_ Congratulations, ObviousMan, you got the subtle innuendo!
        \_ Because Blair commands the US forces?
        \_ Bush 2004, Draft 2005!

5/8     A friend of mine still hasn't gotten his account reactivated even
        though he sent photo id. Is this still being worked on?
        \_ soda root == students
           may 12 == start of finals.
           I'd say a little patience is in order.
           \_ Granted, but 3 weeks is a long time. Could you update the
              website so they have a clue. 4/17 was in a galaxy far, far away.

5/8     Blair to follow in Straw's foootsteps?
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4984164.stm

5/8     Help. After buying something from http://Yahoo.com, I got a pop-up
        telling me that I got free $50 worth of coupons for Red
        Lobster, Chilis', and other restaurants. I figured that it's
        from Yahoo so it's probably trustworthy and answered a few
        simple questions (Are you a smoker? Do you have diabetes?
        Do you like sports? etc). Then a few questions turned into
        a 5 minute survey, that then turned into 500 questions on
        "Do you want free Newsweek for 3 months? Yes/No"
        "Do you want to subscribe to Sports Illustrated? Yes/No"
        "Do you want to try Omaha Steak? Yes/No"
        So rather than answering 500 questions to get my $50 coupon,
        I quit my browser. The next day, I got 10 spams to my
        brand new email account. Today, I got 15 spams. Tomorrow,
        I'll probably get even more. I can't cancel the list either
        because they're all from different companies. What should
        I do?
        \_ I did an experiment. I simply typed in test email addresses
           in the following web sites without giving them any more
           information and got the following results:
           http://yourgiftcard.com     (on average, 3-4 spams a day after a week)
           http://offercash.com        (on average, 2-3 spams a day after a week)
           <DEAD>everygiftcard.com<DEAD>    (on average, 4-5 spams a day after a week)
           The tests were conducted using separate test Yahoo accounts.
           Most of the spams were filtered correctly, while many did go
           through (25% by-passed Yahoo's spam filter). So in short,
           you just need to be stupid for 5 seconds to receive massive
           amounts of spam forever.
           \- why dont you put the admin/technical contacts for those
              domains on other mailing lists.
           \_ or, someone else can just type your email to all 3!
        \_ if it's one of the less irreputable companies, there should be
           a canspam compliance notice saying why you're getting email.
           And it should include an opt-out for the marketer that the
           mailings are being on behalf of.  And they will have a global
           opt-out list that will propagate to the actual senders.

5/8     PayPal is offering 4.58%, which is higher than ING Direct.
        What are some risks of putting $90K (all your lifetime
        savings) into PayPal instead of ING Direct?
        \_ When they tank you'll have to wait through FDICage to get your
           money back?
           \_ they are owned by ebay.
           \_ It is a money market, not FDIC insured, and the return varies.
              ING is FDIC insured. So... putting your life savings into a
              money market account seems kind of dumb and not particularly
              lucrative.
              http://csua.org/u/frk (paypal.com)
        \_ ING 1 yr CD is offering 5.25%
        \_ PayPal pretends it isn't a bank so it doesn't have to play by the
           rules.  Which means if they decide you are doing something shady
           (which they seem to decide semi-randomly) and freeze you account
           well, good luck getting your money back.
           \_ If you ever tried to recover fraudulent funds from PayPal before
              you'll never want to give PayPal any significant money again.
        \_ have you looked into emigrant direct?  fdic insured, higher
           than ing.
        \_ 28-day T-Bills are around 4.7% equivalent APY now. That's what these
           mm funds buy anyway. Can anyone recommend a brokerage that lets you
           trade these in a cheap and fast way and/or has a good "sweep" fund
           for cash balances? I have TD Ameritrade but they seem to suck in
           this regard. Guess I should ask them myself.

5/8     pine on another ISP (dreamhost.com) uses IMAP. How do I make it
        recognize and use my local mail directory?

5/8     U.S. dollar in freefall.  Whee!
        http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDEUR=X&t=3m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
        http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeat_econindicators_capict_20060314
        \_ While the graph looks pretty, I don't know that I'd actually call
           0.835 - 0.785 = 0.05 in 3 months "freefall"
           \_ That's 6% loss in 3 months, which if continues is 24% over a year.
              This blows away gains from any CD's.
        http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeat_econindicators_capict_20060314

5/8     http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/05/08/publiceye/entry1598642.shtml
        "... filling up the tank simply doesn't eat up that much of
         most families' budgets."
        Not good. I hope gasoline price goes up to $8/gallon. -liberal
        \_ It's true.  Unless you're a truck driver or something, gas
           isn't that expensive.  It's ceratinly not expensive enough to
           get people to reduce their commutes or ride bikes. -jrleek
        \- dear parochial liberal: do you realize this has consequences
           for poor people who may live on $500-$2000/year and may need
           kerosene to cook or for light at night? maybe you should wish
           for higher gas taxes, but when the global price goes up, it
           for higher US gas taxes, but when the global price goes up, it
           causes major pain for some poor people. while i am at it, something
           \_ Not to mention the fact that rising gas prices will cause
              the cost of most consumer goods, including that of food, and
              of many services to go up.  -John
           like avian flu already has had real costs again for poor people
           who say are small egg farmers when the price of eggs went down
           80% because people paniced and stopped buying eggs [although
           possibly some poor people are now more able to consume eggs,
           which would be a good protein source for them]. but yeah, i've
           said previously for the typical bay area while collar person making
           say +$80k/yr driving, gas going from $1.95 - $2.30/gal is annoying
           but doesnt really change life much.
           say +$80k/yr, gas going from $1.95 -> $2.30/gal is annoying but
           doesnt really change life much.
        \_ Triple gasoline prices to $10/gallon and it doesn't affect me that
           much.  Triple my grocery bill, my PG&E bill, HOA dues, etc. and now
           I'm in pain.

5/8     People talk about controlling inflation but accept it as the norm,
        that as long as it's below a certain percentage (5%) then we're ok.
        Are there countries with DEFLATION, and what bearing does it have
        on the economy?
        \_ Okay, let's say you have controlled inflation ... rising wages,
           cheap imported good, rising real estate values which you can
           take equity loans on, everyone with all this money buying stuff,
           Now take deflation ... prices falling, people not wanting to buy
           because they expect prices to be lower, wages stagnating, real
           estate dropping, loans coming due for companies but not being
           able to pay them because no one's buying, etc ...
           Japan.
           business raking in all the dough and hiring more people.
           Now take deflation ... wages stagnating, prices falling, people
           buying less because they have no extra money, real estate values
           dropping, loans coming due for companies but not being able to
           make payments because no one's buying, banks eating it because
           of all the defaulted loans and reluctant to make more loans,
           the company's that are left not hiring much, etc. ... Japan.
           \- i deleted my more extended comments but i dont think many
              economists would say inflation is ok up to 5%, althought
              like with say body fat, it's not really a case of lower is
              better all the waay down to 0. something closer to 1-2%
              miight be ideal. as with something like weight gain,
              deflation can have different causes. prices can fall
              because of productivity gains in a flat money supply
              [say if specie backed] and example being the industrial
              revolution. a massive demand shock accompanied by
              scarcity [like say the BLACK DEATH] can also cause
              pretty interesting economic turbulence. BTW, the current
              fed head BERNANKE has a lot on the record about the BoJ's
              policies.

5/8     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060508/ap_on_hi_te/video_games_ap_poll
        4/10 Americans play video games.

5/8     http://www.thefatmanwalking.com
        Wake up fat sysadms!!! This guy is your inspiration!!!
        \_ Yes--hasn't he pretty much maintained his body weight?  -John
           \_ According to the CNN article: 410->305.       -mice
              http://tinyurl.com/jozq3
              \_ Gah, ok--I recall reading something about him that claimed
                 he'd basically not lost any weight at all, or rather
                 gained it all back.  -John
              \_ All he has to do now is walk back and he'll be his perfect
                 weight.