5/20    Can someone summarize the pros and cons for the following blogging
        services: xanga, blogger, and LJ.
        \_ Blogger is owned by google, so it gets visited by their spiders
           frequently.
        \_ I used to keep up a Blogger account, but the problem is that
           they're not as popular or widely used. And they're pretty
           featureless. I've recently been using my LJ a lot -- partly
           because all my friends have one and can thus comment, and
           partly because it's actually pretty respectable, if you ignore
           the emo population --michener
           \_ I also just installed charm on soda, which is a nice little
              console LJ util written in python. One of the best things is
              you can pipe straight into it, if you get the options right.
              --michener
        \_ What about myspace?
           \_ Turn away! Turn away! The power of Christ compels you!
              --michener
           \_ Slloooooooowwwww....

5/20    The $64 Billion Question
        http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21996
        \_ Yes jblack. Thank you for pointing out this article. It says
           illegals take in more $ than they put into the system,
           and we seriously need to get rid of welfare and other social
           programs YOU as a hard working American don't personally need
           and don't want to pay for, because that is communism. Is there
           anything else you'd like us ignorant liberals to learn from
           freerepublic, frontpagemag, and other similar patriotic
           web sites?
           \_ How about learning how Mexico deals with the same problem
              (immigration, both legal and illegal). The Mexican
              government is full of hypocrites.

5/20    Say it ain't so!  A Democrat bribery scheme?
        http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12903856/?GT1=8199
        \_ "All but $10,000 was recovered on Aug. 3 when the FBI searched
            Jefferson.s home in Washington. The money was stuffed in his
            freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs and concealed in food
            containers and aluminum foil."
           C'mon, people, surely you can do better than "hiding" it in your
           freezer!
           \_cold hard cash?

5/22    I am getting about 150-200 "returned email" notice a day for the
        past couple days.  Yes, I know my email address is probably used
        as the "From:" for spam.  Spamassassin is catching about 50%
        of them.  Should I...
        1) Keep using sa-learn to increase the catch rate?
        2) Just ignore it and hopefully it'll slow down?
        3) Anything else?
        \_ If you run the domain, you could work something with spf.  -John
        \_ You could also do a quickie filter to another folder just to set
           it aside just in case there's something you actually want to see,
           then delete it all in a week or two if it stops.  That's the lazy
           way.  Of course if it doesn't stop you'll need spf, better filters
           and maybe a new email address.  I have about 50-60 throw away
           addresses now.  I've had to disable about 10 of them over the years
           because of all the spam.  Some of them have been dead for over 5
           years and still get spammed every day.  (I see it in the logs).
        \_ I am getting these too here at soda. Started a few weeks ago I
           think. I have been sa-learning them which helped. I think they are
           mostly Russian. Smart email servers would not bounce spam back
           to the From: address... damn Russians.

5/21    http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=baytobreakers&s=int
        Beta breaka, Bay to Breakers with naked people running.
        \_ Why do mainly ugly people feel the need to be naked in public?  Why
           can't we have more Swedish bikini team nudists?  Why, god?  -John
           \_ Public nudity, like spandex, should be regarded as a privilege,
              not a right.

5/22    What a beautiful day! I just bought my first new car. I bought a
        Honda Accord LX. I didn't add any options but I have 29 days to
        think about adding them. First, the sales lady asked if I'd like to
        get Lo-Jack, option 2&3. "You have the #1 stolen car in America". The
        option guarantees 24 hour recovery service or $ back. At $699, she
        said the cost of it will reduce insurance cost and pay itself off
        during the lifetime that I own it (for +8 years). Is that really true
        or marketing BS? I'm sceptic of all salespeople. Secondly, she
        offered a full 3-year oil change, minor, and intermediate,
        services for $599 at her dealer, or at any PepBoys, and it would
        really save a lot especially for someone like me who drives over
        25,000 miles a year. She said if I go to the dealer all the time,
        which I do because I don't trust little shops, I'll save at
        least $1200 by buying this package. "Each intermediate service
        is already $150 and it'll pay itself by the first year!"
        Is this a good deal, or just marketing BS? I have 29 days to think
        about this. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
        \_ You can call your insurance company about the lojack pricing and
           do the math.  How often are you supposed to do those $150 services?
           My 5k service is $99 which includes a hefty fee for the synthetic
           oil change.  You don't need to go to the dealer for an oil change.
           And driving 25k miles a year means you'll hit 200k miles in 8
           years.  I really doubt you'll have this car in 8 years.  Long before
           then you have good chances of paying wads of cash to keep it going
           which you'll quickly figure out isn't worth it to keep a car with
           100k+ miles going in many cases.  Sure it's a Honda, blah, blah,
           but I'm guessing from your post that you'll be buying a new one at
           about the 4-5 year mark.  Good luck and let us know what you
           decide.  This is from a guy who drives his cars into the ground so
           I've got a good idea what those later repairs cost.
        \_ If your car is stolen you probably don't want it back. I'd skip
           the Lo Jack. I'd probably buy the maintenance plan, but it
           depends on what the intermediate service includes. Oil changes
           and minor service don't cost much. I have a 1993 Honda Accord
           with 135K miles that I bought in 1995 and I've spent less than
           $2K total on the car, but if I had the package I'd probably
           have taken better care of it (not that anything has done
           wrong). Does Honda schedule maintenance by how many miles you
           have driven? If so, the intermediate service is every how many
           miles? I was introduced to these sort of plans when I bought
           my BMW (which includes maintenance) and I rather like it.
           However, BMW maintenance costs a lot more than Honda maintenance.
        \_ Congrats on the car. Now try to get out of the habit of going to
           the dealer. I used to do the same, but you slowly realize that
           they all jack you, in terms of inappropriate diagnoses, over-
           charging you, etc. Find a big shop and take it there.
           \_ Depends on what's wrong. Dealers have really reduced their
              prices in an effort to be competitive and if they mess up
              you can complain to the parent company. You can also hold
              the threat of never buying another new car from them over
              their head. I used to be one of those guys who *never* went
              to the dealer and did a lot of work myself, but my opinion has
              changed as cars have gotten more complicated.
              \- where do you live? i know people in SF who have had their
                 cars stolen [including me] but nobody in the south bay,
                 one one person in berkeley, nobody on the other side of the
                 caldecott or on the peninsula and one person in oakland but
                 he wanted to have his car stolen. maybe just get an alarm?

5/20    Say it ain't so!  A Democratic bribery scheme?
        http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12903856/?GT1=8199
        \_ Of course it's so.  However, note that no one is covering for him,
           helping his defense fund, etc. a la Delay/Cunningham/Ney.
           \_ When was Delay caught taking $100k cash bribes and taking money
              from both sides in multi national scams through shell companies?
              \_ When did WJC plead out to driving under the influence to
                 avoid a possible possession charge? Never.
                 \_ What's Clinton have to do with it?  Red herring.  The guy
                    got busted with $100k bribe cash in his house broken up
                    into $10k chunks hidden in his freezer.  How does that
                    compare to Delay, etc?  If you're going to compare someone
                    like Delay to this guy, please be prepared to make a case
                    for it.
                    \_ PP posted that this is different because no one's
                       trying to cover for him. You replied with a non
                       sequitur concerning whether DeLay was caught with
                       $100k in cash bribes. I'm pointing out that your
                       point is a non sequitur by posting a further non
                       sequitur.
                       \_ I wasn't non sequitur at all.  OP made a statement.
                          Followup was non sequitur mentioning Delay, etc.  I
                          pointed that out.  Clinton?  Non sequitur.
                          \_ OP posted about a Democratic bribery scheme,
                             which in the charged environment of the motd is
                             tantamount to saying, "See? It's not just the
                             GOP." Followup pointed out that noone was saying
                             this was a uni-partisan issue, just that the
                             GOP has an outstanding track record of covering
                             for each other when their dirty laundry comes out,
                             which in this case the Dems demonstratively were
                             not doing. You then compared particulars of the
                             crimes rather than the cover-ups, which is a
                             non-sequitur. I then successfully diverted you on
                             this inane argument about non sequiturs.
                             Mission Accomplished.
                             \_ I skipped straight down to your last sentence.
                                If you spent more than ten seconds of your
                                life on this you already lost.
              \_ When will your brain develop beyond a 3rd grader's level?
                 Never.
                 \_ This made me laugh.  Going off like a 3rd grader was
                    ironic.  Were you going for satire or something or really
                    meant this?
                    \_ 1) You're not worth the effort of satire, and 2) what
                       you said was truly idiotic, as pointed out above.
                       \_ 3) Profit!!!  See above about the 10 second rule.
        \_ "All but $10,000 was recovered on Aug. 3 when the FBI searched
            Jefferson.s home in Washington. The money was stuffed in his
            freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs and concealed in food
            containers and aluminum foil."
           C'mon, people, surely you can do better than "hiding" it in your
           freezer!
           \_cold hard cash?

5/22    Aide to John McCain attacks New School undergrad keynote speaker
        http://csua.org/u/fy5 (huffingtonpost.com) - search for "Mark Salter"
        "It took no courage to do what you did, Ms. Rohe. It was an act of
        vanity and nothing more. ... McCain was once offered release from
        imprisonment and torture ... He declined ... willingly, accepted four
        more years of hardships... What, pray tell, have you risked? The only
        person you have succeeded in making look like an idiot is yourself."
        Rohe's response:  http://csua.org/u/fy6 (huffingtonpost.com)
        \_ McCain keeps giving the same, consistent speech on his
           personal beliefs hoping that he'd gain more conservative
           pro-war voters the very same way that jblack keeps posting the
           same, consistent freeper URLs thinking that he'd convert
           motd liberals into patriotic Conservative followers. McCain
           and jblack sure have a lot in common.
           \_ Regardless of what McCain stands for, I think this is a pretty
              good example of snotty, self-righteous college students in
              action (and I'm not even referring to Rohe.)  -John
              \- Yes, I totally agree with you. And speaking out your
                 single minded pro-War stance to a bunch of people who
                 you know hate you, is definitely not at all considered
                 snotty and self-righteous.
                 \_ Wasn't he invited to speak there?  I would agree with you
                    if he had pressured the administration or forced them to
                    take him as a speaker: if not, then it's just fucking
                    rude to invite the man, then treat him so disrespectfully.
                    \_ Hint: there was no vote on the invitation.
                       \_ Hint: that's a problem with the administration,
                          not the speaker.  Don't kill the messenger, etc.
                 \_ Fine, whatever, but please share where I expressed an
                    opinion on McCain.  Whether or not what he did was
                    "right" is irrelevant--the response was juvenile.  -John
              \_ Protest is rarely mature or well-constructed, particularly
                 from those in their early 20s, but when it includes this
                 sentence, "I am young, and although I don't profess to possess
                 the wisdom that time affords us, I do know that preemptive war
                 is dangerous and wrong", I give the speaker a pass.
                 is dangerous and wrong", I give the speaker a pass in my book.

5/21    Dude. I'd totally vote for Al Gore again. Esp. after watching his
        appearance on Saturday Night Live. I like him. Fuck Kerry.
        Al Gore rules!!!
        \_ He'd probably want to make peace with the Taliban.
           \_ And you'll probably rape a busload of retarded children on
              your way home tonight.
        \_ Sure, Gore will just have 540,000 more votes with a +0.5% margin
           again and still lose on electoral votes.
           \_ Because purely democratic elections are a bad thing.  The EC is
              not a perfect answer but it's better than pure democracy.  This
              is a democratic republic, not a democracy and it's still one of
              if not the best forms of government ever created.
              \_ I do not have a problem with representative democracy.
                 A pure democracy is lame.  However, changing the election of
                 the president to a popular vote would be cool in my book,
                 although the change probably would never occur in my lifetime.
                 \_ Of course you liek the idea, you live in a big city.
                 \_ Of course you like the idea, you live in a big city.
                    \_ Meaningless since most states practice winner-takes-all
                       for EC votes.
                       \_ Umm.. no.  You misunderstand.  Big city people
                          generally see no problem with screwing rural
                          types.  The point doesn't really have anything
                          to do the votes that actually come from cities.
                          \_ Ah, I see. I did misunderstand: I thought you
                             were talking about the same thing we were:
                             representational v. pure democracies.
                          \_ So what? Why should a rural minority skew the
                             federal politics their way?
                             \_ And completely ignoring the minority is good?
                                The EC exists as a compromise system.  No one
                                is ever happy with a compromise.  That's the
                                point.
                                \_ Counting votes does not "completely ignore
                                   the minority."
                          \_ Rural types generally see no problem with
                             screwing big city people. How does that
                             argument sound? It's probably more true also.
                             Almost all the big cities are overwhelmingly
                             democratic voting, even in "red states".
                             The bumpkins got Dubya in office.

5/22    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060522/od_nm/leisure_nixon_odd_dc
        First they made an opera called Nixon in China. Maybe we'll see
        an opera called Bush in Iraq in the future. One can only hope.
        \_ Nixon ineptly invaded China on false pretenses leading to
           civil war and shattering what little stability was left in
           the region?  I need to keep up on my history!
           \- ObTrivia: the "they" that did the NIXON IN CHINA opera is
              composer JOHN ADAMS, who happens to live in BERKELEY. He is
              also the fellow that did the DOCTOR ATOMIC opera about fmr
              UCB Physics Prof ROPPENHEIMER, which you may have heard about
              last year. ROPPHENHEIMER's brother FOPPENHEIMER is the "they"
              behind the EXPLORATORIUM who both went to the same high school
              in NYC as my friend whose bday is today. ok tnx.

5/22    Wow, Drudge actually retracted something.
        http://www.drudgereport.com/flash5noo.htm

5/22    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060522/od_nm/britain_potatoes_dc
        Potatoes may contain pieces of German ordnances from WW1 and WW2.
        \_ obPotatoMasher: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_24_grenade

5/22    I'm a new sysadm. I'm trying to collect as many spam mails as I
        can to build the ultimate sa-learn (spamassassin) database. I'd
        like to use this ultimate database to filter out ALL spams, once
        and for all, for all of my users. What's the best way to collect
        as many spam mails as possible? Thanks.
        \_ "once and for all"? so, would your users still be able to check
           the spam for false matches?
        \_ A collegue of mine has some pretty good, mature anti-spam
           mechanisms in lace after playing with various combos.  I'll be glad
           to put you in touch with him if you post your name.  -John
        \_ Spam changes over time.  If it was possible to do what you're doing
           as a one time event it would've been done already.

5/22    Ebert's amusing, positive, Da Vinci code review.  (spoilers)
        http://csua.org/u/fya
        \_ I watch ALL of Hanks' films. Why? Because Hanks is a Democrat and
           has supported many candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Dianne
           Feinstein, Al Gore, and John Kerry. Hanks is also a noted
           environmentalist who drives a hybrid car and is a member of the
           Nature Conservancy. He has appeared in radio and television public
           service announcements for the organization and even serves on the
           board of trustees in Idaho, where he has a home.
           \_ So you'd watch a Hanks film even if it sucked because you like
              his politics?  Why not just send a check to your favorite
              candidates?
        \_ that movie blew chunks, although the cut scenes to the past were
           cool.

5/22    http://csua.org/u/fy8 (Wash Post)
        Dubya says, with the formation of the first permanent govt since
        Saddam's, that Iraq has reached a "turning point".
        Previously annonced turning points:
        http://csua.org/u/fy9 (martinirepublic.com)

5/22    Dear Motd,

        Time is running out to earn the $100,000 GOLD Challenge Match...

        Berkeley Engineering is counting on you to make a gift of $25 before
        June 15. If 1,000 grads ('96 - '05) make gifts, the College will earn
        $100,000. That's 100 grads from each class. We still need 44 grads
        from the class of 1996 (your class) to reach the goal!

        You can learn more about why making a gift is so important at
        http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/giving While you are there you can also give
        online and help your class beat the challenge.

        Visit http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/giving/GOLD to see if your class is
              \_ 404
        leading the way.

        Thank you and Go Bears!
        \_ http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/giving/gold
           Looks like the dot-com grads are also the stingiest.
        \_ our of curiosity, if I did my BS, MS, and PhD at UCB, which class
           should I consider myself part of? (95, 98, or 04?) Or all 3?
           \_ Doing anything interesting with all those years of education?
             \_ switched to a different (but still technology-related) field
                (patent law) after finishing - it's been quite entertaining so
                far.  Will see where it all goes...
                \_ Are you one of those people afraid to work and so you
                   will be 50, living at home, and working on your
                   4th PhD?
                   \_ No thanks, I'm done with school, no more PhDs for me!
                      One was more than enough.  And I'm working now,
                      not going to school! (thank goodness)
        \_ Where does the extra $100K come from?  And the requirement is
           that 100 distinct grads from each class make a >= $25
           donation (i.e., one grad from each class making a $2500
           donation is insufficient)?

5/22    http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=286756
        How the Media Brainwashes White Girls

5/22    http://www.white-history.com/hwrdet.htm
        THE MULTI-RACIAL DECLINE OF CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
        - A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
----------stupidity above this line----------
        \_ These posts are here as a joke, right?  Please?       -mice

5/22    http://www.bureauit.org/sbox
        The Suicide Box, Golden Gate Bridge.
        \_ This is a joke, right?  Or it's just plain weird:
           "Workers killed on the job lose a future average 5580 days
           production time. Conversely the number of astronauts to have
           died from space since 1967 is 17....
           Quarterly data captured by the box will be indexed to the Dow
           Industrial Average. Inverse proportionality is predicted and
           may provide concrete measure of civic morality and character
           in the population.  Indexing the public healthcare budget to
           the bit data is further expected to amplify the digital
           sediment."

5/22    Yet another wave of mental midgetry washes over the CSUA.  Bright
        young undergrads who wanted the motd web-indexed:  this is one of
        the main reasons why people were arguing against it.  -John
        \_ Please stop trolling us and just tell us whether you sympathize
           with the Nazis or not. I don't know enough Swiss to say
           whether a big proportion of them are Nazi sympathizers or not,
           but I know first hand that many Austrians are. If you give a
           straightforward yes (I'm a Nazi sympathizer) or no (I'm not
           a Nazi sympathizer), I promise to leave you alone. Deal?
           \_ Jesus H Christ, get some medication, son.  You've been obsessing
              about this junk nonstop for waaaay too long.  It's not only
              stupid, it's boring.              -mice
           \_ You're a pathetic moron.  John doesn't have to say anything
              for you, anonymous coward.  If you're going to name other
              people, post your own name, you fetid pile of refuse.
              -jrleek

           \_ Um, you know that Solomon is a *fucking*Jewish*name* right?
           \_ Um, you know that Salomon is a *fucking*Jewish*name* right?
              You do know that John is Jewish right? I don't have to explain
              this to you, do I?
        \_ ...stormfront and white-history. Good grief, Charlie Brown, who
           gave the nutcases motd accounts?
        \_ FYI, the current undergrads had nothing to do with motd indexing.
           I only wrote the wallall RSS script. And that has been hidden from
           Google. It was some predecessor who did the web MOTD. If you'd like,
           in the near future I can look into hiding it too. In other words,
           quitcherbitchin. ;) --michener
           \_ kchang put some effort into getting rid of the
              identifiers to protect the guilty.  maybe you can too.

----------stupidity below this line----------

5/22    16,000 Lenovo computers purchased for State Department under standard
        rules.  Concerns are raised, and computers are designated as for
        non-classified use only.
        http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6074207.html?tag=nl.e589
        \_ how do these Lenovo differ from Dell/HP which is also made in
           China again?