7/24    How many weeks does it take for a personalized license plate to
        arrive in California?
        \_ Call the DMV.  The motd no longer issues personalized plates.

7/25    When can we file a class action lawsuit?
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060725/ap_on_go_co/signing_statements

7/24    How much tip should I give for my hobby? Let's say I call my
        provider for my ATF BBW and she gave me a great GFE the whole
        night starting with a nice HJ that ended up with BBFS and finished
        it off with a great blue jay. How much tip should I give her?
        \_ You should try using more than just the tip.

7/24    Who Killed the Electric Car is a liberal propaganda, just like
        most of the media out there. Boycott all liberal
        propaganda now!                         -conservative
        \_ Speaking of rabid right-wingers who didn't get enough approval from
           their daddies, did anyone else catch the East Bay Express look at
           Michael Savage, nee Weiner? Fascinating look at the development of
           psychosis. --erikred
           \_ Uh, that was a liberal playing at being what he thinks real
              conservatives are like, like most of the motd 'conservatives'.
              Welcome to the echo chamber.
              \_ If you mean op, well, yes, no kidding, got it the first time.
                 If you mean Savage, the man's to the right of Limbaugh.
                 \_ Eh, Limbaugh is a Republican shill, Savage is a nut
                    case.  I don't think they're really comparable on the
                    1-D right/left spectrum.    -real conservative
                    \_ I'm note sure a 1-D right/left spectrum does anyone on
                       the spectrum any justice. The social/economic 2-D chart
                       seems a little more useful, but even that's limited.
                       \_ What would be the third "D"? Nutty-sane?
                    \_ How come conservatives get to have so many more
                       prominent windbags?  You guys have Savage, Coulter,
                       Hannity, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, etc.  All we've got is
                       Michael Moore.  Noam Chomsky doesn't count 'cause he's
                       just boring.
                       \_ Because the conservatives have a 40-year head start
                          on defining the terms of the debate.  Read
                          "Don't Think Of An Elephant."  -tom
                          \_ You meant to say, "spent 50 years as the minority
                             party so they had to think about what they were
                             doing wrong and change".  Now the new minority
                             party needs to do the same.  This has nothing to
                             do with word games and "the terms of the debate".
                             It has everything to do with core philosophy and
                             world view.  You can't redefine away core beliefs.
                             \_ Have you read the book?  It's about getting
                                your ideas out there, not about changing
                                words.  -tom
                \_ Yes, I mean op.  Limbaugh is actually really dull.  I'm not
                   sure why even people who agree with him listen.  Savage is
                   funny as hell.  He has a much better show.  And make no
                   mistake, these are all 'shows' (Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity,
                   etc).
                   \_ Agreed on the show aspect. I've found O'Reilley to be
                      sharp, funny, and almost humble when interviewed on
                      The Daily Show.
                      \_ We must have watched a different Daily Show interview.
                         He started out polite for about 30 seconds, but rapidly
                         devolved into being a complete ass.  (as in compared
                         to other guests who don't agree w/ Jon on various
                         issues)
                         \_ Wow, in this clip (http://csua.org/u/giu he's
                            just plain awful. I'll see if I can dig up an
                            older, more reasonable clip.
                            \_ Well, here he's a little more reasonable, but
                               only just: http://csua.org/u/gix
           \_ Wow, thanks for pointing out the Savage article. I didn't know
              he had a concealed carry permit. Guess I am glad I didn't slug
              him when I saw him standing in front of 101 California.

7/24    Hey German John, do you talk like Dr. Z?
        \_ John is so much more of a supervillain than you can
           possibly imagine, little man
        \_ Eurotrash "I am more civilized than you" John is not a Jerry,
           and he's in Europe so he has not seen Dr. Z's commercial blitz
           in Amerika and does not know what the fuck you're talking about.
           P.S. Bald Germans talk funny, they should be comedians.
        \_ Nein.  -John
           \_ Is your mustache real?
           \_ But the mustache is real, right?

7/24    Who cares about tipping a valet $1 or $2?  What I want to know is
        what is the customary tip for a masseuse?  That is, after I get a
        massage and pay the house fee of 50 bucks, what is the customary
        tip?  Is it 5 dollars?  Is it 10 dollars?  Is it 20 dollars?
        Assume no happy ending or extras.

7/25    I guess China is really pissed at North Korea's missile test.
        Again, I don't think China has full control of N.Korea, but it
        does have a bag of tricks dealing with N.Korea:
        http://tinyurl.com/r5fu8
        \_ No one said they had "full" control.
        \_ Did North Korea return the trains that it seized from China?
        \_ NK printing US money at will, nice. Hadn't heard that one.
           \_ I heard Iraq did the same.
                \_ At Abdul's nuke shack we sell an awful lot of goodies ...
                   but we don't take dinars.

7/25    The Big Lebowski, the F-ing Short Version (sound NSFW)
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqtgfjkB6Pg

7/25    Running Linux: any technical reasons to reboot on a regular basis?
        \_ No.  -tom
        \_ Like with any other OS, it can help if your apps have memory leaks.
           If every program running on the machine is written perfectly
           and never fails in any strange or unexpected manner then you're
           fine without rebooting. I've had machines up for almost 1000
           days straight, but things are always better with a therapeutic
           reboot now and then.
           \_ The memory leak probably should only apply to constantly
              running apps right?  Unlike Win95, Linux frees all
              resources on application termination, correct?
              \_ Yes.
        \_ After kernel updates.  So depending on how often the kernel
           changes and how closely you want to track the latest bits, yes,
           you could find yourself rebooting quite often.  Otherwise, no.

7/25    Any recommendations for an X-windows program like xclock -digital
        which displays 2 or 3 timezone clocks at once?  I tried getting some
        for Windows too couldn't find anything that didn't suck ...
        \_ You could always just run "env TZ=EST5EDT xclock -digital".

7/25    Gutknecht(R-MN), a strong supporter of the war since it began in
        March of 2003, told reporters in a telephone conference call Tuesday
        that American forces appear to have no operational control of much of
        Baghdad.
        "Baghdad is worse today than it was three years ago."
        But, didn't we get told that major combat operations are over?
        Does this mean we have to retake Baghdad all over again?
        \_ Depends on who controls it which your quote doesn't say.

7/25    Who the fuck is German John and why is he special?
        \_ What the fuck is an archive, and why the fuck do people search it
           before asking questions on the motd?
        \_ Who the fuck are you, and why don't you sign your name? --erikred
        \_ German John is a persona cooked up by one of my two favorite
           trolls (the other being chicom troll.)  Occasionally, they
           appear so similar that they almost appear to merge into one
           troll meta-consciousness.  -John
           \_ ...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell trolls;
                 it trolls for thee.
              No poster is an island, entire of itself _/
              every poster is a part of the continent, a part of the main
              If a clod (ilyas) be driven driven away by the trolls, motd is
              If a clod (ilyas) be driven away by the trolls, motd is
              the less, as well as if thy friend were, or thy self were
              Any poster's death diminishes me, because i am involved in the
              posts
              And therefore never send to know for whom the troll trolls;
              he trolls for thee.
              \_ Are you quite Donne?
                 \_ You poe bastard.  You have no idea what you've unleashed
                    \_ Sure I do.  Enjoy it!  Sit back, relax, have a glass of
                       Marlowe.

7/25    http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/25/D8J32DM80.html
        Condi is for an immediate ceasefire ... whenever she's in in the target
        area!  "Nearly daily pounding halted during Secretary of State
        Condoleezza Rice's visit to Beirut on Monday. The afternoon strikes
        were the first in the city since Sunday evening."
        \_ Yes, let's try to kill the U.S. Sec. of State and piss off the
           Americans. We are Hezzbollah - if we can blow up heavily
           defended pizza parlors  we can surely take out a supercarrier.
           \_ Hezbollah is not "pounding" Beirut.
           \_ Uhhhh, huh ahh.  What are you talking about, Beavis?

7/25    I want to buy a quiet PC. It doesn't have to be completely silent,
        just quieter than the one I have now (something I could put in a
        bedroom and still fall asleep). Can someone recommend a prebuilt
        but configurable computer (Dell etc) that isn't loud? I've seen some
        websites like http://silentpcreview.com but those seem very focused on
        building your own system, which I don't have time to deal with right
        now. (Low power consumption is a plus).
        \_ have you considered a mac mini?  run bootcamp if you need windows
        \_ All of the Dells I have experience with are very, very quiet.
           \_ In case you don't know, Dell (and mega corporations like
              Walmart and Olive Garden) donates a huge % of money to
              the Republican Party, the party for big businesses.
              \_ Ask me if I care.
           \_ Agreed, but I haven't bought a Pentium D system and ran it
              100% on both cores.
              \_ I have a 380N Dual Core and it's as quiet as any other Dell.
                 \_ what's the processor model number, and does it stay
                    quiet when doing 3D gaming, let's say.
        \_ Personal built is ALWAYS better. You can control any component.
           Pre-built never guarantees quiet components that meet your
           stringent specification. For example they could have shipped
           a noisy HD and you're screwed. Go for personal built systems:
           http://csua.com/?entry=37454
           http://csua.com/?entry=37246
           http://csua.com/?entry=37274
           http://csua.com/?entry=26756
           http://csua.com/?entry=26584
           Otherwise if you really want, Dells are decent:
           http://csua.com/?entry=37704
        \_ One thing people are forgetting to say is that Dell only builds
           Intel (right now), and Intel desktop CPUs suck (right now), except
           perhaps the 65nm NetBurst dual-core line.
           The Intel CPUs that don't suck are to be released Thursday --
           suggest you login to the Dell web site then and look for Core Duo
           suggest you login to the Dell web site then and look for Core 2 Duo
           platforms and ETA.
           Otherwise, the best question is, who produces a quiet AMD Athlon
           64 X2 system?
           \_ For most uses, Intel's CPUs are just fine. Opterons are
              better if you're running a 64 bit OS. I don't understand
              why people feel a need to run a 4.0 GHz system to play
              Minesweeper. To say that Intel CPUs sucks just reeks of
              gamer boy nastiness.
              \_ I didn't say "Intel CPUs suck". I said Intel desktop CPUs suck
                 (right now), except perhaps the 65nm NetBurst dual-core line
                 (and add any 65nm single core, and any 90nm slow-clocked
                 single-cores).
        \_How about a mini-itx...they seem to be really quiet.
           \_ watch out.  some SFF systems get loud under 100% load.

7/25    For the curious:  http://www.caiso.com/outlook/SystemStatus.html

7/25    http://csua.org/u/gj1 (yahoo.com)
        UN spokesman says Israeli airstrike made a direct hit on observation
        post manned by Indian soldiers, with unspecified casualties.  Also
        noted were 14 other incidents of "firing" close to this position,
        even during the rescue op (probably a "fog of war" incident - unlike
        the previous rocketing of vehicles in South Lebabon, where RoE ended
        up being "does the car have military age males in it and is it coming
        from a Hezbolla town?  yes?  then blow that fucker up!").
        \_ judging from Israel's past behavior, it's more like an warning to
           UN than "fog of war:"  "you better shut up and stop reporting the
           killing Lebanonese civilians, or these kind of 'accident' will keep
           happening to any of your observation post."
           \_ What past behavior is that?  War isn't a video game where every
              one on the field is marked red or blue.  By your reasoning all
              "friendly fire" incidents are intentional acts of murder.
              \_ no, only the incidents where the target contacted the
                 person firing multiple times before they got blown up.
                 \_ they weren't the target.  the hezbollah in the area
                    using them as a shield were.  and again, war isn't a
                    video game.  the orders to stop shelling could have come
                    down the line but not made it to the guys firing the
                    shells.  but it really doesnt matter and theres no reason
                    to find out the truth; anything israel does is
                    automatically intentional and a warcrime, video game, etc.
                    do you still believe the beach explosion in gaza a number
                    of weeks ago was israeli artillery?

7/25    Are recorded surveys exempt from the ban of auto-dialed unsolicited
        calls to cell phone numbers?  I just got a recorded survery on my cell
        phone.  Thx.

7/25    Big Brother is here to stay
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060725/ap_on_re_us/phone_records_lawsuit
        \_ "He also said Terkel and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which
            sought class-action status, had not shown that their own records
            had been provided to the government. As a result, they lacked
            standing to sue the government, he said."
           So, in order to sue to prevent AT&T handing over my records to the
           government in a super-secret and classified program, I must prove
           that AT&T handed over my records to the government in a super-
           secret program despite the fact that the government is not going to
           honor my FOIA requests until they've declassified this super-secret
           program. Brilliant!
           \_ How many fingers do you see?
              \_ There are FOUR lights!
                 \_ Hmmm, I can see we have some more work to do.
           \_ c.f. Orwell, Kafka.  Government hasn't come very far in 80 years.

7/25    "At least 391 people have been killed and 1,596 wounded in Lebanon,
        according to Lebanese security officials. Among them are 20 Lebanese
        soldiers and at least 11 Hezbollah guerrillas."
        Hmmm.  An 11/391 ratio isn't so hot.  Something tells me the IDF
        needs to work on its target selection.
        \_ According to who?  You're aware Hezbollah holds official positions
           in the Lebanese government.  You expect the truth from Hezbollah?
           \_ According to the AP article linked below.  But by all means,
              continue to jerk those knees.
              \_ There are 25 urls on the motd right now.  If you have
                 something worth saying, by all means, go right ahead.  The
                 rest of the world understands that Hezbollah is a terrorist
                 organisation that hides among civilians using them as shields.
                 Even the upper muckity mucks at the UN 'get it'.  But hey, if
                 you're happy going along with the Hezbollah = innocent
                 victims of Israeli "excessive response", go for it.  I support
                 your right to say or write those things.
                 \_ Uh, I don't think anyone has said that Hezbollah isn't an
                    organization that commits terrorist acts and is an innocent
                    victim, far from it.  This is called "a strawman".
                    Your point to pp about the URL being hard to find is
                    valid, though.
                    \_ From reading the motd one would think Hezbollah is an
                       innocent and peaceful humanitarian group who spends
                       their time feeding the homeless, not a vicious terrorist
                       organisation who attacked a sovereign nation without
                       cause, kidnapping their citizens from across the
                       internationally recognised border and lobbing hundreds
                       of rockets every day into civilian areas.
                 \_ Sigh...
                    http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/25/D8J32DM80.html
                    \- anybody agree with:
                       yogoslavia:rwanda::lebanon:darfur
                       yugoslavia:rwanda::lebanon:darfur
                       \_ More like yugoslavi:kurds-in-Iraq::lebanon:darfur

7/25    I transferred my land # to my cellphone, and I get all the junk
        calls on it too. Is there anything I can do?
        \_ Have you signed up for the Do Not Call list, at donotcall.gov?
           \_ If the junk calls you got were from auto-dialers, you can file
              a complaint with FCC.  Such calls are banned whether or not your
              cell phone number is on the list.  If the calls were from human,
              you need to add your number to the list.  See #10 in
              http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/dncalrt.htm  -- !OP
              \_ Bastards, I registered but it shows up as not
                 registered. So I registered again. Hopefully it'll work
                 better this time!

7/25    Hey I want to buy one of these in the SF
        Bay area, not mail order:
        http://www.wishingfish.com/avgunicorn.html
        suggestions?

7/25    50% of Americans now believe Saddam had WMDs, up from 36% in
        February 2005.  Mission fucking accomplished!
        http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=684
        \_ It all depends on what "WMD" means
        \_ This is a nation of people of faith.  Now, faith is
           not usually required to believe something that is true,
           rather it is required in order to believe something
           false.  So, considering that most people in the US
           are willing to believe in mythical beings with mythical
           powers, why not believe in mythical WMD's?
           \_ When a handful of legislators decide to get up and lie, and
              then the media reports it as if their claims have any merit,
              is it faith or laziness/lack of time/apathy?  I think the latter.
           \_ well, what if, technically, the answer of "Yes" is correct,
              for the question of whether there were WMDs in Iraq at the
              time we invaded.  all it takes is a couple sarin-loaded
              artillery shells that no one knew about, and in fact
              "approximately 500" old, abandoned chemical munitions with
              mustard gas and sarin have already been found scattered
              throughout Iraq, even though Saddam had ordered all WMD
              stockpiles destroyed.  The question is bad.
        \_ well of course he did, and we knew it.  After all, the US supplied
           them!
        \_ 64% think Saddam "had strong links with Al Qaeda"
           72% think Iraqis "are better off now than they were under Saddam"
           Go dubya!
                \_ I wonder what percentage of those 72% would be willing to
                   actually set foot in Iraq.

7/25    Hey, since we have "jive" and "b1ff" and so forth, what about
        "jblack"?  Shouldn't be too hard to jblackify any block of text.

7/25    Found this on digg today, pretty cool collection of computer and
        programming cheatsheets:
        http://mypage.bluewin.ch/yuppi/links/cheatsheets.html  -John