9/18    infoblox - real opinions? competitors?

9/18    Korean elephant learns to talk:
        http://tinyurl.com/eh56t (reuters.com)

9/18    Sweden, the newest red state:
        http://tinyurl.com/kbgrt (cnn)
        \_ So? The entire earth is leaning towards right. Singapore for
           example used to provide government built homes but stopped doing
           so and recently have cut taxes and social benefits. China is
           totally embracing Capitalism and giving land to whoever has
           enough money to bribe officials. The entire earth is leaning
           towards the right, to cut social programs to get lazy people
           working again.

9/18    Raving lefty warns that lefties don't get the danger we're facing:
        http://csua.org/u/gwx (LATimes)
        \_ More accurately, "man with generally liberal views believes
           world religions are genuinely incompatible, thinks liberals don't
           'get it.'" Cf. Orson Scott Card, other libs who went virulent after
           9/11.
           \_ Orson Scott Card and "other liberals"???  Your credibility=0.
              \_ Prior to 9/11, OSC was fairly liberal. Post-9/11, not so
                 much.
                 \_ Prior to 9/11 OSC was a rabbid nutcase.
                    Post 9/11 he just started raving louder.
        \_ Sam Harris rocks.  End of Faith was a good read, right up to the
           unsubstantiated touchy-feely crap at the end.
                \_ Yes the ending starting going into too much philoso-babble

9/18    When we fought a proxy war with the Russians, we supplied Bin Laden
        with powerful weapons that drove the evil empire out of Afghanistan.
        How is it possible the primitive Afghans now are blowing us up with
        extremely powerful miniaturized bicycle bombs? Isn't it possible that
        as an act of revenge the Russians are now supplying the Afghans
        with weapons to fight with us?
        \_ doubt it.  russians have their own problems.
        \_ Afghanistan has 150+ years of resisting occupation forces under its
           belt. While it's true that our money helped the Mujahadeen there
           quite a bit, it's just as likely that Afghanistan would have bogged
           down and defeated the Russkies on its own. A similar thing is
           happening to us (and our allies) there now. Although it would
           perhaps be more comforting (in a bizarre way) to think that the
           resistance could only continue with outside technical help, it's
           much more likely that the Taliban is doing this completely in its
           own.
        \_ Read your history.  The US didn't give squat to Bin Laden--he wanted
           to kill us back then.  We supported the Northern Alliance.  Bin
           Laden was with the non-afghani mujahideen.  They were supplied by
           arab countries.
        \_ The Soviet Union has long gone.

9/18    Does the Right to Keep and Bear Arms [in certain states] include the
        right to keep grenades, mines, bazooka, artillery, tanks, or even
        chemical weapons? I'm guessing you can't own any of these in CA
        but what about other states?

9/18    Any reason not to go with DishNetwork over DirecTV? -- ulysses
        \_ 1. DishNetwork has nuked channels I care about (Com Central)
              from their lineup in the past.
           2. If you're doing the Tivo thing too, the DirecTV Tivo lets
              you have two simultaneous feeds, so you can record multiple
              shows at the same time (or record one while watching another.)
              Last year Best Buy even had a $100 rebate when you signed up,
              so that the Tivo was basically free.
              \_ I think the new DISH receiver can do this, too.
           But, to be fair, I've never actually used DishNetwork. Had
           DirecTV for almost 3 years and been happy. If you sign up
           with DirecTV, go to Best Buy or Circuit City or something to
           set you up. Trying to deal with DirecTV directly is a
           nightmare of subcontractors and local installation companies. -bz
           \_ DirecTiVo is indeed awesome and I love it, but from what I hear,
              you can't buy it anymore.  All of the new DirecTV boxes have their
              own brand of DVR software which, while by all reports not awful,
              Isn't Tivo.  --dbushong

9/18    The religion of peace protests at Westminster Cathedral
        http://catholiclondoner.blogspot.com/2006/09/very-rushed-post.html
        \_ Not to be confused with the Westminster Abbey which is of much
           higher significance in the UK, and which is not Roman Catholic.

9/18    Easy Diebold vote stealing!
        http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting

9/18    Are M16s still used in the Army? Is it still inferier to AK47s
        in the real world, where it is outside of the perfect laboratory
        test conditions?
        \_ I dont't know much about guns.  But I think M16s are too long when
           you need to fight left and right from inside a Humvee.  AK47s are
           shorter.
           \_ Then use an M4 carbine.
        \_ Don't you watch SG-1?  The military all use FN P90s
           \_ Silly troll, the P90 is a good all-purpose weapon, but the show
              routinely uses MP5s, carbines, and other weaponry.
        \_ US marines firing AK-47:
           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LCpl_Cheema_on_the_AK-47.JPG
        \_ Kalashnikov holding an M16, and Stoner an AK-47:
           link:www.csua.org/u/gwy
        \_ Obviously you  do not own any guns. You fire the gun that
           your job requires, and cost the least in the U.S. So FNC
           has been making M-16A2s for the Army for the last three
           rounds of purchasing. M4s are exclusively made by Colt.
           (The patent on making M-16s ran out a long time ago.)
           Those in know, know that AK-47 is NOT used by the forces of
           fUSSR. And in many cases you actually see an AK-74 (chambered
           in a similar 5.45 x 39 (as opposed to 5.56 x 45). Many
           Afghanis know the terminal effects of the 5.45. Whereas your
           typical terrorist might use the AK-47, it is usually less
           accurate than the M-16 (almost all variants) but has better
           range. 5.56 was originally a varmint hunting round. Ineffective
           close-up against drugged up targets without hitting a vital
           organ. Hence the move toward either 6.8 SPC / Grendel or
           blended metal rounds.  P90s now available in semi as PS-90
           outside of CA. - proud owner of many of the above.
           \_ Redneck:  Noun. An English speaker who uses the word "varmint"
              in any non-ironic context.
              \_ Clueless about guns. Remington .223 was a varmint hunting
                 round until it was adopted as the 5.56x45
           \_ PANCOR JACKHAMMER, BABY!  -John
        \_ AK-47 The Musical Version:
           http://tinyurl.com/zhtwn (gizmowatch.com)

9/18    emarkp, what do you think of the Mountain Meadows Massacre?
        [restored, again]

9/18    Belief in God in America and other countries
        http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2355486,00.html
        http://csua.org/u/gwz (panthershuddle.com)

9/18    Does the Right to Keep and Arm Bears [in certain states] include the
        right to arm wolves, raccoons, cougars, bison, ducks, possums, or
        even wolverines? I'm guessing you can't own any of these in CA
        but what about other states?
        \_ The Navy has attempted to arm dolfins, but it turns out they're too
           smart to be suicide bombers.  Too bad for the navy that dolfins
           haven't discovered religion.
           \_ You mean dolphins?  What are dolfins?
                                           \_ Daily Orders, Ledgers and
                                              FINance Systems:
                                http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/DOLFINS
        \_ Is this a serious question or a troll?
        \_ The right must include the ability to own armed turtles trained
           in martial arts.

9/18    [Any Mormon], what do you think of the Mountain Meadows Massacre?
        [I'll keep reposting this until you stop censoring it, thanks]

9/18    [I'll keep reposting this until you stop censoring it, thanks]
        \_ I'll keep deleting it.  You have my email address. -emarkp
           \_ Is your religion too weak for a link on the motd?
              \_ Non-sequitur.  Your question is about history.  Is your too
              \_ *laugh* as opposed to other, more mainstream religions which
                 stand up great to scrutiny and uncensored historical fact?
                 The only reason people pick on Mormons is that they're too
                 The only reason people pick on Mormons is that you're too
                 dumb, brainwashed, or cowardly to point out the same flaws in
                 the more mainstream fairy tales.
              \_ Non-sequitur.  Your question is about history.  Is your
                 question too weak to sign? -emarkp
        \_ Can you tell us what's being deleted, so I can go look it up
           in the log?
           \_ Google "Mountain Meadows Massacre," unless he censors this
              reference to it as well.
              \_ Why, is there some new evidence, is it just the usual
                 conspiracy theory level psudeo-history?
                 \_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre
                    Wow, that sounds pretty convincing:  "Although the various
                    sources agree on the essential story of the massacre on
                    September 11, 1857, the sources differ on many of the
                    facts leading up to or following the massacre."
                    Is there some part that's not true?
                    \_ Right above: "Almost every acknowledged 'fact'
                       about the fate of these murdered people is open to
                       question." Other places on the page is says that
                       who attacked is debated.  I'm curious which part of
                       the essential story isn't debated.  That a bunch of
                       people died?
                       \_ This is the first I've heard of this but really at
                          150 years later who cares who did what to who?  They
                          executed the one guy 20 years later and everyone that
                          had any involvement and their grand children are
                          dead long ago.
                          \_ Good question.  I suspect this thread
                             actually started with op somehow linking
                             emarkp with the massacre, but op being too
                             big a pussy to sign his post.  Don't know
                             though.
                             \_ He was asking me what I thought of it.  I
                                delete posts addressed to me by anonymous
                                trolls. -emarkp
                                \_ While I can understand why you might be
                                   irked by anonymous trolls, this policy of
                                   deletion could prevent you (and the rest
                                   of us) reading something interesting. I
                                   don't always sign my stuff, especially when
                                   I run out of room on the line. --erikred,!op
                                   \_ FWIW, I honestly wasn't trolling, I just
                                      read about the incident (in the book
                                      "Under The Banner Of Heaven") and I was
                                      curious about a modern Mormon's opinion
                                      on it... I could have asked a more
                                      general question about "blood atonement,"
                                      but that seemed a bit more inflammatory.
                                         -op
                                      \_ Ok, I think you got your answer.  Can
                                         this thread die now?
                                      \_ "Under the Banner of Heaven" is a
                                         crock of crap from the reviews I've
                                         read.  You might want to read real
                                         history. Here's an apologist response
                                         to Krakauer:
           http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=530 -emarkp
                                \_ Part of this response seems to amount to
                                   "He doesn't believe in Jesus, so what does
                                   he know?"
                       \_ The quote is from author Will Bagley.  He also said:
                          "the same critics say 'Well you know what? There's no
                          smoking gun there. ...' ... I don't think that the
                          evidence is ambiguous."
                          http://csua.org/u/gx4 (salamandersociety.com)
                          \_ Yeah, that site looks unbiased.
                             \_ So are you making any opinions about what
                                Bagley's two statements?
                             \_ So are you making any opinions about Bagley's
                                two statements?
                          \_ And here's an apologist reply to Bagley:
                          http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=509

9/18    Are there any free/shareware tools to edit a pdf file?  Any OS is ok.
        Thanks.
        \_ I'm not sure what you mean by edit (ie do you mean move/delete
           pages or do you mean edit text), but the following might be
           helpful: http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk
           \_ I mean I have a pdf someone else at work generated but it has
              some colored lines and some text I want to remove.  I loaded it
              in photoshop but I'm not photoshop pro and it displayed/loaded
              only part of the file.  I've got no idea what's going on there.
              I'll check out the link, thanks.  I'd also be ok with something
              that can convert a pdf to a gif, jpeg, etc which I know I can
              photoshop.
              \_ Okay, now I understand. What you are looking for might be
                 a bit beyond what the free tools (or even basic Acrobat)
                 can do.
                 Re Photoshop - I think that PS can reliably only open the
                 first pg of a pdf doc.
                 The following may be of use to you (Universal Document
                 Converter Demo for Windows):
                 http://www.print-driver.com/download
                 It should let you print the PDF to a bunch of TIFFs that
                 you can edit.
                 I think that Ghostscript on Linux can do the same, but
                 it has been years since I've played w/ GS.
                 According to Google 'convert' (part of ImageMagick) also
                 works, albeit very slowly.

9/18    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/news-security-canada-arar.html
        http://www.maherarar.ca
        http://www.maherarar.ca/mahers%20story.php
        32-year-old Canadian wireless technology consultant rendered by U.S.
        to Syria for torture by military intelligence (the kind that doesn't
        leave marks after a few weeks) and solitary confinement.  Canadian
        commission reports no evidence he committed any offense.

9/18    Gosh I hope the Muslims don't assassinate the Pope. I think
        he's kinda cool.
        \_ yay nazi pope

9/18    New Weird Al video:
        http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7939447080926152362

9/18    http://csua.org/u/gx8 (latimes.com, Niall Ferguson op-ed)
        "For the Republican candidate in '08, it might actually be better if
        the Democrats did well in the midterms, because a brief return to power
        on the Hill would expose their chronic incoherence, making the case for
        a Republican comeback two years down the line. That scenario, however,
        is not on the cards. ... Republicans look like they're hanging on."
        Dems -- fucked no matter what happens.
        \_ I was glad the R won the 04 election because I doubt Ds would
           do a better job in Iraq. Imagine Kerry and his D affiliates
           getting blamed for all the shit that's happening in Iraq now.
           Thank God for W's victory in 04.
        \_ You gotta love pompous prognostication...
                \_ can someone summarize the "Chronic incoherence"?  last I
                   checked the Republican party was still claiming they
                   believed in "fiscal responsibility" and "security"
        \_ All this tells me is that Mr. Ferguson got an early look at
           today's Gallup poll results -op

9/18    Any reason that /dev/null is rw by root only?
        crw------- 1 root root 1, 3 Sep 13 12:56 /dev/null

9/18    http://csua.com/?entry=44425
        emarkp please answer this