9/25    What are some examples of modern governments that are still
        under monarchy?
        \_ Few modern governments are "under" monarchy--most (e.g. Holland,
           Norway, UK, Japan) have a figurehead who is the nominal head
           of state but mainly executes ceremonial duties (accepting the
           portfolio of the prime minister, that sort of thing.)  I don't
           know if you would count Kuwait, UAE, Thailand, Brunei, Morocco,
           or Jordan as "modern", but in the "Western" sense, there's
           Liechtenstein and Monaco.  Sure there's more, but I would 100%
           discount Saudi Arabia, Lesotho and Nepal at this point.   -John
           \_ You could've answered that in 1 line, not 8.
              \_ Thank you for your feedback, your opinion may be taken
                 into consideration.  -John
           \_ err... Nepal... how many of the royalties still alive now?
              \_ Also, recent developments in Nepal have invalidated their
                 monarchy status.
           \_ In the "Western" sense there's also Spain and Sweden.
           \_ Also in the West: Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg,
              Monarco.  And let's not forget the State of the Vatican City
              whose absolute monarch is the Pope (although the absolute monarch
              is an elected monarch).
        \_ Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, you know, our democratic ally in
           the middle east.  UAE is a bit tricky, it's a kingdom with a
           a lot of Kings.
           \_ Also, Tonga. An example of how a modern monarchy can go wrong:
              http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3502535.stm
              \_ Yeah, entrusting your investments to your court jester
                 probably isn't the best thought out plan.
                 \_ Tonga went wrong because Edith Delgado, the Redwood City
                    teenager, single-handedly stemmed democratic reforms in
                    Tonga by killing the pro-democratic prince on US101.
                    http://www.csua.org/u/geo (http://www.matangitonga.to
                    \_ The incident certainly did nothing to help, but the
                       problems were prevalent in Tonga even before she
                       became the hand of fate.
                    \_ I'm sure she was thinknig that morning, "I'll get in the
                       car today and kill the pro-democratic prince of Tonga".
        \_ "I wish I could hear tell of a country that's out of kings."
            --Huckleberry Finn
        \_ Man will never be free until the last king is strangled
           with the entrails of the last priest. --Denis Diderot

9/25    Prediction: Gas will go below $2.50 in November         -Gas Swami
        \_ It's good to have so many friends in the oil industry.  --George
        \_ Lame Gas Swami, the average price of gas is already $2.38/gal for
           regular nationally   http://csua.org/u/h0a (doe.gov)
           \_ Swami has yet another successful prediction!  --Gas Swami #1 Fan
                 \_ tom, I'm curious why you think it's kchang.  Does your
                    motd tracker say so, or does this just sound like
                    kchang?
              \_ Dear sarcastic guy. Please allow me to clarify. Gas will
                 go below $2.50 in the Bay Area in November, and much lower
                 in other parts of the country. After the election, price
                 will shoot up again.                           -Gas Swami

9/26    Double Agent Trailer:
        http://trailers.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_splintercell_da_trailer4.mp4
        \_ Wait, am I supposed to want to play this now? 'Cos I mostly just
           feel icky and powerless.
           \_ The game is supposed to be less linear, allowing you to choose
              what to do and different consequences result.
           \_ I cannot recall the last time that a video game presented me w/
              a moral dilemma of this nature. Any video game that forces one
              confront this type of problem seems interesting to me.

9/26    Housing prices falling?
        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/25/AR2006092500432.html

9/25   Can anyone recommend a good testing tool for flash applications?
        \_ if you prefer open-source, you wouldn't choose Flash at first place.
       Prefer open source but whatever, having trouble finding much of anything
       via google.
        \_ if you prefer open-source, you wouldn't choose Flash at first place.

9/26    Housing prices falling?
        http://tinyurl.com/l2qo6 (washingtonpost.com)
        \_ Business cycle.
        \_ "The conclusion that I'm drawing is that we're very close to the
           bottom of the housing market ... By the first quarter of next year,
           we'll start to see a rebound."
           -Economic Outlook Group executive director
           \_ Are you sure this isn't David Lereah?

9/26    CA legislature: "Do as I say, not as I do."
        http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/26/CARS.TMP
        \_ "I would admit that I should get a better mileage car," Chan said.
           "But I mainly looked at the crash-test factors. I drive every day
           from Oakland to Sacramento, and I see these horrific accidents on
           I-80."
           \_ Argh.  I wish they'd roll accident _avoidance_ into crash safety
              numbers.
        \_ Who cares what they drive? I'm surprised more of them are not
           driving far more expensive cars (like MBs).

9/25    Note to future employers reading former CSUA members' archives.
        Every single CSUA member is a total nut case. Just search for the
        appropriate names on the archiver.
        \_ I already circulated negative recommendations in my company.  I am
           making sure every single sodan gets special attentions. I work
           at Big and Dumb Corporation and I've passed the list to my HR
           friends at other big and dumb corporations and they've also
           begun circulating the list to other companies. Please help me
           circulate your name throughout the valley and tell me which
           companies you've passed the blacklist to so that we don't
           duplicate efforts. Thanks       -alum at a big and dumb company

9/26    GPS tagging device that fits in the flash slot of a DSLR:
        http://www.geotagger.co.uk
        \_ Sony release something similar:
           http://tinyurl.com/ljfny (pcworld.com)

9/26    Sandisk releases 16GB CF card:
        http://tinyurl.com/zjt76 (sandisk.com)
        \_ Cool.
        \_ And can be yours for only USD1050!  (Still cool, not cheap.)

9/26    Double Agent Trailer:
        http://tinyurl.com/ef3no (gametrailers.com)
        \_ Wait, am I supposed to want to play this now? 'Cos I mostly just
           feel icky and powerless.
           \_ The game is supposed to be less linear, allowing you to choose
              what to do and different consequences result.
           \_ I cannot recall the last time that a video game presented me w/
              a moral dilemma of this nature. Any video game that forces one
              confront this type of problem seems interesting to me.

9/26    Hi, I'm looking for a cheap DVR box.  I don't need anything fancy
        and I'm not going to pay Tivo for monthly subscriptions.  I just need
        need something to replace my VCR.  Can Tivo work without the monthly
        fees?   I'm willing to buy a used Tivo box on ebay if olders ones
        can work as standalone boxes.  Thanks.
        \_ LiteOn has DVD Recorder with 160GB HD.  It should work a lot
           like a VCR.  I saw it on http://Costco.com for about $300.  Not sure
           that is considered cheap.
        \_ I'm told that a S1 Tivo can work as a VCR BUT you have to have
           it dialup at least once and sync itself.
           There are some anoyances, like the onscreen display that says
           that your Tivo is unregistered.
           \_ I am not 100% sure that is true.  I remember S1 Tivo will
              go into "boat anchor" mode if you don't subscribe.  "Boat
              anchor" because is basically useless without subscription.
              Maybe the difference is in the software version a
              a particular S1 Tivo is running.
              particular S1 Tivo is running.
        \_ If you have comcast/timewarner cable, they have their own DVR
           boxes. You still have to pay a monthly fee, but it's added
           to your existing bill. If it's the monthly fee you have a
           problem with, just build one; it's very easy. check out
           http://byopvr.com
           \_ Side note to this, if you want HD, cable DVR is pretty
              much the only economical way of doing it.  Tivo HD costs
              about $800 to buy.  DIY solution won't allow you to
              record any encrypted channel (such as HBO, Discovery HD,
              etc.).
              \_ DIY will work no worse than Tivo HD.  You need Cable Card
                 support in either case unless you want to use an IR blaster,
                 which sucks.
                 \_ Can you tell me which consumer dual tuners card has
                    support for HD that can utilize CableCard?  I wasn't
                    aware of any.  My original point is that you still
                    can't beat the $20/month price tag cable company
                    charges for having dual channel HD DVR capability and
                    allow recording of premium channels.  HD Tivo will
                    cost $800 + ~$13/month + ~$2/month per CableCard.
                    \_ And no one said anything about it not being the cheapest.
                       pp was just contesting your "DIY won't allow you to
                       record encrypted channel" which is certainly not true
                       w/ sucky IR blaster.  However, keep in mind that every
                       cable DVR i've ever seen a review of sucks even worse.
                       Can you tell me if you've found a good one?
                       \_ 1) I think we are not discussing the same thing.
                             I am talking about "HD" here (not your usual
                             encrypted SD channel such as HBO).  The only
                             2 solutions I know of recording encrypted HD
                             content is cable's HD DVR and HD Tivo.  That
                             was my point.  Re-read my original statment,
                             I said "if you want HD..."
                             \_ Edit my own post, I know there are also
                                HD DVR for satellite, but cost is
                                still high ($3-400 range).
                          2) I had the original TIVO.  I ditched it not
                             because other SD DVR is superior.  I now use
                             a SA8300HD (from TimeWarner) because there
                             are no reasonable alternative if I want to
                             record non-OTA HD content.  Is Tivo superior?
                             Hell yeah. But I am not spending all that
                             $$$ for a HD Tivo.
                          3) So once again, tell me a DIY solution that
                             can record encrypted HD premium content.  I
                             am always open to alternatives/competition.

9/26    Are you having fun tawei?       \_ Who?

9/26    Dang, after Bubba went off on Faux News, they had Condi's picture on
        http://drudgereport.com a couple days later.  After half a day, now you hardly
        see her mug -- it's Dubya who's taking on Bubba with release of
        carefully selected NIE excerpts.  Bubba >> Condi.

9/26    kawabonga!
        \_ reaganomics!
           \_ Governor Schwarzenegger!

9/26    Liberals are screwed:
        http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/26/nie.iraq/index.html
        \_ Wow, the headline really doesn't agree much w/ the bulk of the
           article.
        \_ I like: "Bush said he agreed with the report's conclusions that al
           Qaeda is becoming more diffuse and decentralized but rejected the
           interpretation that the Iraq war had made the U.S. less safe."
           It's like "ooh, i like that part.  i don't like that other part,
           it makes me feel poopy"  What is he, a 4-year-old?
           \_ He asked for Dick Cheney to be with him when he was interviewed
              by the 9/11 Commission.  What does that tell you?
              \_ It tells me that a golden opportunity was missed.
        \_ Don't you mean America is screwed?

9/26    Is there a way to strip away parts of a pdf document in order to
        keep just one part of it, without buying Adobe Acrobat? Thanks.
        \_ convert to postscript, start editing with $EDITOR
        \_ unlicensed copying of Acrobat
        \_ Depending on the document and what you're trying to save, you
           may be able to select the text and copy and paste.  -tom

9/26    Pinko Socialist Baby Dies in Bucket of Mom's Vomit
        http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/09/22/D8KA41080.html
        \_ Is the vomit Leftist vomit too?
        \_ You can't dust for vomit!

9/26    What are some of the funny and ambiguous leftist domain names? Names
        like http://MsExchangeServer.com=mSexChangeServer.com, etc.
        \_ http://expertsexchange.com
           \_ ha ha ha ha this is the best one!!!
           \_ I chuckle everytime I get an email from them.
        \_ powergenitalia.it
        \_ http://penisland.net
        \_ http://therapistfinder.com
        \_ http://molestationnursery.com
        \_ My father-in-law worked for R.A. Pearson. They decided
           against http://rapearson.com -bz
        \_ http://mofo.com
        \_ http://cyberbears.com

9/26    Left wing socialist nutcase Nature reports left wing socialist commie
        Commerce Dept blocked NOAA report containing consensus view of NOAA
        scientists that global warming "may" be partly responsible for more
        powerful hurricanes
        http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060926/D8KCPSL00.html

9/26    New movie includes footage of Bush being assassinated:
        http://www.csua.org/u/h0n

9/26    Left wing socialist wants to limit and simplify college choices:
        http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/09/26/higher.education.ap/index.html
        \_ Motd nutcase likes to post misleading headlines:
           Right here.
        \_ isn't she a Republican?
           \_ Bush is actually a closet liberal.
              \_ Bush is actually a social conservative and economic liberal.