Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2006:October:04 Wednesday <Tuesday, Thursday>
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2006/10/4-5 [Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton, Politics/Domestic/Gay] UID:44657 Activity:high
10/3    I can't believe there exists gay Republicans. It's like, cows have
        wings and can fly.
        \_ Hello to David Dreier.
        \_ Are you kidding?  The hypocrisy of politicians is legendary.
           Republicans in particular.  The most anti-gay of them are
           gay themselves.  The most anti-corruption are taking bribes.
           The most 'pro family values' are the ones with mistresses.
           The anti-substance ones are addicts.  And so on, and on, and on.
           And even more so if they're religious.
           \_ Mmmm mmmm!!  I love the smell of a good rant in the morning!
           \_ and the former co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and
              Exploited Children regularly engages in cybersex with high school
              students
        \_ Paging Andrew Sullivan.
        \_ Wealthy white males without children. I read somewhere that more
           and more gays are turning to the Republican party. It really
           represents their interests better than the Dems do. 25% of gays
           (lesbians included) voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, and the
           numbers are creeping higher: see Log Cabin Republicans.
           \_ "Really represents their interests?"  Are you insane?  Have you
              READ the Republican Party platform?
              \_ Reclaim the Panama Canal! Woohoo! *bang* *bang*
              \_ Their priorities are not what you think they are. Their
                 priorities are often national defense, small government
                 (which is *supposed* to be a Republican ideal), lower
                 taxes, big business, etc. Think Merv Griffin here.
                 \_ sorry, "keeping my sexual preference legal" trumps all
                    of that.
                    \_ is it preference or born like that?
                    \_ That's your own personal opinion not shared by all
                       gays and lesbians.
                       \_ right, and some poor blacks vote Republican, too.
                          The stupid ones.  -tom
                          \_ Such tolerance from the left. The Republicans
                             are, after all, the party of Lincoln.
                             \_ I'm sure blacks voted Republican in 1860.
                                (To the extent they were allowed to).  Let's
                                try to keep the discussion within the
                                most recent century.  -tom
                                \_ What makes you think you know what's best
                                   for poor blacks - all poor blacks, in fact?
                                   That's the main problem with liberals.
                                   They always think they know what's best
                                   for you.
                                   \_ Ah, right, and the conservatives are
                                      constantly responding to the needs of
                                      the people.  You're a moron.  -tom
                                      \_ Conservatives prefer to let people
                                         respond to their own needs and
                                         not call them 'stupid' if they
                                         have different priorities.
                                         \_ URL?  -tom
                          \_ Stupid because... the dems would make them not
                             poor? Or maybe not black?
                             \_ Stupid because the dems don't view poor
                                people as self-evidently lazy, criminal, or
                                both.  Stupid because Republicans constantly
                                attack social programs intended to help the
                                poor, because by conservative ideology, the
                                poor just don't work hard enough, so all they
                                need to succeed is fewer social programs.  -tom
                                \_ So you actually believe people are poor
                                   because they're lazy? Please look at the
                                   a documentary called Rebels With a Cause
                                   and The Weather Underground. A bunch of
                                   young leftists tried to help out the poor
                                   and for whatever reason (pride, resentment,
                                   etc) the poor simply rejected help from
                                   a bunch of rich yuppie kids. There's a
                                   saying that Republicans are Democrats
                                   that have yet to be robbed, and there's
                                   a lot of truth to that.
                                   \_ uh, no, I think that the conservative
                                      ideology is that the rich are rich
                                      because they worked for it, and the poor
                                      are poor because they don't work hard
                                      enough.  That ideology has no connection
                                      to reality.  -tom
                                   \_ I think the opposite is true. Democrats
                                      are Republicans that have yet to be
                                      robbed. Once they are robbed then
                                      see how quickly they are against gun
                                      control, light prison sentences, etc.
                                   \_ You got that saying backwards.  Carry on.
                                \_ Like Clinton's welfare reform which kicked
                                   how many people off the lists and put caps
                                   on how much help someone is allowed?  Or
                                   like how Dems are opposed to school vouchers
                                   because the fewer crappy public schools
                                   there are the less the teacher's unions can
                                   give to the Dems?
                                \_ Intended to help them, perhaps. They did
                                   pass that prescription drug plan so they're
                                   not as different as maybe you'd like to
                                   think. Anyway, this would be more useful
                                   if we chose one specific program that
                                   Rs attack and Ds support (or vice versa) and
                                   discuss the merits. I guess school vouchers
                                   is one. I used to be on the fence for that
                                   but now I think they'd be good. I know
                                   enough people who do home-schooling that I
                                   see a lot of potential for innovation in
                                   private education. Maybe you can offer some
                                   other examples. I've grown to be very wary
                                   of giant grabby bureaucracies which is what
                                   large government agencies or school systems
                                   become.
                          \_ The stupid and poor ones have more to gain from
                             meager tax cuts, because any amount will
                             largely affect their lifestyles.
                             \_ yeah, I'm sure removing the estate tax and
                                the capital gains tax will have huge impact
                                in Harlem.  -tom
        \_ this thread so needs to be jived, but I'm a coward
2006/10/4-5 [Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:44658 Activity:kinda low
10/3    Does anyone know why using DB_File in perl would suddenly stop working
        and start storing only blank entries into the DB?
        The code is something like this (there can be multiple instances of
        this perl script running hence the lockfile)

        open (LOCKFILE, ">lock_file");
        flock (LOCKFILE, $LOCK_EX);
        dbmopen (%PERLDB, db_file, 0666)
        set values in %PERLDB
        flock (LOCKFILE, $LOCK_UN);
        close (LOCKFILE)
        dbmclose (%PERLDB);

        So once in a while if I set a value in %PERLDB it just sets it to
        blank (nothing) instead of the right value.  I've tried checking the
        value afterwords, and setting it over and over again until it sticks,
        but that eventually leads to Too Many Files open.  Is there a way
        to check file handle leaking in perl?  I don't see a place where I'm
        opening a handle without closing it in my script ...
        \_ You need to do the dbmclose before you unlock the lockfile.
           \_ good catch
        \_ Maybe you're hitting a race condition between the open() and the
           flock().  -tom
           \_ I think so too if that's what the code actually looks like.
              OP, why do you open()/close() the lock file at all?  Why not
              just lock/unlock it?  Can you show us the actual production
              code block?
              \_ I commented out the flock and opens and the problem didn't
                 go away.  It turns out the open was a braindead way of making
                 sure that file existed, I'll fix that too.
                 \_ Without locking and multiple instances of this code
                    running I would expect Bad Things(tm) to happen.  You do
                    want locking of some sort.  You don't need the open().
                    I'm left wondering if your file is randomly named or is
                    really the static "lockfile" in your code.  Again, if you
                    can post the real production code you'll probably get
                    better help than this sort of vague hand waving.
                        \_ Actually I take what I said back, the flock/open
                           is correct, at least according to examples on how
                           to lock a file.  How do you do a flock on a file
                           that you haven't opened?
                           \_ My error.  In perl you do have to open the file
                              to get a filehandle for flock.  Anyway, perl
                              relies on your OS's underlying locking mechanism
                              which may not even exist and you should really
                              be testing the return value, not assume it has
                              been successfully granted a lock.  If you test
                              the return value you may find you're not getting
                              a lock which is why your code behaves the same
                              with and without the flock().
2006/10/4 [Politics/Domestic, Computer/SW/WWW/Browsers, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:44659 Activity:nil
103/    http://reuters.myway.com/article/20061004/2006-10-04T005304Z_01_L03419567_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-GOOGLE-POLITICIANS-DC.html
        ... "unless you're in China".
2006/10/4-5 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:44660 Activity:nil
10/3    Better Off Without Saddam Watch:
        "BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi authorities have taken a police brigade out of
        service and returned them to training because of "complicity" with
        death squads in the wake of a mass kidnapping in Baghdad this week, a
        U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday."
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061004/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_police
        \_ Yes, and?
           \_ Well, see, under Saddam, they'd've at least lost their pensions.
              \_ I know you're joking but seriously, not only did they not
                 lose any benefits, they were doing their jobs as ordered.
2006/10/4-6 [Reference/BayArea] UID:44661 Activity:nil
10/4    Pot dealing in SF really lucrative:
        http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/04/BAGEULHUPK1.DTL
        \_ with just a few occupational hazards.
2006/10/4-5 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Troll] UID:44662 Activity:nil 60%like:44653 50%like:44758
10/3    Attn: motd boob guy - Hi Honey, I'm huge!
        http://image30.webshots.com/31/7/74/91/2381774910066501007KtqyhH_fs.jpg
        \_ too bad her face is ugly as fuck
           \_ boob guy never looks at their faces anyway. --boob guy #2 fan
           \_ I am bigger.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAzx7dAFuJc
2006/10/4-6 [Recreation/Humor] UID:44663 Activity:nil Cat_by:auto
10/4    Wierd Al's 'White and Nerdy':
        http://youtube.com/watch?v=JsX9HyX4m0A   -mrauser
        \_ His Schroedinger equation for an electron attracted to a proton is
           in CGS, not SI.  I think SI is more gangsta, at least for that
           particular equation.
2006/10/4-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/Security] UID:44664 Activity:nil
10/4    motd routing nerds, help me out.
        let's say i am torrenting stuff on my laptop.  I want
        of course my SSH connections to be responsive and fast,
        but the upstream torrenting gets in the way.  Could i
        implement QOS somehow on my local machine and improve
        SSH?  I'm running Linux.  Would I have to make a virtual
        machine somewhere on my laptop and run QOS in that?  Thanks!
        \_ or just use your torrent client's builtin bw limit options
           \_ no no you don't understand, have you ever used QOS
              on a router before?  You can make your SSH packets
              have a higher priority than your web or torrent packets,
              reducing the latency for your ssh sessions.  If you limit
              the upstream of your torrents... your downstream becomes
              slower
              \_ sympathy factor crashes like rock. back in my day we got 300
                 baud and we were glad for it!
              \_ if you're bottlenecked on the inbound, no amount of
                 fiddling with your router's QoS settings is going to help.
                 Maybe if you could fiddle with your ISP's router, but I
                 suspect they won't be sympathetic to your torrent leeching
                 needs.
                 If you're bottlenecked on the outbound, limit your torrent
                 clients' upload speeds (or play with QoS).  It doesn't take
                 backing off much to give huge improvements to ssh and/or
                 other interactive programs.
                 clients upload speeds (or play with QoS).
           \_ get a faster pipe, whiner
        \_ So-called "gaming routers" can put preferences on ports.  That's
           quick solution.
           \_ Not only is this a quick solution, but an excellent solution.
              I bought a DLINK gaming router and never looked back. I get
              the best of all worlds-- filling up the pipe AND get small
              latency for ssh and X11 related things.
           \_ agree that this is one way to do it.  increase priority for
              port 22 outgoing (router should also be smart enough to
              prioritize incoming packets for the session), and back off your
              upstream torrent cap a bit until you're satisfied.
2006/10/4-6 [Recreation/Sports, Recreation/Computer/Games] UID:44665 Activity:nil
10/4    http://ESPN.com, you're killing me here. How hard can it be to display a
        page with the results of the most recent playoff games by division
        along with a running tally of who's ahead of whom? The World Cup
        website was able to keep track of a hell of lot more teams playing a
        hell of a lot more games. Why is it so hard for the MLB and ESPN to
        display the results from the playoffs for 8 bloody teams?
        \_ Answering myself: not hard at all. Yahoo to the rescue:
           http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/playoffs
           Fie on you, ESPN.
2006/10/4-6 [Uncategorized] UID:44666 Activity:nil
10/4    Sometimes the entire motd reminds me of the immortal words of
        The Dude: "Yeah well, that's just, ya know, like, your opinion, man."
        \_ Only sometimes?
2006/10/4-6 [Computer/SW, Computer/SW/Languages/Java] UID:44667 Activity:nil
10/4    Is there any way to build a web page which allows the user to select
        a group of files to the server?  Conventional html input file select
        only supports a single file.  I'd rather not have to create a ton of
        those.  I'm looking for a something that can take an array of files.
        \_ Nope.  You either have to build a Java app, allow .zip file uploads,
           or use a little DHTML to let users create new upload fields as they
           need them (or save the previous selection and reuse the single
           upload field).  --dbushong
        \_ No, file upload is still kind of a pain.  Some of the photo sites
           allow multi-file upload by using browser plugins, activex, etc.
           Search google for keywords: multiple file upload
           and you'll find various tricks using activex, java applets,
           javascript/dom.  Some solutions are free and some cost.  --peterl
        \_ It doesn't work for all applications, but WebDAV could theoretically
           be useful.  -tom
2006/10/4-6 [Politics/Domestic] UID:44668 Activity:nil
10/4    BOOM.  Aide says he warned Hastert about Foley 2 years ago.
        http://www.csua.org/u/h3q (Yahoo! news)
        \_ More like "drip, drip, drip" -- no indication how explicit the
           content was at the time.
           \_ I don't think that's going to matter.  Republican house members
              are already cancelling apperances with Hastert.
              \_ No one on the Republican side will miss him.  He hasn't done
                 anything.
                 \_ He sort of defended Jefferson
         \_ I think it's great.  The longer the Republicans hang on to
            their crippled Speaker and people bring up reaming pages
            every time he speaks, the better.  I wonder how long it
            will take the Republican party to cut their losses?
2006/10/4 [Uncategorized] UID:44669 Activity:nil
The stupid ones.  -tom
                          \_ The stupid and poor ones have more to gain from
                             meager tax cuts, because any amount will
                             largely affect their lifestyles.
2006/10/4-6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:44670 Activity:nil
10/4    I got my mortgage for 6.25% and my payment is about $2500. My
        mortgage lender just called me saying they can get me 6.00%
        which will be about $2400, for "0 point 0 fee." Having an extra
        more or less $100/month payment isn't going to make or break me
        as I'm pretty comfortable either way, and I'm wondering if there's
        anything weird I should know besides the "0 point 0 fee" deal?
        \_ Good to double check, but there needn't be.  I refied from
           6.75 -> 5.75+6.375 -> 5.25 all no point/no fee.  $100/month of free
           money is $100 you don't have to scrimp on your phone/power bills.
        \_ I assume the motivation is to get the homeowner to stay with the
           original lender before they jump to another lender who may have a
           slightly lower 0 point/0 fee rate.  what do people think?
           \_ Yes. Make sure they aren't rolling costs into the new
              mortgage, though.
           \_ I did all of my 0/0 refis w/ different lenders.  Get yourself
              a good mortgage broker.
2006/10/4-6 [Transportation/Bicycle] UID:44671 Activity:nil
10/4    Performance Bike is selling GU Gel for $24.95 (24 packs). Is it
        worth it? That's ~$1 / pack for a tiny little pack.
        \_ I think you can occasionally find that for like $20 but yeah.
           Compare Cliff Shots and othe other brands, it's all the same
           probably. Try some individual flavors first... some are nasty
        \_ I think you can occasionally find that for like $20.
           Compare Cliff Shots and other brands prices.
           Try some individual flavors first... some are nasty
           and you don't want to buy a box of that. They do work. But
           GU doesn't seem to have electrolytes (potassium sodium etc).
           I will be trying other brands for that reason. If I'm on a
           long tough mtn bike ride the GU doesn't help because I'll still
           be suffering from lack of electrolytes.
           suffering from lack of electrolytes.
2006/10/4-6 [Recreation/Media, Politics/Foreign] UID:44672 Activity:nil
10/4    Screech my name!
        http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/456179p-383834c.html
2006/10/4-5 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China, Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton] UID:44673 Activity:kinda low
10/3    The "Internet" will offer instant verification of claims made
        by politicians w/in 5 years according to Google's Schmidt:
        http://tinyurl.com/l4hsp (reuters.myway.com)
        ... "unless you're in China".
        \_ http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22the+largest+island+in+china%22&btnG=Search
        \_ http://tinyurl.com/jad3z (google.com/search)
        \_ The underlying assumption is that those telling you it is
           true or false are acting objectively.
        \_ Internet:  Did Bill Clinton have sexual relations with Monica
           Lewinsky?
        \_ Internet:  Did GWB plead out to a DUI to avoid a drug conviction?
2006/10/4-6 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Domestic/Crime] UID:44674 Activity:kinda low
10/4    According to Drudge, the Foley intern was 18 at the time.  If true,
        it still makes him a sicko but non-criminal... "DEVELOPING..."
        \_ Did they out Drudge yet?
        \_ Drudge was also the one who said the kids seduced Foley.
           \_ Because his dick was so large and tax free?
              I know when I was a teen nothing was hotter. I'd beat off
              to C-SPAN reruns in the wee hours.
           \_ The transcripts I've seen imply that some of them were at least
              playing along...
        \_ so why would he have resigned?
        \_ Mr. Accuracy strikes again!
        \_ whoever said it was criminal anyway?  age of consent is 16 in DC.
        \_ whoever said it was criminal in the first place?  age of consent is
           16 in DC.  it doesn't stop freepers around the country from going
           ape over the left-wing MSM DemocRAT conspiracy, though.
           http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1713877/posts
           \_ Yes, George Soros has been breeding a master race of nubile
              young boys, installed as moles in the page program to tempt
              innocent conservative knights!  The horror!
              \_ Why can't George Soros breed a master race of nubile young
                 girls to install as moles in high tech fields to tempt
                 innocent geekish knights?
              \_ Leak came from a GOP aide:
                 http://tinyurl.com/fy9mg (hillnews.com)
                 \_ obWhyDoesThisAideHateAmerica?
                 http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/100506/news2.html
2006/10/4-6 [Computer/SW] UID:44675 Activity:nil
10/4    Is there any way to export a voicemail message to a sound file
        and email/send it to an email account? I use Verizon. Thanks.
2006/10/4-6 [Reference/Tax, Finance/Investment] UID:44676 Activity:low
10/4    Just FYI, the Dow has hit an all-time high.  In this crappy Bush
        economy, damn him.
        \_ 1. median income went down.  2. average income only increased by
           something lik 0.3% while the inflation is running around 2-3%.
           3. housing price is dropping and interest is raising.
           For those who is making less than $200,000 a year, life is actually
           kind of sucks.
           \_ My life doesn't suck.
        \_ And it only took 7 years...
           \_ Try 5 years.  And recall what happened in those 5 years.
              \_ Jan 2000 - Oct 2006..  Nearly 7 years.  Also, using the DOW
                 as your measure for "the economy" is.. stupid.
        \_ As soon as that brings in taxes that cancel out the huge tax cuts
           and let us stop deficit spending like irresponsible college students
           I'll be impressed.
           \_ The tax cuts just weren't that big.  The poor don't pay income
              taxes, the middle class get soaked of course and the truly rich
              never paid income taxes of any note.  It's a nice idea though.
              Imagine if Mrs. Kerry actually paid the same percentage on her
              taxes that normal people do and didn't have a zillion loopholes.
              \_ The cuts weren't just in income taxes...
              \_ So if they weren't big, then they should already have been
                 cancelled out and we should have budget surpluses and be
                 able to start paying off the Debt.  Right?  (Not talking about
                 mid-year surplus B.S.)
                 \_ Gosh, because spending went up?  Waaaay up?  naah.  I'd
                    still like Mrs. Kerry to pay the same percentage of her
                    income in taxes that normal people do.
                    \_ And I'd rather that she pay a high percentage
                       commensurate with the increased value of the benefit
                       she gets from having a society that doesn't burn down
                       her house for hoarding wealth. -Dem
2006/10/4-6 [Uncategorized] UID:44677 Activity:nil
10/4    Wow, soda's load average is back down to a sane number. Well done!
        16:42:38 up 21 days,  3:46, 91 users,  load average: 0.94, 1.13, 1.08
2006/10/4-6 [Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton] UID:44678 Activity:nil
10/4    Bill Clinton endorses ubuntu:
        http://tinyurl.com/ky3ep (bbc.co.uk)
2006/10/4-6 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:44679 Activity:nil
10/4    Ok, how come I don't see any troll on N. Korean's nuclear test?
        You would think Conservatives on motd would want to invade/bomb
        N.Korea before they weaponize the nuke.
        \_ How would you know what a conservative would want?
           \_ I'm a dominatrix.
2006/10/4-6 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:44680 Activity:nil
10/4    Woodward the liar?
        http://csua.org/u/h3z
        http://csua.org/u/h40
        \_ But when Woodward was praising Bush, he was NEVER LYING.  Only
           people who disparage Mighty Bush-Man are liars.
           \_ Oh, Democrats were critical of him.  The lies listed are more
              recent than the last books.
        \_ Maybe Scowcroft was drunk when he talked to Woodward. He should
           check into Rehab.
2006/10/4-6 [Politics/Domestic/RepublicanMedia] UID:44681 Activity:kinda low
10/4    YouTube run by liberals who censor conservatives?
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLqvHK2CPB4&eurl=
        I guess they learned from Google.
        \_ Weren't she abused by liberal leaning parents? Is this her way
           of exacting revenge?
        \_ I believe I see Michelle's email in this video, can anyone
           make out what it is?
        \_ yeah, I'm sure there was nothing hateful or racially offensive
           coming from Michelle Malkin.  -tom
           \_ Here's a link to the censored video.  Decide for yourself.
              http://csua.org/u/h48
              Or do you just like to categorize a source and dismiss it?  Oh,
              yeah, that's the typical strategy when you can't rebut the
              claims.
              \_ Michelle Malkin doesn't make claims, she spews invective. -tom
                 \_ That's it?  That's all you can say?  The woman has been on
                    TV a zillion times and wrote a number of books yet she has
                    made no claims?  Ooooookaaaaaay!!!
                    \_ Hey, it works for Coulter.
                    \_ So? Ronald McDonald has been on TV a zillion times and
                       written a number of books. Has he made any claims? Or
                       has he simply been a PR symbol?
                       \_ If you can't tell the difference between a hired
                          actor/PR figure and a political commentator....
                          Or maybe Ronald wrote and spoke a lot about current
                          and historical hot topics and I just missed those
                          days in class?
                          \_ If the difference between a hack and a political
                             commentator is whether you've been on TV and
                             written (or had ghost-written) screeds, then
                             we truly are living in a Warhol world.
                 \_ And people say that Malkin is close-minded.
                    \_ And she is. Do not confuse the close-mindedness of her
                       detractors with any vindication of her own close-
                       mindedness.
                       \_ The closed mindedness right here at home is so much
                          more tasty than some random tv personality.
           \_ thankfully http://youtube.com is there to save me from being forced to
              view material i may not be able to handle.
              \_ Yeah! Why do they keep deleting my Prussian Blue posts?!?!
2006/10/4-6 [Science/GlobalWarming, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:44682 Activity:nil
10/4    Drive Out the Bush Regime, the World Can't Wait!
        http://www.worldcantwait.net
        \_ If you're joinging the protest in front of the Federal Building,
           wave at the 16th floor.
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Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2006:October:04 Wednesday <Tuesday, Thursday>