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| 2006/10/29-30 [Science/Electric] UID:45024 Activity:nil 75%like:45028 |
10/29 FoxTrot on Electronic Voting:
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ft/2006/ft061029.gif |
| 2006/10/29-30 [Academia/UCLA, Uncategorized/Profanity, Recreation/Sports] UID:45025 Activity:nil |
10/29 Sucks so bad that USC lost. It was Cal's best chance for a BCS
bid. -- USC student, Cal fan.
\_ Fuck all of you assholes. -Berkeley alum, who couldn't give two
shits about "Cal".
\_ Fuck you, too.
\_ I don't see how it makes a difference. If USC won, Cal would still
need to beat USC to go to the Rose Bowl. Now, Cal needs to beat
USC to go to the Rose Bowl. If Cal loses against USC, they wouldn't
be going to a BCS bowl whether USC beat OrSt or not.
\_ The argument is that if USC went to the Championship game,
then Cal could finish 2nd and still go to the Rose Bowl.
I don't like that argument. If Cal goes to the Rose Bowl it
should not be because USC is playing for a MNC. The loss
helped Cal, because now Cal has a game "to give" if they
beat USC and a chance to finish 1st even if they lose to USC
(if someone else can beat USC, too).
\_ My argument was that if USC stayed #3 and Cal beat them (handing
USC their only loss), Cal would have a good chance of finishing
Top 6 and getting a BCS bid. I didn't consider Cal losing to USC.
\_ If Cal beats USC, Cal wins the Pac-10 and goes to the Rose Bowl.
This was the case last week, and it's the case now.
\_ Cal doesn't need to finish top 6 to get a BCS bid. If Cal
beats USC and has no more than one other Pac-10 loss, we are
guaranteed to go to the Rose Bowl. If we lose to USC but
finish in the top 14 BCS rankings, we can still go to a BCS
bowl--there's one more BCS bowl this year than there has been
in the past, so the chances are much less that we'll be screwed
like we were in 2004 (and Oregon in 2005).
In any case, the focus should be on beating USC, which would
make polls and tiebreakers unimportant. -tom
\_ The focus should be beating the next opponent, as UDub
showed. If we lose to Arizona and UCLA then who cares
about USC?
\_ Yeah, but now we can lose to one of them and still go. |
| 2006/10/29-30 [Uncategorized] UID:45026 Activity:nil |
10/29 Noted liberal George Will on the war:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15460708/site/newsweek
\_ Well, he certainly gets this week's award for most gratuitous
Russia-bashing.
\_ It's like we read two different columns, only I happen to know
we didn't. |
| 2006/10/29-11/1 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:45027 Activity:nil |
10/29 Motd lawyers, help me: is it still legal for people to shove their
flyers under my door? I'm this close to going postal on the next person
who puts a flyer on my doorknob.
\_ Yes, it is. Unless you can point me to some local city or county
ordinance that prohibits the practice.
\_ See, now, the point of my post was so that YOU would find the
local or county ordinance for me. But thanks for playing.
\_ See, now, the point of my post was that YOU did NOT ever
name which county or city you lived in, so answering your
question is absolutely impossible, unless you wanted
someone to go down, city-by-city, county-by-county, every
single public nuisance law and make an analysis. The motd
response entry would then be about 50 pages long and would
take up several days of attorney time at my billable rate
of nearly 400 dollars an hour. Tell me where to send the
bill, give me a $5,000 retainer, and I'll get started.
Until then, thanks for playing.
\_ How much did you bill your real client to write that stupid
little rant on the motd? |
| 2006/10/29 [Science/Electric] UID:45028 Activity:nil 75%like:45024 |
10/29 FoxTrot on Electronic Voting:
link:tinyurl.com/ynafyu |
| 2006/10/29-11/1 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:45029 Activity:moderate |
10/29 Mark Steyn op/ed in the Chicago Sun Times.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/steyn/114966,CST-EDT-steyn29.article
The invaluable Brussels Journal recently translated an interview
with the writer Oscar van den Boogaard from the Belgian paper De
Standaard. A Dutch gay "humanist" (which is pretty much the
trifecta of Eurocool), van den Boogaard was reflecting on the
accelerating Islamification of the Continent and concluding that
the jig was up for the Europe he loved. "I am not a warrior, but
who is?" he shrugged. "I have never learned to fight for my
freedom. I was only good at enjoying it."
\_ Yay I'm eurocool!
Just something to think about.
\_ I agree wholeheartedly, which is why I believe that the suspension
of habeous corpus is a life-and-death issue for this republic.
\_ Which may be true but isn't at all what OvdB is talking about.
Do you believe whole heartedly with him that the accelerating
Islamificiation of Europe is destroying it as we speak?
\_ No, I agree with the op's assertion that the quote, sans
context, is something to think about.
\_ Ok, then you totally missed the point because context
is everything. Without context the quote floats out in
meaningless space. Do you really believe that there is no
Islamification process taking place in Europe now or do you
believe it will not end Mr. OvdB's freedom as he knows it?
And btw, replying by misdirection is thread jacking and
somewhat rude since you didn't agree at all with the real
point being made. Please make your own thread if you
want to talk about the US and Bush bashing. --op
\_ Well, now, you didn't actually seem to have a point
before. If you wanted this to be a thread about the
"islamification" of Europe, perhaps you should have
included explicating text to that effect. Instead, you
gave us a shotgun splatter or both "islamification" and
a quote that seemed to be aimed at galvanizing geeks
sitting on their asses. Really, if you're not going to
be clear in what you want to talk about, how do expect
anyone to take you seriously? In regards to the
\_ <sarcasm> Hmmm, multi-line post about
Islamification. No mention of US or Bush.
Clearly, I was unclear and I can now see how you
thought I was talking about Bush and the US and not
Europe and Islamification. </sarcasm>
\_ I didn't. I thought you were talking about
learning to fight for your freedom, hence my
declaration that I agree that we must fight for
for our freedom against its enemies, like Bush.
\_ I was but in a European/Islamic context. I
read+hear enough about this country's
problems which are serious but I don't believe
rise to the level of what I see going on in
Europe. If Europe really does fall and turn
into a part of some Greater Caliphate then
our current problems and trends will look
trivial in comparison.
\_ And if we let the Jews own property,
they'll turn all good Christians into their
slaves and drink the blood of Christian
babies. Alarmist overreactions are often
used to solidify nationalist support and
ostracize/marginalize foreign populations.
The much more likely outcome of Muslim
immigration to the EU is secularization
of Islam. How we handle this integration
and assimilation will determine how much of
stake the next generation of Islamo-Euro-
peans feel they have in the status quo.
Cf. the riots in Paris which have nothing
to do with Islam and everything to do with
economic depression in the ethnic slums.
\_ Hopefully you can see the difference
between the racism inflicted on other
people and the demographic trends in
Europe going on right now shifting
towards people who are anti-Western and
have no concept of freedom as we know
it in the West. Blood libels against
Jews are not the same as the real world
events you can read about in newspapers
every day. But I'm sure you knew that.
\_ Please show me evidence of these
demographic trends you speak of.
\_ Try this. It even attempts to
tell us that all of this is a-ok.
I thought you might appreciate a
link of this nature instead of
the doom n gloom link I more
easily could have provided:
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=19233
\_ Thank you. I do indeed
appreciate your effort here.
This is an interesting article
and certainly raises some
issues. However, I still don't
see a trend toward anti-
Western populations with no
concept of freedom as we know
it in the West; in fact, I see
a trend toward people who are
even more painfully aware of
how precious our (now their)
freedoms are.
\_ This doesn't directly talk
of demogph trends but it
does cover several issues
more broadly and is perhaps
more interesting than some
of the charts I found
elsewhere:
http://www.digitalnpq.org/articles/europe/10/08-17-2005/ayaan_hirsi_ali
\_ Let's be blunt: any
crimes against another
person (or illegal
possession of explosives
or weapons) should
certainly be dealt with
immediately and with the
full weight of the law.
That goes for anyone,
native or immigrant. That
said, immigrant !=
terrorist or criminal.
\_ Islam has never successfully been
secularized (even Turkey is not what
we in the West would call secular).
The experience of India under the yoke
of Islam is illustrative. If not for
the British, India would have been
lost.
\_ India under Islamic rule is history,
not current events. You'd be better
off pointing to the Islamic Rev. in
Iran. However, find me a country that
has turned to Sharia as a result of
immigration.
\_ I do not know of a country that
has turned to Sharia b/c of
immigration BUT this is largely
because population did not have
a great degree of mobility till
the 2d 1/2 of the 20th century.
Slower mobility in the past ment
that there was greater time for
indigenous culture to assimilate
and modify the immigrant culture.
This is no longer true and to
act on the assumption that it
remains true risks the future of
Europe.
[ The problem is futher compounded
by the falling birth rate in
Europe, outside of Islamic
immigrants ]
\_ I'm not seeing evidence that
immigrants to Europe or the
US are causing cultural or
legislative changes. The charge
of creeping Islamification
still rings of alarmism. What
changes do you see that alarm
you, and how are these changes
different from the assimilation
of other immigrant populations?
\_ Just as Europe had to be defended against
Soviet communism, despite its reluctance
to defend itself, Europe must be defended
against Islamism. The current administra-
tion, unfortunately, makes this difficult
b/c it is unable or unwilling to understand
the European mind and work w/ it. [ I do
not mean to suggest that a Democratic
administration would be more effective, I
think that neither party, currently, has
leaders who would be able to effectively
help Europe and thereby help America w/
this particular problem. ]
"islamification" of Europe, I believe that the effect is
being exaggerated and exploited by national front types
to further an agenda of immigrant bashing. If we let
these reactionaries determine policy, all foreigners
will end up in ghettos and there will be regularly
scheduled pogroms to keep them in line.
\_ So you think OvdB is a national front ultra
nationalist type? Or he's been suckered in by them?
He is certainly not a national frontist.
\_ I'm not sure what his deal is. That having been
said, even self-described Dutch gay humanists are
not immune to overreactions.
\_ Just this morning I read of a Muslim teacher in the UK who
was fighting for her "right" to wear a veil in the classroom.
This, to me, is sufficient illustration of Islamification
subverting and destroying Europe and European ideas.
Europe has long embraced an admirable attitude of tolerance
for all manner of ideas. But, this same attitude has been and
is being used against Europe by the Islamists in order to
import all manners of practices directly opposed to the
fundamental values of liberty and equality. Is it really
equality and choice that the above mentioned teacher is fighting
for? Or is she merely a pawn in some larger game?
The root of the problem is that most European's have accepted,
as the philosophical basis for their tolerance, the proposition
that all belief systems are equally valid and that any distaste
for alternate systems is based, not on any inherent flaw in
that system, but rather in our own prejudices and biases. "If
only we understood them better, there would be no problem" is
the problem. By thinking of the problem as one from w/in
instead of one from w/o the revolution has not been televised.
I agree w/ above poster, that some national front types have,
in the past, exaggerated the effect of the Islamification of
Europe for purposes other than the protection of Europe's
Europe has long embraced an admirable attitude of
tolerance for all manner of ideas. But, this same attitude
has been and is being used against Europe by the Islamists
in order to import all manners of practices directly opposed
to the fundamental values of liberty and equality. Is it
really equality and choice that the above mentioned teacher
is fighting for? Or is she merely a pawn in some larger game?
The root of the problem is that most European's have
The root of the problem is that many European's have
the panda says "NO!"_/
accepted, as the philosophical basis for their tolerance, the
proposition that all belief systems are equally valid and that
any distaste for alternate systems is based, not on inherent
flaws in that other system, but rather in our own prejudices
and biases. "If only we understood them better, there would be
no problem" is the problem. By thinking of the problem as one
from w/in instead of one from w/o the revolution has not been
televised.
\_ I don't know based on what you make this assertion, but
it's not accurate. Replace "most" with "many" and you
have something there. The success of Pim Fortuyn in
Holland, the recent Swiss immigration referenda, and
various other restrictive laws/moves against what is
essentially islamification prove this nicely. The main
problem is that political groups most active against the
rise of islamist influence have a strong association with
neo-fascist, xenophobic extremist groups (i.e. Le Pen,
Zhirinovsky, NPD, NPB, Liga Norte, etc) and those more
centrist groups advocating strong curbs on islamism are
easily painted by their opponents as equally extreme. Add
to this a historical reluctance to focus on one particular
group (for obvious reasons) and you have a problem. -John
\_ Okay, I think I'm mostly in agreement w/ you. I have
changed "most" to "many." My main concern is that
either not enough Europeans see the potential problem
or that they are too afraid (b/c they would be singled
as bigots by other Europeans and targeted by Islamists)
to take action. It may also be that many Europeans are
to used to the "good life" to take a stand.
\_ Take a stand on what exactly? What do you want them
to do?
\_ Immigration reform, less tolerance for Sharia
and Islamic practices, such as forcing women
to wear veils and not allowing them to finish
schooling, would be good starting points.
Also dealing w/ problems such as the Paris riots
using necessary force, rather than making stmts
that we feel your pain and will do everything
we can to make you happy. Appeasement never works,
but Europe seems to have forgotten that lesson.
\_ Immigration reform is happening, gradually,
in a lot of countries in Europe. I sense that
there is a shrinking tolerance for bullshit
among voters; Turkey & its impending EU
membership, Theo van Gogh, the riots in
France and other factors are bringing this
sort of thing to a head. Regardless of
whether you support or oppose US foreign
policy, it has at least been presented in a
very in-your-face manner, which made life
_very_ difficult for people in Europe trying
to call bullshit on islamists. -John
\_ How did an open US foreign policy make it
had for Europeans to call BS on Islamists?
\_ Whether it's right or wrong, it's been
presented in a very confrontational,
unilateral manner since 2001. This
removed a lot of sympathy for the US and
tainted anyone agreeing even with the\
good parts of the "war on terror" with
a kind of "American stooge" label, thus
weakening the position of those who
support laying down the whoopass on the
real bad guys. No it's not rational,
but maybe you see the connection. The
militant islamists enjoying the relative
freedom of speech & movement they get in
Europe should be countered with total
and consistent determination, with no
room for mediocre bush-league shit like
Iraq. -John
\_ Appeasement of what? They're rioting because
they have no jobs and no prospects, and because
the cops are running in people simply for
being young and non-caucasian. Sounds like the
Watts riots to me. The solution there? More
economic development so that people have a
greater stake in the preservation of the status
quo. Also, while I agree that religion should
not be an excuse to pull kids out of school,
you cannot outlaw burqas if people _want_ to
wear them.
\_ I do not accept that the reason these
people do not have jobs is because of
failing on the part of the European
people. There are sufficient opportunities
in Europe for people who are willing to
become educated and work hard to build
a life. More economic development is not
the answer to a problem that is not born
from poverty w/o opportunity.
The problem is one of attitude, these
people want to live in Europe, but not
a Europe based on European ideals.
from poverty w/o opportunity. The problem
is one of attitude; these people want to
live in Europe, but not a Europe based on
European ideals.
Re police running in kids for not
being "white," you know the police don't
really run in Indian or Asian kids (even
here in Klan country). I wonder why that
is? Maybe it is b/c we want to actually
become contributing members of society
and try to adapt to our new homes, rather
I also disagree re Burquas. Even
under US law (including Cohen), which is
far more generous than European law, it
is certainly possible to regulate when
and where these garments may be worn.
There are many contexts in which the gov.
could ban the wearning of the garment (ex.
Re police running in kids for not being
"white," you know the police don't really
run in Indian or Asian kids. I wonder
why that is? Maybe it is b/c these kids
want to actual become contributing members
of society and try to adapt to their new
homes, rather than trying to destroy them.
I also disagree re Burquas. Even under US
law (including Cohen), it is certainly
possible to regulate when and where these
garments may be worn. There are many
contexts in which the government could
forbid the wearning of the garment (ex.
public school teachers - reasonable time
place manner restriction).
\_ Please search through news reports for
more information on the causes of
economic disenfranchisment in Paris.
The "they're poor because they're lazy"
argument has been shown time and again to
be specious in many countries. Also, it's
not just Islamic immigrants who are
having difficulty finding work in Paris.
For comparison, I submit this op-ed
piece from a BBC columnist comparing
the Paris riots (and their roots) with
the Brixton riots of '80s.
http://csua.org/u/hbk
As for
burqas, I would like this debated before
the courts, not just legislated. I can
see the argument in favor of banning the
burqa for public servants/teachers, but
I want a very healthy, very public
debate on it before we ban them. Let any
action we take be based on our ideals
and principles, not just our fear.
Oh, and by the way, let me just state for
the record that I will gladly repel, with
arms, any armed religious coup. If any-
one tries an Islamic (or Christian or
Buddhist) revolution, then yes, it will
then be time to fight.
I agree w/ above poster, that some national front types
have, in the past, exaggerated the effect of the Islamification
of Europe for purposes other than the protection of Europe's
freedom and liberty. But, I think that the problem is real and
cannot be dismissed as mere politics any more. To do so would
be to condemn Europe to the yoke of the Moors.
\_ You misspelled his name, even though it's in the URL.
be to condemn Europe to the yoke of the Moors for a 2d time.
[ I thank formatd for its efforts, but I want the paragraphs
for readability ]
\_ Sorry for mushing your post. I reformatted to bring the
length under 80 columns and didn't intend to squash your
paragraphs. --formatd
\_ What the hell is a traditionalist muslim woman doing
teaching?
\_ Unmarried muslim women often work as teachers at
girls schools in many Islamic countries; it is not
a "forbidden" occupation. But, even unmarried girls
must cover their faces, even while acting as teachers.
a "forbidden" occupation for a traditional muslim
woman. |
| 2006/10/29-30 [Computer/SW/SpamAssassin] UID:45030 Activity:kinda low |
10/29 Any tips on dealing with the usual nonsense-text-around-embedded-
images spam? I'm running postgrey + spamassassin, and it's catching
about half of them... -John
\_ Are you running Razor2, Pyzor, and other services that contact
a centralized spam repository to filter out even more spams?
\_ No, I will be. A gentleman and a scholar, thanks. -John
\_ There is something unique about those spams. It is possible to
filter them. I'm not allowed to discuss it further. |