12/29   Man, Germans are STUPID. They don't know the difference between
        Sydney Australia and Sidney Montana in US of A.
        http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/29/germany.tourist.reut
        \_ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16389973
        \- E_RATCHET
        \_ I wonder how many American people think the Sydney Opera House is
           in Austria, the capital of classical music; Thai is the language
           spoken in Taiwan; there are grand casinos in the Principality of
           Morocco; etc.
           \_ I've met tons of people who think Taiwanese restaurants serve
              Thai food, and that Taiwanese is the language spoken in Thailand.
              I've also met tons of people who think Persians and Iranians are
              from different continents and that Iran and Iraq are the same.
              I do have to admit that over the past decade or so, people are
              slowly realizing that Iran and Iraq are not the same. This is
              from my experience in California of course. I wonder how much
              smarter/dumber people from other states are.
              \_ Since you mentioned Iran, here's another one: "Iran is an Arab
                 country."  -- PP

12/29   There have been a lot of complaints regarding soda reliability and
        users not volunteering their time and effort to help. Obviously,
        it wouldn't make sense for every user to be given root access so
        they can volunteer. Instead, why don't we use motd for people to
        contribute concrete suggestions (not just to start flame wars) to
        improve soda reliability and security? I'll start:
        - Tripwire
        - Maybe going back to a *BSD
        - Sendmail is complicated and filled with holes. Why not use an
          alternative MTA?
          \_ Also, there use to be this message "Last logged in from..."
             I used to look at to see where my account was last used.
          \_ From being a part of the new-rebuild considerations, yes, no,
             and yes. --michener
          \_ Run soda in a virtual machine.

12/29   How would you like to see Saddam executed? I'll start:
        -Head chop, like how the insurgents do it: .
        -Stone to death: .
        -Nerve gas: .

12/29   Soda Update:
        Sorry for breaking the ever-so interesting topic of Bush bashing,
        etc.  Anyway, as most of you have probably noticed, Soda did not
        go down as we had anticipated, which is good and bad.  Basically
        card keys are not working yet, due to system issues on the UCPD
        side of getting cardkey access before the end of the term.  I am
        anticipating that cardkey access will be available immediately
        following the new year, so we will attempt to try our Soda
        maintenance again after the new year.

        In the mean time, enjoy your time and use of Soda.  I will let
        you all know when Soda will be out of service.  Until then,
        I wish everyone a happy new year.
         -- minghay
        \_ So, what, did soda get pwn3d again?
           \_ Yes, but enjoy some soda meanwhile!

12/29   http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/29/villainsandheroes.appoll.ap/index.html
        Bush is hero and villain of the year.

12/29   R.I.H. Saddam Hussein
        \_ Hope GWB joins him soon.
        \_ YES! Death to all tyrants in the world! Now there will be peace
`               \_ E_SICSEMPERTYRANNIS
           and harmony in the middle east again, where Shiites and Sunnis
           will hold hands and celebrate. We can now bring the troops back.
           We won the war! Hoooray!
           \_ No one ever said excuting Saddam would bring peace to anyone.
        \_ Perhaps you mean R.I.G. or R.I.I.? R.I.T.?
        \_ in that regard, Bush also deserve to go to hell too, right?
           hundreds of thousands of people died since the invasion.
           \_ You're going to quote the top end figure from the Lancet
              study as if it was fact?  Why not quote the bottom end?  Or
              the average?  Or the median?

12/29   I personally don't know anyone who supports Bush's War in Iraq. However
        according to the polls 35% of the Americans still do.  WHO ARE THESE
        PEOPLE? What do they do? Where do they live? What are they like?
        \_ People like that exist everywhere. Emarkp is a fine example.
           Is your sample based in San Francisco or nearby academia?
           If so I wouldn't be surprised.
        \_ You /do/ realize the bias of polling people you know, right? -emarkp
           \_ The OP does not or wouldn't have posed the question.
        \_ 28%
        \_ consider how many people voted for Bush in 2004, why you are
           surprise?

12/29   What are some of the most racist stereotypes you personally agree
        with but don't tell anyone else because it's not PC? I'll start:
        \_ Blonds are dumb. Dumb blond!
        \_ Chicomm
        \_ The more you drive, the dumber you are.
           \_ Where in this is race involved?
              \_ People of color seem to drive more. Gardeners, truck
                 drivers, custodians, taxi drivers, etc. This is mostly
                 because they can can only afford to live at the outer
                 fringe of society. Driving is repetitive hard work and
                 nobody likes doing it repeatedly.
v                nobody likes doing it repeatedly.
                 \_ You may be surprised to find out that those in the
                    suburbs tend to be more wealthy and better educated
                    than those in the jity centers.
                    \_ "Tend to be" according to a study? According to your
                       narrow sample? Let's compare Atherton CA to
                       Chicago IL then your statement would have tractions.
                       However, compare Boston MA to Compton CA, your
                       statement would be flawed. I'd be interested to
                       see a study of average and median IQ + income of
                       the entire US. Until that happens, your statement
                       is as stupid as "women tend to be bad drivers."
                    \_ This is certainly not true world wide. Perhaps
                       this is true in the Bay Area, but I would have
                       to see the statistics to be certain. Housing is
                       cheaper in the suburbs, especially the outer ring.
        \_ Women are terrible drivers.  Asian women are the worst of the
           women.  Sad... but in my experience very very true.