2/22    I don't really care about the 2007 Oscar but I'm betting with a
        bunch of co-workers. What's the best site that gives the best
        predictions? I don't care who wins, I'm just looking for the
        best (consistent and high %) predictions.

2/23    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr23tpWX8lM
        Lock Bumping. 90% of the locks can be opened easily with this
        technique.
        \_ O Motd, benificent, what locks are recommended to avoid this?
           \_ The video mentions Medeco and Primus
              \_ If you listen carefully, it also mentions Schlage. -dans

2/23    "Medieval Muslims made stunning math breakthrough"
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070223/sc_nm/architecture_patterns_dc
        "Quasicrystalline patterns comprise a set of interlocking units whose
        pattern never repeats, even when extended infinitely in all
        directions, ..."  Wow!  Home Depot can probably charge a premium if it
        carries these kinds of tiles.
        \_ Cool!  The medieval Arab world is actually responsible for lots of
           math breakthroughs, many of which we use regularly.  The most
           obvious example I know if lies in the etymology of the word
           algebra: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/algebra -dans
           \- isnt the arab contribution to science sort of common knowledge?
              [in addition to algebra, you'ld think cs people would know
              algorithm]. but anyway, less common knowledge is the origin
              of "sine", which was due to a "lost in transation" mistake
              from sanskrit -> arabic -> latin due to "lossy compression".
              it's kind of funny. obwiki:
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_trigonometric_functions#Etymology
              If you are interested in "the fall of rome" and the rise of the
              arabs" w.r.t. medieterranian culture, you may enjoy reading about
              the PIRENNE THESIS.
              If you are interested in the rise of the arab between the "fall"
              of rome and the later rise of western "christendom" esp w.r.t.
              w.r.t. mediterranian culture, you may enjoy reading about
              the PIRENNE THESIS. I dont really know anything about art
              history, but i like islamic art alot ... i think it is often
              "design pattern" driven because they didnt waste so many
              cycles on images of people in 2-d or 3-d, unlike the greeks,
              romans, western eurpeans etc. that was for religious reasons.
              why they didnt spend time on say landscapes [or if that is
              even true] i am not sure.
              \_ I think the Arab contribution to science is common knowledge
                 among  mathematicians and science history buffs, but I think
                 they make up a pretty small segment of the general
                 population. :) -dans
                 \_ I think we should be more clear here. The Babylonians
                    and Persians, for example, were not Arab. Since the Arabs
                    were mostly nomads, I am not sure their contributions are
                    that great. I don't know if that last statement is
                    true, but nomadic horsemen aren't usually the type
                    to develop scientific breakthroughs.
                    \_ You'd have to check out the Arab world at it's height
                       in the 12-14th C.  Before that it was barbarian tribal
                       time like you said and after that they were pretty much
                       under someone else's thumb right up to today.
                    \_ Cairo has been a city for longer than most of
                       the world has had literacy. It moved a few times,
                       due to the Nile moving around, but it has been
                       a center of learning for at least 4000 years. And
                       surely you have heard of the Library of Alexandria.
                       \_ You mean the library that the Greeks built?
                    \_ Yeah, I was going to point out that Persians (i.e.
                       modern-day Iran, typically Farsi vs. Arabic speakers.)
                       also contributed considerably to the Arab golden age,
                       but it felt like splitting hairs.  But, yes, Persians
                       are distinct from Arabs.  Was Babylon near its height
                       at the same time as the height of the Persian and Arab
                       empires? -dans
        \_ We're all using arabic numerals.
           \_ Which were developed in India.
              \_ Huh?  URL please?
                 \_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_numerals
                    Was that too difficult for you to find?

2/23    I just saw Rick Starr looking like a homeless man singing
        horribly at 20th/Broadway in Oakland
        \_ And that is different from 20 years ago how?
           \_ He moved south.

2/23    http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8048
Event Focuses on Surveillance, Wiretapping, Terrorism

February 21, 2007

John Yoo -- who spearheaded the Bush administration's legal response
to the 2001 terrorist attacks -- and other constitutional scholars
will debate the National Security Agency's surveillance program,
warrantless phone wiretapping and the war on terror at UC Davis March
9.

The event, titled "Katz v. U.S: 40 Years Later -- From Warrantless
Wiretaps to the War on Terror," will focus on how the U.S. Supreme
Court's landmark "search and seizure" decision in Katz applies in a
modern age of global terrorism.

The UC Davis Law Review and the School of Law will host the free,
public event. The program runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Wilkins
Moot Court Room of King Hall on the UC Davis campus.

"The issue of warrantless wiretaps and personal privacy has resurfaced
from under the current NSA surveillance program," said David
Richardson, editor-in-chief of the law review. "This symposium will
allow some of the greatest legal minds in the country to discuss both
sides of this controversy."

Jennifer Chacon, a UC Davis professor of law and faculty adviser to
the event, said, "Growing concerns over crime and terrorism in the
United States have sparked a national conversation about the
trade-offs between individual privacy and security."

"Read against a modern backdrop," she added, "the case of Katz v.
United States provides an ideal framework for discussing privacy
expectations, effective law enforcement and anti-terrorism
strategies."

In Katz, the court ruled that the Fourth Amendment protects "people,
not places" and provides protection of a "reasonable expectation of
privacy," effectively curtailing the use of warrantless wiretaps by
law enforcement agencies.

John Yoo, now a UC Berkeley law professor, and Glenn Sulmasy of the
U.S. Coast Guard Academy, will co-present a paper questioning the
viability of Katz in the war on terror in a session at 2:45 p.m. Yoo
served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal
Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003.

Sessions are as follows: "Katz in Context: Privacy, Policing
Homosexuality and Enforcing Social Norms," 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.;
"Katz: Rights and Remedies," 12:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.; "Katz in the Age
of International Crime and Terrorism," 2:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.; and
closing remarks, 4:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the law review ranks in the top 50
most cited legal periodicals in the United States. Each year it hosts
a symposium on current legal topics.

2/23    Best name for a dog grooming salon, EVAR!
        http://tinyurl.com/2p4r77

2/23    Oops. Hybrid cars don't get the MPG we thought they did
        http://news.google.com/news?q=hybrid+mpg
        \_ Why don't you link to an article instead of a search?
           \_ Choose your news source.  That way I won't link to an article and
              have one group say "we don't accept that news source", then link
              to another and have a different group say the same thing.
        \_ Nor do the non-hybrid cars.  Both hybrids and non-hybrids were
           tested with the same outdated procedures.
           \_ I've gotten very close to the EPA ratings with my Toyota
              Corolla (2003).  --PeterM
              \_ My Lexus IS350 gets better than advertised mileage. In
                 fact, with a mix of street and freeway driving Toyota
                 is able to squeeze out 30+ MPG from a 300 HP V6 without
                 needing to screw with hybrid technology.
              \_ My 1996 Jeep Cherokee gets 25mpg highway on long streches of
                 freeway (I-5 Stockton <--> LA, after midnight), while the EPA
                 highway estimate is 22mpg.  But I only go 65mph and that's
                 not how most people drive.  -- PP
           \_ My last 3 cars were all within 1-2 mpg of the ratings.  I
              commuted 60-90 minutes each way to the valley for a few years.
              In heavy traffic, light traffic, off hours, speeding, rain and
              shine, it was pretty accurate over time.
        \_ Seriously, is this what you folks do with your spare time? -dans
           \_ Classic: posting on a geek message board how other people waste
              their spare time on geeky stuff.
              \_ I'd respond to this, but your head would probably due to a
                 recursive post-modernist stack overflow. -dans
                 \_ Wow, you are so cool!  Completely missed the point as
                    expected.  But cool, cool, cool!  And smart!  Way smart!
                    \_ Uh huh. -dans

2/23    Do women with gigantic tits get breast cancer more often
        than ones without?
        \_ http://i19.tinypic.com/30c8sx1.jpg does not have cancer.
           \_ That's Amanda Wenk, right?
        \_ the fat stores more of the cancer causing agents
           more fat.. the more you can store
        \_ I have read so.
           \- It would make sense if the chance for any given cell to become
              cancerous were fixed. Bigger breasts => more cells => greater
              chance they get cancer.
                     \- i thought fat people didnt have more fat cells
                        but larger fat cells. BTW, a really quite good book
                        is "Why Zebras dont get Ulcers". --psb
              \_ Not necessarily.  I doubt cancer happens randomly with an
                 equal chance per cell.  It is much more related to heredity
                 and environment.  I would expect a woman with small breasts
                 who works at a radioactive biotoxin waste dump who had both
                 grandmothers, her mother, 3 aunts and 2 sisters die of
                 cancer to also get cancer while the OP's "gigantic tits"
                 woman who has no family history and lives in a clean
                 environment to likely never get cancer.  My example is
                 extreme of course but just trying to make the point that
                 cancer is a disease with real causes, not a random event.
                 \_ Still, averaged over the entire population, it may well
                    reduce to, "more breast cells, higher chance of breast
                    cancer."  For example, if your small breasted woman has a
                    large breasted sister who worked at the same dump, the
                    sister may have a higher chance.
                    \_ I would expect both to get it at approx the same time.
                       Another thing to think about: women who have had lumps
                       removed will often get breast cancer again (and again)
                       until the entire breast is removed.  Yet the cancer
                       is often only in one breast.  So after a first lump
                       removal you should have a higher chance in the other
                       breast but because of the environment (previous cancer
                       cells already in the first breast), that breast is
                       much more likely to grow more cancer.
                       \_ When I travel on an airplane I bring a bomb, because
                          it is *really* unlikely there will be two bombs on
                          the plane!
                          \_ Cute, but false analogy.
              \_ That can't be real.
        [... snip ...]

2/23    B of A starts offering credit cards to people w/o SSN:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070222/us_nm/bankofamerica_immigrants_dc
        That's strange.  My dad got a B of A credit card in 1980 when he
        didn't have an SSN and was on a work visa in the Bay Area.  Today he
        still doesn't have an SSN and is still using the card overseas
        regularly.

2/23    I hope I kick this much ass when I'm 70
        http://redirx.com/?7yui
        \_ If you can't kick this much ass today, you won't be able to at 70
           either.
           \_ Unless you take my class now!  Just $19.95 a lesson!
        \_ Way to go!  That guy retired from the military.  I bet the average
           sodan can't do this even at the present age.
           \_ Hard to say.  I only know one person who has KILLED A MAN
              WITH HIS BARE HANDS.
              \_ Is this from the Chuck Norris Facts list?
              \_ I thought they didn't know what weapon Hans used.  -tom

2/23    http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8048

2/23    UCD Law Review Symposium on 4th Amend. Search & Seizure law:
        http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8048
        http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/2007symposium
        \_ If anybody here has EBOLA, please go to this and lick JOHN YOO.

2/23    Pnews - get error
        "/bin/cat: /etc/news/organization: No such file or directory"
        any ideas?
        \_ I've created that file, and Pnews seems to be working now.  --mconst
        other error:
          \_  /usr/bin/Pnews: line 448: /usr/local/bin/jove: No such file or
              directory
              \_ Ok, I added a symlink /usr/local/bin/jove.  Could you
                 please let me know if that works for you?  --mconst
                 \_ works.. thanks :)
                 \_ Why would that be necessary? Is that path hardcoded
                    somewhere or did he have that as his EDITOR or VISUAL?
                    (if he did it's stupid not to get it from PATH)
                    \_ It's not hardcoded; I assume the original poster just
                       had it as their $EDITOR.  But there's no harm in having
                       /usr/local/bin/jove as a symlink, and it'll probably
                       fix similar problems for other people. --mconst

2/23    hot debian biches
        http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2719/womenoflinuxdz5.jpg
        \_ You're being: sarcastic?  ironic?  woman hating?  troll?
           I can't figure out why you'd post this and use that byline.