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| 2007/4/9-11 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:46234 Activity:nil |
4/8 http://www.slate.com/id/2163601 http://tinyurl.com/37cerl The gamble patrons make is that it's worth rewarding unqualified loyalists because they will be hidden in the bureaucracy and never become important enough to draw attention. But the Bush administration has lost this wager more times than is becoming ... \_ "...Attorney General Alberto Gonzales bad-mouthed his former employees. In so doing, Gonzales severely undercut their employment prospects and all but forced them to fight back." Unless you believe those USAs that testified have perjured themselves, this article is WAY behind the times. Ah, nevermind. The article was written 4/1. Even then, he'd have been behind the times. \_ It is hard to tell who was using who. |
| 2007/4/9-12 [Health/Men] UID:46235 Activity:kinda low |
4/9 I'm in my late 30s but I still look like a kid. I'm about 5'4"
and 120 pounds. I dress well-- I don't wear GAP/Old Navy
crap. However some people at work still treat me like a kid.
I'm thinking about dying my hair partially white. What's a good
hair dye kit and where can I buy it?
\_ If you look like a kid and dresses up in a real Armani
suit, you'll still look like a kid. The exception is
Ted Koppel from NBC Dateline. He's 5'4" and looks old.
\_ shave it bald and grow a beard.
\_ Maybe you should do it backward. Start act like you're having
\_ Maybe you should do it backward. Start acting like you're having
mid-life crisis and start wearing GAP, while subtly displaying a
bottle of arthritis pills and an AARP brochure on your desk.
\_ drink whiskey, smoke cigars, play poker, shoot guns,
drive a big ass SUV.
\_ drink whiskey, smoke cigars, play poker, shoot guns, drive a big
ass SUV.
\_ Just keep banging teenage and early 20something tail and consider
yourself blessed. That's how I deal with it, anyhow.
\_ I got tired of banging young girls by the time I was 34
(read the poll below on "dating teenagers"). How old are
you now and are you still banging teenagers?
\_ 36 and yes
\_ Get married, grow up, start acting like an adult
and people will treat you like one.
\_ Your only hope is a change in attitude and presentation. If you
don't call them on it they'll keep doing it.
\_ Stop whining snd be grateful for what you do have. Try getting
something when you are in your late 30s/early 40s with noticable
grey patches in your hair. So much for grey hair being distinguished. |
| 2007/4/9-12 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:46236 Activity:nil |
4/9 Iran's "National day of nuclear energy"
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070409/D8OD6Q102.html |
| 2007/4/9-12 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA, Industry/Jobs] UID:46237 Activity:low 50%like:46150 |
4/8 fyi no new mail coming in
\_ obUseSodaOnlyForMotd
\_ embarrassing.. Google recruiter had 2 of my resumes .. one
was with my csua email account (which i like because it
showed off berkeley) and the other with another acct..
He asked me why did you move your email to gmail when
having the http://berkeley.edu address is better for your resume
I told him because the csua email was too unreliable..
He told me. .that's why we like to hire stanford people.
\_ I heard that those jerks don't like to hire people who can't
indent one's code either.
\_ well you could always get a <DEAD>cal.berkeley.edu<DEAD> or
link:alum.berkeley.edu and forward it to gmail.
\_ And you told him, "If you can't see I graduated from Berkeley on
my resume without having it as my email address you're not smart
enough to hire me, thanks". Right? Anyway, why would you want
to work for Google at this point in their history anyway? Do you
have a PhD? If not, I see no reason to go there.
\_ Related: It is likely that starting next year, students will
be able to keep their @berkeley.edu addresses for life (as
forwarding addresses). -tom
\_ That's cool. Who runs this program and how do we sign up when
it's ready? Thanks!
\_ Right now it's only an agreement in principle. I expect
the way it will work is that when you put yourself on the
degree list, you'll get asked for a forwarding email address.
University Relations is very interested in keeping in
touch with young alumni. -tom
\_ They're interested in keeping touch with all Alumni. Or
so the numberous requests for donations I get each year
so the numerous requests for donations I get each year
would seem to indicate. --erikred
\_ Well, of course. But if they lose them in the first
five years, they rarely get them back. They want to
"build lifelong relationships" so that you'll donate
once you're old enough to have earned money. -tom
\_ Good point. --erikred
\_ I graduated. Do they plan to have a way for senile grads
to signup?
\_ At the very least, you'll be able to do
@cal.berkeley.edu. Dunno about @berkeley.edu. -tom
\_ Thanks tom. Please keep us informed. |
| 2007/4/9-11 [Industry/Jobs] UID:46238 Activity:kinda low |
4/9 I get to pick my own title "within reason". I'd like to pick whatever
will be most useful on my resume in the future without limiting my
future options too much. I will be the senior programmer and
"go to guy" in my group, but without anyone reporting to me. Some
possible adjectives: "platform, 3D, services"
\_ "Software Architect", a very high technical non-managerial title.
\_ Agreed. It implies you're decisions are followed by others,
\_ Agreed. It implies your decisions are followed by others,
but you're not a manager/team lead.
\_ How about Principal Engineer? Suggests a high degree of technical
ability and responsibility.
\_ I suggest using Principal Engineer only if you have 5+ years
industry experience, not including high school and internships.
The title connotes a steady elevation from Engineer -> Sr.
Engineer -> Staff Engr -> Sr Staff Engr -> Principal Engineer.
\_ My former employer's ranks go like Engr -> Sr. Engr -> Lead
Engr -> Staff Engr -> Sr Staff Engr -> Principal Engr -> Sr.
Principal engr -> (probably) Architect.
\_ I assumed that OP was past the Member of Tech. Staff/Eng.
stage and was at least 10+ years experience. I agree w/
you if OP is less than 10 years experience. - former staff eng
\_ if op is asking motd, this would imply they don't have
10+ yrs
\_ because they're asking the motd or because they're on
the motd at all?
\_ "Lead Engineer, in X"
\- to me "software architect" smell more of smoke and vapor
than "principal engineer", "senior engineer" etc.
i mean if you are really applying for a cto/technogist/
visionary type position what you call yourself isnt going to
matter that much. also you dont want to necessarily come
across as over qualified unless you really are going for
cto,vp eng type positions. i mean it's tough to go from
"distinguished <> fellow" to "senior programmer". is "member
of the technical staff" now commonly understood that it doesnt
mean bottle washer/tape monkey? a lot of people i've met dont
seem to know what that is.
\_ "Supreme Chancellor" seems reasonable. That or "Dear Leader".
I mean if they are dumb enough to give you the choice, reach for
the stars. Disclaimer: not responsible for loss of employment.
\_ Dear Leader has a long and distinguished history. Given the
rest of the advice here, maybe Dear Principal Software Architect
is what OP is looking for. |
| 2007/4/9-10 [Computer/Networking, Computer/SW/Security] UID:46239 Activity:nil 66%like:46247 |
4/9 Free W-Fi on Transbay buses:
http://www.actransit.org/news/articledetail.wu?articleid=ae8a49cd |
| 2007/4/9-12 [Transportation/Car] UID:46240 Activity:moderate |
4/9 Hey Silicon Valley people. What are the streets you hate the most in the
valley? I've found some to be just completely idiotic in design.
Lawrence Expressway: .
Great America Pkwy: .
El Camino Real: .
\- without a doubt 237 -> 101north exchange. the crazy lanes on
lawrence expy is up there tho. oh the foothill-freeeeeemont
exchange is also kinda fucked up. there is fucked up stuff by
the airport, but i suppose that is understandable.
\_ Actually, San Jose is about the most fucked up airport I've
ever seen in my life. I hate flying in/out of there. --PM
\_ Driving around the San Jose airport is craaaaazy ... You
think you are close because you can see the RUNWAY but
you still have to drive around for miles before you actually
get there ...
\_ What else would you expect? For them to let you
through the fence at the back so you can drive across
the runways to the terminal? It's big and you have to
come in the front -- there's nothing crazy about that.
\_ I'd prefer they land a helicopter in my drive way
and take me straight to my private jet.
\_ All of them. Commuting to the valley sucks.
\_ I used to think so, but then I spent a quarter at UCLA and
realized that commuting in the Valley is not actually that
bad.
\ Lets not forget the whole 101-85 exchange. Though the 280 -85
\_ It's just a different form of Hell from driving in LA. It is
still bad. If I chopped your arm off would you say it isn't
that bad because some other guy was going to chop off both?
\_ On the Internet/an anonymous forum? Of course he would.
\ Lets not forget the whole 101-85 exchange. Though the 280-85
\ Lets not forget the whole 101-85 exchange. Though the 280 -85
exchange is really dangerous and just plain insane.
\_ Yeah, I'm not sure how any civil engineer who thinks it's
acceptable to have 6 lanes collapse into 3 within a half
mile can get a job.
\_ Stanford grad.
\_ Civil engineers must be completely retarded - at least
the ones that work with traffic. FWIW, I do know a
civil engineer who got his MS at Stanford and you'd
be shocked he is any kind of engineer at all if you
met him. This is the type of guy who still goes to
bars and drinks Long Island Iced Teas at age 40-something.
No wonder his wife left him. So there you go.
\_ In all fairness to civil engineers, not all of them
are boneheaded. I would, for example, give credit to
the ones who design Germany's Autobahn system as
their roadways are extremely impressive in terms
of both speed and safety. The ones who work for
Caltrans or the people they subcontract out to,
on the other hand, are a bunch of morons and it
shows in our roadways.
\- as with other field [like programmers] there are
\- as with other fields [like programmers] there are
a lot of substandard people. the best civil engineers
are working on more complicated things [like big
dams, pretoleum-relating construction etc], not
freeway exchanges. BTW, some years ago kara
won the university medal and now works in
traffic models:
dams, petroleum-relating construction etc], not
freeway exchanges. BTW, Kara who is a CE working
on traffic models, won the University Medal some
yrs ago:
http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman
berkeley CE >> 'Fraud. Berkeley CE probably
(I dont know if she drinks Long Islands. She does
bungee jump.)
Berkeley CE >> 'Fraud. Berkeley CE probably
best in the world. |
| 2007/4/9-10 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan] UID:46241 Activity:kinda low |
4/9 "If I win, I will be terrified."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYgZYkTYUaQ
\_ Reminds me of the events director Varun. -mrauser
\_ Sort of reminds me of Micheal Savage.
\_ Sort of reminds me of Mussolini.
\_ I wonder if he takes himself seriously? I doubt it. |
| 2007/4/9-11 [Uncategorized] UID:46242 Activity:nil |
4/9 Aaron C. Smith moved to Bhutan:
http://flickr.com/photos/aaroncorey/sets/72157600050891354
\_ Is stalking a squishable offense?
\_ No. |
| 2007/4/9-12 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:46243 Activity:high |
4/9 The EIA (Energy Information Agency) apparently makes oil production
predictions by feeding crack and magic mushrooms to monkeys and
letting them write up reports in a fairy kingdom. Their report for
the future predicts Saudi Arabia producing 17.1 mb/day in 2030 (their
production has dropped 7% in the last year they are cutting shipments
to their
asian customers), Mexico going to 5 mb/day in 2030 (the oil field that
supplies 60% of their production, Cantarell, is crashing hard) and
HA HA HA, this part is really funny, the United States is going to
INCREASE oil production even though oil production has gone down
steadily since 1970, except for a brief blip up in 1986 as we developed
the supergiant Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. See the link to the PDF in:
http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary20.html
What's scary is that the government makes policy decisions based on the
"research" done by these wankers.
\- they arent making decision "based on the research" ...
the decisions are based on self-interest, ideology
or other factors. the "research" is chaff. [which
is not to say i agree with your reading of the
"facts". i'm just pointing out you have things
backwards, just like Randriods arent interested
in philosophy ... they cleave to the philosophy that
says what they want a philosophy to say.]
\_ Scary but not surprising. It'll be interesting to see if further
oil finds and advances in technology keep us ahead of the curve.
Also, it may be that by 2030, oil/gasoline has gone up enough in
price that using some alternative becomes a seriously viable event
for transport and heating. And lastly, when Middle Eastern oil is
finally tapped out or the world has moved away from oil, I'd like
to be around to see how much 'concern' the rest of the world has
for Middle East events. We live in interesting times.
\_ The concern of the rest of the world will move to whichever
region that can export clean water.
\_ Desalination is a 'solved' problem. It's just a hell of a lot
cheaper to drain aquafurs, rivers, and lakes.
\_ Same for electricity from solar panels and wind mills.
\_ Not entirely. The ocean is there 24x7x365. The sun's
rays and sufficient wind are not. Solar/wind are
expensive yes but not reliable.
\_ further oil finds? Oil discoveries in the lower 48 peaked in the
1930s, and production peaked in 1970. You have to find the oil
before you can produce it. Similarly, GLOBAL oil finds peaked
in the 1960s. Note that the MSM hails ANY oil find as "massive"
or "huge" these days ... If oil finds peaked in the 1960s, it
makes sense oil production will peak 40-50 years later. Note
that the 1970s oil crisis reduced growth in demand substantially
which bought us another 10 years or so.
\_ further finds meaning being able to pull oil from places that
were previously unreachable such as the gulf of mexico, etc.
that's the "advances in technology" part you ignored. -pp
\_ Explain, with massive advances in oil extraction technology
in the last 35 years, we only produce HALF the oil we did
in 1970 ... The problem isn't that the technology will not
allow us to extract more oil than before (it does), but
that we've already sucked the big oil fields dry.
\_ Refinery capacity has not kept up.
\_ Somehow the imported crude gets refined just fine.
I assume this was a joke response.
\_ You are aware of course that (for example) oil shale
extraction requires a lot of energy, and as energy costs
rise... I'll leave the rest as an exercise for the
reader.
\_ And it's cheap to slap an oil derrick in the ocean or
the middle of the desert and drill down 10,000 feet?
It's done because it's worth it and over time technology
has improved to make it economical to do things that
weren't at one time. Almost zero effort has gone into
oil shale tech (to use your example) so no kidding it is
both expensive and very messy as well right now.
\_ Your brain has been classified as: small.
\_ Wow, you sure put me in my place with that pithy
and brilliant reply. Or not. Care to actually
demonstrate a flaw in anything I said or just
going to spew "you are an idiot!" motd-style?
\_ Well, you are an idiot. Yes, it is enormously
cheaper to produce substances usable for
combustion when you start with a flammable
liquid than when you start with a rock. -tom
\_ Are you even vaguely aware of the concept of
an "input to production?"
\_ Billions of dollars have been invested in
this area over the last few decades, all ending in
failure. The problem is that every non-conventional
"solution" to our energy needs can't scale up or
has horrific environmental implications.
\_ World oil production has been FLAT for 2 years now, we're already
"behind the curve" -- the third world is being priced out
from the market.
\- crowding out/substitution happens per use/per transaction
not per country for the most part. same for interest rates.
\_ Uh what? Poor Africans can't afford oil at $65/barrel
\_ Poor Africans can't afford food. If oil was free they
couldn't afford the barrel to store it. So what about
poor Africans?
\_ Ok, rephrase poor (relative to us, but not to
the average African) Africans are being priced out
of the market.
\- sigh. i doubt this will do any good but the
here is a little bit of what is wrong with the
"poor african" analysis above: it'ss one thing
to look at price-elasticity of something like
coca cola or other CONSUMPTION goods ...
say the price of coke goes up because of
the price of sugar going up or the strength of
your currency going down. then you will
substitute for things that give you more
utility. but oil is a FACTOR OF PRODUCTION
so the substitution effects are not from
demand elasticity but returns to capital.
as oil prices go up this may affect how much
kerosene poor people use to light their
homes at night, but for oil as an investment
the the crowding out looks more like the
kinds of crowding out that happens as interest
rates go up [a plant expasion that might make
sense when money costs 6% may not make sense
when money costs 10%]. btw, the reason the
divisibility matters is the dynamics of
indivisible goods [like tractors] is different
[and you can hope there are solutions like
cooperative ownership, rental markets etc].
BTW, there are a number of first world
assumptions [like shape of labor supply curve]
that dont carry over from 1st world to developing
economies [which is partly why the field of
development econ exists], so you should be a
little reticent about generalizing econ 100a/b
to the whole world.
LESSON: investment != consumption
\- poor americans can no longer afford tuna:
\- Poor Americans can no longer afford tuna:
link:tinyurl.com/2qxg44
\_ I didn't bother to read this economic
analysis, but I base my conclusions on the
observations that many African (and other
third world nations) are reverting to a
pre-oil economy, with ox carts replacing
combustion engine vehicles, etc. They
simply cannot afford oil at over $60/barrel.
\- what african country are you in making
your "observations" and how long have
you been there [for your "longitudinal
analysis"].
\_ Zimbabwe, Ghana for starters
\_ You are in Zimbabwe?
Are you Mugabe's IT consultant? |
| 2007/4/9-12 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:46244 Activity:kinda low |
4/9 "At $3.25/gallon, good mileage ranks 22nd as the most important
attribute in buying a car."
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/09/autos/pluggedin_taylor_fueleconomy.fortune
\_ $3.25 is still too low to change consumer behavior.
\_ We should put a $5/gallon tax on it.
\_ Agreed, and redirect the tax to development for solar power,
geothermal, more efficient cars, or whatever. (Well, maybe
not as much as $5, but still.)
\_ Agreed (well, maybe not as much as $5), and redirect the tax
to R&D for solar power, geothermal, more efficient cars,
fixing the atmosphere, or whatever.
\_ Not as much? $5 isn't nearly enough. I was being
conservative, since it should really be double that to have
the desired social engineering effect. If you want to
change the people's actions to something more beneficial
to the government you have to put punishing taxes on
negative behaviours. The carrot of course would be free
government bikes for everyone.
\_ Get rid of the payroll tax, and tax fuel instead at the same
aggregate level.
\_ I agree that gasoline tax needs to be raised dramatically.
The time to raise it was 15 years ago. However, our politicians
were either too stupid, too cowardly, or too corrupt. Now
we simply cannot slap on a large tax on gasoline. But gas
tax can and should be ramped up at the fastest rate which
doesn't screw us up horribly economically. Also, a way
needs to be found to make this tax less regressive.
\_ No, it is never too late to do the right thing. If we're
15 years behind on this grand social engineering task, if
we want to properly control the negative behaviors of the
people for the betterment of government, we must increase
gas taxes even more to make up for the past weaknesses in
this area you pointed out. Raising it $5/gallon would be
a good start but to make up for the last 15 years, a $7.5/g
increase would take THIRTY years to catch up and that's not
even taking inflation into account. Maybe $10/gallon would
put us where we need to be and would still take 15 years to
catch up. Taxes don't need to be regressive. The earth
doesn't care if you're rich or poor. If you are killing
the earth, our only home, you must be stopped at any cost.
\_ Wow spoken like an ultra earth loving leftist. You
realize that no one listens to you when you use the
"we must do this because we love earth" tone right?
I'm not saying that you're wrong, just that you're
not convincing anyone.
\_ Strawman. If you don't take care of the planet that
hosts your entire civilization you are a fool. I
never said we should all kumbaya in a giant tree
hugging circle. We should however still put a
behavior modifying $10/gal tax out there to stop
people like you from destroying all we have. A
healthy earth is required for continued human life.
How dumb do you have to be to not see that?
\_ I believe the number of cup holders ranked 18th in the most
important attribute. I suppose once gas lines become the norm again
or gas is $10/gallon (whichever comes first) Americans will once
again care about fuel efficiency.
\_ I care, but only about whether my car gets 40 MPG versus
12 MPG. I don't think most people would alter their choice
of car because one gets 28 MPG and the other gets 31 MPG.
So in that respect, mileage is not very important. Even
though there's a 10% difference in mileage, the placement of
cup holders in the car is something that impacts my experience
more than enough to offset the difference in mileage. Since
most cars are in the mid-20's to 30 MPG range anyway then
what does it matter? The people driving 12 MPG or 50 MPG
cars are on the fringes of the survey.
\_ You are clearly a threat to the planet and must be
prosecuted and then executed as an environmental criminal.
\_ Sir: the trial is already under way. Executions
have already commenced and execution rates will increase
year by year.
\_ Excellent! But we must execute faster! Faster, I say!
\_ what does it matter if my car gets 20 or 26 mpg, when I
drive so little. We should focus on usage. Set tight
gas quotas and see what that does.
\_ what will the quota be and who gets special exemptions from
the limit? are you going to arrest people who sell gas on
the black market you're creating? |
| 5/23 |