5/16    Ugly naked woman to be the spokeperson for linux:
        http://urltea.com/ki7 (fakesteve.blogspot.com)
        \_ Oh please. She's not a model, but she's not ugly. I'm sure
          you're Brad Pitt yourself.
          \_ While I agree that she's ugly, I really hope op isn't getting
             naked for novell.

5/17    link:www.csua.org/u/ipp
        "Nationally, for every dollar a working family saves on housing, it
        spends 77 cents more on transportation." And this does not include
        the time lost to commuting. Just another reason to live near where
        you work.
        \_ Nationally, homes are 1/2 to 1/4 the cost of homes nearby
           SF, Sunnyvale, San Jose, LA, and pretty much every CA city
           with jobs. I can move closer to Silicon Valley but I will
           have to pay 1.2mil for the same home that I can get in
           Union City for only $695K. CA is totally utterly fucked up.
        \_ The mentality of the average American Joe/Dim: Why the FUCK
           would I want to spend $3500/month on rent in the city when I
           can *buy* a nice suburb home, country living, 3X the size
           WITH A BACKYARD where kids can play, for only $2500/month
           mortgage? GO RAIDERS! COSTCO! RIDE SUV!!!
           \_ You make that sound like a bad thing.  It isn't.
        \_ Damn and here I am willing to pay significantly more for
           housing AND more for transportation.
        \_ So the average American makes their money go 23% further by spending
           less on housing.  That is smart.  Saving on transportation is the
           sucker move if your numbers are correct.
           \_ Factor in "time lost to commuting" and it's a losing proposition.
              Time spent in a car is time spent getting fat and unhealthy.
              Thanks to not having a commute, I can work out at least an hour
              per day, and thanks to that, I'm not fat.
              Even further, the true cost of carbon emissions during transport
              are not measured, but probably far exceed your 23%.
           \_ You are making a big assumption on what transportation costs
              are going to be like in the future. I am betting that gasoline
              prices will continue to escalate.

5/17    Thongs
        http://www.cafepress.com/landoverbaptist/429363

5/17    What happened to Toyota's Tercel, Paseo and Echo?  They all failed?
        Seems like Toyota's compact models never last long, while the Corolla
        lasted three decades AFAIK.
        \_ Toyota == new GM.  Look what they just did to the xB. :(
           \_ Link?  What did they do to the xB?
              \_ http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=3729
                 short version: 650 lb weight increase, 6 mpg
                 efficiency decrease, cheapened interior, messed up sightlines
                 \_ Wow, that's a pretty damning review.  And the price
                    seems really high.  Wasn't the whole point of those
                    things to be dirt cheap?
                    \_ Ironically enough, the debacle of the 2nd gen has
                       the prices for the 1st gen models on the used market
                       rising.  I think some low mileage models are now going
                       for over asking new.
                 \_ but still as fugly as ever
                 \_ Huh, that DOES sound like GM.  I have a theory that much
                    of this trend has to do with lame customer surveys.  I'm
                    sure people alwasy say, "It's great, but I wish it was
                    a little bigger."  This is my guess as to why the Civic
                    seems to grow every year.
        \_ Although they keep changing the name every few years, Toyota
           never seems to stop producing a sub-compact (currently they
           have the Yaris), so the must still be making money in that
           market segment.
           have the Yaris). Perhaps in that market segment one has to
           keep refreshing models quickly.
           \_ #t the cheap small/compact car segment aims at young people who
              will outgrow their ego in 3-4 years for a more luxurious vehicle
              so while it's important to create a new car that's hip and cheap
              it's even more important to change their looks and their names
              every 3-4 years.
              \_ So the majority of people grow more wasteful as they grow
                 older?  I'm not so sure.  Though the xB was targetted at
                 "youth," the people I knew that were buying them were
                 elderly or new 30ish families with 1 to 2 children.
                 \_ I am thinking about getting the BRABUS Biturbo coupe.
                 \_ I'm thinking about getting the BRABUS SV12 S Biturbo coupe.
                    Does anybody have one and care to share their experience?
                    \_ Are you talking about Smart?  the 2007 model is just
                        out and no one has experience on it.
                 \_ They don't grow more wasteful.  They grow up.  Things
                    like safety, cargo capacity, and comfort start to count.
                    \_ Yeah, I have three of them, but my garage only fits
                       two so I left it parked on the street, so City Tow
                       got it for having too many parking tickets.
        \_ they got replaced by yaris

5/17    I like how hard the AFP works to blame Israel for the "fraying truce"
        in this article.  "Israel bombs Hamas targets as Gaza truce frays"
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070517/ts_afp/mideast
        \_ Perhaps Isreal's long standing policy of killing or arresting
           any Palestinian leadership has finally had its intended goal
           of the disintigration of Palestinian society? Just a thought...
           \_ No.  Terrorist leaders are not Palestinian society.  The
              PLO killed off the real leaders in the 90s.  And no, the goal
              is not the disintegration of Palestinian society (which hasn't
              had a chance since the 90s when the PLO returned).  Having a
              chaotic terrorist laden mess on 3 borders is not good for your
              country.  Engage brain before opening editor, please.  Thanks.
              Knowing the tiniest bit of recent history of the region might
              help, too.
        \_ the article says Israel's action was in retaliation to rocket
           attacks, so I assume they updated the story since you posted
           \_ Yeah, I get a totally different story now. -op

5/17    emarkp how can a Mormon be pro-torture?
        http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/4796
        this is almost a serious, non troll Request For Comment.
        \_ What does being a Mormon have to do with it?  And what are you
           defining as torture? -emarkp
        \_ Mormons are pro-polygamy, hence pro-torture (or, more accurately,
           pro-being-tortured.)
        \_ emarkp: How can anyone who calls themselves a christian be
           pro torture? -not op
           \_ Have you actually read the bible? -dans
              \_ OT Yahweh: "Obey my rules or suffer! And this applies to you
                             all collectively, and family units collectively!
                             And cut off part of your penises!"
                 NT Jesus: "Ok those rules were unobeyable. Love me or suffer!
                            and, uh, oh yeah this is evaluated after death.
                            Btw I "died for your sins". This is important for
                            some reason. I think I have schizophrenia."
                 Allah: "Ok ok that love stuff was bs, I was smoking a lot
                         of dope back then. We're back to obey or suffer.
                         But I'm keeping the afterlife reward stuff in your
                         benefit plan. I better see you on your knees many
                         times per day, stroking my godly ego."
           \_ See above. -emarkp

5/17    Welcome to the new congress, as partisan as the old congress.
        http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0507/4046.html
        \_ Until we have true political reform, what do you expect?

5/17    Korean trains in historic link-up
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6664091.stm
        Basically, SK pays NK $80mil for a for a symbolic train crossing.
        What the heck, SK?  Why do you continue to play the enabler? -jrleek
        \_ Not sure why YOU would care about SK. I'm Asian and even I
           don't really give a damn.
           \_ jrleek is married to a Korean woman, but this is irrelevant.
              Anyone interested in International Relations should give a
              damn about what happens with SK/NK. Fallout here will have
              repercussions on the region for decades. Wake up. (Also, cue
              stoopid jokes about International Relations.)
        \_ I think SK is on really good drugs.  It must be related to being
           a benevolent military dictatorship for so long.  I doubt SK
           is prepared to pull a West Germany and carry the terrible
           economy of NK around for decades after reunification.
        \_ same reason why US bail out Mexico Peso back in the 1990s.
           a complete collapse of a neighboring country is never a good
           thing... refugee is a bit painful to deal with.
           \_ There's also a lot of sentiment built up in SK about a possible
              reunification; many SK people still have relatives/ancestral
              homes on the NK side of the DMZ.
           \_ At least when I lived in Korea, refugee from NK was not
              a problem.  The tension between the two Koreas have gotten
              more relaxed, but it's much more difficult to cross a border of
              not just barbed wires, but minefields(in this article, it
              mentioned the need to clear out all the landmines) and soldiers
              with guns pointing at each other.  In the mid 80s, a NK family
              escaped to SK by sea, and they were made instant celebrities.
              The government provided them everything they need to get started,
              not to mention all of the TV shows they were on.  The father of
              the family made TV celebrity appearances for years after.  (Just
              to give you an idea of how rare it is for people to illegally
              cross the border.)  That said, there are many in Korea that has
              felt enmity against US and blame them for keeping the country
              divided despite the people's wishes.  I believe US still has a
              fair amount of military influence in SK, which doesn't help the
              anti-US sentiments.
              \_ Yeah, according to my wife, escapees used to get a lot of
                 money from the govt. and be minor celeberties.  Now there are
                 money from the govt. and be minor celebrities.  Now there are
                 too many to keep that up.  I haven't met many people who
                 think the US is keeping Korea divided, although many
                 (correctly) blame the US for dividing it in the first place.
                 Although, of course the blame for that mistake can be spread
                 around fairly liberially. -jrleek
                 around fairly liberally. -jrleek
                 \_ I guess we should have let Kim Sung I turn entire
                    peninusla into glorious juche paradise?
                 \_ I haven't kept up-to-date to realize that more people
                    are escaping now.  There is a lot of sentiment against
                    US like any country where US has occupying forces.
                    Don't know about recent elections, but past presidential
                    elections were generally approved/disapproved by US, though
                    not officially.  In that aspect, US had a lot of political
                    influence as well through the 80s and early 90s.
                    \_ A lot of the anti-US sentiment has to do with criminal
                       behavior on the part of US military personnel, esp. when
                       it goes unpunished. Many people in Korea understand that
                       US military presence is necessary to prevent NK's
                       version of reunification, i.e. invasion, but they'd
                       just as soon do without the rape and hit-and-runs.
                       \_ While the few bad egg behaviors does cause an
                          outrage, I don't think it would create the sort of
                          sentiments that exists.  While I and many do
                          understand the need of US involvement to maintain
                          peace, there are those who would rather make
                          unification a number one goal, peace be damned.
                          Sort of a "it's our problem, let us deal with it."
                          Here's some (one-sided) details on US involvement
                          in SK throughout the history:
                          http://www.kimsoft.com/2002/anti-uslwr.htm
                          The article mentions that it began in the 1800s.
                          My theory is that most of the strong resentments
                          stem from 1945/1948 through the presidency of
                          Noh Tae Woo.
                          \_ Perhaps I'm missing the point here, but I
                             challenge you to show me any SK citizen who would
                             welcome reunification under NPRK rule.
                             \_ I don't mean welcome NPRK rule, especially
                                given how much brainwashing is/was done in SK
                                to think that anyone that speaks like a "North
                                Korean" is a NK spy. (like using the Korean
                                word for "comrade")  I think these people are
                                shortsighted and only see it as "NK and SK are
                                both one Korea and we are as one" and not
                                seeing that Kim Jung Il will not unify Korea
                                except under his dictatorship.  These people
                                believe that if US leaves, the two Koreas can
                                talk to each other peacefully and come to an
                                agreement of a democratic unification.  While
                                this is a view of the extreme end, these are
                                the people that are vocalizing their hatred of
                                US.  Most people are too busy living their
                                own lives to care.
                                \_ You have completely ignored the fact that
                                   whenever the US has large numbers of troops
                                   deployed to a place for any significant
                                   period of time, the locals always end up
                                   wanting us out. See Okinawa, Philipines,
                                   SK, etc.

5/17    My new 750G Seagate HD shows only 698G available. WHAT THE FUCK??
        \_ 750G = 750*10^9 bytes.  Your OS is probably measuring in 2^30 bytes.
           See GiB vs GB
        \_ Also, disk drive manufacturers advertise "raw" storage, while
           your O/S measures usable storage. You lose quite a bit to
           disk label information, metadata and other various things.
        \_ When is the last time you bought a disk?  It has been measured like
           that on all drives for many years.

5/17    Cum inside.
        \_ Hi dad.
           \_ ew.

5/17    emarkp, why did you support the Iraq War?       -anonymous coward
        \_ Hi troll!  Why are you using the past tense? -emarkp
           \_ Ok, very well. Why do you still support the Iraq War?
                                                -!op, anon coward #2
              \_ Hi troll #2!  I doubt I can say anything you haven't heard.
                 -emarkp

5/17    GTI wanting person, have you looked at the honda fit?
        \_ How in the world does the focus go from GTI to Fit?  A Mini
           Cooper S, Mazdaspeed3, Impreza WRX, etc. would make more
           sense.  Golf->Fit makes some sense, too, but not GTI->Fit.
           Nothing wrong with Fit, of course.  I have a friend who
           went from Jetta VR6 to Fit.  His only problem is that it's
           a bit weak.  I blame his unwillingness to drive manual.
           \_ I know the fit's a little underpowered but it seems like
              it is still a fun car to drive, and it is about the same
              size as the mini, costs a lot less, and has better cargo
              potential thanks to well designed seats.  Shrug.  Seems like
              an interesting car in the small hatchback category.
        \_ small cars are dangerous. Get the Accord, you can't go wrong.
           \_ Camry Hybrid.
         \_ Spoken like a true american.