8/1     Rupert Murdock rules! Fair and balanced!

7/31    Help!  Asian stock markets have fallen and they can't get up!
        \_ Business cycles... imagine that.

8/1     "Democracy is hard"
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070801/ts_nm/iraq_dc_25

8/1     jsl is a health risk

8/1     Sex is a health risk

8/1     Printers could be a health risk:
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6923915.stm
        \_ This is not new.  I used to work at EFI which makes mid-range laser
           printer products, and for years they've had HEPA air filters in
           their QA labs running 24/7.
           \_ Do you still know people there?  If you know of anyone in the
              security research group (working on security of their products,
              not security of their IT) can you send me an email?  Thanks.
              - johndkim

8/1     My ADP paycheck this period shows I have $200 less Social Security
        Tax deducted from my paycheck (from ~$250 down to ~$50), as well as
        a new item "Rsrefund" which gives me another extra ~$200. My total
        pay this period is ~$200+~$200, or $400 more than my any other
        periods. Why is this happening? I don't want to call ADP in case
        they realize it and revert my extra $400 pay.
        \_ There is a maximum income that is subject to SS tax, somewhere
           north of $90k. Did you hit that?
           \_ As a matter of fact, I believe I did! This is GREAT! Thanks
              guys I was getting a bit worried.                 -op
           \_ Specifically, it's 97.5K this year.
              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payroll_tax#Social_security_and_Medicare_taxes
              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payroll_tax
              (Hey urltea nazi, you're only saving 2 characters by replacing
              this URL.)
              \_ Your url isn't the same one I shortened, you are missing
                 the bits after the #.
              http://urltea.com/147c
              (wikipedia.org)
              \_ speaking of regressive taxes.
           \_ $90k.  That's about how much fits in a fridge, isn't it?
             \_ If you are hitting $97.5K in July you shouldn't have financial
                problems.
                \_ I don't. I'm just happy to get more back.
                   \_ You make $160K+ per year and you don't know about
                      this? How can that be?

8/1     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070801/ap_on_el_pr/obama_terrorism_7
        Okay, I'm glad Obama is making actual suggestions rather than the more
        common political tactic of simply criticizing others.  However, his
        plan of taking care of business in Pakistan could be a problem if that
        nuke-armed country toppled into the hands of Muslim extremists.  I hope
        he addresses that potentiality.
        \_ Depends.  If the extremists are wiped out then there is no problem
           with Pakistan falling into their hands, eh?  I think that's what
           he's getting at.  And yes, I'm also glad to see someone finally
           saying what *they would do* instead of just attacking others.
        \_ Obama is even with Hillary C. in NH.
           \_ Please do not let that woman win the primary. There's no reason
              to have family members of recent presidents also become
              president. Out of principle we should not let it happen.
              \_ You mean like Teddy Roosevelt ---> FDR and George H. W.
                 Bush --> George W. Bush?
                 \_ Yes, like that.
                    \_ Or John Adams -> John Quincy Adams
        \_ Given Pakistan's Intel org's backing of the Taliban pre-9/11, our
           current policy of coddling Musharraf is asinine and naive. Good on
           Obama for identifying the problem. Looking forward to voting for him
           in 2008.

8/1     Laptops may decrease your sperm count.
        http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/11/mens.health.myths
        \_ We don't need to use protection, I'm a computer geek!

8/1     http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/lisp_cycles.png
        I believe that is psb in the last panel:
        http://csua.com/?entry=43974
        \- the parens are now balanced, and i, i am the the master.

8/1     perl/sed/awk/etc question:
        Is there a good way to change every other delimiter or string
        match?  For example change a colon delimited list to a :+, one...
         Apple:12:Pear:2:Orange:9:Plum:7:Banana:22:Mango:2 to
         Apple:12,Pear:2,Orange:9,Plum:7,Banana:22,Mango:2
        (And I dont mean a trick that relies on some fields being
        alpha and some numeric or only a known number of fields).
        \_ How 'bout the straightforward approach
           s/([^:]+:[^:]+):/$1,/g
           \_ That didn't work?!  Am I doing something wrong?
              echo Apple:12:Pear:2:Orange:9 |sed -e 's/([^:]+:[^:]+):/$1,/g'
              Apple:12:Pear:2:Orange:9
              \_ use perl, sed will kill you with quoting.
                 \_ Thanks! perl -pe ... does it!
              \_ One more question, why is there a differene between : and |?
                 I now need to use |.
 echo "Prog 1:61.3:Ch 2:91.0:Num3:83.4" |perl -pe 's/([^:]+:[^:]+):/$1,/g'
Prog 1:61.3,Ch 2:91.0,Num3:83.4

 echo "Prog 1|61.3|Ch 2|91.0|Num3|83.4" |perl -pe 's/([^|]+|[^|]+)|/$1,/g'
Prog 1,,|61.3,,|Ch 2,,|91.0,,|Num3,,|83.4
                 First one works. Second does not.
                 \_ man perlre, search for |

8/1     Because of this increase in cooperation from local Vietnamese in
        confronting the Vietcong and other extremist groups, the number of
        weapons caches seized in Vietnam has increased dramatically, already at
        3,700 in the first 7 months of 1967. Only 2,726 terrorist and
        insurgent weapons caches were removed from circulation in all 1966.
        http://www.csua.org/u/j97
        \_ ok that was pretty good.

8/1     If Bush had just given Obama's most recent speech
        there would be riots in the streets.
        \_ Yes.  This is called 'politics'.
        \_ Frankly, with how quickly this country is becoming a mockery of
           itself there SHOULD be riots in the streets.
           \_ A mockery of itself?
        \_ Bush wouldn't have given that speech.
           \_ Circular.  We know he didn't therefore he didn't.  What's your
              point?
              \_ What's your point?
                 \_ What was yours?
           \_ Because Bush isn't an idiot?
        \_ Arnold->Democrat, Obama->Republican.
           \_ False dichotomy. Not all Republicans are strong on defense; not
              all Democrats are weak on defense.
              \_ Don't confuse a good stupid troll with your facts.
        \_ How many wars did Bush start again?

8/1     Because of this increase in cooperation from local Iraqis in
        confronting al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, the number of weapons
        caches seized in Iraq has increased dramatically, already at 3,700 in
        the first 7 months of 2007. Only 2,726 terrorist and insurgent weapons
        caches were removed from circulation in all 2006.
        http://csua.org/u/j96
        \_ Wonder how much of that weaponry came from us.
           http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,144661,00.html

8/1     http://www.csua.org/u/j99
        Hope on the Battlefield
        by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
        Military leaders know a secret: The vast majority of people are
        overwhelmingly reluctant to take a human life.

8/1     tom holub