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| 2007/10/10-12 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:48278 Activity:kinda low |
10/10 One good thing to come out of MS. The Consolas font.
http://igordevlog.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-consolas-font-in-linux.html
Anyone else have a preferred monospace font?
\_ bleach, that looks awful especially in low point sizes.
My preferred font is ProFont
http://www.tobias-jung.de/seekingprofont/index.html
It is clear, excellent for coding, and quite compact. -ERic
\_ Ooh, that's nice and haven't seen that. I'll try it out for a
while. Thanks for the pointer. -op
Oh, the bold is kind of weak. The "m" and "w"s turn into blobs
at 8 point. (The TTF version)
\_ no Chinese glyph
\_ Ooh, that's nice and haven't seen that. I'll try it out though
the bold is kind of weak. The "m" and "w"s turn into blobs at 8
point. (The TTF version) -op
\- what abou the ENTRELLA FONT |
| 2007/10/10-12 [Recreation/House] UID:48279 Activity:nil |
10/10 Forget about copper and fiber optic, go plants!
http://www.csua.org/u/joy (Yahoo! News) |
| 2007/10/10-12 [Uncategorized] UID:48280 Activity:nil |
10/10 The Orange Box rocks |
| 2007/10/10-12 [Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:48281 Activity:nil |
10/10 "Press Release: Betty T. Yee Says Gasoline Use Down for Both the
Month of June and Second Quarter of 2007"
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071009/20071009006477.html?.v=1
Cool! Whatever it was (carpooling, public transit, smaller cars,
hybrid, ...), it's probably working. I just hope that it's not
because people are leaving the state.
\_ It is because people are leaving the state. None of that
hokey works as long people keep popping out kids. Keep
smoking that bong if you think environmentalism works.
\_ Do you honestly think that the population of the state
of California is decreasing? Pass that bong this way,
brah! |
| 2007/10/10-12 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Taiwan] UID:48282 Activity:nil |
10/10 Happy Double Ten Day. Go Taiwan! Sing along our national songs
~Go Freedom, ~Defeat communists, ~Take back our Mainland!
\_ Double Tenth.
\_ ?
\_ Taiwan? Hello! It is a celebration of overthrown of 4700 years
of imperial rule and establishment of the first democratic republic
in entire Asia. If you can actually read Chinese, I suggest you
do some reading on Dr. Sun's writing. |
| 2007/10/10-12 [Reference/Military, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:48283 Activity:nil |
10/10 Pelosi vs. the anti-war activists
http://csua.org/u/jp0 |
| 2007/10/10-12 [Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:48284 Activity:kinda low |
10/10 the WSJ has a pretty horrible dot portrait on here
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119196377029953821.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one
\_ Maybe the subjects really are just that ugly.
\_ It's so they can subtley manipulate the picture in order to
\_ It's so they can subtly manipulate the picture in order to
sway opinions.
\_ Honda's fucked. Civic Hybrid sucks. The new Accord's butt ugly.
What else? Lame management and PM; the souped up Accord Hybrid
is one of the many major fuck ups. What the hell were they
thinking when they created the Accord Hybrid monster?
http://cars.ign.com/articles/731/731869p1.html
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/03/no-hybrid-for-the-new-2008-honda-accord-diesel-in-2009
\_ Diesels kick ass, now that we have better fuel standards I hope we see diesel
everything.
\_ That's subtle? |
| 2007/10/10-14 [Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:48285 Activity:high |
10/10 Is it just my imagination or it seems like the new Civic is bigger
than my 1987 Accord?
\_ I don't know, but my impression is that car models generally get
bigger and bigger over time. The 2008 Accord is classified as
full-sized sedan.
\_ Yeah, I've noticed that too. I have a theory.
1. People buy car for price and fuel effeciency.
2. People like car, but give feed back they "wish it was larger"
3. Company makes car larger.
4. Repeat until car is discontinued because it no longer has 1.
\_ Oh, and the only exception I know of is the discontinued
Celica, where the last model year one seemed smaller than the
1980 one which my dad has when I was a kid. -- PP
\_ Yeah, each model gets bigger and bigger but they introduce
new tiny cars to fill the gap (like the Fit).
\_ 5. American people get fatter and fatter but want the
same car.
\_ Honda's fucked. Civic Hybrid sucks. The new Accord's butt ugly.
What else? Lame management and PM; the souped up Accord Hybrid
is one of the many major fuck ups. What the hell were they
thinking when they created the Accord Hybrid monster?
http://cars.ign.com/articles/731/731869p1.html
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/03/no-hybrid-for-the-new-2008-honda-accord-diesel-in-2009
\_ Diesels kick ass, now that we have better fuel standards I hope we see diesel
everything.
\_ I hope we see diesel hybrid.
\_ I think the batteries and expense are not really worth it.
There's more to the picture than just max mpg.
\_ Diesel and electric engines are about as complementary
as you can imagine two technologies to be. Diesels
are best at providing steady power at its optimal rpm
forever, electrics are good at variable loads, but lack
range. Most heavy industrial equipment, along with
ships and locomotives uses some sort of diesel/electric
hybrid system. The only thing stopping its adoption in
cars is cost. Diesel/electric hybrid cars are already
being developed in Europe; Toyota is likely to develop
one as well now that they have access to Isuzu engines.
Diesels by themselves are very efficient, the only thing
preventing their wide adoption in the States is
brain-dead legislation. Clean diesels compliant with
US emission standards will likely lose 15-20%
efficiency. My opinion of hybrid technology has
improved considerably after doing some reading on the
subject. -- ilyas
\_ The best technology is a society that does not
waste resources (e.g. stop living in the suburbs)
\_ I have a better idea! How about I live where
I want, and you go fuck yourself!
\_ I have an even better idea! How about I
kill all the selfish assholes who are
destroying our planet.
\_ Out of all the problems which beset this
vale of tears we call Earth you want to
hunt down suburb-dwellers? You are fucking
retarded.
\_ At least we're not so retarded as to
buy a fucking lame Accord Hybrid.
Retard. !op
\_ Yes, a Hummer would be so much
better. Why trash anyone who is
willing to support hybrid
technology?
\_ Hybrid Humvee:
http://www.csua.org/u/jpb
350hp. 0-50mph in 7sec. 18mpg.
Climbs 60% grade at 17mph and
fords 5ft of water.
\_ You are under the mistaken
impression the only point of
hybrids is reducing
emissions and increasing
efficiency. You are wrong.
You are also stupid.
\_ What are the other reasons?
\_ Maybe you should read this
thread. Just a thought.
\_ Huh? Where did you get that
impression? The stealth mode
in the Hybrid Humvee above is
already one reason outside
the two you listed. Another
one is that hybrid can
submerge under water
completely (not too deep, of
course, or else it floats)
w/o a snorkeling kit which
gives away its position. --PP
\_ If so, great. I'm just skeptical of hybrids. I feel
the tax breaks and HOV-lane access were bullshit.
\_ Well, using tax breaks and HOV-lanes for
efficient vehicles is bad enough, but what was
even worse was how, say, a Jetta TDI didn't
qualify for either while essentially matching
a Prius in terms of efficiency (and not having
the complicated manufacture). Hamfisted government
efforts aside, I think hybrids are fundamentally
a good idea, for three reasons. Firstly, hybrids
decouple the generation of power from consumption
of power. This is fundamentally sound
engineering, which is why heavy industry is using
hybrid systems already without any environmental
considerations whatsoever. Secondly, hybrids
replace multiple mechanical systems with
electronics, which, while more complicated than
mechanical systems, are also more reliable.
Priuses are bulletproof, despite being perhaps
the most complex mass produced passenger car
in history. Finally there's the touted
incremental development path towards EV.
Personally, I think the only technology which
isn't ready is energy storage, and mass hybrids
encourage R&D in this area. -- ilyas
I have other reasons I'm sort of biased against
them and the practice of spending lots of money on
cars and treating cars as disposables to be kept only
a few years, but it's late and I'm not up to clearly
formulating these weird ideas.
\_ I think the jury is still out on how
bulletproof the Prius is.
\_ Um, the Prius has been out on the road
since 1997. -- ilyas
\_ And how long have most internal
combustion engines been out on the
road? 10 years is not really a long
time. I'd give it 10 more years at
least before making such a
declaration.
\_ 2009 Prius: http://www.csua.org/u/jo0 --!OP
\_ That's a picture of the concept car, not
of the prius. The third gen prius looks
almost the same as the second gen prius.
In fact, toyota wanted to use lithium
batteries in the third gen, but couldn't
get around the safety issues.
\_ Please scroll down to the text about
the 2009 Prius.
\_ Yeah but if it's so great, it shouldn't need
special government incentives. The batteries
are indeed the main issue: I don't hear so much
about the cost, environmental impact, and
longevity of the batteries. I have admittedly
not studied the issue. I always liked the
flywheel storage concept but I guess it isn't
practical yet, maybe someday.
\_ I hate batteries and like flywheels too.
Toyota does recycle/refurbish most batteries
(it makes economic sense: a lot of battery
components are expensive and can be reused,
and even nickel is getting expensive now).
\_ Government incentives kick-start the process.
At least, that is the theory.
\_ Why is decoupling the generation of power from
consumption of power good? I'd think there is
energy loss both when charging the batteries
with generated power, and when discharging the
batteries to do work. Are these two steps
actaully very efficient?
\_ Because some engines are good at operating
at variable loads, while others are good at
operating at constant loads. Any time
there's a conversion, there's loss, of
course. But the trade off is (apparently)
worth it, since you recover the losses by
leaving diesels in their optimal regime
all the time. Most heavy industry setups
don't even use batteries, but
capacitors (or in some cases even
flywheels). Decoupling is an old idea --
it's why we have powerplants. -- ilyas
\_ I think the main thing is combustion engines
(esp. diesel) can be made to work very
efficiently within certain narrow operating
parameters (RPM etc). So generating it this
way gets the most out of your dino juice.
Battery storage and discharge must be pretty
efficient compared to combustion losses.
(or what ilyas said).
\_ You forgot about the awesomness of the Fit.
\_ Yes, it is a lot bigger. The Accord used to be a small car. The
new Corolla is like a Camry, too.
\_ '87 accord was a 'compact'. Has grown to mid-size and now full-size
(US version). Civic went from "sub-compact" to "compact" around
2000. So yea, it probably is bigger. |
| 2007/10/10-14 [Politics/Domestic/California] UID:48286 Activity:high |
10/10 Two suggestions for elections: 1) Voter lottery: each person who
votes gets entered in a $10M lottery. 2) Electoral points: each voter
gets to allocate a pool of "electoral points" to whichever candidates
he or she prefers; say six "electoral points," so as to allow pyramid-
ical ranking of 1, 2, and 3. Thoughts?
\_ Obviously, voting is too difficult of a job that the average
American does not want to participate in. We should outsource
voting offshores. We should also offshore our politicians to
reduce conflict of interests.
\_ Yes. Your understanding of math and civics is poor. -dans
\_ dans: shitting in other people's cornflakes for the hell of it.
\_ Others' responses below elaborate on my points nicely. -dans
\_ 1) Don't like it. if they don't want to vote, let them not vote.
Work on making voting easier. Absentee ballots are probably
easier for most people but it's a bit of a hassle to get them.
2) I think this is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulative_voting
I prefer IRV for a single-winner election because it doesn't
make you compromise your support. Dividing points to create
ranks is inferior to simply ranking them outright.
\_ Lack of voting is a signal that is often interpreted as 'none of
the above.' -- ilyas
\_ How about an IQ test or a test of knowledge? So many people who
*do* vote don't know most of the issues and do more harm than
good.
\_ Or how 'bout a poll tax! Do you know anything about our country,
constitution, or history?
The point that would be valid here is that since democracy is
predicated on an educated populace, access to education is an
inherent right.
\_ Hah! Do your research on rights. Oh and on the difference
between a republic and a democracy.
\_ Maybe we should abandon voting altogether and use the
jury selection method: random lottery selection per election
period. Apparently this is how ancient Athens appointed
officials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
We could use multi-member districts and use approval voting
or cumulative voting etc. to let voters elect representatives
from a pool of randomly selected residents (somewhat akin to
how juries are approved). Perhaps the pool should be limited
to those who "sign up" to be in the pool, to avoid personal
liberty issues.
The advantage over direct democracy would presumably be that
dedicated officials would have the time to fully educate
themselves about the issues. The advantage over elected
reps is to remove the money-driven election apparatus and
get ordinary people rather than giant political parties.
\_ That's what we thought about representative democracy.
\_ It's still representative democracy. The method for
choosing representatives can vary.
\_ Perhaps only Veterans should be allowed to vote. -Vet
\_ There are many vets who aren't even citizens and cannot vote.
\_ I was under the impression that serving in the US
military guaranteed one citizenship. Is this incorrect?
-dans
\_ You're thinking of Starship Troopers. There is fairly
recent legislation to expedite citizenship for members
of the military, but it's not automatic.
\_ We are increasingly going the route of Rome in its
later years, with an Army made up primarily of
non-citizens and mercenaries.
\_ Perhaps only people of my ethnic/socio-economic/education/
geographic/professional background should be allowed to vote.
\_ At least one person got my point. It is disingenuous for
a bunch of CS geeks to argue for an IQ requirement for
voting. -Vet
\_ A basic civics requirement wouldn't be too much to
ask, would it? "Here's a pamphlet in all 300 official
US languages. Call this phone # toll free to hear it
read to you."
\_ Actually, yes it would be too much. Education
requires funding and free time. Making it a
requirement for voting makes it equivalent to
a poll tax. Education is the silver bullet. A
more educated populace yields a "better" electorate
and, one would hope, a "better" democracy. This
is what I speak about above, that the idiotic
replier doesn't understand. --scotsman
\_ So making sure someone had read a flyer or
listened to a 2 minute explanation of our
government system on the phone or at the
polling place is too high a burden to ask a
voter? If someone can' be bothered to do so
little to vote I don't want them voting. I
think you're taking the poll tax concept way
too far. Do you think non-citizens should be
allowed to vote? If not, why not? Is that not
a burden which puts a person in a position to
be a victim of government with no say? Taxation
without representation, etc?
\_ Citizenship is a prerequisite for voting.
I would not change that. I think it's a
very sad thing that non-citizens likely
know more about US civics than natural born
citizens.
The solution is not to make people prove
they're "capable" of voting. It's to
improve education. As to non-citizens,
I assume you mean people who are seeking
citizenship, or people working (and taxed)
under a visa. In those cases, they are
` working under pre-agreed conditions. If
you're talking about undocumented people,
I don't speak on that subject for lack of
knowledge. --scotsman
\_ My idea is about improving education
"on the spot", if you will.
\_ It's not the place for it, and I'd
presume law and precedence on the
matter would back me up. IANAL.
http://epress.anu.edu.au/cw/mobile_devices/ch13s02.html
http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-1004351/literacy-test
\_ It isn't a literacy test. You're
way too focused on that part. How
do you expect your populace to get
educated?
\_ An educated populace doesn't
solve the problem. You need
to demonstrate you care
enough to know the issues.
Knowing a lot about EE
doesn't mean you know diddly
about Prop XYZ, or even read
it. Therefore, I think some
sort of test of knowledge
would be useful. "Do you know
what Prop XYZ is about?"
\_ An EE degree != educated. I
think it was clear that in
the context of this discussion
we're talking about a basic
knowledge of civics, not about
requiring a 4 year degree. Ok,
let's try again: I want to see
voters who know what they're
voting for/about and I want
their votes to count without
going to direct nationwide
polling. What is your
suggestion?
\_ And I want a pony and a
blowjob, but wishing
doesn't make it so.
Actually, I'll probably get
the blowjob. What is your
point? -dans,!PP
\_ If you have nothing to
contribute, don't. I'll
stick to the validity of
my 'civics lesson
requirement' for voting
since no one here can
come up with a flaw in
it, just childish noise.
\_ Read a fucking
history book.
Reading requirements
for voters were
historically abused
to systematically
disenfranchise poor
and black voters.
Your civics lesson
nonsense would be
subject to similar
abuse. Others have
made this point. I
shouldn't have to do
it again. Enjoy your
pony. -dans
\_ You are totally
ignoring what I have been saying. It can be read, it
can be a phone call, it can be read to you, I don't
care what form it takes and you keep intentionally
ignoring that which makes you a troll. If there is a
Hellen Keller voter out there who can't read, hear, or
anything else then we'll give her a pass on the
requirement. You're just trolling. I'm not tom, stop
trolling me like I'm him.
\_ So because
someone may abuse
a law that means
we should not
have it? The status
quo, with only a
few people at the
polls and many of
*those* having no
clue what they are
doing is not being
abused by
politicians?
\_ Hyperbole; we're
not there yet.
Also, as to yr
first q, when
there's a track
record, yes. |
| 2007/10/10-14 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:48287 Activity:low |
10/10 My google-fu is weak. Can anyone point me to the 11 items the UK court
ruled had to be pointed out as errors in "An Inconvenient Truth"?
\_ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7037671.stm
\_ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2632660.ece
\_ Here's some more for you based on my prior research. I don't have
anything to add on the other items I don't mention:
re: error 2: The Pacific atolls are slowly 'sinking' due to plate
tectonics, not rising sea level. This has been going on since
before the industrial age. If you find a map of the Pacific plates
you'll see there's a direct correlation between subducting plates
and which islands are 'sinking'.
re: error 5: lost snow on various mountains is caused by local
environmental change (such as locals chopping down trees which
changes the humidity levels).
re: error 7: Katrina caused high levels of damage in New Orleans
due to insufficiently maintained levy system (because of local
corruption going back decades). Florida gets hit by much stronger
hurricanes without nearly the same level of damage.
\_ Maintenance and inspection were the responsibility of the local
government but the problem was that the original design by the
Army Corps of Engineers wasn't good enough and money was never
allocated to improve them (Bush consistently underfunded the
Army Corps of Engineers)
\_ Sorry, but there was tons of cash devoted to the repairs over
the last few decades. This is not a Bush generated mess.
It would be fair to be critical of the post-mess reaction from
FEMA (and thus Bush), but it is not fair to say that they
collapsed because of Bush. That runs contrary to the reality
of the situation. As if you repair decades of needed repairs
in a year or two. No. The entire infrastructure of this
country has been left to rot for decades. Bridges, roads,
water ways, everything. The world did not magically startup
in perfect conditon on 1/20/2001.
\_ I agree with you on this, but claiming that global warming
certainly had nothing to do with it is quite a stretch. It
is open for debate, as are pretty much all of the
nine "errors." -!pp
re: error 9: nevermind, the Judge in the article got this one down. |
| 2007/10/10-14 [Recreation/Food] UID:48288 Activity:high |
10/10 I'm in my 30s and I'm finding that I'm unable to eat In & Out
burgers & soda & frys & shakes without feeling really really
lousy within an hour or two. Has anyone noticed your ability to
digest unhealthy comfort food decrease as you age? -30s man
\_ I think it's a good thing. Your body is telling you that
you no longer need these extra fat/sugars. The wise thing to do
is to listen to it. Having a small appetite is not that big of a
deal. The alternative is that you are forcing these food down
your throat. you would feel sick a little bit, but the worse part
is that these food you consumed will be end up on your belly.
and eventually you will need to take high-blood pressure pills
which has side effect of impotency. So, it's your choice.
\- I can no longer eat 1lb of bacon at a time. --psb
\_ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/science/09tier.html
\_ It's a common complaint. I can't each to much sugar without getting
a headache now.
\_ Isn't it a good thing? Now you won't eat junk food.
\_ Isn't it a good thing? Now you won't eat junk food anymore.
\_ No, because I hang out with super hot mid-20 year old
girlfriends all the time and I hate to show signs of aging.
\_ Join their purge circle, and you won't have this problem.
\_ If you want to date the young hotties you are either going
to have to get rich or start hitting the gym.
\_ Or accept that you aren't mid-20s and pay for good food.
Take them on a date and spend some money you cheapskate.
\_ This is a good advice. I'm assuming you are at a
point in your life where you can afford more than a
meal for two at In-n-Out. Maybe you'll even get to
impress some gold-digger if it's a nice enough place.
\_ If they keep eating junk food they won't be hot for long
anyway. Find some super hot girls who don't eat that crap.
\_ I miss eating KFC. Seriously. It makes me feel good to eat it
but it makes me feel lousy afterwards. Getting old.
\_ I can only eat two platefuls at Todai.
\_ Speaking of which, I used to be able to eat 3 platefuls
but now I can barely eat 2. Maybe my matabolism is slowing
down or something, but it's no longer worthwhile going to
all you can eat restaurants anymore.
\- is Todai worth trying? I'm not a sushi snob, but I've
also heard some of the stuff there is disgusting/inedible.
\_ Todai is tolerable if you don't care and terrible if you
do care. However, it's less expensive than Isobune or
any of the other sushi-boat places and comparable in
quality. If you just want to eat a bunch of fish meat,
go to Todai on your birthday. --erikred
\_ Has anyone eaten at Coach (formerly MR Sushi)? Had
a great meal there the other night. Nomihoudai for
$3.50... Friendliest host/staff ever...
\_ That nomihoudai sake is hard to beat, even if it's
not good sake. The sushi was so-so, but you're
right, their staff is excellent. --erikred
\_ You're not talking about Mr. Sushi on Grand Ave
by Lake Merritt, are you? This place taught me
never to go to a restaurant named Mr. <food type>
without some trustworthy recommendations.
\_ The birthday comment is for a free meal, but requires
you to be accompanied by at least one paying adult.
As for quality, it really depends from location to
location. I rate Daly City one as poor. San Jose one
(don't know if there's more than one) a lot of people
(Todai fans) rave about it, but I found it subpar
(meaning quality did not meet pricing.) In bay area,
only Todai I would be willing to pay is the one in
Pleasanton. I've also been told that SoCal ones are
overall better than bay area ones. If the one SoCal
experience I had was a good representation, I would
agree. But if you want similar style buffet, I think
Moonstar Buffet (across street from Orpheum Theater)
is a better value. I haven't tried their new
location in Daly City. But I generally try to avoid
buffets except in vegas. Wynn's buffet is amazing.
\_ The one in Pleasanton is good? It's the only one
I've been to, and I wasn't all that impressed.
\_ Heh, the motd aging... next up will be serious questions about ED.
\_ Speaking of which I'm having the opposite problem as I
am getting older -- the um "volume" and "distance" are
getting ridiculous.
\_ Get her some goggles. - grumpy not getting laid guy
\_ Him |
| 2007/10/10-14 [Computer/SW/Editors/Emacs] UID:48289 Activity:low |
10/10 Anyone know emacs has a session saver? It drives me nuts to have
to reload and restore.
\_ I looked at this six or twelve months ago, and they do exist, but
no one implementation seemed simple nor robust enough for my needs.
Let me know if you find anything. -dans
\_ run emacs in screen, never kill it!
\_ emacsserver/emacsclient
\_ What do these have to do with saving sessions? -- !OP
\_ If you never 'quit' emacs, there is no need to 'save' sessions.
\_ I have an idea. How about you do "kill -9" to kill emacs every time
you want to quit it, then user M-x recover-session to restore it?
you want to quit it, then use M-x recover-session to restore it?
You might even map C-x C-c to do "kill -9" on itself, and add
recover-session to you ~/.emacs.
\_ Can't you just boot directly into emacOS and use the system suspend
and restore functions?
\_ The following works for me without having to do too much work:
http://www.phys.ufl.edu/docs/emacs/emacs_423.html
basically, add an entry to your .emacs and then do
"M-x desktop-save <path>" for the very first time, and subsequent
launch of emacs from <path> will auto reload previous files,
buffers, history, etc. I have this setup in less than a minute. |
| 5/17 |