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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. |
7/3 |