Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2008:March:13 Thursday <Wednesday, Friday>
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2008/3/13-17 [Recreation/Food/Alcohol, Recreation/Food] UID:49440 Activity:moderate
3/13    Help. Mother has slowly gone insane in the past few weeks. Claims
        to be really sick, takes her to ER, nothing. Does this several
        times before we realized she's just lonely. She eats crappy food
        like KFC and canned food and is mal-nutrioned yet refuses to eat
        "expensive food." She is a complete hazard on the road, and her
        place has become a total dumpster and a fire hazard. It's apparent
        that her mental capacity and reasoning power has slowly diminished
        to... zero. What are some possible solutions? I don't want to
        kill her.
        \_ this sounds very familiar.  I recommend, for the lonely/depression
           problem:
                1) force her to get social hobbies
                2) force her to have regular interaction with people
                3) enforce a quota - like going out every day
           we went from 1 false alarm ER visit a month to one every 6+ months.
                --brain
           \_ Thanks but already tried and doesn't work. After 2-3 meetings
              people realize she's a total nutcase and avoid her. I mean
              I've already lost gf's thanks to her. Socialization is not
              for someone who's brain is already hardwired.
              \_ What about senior centers?  Here in Livermore we have the
                 "friendship center" or something like that for old people to
                 hang out at. http://www.larpd.dst.ca.us/friendship.html
        \_ Do you equate putting her in a home with 'killing her'?  She
           sounds like she needs and would benefit from being in a
           home.  They'll watch over her and she'll have other crazy
           old people to hang out with.
           Alternately, you could quit your job and nursemaid her
           yourself.
           \_ So how much is a nursing home going to cost?  -op
              \_ Sounds like my dad, so I have the greatest sympathy
                 with your plight. My dad would not consider moving out
                 of his home until he finally crashed his car and depleted
                 of his home until he crashed his car and depleted
                 his bank account, but finally agreed to move into an
                 assisted living situation, where he gets three meals a
                 day and his own apartment. This costs $1800/mo, in Riverside
                 California. It would more in the Bay Area, 1.5X to 2X more
                 depending on the facility. You can actually get it for less,
                 but it starts to be pretty primitive.
                 \_ OH LORD. I don't have that kind of money. I guess I'll
                    just let her rot and crash into other people like
                    George Weller or something.
                    \_ Doesn't she have any savings?  Where is she living now?
                       \_ No. She said she was counting on Social Security.
                          But I've been mostly supporting her. I don't have
                          other family members as they're also crazy and
                          scattered all over the world. It's just my mom
                          and I, 50 miles apart. I have to admit, this has
                          been one of the loneliest months I've ever had in
                          my life. It's times like these that I wished that
                          I was a Christian or something.       -op
                          \_ How much does she cost per month right now?
                             $1800 doesn't seem like that much if you include
                             rent, food, utilities, etc.
                             \_ Her mortgage is $600/month.
                                \_ Wheew... I think you'd have to move closer
                                   to her, (or vice-versa) and get a part time
                                   caretaker to clean up and such.  Actually,
                                   coversation (relieving loniness) is a big
                                   part of the caretaker job.  They are used to
                                   it.  It's usually about $10 an hour.  (Often
                                   under the table.)
                                \_ Social Security is only about $650 or so
                                   a month. With a $600 mortage... when did
                                   you say her reasoning powers went to 0?
                                   \_ On what planet is SS $650/month? My
                                      mom gets twice that and she wasn't
                                      even in the highest earner bracket.
                                      \_ Not all of us come from wealthy
                                         households. I think my Dad's is
                                         about $800/mo, though he gets some
                                         CalPers pension on top of it.
                                         \_ My mom isn't wealthy, but she
                                            worked her entire life. Your
                                            dad probably got less because
                                            he had CalPers instead and
                                            didn't contribute to SS his
                                            entire working career.
                                            \_ You might be right there. His
                                               overall pension + SS is about
                                               $2500/mo, which is just enough.
                    \_ Can you just move her in with you? I thought about this
                       with my Dad, but he is just too hard to get along with.
                       \_ oh, no, HELL NO am I ever going to live with
                          her again. She wakes up in the middle of the
                          night and vacuums and cleans and moves furnitures.
                          She will dig through my books and bank accounts
                          and mess up my private life. HELL NO.         -op
           \_ My Grandmother never got too crazy, she realized when she was
              too old to drive and stopped driving herself.  I lived with her
              for a while when I went to Junior college, but when I went to
              Berkeley she hired a maid and meals-on-wheels.
              After a while she brought on a part time caretaker.  However,
              she was quite happy living a solitary life, reading books and
              watching TV, so even when she dingy she didn't really cause many
              problems.  On the other hand, some realatives lived close by
              watching TV, so even when she got a little dingy she didn't
              really cause many problems.  Some realatives lived close by
              and would visit on at least a weekly basis.  I'm not sure how
              much it cost, but it was probably cheaper than a home, but
              she also owned her own home.
        \_ tell her to ride bike and use linux          -tom's #1 fan
           \_ RIDE TANK!  BAN GUNS! - tom's #5 fan
        \_ Take her to a doctor who knows something about age related mental
           disorders.
2008/3/13-17 [Computer/HW/Drives, Recreation/Media] UID:49441 Activity:nil
3/12    Watch TV/movies from your desktop:
        http://www.hulu.com
2008/3/13-17 [Computer/SW/Unix] UID:49442 Activity:nil
3/12    Unix sysadmin for last 6 months says:  Market in for real hurting
        http://ticker-classics.denninger.net
        http://www.denninger.net/resume.html
        \_ Uhm... so?  He has some points, what does his unix background have
           to do with anything either way?
           \_ the non sequitur is interesting by itself
           \_ maybe he's like all us losers, but in that case, it would be
              interesting if he were right
        \_ This guy hasn't worked since 98?
           \_ i believe he sold his business for $5-15M and is doing smaller
              jobs when he feels like it
2008/3/13-17 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan, Reference/History/WW2/Japan] UID:49443 Activity:nil
3/12    Japanese Yen now trading at 100.28 to 1 USD
        \_ When I was in Japan 11 years ago, it fluctuated between 110 and 120.
        \_ It was around 116 when I was there in August. On the plus side,
           this means I've made about 16% on the 5000 Yen that I never got
           to exchanging back for dollars.
           \_ 16% over eleven years?  I'd guess that with inflation you lost
              money.
2008/3/13-17 [Computer/Networking] UID:49444 Activity:nil
3/13    I have an actual technical question for the motd. Where can I find
        the generic Cisco-style symbols for Visio 2003? For some reason,
        M$ pulled them from the recent edition and replaced them with
        their own crappy non-standard ones. I don't mean the icons at:
        http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/prod_visio_icon_list.html
        I mean the generic circle with four arrows for a router, etc. -ausman
        \_ Perhaps these icons will work for you:
           http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac50/ac47/2.html
           \_ I found these, but can't figure out how to load them into
              Visio. File -> Shapes -> Open Stencil doesn't do it (nothing
              shows up, since they are in the .wmf format) and putting
              the path to the images in Options-> Advanced -> File Path
              doesn't work either. Do I cut and paste each image?
              \_ Hmm, I don't have a copy of visio but according the Microsoft
                 website, you should be able to open a WMF (windows meta file)
                 in Visio.  The other option is d/l the TIFF images and then
                 import/open those.
           Alternatively, there are some links in this blog post that might
           work:
           http://www.ciscoblog.com/archives/2006/03
2008/3/13-17 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:49445 Activity:moderate
3/13    "The federal Clean Air Act requires that health standards for ozone
        and a handful of other air pollutants not take costs into account."
        http://www.csua.org/u/l0w
        Whoa! I am an environmentalist, but this is nuts. Almost as nutty
        as invading a country without stopping to consider how much it
        is going to cost.
        \_ It isn't like bad air is happening naturally.  People are creating
           pollutants and not actually paying for the externalities.  I
           have the right to breathe healthy air which means fuck the costs,
           if someone wants to make my air unhealthy they should have to pay
           to clean it up.  Why is that so hard to understand?
           \_ Okay, all cars are banned.  Does that make you happy?
              \_ How about gas is taxed to pay for cleanup costs?  You know
                 the funny thing is the EPA was a big Nixon thing.  He was
                 proud of it.  Man, I can't believe I miss Nixon.
              \_ I thought you said 'fuck the costs' -- well, the air will be
                 a /lot/ cleaner with no cars.
                 \_ It would be cleaner yet with no ships. I say keep cars
                    and ban commercial shipping.
                  \_ And that's why you have a standard to meet.  The EPA
                     has a standard that has to be met.  Not perfection, but
                     "no worse than this."  Why is that so hard to expect?
                     \_ Why not completely virgin air?  Since we're being
                        arbitrary, where do you draw the line?
                        \_ It's not arbitrary.  The EPA exists in part
                           to determine when levels become harmful.  The free
                           market is notoriously bad about this kind of stuff
                           which is why regulation is important.
                           \_ Um, yes it's arbitrary.  Someone's making some
                              decision based on pretty much nothing.
                              \_ Let me guess, you also think global warming
                                 is a big fraud?
                                 \_ And you think the moon landing was?
                                    \_ And how did you get there?
                                       \_ Et tu?
                           \_ Nothing goes from 'not harmful' to 'harmful' in a
                              single stroke.  There's a judgement about what is
                              'too harmful', and it's silly to ignore cost when
                              making that judgement.
        \_ The moment your ancestors climbed down from their tree and started
           their first fire we began the pollute the air.  If you want truly
           'virgin' (to use someone's phrase above) air then we have to simply
           end civilization and go find trees to climb.
           \_ nice straw man.  Hint: 70 ppb ozone is not "virgin air"
              \_ Neither is 60 ppb. How do you decide to chose one as the
                 clean air limit over the other? Don't you think the cost
                 of compliance should figure into the decision?
                 \_ Do you know how 60-70 ppb was arrived at?
                    \_ I think it is quite obvious that the EPA ignored the
                       law andd took cost into account in their decision.
                       Do you know how the numbers were arrived at?
                       \_ The numbers were arrived at by a scientific
                          process involving a panel specifically charged with
                          coming up with such numbers.  I think it is quite
                          obvious that the EPA ignored its own advisory
                          panels because it's run by an administration that
                          is waging a war on science.
2008/3/13-17 [Uncategorized] UID:49446 Activity:nil
3/13    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23581774
        Anti-foreclosure hotline leaves callers cold BAHAHAHAHAHA
2008/3/13-17 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/India, Health/Women] UID:49447 Activity:nil
3/13    "Indian DNA links to 6 'founding mothers' - Yahoo News!"
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_sc/native_american_dna
        "That finding doesn't answer the bigger questions of where those women
        lived, or of how many people left Beringia to colonize the Americas,
        she said Thursday."
        Wow, even Native Americans were colonizers.
        \_ Uh yes.  People did not spring up fully formed all over the globe.
           That meant they had to colonize.
           \_ Of course not!  They were kicked out of the Garden for their
              sins.
2008/3/13 [Uncategorized] UID:49448 Activity:moderate 75%like:49452
3/13    Spitzer is an Repblican now!
        http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080312/img/ppl-us-politics-newyork-gov-1-4e48f9b2ad981.html
        \_ Maybe they found out he used male prostitutes too
2008/3/13-17 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:49449 Activity:nil
3/13    How does Google Image's SafeSearch Filtering filter images?  Does
        Google hire people to visually determine whether each image is
        explicit or not?
        \_ http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~fleck/naked.html
2008/3/13-17 [Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:49450 Activity:low
3/13    Oops, the media has finally noticed Obama's racist preacher.
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWvxTUy47Fk
        \_ Racist.
        \_ Obama's response:
           http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html
           http://preview.tinyurl.com/23hqyu [huffington post]
           I'm sure the media will give him exacty the same treatment as they
           do when Pat Robertson makes some off the wall remarks.  Yep.
           Totally sure.
           \_ Pat Robertson is responsible for what he says. Obama is not
              responsible for what someone else says. Understand the
              difference?
2008/3/13-17 [Computer/SW/WWW/Browsers] UID:49451 Activity:moderate
3/13    Firefox 3 Beta 4:  Fast, cleans up memory good on minimize, stable,
        can install alongside FireFox 2.x
        Cons:  Extensions don't work and need to install beta versions, rich
        urlbar is nasty but as of today you can install oldbar extension
        Ah-nold would say:  Fuckin' fan-tah-stik!
        \_ Does it use less memory than 2.x when not minimized?  Long ago Fx
           was intended to be a browser leaner than Mozilla, Netscape and IE.
           But now 2.0.0.12 seems to use as much memory as IE on my machine.
           \_ it seems to not leak memory.  when you think it does, a few more
              open and close tabs later you'll see it drops back down to a
              relatively fixed amount. 2.0 could not last more than a few days.
              You need to try it.  Been rock solid so far. I can't go back. -op
              relatively fixed amount.  2.0 could not last more than a day.
              You need to try it.  Been rock solid so far. -op
        \_ Another Con:  It's beta.
        \_ I gave it a try after your post. It works quite well. Seems faster
           than FF2. Most of my extensions worked w/o updates (adblock plus,
           noscript, siteadvisor, pdfmenot, 1password). I needed to upgrade
           nosquint to beta. The only extension that doesn't work is FoxMarks,
           which is a little annoying. The default theme also looks a lot more
           OSX like than FF2. All in all, it is quite nice.
2008/3/13-17 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:49452 Activity:nil 75%like:49448
3/13    Spitzer is an Repblican now!
        http://preview.tinyurl.com/ynmspk [yahoo news uk]
        \_ Maybe they found out he used male prostitutes too
        \_ It's AP news.  Give them a break, it isn't like they're a real news
           service.  They collect propaganda from around the world and publish
           it as fact unvetted.
2008/3/13-17 [Health/Women] UID:49453 Activity:nil
3/13    Using cleaning chemicals too frequently in the home seems to increase
        chances of asthma
        http://csua.org/u/l14
        \_ I'm shocked, shocked
2008/3/13-17 [Science/Space] UID:49454 Activity:nil
3/13    New bacteria looks like it can grow in lunar soil:
        http://preview.tinyurl.com/2kqlqo [new scientist]
        \_ Oh god.  We are proliferating life in the universe.
        \_ There might be one problem.  On the moon, one gets half a month of
           continuous sunlight and then half a month of continuous darkness.
        \_ Sure, as long as it gets water, air, and light.
2024/11/22 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
11/22   
Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2008:March:13 Thursday <Wednesday, Friday>