12/10   The Invisible Hand:
    http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2008/12/09/tomo
        \_ You know, I'm all for socialism given how unfair the market
           has been to those who simply got lucky during the dot-com
           and housing boom (I was born in the wrong era and got left
           out while prosperity passed by me). I'm all for socialism, but
           I really think this auto bailout is stupid. Why should I as
           a tax payer pay for making crappy cars that people obviously
           don't want to buy?
           \_ So, you don't want to be rich, you just want other people to
              be poor?
              \_ Ya, pretty much.               -the next generation
                 PS fuck yall who got lucky rich. Meritocracy #1!!!
                 \_ Are you trolling or what?
                 \_ Umm.. socialism != meritocracy...

12/10   Saw a homeless guy today with a sign asking for money who had on
    a Wharton School of Business sweatshirt.
        \_ It's not Haas.
           \_ I did see a homeless guy in Las Vegas with a Cal hat on once.
              \_ How do you know he's a homeless guy and not some weird
                 social science major guy experimenting with the idea
                 of social begging?
              \_ I saw a homeless guy with a WebVan shirt on. Maybe he was
                 the old CEO of WebVan.
        \_ A lot of such branded clothing ends up in donation bins.  I've heard
           you can find African villagers wearing pretty comical clothing.
           \_ and they carry AK-47 as well?
        \_ I took this picture of a Britney Spears T-Shirt while trekking in
           a (Karem? Hmong? I can't remember) village in Thailand:
           http://csua.berkeley.edu/~abe/thai-britney.jpg

12/11   Congress makes me sick. They forked over $700B to the banks with
    less hand-wringing. $15B is chump change. Just do it. They don't
    deserve it, but neither did the banks.
        \_ The $700B was a loan.
           \_ and we're gonna get every penny back, with interest!  or how
              about this:  it would have been much worse if we hadn't loaned
              them $700B. obama and mccain both said it - it must be true. -!op
              \_ We will get some of it back, it is hard to say right now
                 how much. FDR's HOLC was closed at a profit (for the
                 government).
                 \_ it depends on what the meaning of "profit" is, and for that
                    matter, "refinance"
                 \_ it depends on what the meaning of "profit" is
        \_ The $700B was sold as a way to free up the tight credit by buying
           assets.  Then Paulson immediately used the money differently from
           how it was promised, and congress failed to appoint any oversight
           (by comparison, the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns have cost a total
           of $864B as of June 30, 2008 http://opencrs.com/document/Rl33110
           Maybe they don't want to hand out more money given how successful
           (NOT!) the previous bailout was?
           \_ For $15B when $700B was already doled out? It's in the noise.
              \_ Of course, $700B has not already been doled out.

12/11   LBL's Steven Chu chosen to head DOE:
    http://preview.tinyurl.com/63rj7h [wp]

12/11   http://www.pretec.com/epages/Store.storefront/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Store.Pretec/Products/CF233X
    48GB compact flash card, perfect for your Canon 5D mk II camera
    that has a built in 1080 video camera. You *did* get a Canon
    instead of a crappy Nikon right? Ha ha ha           -canon guy
        \_ get a life.
           \_ Camera guy is a troll.  A little more subtle than Star Wars guy,
              but still a troll.

12/11   ST Undiscovered Country BR to include scenes from Klingon Hamlet:
    http://preview.tinyurl.com/6gjg7f [sliceofscifi.com]

12/11   outgoing email hasnt worked in a few days..
        \_ I just sent out some email and it arrived in my gmail account
           just fine (in a few minutes even). -ausman
           \_ same test but nothing has arrive for days
              \_ Try again.
                 \_ doesnt work.. perhaps only a few users get updated at a
                    time grouped updates?
                   \_ Maybe you're blacklisted somewhere.  I just tried to a
                      non-gmail account and it worked fine. -emakrp
                        \_ gmail thought it was spam. but worked before :/
        \- You get your mail on soda? "lulz"

12/11   Ubuntu's marketing is.. interesting
    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/3100380701_dee7f9b290_o.png

12/11   http://bailoutwine.com/site/how_it_works.asp
        \_ Cool I just bought a couple of bottles. I hope it turns out to
           be good and expensive wine.
           be both a good and an expensive wine.

12/11   Is there a generally accepted moratorium on dumping somebody
    between Dec 1 and Jan 1?
        \_ What do you think this is? The Cosmo gal help line?
         \_ There is at least one for dumping someone between say, Dec 20th
            and Jan 3 or so.  Well, at least if it is a serious long term
            relationship.
         \_ just buy her/him a Fruit cake.. that usually does it or is
                a good signal of impending doom

12/11   Can we get some insightful thoughts on Chu's nomination? Plenty of
    people here work(ed) at LBNL at some point.
        \_ he's clearly smart, and seems pretty well-respected as an
           administrator.  Only question I'd have is whether he's
           too enamored of technology, i.e., the BP grant is basically
           genetic engineering to make biofuel more feasible, which has
           the potential to cause as many problems as it solves.  All the
           low-hanging fruit is in conservation.  -tom
           \_ Chu was a dinner with a friend of mine and at the end of the
              meal he said "are you going to eat that" and after she said
              "no" he took her plate and ate the rest of her dinner. So he
              clearly believes in conservation.
           \_ A friend of mine was at dinner with Chu ... at the end of
              dinner he asked "are you going to finish that?" and then
              grabbed her plate and shoveled the leftovers on to his own
              and ate it up. So clearly he believes in conservation.
           \_ A friend of mine was at restaurant dinner with Chu. At the
              end of the meal he asked her "are you going to finish that?"
              and then took her plate and shovelled the rest of the food
              on to his plate and finished it. So we know he believes in
              conservation.
        \_ Is he a spy from CHINA?