6/4     'What's the point of all this?  Berkeley really should be a really
        cool place to be a CS person, but it's usually not.  If you're reading
        this book, it's probably *your* responsibility to help make Berkeley a
        cooler place to be.  Even if you're just a CSUA member, or nonmember,
        and not an officer or anything.  It is important that people do stuff
        that's for more than themselves, but the Berkeley computer science
        community I have been witnessing is stuck in a deadlock of mutual
        laziness and exhaustion.' - Jon Blow, from the CSUA log book
        \_ I think the above is perhaps the single finest exposition of what
           the CSUA should be about. -dans
           \_ Your webpage is hillarious.
              \_ The way you spell hilarious is hilarious. -dans
           \_ laziness and exhaustion?
           \_ whining aimlessly while trying to look like you care about
              something unimportant or nonexistent like the "Berkeley computer
              science community"?  as soon as someone starts drooling about
              a 'community' that's a keyword trigger that tells you it's ok
              to tune out and think about something important.
              \_ Like, perhaps, expanding your pr0n archive?
                 \_ That and anything else imaginable would be more meaningful
              \_ Wow, I pity your sad, lonely, self-loathing existence -dans
                 \_ Wow, I pity your arrogant, sanctimonious, self-important
                    existance.
                 \_ Take a deep breath and repeat after me, "it's only school,
                    it's only school, it's only school".  If you need the csua
                    to have some sort of great social meaning in order to
                    bring meaning to your own life then well, nevrmind, this
                    should be self evident.  There's no such thing as the
                    "Berkeley computer science community".  Most "communities"
                    don't exist.  If they did they wouldn't require "work" to
                    keep them going.  Think about it, genius.
                    \_ You, too, have missed the point. College, as an
                       experience, should be more than a process of getting a
                       good job. In blojo's POV, the CSUA should be part of a
                       better, smarter, more inventive, more mind expanding
                       computer experience. And ALL communities require work
                       to keep them going.
           \_ The CSUA has had this problem since XCF split off from UCF and
              the proliferation of affordable computing power. Without the
              need for machine access, the CSUA falls back on a social agenda.
              And since nerds by definition aren't social, it falls apart.
              Unless, as written by Jon, you can find a core group to hold it
              together and attract other likeminded people.
              \_ I see nothing falling apart.  What's wrong with the CSUA?
                 \_ Nothing really. It's just not a great hacker group.
              \_ why shouldn't be the CSUA be a social organization?  Do you
                 know how many people got married as a result of the CSUA?
                 \_ Name all of the CSUA social events/activities. If there is
                    a strong leadership, it's fine. They can drive them. If
                    not, it all falls apart. If the CSUA can develop a core
                    place for people to do computer nerd hacking, it becomes
                    a social organization by default. The question has always
                    been what does the CSUA want to do?
                 \_ and how many marriages has BDG stopped?
                    \_ He stopped mine. One must listen and obey.
                       I repeat the daily invocation: T B T H!
                        \_ what is TBTH???
                           \_ "The B&%#h took half!"
              \_ The OCF split off from UCF?  When did this happen?  Neat
                 trick.
                 \_ Oops. Too much drinking. It has been fixed...
              \_ I don't know about you, but I joined to get another
                 e-mail address and shell account.
                 \_ nononono, it's all about the warm fuzzy feeling you get
                    when you code late into the night with other nerdlings
                    and share tales of GNUvictory over those who would keep
                    the information from being free!  it's all about the
                    Berkeley computer science community!!  Do it for the kids!
              \_ blojo never said anything about a social agenda. -dans
                 \_ You're right. But the CSUA becomes just a social club
                    when there is no centralizing computing environment where
                    likeminded nerds can hack code, talk about code hacks, and
                    create stuff for world use/domination. So many CS nerds,
                    so little code generation.
                    \_ its what the WEB used to be for for undergrads.
        \_ Remember kids.  It's only school.  However important you think the
           CSUA and your CSUA 'friends' and just about anything else in school
           seems now it won't mean shit onec you've graduated, have a job, a
           wife/husband, a mortgage, car payments, and start thinking about
           what you're going to name your kids and if you'll raise them in a
           religion or not and which one.  The CSUA is mere trivia at best.
           \_ I graduated a decade ago and the community of friends that
              I made in college is still the people that I spend time with,
              still the ones that I visit on vacation, still the ones
              that I live with and still the ones that I know will be
              there for me when I need them. I respect your choices, but
              you should not think that your way is the only way.
              \_ Did you ever leave Berkeley?  Maybe you'd be better off with
                 a more diverse group of friends.  Sounds really inbred to me.
              \_ ditto.  Most people i know/know_of are like that too.
                 Probably something about the first people you know well
                 when you are away from home, (or the first people you know
                 after you are over age?) but there is definitely somthing
                 about college-connections that seem to last.
                 \_ For many folks, it's the last time they're exposed to
                    a broad group of people.
                    \_ The CSUA represents a broad group of people?
                       \_ College.  Retake that reading comprehension course.
                          \_ College doesn't represent a broad group of
                             people.  It's 99% the 18-22 year old children
                             of the wealthy or the educated.  It's the elite
                             of society, especially at Berkeley.  We can all
                             read.  It's you that fails to comprehend.
                             \_ So where do you get your "broad group"
                                exposure?  Spend a lot of time at the
                                supermarket? --scotsman