6/9     I have a pair of Levi's jeans newly purchased (gift) and they are
        so damn thin I am afraid they might rip just going into the drier.
        WTF has happened to Jeans in the last few decades and which brand
        has the highest thickness to cost ratio?
        \_ I've been wearing Kirkland jeans from Costco for a few years.
           Quality-wise, including thickness to cost ratio, has been very
           good.  Style-wise, I can't tell.
           \_ http://www.ehow.com/list_7222998_jeans-older-men.html
              \_ Sadly, I actually find this appropriate for me.  -- PP
        \_ I spend $100 on Banana Republic jeans and they are reasonably sturdy.
           Even those have gotten thinner over the years.
        \_ I spend $100 on Banana Republic jeans and they are reasonably
           sturdy. Even those have gotten thinner over the years.
        \_ I like Diesels. Great quality denim (good feel+endurance)
           but you'll have to spend $$ on em. Totally worth it though
           as they look great. Get the made in Italy ones. I've worn some
           for about 2-3 years straight so amortized cost is low.
           \_ If you majored in computer science at Berkeley, and have to
              worry about the amortized cost of your pants, then somewhere
              along the line something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.
        \_ Arizona Jeans through JC Penney's Big and Tall: durable,
           comfortable, and, let's face it, you probably need the room.

8/27    '"We're about to crash," BA passengers told in error'
        http://www.csua.org/u/rgm (news.yahoo.com)
        This should warrant some legitimate emotional distress lawsuits.

8/6     Is NBC broadcasting the Olympics OC live? If not, where can I
        watch it live? Don't tell me the internet. ;)
        \_ I heard it's 8pm Friday PDT.

5/23    Erroneous computer programs made Moodys incorrectly
        give AAA ratings to crazy weirdo debt CDO stuff I really
        do not understand:
        http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c82561a-2697-11dd-9c95-000077b07658.html

5/1     "Arctic ice cap melting 30 years ahead of forecast"
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/sc_nm/globalwarming_ice_dc
        "Scambos and co-authors of the study, ...... used setellite data and
        visual confirmation of Arctic ice to reach their conclusions, a far
        different picture than that obtained from computer models used by the
        scientists of the intergovernmental panel."

10/7    Can anyone who has Comcast DVR let me know how to transfer a
        show that I've recorded to my computer? I'm reading that the USB
        connector on this box is inactive. Please help. Thanks.

8/16    ~dbushong/.vim/syntax/motd.vim
        Goes well with:
        au BufNewFile,BufRead motd.public,/tmp/motd.public.r.* setf motd
        \_ I'm interested, can you please tell us what cool and unique
           features you've put in before we try it? Thanks.
           \_ Just does syntax highlighting.  I added a command elsewhere to
              set my tabstops to 8, but this doesn't do that.  A picture:
              http://bushong.net/dave/tmp/motd-hi.png

7/27    http://csua.org/u/gjr
        Is this a good deal for deep-frying occasionally for a dinner for two?
        Has anyone used this type of "safe" fryer before? Is 2.4L too small?
        \_ we have and use one of those T-FAL deep fryers.  Note that the
           cost of the oil is significant over time, and the cleanup is a
           chore afterward.   Still, for home deep frying its great! -ERic

7/13    Is mail working?  Neither incoming nor outgoing mail seems to be
        working.  I've received no email (not even spam) since last night.
        And outgoing mail doesn't seem to be working (or at least it's
        delayed more than a couple minutes).
                I think there are about 50K messages in the queue... -ax
                \_ Is the queue being unqueued.  soda's been up for 3 hours
                   and I haven't received a single email.  I normally get
                   a few per hour, including spam.
                \_ soda uses sendmail, right?  sendmail isn't running... -ax
                  \_ Forgive me if it's a stupid question, but why not?
                     Is something not working, or did someone just forget
                     to turn it on?
                        \_ No one knows, we are all waiting for root to start
                           it back up.  -ax
        \_ In the words of Ted Stevens ("internet expert"):
           The internet is not something that you just dump something on.
           It's not a big tr uck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't
           It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't
           understand that those tubes can be filled, and if they're filled
           when you put your message in it, it gets in line, it's gonna be
           delayed by anyone who puts into that tube enormous amounts of
           material, enormous amounts of material. Ten movies streaming
           across that that, inte rnet, and what happens to your own
           across that that, internet, and what happens to your own
           personal internet? I...just the other day, got internet was
           sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday, I got
           it yesterday. Why?
        \_ root installed clamav after being told by SNS to do something
           about the stream of virus laden email from soda or have network
           access blocked.

           clamav/MTA interaction fucked up soda around midnight.  mikeh was
           nice enough to reboot soda while in the machine room doing other
           things for work.  he was also nice enough to turn sendmail and
           clamav off so that soda would stay up without getting it's network
           access turned off.

           i should note that it was an alumni (not me) who set up virus
           scanning for soda, not any of the undergraduates. --Jon
           \_ Bottom line - mail broken?
           \_ Why no incoming mail?
           \_ Err... why is there a stream of virus-laden email coming
              from soda?
              \_ because its running debian inside of vmware on w2k3
              \_ think .forward/procmail

6/9     Tandy Computer WhizKids comics.  Pretty awesome.
        http://www.atarimagazines.com/whizkids/index.php

4/3     jive is yesterday. I want jive binary equivalent for fobification.
        Ideally I would liking to the following comand:
        % cat /etc/motd.public | fob > myfile; cp myfile /etc/motd.public
        I like such binary but I dont write programs please point me
        binary to use. Thanks you.

3/21    reviews of virtual escorts:
        http://sl-escorts.com
        \_ This was posted like three weeks ago. -dans

1/17    Dear Postfix experts: In order to comply with SPF when
        forwarding email, it looks like the envelope sender needs to
        be written before an email is forwarded. Is this possible to
        get Postfix to do this for virtual alias domains and/or
        virtual mailbox domains? I can't find the answer on the web.

10/31   Civ 4, The Internet wonder
        http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/chudnoff/www/gore.jpg
        \_ Tell me that was a joke please?
         \_ It prolly is a joke but that is how it is in game. Pretty funny.

10/5    From a reliability standpoint, on an IDE hard disk, if you
        have write cache turned off, is there any advantage to using
        data=journal mode versus data=ordered mode? Related question, if
        I'm using data=journal mode, does turning write cache off have
        any reliability advantages?
        \_ I think the answer to the first question is yes, since
           I just read that data=ordered can result in corrupt data
           if power is interrupted while overwriting of a file.

5/14    Virtual Bubblewrap:
        http://www.nonstop.lv/files/bubblewrap.swf

4/21    Can we rename CSUA to "Computer Science Undergraduates and Alumni"?
        \_ I second that. Most motders are old guys (over 22 years old)
        \_ I thought it was the Computer Science Union of Alums
        \_ Then it'll be CSUAA.

2/12    In FinkCommander, is there a way to check up on the progress of
        a source/binary install? The status bar says it is downloading
        a file, but I have no idea if it's progressing or not. Thanks.
        \_ Open up the Activity Monitor, and see if there is any network
           activity occuring. -phale

1/9     Where can one buy a 128MB USB 1.1 stick?
        My epia 5000 doesn't seem to boot from my USB 2.0 drive.
        "To increase your chances, a stick which complies to USB 1.1 and not
        USB 2.0 is recommended, since there seem to be some BIOSes out
        there which cannot boot from USB 2.0 media."  http://d-i.pascal.at
        \_ why don't you order one online. they're kinda cheap now.
           \_ Where? I'd like to, but all I can find are USB2.0.

12/4    It was the damn humans who ruined Cal's Rose Bowl. Machines
        were right!
        \_ We got screwed by some of the computers too. For instance, ASU's
           loss to Arizona lowered our scores on some of the computers.
           \_ What makes you believe that?
        \_ The humans have us ranker higher than Texas.
              \_ Some of the computer rankings take into account the records
                 of your opponents. ASU was the best team we beat.
                 \_ Yes, but we also played Arizona, so them beating ASU
                    made their record better. I think the effect on our
                    Strength of Schedule rating is a wash.
                    \_ Althouth the Arizona win probably didn't hurt us much
                       directly, it did boost Utah a considerable bit in many
                       of the computer polls.  That is because Utah played
                       Arizona (as one of their few non-conference opponents).
                       And in many of the polls, Utah was between Cal and
                       Texas, thus lowering our ranking by one slot, and thus
                       making our computer score about .04 less, which cost us
                       the Rose Bowl.  -phale
        \_ The humans have us ranked higher than Texas.
           \_ Overall, we are ranked ahead of Texas in the human vote.
              However, our #4 human ranking became weaker on Sunday - weak
              enough for the computer vote to move Texas into #4 overall.
              The human/computer rankings are not purely discrete.
           \_ Yeah, that was true last week, too, when we were still #4
              overall.  What happened was that our #4 human ranking became
              a little weaker on Sunday.
        \_ That guy on the motd banking on Cal vs. Wisconsin sure came out well!
           \_ yea, wisconsin was exposed as a fake, and I didn't quite
              understood the BCS rules.  I thought Cal would go as long as
              USC goes to championshp game and Cal is second in the
              conference.  I still think Cal should go to the Rosebowl.
              IIRC, Cal has won all the bowl games it went to since the
              early 90s (copper, aloha, citrus, insight, etc.?)
              \_ We lost the Aloha Bowl.  -tom   (I was there)
        \_ For the last two weeks all 6 BCS computer rankings have ranked
           Texas ahead of Cal.
        \_ BCS or electoral college system, which should go first?
         \_ if electoral college goes, so do the southern states
        \_ I was watching it on ESPN I think.  The announcers were really
           excited about Cal, talking up about how great they were.  Cal did
           it's usual "slow-start" first-half, and the announcers stopped
           talking about how great Cal was.  Suddenly, Southern Miss was the
           team that was completing all its passes and scored on the flea-
           flicker.  There went our Rose Bowl right there.
           \_ The ESPN broadcast pissed me off. They showed the _TEXAS_
              fans more often than they did the Cal fans. WTF?!
              \_ When Texas has the momentum, they show Texas fans.
                 Anyways, c'mon, people are like:  UC Berkeley?  Football??

9/1     What is the etymology of 'bit'?  Is it from the use as "something
        small" or maybe a contraction of Binary unIT?
        \_ binary digit.
        \_ Coined by Tha Man himself, John Tukey.

8/11    Holo-deck one step closer: http://tinyurl.com/5uusb
        \_ Great, then we can spend every episode in the holodeck.  Oh wait,
           we already did that.
           \_ That was only in Voyager. TNG and DS9 had lots of non-holodeck
              episodes. - STMG
              \_ Actually, TNG was the worst abuser.  How many times did the
                 holodeck computer characters gain true conciousness and try
                 to take over the ship?  The holodeck computer was their
                 greatest enemy on TNG, not the Borg.  DS9 was just boring
                 until they tried to clone the much better B5 and failed.
                 \_ 3 times that I can think of, 2 Moriority episodes and the
                    one where the ship gained consciousness and expressed
                    itself through the holodeck.
                    \_ hahahha!! I don't know what episodes you're talking about
                       so i must not be a nerd! woohoo!

8/11    Do USB or Firewire have any inherent advantages over Power over GigE?
        \_ Broad compatability.

7/9     Subject: Graduate School

        A copy of your e-mail to our Admissions Office has been forwarded to
        me.  I will send you information about our graduate program,
        however, I wanted to be sure that Crop Science was the department
        you are interested in.  Your e-mail indicated a bachelors in
        computer science.

        Please let me know if your request was directed to the right
        department.

6/5     What's wrong with me? I went to /. and clicked on the ThinkGeek link,
        and almost everything on that page I wanted to buy.
                                        /- that's not what she said!
        \_ You've been measured and found wanting.  You're a geek and they've
           got your number.  It all looks like completely useless crap to me.
            \_ oh come on, you know you want a binary Clock.  And yeah, the
               swiss memory USB stick looks like crap but as soon as they
               come out with a leatherman one, i'm there. -jk
               \_ ok you got me, i was drooling over the binary clock.
                  \_ I must be a nerd's nerd, because the way their binary
                     clock displays the time seems really stupid to me.  I mean
                     you read time as "twelve fifty-seven" not
                     "one two five seven", so why'd they make 4 banks of
                     displays for the digits?  why not two with more bits?
                     \_ back in my day, we had one bit binary clocks that
                        rolled over once a year, and we liked it.
                     \_ also, I prefer reading binaries from left to right.
                     \_ agreed.  the binary clock is dumb.

5/5     motd phone number syntax poll:
        510.867.5309  : .
        (510)867-5309 : ...
        510/867-5309 : .
        510-867-5309 : ...
        +1 510 867-5309: .
        510.867-5309: .
        \_ now that one's just plain dumb
        +1-510-867-5309: .
        (510) 642-7453 : .
        \_ What?  No respect for little-endian phoe numbers?

4/29    Binary file, very funny!!

4/6     I just conducted a minor transaction with a cool guy who recently
        started his own business.  He's got a web page, but virtually no Google
        presence.  Can I buy adwords for his site if I don't run it?  Are there
        other means I can help him out in this area?
        \_ what business?
           \_ machine shop; he rethreaded a bolt hole on my intake manifold.
              His main business is removing broken off pieces of bolts and
              screws, which is specific enough that he gets nationwide business
              (hence the google thing seems helpful).  http://www.extractit.com
              \_ that's awsome!  too bad he doesn't list rates at all on the
                 site, though.  it would be nice to have a ballpark idea of
                 what he charges before calling.
                 \_ I paid him $20 for the thread insert and cleaning up the
                    other hole; he also polished the mating surface.  It's a
                    lot more to have him do it on the actual car, of course;
                    I removed this part.
                    \_ Do you have a well-known web presence?  Consider
                       putting a mention on your web page or blog.  Better
                       yet, if you're a well known blogger, get your friends
                       to link to your entry.
                       \_ A well known blog?  Only among the small group of
                          other 'bloggers' in the 'bloggosphere'.
                          \_ That's blogosphere.  And the blog echo chamber is
                             very good at pushing up google rankings.

3/19    I bought a memory card from Frys.  I put it in my camera
        and successfully took some pictures.  The next time I turned
        on the camera to look at the pictures, it said "CF card
        error".  I downloaded a trial version of some software that
        can recover pictures.  (It shows only thumbnails unless you pay
        $30).  It was not able to recover my pictures, but it did find
        about 150 pictures that were not mine!  Presumably, someone else
        had problems with the card and had returned it.  And then I bought
        the same problematic card.  It's been more than 30 days since I
        first bought the card.  I would like for Frys to pay whatever it
        takes for me to recover the pictures, but I'm not even dreaming that
        this will happen.  I'm just hoping I can get a full refund.  But I
        bet I will have trouble with this since it's been more than 30 days.
        Even though it's been more than 30 days, do I have any legal right
        for my money back if it's reasonably obvious that I was sold defective
        merchandise?
        \_ did you try talking to them at Frys and showing them the other
           pictures?  [formatd]
        pictures?
        \_ Why don't you just buy another one of the same model and return
           the defective one using the new receipt.
           \_ Not yet.  Not sure how I will be able to do that, since I'd
              have to have my memory card hooked up to a computer with the
              right software on it.  Besides, how do they know that those
              150 pics were not taken by me?
              \_ [the broken merge 'feature' in motdedit is worse than just
                  getting things lost.  at least like that people didn't have
              150 pics were not taken by me?
                  a software driven excuse to be rude *and* fuck up the motd]
        \_ Purchase identical (shrinkwrapped) item.  Take it home.  Swith
           broken item for item in shrinkwrap.  Return recent package to store,
           since you purchased that one within the last 30 days.
           \_ Good idea, but the memory card is PNY and I've read on the net
              about people having similar problems with that particular brand,
              so I don't want to replace it with another PNY.  In fact, I
              already bought another card (Sandisk) not from Frys.
              \_ Use the above method to get a working PNY card.  Then do as
                 you please (gift, eBay, etc.).
           \_ Why do you hate capitalism?
              \_ Because of companys like Fry's.
              \_ I don't hate capitalism.  Fry's is free to have a more
                 restrictive return policy if they like.  I used this technique
                 to return some bad CD-R media a while back that I got as a
                 present (but dind't use until >30 days later).
        \_ I'm guessing you're screwed.  Fry's *may* give you store credit
           for the memory card, but I wouldn't hold my breath.  PNY has a
           warranty, and Fry's will probably tell you to go that route.
           Easiest thing is to but another PNY card, swap it for the bad
           since you purchased that one within the last 30 days.
           one, return, and repeat till you found one that works.  Yes,
           it sucks.  Tough luck with the Sandisk card, though.

3/9     Did anyone ever come up with a url for a recording of that
        Chapelle segment "if the internet was a place" ?
        \_ yes, i did.  should be in the archive
           \_ Any change of getting a local copy in /csua/tmp ?
              -- streamng-impaired
        \_ That was a miserably stupid bit.
           \_ The number of humor-impaired people on motd never cease to amaze.
                \_ humor is subjective.  That bit was only very mildly funny.
                   \_ yeah, certainly not among his funniest bits

3/2     Lou Dobbs tonight: "taking a look at top U.S. universities for
        computer science":
        http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight
        \_ exporting America?  ouch... blame globalization, huh?

11/24   http://csua.org/u/534
        Do you support anti-spam internet vigilantes?
        \_ Yes.
           \_ how far would you go?
              \_ Nuke the site from orbit.  Its the only way to be sure.
                 \_ Orbit? Nukes? That would be expensive. Stick with
                    chainsaws and shotguns.
                 \_ A quick hot death is too good for them.

11/17   Old but cool: /csua/tmp/Sims.mpg
        (evolved virtual creatures in various environments)

8/11    Just curious: those of you who were at UCB pre-crash and are still
        there now: are CS classes still incredibly impacted like they were
        during the boom or is it now possible to get a seat without shedding
        blood?
        \_ http://www.iht.com/articles/97217.html
           \_ thanks.  Already reforwarded to management.
          \_ thank goodness! People should study computer science for the
             sake of having passions for science, not money. This is good
             news for all of us.                -grad student
             \_ for me, the lesser being, studying computer science is just
                for the curiosity and the fun of it.
             \_ what's wrong with studying something for the money? It's not
                like computer science is some holier-than-thou field off-limits
                to anyone except geeks that slobber all over themselves and
                wear funky plastic pocket protecters and smell bad in the labs
                and talk about star trek and babylon 5 endlessly.

5/12    http://www.farsam.com/matrix.html
        \_ Please tell me they're going to post pix of the winners of the
           Trinity lookalike contest.  -daddy needs new wallpaper
           \_ daddy needs a http://playboy.com subscription if he wants to wank
              \_ if you're wanking to your wallpaper, it's probably not
                 work-safe.

4/12    Has anyone set up a csua username/password for IEEE Xplore?
        \_ Their rates aren't that bad.  Considered signing up for a
           half-year, or are you just interested in one article (in which
           case you're asking the wrong question)?

3/23    Does anyone know of a way to map a file's type (magic number, extension
        etc.) to its mime-type? Specifically, I'm looking for a way to include
        binary files into messages composed via mh-e or comp without having
        to manually type in the content-type for each binary file.

3/11    Libraries post Patriot Act warnings Santa Cruz branches tell patrons
        that FBI may spy on them.
        http://csua.org/u/a83
        \_ Many verbs unnecessary used repeat cloud meaning sentence.
           \_ just put a colon after "warnings," and/or get a clue.
        \_ See one librarian's response:
           http://www.librarian.net/technicality.html
           \_ hahaha, this is good one.
        \_ So what? What do you think you live in? A democracy??
           \_ but I thought ..

12/8    Can iPods interface with USB? I'd hate to buy a $70 Firewire card
        for my PC...
        \_ suck it up. --aaron
        \_ Firewire cards are cheap.  You can buy one for #20-30.  For $70,
           you should be getting a USB2/Firewire combo card.  Besides,
           do you really want to transfer gigabytes of MP3s over USB1.1?

11/4    Yet another reason to avoid helping your friends out with their home
        computers: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/27920.html

6/13    Anydbody know of good books/academic articles on the history of
        academic computer science programs? Email fab. Thanx. fab

6/3     hey old people, what's the name of the tune
        in "The Bard's Tale" when you had your bard
        play a tune?  Maybe there were six different types of bard
        spells?  I used to play it on a c64 a lot - danh
        \_ speaking of which, have any of you tried playing any really old
           games on your P3 or P4?  How well does it work?
           \_ Is wizardry 7 old enough?  It works great on new machines.
              -- ilyas
              \_ was it designed for DOS?  Win 3.1?
                 \_ DOS, I think.
              \_ is Wiz 7 real-time?  Does it go back too fast?
                 Does Mahalito still exist?
        \_ This "old person" a geezer at 32 would know that there's a million
           walk throughs and other info on the net.  obgoogle
           \_ obPSB
        \_ There were six different tunes.  One was "Traveller's Tune" iirc.
        \_ I still have Bard's Tale running on my PC under an Apple ][
           emulator. It runs fine. <DEAD>www.mjmicro.bc.ca/jgaudet/bard/bt1<DEAD>
           \_ Are there emulators for Linux?  I have old 5.25 disks w/
              AppleWorks files that I want to read.
        \_ BARDS TALE III character advancement cheat:
           Make 6 new characters of any class, race, etc...
           Form a party of 7: 6 new chars and one mage with the "super"
           damage spell-  i forget the name but it would do lots of damage.
           Go to temple in Skara Brae, Tarjan, teleport spell to lower
           corner of 3rd level, down, go fight brilhasti Ap Tarj.
           If you beat brilhasti, all the 1st level characters advance by
           something like 60 levels.  -joshk
           \_ don't you wonder what all the old game programmers are doing
              these days?

3/26    How many computer science students have time to watch TV or have
        a TV in their room/apt?
        \_ All of them.  Everyone has time for anything they want but there's
           only so much time in a day.  Life has trade offs.  Whatever.

3/21    After a plane crashes badly and turns into a big pile of charred
        rubble, how is it possible for the investigators to determine whether
        it is mechanical failure or human error?  (Let's say they have already
        ruled out bombs.)
        \_ failure analysis.
        \_ black boxes.
        \_ black boxes, eye witnesses, air traffic control, larger chunks
           of debris which may have been left behind...
        \_ Many small parts survive the most destructive crashed. Example,
           depending on the state of the filament of a indicator light
           from the cockpit, crash investigators can tell if the light was
           on or off at the time of impact. Same thing for engine parts
           and propellers. they can tell if things were rotating or stopped
           at impact based on the shape of deformation. it is a science.
           \_ Wow.  I see.  Thanks.

1/4     hitech SUCKS.
        \_ hitech is awesome - much better than that lame stuft burritto
           crap at tacohell.  Too bad they don't have more South Bay
           restaurants.
        \_ Hitech had decent deals on components, but their Berkeley office
           closed down.

11/15   What does the %u mean in my .mailcap file? RFC1524 doesn't say.
        I see it used by the RealPlayer8 installation, but it breaks
        when I try to play non-RP audio (like wav) unless I change %u to %s
        \_ No idea.  It isn't in the man pages for mailcap on two different
           systems I have.  Try the source.

10/17   If you booby trap your computer and it blows up a phed trying
        to install a key trap on it, are you guilty of murder?
        \_ In CA yes.  AZ, unlikely.  You can kill criminals there.
        \_ Manslaughter at the very least; quite possibly murder 1.
        \_ If the guy doesn't survive and if you can convince people
           that it was an accident -- computers explode all the time,
           you know -- I think you'll be fine.
           \_ if the poster tries to put a bunch of explosives in his
            computer, who do you think is the most likely person to get
            blown up?  perhaps the "pheds" will find dumbass hackers
            the same way they find dumbass meth manufacturers.
        \_ You'll be found guilty of "something" and you won't like it.  There
           are several cases in recent years where someone trapped their home
           or even simply left something potentially dangerous sitting around
           and a burglar was injured, sued in civil court and won.  What do
           you think the Feds will charge you with besides the obvious "intent
           to inflict harm"/"murder"/"manslaughter" and a pile of explosives
           possession/terrorist related charges.  Then again, the odds of a
           CSUAer having *anything* on their computer worth looking at is
           about zero, so go ahead and put anything you want in there.  No Fed
           will ever run across it.
           \_ this is why you always kill a burglar
        \_ It's premeditated murder. You've built a trap to kill an
           unsuspecting person. Whether or not the act was legal or illegal,
           you've used deadly force in a non-defensive fashion. I'll see if
           I can dig up the statute on this one. Oh and if you kill a "phed"
           it's a "phederal" crime and "phederal" time.
              \_ But even burglars have wives and siblings that can sue.
                 We'll kill 'em all!
           \_ Sounds a lot like urban legend.  You have a source for an actual
              case?
        \_ isn't booby-trapping with dangerous devices, e.g. guns, explosives,
           punji sticks, etc. a specially treated crime?  having the
           computer erase itself is less serious, until they rack up the
           conspiracy, destruction of evidence, interference with federal
           investigation, etc. charges.
        \_ Depends if you have a clear indicator that your machine is
           booby-trapped.  If you put a big sign on your computer stating
           "This computer will self-destruct if tampered with, use at your own
            risk.", you will probably mitagate some of your liability.

8/20    G4M3RZ R L4M3RZ: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/50/21135.html

6/29    Whee, death! Everyone loves obituaries. Who's dead today? For the latest
        celebrity deaths try <DEAD>www.youreouttahere.com!<DEAD> Where are those bodies?
        Skip on over to <DEAD>www.findagrave.com!<DEAD> Ain't progress grand? You can even
        create a virtual grave and leave virtual flowers at it! Ever wonder
        which mathematicians died on this date? This place has your ticket:
        http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Day_files/Now.html
        Or skip on over to DeathNET, for all things death, try the hiband site!
        http://www.rights.org/deathnet
        Or skip on over to http://www.geocities.com/cribbswh/obit and search
        for obituaries in your favorite state! And check out all these deaders:
        http://www.nytimes.com/pages/obituaries
        Them's fine reading folks, mini biographies delivered fresh every day!
        \_ Bob, is that you?
           \_ Nope, it's me. Damn I better start accomplishing something so
              that when I appear in there they have something good as the tag
              line. One of those guys had "Transportation Official" as his
              tagline. God that sucks. The man's life was summed up as
              "Transportation Official". Me, I'm not married so no "loving
              husband/father" shit. No famous works, no businesses founded.
              I'm useless. I should think up something for them to say and
              put it in my will.

6/18    Henceforth, any discussion not related to Computer Science will
        be censored. The University does not pay you to discuss politics,
        religion, girls, or any of that superfluous stuff. Get back to work.
        -The Imperial Censor
        \_ [Threat to Imperial Censor censored]

6/13    Damn it.  I wish people would just say "This is the problem that
        i am having: ..." rather than asking a bunch of stupid, usually
        irrelevant questions that don't contain any pertinent info. -Sys.Ad.
        \_ after they're done babbling, reitterate their story succinctly
           in one sentence. Eventually they'll get your point and start to
           behave better. Worked fer me...
        \_ You've gotta decide if you want to work with people or computers.
           \_ You're implying that one can work solely with computers if
              one so chooses.  This is incorrect.
              \_ you can, you just won't get paid for it.
              \_ Actually I was implying that sysadmins work for/with people.
                 There are jobs where one can work solely with computers, but
                 none as a sysadmin. The converse is not a valid implication.

3/14    virtual university:
        http://www.zdnet.com/gamespot/stories/features/0,12059,2694634-1,00.html
        http://www.virtual-u.org

3/9     lookin' for purpose statement examples for computer science, thx
        \_ "Dewde!  Leik I wanna B a hakker!" got me in to Stanford.
           \_ "Dewde! Leik I'm MSCE certified and have wurked in the
              dot-com industry doing e-bizness, b2bi, b2c, and all that
              cool shit. Now unemployed cuz I didn't have any real skillz
              and played Q3A gamez all day so I want to go back to school
              and actually learn something"
        \_ I posted about this several weeks back and here is a URL that
           resulted from the ensuing discussions:
           http://www.cs.oberlin.edu/students/csmc/gradschool/sops.html
           I haven't written my letter of intent yet, but these examples
           put me in the right direction.
           Oh yeah, I'm planning to apply to the farm, but only because
           my company will pay. If I had to pay I'd go to Cal, UCSU or
           my company will pay. If I had to pay I'd go to Cal, UCSC or
           SJSU since I can't really leave the bay area at this point in
           my life.
           \_ What's UCSU?
              \_ I meant UCSC.

12/30   We should setup the equivalent of junkyard wars for both
        computer engineers and computer scientists.
        \_ "We"?  Go ahead.  Do it.  Use the source, Luke.
        \_ "Here we are in the UCB E&S warehouse... let's see if our
            competitors can... build a computer!"  "Done, I've got a '286"

11/8    Miffed at the latest attack on him from Vice President Gore,
        George W. Bush accuses the vice president of stretching the
        truth.

        "He's the man who said he invented the Internet," Bush gibed,
        echoing a common joke at Gore's expense.

        Now let's kill the joke.

        A) Gore did not claim to have invented the Internet. In an
           interview with Wolf Blitzer in March 1999, Gore said:
           "During my service in the U.S. Congress, I took the
           initiative in creating the Internet."
           \- i think this is still bogus. when you are handed a list
              of things to fund and you check off a bunch you like,
              that is a far cry from "taking the initiative to
              create". a more reasonable politician would have said "i
              am a staunch supporter" or "lobbyied my colleauges"
              etc. if someone brought you a human genome sequencing
              project to you cong cmte and you decide to fund them, it
              is no more your initiative than it is your money.  --psb
              \_ I read an article a few weeks ago where many of the
                 internet pioneers like Vint Cerf credited Gore.  They
                 didn't mention any other politicians, but said that
                 Gore was instrumental in getting funding for R&D on
                 the internet.  I think what Gore should have said was
                 he took the _political_ initiative in creating the
                 internet.  Obviously the man is a politician and not
                 an engineer and I think it is reasonably clear that
                 he was claiming credit for his political work not
                 anything technical. -!orignal poster
                \_ Gore's statement was not well-worded, but the mockery of
                   it is completely inaccurate.  -tom
                        \_ Welcome to American politics.  All public figures
                           screw up.  The better lines get remembered.  Tough
                           shit.  And I saw the clip where he said this and
                           he made it clear the internet as a concept was his
                           idea.  "I saw all these different research and
                           educational and other big computer places that
                           couldn't talk to each other so I...".  Something
                           along those lines.  The real thing is out there if
                           you care to find it.  In context.
           \_ motd formatting !god was here
        \_ But Gore invented pants!
           \_ URL PLEASE! Stop making blatant accusations and assumptions
              without providing a URL, regardless of the source. Without
              a URL, I am able to discredit all comments ever made about
              pants, but if you provide a URL, even a GeoCities one, well,
              then I'll just sit down and shut the fuck up.

              \_ you are an idiot.
        A) Gore did not claim to have invented the Internet. In an
           interview with Wolf Blitzer in March 1999, Gore said:
           "During my service in the U.S. Congress, I took the
           initiative in creating the Internet."
              project to you cong cmte and you decide to fund them, it
           \_ that doesn't sound very different from I invented the internet.
              \_ And I dare say it was deliberately meant to sound that way,
                 while supposedly giving him a way of weasling out now.
                 So he deserves all the flak he gets on it.
                 \_ Obfusication is an art. Gore learnt from the
                    master Bill "I prefer Double-D's" Clinton.
           \- i think this is still bogus. when you are handed a list
              of things to fund and you check off a bunch you like,
              that is a far cry from "taking the initiative to
              create". a more reasonable politician would have said "i
              am a staunch supporter" or "lobbyied my colleauges"
              etc. if someone brought you a human genome sequencing
              project to your cong cmte and you decide to fund them, it
              is no more your initiative than it is your money.  --psb
              \_ I read an article a few weeks ago where many of the
                 internet pioneers like Vint Cerf credited Gore.  They
                 didn't mention any other politicians, but said that
                 Gore was instrumental in getting funding for R&D on
                 the internet.  I think what Gore should have said was
                 he took the _political_ initiative in creating the
                 internet.  Obviously the man is a politician and not
                 an engineer and I think it is reasonably clear that
                 he was claiming credit for his political work not
                 anything technical. -!orignal poster
                 \_ I read the same thing and Vint Cerf recollection
                    of history is flawed. The internet began in the mid
                    60's (before Gore was elected to any office) when
                    the DOD and DARPA asked BBNPlanet to "wire the
                    world". Gore had some minor role in converting
                    ARPAnet to NFSnet, but the DOD created the internet.
                    Some visionary general who wanted to defend America
                    and ensure its survival in a nuclear war created the
                    Internet. Not a weenie socialist named Gore.
                    \_ Under the leadership of Democratic President
                       Lyndon B. Johnson.
                       \_ Despite the leadership of LBJ.
                \_ Gore's statement was not well-worded, but the mockery of
                   it is completely inaccurate.  -tom
                           \_ Gore's lying. He BS'ed and someone called him.
                              You are just apologizing for Gore cause he's
                              a socialist just like you are and you are
                              afraid that conservatives will let the people
                              continue to think for themselves and that the
                              people will figure out that you are wrong.
                              Half of them already have.
                        \_ Welcome to American politics.  All public figures
                           screw up.  The better lines get remembered.  Tough
                           shit.  And I saw the clip where he said this and
                           he made it clear the internet as a concept was his
                           idea.  "I saw all these different research and
                           educational and other big computer places that
                           couldn't talk to each other so I...".  Something
                           along those lines.  The real thing is out there if
                           you care to find it.  In context.
           \_ motd formatting !god was here
              \_ all hail

11/07  http://www.jokeslayer.com/Pictures/natalieportman.html
       \_ nah, this is better: http://www.thinhline.com/cgi-bin/thl.pl?thl2
          \_ The pics are missing.

8/28    I'm playing Crystalis on a Color Gameboy. Anyone know how I get to
        Zombie Town from Spirit Island? There is that sliding platform that
        is supposed to get me there but I keep falling off. How do I stay
        on it?

4/36    Recommendations for a local company to set up a LAN for about 50
        computers?  All computers are Win2000.  Will need hardware,
        wiring, configuration.
        \_ have Sky do it.  Just give him lotsa meth.
                \_ I'm guessing he wants someone with clue and a brain to
                   do it.
                  \_ have dans do it then, if you ask him, he can tell you how
                     to do it.
                        \_ dans isn't a local company.  If you want a drone
                           to do it, then just go buy 50 of the same box, a
                           pile of hubs and network cables, and install w2k
                           on each.  Set aside one or two for servers if you
                           want a domain.  This is monkey work.  Actually,
                           maybe dans _is_ the right monkey for the job.
        \_Alpha Electronics in Berkeley will run wire.
          \_ Sky will run wire for cheap.
                \_ Getting wired is not cheap.  Costs me about $2500 a
                   month.  -sky
                \_ He's talking about computers, not whoring out your gf to
                   the corner in Oakland for a quick hit.
                   \_ Player hate all you want...I understand.  It must be
                      hard being so lonely and frustrated.  -sky
                      \_ dude, sky, offer him your gf. he'll pay bigbux
                        \_ sky's gf... bridge toll... sky's gf.... bridge
                           toll... Hmmmm... Bridge toll.  Can get a cheap lay
                           anywhere but I need to cross the bridge.
                           \_ I hope you didn't spend too long coming up with
                              that retort.  Keep trying though...You'll make
                              a funny eventually.  And sign your name, btw,
                              so I can kick your ass.  -sky
                              so I can fuck your ass.  -sky
                              \_ (BDDD)
                                 \_ Hi bob!

4/35    http://absurdgallery.com/gallery2.shtml

4/16    http://www.well.com/user/freedom/harass.html
        \_ What's this about?  Why do you want to spread this woman hating
           filth?  You want to go back to the "good old days" when women
           were just secretaries, nurses, and prostitutes?  Whistling on the
           streets from construction workers?  This is ridiculous!
           \_ trollP
                \_ No.  I'm serious.
                   \_ ok, then what the hell about that webpage implies
                      that the poster wants to spread woman hating filth?

3/6     Computer science theory shmatheory. I'm not a phd candidate like
        nweaver or dpetrou but I'm making #)(*$)# more $$$ than they are.
        \_ You know what they say about fools and their money... -brg
        \_ nweaver probably still has far more $$$ than you (gotta love
           rich parents) and dpetrou is definitely far more intelligent
           and happier with his life than you are.  All you have is money,
           and that is fleeting.
                \_ Nice to know nwaever can afford to mooch off his parents
                   and join the intelligencia and look down upon us poor slobs
                   who have to *work* for our money.  You have no basis of
                   comparison between dpetrou and the anonymous person above,
                   so nothing further need be said on that.  -not the above
                \- well. love is still better in the end than $$.
                        ( future IPO millionaire)
                \_ money can't buy happiness, but it can buy... legos! yesh!
                        -current IPO millionaire
                \_ Money can't buy love but it can buy the alleviation of most
                   forms of personal suffering.  After your basics are met and
                   are guaranteed to remain so for life, any misery remaining
                   is your own fault.  Go see a therapist.
                        \_ Money can't buy yer mom, because she is free.

Buffer the Vampiric Antacid Slayer

2/17    Ah, the newest brand of "Computer Science" Major:
        http://qstart.com/renee/renee.html
        (that's what it says on the page)
        \_ and why do you doubt that?

2.01    I'm saving all the recent csua@csua spam and adding it to the
        tjb saga page (which enjoys the #1 hit on google for the query,
        "Trevor James Buckingham")  any objections?

11/17   Just curious. What is the difference between science and engineering?
        How come some schools offer BS in Computer Engineering, some offer
        BA in Computer Science, and some offer BS in Computer Science?
        \_ No difference, really.
        \_ semi-related postulate: "engineering" folks [EEs] take CS
           so that they can understand what they are building chips for.
           CS folks take EE classes so that they write better code.
           But CS folks shouldn't think they are chip designers, and
           EE people should not fool themselves thinking they can
           write decent code.
           \_ unless you're "The Natural"

8.28    This is old:
         Posted by Roblimo on Saturday August 28, @02:22PM EDT
         from the what-terrence-and-philip-do-in-their-spare-time dept.
         jd writes "Canada has just constructed an all-optical network, CA*Net3,
         capable of 80 gigabits per second (though being expanded to 20 terabits
         per second). This is over 60 times faster than the Internet 2 project,
         and according to the description, this will be open to the public,
         rather than closed as Internet 2 is.
        But once again proves why Canada is The Ultimate Socialist Utopia!
        Canada Uber Alles!

8/26    Any suggestions on what to do with old non-working computer parts?
        Is there any way to recycle or donate them, or should I just toss
        'em?
        \_ Extract the gold from them!
        \_ There used to be a computer graveyard/trashcan sitting outside of
           soda.  It might still be there.  I don't know what is done with
           it's contents though.

7/18    EWS discussion deleted. Not computer related - tom, or any one
        of the stick-up-the buns motd censor folks...
        \_ you are really a fucking asshole.
        \_ you are really a <deleted> <deleted>.
        \_ you are really a mm-kaying bunshole.
        \_ I didn't realize that the motd was for computer related
           discussions only.  Did I miss something?

2/26    http://www.angelfire.com/sc/tinkywinky
        fun with teletubbies.

11/09   The brightness control on my monitor is broken.  I can decrease
        the brightness but can't increase it.  Does anyone know of a
        program I can use to control the brightness of my monitor or
        reset its brightness to a default value?  I'm hoping for something
        like xvidtune which can also control the brightness.  My monitor
        is a Hitachi SuperScanPro 620 in case it matters.  If nobody
        knows about such a program I would appreciate suggestions on how
        I could get the info to write one.  Thanks. -emin

11/09
        If there's ever a sellout from soda like the traitor working for:
        > <DEAD>Hit-Booster.com/WILLIAMALLEN<DEAD>
        than we should all (a) kick him (b) reject him (c) spam him
        and if anyone is bored - feel free to investigate their server
        for weakness. By the way, they have a huge form, and the only thing
         checked? is the credit card! not the website, not your name, only
         the CC#/date. Try it yourself, you'll see they're a scam using soda
        emails found by either security holes, or a traitor.
        \_ Not under warrantee anymore?
           \_ It was given to me so I don't have the warranty

11/09
        If there's ever a sellout from soda like the traitor working for:
        > <DEAD>Hit-Booster.com/WILLIAMALLEN<DEAD>
        than we should all (a) kick him (b) reject him (c) spam him
        and if anyone is bored - feel free to investigate their server
        for weakness. By the way, they have a huge form, and the only thing
         checked? is the credit card! not the website, not your name, only
         the CC#/date. Try it yourself, you'll see they're a scam using soda
        emails found by either security holes, or a traitor.
              registration. -emin
        \_ what OS?
           \_ LINUX or Win95.  If you have a solution for another OS
              please let me know anyway. -emin
              \_ Win95:  Intel i740 chipset video cards (most available
                 are AGP) have gamma correct built-in to the Display
                 properties.  Works well.  Not quite monitor hardware
                 control but it may help.  Borrow an i740 from a friend.
                 -jctwu
        \_ Why don't you take it for repair?  It's highly unlikely that you
           can control the monitor brightness with software.
           \_Cuz he stole it.
        \_ 1) Turn off for at least several hours.
           2) Open case
           3) turn up brightness from control that is broken from the
              outside
                \_ Turning off the monitor even for several hours does not
                   insure that the charge built has dissipated, be carefull.
           \_ Best to just discharge the CRT  once you turn it off, then you
              can be reasonably sure its safe.  Not something I'd recommend
              for someone who's never done it before, or who doesn't know
              how to safely discharge a CRT.
              \_ Someone told me I had to lick both my thumbs and press them
                 against the tube while I was standing barefoot in a puddle of
                 saltwater.

11/2    I'm taking the Computer Science GRE next month. What are some good
        preparation books/materials I should buy?
        \_ DO NOT get "The Best Prep for CS GRE". Too general, and the test
           questions don't even resemble what you will actually see on GRE.

9/14
        I asked before - How can I run afterstep on the EECS Instructional
        computers, *without* installing the package etc...? I tried every
        suggestion in the previous answers, but they didn't work on the
        EECS computers, nor on Soda. Any ideas? Thanks, - noah

8/11    This is a question for a friend. Does academic probation show up
        anywhere on your records (especially transcript)? Can anyone
        (eg. companies) easily find out if you have been on AP or not?
        \_ Yes, it does, so if they have your transcript, yes, they can.
        \_ I don't think it does. However, the rotten grades that got you
           there will be so what's the difference? --dim
           \_ It does (like I just said in the response above, gee), trust
              me.  I was on AP for one semester, and the fact that I had
              entered/left AP was clearly noted on my official transcript,
              just below my grades for the semester -- Someone Who's Been There
              \_ I have seen the transcript of someone who was on AP (and
                 who also withdrew) and only the withdrawal was evident.
                 However, it was an "unofficial" transcript. Does that
                 matter? Also, like I said, the grades aren't going
                 anywhere so what difference does it make really? --dim
        \_ I think the actual quote is "Dismissed `date`" or something
           like that.
                \_ Most people on AP aren't dismissed - only the losers,
                   but AP shows up on your official UCB transcript either way.
        \_ YES! YES IT DOES! SHUT UP! IT SHOWS UP! ITS THERE! STOP! YES! YES!
           IS THAT PERFECTLY CLEAR NOW?!  YES BEING ON AP SHOWS ON YOUR
           OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT! NOW STOP IT!
           \_ So you are sure it shows up. I am confused.
           \_ No more coffee for this person.
        \_ Do companies actually want to see your transcript? I have never
           heard of such a thing, though some want your GPA.
           \_ I've been asked for my GPA.  Good sign you may not want to work
              there.
           \_ A couple big companies have asked for mine.
           \_ hell, i've seen some ask for SAT scores.
           \_ Apologies for the formatting below... -mogul
           \_ If they do, it's an indication that they don't have a clue what
              kind of person they are looking for.  GPA is not a measurement of
              success in the work place.
              \_ Im sorry, but there *is* a correlation.  It's not perfect,
                 but it is important enough to ask for.  I know there are
                 alot of "sucessful" programmers or whatever who flunked
                 out/dropped out of school, but as a first screen, you probably
                 want to know about grades.   I mean we are talking about
                 being a corporate stooge, so what do you expect them to
                 ask for : ``Only apply if you are a motivated self-starter?''
                 Oh, they do that too. Sorry.
                \_ Isn't the purpose of having an interview to find such
                   information about person.  I took an interview course and
                   it taught various techniques to find out certain quality
                   of a person.
                        \_ Oh. I thought the purpose to check out that chick.
                \_ Yes, you're sorry.  Why bother interviewing if they're only
                   collecting information you could have emailed or told a
                   secretary over the phone?  There is no correlation.  GPA is
                   not important.  As a first screen, you'll miss out on the
                   true talent who spent their time in front of a computer
                   instead of kissing BH's fat ass, eating potstickers.  There
                   _is_ a direct correlation between ass kissing, potsticker
                   eating and your GPA, but this says absolutely nothing about
                   your potential contribution to an employer.

Boredcast Message from 'aaron': Tue Oct 17 00:11:43 1995

get this
a company i sent mail to replied wanting the answers to two questions:
"what are you doing now? graduated? vacation?" and the kicker -
"what was your GPA?"

i have half a mind to reply only with "it's 3.2, but we have a saying
in computer science here at cal: 'if they want to know your GPA, you
don't want to work for them.'"

        \_ Since you obviously don't want to work for them, you might as well.

4/12    Is Laitron Computers worth going to?
        \_ they  never keep more than bare minimum in
           stock. Sales ppl are a little rude too.
           \_ Agreed, but I've shopped there anyway, because they have
              good prices and that's what I was most interested in. --dim
              \_ Exactly. That's the only reason Fry's is so big.
                \_ One of the guys is rude, the black dude is cool tho.
                \_ #t, there's a manager type who pulled bait-n-switch on
                   me when I tried to get a price-match.  But the black guy
                   is pretty cool, helpful and friendly. - tpc
              \_ Actually, I've found Hi-Tech has better prices on quite
                 a few items. Check both places before going to Laitron.
                \_ http://www.pricewatch.com

3/30    Lame Overpriced Computer Add munched.