| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 12/24 |
| 2007/2/18-23 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:45768 Activity:nil |
2/17 Google goes after poets:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070216/tc_afp/polandusitinternet |
| 2007/2/16-23 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/Languages/Misc] UID:45753 Activity:high |
2/16 Google is so annoying nowadays.. keep having to type in a
word every 3 searches for them to weed out automated searches
\_ Offer an alternative.
\_ switch to yahoo
\_ I decided to do this for now. I have no loyalty to google
and they're overhyped anyway.
\_ Did you have a point, or were you just crying out at the motd like
some doomed Greek hero who cries out against the gods? -dans
\_ It's the motd. He doesn't need a point, but there was the
off chance a real conversation could have started.
\_ I know he doesn't need to have a point, but I'm generally
more interested in people that have a point that people who
are just trolling or wanking. Curious, what real
conversation would start? The OMGLOLBBQ Google is big now
let's bash them conversation? What an insightful and telling
conversation. I'm sure we'd get exposed to all sorts of new
information from unbiased sources! -dans
\_ There was the 'off chance' that one of the google staff
who is on the motd might tell us what they're doing to
improve search or something we don't know about how to
use it better or any of a number of things that don't
involve knee jerk attack or defense of random search
corporation.
\_ There are google staff on the motd? None of the CSUA
alumni I know at google follow the motd. -dans
\_ There were at one time. How do you know they still
don't? How do you know ex-employee's don't? How
do you know that someone from another search
engine or working in the field doesn't?
\_ Gmail's adsense just showed me an ad entirely in Persian
followed by an add for doughnut recipes, neither of which
followed by an ad for doughnut recipes, neither of which
were at all relevant to me or my email content. I'm
guessing the people who paid for the Persian ad or the
doughnut recipe ad would probably be pretty bummed
if they knew I was seeing their ad. Maybe this is the sort
of thing that pisses people off about Google these days?
--not the op
\_ I'm curious to know how you could tell Farsi from other
languages that use the same script. Would you feel
better about google if it advertised to you in Urdu?
\_ I only click on Urdu ads.
\_ Interesting. I didn't know that Farsi and Urdu use
the same script. Curiious, what is the Farsi script
called (i.e. Russian uses Cyrillic)? How similar or
dissimilar is the Farsi script to written Arabic?
-dans
\_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farsi#Orthography
\_ Thanks! -dans |
| 2007/2/15-23 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:45744 Activity:kinda low |
2/15 Do no evil. (unless it makes you big bucks). Google censors
Chinese ASAT image. BTW, I couldn't find this image on the
American google which is pretty scary if it truly isn't there
and not just my lack of search fu.
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/07/front2454147.052777778.html
\_ The hypocrisy of Google, combined with the fact that Google
searches seem to be increasingly wasting my time leads me to ask
the question: what are you guys using instead? http://ask.com looks
decent, but that's only after a few minor searches.
\_ google search is great for me. if one of those link farm
sites keeps bugging me, i can add it to the Filter list
in the CustomizeGoogle firefox extension.
\_ That isn't google, that's some one else fixing google for you.
\_ I am sorry, but I am confused what you mean by "hypocrisy."
Do you mean that obeying the laws of the countries that they
do business with is hypocritical? No where in Google's mission
statement do I see "be anarchists" or "go to jail," is there
something I am missing?
\_ Hmmm, blind obedience to laws, eh?
\_ All I'm saying is: I don't agree with their business
model, so I'll use something else. That is my economic
right as an American.
\_ The article is crap, your description is misleading, and your
false pretensions are beneath you. It has a bunch of dated and
vague quotes about Google's censorship policy in China, and it
does not actually cite any sources about this specific image.
For the record, I have mixed feelings about Google and China.
On the one hand, I find its decision to self-censor distasteful
On the one hand, I find its decision to self-censor gay
and question its motivation, but, on the other, I am coming
around to the opinion that any significant increase in the flow
of information in China moves things forward and even a heavily
censored Google accomplishes that. -dans
\_ Yeah, 9 days dated:
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/2006/02/06.shtml
\_ Um, no. Quoting from the article:
"Last year, Google's senior policy counsel, Andrew
McLaughlin, defended the censorship saying the company
sought to balance commitments ''to satisfy the
interests of users, expand access to information, and
respond to local conditions."
If Google sends out the same written statement to all news
agencies that inquire about its stance on China and
censorship, it doesn't magically become "new" because one of
the agencies chooses to republish it. Even if this is a new
statement from Google, which I highly doubt, my point that
the article contains no specifics about the image in question
stands. Can you read? Do you have thumbs? Show me your
thumbs!!! -dans
thumbs!!! Touch me! -dans
\_ First of all: breathe. Second of all: it doesn't
magically become "new" policy. But it's clear that it's
still their *current* policy. I didn't post the first
link, I'm just interested in Google's policies and how
they line up with trying to create a world I want to
live in. And I *do* agree with you that providing even
limited and censored information to China may be better
for them and us in the long term. But, I'm still a
little skeptical.
\_ I share your skepticism, and I think it's important to
keep pressure on companies to change their behavior
when they are misbehaving. That said, "Google's policy
on censorship in China unchanged since last year,
skeptics question Google's evilness." is not news.
"Google censors image (or document) foo because x, y,
and z" is news. I take issue with the article because
it represents itself as the latter, but reads like the
former. You can argue that greed is behind Google's
behavior with respect to China, and this is evidence
that the company is acting in an evil fashion.
Nonetheless, the question of Google's alignment is
still open. There is no question that sloppy,
sensationalist, overly subjective, in a nutshell,
yellow journalism is evil. -dans
\_ You're both/all missing the point. I posted the
original link, btw. My point wasn't really that
google is hypocritical (we know they are), it is
that I couldn't find the image on the *American*
http://google.com. If it isn't there because google
censored it, then the Chinese are censoring info
outside their country and in *my* country. I find
that very scary. Hypothetical: how long until they
tell google to pull tienamen square tank squish
pictures off the American http://google.com site?
\_ No, you're missing the point. You're reasoning
in the wrong direction. You believe Google is
hypocritical, greedy, and evil, and you're
presenting evidence to support this conclusion.
The lesser issue is that your evidence is weak
and circumstantial. The bigger issue is that
you're picking and choosing from the complete set
of facts. You present only the facts that
support your conclusion, and omit the
considerable evidence to the contrary. Lies of
omission are still lies. Now, I could conclude
that you're biased and have a chip on your
shoulder about Google, but to do so would be to
repeat your error. Maybe you're just lazy.
Maybe there's another explanation I haven't
thought of. Just because you can't find the
image in Google doesn't mean it's not there.
Even if it's absent from Google, that doesn't
mean China censored it. For example, Google has
a fairly straightforward and public process for
requesting i tems be removed from its index:
http://www.csua.org/u/foj
-dans
\_ Google is a corporation: by default their
actions are evil and they are guilty until
proven innocent. Find me the image on the
American google. It should be there by now
somewhere in some form since that particular
image has been linked and cross linked a
bunch of places.
\_ Okay, this is just so blatantly idiotic it
has to be a troll. Please, if you're going
to troll, at least have some fucking
artifice. -dans
\_ "I have a different world view so you
must be an idiot and a troll". Ok.
Thanks for participating. You could
have just ignored it if it was such
a blatantly idiotic troll. HYBT?
\_ All corporate acts are evil unless
proven otherwise is not a worldview,
it's a soundbite. I think you're an
idiot and a troll because you can't
distinguish between the two, not
because your views differ from my
own. Perhaps, in your head, your
views are more subtle and nuanced,
but you express them poorly, and
this lends credence to my assertion
that you're an idiot or a troll
without artifice. Besides,
responding to trolls is fun,
especially ones as easily baited as
yourself! -dans
\_ I think it's funny that you can
simultaneously claim to have been
trolled, getting irate and
insulting about it and then decide
at the end that you're really the
one doing the baiting. The
reality is no one is baiting
anyone. We simply have different
world views, you refuse to accept
that anyone with a different view
could have a valid view and it
upsets you (apparently).
\_ Apparently. -dans |
| 2007/2/10 [Computer/SW/Mail, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:45706 Activity:nil |
2/10 Yay! Say goodbye to MSN and Yahoo!
http://tinyurl.com/tbrky |
| 2007/1/22-28 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:45567 Activity:nil |
1/22 Worst directions ever: http://csua.org/u/hx4 (Google Maps) \_ Umm, ok. What's bad about them? \_ Previously it required about 30 U-turns. Guess they got fixed. \_ Previously it required about 200 U-turns. Guess they got fixed. http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/2091 |
| 2006/11/30-12/8 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:45400 Activity:nil |
11/29 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/02/8387489 Google chaos by design? One time hit? |
| 2006/11/14-27 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:45337 Activity:low |
11/14 GOOG $489.30 today. Where's the short GOOG guy again? Nya nya nya!!!
\_ Yay crack!
\_ It's almost breaking the 500 barrier. BTW StreetInsider still
rates GOOG at Outperform. Where's the short GOOG guy again?
http://tinyurl.com/y2aftf
\_ 509! |
| 2006/10/27-30 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:45015 Activity:kinda low |
10/27 Why are kids today (10 to late teens) so obsessed about Google and
YouTube? You know, like, who cares? OMGWTFBBQ, whatever man.
\_ kids are obssessed with google? I thought it was myspace and
youtube
\_ and flickr
\_ Why aren't kids obsessed with porn sites instead? There are tons
of free sites which can be accesses without a credit card. If
there were web sites when I was a kid, I'd have found porn sites
much more interesting than youtube and mysepace.
\_ I need porn. Can you post some of these sites??? THX!!
\_ Youtube has lots of softporn. search for cwh.
\_ I don't think you really want a lengthy essay about social isolation
the need to belong to a peer group and the ever increasing pressure
on young people today. |
| 2006/10/9-10 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:44745 Activity:high |
10/9 Time to short GOOG.
\_ 3/4 times I bet against GOOG when it should not have gone up
I lost big time. I'm not going to touch GOOG ever, again. They
are fuckers who keep screwing us average investors.
\_ When "average investors" are shorting, they're almost always
wrong. Don't bet against good companies. -tom
\_ What makes GOOG a good company?
\_ They provide a strongly-branded and effective web service,
and so far have avoided the pitfalls that have knocked
most of the other web services off the top rung. They
also invented a new business model for web advertising
that revived what was a declining field. -tom
\_ I'm not sure why Google's stock price is so high since it clearly
isn't justified by any financial calculation but the markets are
not rational. Do not bet against crazy people.
\_ GOOG's forward P/E is 33. What do you think it should be?
-tom
\_ Nothing. Forward PE is a fabrication and meaningless
swami-like prediction. What is current PE?
\_ It is silly to suggest that current PE is the only
"rational" method of valuing a company, particularly
one that's growing as fast as GOOG. Google's
revenues were 1.4B in 2003, 3.1B in 2004, 6.1B in 2005.
2006 will likely come in at 9B.
Earnings were .3B, .6B, 2B, likely 3B.
Do you think it was rational, in 2003, to value Google
as a company with a yearly earning potential of .3B?
What are your projections for Google's earnings in 2007?
-tom
\_ I didn't suggest "that current PE is the only
'rational' method" of anything. Google's income
is 99% from web ads of various sorts. It's an all
your eggs in one basket company based entirely on
ad revenues which has traditionally been a very
unstable market. Maybe they will somehow avoid the
long term ups and downs of the economy that hurt
other ad based business models but everyone thought
similar things in the 95-2000 time frame as well.
As far as their earnings for 2007, they are way too
secretive a company for me to guess and I do mean
guess such a thing. Anyone who comes up with a
number is just guessing (unless they're a in-the-know
insider at Google). I'm sure a number of people have
made a fortune off them but I won't invest my cash in
a place that prides itself on revealing as little as
possible to investors with nothing more than "We did
good before, trust us!" to go on.
\_ There are plenty of companies based entirely on
ad revenues which have been successful in the
long term: television networks come to mind.
It does not take "guessing" to project that
Google will continue to draw more page views
and generate more revenue in 2007 than it did
in 2006; choosing a specific number may be
little more than a guess, but choosing a range
is reasonable, and you can rationally base
valuation on your projected range. You said
that Google's value "isn't justified by any
financial calculation"; you're now backtracking
from that position. The current analyst
average projection for Google's 2007 earnings
is $13.09/share; they will earn almost $10/share
this year. Do you think $13/share is
irrational for Google's earnings? Do you think
the current valuation is irrational if Google
earns $13/share next year? -tom
\_ Television is a great example. Over time as
shows become popular or fade the various major
networks do better/worse in the ad wars. I
haven't back tracked from anything. I don't
know where you got that from. Whatever.
Anyway, this is still a company in a new and
ever changing market. At any time another
company could come along and turn the whole
business upside down. Before Google there was
Yahoo, Lycos, Hotbot, Alta Vista and several
others The analysts in the 95-2000 time frame
had all sorts of projections and now just like
then they are based on nothing. They have no
reason to believe Google will capture 30% more
of the market or any other metric. Yes, it is
quite possible Google has peaked on eyeballs
because there just aren't that many left they
don't already have. Then what? Anyway, it
probably won't be 07 or 08 but eventually they
will not exceed their previous quarter's
earnings, all the analysts will scream doom
and gloom and their stock will take a huge
hit. Once the sheen has rubbed off they'll
have to work their asses off to approach their
previous peak. As an aside I thought their
purchase of youtube was interesting. IIRC
that is their first big purchase of a
competitor in the Microsoft style of business.
Just taking note: a place that hires every
PhD in sight and famed for their ingenuity
made a similar product which simply sucked and
got stomped in that area forcing them to shell
out big bucks for a video storage and playback
site. Is Google now on the long term slide to
buying instead of building, no longer doing
that which made them great in the first place?
Time will tell. And for the record I do not
nor ever have traded the stock and never will
for the reasons I already stated so you're not
talking to a bitter short seller.
\_ It is certainly possible that Google's
business will decline at some point in the
future, but it is no more rational to expect
that than to expect that it will continue
to grow. Until I see Google making
specific mistakes which are going to cost
it market share (like Flash ads), I will
continue with the assumption that Google
will continue to expand at at least the same
rate as Internet usage. -tom
\_ I mostly agree with this. The thing is
that internet usage has a limit based
on the number of people on the planet
who can afford it and who care about
it. The real question then becomes what
are those numbers and that is something
they can't control. IIRC they've got
about 50-60% of the search market now.
Years ago they had about 50-60% of the
market. So either the market is poorly
defined or they're just not convincing
people to adopt their services at a
rate greater than they have in the past,
thus their growth is directly linked to
internet growth. If I was an investor
I'd still be more concerned about what
the youtube purchase implies than about
future internet growth though.
\_ Welcome back, Short GOOG at 100^H^H^H200^H^H^H300^H^H^H400 Guy! |
| 2006/9/19-22 [Computer/Companies/Google, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:44448 Activity:nil |
9/19 Google news aggregation may be in trouble:
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1875370,00.html
\_ no it isn't
\_ yes it isn't |
| 2006/7/31-8/2 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:43839 Activity:nil |
7/30 So again I ask: does anyone know why gmail is flagging email
from csua as spam?
\_ Probably too many CSUA morons forwarding mail to gmail and
clicking on the "Spam" button.
\_ Someone previously said that csua was blacklisted somewhere.
If this were the case, woudln't mail from csua be filtered
as spam on yahoo and elsewhere? Or is it just that gmail
has tougher spam filtering?
\_ It might very well happen with other mail services. I
don't happen to know.
\_ Isn't gmail still in beta? File a complaint with google. Don't
use a beta service for anything you care about.
\_ Uh, I can't choose what mail services other people use. I
don't personally use gmail.
\_ Gmail sucks. Stick with Hotmail. -proud American |
| 2006/7/28-30 [Computer/Companies/Google, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:43835 Activity:low |
7/28 Why is email from CSUA being filtered by gmail?
\_ Huh?
\_ Email I send from csua to gmail addresses gets is marked as
spam. We had this problem before when csua somehow got on
some blacklist, but I thought it was fixed long ago.
\_ How long has this been happening? Was it fine yesterday,
and just started being a problem today, or has it been
happening for a while?
\_ It's been happening to me for at least the past week
or so. Earlier than that, I don't know.
\_ Is this only affecting mail received at gmail?
\_ Versus other mail servers? Beats me. |
| 2006/7/21-22 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/Languages/Misc] UID:43752 Activity:nil |
7/20 Anyone know if it is possible to share your Google Calendar with
other people?
\_ Funny, I was just on this topic because I was trying to link
iCal with google calendar. To answer your question, click on
the link that says "Manage calendars". Click on the tab that
says "Calendar Details" and their should be a link to the
XML, ICAL, and HTML versions of your calendar. By the way,
if you want to link iCal to your yahoo and evite accounts,
one of my friends created this site: http://www.icalify.com
XML, ICAL, and HTML versions of your calendar.
\_ I clicked on Manage Calendars and I see the Calendar Settings
page with General, Calendar, Notifications, and Import Calendar.
However I don't see Calendar Details. What am I missing? -op
\_ Nevermind, you need to click on the triangle thing next
to your calendar name, then select Calendar Settings.
http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/event_publisher_guide.html
Thanks motd! FYI to see other people's calendars you do:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src= |
| 2006/6/16-19 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:43418 Activity:nil |
6/15 Oh dear lord. It seems SpamCop is blacklisting certain IPs used by
Gmail. Gmail does not reveal the sending IP for privacy reasons, so
when Gmail users send mail to honeypots, Gmail's servers get
blacklisted. Has anyone else noticed this?
\_ SpamCop has long been a bastion of incompetence. --scotsman
\_ If you're a proxy for spam you should be blocked the same as direct
spam.
\_ I fully understand the SpamCop position, I just wish that if
Google insists on hiding the originating IP that make damn sure
legit mails don't get blocked by a widely used spam filter
because of it. -OP |
| 12/24 |
| 2006/5/20-25 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:43124 Activity:nil |
5/20 Okay, now that finals are over, back to controversy.
So our current robots.txt does a good job of keeping Google off
lwall and stats -- so I've added wallrss.cgi to that list, and
reenabled wallrss.cgi for all your Walling fun, sans Google
indexing.
--michener
\_ Can you please add suexec to cgi-bin?
\_ what web stats? where? I can't read /var/log/apache/access.log |
| 2006/3/30-31 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:42564 Activity:nil |
3/30 link:tinyurl.com/l9yrq (Google Adventure from http://groups.msn.com \_ I'm not sure if this is funny, or just kind of odd. \_ This is Dumb |
| 2006/3/21-23 [Computer/Companies/Google, Recreation/Sports] UID:42358 Activity:nil |
3/21 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/21/google_soccer_vendetta Register op/ed piece. Take it as you will. \_ The Register claims to be a news source, but in reality The Register is little more than a purveyor of capitalism's most despised offshoot - advertising. \_ It's an op/ed, not news. I said it was an op/ed. What's the problem? -op \_ Sheesh, it was a joke, calm down. I just thought it was funny to be reading about how evil advertising is on a page filled with fashing annoying ads. You realize that line is pulled from the article, right? -pp \_ Sorry, it's the motd. I've learned not to expect anything intended to be funny. |
| 2006/3/17-20 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:42292 Activity:low |
3/17 Help! Why is Google all green today?!
\_ It's because the Islamists have won control of western civilization.
Do not go outside without a thick beard or you will be beaten.
\_ In the off-chance you're serious, click the logo, dumbass.
\_ International tree hugger day.
\_ Google Dividend day.
\- Meditation in Green
\_ Its St. Patrick's Day. Have yourself a Guinness to celebrate.
\_ Does green tea count?
\_ Only if it's heavily spiked with Irish whiskey.
\_ That sounds like a way to ruin two drinks. |
| 2006/3/9-11 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:42159 Activity:nil |
3/9 Holy SHIT. This makes google Earth look like some kind of cheap hack:
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov
Prepare to waste time after you download this.
\_ Have they updated it? I tried it about a year ago, then when Google
Earth came out I was impressed by how much better Google Earth
worked (and how much faster). You can't zoom _quite_ as far in,
but meh. --dbushong
\_ It depends on where you are. I guess I was excited because the
zoom is quite a bit better on the nasa one for a particular
area I care about, and because the USGS maps are integrated.
\_ Agreed. Clunky interface on the nasa one. |
| 2006/3/3-6 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:42092 Activity:nil |
3/3 Google/yahoo map question. I have N different addresses. I want
to be able to display all of them on either google or yahoo maps
at the same time. I want to see the distances relative to each
other. There doesn't seem to be a way of doing this without using
the underlying google/yahoo API. I don't want to write code just
to do this simple task. Are there any third party sites that link
to google maps that can do this? Thanks.
\_ http://mapsonus.com and http://maps.ask.com will both do that, but I don't
think they link to google maps (though ask's roughly as good these
days) --dbushong
\_ yes! http://maps.ask.com does exactly what I need. Thank You very
much! |
| 2006/2/16-17 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41881 Activity:nil |
2/15 how do i export a giant mbox mail file to Gmail from
the command line?
http://www.marklyon.org/gmail/download.htm is graphical.
The old version doesn't work either.
\_ check out formail(1) and sendmail(8)
\_ you can also do this pseudo-command line in mutt:
tag all the messages you want to send - the t command
then tag-bounce them to your gmail address. - the ;b command
note, sometimes if you get too many messages at once at gmail,
they've been observed to throttle/stop accepting. --Jon |
| 2006/2/14-15 [Computer/Companies/Google, Industry/Startup] UID:41832 Activity:high |
2/13 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060214/ap_on_bi_ge/google_fears Google to drop to $345. My prediction is coming true. I win the Motd Stock Prediction award. -stock guru \_ Are you the same guy who shorted Google at the IPO price? \_ You couldn't short it at the IPO price. \_ So you wanted to short it at $100, but couldn't, so you win the Motd Stock Prediction Award because it's $345 now? \_ I wanted to short it when all of the options expired and initial shareholders were able to sell. That was not when it IPOed. \_ so you mean, in February 2005, when it was below 200. Nice prediction! -tom \_ I'm not "stock guru" but I admit my prediction was wrong. I still think GOOG will fall below 200. It's just a matter of when. I'm sure your stock picks are always 100% correct, though, which is why you make the big bucks. \_ No, my picks are not 100% correct, but at least I give real thought to them. -tom \_ If you give "real thought" to them and they miss then who cares, right? I did a lot of research on GOOG and I still believe it's overvalued at even 200. You took one data point and concluded somehow that you give more "real thought" to stock picks than I do. That exhibits a lack of much "real thought". \_ Now I see why your login is "dim". -tom \_ How original. I guess you took 'tom' because 'twink' was taken. \_ tom makes lots of noise but he never bought goog, as he himself admitted. he does own berkshire which was 92000 two years ago, and 88000 now. His best stock seems to be logitech which ain't bad but recently dropped 20%. \_ I am up 26% on BRKB. For full disclosure: AAPL (+658%) ENN (+55% plus ~5% yearly dividends) APCC (+19%) PEP (+38%) PLCM (-6%) CSCO (-37%) PIXR (+79%) \_ Sorry, forgot I just sold my PIXR. -tom NAPS (16 shares due to spin-off, -70%) RNWK (-78%) AMZN (+175%) LOGI (+179%) FDRY (+15%) SAP (+30%) MAPTX (+23%) PHG (+32%) That's more or less the order I bought them. My time horizon is not two months or two years. -tom \_ Interesting but percentages w/ out knowing the raw dollar or at least relative value of each isn't meaningful. Down 6% on PLCM could wipe you out if you had 99% of your money in it. \_ Now you're reaching, man. \_ how long have you owned AAPL? \_ I first bought AAPL in 1995. I've purchased it several times since then. The above percentage is based on the combined cost basis. -tom \_ not bad, but nothing spectacular, especially given that without apple, your performance would be very ordinary, and while apple ain't bad, it took you 10 years. \_ I'm not looking for spectacular returns. -tom \_ why not? if you give it some real thought, as opposed to getting into silly arguments about a stock that you didn't even buy, you can have better returns, like me. \_ tom is *always* right. bow down to perfection. \_ Tom, should I buy DKDY? \_ I don't know; it depends on your goals, risk tolerance, and belief in the underlying company. I personally wouldn't buy it. -tom \_ Tom, what should my goals be? \_ How about "die with more twink points than any other sodan"? \_ start with "get a clue." -tom \_ Tom -> trolled |
| 2006/1/31-2/2 [Computer/Companies/Google, Industry/Startup] UID:41625 Activity:moderate |
1/31 ObShortGOOG
\_ i imagine anyone who shorted at 400 and saw the stock go back up
to 440 must be breathing a sigh of relief now
\_ Google is a POS stock and the company is (at best)
equivalent to a media company like DIS. However, there's
still a lot of Kool Aid. Way too much for me to bet against
it again. Do you realize GOOG is valued at 3x DIS and even
3x YHOO? The stock is worth at most $130/share.
\_ GOOG trolls VS. housing bubble trolls FITE!!!!!!
\_ Hey, where's tom? I remember him naysaying the naysayers.
Guess he's wrong, again.
\_ Please locate a quote that backs your position. Don't
forget the one where I noted that predicting the stock
price of an immature company like Google was foolish.
They still reported almost 100% revenue growth and
over 70% earnings growth. Anonymous cowardly twink. -tom
\_ IIRC, weren't you the one saying their "forward looking
PE" justified their current and even high stock prices?
\_ I never said anything justified their current price;
I don't own GOOG and I never have. I did point out
that trailing P/E is not a good way to measure the
value of a company that's growing as fast as GOOG
is. The question with GOOG is how long they keep
up their growth rate and where they level off.
Certainly when you release a report that your
revenues are up 100% and earnings are up 70%
year-over-year and your stock price tanks 10%,
people are pricing perfect execution into the stock.
But I think it's nuts to short a freight train,
which has been my point all along. -tom
\_ Why should it be a 'freight train'? Truth is,
I overestimated the intelligence of the average
GOOG shareholder and investor in general. It
fell a little now, but there's no credible
reason for the run-up from IPO.
\_ It *is* a freight train of a company; name
another company that's growing revenues at
100% per year and earnings at 70%. Google
is making all the rules in its space. To
bet against a company like that is folly. -tom
\_ There are companies growing much
faster than that. Check out the technology
Fast 500. There are companies growing at
rates like 60000% over the last 4 years.
GOOG is just a household name and so lots
of people drink the Kool Aid.
of people drink the Kool Aid. GOOG is
#14 on the latest list.
\_ did you happen to notice that Google's
2004 revenue is two orders of magnitude
larger than any of the companies ahead
of it? In fact, the highest-ranked
company that is within one order of
magnitude of Google's revenue is
#134, Leap Wireless (1,542% growth
compared to Google's 16,591%). There
is only one company on the entire list
that has higher revenues than Google,
and that's Cingular, and Cingular's
revenue increase came because they
bought AT+T Wireless. Thank you for
making my point that Google is an
extremely exceptional company. -tom
\_ You are making too much out of
the size of total revenues. If
anything, it shows that continued
growth at these rates is impossible.
GOOG would be exceptional if they
could maintain, but only a Kool Aid
drinker would think they can.
\_ I don't think Google can double
in size yearly indefinitely. But
the fact remains, they are the
*only* company that is anywhere
near their size that is growing
at anywhere near their rate. You
want comparable companies? How
about EBAY, circa 2000? -tom
\_ Why does their size matter?
Only expected growth rate of
profits matters.
\_ Don't be obtuse. Google's
profit also dwarfs all of
the similar companies on
that list, and profits
are still blasting upwards.
-tom
\_ Does GOOG's EPS dwarf
all the others? How
much is a share of
GOOG again?
\_ You are now bordering
on too stupid to argue
with. But my last
post here: of the
public companies
listed ahead of GOOG
in the Fast 500,
FalconStor Software
(FALC) has the highest
profits, at 0.02/share.
Google is earning
over $4/share. Oh,
and did I mention the
$8 billion in cash?
-tom
\_ FALC is expected
to earn 8x that
next year and
a share is not even
$9. Some math
shows GOOG as
having a marginally
better P/E, which
is *bad* for a
company the size
of GOOG. Companies
3x the size of DIS
(market cap)
are not growth
companies. Why do
you feel GOOG is
worth 3x YHOO?
Will GOOG
revolutionize how
stocks are valued
or will a lot
of investors be
screwed in the end?
\_ Go invest in
DIS, see if I
care. -tom
\_ My point is
that GOOG is
equivalent
to DIS, not
that DIS is
great.
\_ DIS's story
has zero
relevance.
-tom
As a large media company like GOOG _/
it is very relevant.
\_ GOOG gross margins: over 50%
DIS gross margins: under 15%
GOOG revenue: 90+% growth year over year
DIS revenue: 5% growth year over year
So, besides the fact that DIS's business is
content and GOOG's is not, there's
the fact that one is growing rapidly and
one is not, and one has large gross
margins and one does not. So, uh, how
is DIS relevant again? -tom
\_ DIS has 6x the revenues that GOOG does.
It is a reasonable upper bound to
what GOOG's revenues might be. GOOG
already has 3x the market cap. GOOG's
margin and growth rate have more to
do with its maturity as a company
and are not really predictive of
where it is headed. So if GOOG
increases revenues by 6x (or even
12x) do you think it should be worth
18-30x DIS? That would make it the
largest company in the world.
\_ I would not use a completely
dissimilar company as a measurement
of anything. Are oranges worth
three times as much as apples?
-tom
\_ Are there any large advertising
companies even remotely close to
google's size? --new to this thread |
| 2006/1/30-2/2 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41601 Activity:low |
1/30 In other news, GOOG super-engineers have fixed the case-sensitivity
censoring feature bug at google.cn
\_ Don't be evil unless your shareholders want more, in
which case you do whatever it is necessary to make the
shareholders happy. -capitalism rules
\_ Don't be evil, unless it's for China.
\- dont you think all this picking on google is a bit of a
double standard? i mean yahoo released the email info for
a chinese person who has since been jailed, there are plenty
of people neterting into mfgring agreements with sketchy
of people enterting into mfgring agreements with sketchy
people etc. i realize google sort of set itself up with the
"dont be evil" bit but i'm not sure what you would rather
have then do in this case. like tivo i guess is ok with
hardware hacking to put in bigger drives but dont want to
to hack the service side of things ... that seems reasonable.
as opposed to say sony in the aibohack case etc.
\_ Yes, that's precisely the issue. Google says "don't be evil"
and then the go and be evil. Hypocrites have been criticized
for a long time.
\_ google is following the local law. in that regard, it's
not google's problem, no?
\_ Google is under no obligation to expand into China. It is
under an obligation not to do evil, if its motto is "Don't
be evil". Necesse est eam, non est vivam.
\_ So is it more evil to have no google or to have a
censored google? Seriously.
\_ It's better for me to have a semi-evil google over an
amoral google. It is better for google to be moral
evil google. It is better for google to be non-evil
rather than semi-evil, if its stated goal is not to
be evil.
\_ It's evil to cooperate with a government that crushes
human rights, yes.
\_ or how about: "don't be that evil", or "... if you can help it"
Or Sergey could have just come out with:
"Well, we decided to be evil in this case."
\_ Tools are never inherently evil. "Every tool is a weapon if
hold it right."
\- doesnt it seem odd to be holding a company to a higher
standard than say your govt?
\_ I normally don't. In google's case they asked to be
held to a higher standard. I am just being obliging.
\_ I normally don't. In fact, I prefer my companies profit-
maximizing (hence at least somewhat evil). In google's
case they asked to be held to a higher standard. I am
just being obliging.
\- i think this black and white view and overreading the
"dont be evil" is just silly.
\_ They made out quite well with the "do no evil" thing
until it was inconvenient. As soon as it looked
like it was going to cost them money, they dropped
it like an old bag. People hate hypocrites. At
least Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco, etc, never made any
obnoxious claims to be doing anything other than
making as much cash as possible with no moral
qualms. People hate hypocrites. And I believe now
is a good time to remind you that people hate
hypocrites. Has anyone mentioned lately how much
people hate hypocrites? --People Hating Hypocrites |
| 2006/1/20-22 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41459 Activity:nil |
1/20 Well, I guess that GOOG short finally paid off. Hope you did it at
the right time.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/20/technology/google_stock/index.htm?cnn=yes
\_ Google going to 700 by Xmas! Woot! BUY! BUY! BUY! |
| 2006/1/19-21 [Computer/Companies/Google, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:41446 Activity:nil |
1/19 Original documents on the govt request and the Google lawyer's response
http://news.com.com/2300-1028_3-6028780-1.html
You'll be proud of the latter (starts on page 5).
You, too, can defend GOOG with a B.S. in Economics from Cal
http://www.kvn.com/attorneys_bio.php?id=33
(as long as you graduate cum laude from Harvard law too ...)
On the flip side, you can be a fully tenured professor at Cal and work
for Dubya (ob John Yoo reference)
http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/users/stark
\- stark used to traffic with then had a nasty breakup with
a sloda user. --your black muslim gossipmonger |
| 2006/1/19-21 [Computer/SW/Database, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41430 Activity:kinda low |
1/19 Feds Seek Google Records in Porn Probe
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060119/ap_on_hi_te/google_records
\_ That's definitely seems to be overreaching. I hope
Google can win that one.
\_ Note that it isn't a specific case they're prosecuting, but a
desire to find out how often Americans search for (child) porn.
Also note that AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo! have already rolled
over, accepting this child porn explanation; however, the data
can be used for other purposes ...
Also note that AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo! have already rolled over.
If the stated purpose is to go after pedophiles, I can understand
their rolling over, but the data can be used for other purposes ...
They originally asked for a complete list of all search terms and
returnable URLs over a two-month period, but now they've "limited"
this to a 1-million-count random sample of queries and returnable
returned URLs over a two-month period, but now they've "limited"
this to a 1-million-count random sample of queries and returned
URLs for a one-day period.
\_ Are they going to pay for an engineer's time to do this?
If not, pound sand no matter the reason.
\_ Whatever about this case but generally speaking, if the
request is legal, the business doesn't get expenses. The
alternative is the FBI comes in and confiscates everything
in sight and extracts what they need on their own time.
Anyway, even if the childish "pay up or pound sand" thing
was realistic, the cost would be about 10 minutes since
they should have this data easily accessible anyway. Knowing
what is in their logs *is* their business model.
\_ While they should have a good database of search queries
turning that into a list in the format the gov't wants
may be non-trivial. I could easily see it taking someone
A few days if their database is really not set up for this
type of thing. And it does seem like a the sort of thing
that cannot be subpoenaed because it's not in reference
to a particular crime, or even for investigating a crime.
It's basically saying "we demand you do free research for
our legal case".
\_ By the way, the URL above shows it would take a
"disproportionate amount of engineering time and
resources" to comply.
\_ Exactly. If the FBI wants to send people in (with
court orders) to look at the data then feel free,
but don't waste my time. Google is not a party to
any case, so they shouldn't have to spend time
and money on this. They can dump the entire database
and let the FBI sort it out on their own time.
\_ No, you don't understand. They don't look at it
onsite. They *take the computers* and look at it
later.
\_ They wouldn't even know what to take. Dump
all the data to a RAID and they can have at it.
If it's too much data to fit then you ask
them where they want it dumped. They are
entitled to the data, not the hardware.
\_ Still not getting it. I'll make it simple for
you: the FBI can and would *take the
computers*. *All* of the computers if they
felt it necessary. FBI >>>>>>>>> google. If
google loses in court, they'll have no choice
but to hand over everything the Feds want and
no they don't get to bill the government for
the 5 minutes it will take some geek to write
an sql query. |
| 2006/1/13-17 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41371 Activity:nil |
1/13 Jenn Sterger
\_ Who?
\_ obGoogle
\_ http://images.google.com returns no result. Amazing. Is she that
unpopular?
\) don't use google images.
\_ Another girl with fake boobs. |
| 2006/1/4-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41228 Activity:nil |
1/4 There is speculation Google will offer a $200 non MSFT computer
(at Walmart). What OS do you think they'll use?
\_ Their own Linux distribution.
\_ I was going to build http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/knex over
Christmas, but I had to deal with backyard flooding instead. I
wonder what form facter the allegedly GooglePC will have.
\_ How about the $100 hand-cranked laptop?
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/11/30/laptop/index.html
\_ Remember, you must crank for 8 hours before using for the first
time.
\_ If they do (and if it's more than just putting their logo on
a machine built by someone else), it might finally be time to
short GOOG. -tom
\_ Uh, it's already been refuted.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060104-5882.html |
| 2005/12/28-2006/1/1 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41153 Activity:nil |
12/28 time to short GOOG?
\_ ObIShortedYerMomLastNight
\_ Don't feel bad. It happens to everyone.
\_ yermom is an uncovered naked short. |
| 2005/12/15-16 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41033 Activity:moderate |
12/15 I'm looking for raw data on the world's cities, does it exist anywhere?
Specifically, I'd like a list of all cities over, say, 5000 population,
what country they are in, which state/province/prefecture/etc.,
location (lat+long) and name in English. Does this exist anywhere?
Couldn't find it with google.
\_ Over 5000? There are raves larger than that. 5000 is too small to
be significant.
\_ Ok, make it 10,000
\_ I agree with pp. You probably want to look at 100k as a low
number. Even that low I bet you would get over 1k cities.
\_ Companies that make an Atlas have to have this info, it
should exist *somewhere*.
\_ http://www.travelgis.com/default.asp?framesrc=/cities
-tom
\- i assume people in the GIS business have something
like this in computer-usable form. howeverm this
sounds ill-thought out.
\_ Duh. look at The Almanac, the google of the old days. Or better
yet use google and search for: world's largest cities
and you get it on the first page.
and you get it on the first hit. |
| 2005/12/15-16 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41026 Activity:moderate |
12/14 I just accepted an offer from Google. The HR lady with whom I
\_ I'm sorry.
had a lot of contacts with was very very nice, patient,
knowledgeable, and helpful in all aspects (and may I add that
she's hot and looks like Tyra Banks). She's the coolest HR lady
I've ever spoken with in my life and I'm very happy with the
overall process and I'd like to thank her. I know it's not really
appropriate to buy her gifts, so what are some other ways to
show her my gratitude? Thanks.
\_ A certain sodan was visited by a Google recruiter at home
and tied to his bed, lashed and whipped into submission.
\_ Was she hot? Are they hiring now?
\_ Thank you note.
\_ booty call
\_ find an excuse to treat her lunch. I don't know about you, but
I discover I don't hang out with HR very often.
\_ Treat her lunch at the company cafeteria! |
| 2005/12/14-15 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:41010 Activity:low |
12/13 Remember the first time you saw a9 or google maps and said "WOW!"?
Here's something from Microsoft that's pretty cool as well. Go to
your favorite destination and then click on "Bird's Eye Imagery"
http://local.live.com
\_ when they get out of beta, it'll be cool. for now, it's godly
slow and chunky. google earth was there so much sooner, with
a much better product (go figure, eh?).
and it doesn't cover nearly enough cities.
\_ WOW, I didnt realize we had such a committed Microsoft
apologist here. It *is* so slow and clunky it is
unusable. And is this supposed to be useful or just
going for a "wow"? Google maps is useful, eventhough it
does list some strange search matches. A site that has
random aerial pictures is just a site that has random
aerial pictures. It isn't a useful mapping site.
\_ Dude, did you read the previous post? You both agree. |
| 2005/12/6-7 [Politics/Domestic/911, Computer/Companies/Google, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:40877 Activity:nil |
12/6 GOOG is with the terrorists:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/06/al_qaeda_google |
| 2005/12/3-6 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:40833 Activity:high |
12/2 Wow. That's pretty sad:
http://www.google.com/explanation.html
\_ uh, what's sad about it? -tom
\_ Oh, just that the number of offensive results returned by "Jew"
is so high that they felt compelled to write that. Sad.
I thought.
\_ Why is this surprising? Look at motd.
\_ Google: Cataloging the world's filth.
\_ At least they're consistent about the "let's make all
information easily available" no matter if it's libelous,
owned by someone else or just the sort of thing no one
should need to see, as long as they make a buck on it.
\_ How is google making a buck on this?
\_ (a) "libelous" differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,
and I thought it was a given that national restrictions
on who links to what online are silly, (b) "make a buck
on it" is not a bad thing, but for some reason it has a
negative connotation--not making a buck == no google, (c)
who judges what "no one should need to see"? -John
\_ a) in the dictionary sense, b) making a buck spreading
lies is, c) germany has banned nazi stuff, are you
opposed to that? unrelated is google's answer to a
faq on image and link hosting for people who want an
image pulled down: they duck the issue of removing it
from their index and punt it to the user to go ask
the webmaster to remove it when in many cases the
webmaster has posted something maliciously or just
doesn't care what their users post and isn't subject
to the reach of the law. double talk is just sleazy.
as far as google existing or not, i dont really care.
there were search engines before, there will be search
engines after. they're just one search engine of many
that all return roughly the same quality of results.
\_ I am ambivalent about Germany's nazi ban, as it's a
bit of a special case. Nonetheless, Germany has no
control over content hosted abroad, nor do they make
any pretense at doing so (unlike France/Yahoo, which
was a pretty sad precedent.) I don't think it's dis-
ingenuous for a search engine to refer objections
about content to the originating site--after all,
nobody is forcing anyone to look at something they
don't like--you may find it lame but I see it as
pretty central to the availability of information,
reprehensible though it may be, on the Internet. In
their position I wouldn't even have posted the
disclaimer, although I can understand why they saw
it as a prudent thing to do. -John
\_ Which means someone has zero recourse if google
is unwilling to provide a means to people to have
potentially damaging and false information
removed. Below someone claims they remove links
to kiddie porn. I'm firmly in favor of that but
why draw the line there? I don't see why Germany's
ban on Nazi stuff is ok as a 'special case'. As if
by out lawing references to the Nazis they will
magically make the past go away. France/Yahoo is
pretty much the same. Anyway, once you draw a line
there's no difference where yo draw it. You don't
get to claim you're a big pro-information freedom
person when you've made an arbitrary decision that
there really is some information that shouldn't be
seen. (sarcasm for the stupid): Why don't the
parents just complain to the kiddie porn web
masters and ask that their kids be removed from
the net?
\_ Yes, you do have zero recourse. I'm unwilling
to risk someone seeing my (harmless) views as
somehow politically, religiously or culturally
offensive and have a means to censor them. I
think we're fundamentally in agreement here--I
stated that I wouldn't have written the Google
disclaimer, just that I understand where they're
coming from. As for Germany, they have a bit
of peculiar historical background that gives
them a slightly different take on the topic of
nazism, even though they sometimes do not handle
it consistently, that is all. Relax. -John
\_ You're ducking. Google will remove some
links from the index based on some unknown
and arbitrary criteria but will not remove
others and worse, pretends they can't. If
google was consistent and didn't pretend
they have no control over their indexes
instead of waving the "its magic! look!
a shiny penny!" flag around they'd come
across as honest instead of deceptive and
shitty with a touch of holier-than-thou.
\_ Actually I'm pretty sure they have people looking for
things like child porn and taking them out of the indexes.
\_ Well they do, and they admit it. |
| 2005/12/1-4 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:40804 Activity:nil |
12/1 Google (or other search engine) question: I'm trying to search for
the format of email addresses at a company but google doesn't seem
to allow me to search for "@company.com" instead it drops the "@"
and I get my search turned into "company.com" which isn't helpful.
Is there a way to force the "@" character in a search? I didn't
see it on the google help pages. Thanks.
\_ http://csua.org/u/e5a
short answer, no.
\_ Did you try "\@company.com"
\_ Same thing. It drops the @ and then does the search. Aren't
there some google employees here? Is this just not possible? |
| 2005/11/21-23 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:40681 Activity:moderate |
11/21 If 2^x=googol, what is x?
\_ x = 300 * log(2) -mrauser
\_ No, x = 100 log 10 / log 2
\_ Crap I inverted the addition/multiplication log rules.
I loose. -mr
\_ yermom's loose
\_ Ummm.. when did we start giving high school students accounts and
\_ Ummm.. when did we start giving high school students accounts
motd access?
\- is this a case of 1. you dont know a google is defined as
10^100 or 2. you know that but dont know how to solve for
x in 10^100 = 2^x ? you may wish to learn about THE AWESOME
POWER OF LOGARITHMS (tm).
\_ It's hard to claim not to know the definition of a googol in
this age of erm google.
\_ You're on crack. Probably 90% of the people who've heard
of "Google" have never heard of a "googol".
\_ My we are dense on motd today. It's trivial to google
the definition of googol.
\_ My we are dense on motd today. It's trivial to find
the defintion of googol with google.
\- that assumes it occurs to you there is a defn to
google for. which probably doesnt occur to most
people. its easy to find out QUANTAS is the
queensland and nothern territory aerial service
via the WEEB ... but it never occurs to many that
it stands for soemthing rather than being a word.
it's easy to find out nokia used to be in rubber
goods but it never occurs to most people it might
have been something other than a cell phone
company. it si easy to discover SPRINT was part
of a rail company but most people wont accidentally
stumble on that or wonder "i wonder what SPRINT
stands for".
\_ Given the context of the original question, it's
fairly obvious that a googol is *something*.
After that, it shouldn't take a lot of enterprise
or imagination to look up the word in a dictionary
or to ask google for a definition.
\- we're not talking about the original question
where the fellow explicitly asks "what number
is it" but the vast majority to whom it is a
search engine and probably never occurs to them
that the name predates that. when google first
got going newsstories would often explain the
name. now nobody does. the fact that they
explained it suggests the meaning wasnt common
knowledge. i bet a lot of people who once
heard the meaning no longer remember it had
a separate meaning. i think it might occur
to some people "inktomi" is probably from
somewhere [i would ahve probably guessed
japanese for spider, rather than a native
am word] but i think if you put it to many
people, they would have guessed google was
just a nonsense word or a made up word like
say "accenture". i think even fewer
realize "googleplex" is also doublemeaninged.
i'm sure they assume it is only from
"google complex" and dont know that it too
is a number.
\_ You do realize that the original question
says "googol" not "google", right?
\_ It's QANTAS, not QUANTAS.
\_ Dumb high school students, no less.
\_ Hey tom, can you solve this?
\_ This gets my vote for lamest thread of the week. |
| 2005/11/12-14 [Politics/Domestic/Gay, Politics/Domestic/Election, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:40554 Activity:nil |
11/11 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22435-2004May12.html I just found out that whenever you search for something and click on the sponsored link, the sponsors pay anywhere between a few cents to $30 dollars. YES $30 dollars, that means I have the power to waste $30 per click even if I'm not interested in that company. So I have a suggestion for all of you bored Green Peace liberals with nothing else to do. Search for Republicans and start clicking on "Republican Dating" or "The Republican Store" or any site that supports the GOP. Now that you are empowered to bankrupt their internet funding, spread this message to all of your hippy friends now! \_ Sorry, it didn't work that way many years ago when I was at a ad based company. I'm certain it doesn't now. No one is paying $30 for a click through. They would pay $30 for an actual signup with a real CC# attached though. For the click throughs (which were measured in $/1000 clicks in my day) we only got paid for real clicks after the logs went to a third party service for 'cleaning'. You can't honestly believe you're the first person to have ever thought of inflating someone else's costs with fake clicks? Anyway, as a philosophical/political thing, if your philosophy was so great you wouldn't need to try 'dirty tricks' to win. Your philosophy should stand on it's own merit at the ballot box. \- if you want to cost the Rs real money you have to be less lazy. one thing you might do is see if the cash checks for 1cent. if you get pre paind fund raising englvelopes from them keep sentind them 1cent checks [i get free checks]. that's a suggestion that doesnt involve leaving the house. you might also put like glitter in the envelope. i assume that is not illegal. yes, i know this doesnt cost them real money but it might deliver psychic satisfaction. i also realize it may not be the R machine processing these checks so you will have to decide if it is appropriate to fill the office of a R contractor with hard to get rid of glitter. anyway, this is after about 30 seconds of thought. i am sure i could come up with something better, but yeah, there is a no free lunch aspect to this. i certainly have no problem mailing empty prepaid envelopes back in cases of unsolicited junk i dont like. i guess you can look at their return addresses and subscribe them to gay vacation advertising lists etc. \- oh, you also may be better off trying to disrupt a small unit ... like say infiltrating the BCR etc. \_ Having spent a summer working on ads analysis at Google, I can assure you that the cost-per-click can get outrageously high. However, you're unlike to be able to take advantage of this because (a) you won't be able to find out which keywords are expensive without alot of work and (b) Google has a many smart people working on detecting clickspam and they've gotten very good at it. --darin [ reformatted - formatd ] |
| 2005/11/11-12 [Computer/SW, Computer/HW, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:40540 Activity:nil |
11/10 "In Soviet Russia..." http://csua.org/u/dzf Quick notes about Soviet computer industry from a lecture -- thought someone might be interested. -- misha. \_ NGMD = Nakopitel' na Gibkix Magnitnyx Diskax NMD = Nakopitelyakh Magnitnikh Diskov NZMD = Nakopitelyah na Zhestkix Magnitnyx Diskov Cool notes. Thanks. If you're into E. block useful appliations, google for POLY PLAY. -John |
| 2005/11/1-4 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/Companies/Yahoo] UID:40399 Activity:nil |
11/1 You know what I really hate about Yahoo email? You can only
make 10 'filters'. I can add 3000 Gmail filters. Why is
Yahoo so lame?
\_ Yeah no kidding. I also found that Gmail let me use "AND"
and "OR" in the filter terms but I couldn't get Yahoo
to do that. Yahoo's UI is also slower to get around.
Yahoo better get with the program.
\_ yea, you have to pay (yahoo plus) to get more filters,
and to not have ads.
\_ since when? last i checked (like, now), gmail claims 20.
\_ shhh! speak not foul words of the Holy Google or Smiteth Thee
Holy Rankings shall fall upon thine website!
\_ I have about 30 filters in Gmail. works for me.
\_ Is there in Gmail a way to tag all existings messages? When I
search for all messages from "John" and then hit "select all" it
only selects the first 20 messages, not the hundreds that I
actually have.
\_ I can send you some if you want. -John |
| 2005/10/5-6 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:39987 Activity:nil |
10/5 Sun & Google partnership opinion piece:
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fastforward/0,15704,1114200,00.html |
| 2005/9/4-5 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:39486 Activity:nil |
9/3 M$ to F'ing Kill Google:
http://tinyurl.com/docva (http://www.smh.com.au - sydney morning herald) |
| 2005/8/31-9/2 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:39394 Activity:nil |
8/31 Google announces Google Purge:
http://csua.org/u/d7t |
| 2005/8/19-22 [Reference/RealEstate, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:39175 Activity:low |
8/18 http://tinyurl.com/alu76 How rich are Googlers? Now you find out. \_ Crap! If you can afford a $12 million dollar home, RETIRE! \_ I don't know a lot of really rich people, but in my observation truly retiring is always a bad idea. Changing careers later in life is one thing, but ending all productivity is a great way to have your health go downhill and die young(70's instead of 90's) and bitter, even if you have enough money. I'm just basing this on observations of older family members who've kept working in some capacity forever vs. those who truly became retired. I'm never going to totally retire, even if I have enough money to never work again. \_ I basically agree. I don't really think 30 year-ld googlers are going to retire in the "sit around and watch TV all day way," anyway. But there's all kinds of things I'd like to do/work on other than showinging up here 8-5 everyday. I would at least ditch the bay area. -op \_ I basically agree. I don't really think 30 year-ld googlers are going to retire in the "sit around and watch TV all day way," anyway. But there's all kinds of things I'd like to do/work on other than showinging up here 8-5 everyday. I would at least ditch the bay area. -op \_ I know a woman with a few million in cash and many millions more in real estate. Even though she made the money doing other things (real estate, businesses) she's also a psychologist. She continues to run her practice on a small scale (accepts no new patients) even though it only makes her $60-70K per year. Why bother? I've never asked her, but I'm sure she does it because she enjoys it. If the GOOG guy enjoys his job then that's all that matters. \_ No, a good capitalist keeps working until he owns everyone else, like Gates, Rocketfeller, Walton, and Lay. Capitalism is what makes our nation so great! Haven't you learned anything in grade school? \_ I find it hard to believe that you'd compare someone like a Rockefeller, who at least believed in a work ethic and just about gave away most of his fortune to a Ken Lay. -John \_ I have an acquaintance who owns his own business. Last year he bought a house in Beverly Hills for $4 million in cash. He owns many cars, including a Cayenne S and a Bentley. Another acquaintance of ours asked him why he bothered to keep working at this point when he and his family are set for life. His reply: "I don't want to have to drive a BMW 5 series, which is what I'd be limited to if I stopped working." So there you have it. \_ Huh, I'd be interested in talking to him about diminishing returns. What's the real difference between a BMW and a Bently? Why is it worth 10 hours of every day? \_ It's an example. What he is saying is that he'd live a good life, but not his current lifestyle. \_ No duh. The law of diminishing returns extends to pretty much all areas as well. \_ Sure, but who is to say what when returns are not worth it? Is it when you own your own home? Whether it is worth it or not is an individual decision. You might be happy with a 5 series. This guy is not. You don't think it's worth it. He does. Lots of people could get by with less, but they want more. Right? Are you going to decide for them when enough is enough? \_ Did you take too much meth this morning or something? I said I'd like to ask him about his motives, and what he thinks; I did not say I wanted to tell him what to do. \_ I didn't read the question "Why is it worth 10 hours of every day?" as an honest question, but as criticism. If it was an honest question I apologize. \_ No, it was quite an honest question. I'm surprised more people don't ask it. \_ I've had the privilege of test driving a $150k sports car and of receiving an upgrade to a stupid $$$ hotel room (no clue why) and being invited to try some really expensive delicacies, stuff which I can't-but-would-like-to afford. Even if there's no intrinsic motivation to work, there are some pretty definite material benefits that I imagine I could really get used to. -John \_ I think owning your business is different. The business becomes your baby, and you can't just let it die. My girlfriend's mom runs a business and makes a few million a year, but she works like crazy (15 hour days, 1 day of rest per month). My gf is more tired when she goes home for vacation cause she has to help her mom and follow her schedule. \_ The grape is very sour to me. :-( |
| 2005/8/9-11 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:39062 Activity:nil |
8/9 Turns out Google is a corporate whiner:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45661
\_ Does jblack post the worldnetdaily links too?
\_ Why, do you have a problem with the content of the article?
\_ They forgot to mention the Swift Boat Veterans in
this article...
\_ Google is a Kool Aid factory like Apple. They have a nice search
engine (and Apple has nice products) but the zealots are
overbearing.
\_ Your analogy is tired and does not bear out, or else the
zealots you're so concerned about would have drunk poison
kool-aid by now. You would be better served to attempt to
compare them to Hare Krishnas or Moonies, if you're looking to
make a cult comparison. |
| 2005/8/2-4 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:38959 Activity:nil |
8/2 Here's one for you mr. short g00gle guy. The reasonable
person uses google:
http://www.internetcases.com/archives/2005/08/google_and_the.html
\_ I'm not the short-google guy, but what does this have to do with
google being priced high, low, or just right?
\_ google is such an integral part of the world that its current
valuation is probably TOO low. |
| 2005/7/22-25 [Computer/Companies/Google, Industry/Jobs] UID:38779 Activity:moderate |
7/22 I've found Google to be a good company. If you want a full-time job or
internship and I happen to know you on a first-name basis, contact me via
phone or email and I'll see what I can do to get you in.
darin @ csua, 314-283-1234.
\_ Can you get them to stop calling me?
\_ Don't bother applying if you're conservative.
\_ Let me guess. You blew the interview due to poor social skills,
and now you want to blame it on the liberal conspiracy to keep
the white man down?
\_ No, just following news reports. Have never interviewed with
Google.
\_ Which news reports?
\_ http://csua.org/u/ctm
\_ From that you assume that they "discriminate against
conservative hires?" You are really really stupid,
and you have likely never dealt with IT hiring.
\_ Is it "jump to conclusions" day? I said don't
bother applying. I didn't say they were
discriminating, I just got the impression that
they're raging lefties and you wouldn't want to be
around them. And you'd have to work with aaron.
Ick.
\_ Ooh, anonymous personal attacks. You are a
bright one.
GOOD. Kudos to Google for rejecting religious -/
and conservative ads. We're fed up, and it's
about time us liberals stand up to the bullying
of religious fuck heads.
\_ Don't compound "news reports" guy's stupidity with your own.
\_ I think it's probably fair to say the Google workplace is
fairly apolitical, but I do think the founders have a
left-wing bias, and this does reflect in some company
policies I find objectionable. Are you afraid to hang
out with liberals because you think they might contaminate
your precious bodily fluids? -- ilyas
\_ I'd hate to be in a work environment where the political
opinions of the people there affect policy at work. I'd
be afraid to give a conservative opinion without
retribution. ilyas, you work at Google? That raises my
opinion of the company.
\_ No, I do not. I interviewed at Google before I went
to UCLA, but did not get the job. They recently
contacted me again, I guess they ran out of all the
good people to hire. I think Google deserves a lot of
credit for enlightened things they do as a company.
I hope to see their good example followed. Having
said that, I disagree with many of their corporate
decisions. -- ilyas
\_ Well, I'm a liberal, and gay, and whatever Google
does I support them because they respect and
embrace diversity. I wish the Religious
dictators would just fuck off. GO GOOGLE. And
fuck you ilyas.
\_ You on the other hand don't seem to.
\_ Want to work at PlanetOut? Email me. -ausman
\_ He's a troll. Nobody is this dumb. -- ilyas |
| 2005/7/11-12 [Politics/Domestic/California, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:38520 Activity:low |
7/11 only tangentially related to the below: Does anyone know what
the term is for "the name given to people/things from a place"?
For ex, peopl from Los Angeles are Los Angelinos, people from
New York are New Yorkers, people from Glasgow are Glaswegian,
etc. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how these names
are derived and I've been curious to find a list of tons for all
kinds of strange place names but no idea how to google. thanks
\_ "demonyms"!! fantastic! thanks. this has bothered me for years.
\_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adjectival_forms_of_place_names - danh
\_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adjectival_forms_of_place_names
- danh
\_ "demonyms"!! fantastic! thanks. this has bothered me for years.
\- What about people from Niger? |
| 2005/7/4-5 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:38405 Activity:nil |
7/4 2006 Google Press Releases: http://csua.org/u/clr |
| 2005/6/27-28 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:38313 Activity:high 66%like:37321 |
6/27 How's that Google short going?
\_ I think Google buyers have lost their damned minds.
\_ you thought that when it was at 100, and you didn't have
any justification for it then. What is your justification
now? -tom
\_ Same as it was then: overvalued. It was overvalued at
100.
\_ According to what? -tom
\_ Well, P/E of 120 is a bit higher than normal.
\_ Normal compared to what? What about forward P/E?
You can't just look at a number in a column at
http://finance.yahoo.com and conclude that a stock is
overvalued (or undervalued). -tom
\_ So buy some options instead of shorting the stock directly:
Controlled downside as well as upside.
\_ yeah, you can only lose 100% of your investment! -tom
\_ http://www.smartmoney.com/pricecheck/index.cfm?story=worksheet&symbol=GOOG&nav=pc_snaps
\_ Better than losing 10x your investment...
\_ You can avoid this by buying a mix of call and
get options.
\_ Most people should leave the hedges for
professionals. (Certainly people who were planning
to short Google at 100 should.) -tom
\_ Heh, most professionals should leave hedges
to professionals should leave the hedges to
someone else as well. I understand most
hedge funds fail.
\_ http://csua.org/u/ciy -not the GOOG short guy
\_ A few things about a tool like this. It's useful, and
a lot more meaningful than looking at P/E ratio. But
there are a number of subjective assumptions in the
design, which not everyone may agree with, and the numbers
they are plugging in are conjecture at best. Will Google
grow at a 31% average annual rate over the next 5 years?
Right now it's growing at a 100% average annual rate.
If you set the 5-year EPS growth rate to 50%, that
calculator spits out $384 as a price. If you leave
the EPS growth rate at 31% and set the "perpetual"
EPS growth rate to 5% it spits out $305. If you set
the benchmark return to 7% it spits out $340.
In summary: You have to know what all those numbers
mean to use that calculator to come up with a valuation.
-tom
\_ Valid points, but I think it's clear you are a GOOG
shill at this point. I still think I will be right
in the end. I've had arguments with people over
stocks like ENE that I seemed to have lost at the
time, too. GOOG stockholders are a cult at this point.
No one in their right mind would buy that POS at
current valuations. It's (so far) a self-fulfilling
prophecy. In fact, I will put my money where my
mouth is and buy puts on this dog.
\_ I am not a GOOG shill. I do not own GOOG and I
never have. I just am tired of people who clearly
know nothing about investing making pronouncements
\_ "know nothing...making pronouncements"...
to hear those words from tom.
like "GOOG is overvalued at $100", when $100 would
currently mean a forward P/E of $15. Its forward
P/E is lower than Yahoo or EBay (two other stocks
I don't own). And to call it a "POS" is ridiculous;
this is a company that is currently growing
revenues at 100% per year! The Google story is
not about the stock price. -tom |
| 2005/6/21-22 [Science/Electric, Computer/Companies/Google, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:38220 Activity:nil |
6/21 Does anybody have current contact info for blojo@csua? I've
tried to email him, but I'm not sure he still pays attention
to the CSUA mail. -vadim
\_ google has his web site as first hit
mailto:jon@number-none.com
whois the site shows his name/address/phone/email address
\_ Thanks, I was googling for the wrong thing. -vadim
\_ That should have gotten lots of hits on google too. |
| 2005/5/8-9 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:37573 Activity:moderate |
5/8 Google got hacked yesterday. Wonder how much GOOG will get hammered
tomorrow.
\_ As much as MSFT gets hammered when new Windows trojans come out.
\_ Uh, no, they weren't hacked. They had a DNS glitch and stupid
browser behaviors automatically directed clients to a wrong
address.
\_ But would the average Joe know the difference?
\_ Hey, are you sour grapes guy? How is that GOOG short going?
\_ down 0.29%--how's that short going again? -tom |
| 2005/5/6-8 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:37559 Activity:nil |
5/6 craigslist housing + google maps. http://paulrademacher.com/housing \_ holy shit, that's pretty nice. \_ How long before Google copies that and claim as their own? |
| 2005/5/2-3 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:37447 Activity:kinda low |
5/2 What's the best way to transfer every single one of your UNIX email
(on Cory, etc) to http://gmail.com? Thanks.
\_ mutt.
T . ; b hoser@gmail.com
-tom
\_ I tried to bounce several thousand pieces of my personal email
via mutt to gmail from my machine, gmail decided I was a spammer
and stopped delivering email from my machine to gmail for a few
weeks - danh
\_ Does gmail support IMAP? If so, the (otherwise abominable) UW IMAP
package contains an excellent utility called mailutil, which can,
among other things, transfer messages from one IMAP server (or a
local unix mailbox format file) to another IMAP server, and it is
very good about preserving flags, date/time stamps etc. -dans
\_ No, I am not even sure why they support POP, unless it's some
kind of bait and switch.
\_ You could just read:
http://gmail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=194
\_ Did you reply to the right post? Their FAQ doesn't offer
any real explanation why it makes sense for them to
offer POP support for free.
\_ Perhaps only a small % of their users use POP, but those
who do are far more influential in reccomending
computer things to their friends. |
| 2005/4/22-23 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:37321 Activity:kinda low 66%like:34709 66%like:38313 |
4/22 How's that GOOG short going?
\_ GOOG is still about the same as it was in Nov 2004.
\_ In other words, it's still out-performing the market, even
though it ran over "short GOOG at 100" guy as it doubled
in price. (And actually, you're full of shit anyway; it
is up over 10% since November 2004). -tom |
| 2005/4/15-16 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:37198 Activity:nil |
4/15 Google now has autocomplete:
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
\_ This was mentioned on /. several months ago.
\_ All the news way too late. |
| 2005/4/5-8 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:37077 Activity:low |
4/5 interviewing for Google, any idea how they interview?
heard it was unorthodox...thanks..
\_ Just tell them you know the secret word that rhymes with orange
and that you'll tell them if they hire you.
\_ arrange.
\_ door hinge
\_ That's not the secret word, it's two words.
\_ purple
\_ p0rn-age
\_ stonehenge
\_ stonehenge, syringe
\_ Not really. You get the standard, all-day thing with lunch at
the cafeteria, full of tech questions. I've had more difficult
interviews. I've met both nicer and meaner people, both smarter
and dumber people. It's a place. They're people. Good luck!
\_ grats on the interview, just be cool.
\_ The tech interview was much easier than I expected. I was warned
for the 2nd ("personality") interview to "be enthusiastic". I was
myself and thus judged not Google-worthy. (They told me "your
technical skills are great, but you didn't seem excited enough")
Of course if their recruiters are telling you how to behave and
that's what they're checking for (enthusiasm, real or otherwise),
that's a little silly, but *shrug*. Do what they say if you really
want the job. The job market's getting better and something better
came along so I'm glad it fell through. --dbushong
\_ All it takes is one or two unhappy people to really drag down
a team. Personality really does matter. And generally people
faking enthusasim are pretty spottable. If you can fake it well
you probably are enthusastic enough to not be a drag. If you
can't (or have a "I'm not going to be enthusastic" chip on
your shoulder well, that's a warning sign. Warning signs don't
mean you are goign to be a bad employee but let's face it,
Google can afford to lose a good person here and there in
order to weed out the bad ones.
\_ "enthusiasm".
\_ This is ridiculously stupid. Enthusiastic about what? Do all
the google people jump around saying "whomp" and having
"teambuilding" activities?
\_ whomp whomp on the head! whomp whomp on the head!
\_ That place is starting to sound weird. There was a /.
article about the "personal projects" that people are
allowed to work on, except the guy was saying it's
starting to be like you have to have a personal project
or else you won't look good, etc.
\_ In the post-Google IPO world, I don't think they can afford
to be as picky as they seem to think they can be. Is there
really that much cachet associated with working there that
hundreds of new hires will take under market wages and longer
hours just to be there?
\_ Yes. And partly because they know Google is picky.
\_ Which doesn't explain aaron.
\_ aaron is blacklisted for improper not-happy vibes. |
| 2005/4/1-2 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:37031 Activity:nil |
4/1 So wrong...: http://600673.com -dans \_ Google seems to be going crazy with the whole April Fools thing today. \_ no description, to be deleted in 10 min \_ no brain, to be euthanized in 3 h \_ 600673=GOOGLE in hacker speak (or they say, 3733+ hax0r $p33k) \_ I think you mean 1337 h4x0r \_ He means H07 42N CH1X. \_ The other major google april fools joke: http://www.google.com/googlegulp |
| 2005/4/1-3 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:37022 Activity:nil |
4/1 Is there a way to delete just the attachment in gmail? -ray
\_ not that I know of, but on a related note: is there anyway
to determine the size of a message in gmail? I'm using ~25%
of my quota and would like to delete some crap but have no
easy way to see what the large msgs are.
\_ I agree, a size field would be nice. -ray |
| 2005/3/9-10 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:36607 Activity:low |
3/9 Does anyone know offhand if Google considers a 403 to be a dead link?
\_ There seem to be quite a few bots which can't take a hint when it
sees a 403 or 404.
\_ I'm not saying Google doesn't. I assume it does remove from
index eventually on 404, but is 403 treated differently in
any way? -op |
| 2005/2/21-22 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:36342 Activity:low |
2/21 Is gmail still available by referral only?? I can't believe it.
\_ If you can't get a gmail invite, you truly have no friends.
\_ I have 50 referrals now, email me and I will send you one.
\_ username please.
\_ Doh! -ausman |
| 2005/2/7 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:36084 Activity:nil |
2/7 Does anyone else have a gmail account with 50 (yes 50)
gmail invitations to give out? Last time I checked, which
was probably friday or so, I only had 6.
\_ Huh. You're right. I know I had 6 last week, but now I have 50. |
| 2005/2/1 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:36023 Activity:nil |
2/1 Google is so dead:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=1282
\_ Google at $218 afterhours
\_ http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050201/16016_1.html
101% year-over-year revenue growth. 300% year-over-year earnings
growth. I'm glad to see short-GOOG-at-100-guy doesn't let
reality get in the way. -tom
\_ Better sell know while you still have a chance. By
this time next year former googlers will be standing
by 101 w/ signs that read will code for food.
\_ I don't own "know" [sic]. But you're a moron. -tom |
| 2005/1/26 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/SpamAssassin] UID:35907 Activity:nil |
1/26 Has anyone else had problems with Gmail not recieving mail? I've had
one person get a delivery failure message and another person say they
sent mail, got no failure notice, and I never recieved it. Is this a
common problem of am I just corresponding with dinks who can't figure
out how to send email?
\_ I had problems when I bounced mail from another account to my gmail.
I never received any failure notice, but didn't receive the mail
either. Forwarding worked. Funny thing was that after trying the
bounce multiple times and fail, I forward, and all of a sudden, the
forwarded mail shows up in gmail along with all of the bounced
mails. That was about a month ago. Bouce seems to work for me now.
\_ No, but gmail filters spam very aggressively, so I get lots of
false positives. Search through your spam folder first.
\_ Neither showed up in spam (I've gotten no spam yet), they just
never got there. |
| 2005/1/13-14 [Science/GlobalWarming, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:35707 Activity:very high |
1/13 Can ordinary people still change the world with ingenious inventions
and patents (like Edison and light bulb) (or at least make themselves
rich) or is this now completely in the hands of large corp with
crackpots making noise on the side? This is a serious question, not
a troll about bad patents.
\_ http://66.70.64.5/news/0501,essay,59733,2.html [village voice]
\_ I know for a fact that there are independent inventors who make
good money, and occasionally millions off of their inventions.
As far as changing the world the way Edison or better yet
Tesla did? Probably not.
\_ On a vaguely related note, I hate Edison. I think he's a nasty
glory hound, and an ass. You forgot the google founders, you
can reasonably say google changed the world. -- ilyas
\_ ilyas, don't you think these are precisely the quality that
made him a successful man in the real world?
\_ Probably. -- ilyas
\_ Not really. The preceding engines (altavista, webcrawler,
etc.) weren't dramatically different... Google just did
better, but also avoided making the main page an ugly adfest.
The concept of building a searchable web index is also a
rather natural extension of the world wide web which is the
underlying innovation.
\_ And the www was really just a friendly front end to
ftp, which is simple a way to move information around,
much like a pile of tapes in a truck or even books on
a horse drawn wagon, and there is no new thing under
the sun.
\_ ftp simple? have you looked at the protocol?
\_ By this reasoning the light bulb was just a natural
evolution of the candle which, in turn, the sun was the
underlying innovation. Heh, nothing new under the sun
indeed. If you're religiously inclined, the underlying
innovation was when God said ``Let there be light.''
\_ No, that's not my reasoning at all. My main point was
that Google didn't invent crawling search engines.
My secondary point is that even without that, I think
the interactive WWW would retain a big part of its
usability. It would take too long to defend that idea
to you motd rabble.
\_ Google's main contribution isn't crawling, but
using links to rank. That's what makes (made?)
google good. The problem is that link popularity
is succeptible to collusion, which is a nasty
can of worms. I don't know how you use the
net, but my usage would suffer a lot if
google went away. Of course, I use scholar
for 50% of my queries, and link ranking works
great for publications. -- ilyas
\_ I was used to using more terms/exclusions/phrases
to get results, and first switched to Google for
UI and speed. Google is good, and something like
scholar didn't exist I guess. But the ideas here,
well, I remember searching periodicals on the
library PC way back. The concepts don't seem like
genius to me but the execution is excellent.
\_ The concept of link ranking may not be
genius to you, but neither one of us thought of
it. It's easy to be a hindsight innovator.
-- ilyas
\_ Actually I don't know if I thought of it.
I can remember reading some stuff about
search engines and ranking schemes way back.
If it occurred to me that linking is a
measure of relevancy I wouldn't have done
anything with it... I mean there are only
so many basic parameters associated with
web pages. I know what you're saying but
look at the speed involved. If Google didn't
do that someone else would in short order.
\_ I think that's true for almost any
significant innovation. -- ilyas
\_ If Google went away you could use lycos,
hotbot, altavista, and so on. I actually
dislike using Yahoo! now compared to when it
ran Inktomi. I don't see any value-added in
Google over any other search engine.
\_ Recent people in history in IT who have changed the industry:
Jobs and Wozniak (Jobs was a slacker, Wozniak was an i
engineer at HP)
Mitch Kapor (he used to be a disc jockey and
entry level programmer)
The guy from napster (just a college kid)
Nolan Bushnell was supposedly just a second rate EE when
he stumbled onto Pong.
Linus Torvaldis - smelly kid from Finland who had too much time
on his hands and fate conspired to kill
BSD because of the lawsuits.
\_ What about coming up with a great idea that is not patented
(a couple times) already, then have someone else bring it to
market? All the above examples are people who got help from
VC and built the stuff they conceived. (Except Linus, but
he falls in a different category altogether.) They are more
entrepreneur than inventors. Not all inventors are or want
to be entrepreneurs.
\_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
Edison was an entrepreneur also.
\_ Bill Gates - Before Gates, everybody in IT thought only good
or okay products could dominate a market.
\_ Some other people who have changed the world w/ their ideas and
inventions are: K&R (no unix/c w/o K&R), James Gosling (most ugs
\_ unix was created primarily by ken thompson.
don't even learn C these days), Larry Wall, Seymour Cray (invented
the multi-proc concept), Shockley (no computers w/o transistors),
Tim Berners-Lee, &c.
\_ Ordinary people never change the world. That's why they're
ordinary. (BTW I'm ordinary)
\_ I think the OP meant "individual people".
\_ How about people like George Soros or Charles Schwab? Do people
who invent new understandings of economics or who invent new
ways of doing business count in your book?
\_ Burton G. Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street. He
didn't originate the efficient markets theory, but did a lot to
champion it, and arguably is responsible for Vanguard's creation
of index funds that `ordinary' (read people like you and me
without millions to invest) people could invest in. |
| 2004/11/19-20 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:34987 Activity:kinda low |
11/19 Any sodans work at google? I've discovered what I believe to be a bug
and I'm not getting response from google's official channels.
I'm wondering if there is a better contact to write to. -brett
\_ aaron, misha, mgoodman.
\_ google code is officially bug-free. -- misha.
\_ either this statement is true, or misha is full of bugs. -pundit |
| 2004/11/18 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:34955 Activity:kinda low |
11/17 http://www.google.com/scholar rocks. -- ilyas \_ It's kind of frightening to find that somebody actually cited my one refereed paper - and misunderstood it, to boot. -- ulysses \_ LIkewise, but I ain't complaining. --elizp |
| 2004/11/9 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/OS/VM] UID:34777 Activity:high |
11/9 I have two versions of MSIE 6.0.2800.1106. One is running inside a
VMWare virtual machine, the other running native on an athlon PC.
When I run a google query: http://www.google.com/search?q=canada.ca
They get slightly different results. What's the best way to figure
out why this would be? Perhaps a way to capture the request?
\_ Maybe you're just hitting different google mirrors, and their
indices aren't quite in sync? You could test this by using an
explicit IP address like 216.239.57.99 instead of "google.com".
\_ netcat is good for this. Use 'netcat -L <DEAD>athos.989studios.com<DEAD>:10070
-p 8000 -o logfile' listens at port 8000 on the local machine, logs
to the file "logfile", and forwards the result to athos port 10070.
\_ Does Google incorporate randomness in its search result when, say,
there's a tie in relevancy?
\_ the above will do the net capture but i think the answer lies more
in how google works than your browser. packet captures will only
tell you what you already know: you're getting difference responses
back from google. |
| 2004/11/5 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:34709 Activity:nil 50%like:34199 66%like:37321 |
11/5 GOOG fell 9%. Did anyone short?
\_ I think the market is reacting to the possiblity of GOOG employees
leaving the company to relocate to Canada.
\_ No, it's because they offer domestic partner benefits. Remember,
this was the "haha, you = teh gay" election.
\_ No, this is the market coming to their collective senses and
concluding that dumping a shit load of money into a second gen.
search engine company which is soon to face competition from third
generation search engine companies may not be the brightest idea.
Yes, google has a decent product line up but it isn't deep enough
and the company doesn't have a sufficient public history to support
such a high flying price. This is not a black/white issue. I'm
sure Google will be around for a few years but it isn't the be-all
end-all of everything either. The big/smart money is cashing out
now. It has absolutely nothing to do with the elections. Sheesh.
\_ Not time to short yet. There's more where this came from. |
| 2004/10/25-26 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:34336 Activity:very high 50%like:34046 |
10/25 How is that Google short going pal?
\_ $20 BY FEBRUARY!!!
\_ There's absolutely no reason why google should be that much
higher than Yahoo. Just wait and see.
\_ ah, so in other words, you didn't actually short it. So
instead of getting a margin call and losing tons of money,
you can sit here and smugly say, if the stock goes back to
where it IPOed, "see I told you so!"
There's very little reason to compare Google's stock price to
Yahoo's. What do you see as fair value for Google? -tom
\_ I'm the GOOG short person and I plan to make money
shorting it. Half of the shares cannot even be sold yet.
Supply and demand. Will you admit you are wrong if it
falters?
\_ GOOG may go down and you may make lots of money. Or you
may not. IF, on the other hand, you make a film of you
and tom duking it out in the Thunderdome, you can sell
it and you will be garanteed to make money.
\_ I haven't made any pronouncements to be wrong about, except
that you can't tie Google's value to Yahoo's. I don't
own GOOG and I'm not likely to any time soon. -tom
\_ During what time period do you expect to successfully
short?
\_ Shorting is 100% timing. If you can't get the timing
right, you will have your shorts handed to you. Saying
a stock is ripe for shorting and not having a specific
timeframe has no context. You can say a stock is
overvalued, but stocks can stay overvalued for very long
periods of time.
\_ I am not here to make you money or to be blamed if
I lose you money. This thing is overvalued. When
to short depends on how much Kool Aid you think
people will drink. I have an opinion on that. You
form your own.
\_ By when do you think you'll make money on GOOG
by shorting it, and how much Kool Aid do you think
GOOG buyers will drink?
\_ you didn't answer my question; what do you see as
fair value for Google? And why? -tom
\_ It doesn't even matter what the fair market
value is. All that matters is that 200M more
shares are going to hit the market. Any
activity before then is meaningless.
\_ you still didn't answer the question. If
Google's fair market value is $250, it won't
matter if more shares hit the market when it's
at $180. You seem to be focused on a series of
misconceptions and false assumptions. -tom
\_ Yes, it will matter! Today's price is
not reflective of the price then. If
you want to know what it will be worth
*then* that's a different question.
\_ why do you keep saying there is no reason to compare google
with yahoo? though there are differences, yahoo is probably
best benchmark for google.
the best benchmark for google.
\_ but google desktop is so ub3r!
\_ Not exactly a Google question, but which has more potential for
chicanery, a publicly-traded company or a privately held one?
Public companies can have a market bubble or pump-and-dump, but
I'd expect a private company would make it easier for an insider
(or group of them) to loot the company's assets.
\_ In theory it should be harder, but look at Enron. Even the
accountants and auditors were to blame. The entire Internet
bubble was based on insiders looting public companies.
\_ thanks for reminding me about google again. forgot about it
already. tricky stock to short, but it is looking more and
more delicious. I would consider shorting it after it drops
about 20% from a peak. The stock needs to go up further to
make my profit bigger. Fellow google short, what do you
think? |
| 2004/10/20-21 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:34250 Activity:nil |
10/20 Time to short GOOG? It reached 148.
\_ Are you actually asking for advice, or is this merely a pretense for
the possibility that GOOG does crash so you can gloat with a
"haha. told you so."
\_ maybe op just wants to tell fellow sodans a good money making
opportunity.
\_ My prediction: It will fall later, but shorting will be
expensive in the short run. -!op
\_ that's what I think too. |
| 2004/10/19 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:34218 Activity:moderate |
10/19 Hey gay, why are you lying to defend your ass and saying GOOG isn't
shortable? It is. Maybe you need a better broker. --gay
\_ it's at $151, bought in at $100 babay!!!
\_ nice! what is your exit strategy?
\_ just got out at $149.8 ..
\_ "With a whale like Ishikawa, he didn't see it as winning
$10,000, he saw it as losing $100,000, so he upped his bets."
\_ Yes, but would BUD DAY short GOOG?
\_ Be patient. Let it rise as much as possible. Kick it on the
way down, not now.
\_ Google's PE is over 200. That's simply insane. If they double
earnings it will bring them in line with Yahoo! at 90 which is
still insanely high. Or they could drop in half in price.
\_ PE is not a very useful metric with a company as young as
Google. -tom
\_ so what's a good metric? revenue growth? Is its
revenue growth that spectacular? I can find companies
with similar revenue growth but a much lower PE.
revenue growth that spectacular? yahoo's revenue
growth is equal if not better and it has a lower
PE.
\_ look, I don't have time to explain basic investing
principles, but I would suggest you project revenues and
earnings for Google 5 years out and see what kind of
valuation that leaves you with. You can't just look at
a column on http://finance.yahoo.com and expect that it's
comparable between two different companies, one of which
has been public for 8 years and has a significantly
different business model. -tom
\_ If it is so young how can we project 5 years out? You
say there isn't enough data to look at PE but then you
want to project that same data 5 years out and make
investment statements on that? Nutty.
\_ What's so superior about Google's business model?
5 years out? Google is not Walmart. 5 years mean lots
of time for various competitors to possibly supplant
google's advantages. I would rather buy stocks of a
companies I have higher confidence would have
higher prices 1 year out. Why would you want to risk
getting into a hole, hoping to climb out of it 5
years out, if ever? Still waiting for the
reason why the the high PE, PEG, PS is justified.
\_ I'm not saying Google's business model is superior,
I'm saying you can't compare them directly with
Yahoo. Or Amazon, for that matter, or either of
those with each other.
I didn't say anything about getting into a hole;
looking 5 years out is just one way to evaluate an
immature company. Certainly, if you don't know
how to evaluate immature companies, you shouldn't
be investing in Google. There's nothing wrong with
sticking to conservative investing; just don't talk
about PE ratios when you don't really know what
you're saying. -tom
\_ You want to project a single set of numbers 5
years into the future? Using what data points
to project the angle? You only have 1 data point.
\_ actually google is reasonably mature already,
and PE ratio is definitely one of the more
important factors to look at. I am not the
op who said the PE is insane. I am just
interested if you know some better metrics
that could be used for evaluating google.
so far, you haven't said anything.
\_ it doesn't matter. there are a lot of stupid people who
like google, and some people taking a free ride up.
don't fight the momentum.
\_ We said that in the late 90s too.
\_ trading on momentum is one way to make money. nothing
wrong with that. it's just not my cup of tea, and
just don't say it's based on fundamentals.
\_ Is it just me or is ~6 million/day really heavy volume this far in?
\_ Nothing is going to happen to GOOG before 2/14 when the lockups
expire.
\_ I thought the lock out already ended?
\_ There are several and the BIG one (>50% of shares) is
2/14. |
| 2004/10/12 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:34046 Activity:nil 50%like:34336 |
10/11 Hmm .... Google is looking more and more attractive
as a short. Go Google, go! |
| 2004/10/3-4 [Computer/Companies/Google, Industry/Startup] UID:33893 Activity:low |
10/4 I *told* you Google is soon to suffer massive brain drain and some
ninnies here called me an idiot. Read it and weep!
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041002/bs_nm/tech_google_dc_3
\_ He makes the point that $1 mil isn't enough to retire on in
Silicon Valley. What he misses is, if someone gave me a $1 mil
I'd move the heck out of Silicon Valley.
\_ That's exactly what I thought when I read the article. Of course
we will now bring down the wrath of the Angry Bay Areans by
mentioning the heresy of life outside the bay area.
\_ Wait, there is life outside of the Bay Area? I thought it
was some vast wasteland ...
\_ I'm still laughing at you. --googler
\_ Laugh away. You present no counter to this link or the logic
behind it that google is soon to experience a major brain drain.
If you're one of those who stands to make $1m from it, then I'm
happy for you. That still doesn't mean google isn't going to get
crunched in a few months when all these smart people do the smart
thing and retire someplace outside the bay area. With $1m and a
casual consulting or part time gig you can live *very* well in
most of the country.
\_ Still laughing. Sorry, I'm not breaking my confidentiality
agreements for you. --googler
\_ Mmm, the grapes are, how do you zey, sour?
\_ Uh oh, how dare I post a link with factual numbers to back my
point? Obviously, a fully backed point is just sour grapes. If
you have a counter point with or without link, you're welcome to
make it. Until then, you're just cute. |
| 2004/8/27 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:33183 Activity:nil |
8/27 Search engines build up their collection of URLs by following links
from one URL to another. If you have a page that shows up in
google, for instance, how do you tell what pages are linking to
that page?
\_ I think links:http://www.foo.com should do it.
\_ except google doesn't seem to offer page-level precision. |
| 2004/8/27 [Computer/SW/Languages, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:33181 Activity:high |
8/27 I wanna know how to cuss in different languages, is there a web site
dedicated for that? Google doesn't help. ok thx
\_ http://www.insultmonger.com/swearing -John
\_ your google fu sucks. fuck languages -> first link
\_ Dutch-- 5 cuss words
French-- too many
What a surprise.
\_ "Its like wiping your ass with silk!" [restored the last lin
e. come on. the merovingian's
\_ "Its like wiping your ass with silk!"
[restored the last line. come on. the merovingian's
accent was terrible]
\_ Agreed, but the actor is French.
\_ Likely they told him to exaggerate the accent.
\_ Will they deport him to Quebec?
\_ If we're lucky.
\_ Why did you have to remind me of that horriable movie?
Augh!
\_ The blue pill! |
| 2004/8/26-27 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:33154 Activity:high |
8/26 How big is your gmail folder? Mine's about 50 meg so far, still far
from 1 gig...
\_ I was up to 90% capacity, only because someone was sending me
an episode of Macross Zero.
\_ Since I don't put anything important on a beta platform....
\_ I will personally pay you $100 if Gmail loses your data.
-- misha.
\_ zero. My mail server has 250gigs free and I can do anything I
want with the mail, aliases, etc. What do I need gmail for?
\_ here, have a sandwich.
\_ a stale sandwich is more useful than gmail.
\_ two stale sandwiches? |
| 2004/8/24-25 [Computer/Networking, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:33122 Activity:high |
8/24 Is there any physical difference between USB 1.1 and 2.0? Google is
being unhelpful.
\_ The sockets are the same, but the cable needs to support 2.0 speeds.
"USB 1.1 certified" cables will work with 2.0 since that's how it's
spec'd, but not all cables are even 1.1 certified.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Q_21083579.html
USB hubs and devices are either 1.1 only, or 2.0 and backwards
compatible to 1.1.
\_ What, may I ask, makes the difference between 1.1 and 2? What
is the cause of the faster speed?
\_ From what I read, it's an increase in raw signalling rate,
with a drop in current to reduce noise, and of course
something else to indicate the speed. google usb nutshell.
\_ How would a drop in current reduce noise?
\_ You're reading it the wrong way. It reduces noise
for non-USB components.
\_ What!?? Please elaborate. |
| 2004/8/20-21 [Computer/SW/WWW/Browsers, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:33046 Activity:very high |
8/20 Anybody else troubled by Google's valuation and growth prospects? I
don't think their ad supported revenue model can grow much higher.
When I first started using google I clicked on those links. But after
a few times of not finding what I wanted I stopped clicking on ad
supported links. Same deal with Yahoo. I use yahoo finance everyday.
I've mentally tuned out of the ad banners. I barely see them anymore.
I think when one becomes used to the web site and becomes a power user
of the site, one only looks at the relevant information. The only way
an ad can get my attention is if it appears in the same page and
blocks the text I'm reading. Only using IE do I see those. Google
is the best search engine out there. But if people aren't clicking
on those ad links, they will lose advertisers.
\_ I block ads using the AdBlock Firefox plugin which works pretty
nicely to and often removes even the space where the ad would be.
Ha ha! fuck you, Internet! Google's ads don't bother me but then
I never click them either. Other people must though and re: the guy
below intentionally googling for ads, well I don't buy that much
stuff but it's a case where Google's ad model is the most useful
to me versus any other web site. If I bought more stuff that is.
\_ The quality of Google's searches has dropped dramatically in the
last year similar to what we saw circa 1999 or so. "Best search
engine out there" doesn't mean what it used to. Everything used
to be a front page hit with a few key terms. Now I can punch in
6 or more very specific terms, double quote phrases, etc, and not
find something until 10+ pages deep.
\_ I agree, and it makes me sad. What makes me even sadder is that
this is inherent to how google works. Google made an HTML link
valuable. The market does the rest. -- ilyas
\_ YOUR FU IZ WEAK, MINE 1Z STRONG!
\_ I buy really hard to find expensive stuff fairly frequently, and
I often use google specifically with the intention of clicking
on their targeted ads. I have no idea how much money that
makes google, but I definitely find it useful. It seems to me that
this kind of advertising is very useful for companies that sell
small numbers of really expensive stuff, like microfabrication
equipment.
\_ Part of the problem is that click-through remains the main standard
for evaluating the effectiveness of Internet advertising. With
other forms of visual ads, such as billboards, advertisers can
only assess the outcome of a campaign by its effect on sales.
They don't expect "click-through" because there is no such thing.
Internet advertising often works on the same subconcious level as
a billboard or a television commercial, so why should be it held
to this higher standard? This doesn't necessarily apply to paid
placement of text as it doesn't really penetrate subconciously
the way a strong image can - I guess I'm thinking more of banner
ads, which you refer to.
\_ It isn't a case of "should be". It is a case of "can be" so it
is. As an advertiser you would insist upon using an available
and valuable metric like click throughs.
\_ AdWords advertisers pay per click. The clickthrough
is not the most important metric to them.
\_ If it is measurable, it should be measured. As the paying
customer, the advertiser, why would you not want to see
the available metrics showing the effectiveness of your
ad on that site and pay by that?
\_ Except that the "value" of advertising, at least in the case
of mass market brands, is the subconsious impact of the
advertising image itself. Why do you think SuperBowl ads
are so expensive? Millions of eyes thinking they're ignoring
that Coca-Cola logo in front of them. Your point is more valid
in the case of niche markets.
advertising image itself. Why do you think SuperBowl ads are
so expensive? Millions of eyes thinking they're ignoring
that Coca-Cola logo in front of them. Your point is more
valid in the case of niche markets.
\_ If they could measure it, you know they would and there
would be contracted financial terms based in part on those
measurements. Since they don't have hard numbers, they
spend a lot of money on market research to determine how
effective an ad campaign was. They don't just spend
millions of dollars on an ad and hope for the best.
\_ Gmail + Google Search == The most powerful market research firm
ever. They intend to make money by predicting where you will go
next (past performance is a good indicator of future direction)
and selling that information.
\_ As if you knew. |
| 2004/8/16-19 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:32929 Activity:high |
8/19 So when can Google be shorted? Is that possible already? What
about options?
\_ As soon as it starts trading. You can't short or option it when
there's no price.
\_ I thought the SEC imposes a waiting period.
\_ Why do you think Google should be shorted? -tom
\_ Very high P/E ratio, uncertain prospects for growth, and a lot
of privately-held stock remaining to be sold. -!op
\_ They have been trying their best to diversify, but YHOO is a
veteran at this. At or below YHOO within 6 months. -!op
\_ In what way is GOOG above YHOO now? -tom
\_ share price, buzz, YHOO is time-tested
\_ which is completely meaningless. -tom
\_ to the knowledgable investor, which would be great
in a market driven by said investors.
\_ Here's some news for you: people who don't know
the difference between share price and market
cap are not the ones driving the market. -tom
\_ is this how it should be, how it is, or
somewhere in between?
\_ Ask BRKA. -tom
\_ don't ask an exception to the rule for
objective advice. In any case, opening
price is a big deal for IPOs. Otherwise
there wouldn't be so many articles
in major publications written about it.
Follow your own axiom 1. I even feel
stupid writing GOOG goes down because
it wants to match YHOO, but I can't
help but feel it will end up being true.
\_ You feel stupid because it's a stupid
thing to say. You want to bet on
GOOG vs. YHOO? -tom
\_ No, for personal reasons, I won't
bet in this specific instance.
(But I would still put money
on YHOO vs. GOOG. And while I
agree it *feels* like a "stupid
thing to say", I still say it
will probably end up being true.)
\_ Okay, okay, you got me. P/E between
YHOO and GOOG are similar. I thought
they were different. I am lame.
Revised, it doesn't make sense if
GOOG drops below YHOO in share price --
it could happen, but only if investors
are dumb *and* GOOD really messes it up.
\_ Google treats options as an
expense and books them as such.
Yahoo does not. Want to run your
numbers again, grasshopper?
\_ Hey, I have no credibility now,
stop bothering me. Go bother tom.
\_ Short YHOO, too. They are both
overvalued.
\_ according to what metrics?
\_ So forth and speculate.
\_ This doesn't answer your q, but GOOG peaked a couple hours ago ...
\_ A long slow peak at 104 and now settling around 100...
\_ I say $80 within a week! $30 within six months!
Rationale? GOOG wants to be at or below YHOO in price per shr.
GOOG owners want GOOG to go up from $100, of course.
\_ Care to put your money where your mouth is?
\_ So when can Google be shorted? Is it possible already?
\_ why don't you just try it? I personally lack the
mindset for shorting. All the shorts I picked
eventually turned out to be right (eg. shorted
PMCS at above 20), but I always gave up too early.
\_ You've got 30 (calendar) days to wait. Right now, I suspect that
that the extra 20% of stocks that were held back from the IPO are
going to slowly start flooding the market dropping the price. |
| 2004/8/12 [Computer/Companies/Ebay, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:32874 Activity:nil |
8/12 Oh great, google auction to begin on Friday the 13th, haha.
\_ not funny, I'm being forced to file tomorrow :P (summer filing
deadline) |
| 2004/8/5 [Computer/Companies/Google, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:32728 Activity:nil |
8/6 I am upset, my motd bitching is being archived forever like
google/gmail? This is fucked up. The motd should be purged
every now and then. Does kchang work for google? Is he into
archiving everything??
\_ You know motdedit records your id in a root read-only
file right?
\_ this is bullshit.
\_ Then why haven't we caught the evil purgers yet?
\_ If you care just fork motdedit and add your own privacy
safeguards.
\_ You know that the above person is shitting you right?
\_ Yes, but I do have my own version of motdedit in case
whoever owns /csua/bin/me decides to change it. Btw,
I do use the same merge routine so I'm not overwriting
your post or anything like that.
\_ You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and
will be used against you in a court of motd h0z3rs. (In other
words, your peers.) |
| 2004/8/2 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:32635 Activity:high |
8/2 Maybe old news but try this: google "miserable failure"
\_ I always found google's one-sided little political jokes funny.
-- google #1 fan
\_ google: earth, sun, orbit. it turns out the earth goes around the
sun.
\_ so old, it's fossilized by now
\_ A simillar one is "weapons of mass destruction"
\_ I still gets a big laugh out of this one, haha.
\_ I always wanted to see people make "pyramid scheme"
return with http://www.ssa.gov
\_ That is a great idea. I'm game, let's at least see how high we
can get it, spread the word.
\_ Do you even know what a pyramid scheme is???
\_ Yes. It's a pyramid scheme because current beneficiaries are
paid more than they put in because there's a larger group of
people paying in to the system right now. Future benefits
are in danger because there will not be enough people to
support the current benefit level unless the benefit is
reduced or new suckers have to pay in a higher level.
\_ perhaps you really ment 'ponzi scheme'
\_ No, I didn't.
\_ I always wanted "twink" to return tom's site
\_ I always wanted "tom holub" to return http://www.instantdegrees.com
\_ Are you so craven and pathetic that your only recourse againts
people you dislike consists of anonymous random ad hominem
attacks on the motd? You're sad.
\_ gee, you're really clever, kchang. -tom |
| 2004/7/26 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:32479 Activity:high |
7/25 To the person who said Google was giving them a 403, it seems the new
MyDoom virus is overworking google, causing an accidental DOS.
<DEAD>isc.sans.org/diary.php?isc=d46940064182f61f40ca333bc3c2f439<DEAD>
Google seems to be blocking some types of queries related to email
addresses, as well as some IP ranges.
\_ any connection between this thread that the thread below is
purely coincidental. move along. nothing to see here.
\_ Thanks. Using http://av.com for now. |
| 2004/6/22 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30951 Activity:very high |
6/22 Who the FUCK deleted my gmail question?
\_ It was probably a retaliatory nuke to irritate whatever cocksucker
has been censoring all the politics today.
\_ probably a yahoo employee
\_ Why take the effort to post this without recapping the q? --aaron
\_ 1) it was answered by many people, 2) enough with gmail. this
isn't the gmail chat forum or support site.
\_ The motd isn't many thing, but are all discussed here.
\_ When half the motd is about gmail, it's too much. This isn't
the gmail support center. They should go host their own
message boards or make an easier to find email link. |
| 2004/6/21-22 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30941 Activity:high |
6/21 Is this a joke? I tried "shanghai" in gmail, and I got
sanjeev.sisodiya is not available, but the following usernames are:
\_ i think it's a server hiccup. when i was checking for available
usernames, i got some strange ones returned like you did.
\_ same here
\_ Beta. Anyone who uses gmail for real email they don't want to
lose is an idiot.
\_ NO, YOU ARE THE IDIOT, FUCK OFF THE MOTD!!
\_ *laugh* Another trollish slashdot fiend drools on the motd.
\_ lol, you are an idiot!
\_ heh, better an idiot than an ass, ass.
\_ ha, but you the stupid arse. |
| 2004/6/21-23 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30927 Activity:very high 66%like:30889 |
6/23 Wheee! More free Gmail invites. Email me. -dgies
\_ This is such a great marketing scam. Whipping up the masses to
fight over access to be a beta tester and keeping Gmail endlessly
in the news. Of course this is the exact opposite of the right
way to get a variety of people to test a new product.
\_ They don't want beta testers. They're constructing a social
map (similar to orkut/friendster) of the techno-elite, probably
\_ wow. There goes the neighborhood:
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=3754490903895861645
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=9996167195013252263
just to get their fingers on the pulse of the net. It may be
that they'll never open the service to the masses; you have to
know someone already in there.
\_ The true 'techno elite' don't need or want a gmail account.
The people most psycho over it are all on slashdot. There
are some slashdot people who aren't idiots but overall it
isn't techno-elite time overe there.
\_ Gmail seems to work better than any other free email I've seen.
For whatever reason, for me it's fast, uncluttered, and the
search feature is good. Plus it has the most storage space.
So while there's a surplus of hype, it's a good email service.
It's an interesting extension of Google... if gmail becomes
huge, Google becomes basically "the internet", with all forms
of internet content going through them. Pretty neat, and a
huge adv. leverage. I've never ever clicked one of the ads tho.
\_ How does Google become "the internet" any more than Yahoo or
AOL? Yahoo provides the same services as Google and many
more that Google does not. When we get Google-Date that can
find people their perfect match in a few simply clicks then
you're talking.
\_ Well ok, it's mainly hype. My main point was that it is
indeed a better webmail service at this time.
http://somethingawful.com has a gmail article now that's worth a
chuckle.
\_ I got a gmail account, and all I got was this lousy message:
Gmail is temporarily unavailable. Cross your fingers and try again
in a few minutes. We're sorry for the inconvenience.
\_ They don't call it beta for nothing.
\_ I got this too initially, just wait a while for the account
creation to go through. Not a very good first impression though. ;)
\_ They're gone for now. Maybe more later. -dgies
\_ More! More! We want more!
\_ What the heck would I need a Gmail account for? Someone invited
me to orkut and WTF would I use that either? I did sign up for
it to see what it was, but never logged in since. I agree that
this is much ado about nothing.
\_ If it won't for gmail, you won't get that 100mb from Yahoo either,
so shut the fuck up and get it bitch!!
\_ It's the google hype machine in action. In a month or two this
will be Yet Another Free Email Service With Ads unless you're a
slashdot moron in which case you'll always feel superior knowing
you had a 3 or 4 digit Google ID.
\_ Gmail is quite different from your average free mail
with ads. It groups emails by conversation, and does not
clutter up your inbox. If you had 10 corresponds with this
one person, it will just show up as one entry in the inbox.
Click this entry and you will see all emails related to
this conversation. It's also light and fast. Very nifty. I
am no fan of their privacy policy however. But as a techie,
I like their interface very much.
\_ Hmm sounds like stuff I used to do with (n)mh+mh-e+gnus
back in 1994.
\_ Sure, word looks like edlin too.
\_ Why not keep your e-mail on your own PC? What good is
1 GB of free e-mail storage?!
\_ I got some too, thanks to dgies! I'll give away the next two
invites posted here!
\_ OK, they're gone for now. -dgies |
| 2004/6/18 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30889 Activity:insanely high 66%like:30927 |
6/18 Still need a Gmail invite? Email me. -dgies
\_ OK, they're gone for now. More should come later.
\_ you realize that you can make $40 a pop on eBay right?
\_ They're going for more like $5. And I'd feel like a jerk for
charging for what I got for free. -dgies
\_ If only hookers felt the same way....
\_ But I can't catch a virus by giving you gmail.
\_ but I can by getting it from you.
\_ USE LINUX!
\_ Next time you could give them to the troops:
http://www.wilwheaton.net/mt/archives/cat_computers.php |
| 2004/6/17-18 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30874 Activity:high |
6/17 Gmail has some pretty funky stuff going on. It appears to have
automatic duplication removal, and aggressive loop detection.
I sent a mail to my other account from gmail, which should
forward back to gmail, I never got the email. I sent a mail to
two of my email address that forwards to gmail, I only got one
copy. Interesting....
\_ Or maybe gmail is just broken? It's beta, eh?
\_ They might be filtering on SPF. Without an aware remailer, the
forwards might get dropped. --scotsman
\_ What's SPF? The forward works fine. It's only mail that I sent
from gmail to my forwarded email address gets dropped.
\_ "v=spf1 a:mproxy.gmail.com a:rproxy.gmail.com -all"
They're publishing SPF; chances are they're filtering on it too.
--dbushong |
| 2004/6/17 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30867 Activity:high |
6/17 So when will CSUA give us 1 or 2 GB of storage??!! ;)
\_ Don't be stupid.
\_ sarcasm-detector disabled?
\_ modprobe: Can't locate module sarcasm-detector
\_ more to the point, when is someone going to write gmailFS?
\_ Agreed. This could be the next great p2p system.
\_ When the CSUA gets a 4TB disk array.
\_ http://gmail-is-too-creepy.com |
| 2004/6/17 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30865 Activity:very high |
6/17 Anyone here still want a gmail account who hasn't gotten one
yet?
\_ Fuck gmail, I want pre-IPO stock.
\_ I'll wait until it goes public. thanks.
\_ yes
\_ i have some spare invitations. post your email address
if you want one
\_ can I get one? -chiry
\_ I want one too! -ecchang
\_ Me, too! -jose
\_ sorry, no mas... though I'll be happy to send you one
if I get more invites tomorrow (been getting ~4/day)
\_ Hey, add me to the list. -emarkp
\_ I'd love to have one. -darin
\_ So should I mail the invite to anonymous@csua ?
\_ "Gmail is temporarily unavailable. Cross your fingers and
try again in a few minutes. We're sorry for the inconvenience."
\_ Mine works fine. --person with account
\_ Really? I just tried again and got the same thing. --newacct
\_ Now working. I get "You don't have any mail! Our servers
are feeling unloved." I am beginning to like it already! |
| 2004/6/12 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30768 Activity:nil |
6/11 Think again before you buy a google stock:
http://tinyurl.com/264rk (money.cnn.com) |
| 2004/6/10 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30725 Activity:very high |
6/10 As time goes on I get more and more invitation tickets on http://gmail.com and I'm beginning to understand what they're doing. Their entire mail system is going to be based on referrals in order to keep track of user dependency graph and spammers, and if one guy invites too many spammers that guy will be taken off. Simple, yet brilliant. \_ so basically all the folks ebaying their invites may get screwed. \_ Why would spammers send spam through gmail? They have plenty of open relays at their disposal. \_ Damn you are a paranoid freak. |
| 2004/6/4 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30609 Activity:nil |
6/4 pr0n more popular than google:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/06/04/technology/porn_search.reut/index.htm |
| 2004/5/20 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30317 Activity:nil |
5/20 GMail users: Did anyone get a TB of storage?
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=5195988
\_ It was a bug. It's in beta. |
| 2004/5/5 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30028 Activity:high |
5/5 If google ends up going public, could shareholders or others
complain how they make special "google doodles" (the cartoons
on their google logo in honor of special events/holidays)
for some holidays but not others?
\_ The IPO is being structures so that new shareholders have almost no
voting power.
\_ You could complain about anything you want, and I'm sure it will
get exactly the consideration it deserves. |
| 2004/5/5-6 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:30025 Activity:very high |
5/5 Can anyone who works at google send gmail invites to as many people
as they want? or is it limited to only certain employees who are
involved with gmail?
\_ As I understand it, all Google employees get 50 invites. Everyone
they invite gets 2 invites. Everyone *those* people invite get no
invites except through random luckiness.
\_ that's already at least 1TB of data. how much does storage
cost these days?
\_ compression?
\_ 1TB is not considered a lot of data at google. --aaron
\_ 1tb is not a lot of data. Period.
\_ how many TB's do they have, in anticipation of many
more gmail users?
\_ google admits to "10,000+" machines. make a (poor)
assumption of a single 80GB disk. 800,000GB = 800TB.
\_ no, mass storage doesn't work like this. they'll
be buying mass storage in 100tb chunks in raid
arrays if they're serious. the alternative is they
came up with their own funky storage technique but
it isn't about zero likely to be an 80 gig drive
per box they own for gmail.
\_ Actually that's exactly what it is:
link:csua.org/u/776
They probably put several disks in each box.
Given the time this was implemented, it's
probably 40 gig drives, but hey. -dans
\_ Different service, different needs. It would
be silly to do this for a multi tb mail
service. Got anything that says they do this
for gmail?
\_ If you read your own link you'd see exactly
what went in the boxes. If you did the math
from the link you'd see it doesn't add up
(as usual) to what they claim in the same
article. If you looked at their storage and
performance numbers and compared their costs
to a pure storage solution instead of their
one-size-fits-all "use lots of low end boxes"
model, you'd see that they're actually
getting worse performance and paying more per
tb than a more traditional solution. GFS,
indeed. This is the one big problem with
geeks running the show. They did a very cool
filesystem but it doesn't cut it on the cost/
benefits as a business solution. Too many
techie PhDs scratching itches and no one
doing the basic $$$ math to see if it made
any sense in the real world.
\_ I got invited by a Google employee and got no extra invites.
\_ same here. actually, I take that back, I just checked
and saw that i have two invitations.
\_ Gmail doesn't work with cable modem.
\_ wrong
\_ Where are they? I would like to
<strikeout>sell</strikeout> send out two invites.
\_ It's in red below the search filter and says:
Invite a friend to join Gmail! |
| 2004/4/30-5/1 [Computer/Companies/Google, Recreation/Dating] UID:13496 Activity:kinda low |
4/30 How does the SafeSearch feature in http://images.google.com's filter out porn images? Does it have software to detect the amount of skintone colors in the images? \_ Search for "La Blue Girl" in quotes or "urabon." Apparently, it's some sort of language-based filter. \_ http://ipatterson.com/projects/images/blue-girl.jpg \_ that's actually a pretty nice photograph, too bad it looks like it was taken during a football game we were losing \_ there was a recent article i read on how google is getting a lot of flak for the pretty shitty quality of safesearch. apparently, it gets confused by substrings like sex or girl, so sites with stuff like "essex" or "littlegirlclothing" get censored. \_ I love how people love to nitpick at Google. If they have such problems why don't they write their own search engine or just not use Google? \_ actually, this was in the context of legitimate sites getting censored. as you may be aware, for many sites, google visibility can be a make-or-break factor. |
| 2004/4/30-5/1 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:13484 Activity:high |
4/29 Has anyone got notice about gmail? I signed up for information
as soon as I heard the news on the radio but haven't gotten
anything from them.
\_ It's still invitation only. The only people who have accounts right
now are Google employees, their friends, then each of them were
just allowed to invite 2 more people.
\_ Well, the beta service has been an invite-only thing. It helps
if you know someone at Google.
\_ Gmail is just pre-IPO PR noise. Until you can get an account
without silly invites and it is officially out of beta, it does not
exist as anything more than pre-IPO fluff and hype. |
| 2004/4/29 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:13465 Activity:moderate |
4/29 I just got invited to gmail, and FUCK all the names are taken already!
Anyways, has anyone tried the archive feature yet? I don't have enough
mails to say whether it's good or not.
\_ How do you get invited to gmail? what do i need to do to qualify?
\_ That 6 character minimum for a login bites.
\_ Try analsex, buttboi, oralsex. When I got my account, those were
all still available.
\_ they 'reserved' anything with profanity in it, i haven't
tried other languages, i couldn't get 'whitepower' - danh
\_ Is uttbay_iratepay still available?
\_ is linus.torvalds taken? Get that and post to linux.kernel.
\_ you're so clever! |
| 2004/4/29 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:13461 Activity:nil |
4/29 Google files for IPO.
\_ Yeah thanks for the hot tip. Is the sky blue too? |
| 2004/4/27 [Computer/Companies/Google, Industry/Startup] UID:13399 Activity:nil |
4/27 There are all kinds of rumours about Google doing an IPO this
week. My question, how does a little guy like me get a piece of
the action, and is it worth it?
\_ As a general rule, if little guys are getting a piece of the
action, it's not worth it. -tom
\_ If you know so little about how IPOs work such as silent periods,
announcements, etc, then you have no business throwing your money
away in the market. Go buy some lottery tickets.
\_ Girls of Google! (though if you are truly a little guy this may
not be a viable strategy) |
| 2004/4/12-13 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:13157 Activity:nil |
4/12 I don't get the logic of those suing google about Gmail. It's an
invasion of privacy? But it's a choice. For a free 1 Gig email
account, what do I care if some automated non-human searches my
mail and spits me out an advertisement. And if I don't like it, I
don't need to use Gmail. I just don't see the logic of the lawsuit.
\_ What lawsuit? I have heard nothing about this.
\_ kinney!!1!1
\_ Quit crucifying him already.
\_ The Passion of The Kinney. |
| 2004/4/8 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:13082 Activity:high |
4/8 How/where do I get google mail?
\_ Now: From your friend who works at google.
Later: http://gmail.com
\_ http://www.google.com/search?q=gmail |
| 2004/4/6-7 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/Theory] UID:13045 Activity:nil |
4/6 Looking for introductory material on SVM, C4., Ripper, and Naive
Bayes. Most of the junk on google are too deep for comprehension.
I just need introductory material. ok thx
\_ http://paulgraham.com / google "A Plan For Spam"
\_ where did you hear about all of these terms? did you learn about
them with regards to spam filtering? naive bayes is a specific
text classification strategy. SVM and C4 are generic classifiers.
\_ which one is most powerful?
\_ dude, you're asking a hardcore computer science theory question.
Most of the people here are sysadms (they don't even know how to
do FFT in their sleep). Wrong place.
\_ Naive Bayes is hardcore if you call counting hardcore. SVM
stuff isn't really CS, although AI people use it (they are big
on separating things with planes). Also, the poster above is
wrong, Naive Bayes is also a general classifier.
An interesting thing about classifiers is that
you don't want the one that's 'most powerful' because it will
overfit. You want one that's barely smart enough to work.
Statisticians call this 'bias/variance tradeoff'. -- ilyas
\_ I'm a sysadmin. I graduated with a ~3.5 in CS. I sysadmin
because the options are 1) coding which I hate and it's all
going to India anyway, 2) I don't want a MS/PhD because I like
to eat and pay my bills, 3) I work for about 1.5 hours a day and
get paid more than almost every coder I've ever met. Instead of
being bitter that you work harder for less while always having
to worry about when your job is going offshore, you should learn
some industry best practices and get paid to surf like me. What
good is FFT in your sleep if in your waking hours you're looking
for a non-existent job in your field? None of this applies to
the PhDs and most MS people who can always teach if they must.
\_ FFT?
\_ Final Fantasy Tactics!
\_ Fast-fourier transform.
\_ this is very sad. |
| 2004/4/2 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:29898 Activity:high |
4/1 Any bets on whether gmail is real or a hoax? Last I heard, gullible
returns 0 results in google.
\_ I'd say it is real. it was announced yesterday.
'whois http://gmail.com' and link:gmail.google.com
\_ updated today: link:www.gmail.com with link to "Learn more"
\_ wonder what they're doing iwth the people who had @gmail.com addy
before. google for "gmail.+com"
\_ free @gmail.com accounts?
\_ Real. Confirmed with Google employee working on it. |
| 2004/3/31-4/1 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:12959 Activity:nil |
3/31 Google to offer free email with a gigabyte(!!!) quota
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/8323739.htm
\_ They're trying to become another yahoo? That seems a little
dangerous. Though, approaching the portal market from the
basis of a good search engine may work quite well.. hmm...
\_ Seems like a great way to trade warez...
\_ huh?
\_ It's step toward allowing for personalized searches.
\_ ah, another mad rush for usernames.
\_ they may analyze your email.
\_ "Smithers ... do you think the radiation from my plant killed
those ducks?"
"There is ... no maybe about it, sir."
"Excellent!"
\_ Eeeeeevil Republican corporations making money again!!
How dare they!!
\_ Except I think Google is pretty liberal and Democrat, as
corporations go. Don't they offer domestic partner benefits?
\_ http://www.google.com/jobs/sw-bangalore.html
\_ http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_558848,00030015.htm -John
\_ They conquered searching, now on to doing something else right. |
| 2004/3/24 [Academia/Berkeley/Classes, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:12832 Activity:nil |
3/24 I have an interview at google soon for some sort of sysadmin
position. The HR person said google has "the google way" of
interviewing. What does that mean? Are there any google people
here or people who have interviewed there recently on the motd? What
should I expect? I'm scheduled for about 4.5 hours including lunch
with a manager. Thanks!
\_ The have a set of problems they want you to solve and will split
them amongst the sets of people who will interview you. They then
hand off the checklist from group to group. Some of the questions
are very random "thinking process" type questions and some are
actually applicable to the IT slot you are interviewing for.
\_ think of random names that you can drop to show your knowledge.
you'll probably have at least one stanfurd or cal grad... so you can
make an acute reference to P&H and how that relates to sysadminning.
this sounds like an asshole maneuver, but the purpose is to bond
with the interviewer and make them nostalgic of the good ol college
days. also, it's always good to touch up on random puzzle questions.
-!google employee
\_ Dropping BS in an interview is a great way to get a job you don't
want. Be yourself, think of some good questions and don't take
any crap. Remember, you need to decide if *you* want to work
there, just as they need to decide if they want you to work
there.
\_ What is "P&H"?
\_ Patterson & Hennessy I'd guess. Textbook for cs61c.
\_ If you need to reference a lower division text to
impress someone on an interview, don't. Your interviewer
will not be impressed.
\_ They use that book in CS 152 and there is also a
graduate version of the book too. You can reference
Sussman&Sussman if you think you're elite.
\_ Do they use Patterson & Hennessy in CS152 also?
How weak. I thought they used to teach H&P in
that class.
\_ Just avoid referencing text books in general.
Text books are not impressive.
\_ I can never keep P&H and H&P straight.
\_ Um, what the fuck does P&H have to do with system administration?
\_ If I say fuck, I mean fuck. Please don't censor
it ``for the children.''
- worked as a sysadmin, TA'ed with Patterson, and guest
lectured for 61C
\_ doesn't p&h cover the basics of "what is a processor",
"what is a disk", "what is io", "what is memory", etc.?
probably useful for your advanced sysadmin.
\_ Sounds more like a requirement to call yourself an
advanced sysadmin.
\_ Expect them to ask you for your GPA and SAT scores. No joke.
\_ They never asked me this. -- ilyas
\_ IIRC they didn't offer you a job either. Perhaps they didn't
feel the need.
\_ Perhaps. I would be surprised if they asked this of
anyone, they seemed more clue-enabled than that. Also
I know some google employees, and their GPAs...
-- ilyas |
| 2004/3/9-10 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:12589 Activity:nil |
3/8 How do I make google search my new domain name?
\_ google is dead.
\_ long live google.
\_ http://www.google.com/addurl.html
\_ google does not search domain names. it searches websites.
put a website on your domain and point some links to it.
The Web != The Internet. |
| 2004/2/2 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:12069 Activity:high |
2/2 My google fu is weak. Can anyone provide a link to the story of the
high school boy and girl who were assigned to write a collaberative
story and the boy keeps trying to make it a rayguns and rocketship
story and the girl keeps trying to make it a love story? It wasn't
amusing enough to save it when i first was sent it but now I want to
show it to someone. Surely someone out there still has this. (Hell,
I'm sure someone, somewhere is getting it in their email even now).
\_ http://www.hehe.at/funworld/archive/fun4you.php?joke=1994
\_ tnx motd!
\_ Bow down to your Google Masters!
\_ I blame Google's 10 word limit for me not finding
the story. Well, that and the fact that i was
searching for "collaberative" instead of "tandem" :( |
| 2004/1/2-5 [Consumer/Camera, Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/Theory] UID:11648 Activity:nil |
1/2 Computer science question for you PHDs out there. What would be
the feasibility of a program that, given a set of images that form
a mosaic, produce the "most correct" composite image, based upon some
definition of correctness that could be supplied in advance (color
compatibility, smoothness of lines, etc)? For instance, such a
mosaic could be a 360 series of photos that form a panoramic
photograph. Such a program wouldn't necessarily need to be perfect,
and any of amount of "hints" could be given to the program as well
as the input images. This might already exist, or it might be solving
the halting problem - I don't know. I'm asking the question for a
materials science post-doc friend of mine that is working with
crystal lattice images. --lye
\_ Does the camera rotate as it takes pictures? Is there overlap
between individual images? At its most general, this problem
involves object recognition and so is vision-hard.
There are some papers on this problem, google for obvious things
to find them.
\_ such programs exist. if the camera undergoes pure rotation
and no translation about the optical center, the problem is
very easy to solve (assuming overlap between the views). other-
wise it's harder and you have to rely on some kind of
approximation because you need to know the 3D geometry of the
scene. other things that help: if you know the exact motion of
the camera, the problem is easy again. -ali
\_ There is a ton of literature on this kind of problem, which is
known as "registration." A standard approach is to define some
kind of error function (distance between edges, or distance
between overlapping pixels in color space, etc) and try to minimize
it over the space of transformations. An algorithm that works well
for a lot of problems of this type in the pairwise case is called
"iterative closest point," due to Besl and McKay. If you don't
know an approximate solution to start with, it is a lot
more difficult. -lewis
\_ homeslide, iterative closest point requires you to know
the 3D geometry of the scene to perform registration.
altneratively, you need some kind of parametric transformation
model for your images. |
| 2003/8/21 [Computer/SW/Database, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:29423 Activity:moderate |
8/20 Google calculator
http://www.google.com/help/features.html#calculator
\_ I dont really get the point of this feature... what does this
have to do with web searching? seems pointless to me
\_ Just because it has nothing to do with searching doesn't mean
it's not cool.
\_ Very cool!!!
\_ Haven't any of you guys used /usr/bin/units? Sheesh. |
| 2003/8/9-10 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:29287 Activity:moderate |
8/10 Dear google employees (and anyone else who may be in the know).
Does google penalize for having a bunch of sites on the same I.P.
Address? My google ranking just dropped through the floor and
the only change has been that A bunch of sites that i'm hosting
just got included in google that are all on my same I.P. I suspect
it must, since they all link to me so I would have expected their
inclusion to help, not hurt.
\_ Why do you care so much about your google ranking?
\_ i'm a business.
\_ What kind of business?
\_ there's only 2 kinds of small businesses on the net:
porn and spam.
\_ you're an idiot who needs to get out more.
\_ and candy. Buy more candy! -brain
\_ is that the stripper running for CA governor?
\_ shes not a stripper.. she an "actress" |
| 2003/8/7-8 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:29273 Activity:high |
8/7 Can someone tell me if the following attack will help bring down
google? It makes money primarily by selling sponsored links. Web site
operators pay something like 25 cents each time a person searches
for something and clicks on the sponsored link leading to his page.
He has to pay regardless whether the person makes a purchase or
moves on without even reading the page. So... build a program that
searches for all sorts of keywords and clicks through all the
sponsored links. Do this automatically 24x7. The businesses paying
for the sponsored links will see traffic go up but not their sales
or even "viewing time" because it's all automated. They'll eventually
reach a point where paying for the sponsored links is not bringing in
new business. So they stop advertising on google. If enough people
pull out, google's revenue will dry up.
\_ There is no way to quickly kill google. However, as useful as I
find google, I fear it will die a death of a thousand cuts, if for
no other reason than because they made an html link worth money.
This alone will mean that they are pitting themselves against
the intellects of every greedy hoser out on the internet, and that's
a battle they cannot win. I already found lots of kinds of queries
degrade in quality significantly over the last year, because people
are starting to find ways to hose google successfully.
-- sad google user
\_ Why does their pay-per-click marketing mean that every hoser
on the internet will want to battle with them? Google can
charge for the links because they have a lot of traffic flowing
to their site. Not every hoser has that advantage.
\_ You don't understand. Because google is useful, and because
their algorithm is based on links, links acquire value. As
soon as something like that acquires value, hosers will find
a way to generate this value for themselves, to the detriment
of the community at large. There is no way out for google,
because the problem is essential to what they do.
-- sad google user
\_ Once google's relevance is ruined by people who are
gaming the system, someone with a new algorithm will
step in to fill the void. That's how google gained
momentum in the first place -- they used a different
algorithm that worked better than the existing ones.
\_ Again, there is no way out, because the problem is
fundamental to searching the internet.
-- sad google user
\_ The tragedy of the commons does not have a technical
solution.
\_ it's called a cobalt-60 bomb
\_ I love when you talk about the tragedy of the
commons. It turns me on when you get concerned
about the farmers in great britain and how they
use their land. Do it some more!
\_ is there some search engine you prefer, or do you just want to
make the internet less useful?
\_ By saying "help bring down", I assume you DO want to bring down
Google. Why?
\_ yah, why? but, i bet a sustained long term attack would be
difficult to sustain from many ips, and even so, the result
would probably be a change in their ad pricing structure.
\_ His website probably isn't the first link in a search.
\_ Some people are just haters and can't stand to see anyone
else succeed.
\_ Google would just block out the ips you used. What you can do
is this: some keywords (like the keywords spammers bid on) are
very expensive, on the order of $5 per click. Search for
"email marketing" and click on all of the links.
\_ Do you think you're the first person to run scripts against google?
They get something like 140 million queries/day the last I read.
You're going to ruin them by pounding them from 4 or 5 ips? I don't
think so. You'll find yourself on an ACL and they and their
customers will sort it out in a quick email, end of story. |
| 2003/8/2-3 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:29219 Activity:moderate |
8/2 Google groups so bugy. 9 links after a search and only 7 have stuff.
They can't even reproduce this:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&scoring=
d&q=spot+salmon+%22santa+cruz%22&btnG=Google+Search
\_ True, google sucks. How much have you paid them in the last 4-5
years they've been around? |
| 2003/6/24 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:28819 Activity:very high |
6/23 What's a good strategy of landing an interview with Google?
\_ Graduate from Stanford with a PhD in CS
\_ My friend got an interview(and a job) with them through Taos few
months ago.
\_ Ask aaron@csua to recommend you.
\_ They highly value a Berkeley CS degree too. It helps if you
have worked in other search companies.
\_ tried many times and didn't get anywhere :o
\_ ACM programming contest participation helps.
\_ They got my resume from the net, called me, we did phone screen,
I talked to idiot child for 20 minutes, told their HR thanks but
no thanks if that was one of their superstars. They're also very
cultish. Best of luck getting their attention when they're getting
1000+ resumes a day. Anyway, I'm not sure why you'd want to work
there anyway. Their long term prospects are minimal in a business
sense and there won't ever be an IPO.
\_ yeah NO ONE uses google.
\_ hey genius, this isn't 1998. You're not paying google a penny
for your thousands of free searches. There isn't even a lame
ad banner there. The http://www.google.com page is a loss leader.
Their business model is not making nearly as much money as
their competitors. You're an idiot.
\_ Are you being deliberately obtuse, or can't you see the
ads presented on the results page?
\_ You think they can support their gigantic cluster and
bandwidth on those? You and me, we're going into
business together if you can sell ads like that at
prices high enough to run a business.
\_ How do you think google makes money? Do you think
they are lying when they say that they are profitable?
Targeted searches are worth a lot more than you think.
\_ Do I think they're lying? Until they go public
and I review their financials I can't know and
even then they still might be.
\_ To summarize google: it will be the next inktomi! Remember how
hot it was? Ask the former inktomi people here. Enjoy the spot
light while it lasts. Because it won't. Yahoo, on the other hand,
will always be there.
\_ google is most definitely not the next inktomi. They have
a decent product that's well packaged, well known (The verb, to
google), has been able to capitalize on marketing revenue without
pissing off a picky user base, and continues to generate interest
with new angles. Google made the web usable. It has critical
mass. To discount it is folly.
\_ Nice PR, no money in being google.
\_ inktomi was never hot, except in the minds of Berkeley geeks.
\_ Concur. I hadn't evenheard of inktomi until I got here, much
less used it. I've been using google every day for geek stuff,
academic research, professional research and just plain look
ups. I've tried all the other engines I've been told about and
nothing else comes close.
\_ And how much *money* have you paid google for all that
research and web searching? --not 1998
\_ I haven't paid any money to a lot of websites, but they
seem to be thriving
\_ Seemed that way in 98 too.
\_ Hello, do you have ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX/WB or any
proramming over the air anything for watching?
Not getting any money from you doesn't mean the
company won't be successful. - not a google employee
\_ Duh, maybe you didn't notice that almost 1/4th of
air time is commercials? Google has a big name, but
they're a tiny company next to their quieter, bigger
and more money making rivals. Hey, whatever, go to
google for a job, that just makes it one less person
I need to compete with for jobs at real companies. |
| 2003/4/3-4 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:27967 Activity:high |
4/3 M$ vs. Google:
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030402/tech_microsoft_google_1.html
\_ good luck, M$.
\_ good luck google! --google#1 fan, scared of u$oft.
\_ scared? get over it. MS is a company. whatever.
\_ and the mafia is just a bunch of guys with
strong Sicilian accents wearing suits.
\_ seriously, get over it.
\_ Never underestimate the power of great gobs of money
\_ Classic Vaporware! |
| 2003/3/17 [Computer/Companies/Google, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:27721 Activity:high |
3/16 Is there a reason why:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=countersteer+vs+leaning
comes up with motd as the FIRST LINK???
\_ Maybe because the search terms are unusual and don't often appear
together? You know, sort of artifically inflating the relevance?
\_ http://www.ntk.net search for 'puerile googlisms'. Google comes
up with strange shit sometimes. Plus, we should all know by now
that the MOTD is the ultimate authoritative source of Truth. -John
\_ amen, father
\_ it's aaron's new Infinite Loop RTFM project; you ask on the MOTD
and you get directed to Google, you ask on Google and get directed
to the MOTD. Brilliant! -tom
\_ How to countersteer vs lean on ride biking? |
| 2003/2/12-7/5 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:27374 Activity:insanely high |
2/11 My company is trying to boost our position in search engine
results. Besides working more keywords into the text of the
page, what can we do?
\_ Just properly index your page, let google do the rest.
For certain search engine (altavista), you can buy keywords,
so, just shout out the cash.
\_ Are you the same moron who asked a similar question a while ago?
Besides the thing you mentioned, you can shoot yourself and your
coworkers for being slime.
\_ Not the same poster. What's wrong with trying to show up
higher in search engine results? Our content is relevant
to the searches where we want to show up.
\_ If you are relevant, trust google to show you appropriately.
Google tries to be fair, we _know_ you aren't, since you are
interested only in your site.
\_ Google isn't always right. I wouldn't trust google or
the crazy cultish fuckers who would there to do anything
"fair". They tweak results until what comes back is what
the cultists think should come back. They aren't experts
in every subject matter nor have they read every page on
the web. Google also doesn't index the entire web. You
need to put down the google bible and stop trusting the
google cult. Anyway, it may not matter in a year or two
since google is running out of steam. All that hardware
is going to sell for 5 cents on the dollar.
\_ when did the massage lady at Inktomi get a
csua account?
\_ wow, that's some strong anti-google sentiment. They
are one of the few "brand names" in the valley that is
hiring right now so I think maybe they have some more
tricks up their sleeve. |
| 2003/1/29 [Computer/Companies/Google, Industry/Jobs] UID:27232 Activity:very high |
1/28 Anybody get an unsolicited "I just found your resume"-type job
opening email from Google lately? I just got something that
seems plausible but can't tell if its just some spammer's
attempt to get my email address.
\_ don't trust it. google doesn't hire. everyone there is a volunteer.
\_ May well be, but then again, I finally got a job when a
recruiter mailed me up out of the blue. Still don't know how
she found my resume, don't care either.
\_ everyone who ever had your resume has resold it dozens of times.
\_ Hope no one paid much for it. It's free on my web site.
In any event, I'm not complaining about a 6 fig job.
\_ probably not an email spammer, but maybe a headhunteror or a wierdo.
\_ There is a message envelope, right? Doesn't that sufficiently show
that it came from Google? Google is hiring. -mgoodman
\_ Maybe... maybe not:
http://csua.org/u/893 (fucked company)
\_ This is an incoherent rant, even by fc standards.
\_ fc has no standards.
\_ Will you submit my resume for me?
\_ You can reply to these things if you want but it won't matter.
These are 99.999% likely to be some sort of bottom feeder recruiter
types but replying will *not* get you a job and may in fact ruin
your chances if they fax blast you to 5000+ potential employers.
I no longer reply to these people as I've never gotten so much as
an email reply back.
\_ i don't think you have enough statistics to state that number to
five digits.
\_ You are mistaken. We adhere strictly to 5 Nines quality
standards.
\_ having dealt with millions of these cretins, I believe I do
have five9s quality data to backup that statement's
statistical validity. Even if I'm only four9s correct, it
still won't get you a job and might ruin your chances of
doing so. Just delete. Do not reply to these things. |
| 2003/1/21 [Computer/SW/WWW/Browsers, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:27171 Activity:high |
1/21 http://csua.org/u/82c \_ What is this? Work safe? \_ it's text, use lynx \_ It's a story about freakishly large breasts. \_ She should be banned from direct breastfeeding due to suffocation hazard to her baby. Why didn't she even accept bottle-feeding with her own milk despite such a hazard? Maybe there's some sexual desire she needs fulfilled. \_ I think she just wants to get some actual use out of those things. |
| 2002/12/15-17 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/Security] UID:26819 Activity:moderate |
12/13 I was reading somewhere something that implied that google's popularity
algorithm could tell if the link to your site in someone's page was
"hidden." Can someone here confirm: if I have a link to may page on
another page that is either a.) The same color text as background or
b.) a "spacer" image that is a link. Will Google discount that link?
\_ No one knows how google really works. A form of security through
obscurity to protect their pagerank thing.
12/now Hey do ya think we could get the motd any shorter and more boring?
Let's see: 1) a link to chapter 1 of an old book, 2) trivial dns
lookup issue, 3) emacs question with joke answer. Why bother even
having a writable motd if it's going to be stripped of *everything*
worth reading? There's no technical questions/answers, no cool
stuff about, well... *anything*! And it's always worse on the
weekend when there's fewer bored people at work to add new things.
[*laugh* and then the same idiot deletes this whole thing]
\_ If you're so strapped for amusement that you rely on the motd,
I weep for you.
\_ weep away, just stop erasing everything. just because im pathetic
doesn't mean im not right about others stripping the motd.
\_ who knows? what makes these fucking censors tick? why do they
want the motd to become pointless? mysteries we may never know.
\_ Instead of trying to beat the system, why don't you just try to
make your page better and more relevant? How hard do you really
think it is to detect that technique? Can you guess how many
people we have who work on quality full-time to prevent this kind
of thing? --aaron@google
\_ because, 1.) I am starting a new service which competes with
long-existing services, Since I am funding this all myself,
I can not affort to pay SEO's to place "legitimate" links on
their already ranked web sites. 2.) Part of the service i am
offering to clients is that there page will not link back to
my page which in turn links to a bunch of their competitors.
This basically hozes me, since my competition creates sites
that then link back to themselves, racking up points, but i
am not going to be able to do this. Because of this, my site
could very easily be much better and "more relevant" and still
not have as high a score as my competition. -cuek_saja@yahoo.com
\_ If your site is good, people will come, regardless of what
you do. If your site is bad, people will not come,
regardless of what you do. If you are starting to ask these
sorts of questions now you have already lost.
\_ BS. If they can't find the site, they'll never know
whether it's good or not.
\_ Consider: http://www.google.com didn't have to circumvent
google. People found it because it was good. Be
good, don't be evil.
\_ As for your second question, i think the color trick would
be easy to dectect but the image trick would be hard. |
| 2002/11/9 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:26484 Activity:high 50%like:26311 |
11/8 Google toolbar now does distributed computing. Whoo!
\_ I want to give free computing power to google because...?
\_ because you want to. and if you don't, don't press the button.
last i checked, it was still opt-in, not opt-out.
\_ cute, you rebellious POS.
\_ Whatever. The question remains unanswered.
\_ this is old. you got randomly chosen. |
| 2002/11/7 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:26450 Activity:nil |
11/6 http://65.165.2.251/signs/previews/110618512133.jpg \_ http://csua.org/u/4ef \_ yeah, he killed 20 million Jews just like Hitler did. stupid revisionist beatnik \_ http://csua.org/u/4f0 \_ yeah, he did so poorly at Harvard that Al Gore did better again, stupid revisionist beatnik |
| 2002/10/27-28 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:26333 Activity:low |
10/25 THe answer to how to get the google DNA button:
http://toolbar.google.com/dc/#trouble3
\_ Who asked? |
| 2002/10/25-28 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:26318 Activity:low |
10/24 Anyone know how to disable color in vim? I hate it. A search of
the manpage and some of google returns on "vim turn off color"
turned up no outstandingly good solutions. --PeterM
\_ setenv TERM vt100
\_ use a termcap entry that doesn't include color. -tom
\_ Use nvi instead.
\_ This is really the right answer. vim fucking sucks. --scotsman
\_ :syntax off helps, but tom's solution is the only 100% one. --dim
\- ObUseEmacsVIM-mode
\_ ED! |
| 2002/10/24-26 [Transportation/Car, Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/OS] UID:26311 Activity:high 50%like:26484 |
10/24 how can i upgrade my google toolbar?
\_ Uninstall and reinstall?
\_ you don't have to do anything. it auto-upgrades. --aaron@google.com
\_ What do you do at google? It doesn't seem like google's changed
much from when it started. And how is it pulling in enough
revenue to stay alive?
\_ He handles searches for H07 42N CH1X0R2
\_ what's that some kind of code?
\_ you're joking right? usenet, catalogs, news, realtime
crawling... besides main search quality gains. --aaron
\_ Don't get me wrong. Google's great but where the hell
is it getting its money?
\_ you mean you never noticed those "sponsored links"
at the top and sides of your search?
\_ licensing their search engine?
\_ My toolbar at home now does computation in the background, but
my work toolbar didn't autoupgrade. i tried installing a new
version, but it said it was already installed.
\_ Unfortunately, Google does not make it obvious that the toolbar
auto-updates itself. IMO, part of the problem is that Google
doesn't list the current version number anywhere on the web
site. I really have no idea if I'm using the latest version
or not unless I try to re-install it. --jameslin
\_ i don't think you are making sense here. you don't need to
reinstall it. it auto-upgrades. so why do you care about
your version number? are you a control freak? --aaron
\_ trust the auto-updater, or re-install. your choice. --aaron
\_ I uninstalled and reinstalled and I still don't have teh computation
option. What gives? |
| 2002/9/13-14 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:25870 Activity:high |
9/13 china bans google, then... unbans google
\_ i smelt a rat.
\_ D'you think that they just wanted to shake down google
for bribes?
\_ Ewwww.
\_ Unbanned, but still 'filtered'
\_ Wow, China is clearly following the US in limiting civili liberties!
\_ Try to say this aloud while you're in China.
\_ I fear saying it in the US! This has become a Nazi state!
Bush the Fascist! The sky is falling! I'm no longer free!
\_ Yea, you say something not politically correct, and
mad dogs immediately attack you from all sides.
\_ That's why I bring the Big Stick Of Truth to the motd.
It's fun to beat up the PC crowd with it and kills some
salaried time each day. |
| 2002/7/2 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:25267 Activity:nil |
7/2 ufsdumper guy here. While I'm at it, I was wondering what sort of
dumping schedule do people use? 0 5 5 5 3? 0 5 5 5 5? 0 0 0 0 0? Also,
how do you backup multiple partitions with one fell swoop? I've been
reading around on google but there is a lot of conflicting advice.
\_ It depends. How big are your backups, how important are they,
how much do they change, how long can your system be down if
you need to recover from tape, how quick do you need to be able
to recover a file from a backup?
\_ What about the multiple partitions part?
\_ You just dump them sequentially to a NONREWINDING tape device. |
| 2002/6/19-20 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:25153 Activity:high |
6/19 All knowing motd, What is the nationality/ethnicity/origin of the
surname "Kanarek." Maybe someone who has more search web fu than me
can recommend how to find out. The origin-surname-genealogy sites
given by google are too weak for this name.
\_ Most likely Polish, but could be Czech, Slovak, or one of the
minority western slavic languages (Sorbian or whatnot),
hypothetically speaking. Based on 3 minutes of googling and
knowledge of a Slavic language, I'm fairly convinced that the main
occurence of the name is from Polish "kanarek", for (small?) canary.
"Kanar-" is the obvious borrowed root, and -ek is a common Slavic
diminutive suffix. Not that this precludes the Oriya theory below,
but Google gives tons of hits in Poland and with Polish first names,
and none with Indian names or in India, so the Polish theory is
more likely. (To substantiate this -- do a google image search for
"kanarek" and you'll see a few pictures of canaries.) -alexf
\_ why don't you just ask her?
\- Konarak is famous sun temple in the indian state of
Orissa. Are you sure about the spelling?
\_ fine. if you dont want to ask her, then go to google
and type kanarek and look for other people with that
last name to get clue. As a last resort, call up someone
in the phone book. These techniques work even when you
have no fu.
\_ None of these will work if the name is sufficiently rare
or a very unusual spelling of a common name.
\_ PicsP
\_ http://www.republika.pl/aniapal/images/kanarek.jpg
<DEAD>www.hobit-pv.cz/obrazky/kanarek.gif<DEAD> -alexf
\_ Wow! She's hot! Better than all the h0t 4z1an ch1kz!!! |
| 2002/6/7-9 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:25029 Activity:very high |
6/7 Google has a bunch of openings for anyone interested in that sort of
abuse. All sorts of stuff for everyone. Craig's List.
\_ I wouldn't say "everyone". Seems like there's nothing for
"computer science" as such (programming etc.) mostly hr/sales.
\_ Google posts a slew of reqs every few weeks, but it's less clear
if they actually intend to hire anyone, or if they're just
trying to give the illusion of prosperity.
\_ mgoodman works for google.
\_ mgoodman, so what is it like at Google?
\_ I do not start at Google until Monday. -mgoodman
\_ abuse? i went out with a hot chick from google once. she had no
complaints about the place.
\_ sounds like you spent more time looking at her tits than
listening to her. anyway, there are jobs if you want one.
\_ What cup size?
\_ What do you mean by abuse? Gourmet meals?
\_ You think the meals make up for the rest? There's a reason they
get food. It isn't because they're the only place in the entire
universe with enlightened management. Go ahead, apply, tell us
how kewl it is.
\_ Please enlighten me, What is the problem with Google?
\_ yes, please tell us. How hard to they work you there?
\_ They get 600+ resumes a day and they currently employ fewer
than 300. Good luck.
\_ Why is Google abuse?
\_ any people you know work at Google? Any CSUA? how hard is
it to get a job there?
\_ They get tons of resumes but their recruiters called _me_ and I
did the phone screen thing. Talked to some child who never worked
anywhere but there who didn't know how to do an interview. I got
screened out because (and I swear this is true) I wasn't willing
to move to mountain view to be closer to work. I lived about 35
minutes away at the time.
\_ how do you know the reason they screened you out? Did they
volunteer the information or did you ask when they called you
back? What did you say?
\_ they called me back and told me flat out. said my technical
skills were exactly what they were looking for but they were
"deeply concerned about my level of commitment" since I wasn't
willing to move there. talking to them was like talking to
cultists. speaking of cultists ask me about my Maxis
interview someday....
\_ Isn't that criteria illegal?
\_ any other experiences with google's interview process?
\_ My Google fun: apply for position X. They call, say, "oh that
position's too junior and low-paying for you, how about position Y?"
OK. I phone interview for Y. They love me. Weeks go by. Call
back: "OK, how about we phone screen you for position X?" Uh.. but
<insert obvious problems>.. what happened to position Y? "Oh,
it turns out it isn't really open, it was posted by mistake." Yay.
\_ I think you're all brimming with shit. 2 sodans
work at google now, it's not impossible to get a job
there.
\_ how do you know they loved you the first time? What did they
tell you at the end of the first phone screen? Expect to go
on site? |
| 2002/4/24-25 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:24571 Activity:very high |
4/24 Where can I get the ethnic makeup/statistics of the 8 UC campuses?
\_ STFW
\_ what does this mean? Search the Fucking Web?
\_ The second listing on the google search verifies this...Is
an common acronym for Search Google You Lazy Fuck?
there a well accepted acronym for Search Google You Lazy Fuck?
\_ Search on Fucking Google.
\_ Search on Google, Fucker.
\_ "Searched the web for yermom. Results 1 - 100 of
about 2,700. Search took 0.39 seconds" |
| 2002/4/1 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:24284 Activity:insanely high |
04/732 Google does April Fools:
http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html
\_ Google should do better search and less lame shit. Before Google
there was Hotbot, before HB there were other things. There will be
a day when Google is "that lame search thing we used to use back in
the day".
\_ Go stick your head in a pig.
\_ I'd like to see you name one thing that *any* other search
engine can do better than the way google does it.
\_ Go read up on the other 'next generation post google'
search engines. It isn't my job to digest and
regurgitate inofrmation into a dumbed down format for
you. You go to Berkeley. You're supposed to be smart.
\_ Now that's a good April Fool's joke.
Or are you so thick you truly believe that google is the
be-all end-all of 'search' and it's a solved problem and
there's no improvements left to be made? Do you also
believe the Patent Office should be closed because
"everything that can be invented has been invented"?
\_ what do you mean? everything already has been
invented. sure a few small inventions will be
made here and there but now that electronics
has been conquered what else realisticaly is
there to invent? time machines, quantum computers,
and vehicles going faster than light, they
are all impossibilities. but feel free to keep
amusing yourself.
\_ you dont seem to understand what the term
'invention' means. "electronics" is a field not
invention. here's another way to think about
it: if google has conquered 'search' then why do
still have researchers and developers on the
payroll? It's been perfected, right?
\_ There's still life sciences. And fusion power.
And a truly intelligent "ask jeeves".
\_ touche.
\_ no, http://teoma.com Hahahahahahaha |
| 2002/1/31-2/1 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:23740 Activity:low |
1/31 All hail the updated Google Usenet Archive. Though lost for almost
a decade, it's finally avilable again: the first Phillip Nunez posting
ever:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=author:penn%40mud.upenn.edu&hl=en&selm=zipquify%40vahmifqy.coooool.edu&rnum=7
\_ Also see:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=tawei&hl=en&selm=3tmfio%244p3%40agate.berkeley.edu&rnum=7
Tawei must speak from personal experience. |
| 2001/12/17-18 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW/Graphics] UID:23281 Activity:kinda low |
12/17 Does the google cache seem a *lot* slower than it used to be?
I recall it used to instantly pull up the cached page. Most of
the time it now takes 5-10 seconds and sometimes just dies entirely.
I don't have any other browser problems. Just the google cache.
\_ Ya, I've noticed this on sites that have graphics. Google doesn't
seem to cache all the graphics. If the site is pure text, google
returns immediately.
\_ yeah... hm... that's only been the case FOREVER. Google
cache never saved graphics and if a cache'd page is slow
this is almost certainly why. try it in lynx or something. |
| 2001/12/5 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:23155 Activity:high |
12/5 What exactly does G. I. as in "G. I. Joe" stand for?
\_ General infantry
\_ So that means the most expensible soldiers?
\_ Learn how to use google.
\_ Yeah, that's useful. Especially when you are searching
for letters of the alphabet. Top 4 hits for "G.I." on google:
GI Gesellschaft fur Informatik eV
American College of Gastroenterology
Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Education Service Home Page
<DEAD>www.ginet.com<DEAD>
\_ actually quoting something doesn't work in google anymore,
in dejanews, you could search for "G.I." and just get "G. I."
not G. and I.
in dejanews, you could search for "G.I." and just get
"G. I." not G. and I.
\_ I typed in "What does GI Joe stand for?" and got it on the first
hit. Like I said, learn how to use google..
\_ Government Issue(d).
\_ Gonnorrhea Infection
\_ Gastrointestinal |
| 2001/8/13-14 [Computer/SW/Languages/Java, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:22094 Activity:low |
8/13 Does anyone have the announcement of a class about fractals etc. posted
to http://ucb.org.csua? Is there an archive of the group? (google doesn't
have it) Thanks.
\_ why was this post purged?
\_ I searched a little harder and found the answer on my own.
I'm still curious about the archive though -- does it exist?
\_ The course URL was:
http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~hermanowicz/e101/e101_index.htm
Email me privately if you want me to reforward the entire message
(don't want to dump it all in the motd).
-alexf, The Original Forwarder
\_ OF, kinda like OG.
\_ you should keep explaining other peoples' jokes. it
will make you cool. |
| 2001/7/8 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:21734 Activity:low |
07/07 Loana.
\_ don't ask, just google. -ntip (not the original poster)
\_ you meant "-ntop"? or "not the initial poster"?
\_ -NTAP (or is that NTAP-- ?) |
| 2001/5/29 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:21376 Activity:kinda low |
5/29 I'm looking for a list of 512bit or larger primes I can use
for a diffie-hellman implementation I'm working on. Google
didn't produce many workable matches. Anyone know where I
might be able to find a list?
\_ How many do you need?
\_ A dozen or so should be more than enough. My understanding
of dh (which is quite weak) is that you don't need the
primes to be different for each client and server thus
I believe I can make do with very few primes.
\_ A dozen!? You are incapable of entering 'prime list' or
'large primes' into google? Are you a moron? Do you speak
English? Do you understand how to query a search engine?
'Google didn't produce many workable matches' indeed.
The world is full of lazy idiots, and you, sir, are one of
them.
\_ Any large prime won't do, it has to be a sg prime.
I've managed to find a few 3 or 4 that are 512bit or
smaller. Most of the other matches are 1024bit or
greater and I can't use those.
\_ http://www.privacy.nb.ca/cryptography/archives/coderpunks/new/1998-04/0079.html
\_ You want to use template meta-programming to generate
a sufficient number of primes at compile time, and store
it in a table for run-time use.
\_ One would think google is easier (and more user friendly)
than the motd and people might figure this out but.... |
| 2001/4/25 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:21091 Activity:insanely high |
4/389 I want to find out how much a StorageTek Timber Wolf 9730 tape library
costs i don't want to have to wait for their sales person to get
back to me. Is there a website that has the approx. cost of big ticket
items like this? Or/also can someone tell me how to get google and the
other search engines to search on the character $ ?
\_ I found a price 8,250 Lira. Conversion anyone?
\_ google. Duh. Why can't people use a friggin search engine
anymore? They're easier to use and more accurate than ever.
\_ kids these days are weak and pathetic. |
| 2001/4/24-25 [Computer/Companies/Google, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:21081 Activity:very high |
4/389 When nurses say "get me xyz, stat!" what does stat mean? Is it an
abbreviation or acronym?
\_ http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mstat.html
\_ you can't use google, huh?
\_ what ever happened to your Berkeley pride? I guess google
is just too good that we are willing to stoop down to use
a stanford made search engine.
\_ Berkeley pride? Hello? It's just a GPA and a piece of paper.
The alumni association won't help you afterwards unless you
consider endless appeals for cash a form of "help" and a good
way to express "pride".
\_ That's why I use http://av.com. At least its not like selling
out the the farm.
\_ google doesn't have intelligent speech processing like
the motd. the motd is, however, quite slow and prone
to insult its users. all in all it balances out.
ok so i tried google and it said it was for "statum."
google: 1 motd: 0
\_ What does "statum" mean? Is it an abbreviation or acroynm?
\_ beats me. latin for ASAP?
\_ is that some kind of funky acronym? |
| 2000/10/13-14 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/SW] UID:19474 Activity:nil |
10/13 StarOffice source released. http://www.openoffice.org |
| 2000/10/2 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:19386 Activity:low |
10/01 http://x59.deja.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=558477734.1 alt.motd? \_ alt.motd! \_ alt.wall! |
| 2000/9/27-28 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:19339 Activity:nil |
9/26 Looking for Where's Waldo picture on the web. URL please.
And no, it can't be found on Google.
\_ i think what you want to say is "no I couldn't find it on google"
\_ "no I couldn't find any on google"
\_ I found one rather easily using Google:
http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/school/images/scrnshot/waldo1.gif |
| 2000/8/8-9 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:18928 Activity:very high |
8/8 anyone notice http://www.google.com/bsd or /linux? \_ Yes. \_ they don't have /solaris or /hpux \_ Nor do they have /dork but so what? |
| 2000/8/1-2 [Computer/Companies/Google, Health/Eyes] UID:18844 Activity:low |
8/1 I need a pair of optical google for swimming. What the good sources
for them online? How do I specify the different characteristics
like the degree of near-sightedness, astigamatism, etc? The entries
on a eye glass prescription specifies some spherical, cylindrical,
and axial specs.
\_ http://www.google.com |
| 2000/6/27-28 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:18556 Activity:insanely high |
6/26 Looks like, in the end, the Stanford guys stick together:
Yahoo + Google.
\_ but we always knew that Stanford was the Yale of the West, right?
\_ what is that supposed to mean , exactly? -yale grad student
\_ go back to new haven, yalie.
\_ Is Google really taht much better than Inktomi?
\_ yes
\_ yes. go bears!
\_ Did Yahoo drop Inktomi entirely? Or just adding Google results
as well?
\_ I think they're still keeping Inktomi for some business-
oriented stuff. But google will replace the main search engine.
\_ DirectHit was doing some interesting stuff but either never went
bigtime or is still a backend search engine data provider like
Inktomi. Or they're not in business? They get search logs from
the other search engine companies, grind em up, and then return
results based on what links other folks have chosen in the past
for previously seen queries. Same family of idea as Google but
not the same. It has the same self-feeding problem Google has
\_ explain again what was interesting about this? -tom
but a notch worse. Anyone know if DH is still doing that?
\_ DH's popularity-based search results weren't yielding top
relevance. Additionally, they've been bought by AskJeeves,
the anti-serach technology company, so. The ways that Google
and Inktomi rank web pages is entirely different than click-
and Inktomi rank web pages are entirely different than click-
through gathering. -- Marco
\_ DH and Google are the same in the sense that there's
user input into the rankings returned. It's another
form of popularity search. What's Inktomi doing these
days?
\_ Forgetting money losing search engines and going
after the higher-profit web caching market.
\_ I was not aware that google records clickthroughs.
AFAIK, both use variations of mapping the cross-links
on the Web and promoting pages they define to be
"popular" or "authoritative" based on number of
inbound and outbound links. -- Marco |
| 2000/4/1-3 [Computer/SW/OS, Computer/HW, Computer/Companies/Google] UID:17904 Activity:low |
4/1 http://www.google.com "Some users unaccustomed to concentrated thought may experience side effects such as headaches, dizziness or flashes of brilliance. These will quickly pass." \_ Google rules (at least for 90% of the searches i do) \_ Hey, when i tried to use MentalPlex it gave me an error: Error 001: Weak or no signal detected. Upgrade transmitter and retry. \_ dumbass... |
| 2000/1/26 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:17332 Activity:moderate |
1/25 http://x31.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=577516159&fmt=text: Wow, there are people like Trevor elsewhere in the world, too. \_ Trevor is a dime-a-dozen asshole. The problem is he's a Cal asshole so some of us have to deal with this particular asshole at times. |
| 1999/11/16-17 [Computer/Companies/Google, Computer/Companies/Yahoo] UID:16899 Activity:high |
11/16 google is pulling a yahoo. It has mysteriously decided to
yank indexing of one of my programs,and there is no reply
from the feedback form, even though I have heard from them
on other issues.
\_ It must be a conspiracy against you personally. I'm sure that a
place that's indexing 150+ million pages has time to be deeply
concerned and personally involved in every single page and to
reply instantly to every yahoo (heh) who writes in to bitch at
them for providing free indexing of your crap. Boo hoo.
\_ hey jerkface;
point 1: it used to be in their indexes
point 2: they skew their indexes by hand sometimes
point 3: Given that it used to be in their automated
indexes, yes, they must have tweaked it by hand.
I just want someone from there to say WHY.
So who knows someone at google?
\_ Weak logic here. Was the algorithm changed? Perhaps
the automated check failed to connect to your site and
removed it? Many more possibilities. -emarkp
\_ My web logs show they visit the page still.
In fact,they hit it yesterday, even.
And my page is linked to by over 10 other sites.
\_ Boo hoo. Whatever. |
| 12/24 |