11/29   http://patorjk.com/software/taag/#p=display&f=3D%20Diagonal&t=CSUA

12/20   Oh, I love watching internation pro women's pool (billard).
        http://www.csua.org/u/s6d (http://www.gmanews.tv
        \_ now that body glove is dressing them up in spandex bikinis it's
           even better

7/11    "Paul the Oracle Octopus goes eight for eight, is amazing"
        http://www.csua.org/u/r4b
        How did one octopus guess something that has 1/256 probability???
        \_ I once rolled eight "1"s in a row at Risk.
           \_ But you would be in the spotlight only after you rolled eight
              "1"s, just like lottery winners.  OTOH that octopus was already
              in the spotlight when the World Cup started.

7/3     ARG 0 - 4 GER!  That's a huge spread.  What was wrong with Argentina?
        \_ You give a damn about soccer?  What's wrong with you?
           \_ Giving a damn about the World Cup != giving a damn about soccer.
              This has been an exciting, topsy-turvy tournament. Maradona must
              be tearing his (incredibly absurdly dyed) hair out.
        \- re: "what is wrong with ARG" ... against a good team you need
           talent and tactics. maradonna's "messi do whatever you want" nonplan
           worked against teams not as strong as GER but you could see
           was not going to work in that game. and they didndt change plans.
           [compare to ESP-GER ... ESP upped their game compared to the POR
           and PAR games]
           \_ I see.  -- OP

6/21    "FIFA drops referee after dropped call"
        http://www.csua.org/u/qzu (g.sports.yahoo.com)
        "Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere will prepare himself for the
        occasion by watching a DVD of the movie 'Gladiator' before taking
        center stage in a game that decides the USA.s destiny ..."
        I've never watched Gladiator.  What does a movie about Roman gladiators
        have to do with the upcoming match?  Or is that just a mean to get
        relaxed before judging in a high-profile match?
        \_ At a guess, perhaps he's expecting a brutal fight between USA
           and Algeria, which, come to think of it, is pretty odd. Both
           teams have been pretty well-behaved on the field. Perhaps he
           somehow thinks Ridley Scott is coaching the Americans? Even
           then, what would a gladiator movie directed by a Brit and
           starring an Aussie have to do with anything? Nope, I'm even
           more confused than I was when I started trying to explain.
           Last stab: he hopes that watching a movie with fast-paced
           violent interaction will get his reflexes up to speed for the
           match... in which case, he'd probably be better off practicing
           with Transformers 2; the action in that flick made no sense at
           all.

6/9     Synchronized Macarana-esque dance after first 2010 World Cup goal.
        http://www.csua.org/u/qy2
        Oh no, the same disease that has plagued football here at home is now
        spreading to soccer abroad.
        \- You may be too young to remember ROGER MILLA and the DANCE OF THE
           CORNER. Did you see BISHOP D.TUTU dancing? That was pretty funny.
           As funny as T.HENRY appealing for a handball ~10min after coming
           in to play with ~5 min left. I wonder if PRESIDENT J.ZUMA brough
           all three of his wives to see the games, or if he rotates.
        \_ I like watching well-played soccer, but the first two games
           resulted in 0-0 and 1-1 ties. Ugh! Something about this game is
           broken.
           \- I thought the RSA-MEX game was a decent game [I am half
              watching re-bcast right now, knowing the result], but RSA
              doesnt have the experience of say GER and there was some
              bad onfield mangement you wouldnt have seen with a better
              team. FRA was dysfunctional (I usually support FRA and BRA).
              I'm not curious to see if ARG's dysfunction also is visible
              on the field. I didnt get a close look of at the cancelled
              MEX gaol [offsides] but I thought the ref-ing in the other
              game was quite good.

5/17    L.A. is now officially a pro-illegal-immigrant city.
        http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1989448,00.html
        \_ You are now officially an idiot.
        \_ Ah the arm chair wisdom of someone who'd never been to LA.

4/28    "Miracle buzzer beater lifts Serbian team to league title"
        http://www.csua.org/u/qnc (sports.yahoo.com)
        It's another "The Play".

12/7    "Jack ties shoelace during live play; Bulls watch, twiddle thumbs"
        http://www.csua.org/u/pnw
        I don't play basketball, but isn't this about courtesy and
        sportsmanship rather than lack of effort?

10/22   Warship bigger than football field sustaining 50mph for 4 hrs in
        rough sea: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_speedy_warship

9/23    "Video: World's longest basketball shot"
        http://www.csua.org/u/p4y
        The ball seemed to make a turn in mid-air.  Looks fake to me.
        \_ That's called wide-angle distortion (ever seen wide angle
           shooting a straight line but it looks curved)?
           \_ I see.  Thanks.  -- OP
        \_ Looks relatively legit to me.  It's actually not that hard
           a shot, given enough attempts.  -tom

5/26    Finished Braid; beautiful game. Good job, blojo. Looking forward to
        the Next Thing; will be more than happy to kick out another $15
        for quality like this. --erikred
        \_ I hate this game. I've been up until 1AM the last two nights.
           Normally I go to bed around 11:30PM. Sooo tired. But it is
           beautiful. First PC game I've purchased in 9 years.
           \_ Is there a mac version?  And how is the gameplay with just a
              mouse and keyboard?
              \_ I downloaded and played the Mac version on my PowerMac G5
                 tower; gameplay was perfectly fine. But then again, I prefer
                 the keyboard to a controller. I'd imagine you could use a
                 USB game controller just as easily. --erikred
        \_ Finally finished it, but I had to cheat and get help on 3 of
           the puzzles. Have you found any of the hidden "stars"? Those seem
           pretty ridiculous to get.

11/21   big. hmm. game. ?
        \_ Bigger than usual this year. Stanford's bowl game hopes are
           pinned on it and Cal's hopes for a half-way decent season.
           Both teams are competitive, which hasn't happened too often
           in the last 30 years.
           \_ and apparently not this year, either.  -tom

11/18   "Italian soccer strategy gets a racy look"
        http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-italy-shortsdown
        Can't wait until the Italian women's soccer team adopts this new
        strategy.

6/30    Hey, this is it!  One of my first memories is of this game on the
        TI 99/4A! I've been trying to figure out what game this was forever.
        http://guyintheback.ws/09-Biggest/BG-Annie-K.html
        \_ Was it really necessary to post a pretty-girl link in reference to
           a game?
           \_ Obviusly, someone changed this link.  Fixed.
        \_ Update: This emulator legally has this ROM and a bunch of others.
           It's actually still pretty fun.  And hard.
           http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/showprog.cgi?search=Classic99
        \_ Oh, wow, that brings back tons of memories!

6/19    If you have the Debian/Linux skills to be the system administrator
        for a video game company in Marina Del Rey, California. Please
        send your resume to alpo@soda.
        \_ If you want to work yourself to death, work for a video game
           company.
        \_ From my one interview at a very well known video game company,
           "I know we're paying a little below industry but it's so cool to
            work at a video game company!"  Their offer was 30% less than I
            was already making.  And it didn't look all that cool, either.

6/18    http://www.box.net/shared/dguu2bfy88
        One day we got tired of being serious about the situation and came
        up with Googolopoly, a game where you can take part of ruling the
        internet even if you don't work in Mountain View. The goal of the
        game is to use Google shares to buy as many properties as you can
        without landing in the deadpool and losing your stock.
        \_ Wow, that's lame even by the already low standards of people
           bitching about google lamitude.

12/31   I have a PSP UMD game (Wipeout) that won't load anymore.  The UMD
        looks pretty clean, although the case is fairly beat up.  Any idea
        what could be wrong?  The PSP plays other games.

12/31   Soda comes up.  Cal football going down vs. Air Force.  Yay!
        Okay, the way the AF QB's knee bent was really fucked up.
        \_ We dominated.  Put Riley in there next year and we might
           have a shot at something.  It was seriously refreshing to see
           a quarterback who wasn't immobile with a terrible arm.

12/31   Soda comes up.  Cal football going down vs. Air Force.  Yay!

12/1    I'm glad that Cal Football exceeded my expectations by not losing by
        more than the negative of the spread
        \_ Disappointment? Nah, you have to have expectations for that.
           \_ did you see that Hawaii game?  Da-ahm!
        \_ After the loss to Washington I figured this would happen.

11/17   Wow, Cal football is exceeding my expectations ... at losing

11/4    I read of a game once where a a group of people either give each
        other smiles or frowns.  If you get a circle of smiles, everyone
        gets a good amount of points.  If everyone frown, everyone gets few
        points.  If everyone smiles but one guy, who frowns, frown guy
        gets a butt-load of points, but everyone else gets 0.  Sort of a
        "prisoner's deliema" game.  Does anyone know where I can find a writeup
        of this game?  Something more specific?  Thanks
        Addendum: I just want a description of the standard rules.
        \- uh this is a little too braod/vague. this has been under discussion
           since at least jjrousseau and the stag hunt. the "standard" modern
           non-technical work is RAXELROD: Evolution of Cooperation. again
           it depends whether your interesting is (mathmetical) game theory,
           behaviorial game theory (read: psychology), applications to
           social science etc. you might search around for "repeated" or
           "iterated prisoner's dilemma".
           \_ Ok, thanks, I really just want a standard set of group rules.
              \- it's not so much "the rules" but the payoffs ... that's
                 what you use to calculate the equillibria/um, normative
                 strategies ... then you can analyize the empirical w.r.t.
                 to the normative. btw, IPD isnt that exciting, but i suppose
                 it is "the standard" starting point. something like the
                 ultimatium game is more interesting, IMHO.
                 \_ Ok thanks.  Actually, I'm not studying it for academic
                    interest.  I was using it to play with my Sunday School
                    class of 5, 11 year old boys.  It seemed more interesting
                    than hangman.
                    \- you should enter an IPD tournament with the WWJebusD
                       strategy.
        \_ I give you a..... SMILEY!

10/20   Will Cal pooch the Big Game for the choke trifecta?
        \_ Poodles vs. Labs.  Who is smartest?!
           \_ Border collies.

10/13   I'm glad that Cal football hasn't let us down yet
        \_ They haven't let us down yet, at least. If we end up at the
           Rose Bowl, this Old Blue will be ecstatic.

10/7    Odds on Cal pooching it and losing to both USC and at the Big Game?

7/28    LucasArts is releasing a Lego Indiana Jones game:
        http://urltea.com/1370 (techeblog.com)

4/20    To soccer fans: what website do you read to keep up with world soccer
        news? I currently use FOX Soccer Channel (foxsoccer.com), but I'm
        wondering if there's better out there. Thanks.

2/24    I know a lot of people here live in the LA area.  If you're interested
        in seeing world class Brazillian Jiujitsu next weekend, the Pan-Am
        Championship will be in your area:
        http://www.ibjjf.org/pan2007registration.htm
        Not sure how it will work with spectators, but since it's not billed
        as a spectator event, I'm guessing you get in for just a few bucks
        or free, as with most non-commercial martial arts events.

2/13    the few times I offer blow-jobs and he, swear to goddess,
        says "after the save point," and, really, all he has to do is
        pause the fucking game.  that's when I stomp off in a huff
        because no sane man should turn down a blow-job

2/4     I hate football.
        \_ Each year you watch SuperBowl your IQ goes down by 2 points.
           Each year you watch football and drink beer your IQ goes down
           by 5 points.
        \_ What about football?  Is it football season or something?

11/11   Why is Cal trying to lose the game?  Red zone, three downs, can't
        TD, why does it feel like the '90s again.
        \_ This game left a bad taste in my mouth. Cal didn't play well,
           but the Hughes interception overturned and Hawkins' ability to
           turn 2 TDs into FGs really hurt. Cal should have won this game,
           despite Longshore playing like dookie. So if Cal beats USC
           and Stanford, we can still go to the Rose Bowl, right? Same as
                         \_ we?  you're on the team?  cool!
           it was before this game happened. BTW, I thought Cal should
           have gone for it on 4th and goal. What good does the FG do
           unless you're worried AZ is going to kick one, too? Cal needed
           the TD. Stupid Hawkins.
           \_ We needed two scores to win.  If Jackson's foot lands one inch
              \_ You're on the team, too?  That's awesome.  I had no idea so
                 many soda geeks played football for Cal on the side.  Way to
                 go sodans!
                 \_ you're a moron.  -tom
                    \_ *laugh* one day 'we' hope to be smart like you.
              differently, we would have won the game because we kicked a
              field goal on the previous posession.  -tom
              \_ Yes, but even without it Cal would have tied. The way
                 it worked out Cal lost. Counting on a miracle drive to
                 win is risky. I'd have rather gone for the TD. It's
                 a lot easier to gain 3 yards than 88 yards.
                 \_ We had just lost yardage on two consecutive plays,
                    then almost had a pass picked off.  Our chance of
                    converting on fourth down was likely less than 50%,
                    and there was plenty of time left on the clock (over
                    7 minutes).  And in fact, we did get the ball back and
                    we did have a really good chance to score.  It didn't
                    work out.  Sometimes that happens.  -tom
                    work out.  Sometimes that happens.  -tom, bear apologist
                    \_ Probably, but what are the chances of converting on
                       an 88 yard drive when we hadn't gone on a drive all
                       game? If AZ had made one more first down Cal
                       wouldn't have even gotten the ball back.

10/29   Sucks so bad that USC lost. It was Cal's best chance for a BCS
        bid. -- USC student, Cal fan.
        \_ Fuck all of you assholes.  -Berkeley alum, who couldn't give two
           shits about "Cal".
           \_ Fuck you, too.
        \_ I don't see how it makes a difference. If USC won, Cal would still
           need to beat USC to go to the Rose Bowl. Now, Cal needs to beat
           USC to go to the Rose Bowl. If Cal loses against USC, they wouldn't
           be going to a BCS bowl whether USC beat OrSt or not.
           \_ The argument is that if USC went to the Championship game,
              then Cal could finish 2nd and still go to the Rose Bowl.
              I don't like that argument. If Cal goes to the Rose Bowl it
              should not be because USC is playing for a MNC. The loss
              helped Cal, because now Cal has a game "to give" if they
              beat USC and a chance to finish 1st even if they lose to USC
              (if someone else can beat USC, too).
        \_ My argument was that if USC stayed #3 and Cal beat them (handing
           USC their only loss), Cal would have a good chance of finishing
           Top 6 and getting a BCS bid. I didn't consider Cal losing to USC.
           \_ If Cal beats USC, Cal wins the Pac-10 and goes to the Rose Bowl.
              This was the case last week, and it's the case now.
           \_ Cal doesn't need to finish top 6 to get a BCS bid.  If Cal
              beats USC and has no more than one other Pac-10 loss, we are
              guaranteed to go to the Rose Bowl.  If we lose to USC but
              finish in the top 14 BCS rankings, we can still go to a BCS
              bowl--there's one more BCS bowl this year than there has been
              in the past, so the chances are much less that we'll be screwed
              like we were in 2004 (and Oregon in 2005).
              In any case, the focus should be on beating USC, which would
              make polls and tiebreakers unimportant.  -tom
              \_ The focus should be beating the next opponent, as UDub
                 showed. If we lose to Arizona and UCLA then who cares
                 about USC?
                 \_ Yeah, but now we can lose to one of them and still go.

10/24   oski crowd surfing from the game:
        http://youtube.com/watch?v=iChgCGa0ikg

10/23   Game review: http://seanbaby.com/nes/egm10.htm

10/20   I have a free extra ticket to the cal game tomorrow in the young
        alum section...email sking@zonelabs.com if you want it
        --sky

10/4    http://ESPN.com, you're killing me here. How hard can it be to display a
        page with the results of the most recent playoff games by division
        along with a running tally of who's ahead of whom? The World Cup
        website was able to keep track of a hell of lot more teams playing a
        hell of a lot more games. Why is it so hard for the MLB and ESPN to
        display the results from the playoffs for 8 bloody teams?
        \_ Answering myself: not hard at all. Yahoo to the rescue:
           http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/playoffs
           Fie on you, ESPN.

9/26    Double Agent Trailer:
        http://tinyurl.com/ef3no (gametrailers.com)
        \_ Wait, am I supposed to want to play this now? 'Cos I mostly just
           feel icky and powerless.
           \_ The game is supposed to be less linear, allowing you to choose
              what to do and different consequences result.
           \_ I cannot recall the last time that a video game presented me w/
              a moral dilemma of this nature. Any video game that forces one
              confront this type of problem seems interesting to me.

9/26    Double Agent Trailer:
        http://trailers.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_splintercell_da_trailer4.mp4
        \_ Wait, am I supposed to want to play this now? 'Cos I mostly just
           feel icky and powerless.
           \_ The game is supposed to be less linear, allowing you to choose
              what to do and different consequences result.
           \_ I cannot recall the last time that a video game presented me w/
              a moral dilemma of this nature. Any video game that forces one
              confront this type of problem seems interesting to me.

9/25    How much will the Cal football team beat Oregon State by this Saturday?
        A.      0 - 5 points
        B.      6 - 10 points
        C.      11 - 19 points
        D.      20 or more points
        Based on the 3 consecutive demolitions of PSU, Minnesota, and ASU, I say
        the answer is D.  OSU got killed by Boise State.  We are better than
        Boise State.
        \_ Agreed.  D is my final answer, Regis.
        \_ Except that all 3 of those games were at home.  We are unproven on
           the road.  The game will be closer than you think.  I say that the
           correct answer is B.
        \_ C -USC fan
           \_ Why is there an 'SC fan on motd? --'SC student, Cal fan.
              \_ USC has been the dominant team in college football for the past
                 several years.  Because of that, and their tradition and
              \_ USC has been the dominant team in college football for the
                 past several years.  Because of that, and their tradition and
                 history of winning, USC football has fans everywhere.  This
                 motd is not immune from the pull.
              \_ Voting on behalf of my friend, a former 'SC student
                 --pp, cal student, completely apathetic re: fooball
        \_ C -Cal fan.
        \_ Cal will lose, like they have to OSU 3 out of the last 4 years.

9/3     Who did the worst job this past Saturday in Knoxville in front
        of 107,000 people in the stands and millions watching on ESPN?

        Jeff Tedford, head coach
        Mike Dunbar, new offensive coordinator
        Syd'Quan Thompson, redshirt freshman cornerback
        Nate Longshore, starting quarterback
        Cal offensive line

        My vote is for Nate Longshore.  What a letdown after months of
        praying he'd save us from Joe Ayoob.  Turns out that Ayoob
        is actually better than Nate the Fake.  When the worst starting
        QB in Cal history is actually better than you, then that means
                         \_ Justin Vedder
                            \_ Justin Vedder threw for 20 TDs vs. 14
                               INTs with 56.7% completions; that
                               probably doesn't even put him in the
                               top 10 bad Cal QBs.  Hint: History goes
                               back further than 1995.  -tom
                               \_ No arm, no mobility, no decision-making
                                  ability. He sucked.
                                  \_ The claim was "worst starting QB in Cal
                                     history."  -tom
                                     \_ Yup, thanks for playing.
                                        \_ Ayoob last season was worse than
                                           Vedder ever was.  At least Vedder
                                           could complete the 5-yard out
                                           to Dameane Douglas.  Ayoob
                                           couldn't hit anything.
                                           \_ On Saturday, Longshore made
                                              Ayoob look like Joe Montana.
        that you really suck, Nate.
        \_ My vote is also for Nate Longshore.  Just awful against Tennessee.
        \_ My vote is also for Nate Longshore.  Just terrible against UT.
           He better step up, or it's going to be a long season.
           \_ Go Steve Levy!
        \_ The alumni and the administration for continuing to subsidise
           football.  We have failed.  If I am ever rich enough to be an
           influential doner, I'll donate matching funds in proportion to
                \_ What's a "doner"?  Is that like a boner?
           influential donor, I'll donate matching funds in proportion to
           money *cut* from the football program.  University of Chicago has the
           football program to which non-moron alumni should aspire.
        \_ It was one game.  Don't be a dipshit.  -tom
        \_ I vote for Syd'Quan Thompson.  His performance was pitiful and
           directly led to 2 Tennessee touchdowns which broke our backs.
           Tennessee picked on him all game long because he showed he
           wasn't ready for prime time.
           \_ He was actually in position on both of those plays, but failed
              to make the tackle.  That's probably at least partly because
              he's playing with a cast on one hand.  -tom
              \_ Failing to make a tackle is a pretty inexcusable defensive
                 mistake.  As far as a cast goes, injuries are part of the
                 game.  If the cast was going to impair his tackling to the
                 point that he was going to give up 2 TDs, then he should
                 have let the coaches know that so they could have left
                 him on the bench.  Syd'Quan was awful.

7/27    http://www.espgame.org (game)

7/13    My feeling about the World Cup (you can select more than one):
        -just another sport: ..
        -it is what I live for:
        -stupid like football or baseball: ..
        -like the Roman colliseum, it is just another distraction away
         from real problems like the current administration: ..
        -none of the above: ..
        \_ Now that it's over, I get to go back to saying, "Eh, who cares"
           for two more years. Then I'll get sort of excited as the
           eliminations come up, and then I'll paint myself the colors of
           whichever country is not one of the big ones but stands a rat's
           chance of winning. Speaking of which, any ideas on how to remove
           this Ghanese flag I have tattooed on my back? --erikred

7/11    This is so cool:  Falling Sand game
        http://fallingsandgame.com  -John
        \_ That kind of rocks!  Thanks for posting, John.    -mice
        \_ About 5 years behind the times there, John.
           \_ Get a life, loser.
           \_ And still beautiful. How many things on the web can boast that?
           \_ I'll take that as a compliment.  -John

7/10    I am delighted Zinedine Zidane has miraculously won the
        BALL OF GOLD for the 2006 WC. ObIamNotMakingThisUp.
        [I think they do the gold ball tally before the match is over, so
        may have been decided before The Incident. Not sure why, since I
        didnt think they announced it immediately and there doesnt seem
        any reason not to wait 1-2 hrs. But I am still glad they didnt
        change the decision.] BTW, the ZZ header after the pass from Sagnol
        then blocked by Buffon was pretty awesome. --psb
        \_ You are wrong about the timing of the close of the vote tallying.
           Please leave the sports discussions to the experts.
           Thank you. --richard
        \_ I liked it.  You are stupid.  Keira Knightley is still flat.
        \_ I just read that the voting closed at midnight last night instead
           of at halftime, like they used to. ZZ's header was good, but the
           save was even better. My favorite goal was the German double-header.
           \- the block was fast and ultimately what mattered but i think
              the header was more impressive eventhough ultimately moot becase
              you might say it involved more "spatial degrees of freedom".
        \_ http://www.headnut-zizou.de.vu
           http://tonaz.altervista.org/zidane.html  -John
           \- BTW, here is a crappy video of another famous [and this time
              successful] ZZ 3 deg of freedom header goals:
              successful] ZZ 3 deg of freedom goals:
              http://youtube.com/watch?v=tD-h_BDmQ6w
              if you have a better link, that would be great!
           \- Here is a decent ZZ highlight video with some good
              "3 degrees of freedom" shots:
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYUtKKbBTkw
              For those of you who dont follow futbol, this GK save by
              an associate of PABLO ESCOBAR is also pretty amazing:
              http://fcsc8041.home.comcast.net/ReneHiguita.mpeg
              (but also a "what the fuck are you thinking" move ... it was
              in a friendly game tho ... he probably only attempted it because
              he know Escobar would not have him killed)
              in a friendly game tho ... he probably only attempted it
              because he knew PESCOBAR would not have him killed, unlike
              AESCOBAR)

7/8     So where's a good place in the City to go watch the World Cup Finals?
        \_ North Beach if you want to root for Italy. Mission Dolores park
           will have a big screen set up for a free showing. Some alley
           downtown if you are cheering for France. -ausman
           http://www.csua.org/u/gdc
        \_ What time? What channel?

7/4     Does anyone have the Fox Soccer Channel, and if so, is it worth
        it? It sounds like it televises lots of great leagues. Thanks.

7/3     http://tinyurl.com/eu8dx -- Babes of the World Cup.
        Fox is good for something after all.  -John
        \_ My favorites are #11, #30, #32, #59.  But the one that really turns
           me on is #86!