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[2010-05-26 14:38:50] - pierce: but you'll miss out on wonderful spam opportunities that way. - mig
[2010-05-26 14:20:25] - Dear enterprise software companies: please don't put your product documentation behind an obnoxious sales survey where it can't be googled or accessed without providing your company with my blood type and mother's maiden name. Thanks! Signed, - pierce
[2010-05-26 12:06:39] - title: thats just screwy ~gurkie
[2010-05-26 10:51:11] - also if you like to tinker around with weapons you're pretty much going to have to be the soldier class, most of the other classes only can really use 2 of the weapons. - mig
[2010-05-26 10:51:08] - Pierce: Finally, I would say to stick with it. I thought the gameplay for the first Mass Effect somewhat sucked, but I loved the story and dialogue and side quests. I got frustrated often and almost decided to quit, but I'm glad I didn't. -Paul
[2010-05-26 10:50:11] - Pierce: Also, talk to your squad mates often if you want to get their special side quests and learn their backstory. -Paul
[2010-05-26 10:49:34] - Pierce: I would also not bother with exploring planets unecessarily. Doing side quests can be fun, but exploring random planets quickly becomes boring for no real gain. -Paul
[2010-05-26 10:48:53] - Pierce: I've heard the voice acting is much better with a female Shephard, although I don't think the male Shephard is bad. Not sure which character class is best, but I played as an engineer and didn't have many problems. -Paul
[2010-05-26 10:45:55] - Pierce: Definitely save often. The autosave feature is horrible and nothing sucks more than accidentally driving off a cliff to discover you have to replay the past hour because you start at the beginning of the level. -Paul
[2010-05-26 10:43:01] - nina: heh i thought they were pretty tacky. i think it's an OK concept he just did a bad job - aaron
[2010-05-26 10:22:12] - aaron: as an album connoisseur, what do you think of the animated albums blog concept? -nina
[2010-05-26 10:11:19] - pierce: decide early on if you want to be an all-out paragon or renegade. The game gets annoying if you try to take the middle ground as far as conversations go. - mig
[2010-05-26 10:05:38] - occasionally i buy songs from amazon's music stores but only from artists/albums that suck. or sometimes stuff like foreign EPs which i'd have to import otherwise - aaron
[2010-05-26 10:01:51] - it's also nice having a backup in case something happens to the original copy (hard drive crash, DRM servers discontinued, etc) - aaron
[2010-05-26 10:01:18] - nina: i still buy lots of albums. it's less effort listening to an album, rather than 12 disparate tracks. particularly with artists from different decades, "loudness wars" make anything pre-1990 almost unlistenable on "shuffle mode" - aaron
[2010-05-26 09:55:29] - pierce: ./sc2.exe ~a
[2010-05-26 09:54:14] - Yay, I got Mass Effect 1 working last night. Any suggestions for someone just starting out? - pierce
[2010-05-25 16:09:32] - aaron: haha. wouln't it be 2 girls / 1 cup or better yet 0.5 cups / girl ~a
[2010-05-25 15:42:55] - http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2+girls+1+cup lol - aaron
[2010-05-25 15:42:40] - today is Towel Day - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day - no one told me! -nina
[2010-05-25 13:35:28] - Aaron: Honestly, I don't remember much of what happened, but you have to take a look at your clock... it wouldn't flush. -Paul
[2010-05-25 13:34:14] - http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/The-Stephen-Strasburg-baseball-card-that-costs-a?urn=mlb,243549 holy shit, i remember when a nolan ryan rookie card being worth $1200 was a big deal. - mig
[2010-05-25 13:31:35] - paul: tsk i just stopped by warsaw, there is loud music and beer cans everywhere! what did you do - aaron
[2010-05-25 13:20:38] - Aaron: What? I kicked Adrian out like I promised. You don't want to host a sleepover at your place? -Paul
[2010-05-25 13:18:27] - omg paul that was so totally mean! - aaron
[2010-05-25 12:28:14] - yeah i only recognize about 1/5 also. ~a
[2010-05-25 12:25:06] - a: i only recognize about a 20% of them. but, i still like how they animated all of them. -nina
[2010-05-25 12:23:59] - hey, i buy albums. it's cheaper than buying mp3s if you want the whole disc and you buy used. ~a
[2010-05-25 12:20:22] - http://animatedalbums.tumblr.com/ remember when people bought albums? have you guys seen this? -nina
[2010-05-25 12:12:00] - I'm still apparently away for the weekend. I'm not sure how that ended up as my only googlism, but it pulled it from an AIM away message years ago. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-25 12:06:42] - you're the antithesis of el niño? i don't think i get the joke. ~a
[2010-05-25 11:59:55] - aaron: actually, la nina is the antithesis to el nino events. you read correctly. -nina
[2010-05-25 11:50:53] - i also read that you've been associated with warm water spreads from the west pacific and the indian ocean to the east pacific, at irregular intervals from 2 to 7 years. they may have meant el nino, but i don't know, that does sound an awful lot like you - aaron
[2010-05-25 11:47:21] - http://www.googlism.com/who_is/n/nina/ apparently you're one hot horndog nun - aaron
[2010-05-25 11:28:16] - did anyone find anything interesting about me in their google searches? -nina
[2010-05-25 11:28:16] - title: i'm not used to getting terms of endearment from a website
~a[2010-05-25 11:18:51] - immediately googles nina.
[2010-05-25 11:03:19] - actually, it's not just a given, i think it's expected. if someone google's you and you have NO presence on the internet, that would be more suspicious than anything. -nina
[2010-05-25 11:01:17] - mig: i just wonder how much people really care about privacy these days. the existence of the internet inherently decreases privacy. i think the stuff that people 30 years ago would have considered unacceptable is just a given these days. -nina
[2010-05-25 10:50:48] - Nina: Yeah, I think market justice is going to take effect much sooner than the courts. If people get fed up enough over facebook's (and google's) privacy violations, they're going to turn them into MySpace far before the government can hand down any kind of fees or sanctions. -Paul
[2010-05-25 10:50:14] - nina: even if the courts did come up with something, in addition to slowness companies invariably find ways around it. if there's going to be any really substantial changes, it'll have to come from the threat of consumers abandoning facebook. - mig
[2010-05-25 10:33:28] - paul: if facebook's 400 million + users start to fall off, that'll be the canary setting the precedent for how other companies treat privacy. -nina
[2010-05-25 10:32:35] - paul: both facebook and google have been slammed with legal suits over privacy issues. i just hope the something good comes out of the courts over the next few years to protect our privacy. at the same time, the courts move too slowly, and the world is changing very fast. in the end, consumers will probably choose the level of privacy they deem acceptable.. . . -nina
[2010-05-25 10:24:34] - http://movies.ign.com/articles/109/1092495p1.html A Mass Effect movie? OMG, that could be epicly awesome. -Paul
[2010-05-25 09:42:08] - yeah the final season of Lost, not just the finale, was pretty bad. they did a poor job wrapping things up. I did enjoy some aspects of the finale, but the season on the whole was blundered - vinnie
[2010-05-25 09:15:09] - Look out Below! - Today's market
[2010-05-24 21:21:05] - I agree with Paul (truthfully, and because I want this statement to appear on the msg board again). - Stephen
[2010-05-24 21:03:43] - Aaron: Hehehe, nice. -Paul
[2010-05-24 21:02:41] - a: Not really. In fact, I was going to mention that I find it difficult to criticize a mostly well-designed and useful service that is provided to me for free. At worst, I consider these particular moves (but not google in general) to be annoying. -Paul
[2010-05-24 19:27:57] - a: No, though I do agree with Paul that the moves by Google mentioned were not welcome, even though I actually appreciate most of the content that comes from it. It's still not an evil move, and definitely not privacy-invading anywhere near the level of Facebook. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-24 19:10:05] - http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/05/the_5_best_satirical_twitter_a.php top 5 best satirical twitter accounts. the fake BP twitter feed is really funny - aaron
[2010-05-24 18:21:47] - so regarding our 2010-04 conversation, do you consider google==evil yet? ~a
[2010-05-24 18:01:05] - Can't I just use their email service and feed aggregator without getting conscripted into their social networking war? -Paul
[2010-05-24 17:58:51] - First, I seemed to have been opted into Google Buzz without wanting to when I started getting emails about people updating their status' or whatever, then Google Reader started having me "follow" people I never asked to follow, and now Google Reader is telling me that people are asking to follow me even when they have done no such thing. -Paul
[2010-05-24 17:57:08] - I know Facebook has caught a lot of flack recently for questionable privacy decisions, but does anybody else feel like Google has also been doing some questionable things? -Paul
[2010-05-24 17:14:44] - stephen: heh - yeah! i hung out at d+b for another hour or so after that text message to sober up. - aaron
[2010-05-24 16:50:02] - Aaron: I'm glad to have missed the show, too. Oh...did you manage to get home on Saturday? - Stephen
[2010-05-24 15:53:07] - Lost: I gave up on the show when the smoke monster showed up because that didn't fit with what I felt was a (loosely) reality based show. Clearly it wasn't so reality based and didn't seem to know where it was going so I bailed. I know some that really like it but its hard for me to get into it as well. -Daniel
[2010-05-24 15:30:54] - Aaron: I think I am with you about it sounding like I was lucky to have dodged the series. Even an article that I read which loved the ending made the point that it didn't tie much together and was more about celebrating the journey than conclusively ending anything. -Paul
[2010-05-24 15:29:15] - Nina: Ok, cool. Wanted to make sure you had that covered before watching Lost.
-Paul[2010-05-24 15:25:44] - so i was curious if everything actually got tied up. looking around online it looks like i'm lucky to have dodged the series. - aaron
[2010-05-24 15:25:06] - a: that's cool. i never got sucked into lost, i saw 2 or 3 episodes but it looked like they were just making it up as they went along. the only possible endings that made sense to me were the "purgatory" ending or the "it was all a dream" ending. but i think the writer vehemently discredited both. - aaron
[2010-05-24 15:14:30] - Paul: Yup, pretty much as soon as we started dating, he brought the whole series on Blu-Ray to my place. watched the whole thing plus the movie. -nina
[2010-05-24 15:12:43] - Nina: Completely off topic, but has Pierce made you watch Firefly yet? -Paul
[2010-05-24 14:56:55] - aaron: i had to read some reviews on the interwebs today to get my head around what happened last night on Lost. I was very underwhelmed by this final season, and gave it 2 stars on Netflix. -nina
[2010-05-24 14:56:44] - OMG to the title today.That's hilarious! -Dee
[2010-05-24 14:54:03] - A: I sent out an email this morning about dates for this summer. One of your emails was no good, the other I assume was still good. Check it!
-Dee[2010-05-24 14:37:02] - did you see it? ~a
[2010-05-24 14:32:37] - meh. ~a
[2010-05-24 14:09:11] - what did you guys think of the lost finale? - aaron
[2010-05-24 10:20:18] - Dee: Thanks, that's a great deal for me since I'm interested, don't have a guitar, or any copies of any of the games. Just FYI for all, $6 shipping too. Still a deal. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-24 10:04:59] - dee is back after a seven month hiatus! last time you were here we were talking about that kayak thing. what ever happened to that? are you just sitting on those vouchers? ~a
[2010-05-24 09:48:00] - Onesaleaday.com has PS3/Xbox360 Guitar Hero III at $20, for those of you who need an extra guitar for battling.
-Dee[2010-05-24 09:27:36] - aaron: my cs program had two girls, but was much smaller in general. - Daniel
[2010-05-22 23:14:30] - aaron: Chemistry actually had a slight majority females in my graduating class from Tech. 8 to 6 or so. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-22 13:07:07] - vinnie: what was the CS program like? 126 guys 2 girls or something? it was baaaad - aaron
[2010-05-21 15:55:29] - stephen: yeah tech was a similar ratio and I did notice the difference, but I also took a lot of technical classes where the ratio was even more imbalanced so I never felt I got a "normal" picture - vinnie
[2010-05-21 15:49:47] - a: sorry! algebra 1 I meant - vinnie
[2010-05-21 14:42:48] - i know some people took algebra 2 in 8th grade, but they were definitely the minority. i had a friend who was class of 97 at tj and he took algebra 1 the summer after 8th grade. which wouldn't even put him on that chart. they don't have a "< algebra 1" ~a
[2010-05-21 14:38:52] - vinnie: you took algebra 2 in 8th grade? are you sure? ~a
[2010-05-21 14:38:51] - Vinnie: I think we were about 50/50. 43 to 57 doesn't seem that extreme on paper, but it'd be very noticeable in a classroom setting (wasn't Tech similarly male?). I had taken geometry in 8th grade, but my Trig class in 9th grade only had 3 9th graders. We were definitely a small minority. - Stephen
[2010-05-21 14:01:08] - stephen: what was the gender disparity for our class? I recall it being pretty even. the percentages here don't seem that extreme, but when you look at the numbers... yikes. I had taken algebra 2 in 8th grade, and I remember feeling behind freshman year. seemed like tons of people had already taken geometry - vinnie
[2010-05-21 12:59:46] - Stephen: Blacks are a higher percentage too. PWC as a whole is substantially more racially diverse than it was 15 years ago, and not with respect to any one or two specific races. But also, a substantially smaller number of students from PWC go to TJ than from Fairfax schools. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-21 12:54:14] - a: The U.S. as a whole is substantially more asian and latino now. Annandale may not have changed much, but I'm sure Andrew can vouch for massive demographic changes in Prince William. - Stephen
[2010-05-21 12:37:39] - nova is more asian and latino now than in 1995? i went to annandale high school in 1995 and i gotta say, it was very asian and latino back then. ~a
[2010-05-21 12:24:33] - aaron: Obviously NoVA is more Asian and Latino now than in 1995, so that explains part of the differences. - Stephen
[2010-05-21 12:23:58] - aaron: I thought it was more like 20-25%. I guess we could get our our senior yearbook this weekend and count, though! - Stephen
[2010-05-21 12:16:29] - aaron: For me the most telling statistic was the decrease %-wise of those AAs who enrolled vs. those who were accepted. I know TJ accepts based on merits, but presumably all of those individuals felt their merits were sufficient to at least try to enroll. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-21 12:06:44] - 4 african american is less though, i think we figured out we had like 10-15 african american in class of 1999 - aaron
[2010-05-21 12:06:07] - stephen: do you know how much different the 57.5% asian is from the class of 1999? i think our class was at least 30-40% right? - aaron
[2010-05-21 11:56:01] - aaron: it's beautiful ~a
[2010-05-21 11:41:33] - xpovos: my default was not 2p. though i was able get to 2p by clicking "insert coin" under the search bar. ~a
[2010-05-21 11:36:41] - Vinnie: And the gender disparity, and that 80% of the 8th graders are in geometry or beyond. - Stephen
[2010-05-21 11:31:41] - stephen: 57.5% asian? is that the wow? - vinnie
[2010-05-21 11:28:01] - Wow: http://www.fcps.edu/mediapub/pressrel/tjhsstadmisstats_classof2014.pdf - Stephen
[2010-05-21 11:27:51] - Aaron: I'm sure you're going to get your revenge this game, though. Barring something unforseen, I think you're very well positioned to be the dominant power within a few years. -Paul
[2010-05-21 11:27:35] - Ugh, it's default 2P? Ms. PacMan just sat there until a ghost ate her and I died as a result. Sad. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-21 11:21:55] - aaron: ha, i hadn't seen that. my browser was using the firefox google home page which doesn't have the fun stuff. -Daniel
[2010-05-21 11:13:29] - did anybody see google.com today? it's got a playable version of pac-man written in (i think) javascript - aaron
[2010-05-21 11:10:17] - I dont remember England killing anyone yet in our games. In 2010-06 England is playing the tourist game. They just like to travel around the world and have nice vacations to get away from their dreary moors and rain. -Daniel
[2010-05-21 11:10:03] - paul: oooh burrrrrrrn 8-( - aaron
[2010-05-21 10:47:06] - Aaron: Working out well, how's the 2010-02 game working out for you?
-Paul[2010-05-21 10:45:01] - aaron:
Paul's blocking you from Sweden will work out very differently from when I blocked Daniel. This time, England will kill Germany, not France. - Stephen[2010-05-21 10:28:08] - paul: how's sweden working out for you by the way? - aaron
[2010-05-21 10:22:06] - Aaron: Well, if you would stop bugging me, I would kick him out too... -Paul
[2010-05-21 09:53:07] - a: paul kicked me out when i asked to stay over. it was very rude - aaron
[2010-05-21 09:47:41] - hey, i've stayed over before. also, what are we talking about? ~a
[2010-05-21 09:20:03] - I haven't let him stay over yet.
-Paul[2010-05-21 09:16:25] - pierce: wow that's a cool story! hope the place gets shut down - aaron
[2010-05-20 23:44:06] - this is fucking amazing. - pierce
[2010-05-20 21:54:25] - paul: hey how come you let adrian stay over but i can't stay over - aaron
[2010-05-20 15:35:57] - xpovos: they have commercials running for that, I was more impressed when I first heard it before I realized one of the items was a bag of dorrito chips and another was a soda... Personally I would prefer 2 burritos at 99cents a pop to doritos + soda + burrito. ~gurkie
[2010-05-20 15:34:22] - stephen: *gag* *choke* urm... umm I must have missed those... carrots lettuce and sprouts on a chocolate glazed donut? glazed donut would have been bad enough why add chocolate??? ~gurkie
[2010-05-20 14:54:39] - http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-05-14-tacobell14_ST_N.htm Taco Bell introduces $2 combo meals. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-20 14:10:12] - gurkie: or my favorite, the one with carrots, lettuce and sprouts...on a chocolate glazed donut. - stephen
[2010-05-20 14:06:41] - gurkie: What about peppermint patties, cheese, lettuce and tomato on a sesame seed bun? - Stephen
[2010-05-20 14:01:07] - all the insane wiches seem to be meat or gross... Sorry I am just not into chocolate croissant + banana + swiss cheese... ~gurkie
[2010-05-20 13:40:44] - i often accidentally create indefinite loops using function calls like that. it's usually much more complicated though. i think i did it just yesterday actually. not something i would have checked in. also it's very easy to catch and fix in java if it ever executes. ~a
[2010-05-20 13:36:50] - xpovos: you're running out of time in diplomacy. fyi. ~a
[2010-05-20 13:19:53] - aaron: globally at that! -- Xpovos
[2010-05-20 13:19:14] - aaron: I hope those two functions were defined miles away from each other in the code. Preferably in different includes. If they're right next to each other like that--that's appalling. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-20 13:17:30] - xpovos: i was more amused by the iReceiveHead and iReceiveTail variables
- aaron[2010-05-20 13:16:19] - xpovos: sure, infinite loops compile. that's what they meant when they said "code that was obviously never used"... if it had been used it would have been an infinite loop - aaron
[2010-05-20 13:11:38] - Is the third item in TheDailyWTF yesterday (5/19/10) "Code Smorgasbord" a very badly written infinite loop? It's so nonsensical I can't even figure out how it would compile. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-20 13:00:14] - a: http://www.insanewiches.com/?p=823 i like this one - aaron
[2010-05-20 12:11:18] - haha, the quadruple down. ~a
[2010-05-20 11:53:53] - stephen: heh heh yeah i've seen that before but it's a cool sandwich. - aaron
[2010-05-20 11:43:28] - Aaron: Solve this! http://www.insanewiches.com/?p=808 - Stephen
[2010-05-20 11:43:26] - weird. why not? ~a
[2010-05-20 11:40:11] - a: eh, for some reason I dont generally type explatives on my work computer, or at least try not to when I remember. ~gurkie
[2010-05-20 11:27:16] - ok, well . . . if you meant it, why didn't you say it? ~a
[2010-05-20 11:25:19] - a: what do you think? ~gurkie
[2010-05-20 11:04:46] - gurkie: do you mean fuck? ~a
[2010-05-20 10:20:00] - title: WHAT THE F! ~gurkie
[2010-05-19 21:45:22] - http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/neil-patrick-harris-steps-cube-cbs-13647 apparently cbs is bringing a uk game show "the cube" over to the states with NPH as the host. it looks like a cool show! - aaron
[2010-05-19 17:05:23] - nice. it uses vorbis? mozilla, opera, google, and adobe are all behind it? sweet! ~a
[2010-05-19 16:47:31] - http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/19/webm-google-h-264/ google's pushing an open alternative to h.264 - aaron
[2010-05-19 12:50:48] - xpovos: heh heh yeah. i'm assuming penalties were lax, it would be mean to call offsides on a team of 200 kids - aaron
[2010-05-19 12:19:08] - aaron: I don't know which is more impressive--that 200 on 13 only resulted in 3 goals scored (8 total) or that 200 children managed to find enough cohesive teamwork to actually score 3 goals. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-19 11:21:14] - Aaron: I don't know if they are on the path to becoming a small government party (my guess is Rand Paul is an outlier), but I am hopeful. -Paul
[2010-05-19 11:17:26] - http://www.eitb.com/sports/en/detail/422441/etxeberria-says-goodbye-an-impossible-game/ Athletic Bilbao's veteran forward played his last game in San Mames against 200 hundred children - aaron
[2010-05-19 11:10:29] - paul: cool!! i've kind of looked at america as a one-party system just cause the republican party never stood for anything i could remotely get behind. but if they became like, the "small government" party i might actually have to use my brain at the voting booth instead of just making sure to pick up the correct pamphlet
- aaron[2010-05-19 11:10:07] - a: Which Paul is arguing against which things?
-Paul[2010-05-19 11:08:05] - Aaron: Yeah, I believe he still has her endorsement, and Kentucky is supposed to be a fairly conservative state, I believe, so he probably has a good shot. -Paul
[2010-05-19 10:39:51] - a: i agree with the first part of your statement though, and I do believe it applies to the republican party in general. - mig
[2010-05-19 10:25:10] - a: and considering how much overt disgust fox news treated Ron Paul with, I think I can say that Fox News doesn't hold the ideals of limited government very highly unless there's a democrat in office. - mig
[2010-05-19 10:18:42] - I dunno about Beck. O'Reilly I would say probably is and he has held some rather unfiscal-conservative viewpoints in the past (like we should have windfall profit laws for oil companies because it endangers national security). - mig
[2010-05-19 10:16:29] - mig: "The neo-con branch of the Republican party (which I think still holds a lot of sway) would definitely be against those things" also paul seems to be arguing the opposite unless i don't understand what he's saying. ~a
[2010-05-19 10:15:36] - mig: i was referring to the fox-news glen beck/bill oriley. they aren't neo-cons? ~a
[2010-05-19 10:13:55] - According to them we must be prepared to sacrifice everything in order to "fight the trrists", that view is irreconcilable (IMO) with believing in limited government. - mig
[2010-05-19 10:10:16] - a: neo-cons are not for limited government. at all. - mig
[2010-05-19 10:02:48] - paul: it's because everybody is for limited government except when it impacts them. the neo-cons are for limited government except when you talk about scaling back the military or encroaching on the power of said military. ~a
[2010-05-19 09:42:20] - http://www.starcraft-source.com/article/news/view/?id=539 16 people arrested in Korea for betting on fixed Starcraft matches. Not surprising given how much of a high stakes sport Starcraft has become over there, but still ... woah, really? - mig
[2010-05-19 09:40:11] - paul: well last I checked he still had Palin's endorsement (?) so at least he'll still get some support from the fox newsies - aaron
[2010-05-19 09:35:09] - I had my fingers crossed that the Jazz might get a sweet pick (that they had gotten from the Knicks), but I guess it wasn't so. Same thing with the Kings. Oh well. -Paul
[2010-05-19 09:34:01] - Aaron: Well, regardless of how I feel about it, I can at least see the rationale there. The neo-con branch of the Republican party (which I think still holds a lot of sway) would definitely be against those things. -Paul
[2010-05-19 09:33:01] - xpovos: they did only have a 10.3% chance, but it looks like one of those wonky draft orders this year. The nets dropped to third with 76ers moving up to 2nd. - mig
[2010-05-19 09:28:39] - paul: what's even sadder is that those viewpoints would be interpreted as "left-wing" view points and alienate him from any of his republican constituents
- aaron[2010-05-19 08:14:44] - stephen: I believe John Wall is the consensus #1 for this year's draft. - mig
[2010-05-19 07:39:06] - mig: Didn't they have a 10.3% chance at it? -- Xpovos
[2010-05-19 06:15:57] - mig: Are they expected to draft John Wall from UK? - Stephen
[2010-05-18 20:49:42] - the wizards landed the #1 pick this year. quite a catch too. given their bad lottery history, this is pretty sweet. - mig
[2010-05-18 19:54:26] - the subtitle for today: "this is something we're going to be hearing about for the rest of our lives - wolf" hmmm. katie posted that at on 2001-09-11 at 13:22-0400. ~a
[2010-05-18 19:30:01] - moomoo
[2010-05-18 18:02:29] - yeah new copiers probably keep a digital copy temporarily . . . but that data is never written over so it sits there forever. good thing i never use copiers. ~a
[2010-05-18 17:45:19] - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/that-old-copier-still-holds-a-picture-of-your-butt.ars I had no idea copiers kept a digital copy of things that it... um.... copied. -Paul
[2010-05-18 17:35:38] - http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/18/kentucky.senate.preview/index.html "Paul opposes the Patriot Act, wants to scale back American military efforts abroad and once called for the closing of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay". It depresses me that these issues are thought to be turn offs for moderate voters. -Paul
[2010-05-18 16:52:53] - Paul: Agreed, which is why I had to pin you down on it. For reference, I define bankrupt as being in a position where it is no longer possible to service your debts. That is, cashflow bankrupt. Networth bankrupt is much easier to come by, and we're probably already there, except, again, not really because we're talking about a sovereign state. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:49:43] - Xpovos: (2) See the currency descend into what is generally considered a hyper-inflationary spiral. I know that's not very specific, but it's hard to be in this matter. -Paul
[2010-05-18 16:48:55] - a: I'd argue more that I have a god-given right to live in D.C. proper, since my ancestors actually did until they got eminent domained for Section 8 projects. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:48:53] - Xpovos: Normally, I would define bankrupt as not being able to pay debts when they are due. However, considering we use a fiat currency and can print money whenever we want, that's a virtual impossibility. For the puposes of an entire nation going bankrupt, I suppose it would have to be either (1) defaulting on our debts or... -Paul
[2010-05-18 16:47:30] - why not? you have a god-given right to live in arlexangton. ~a
[2010-05-18 16:44:36] - Stephen: Ah, but they won't pay me enough to live there. Nor should they. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:43:18] - "Apparently, for liberals, any room in the house, except for the bedroom, is free range for government regulators. Low flow toilets, energy star appliances, smart meters, the intrusions just keep coming. You want to get it on with three midgets and a throng of macaques? Go for it! Heck, you can get NEA funding for your performance art." (c.f. Gormogons) -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:42:19] - xpovos: bankrupt = defaulting on debts? - mig
[2010-05-18 16:42:16] - aaron: You (and everyone else living in the suburbs) should move to Arlington or Alexandria to get healthier! And not because I'd like you all to live closer to me. - Stephen
[2010-05-18 16:41:48] - Paul: Sorry, but you still didn't define bankrupt. I can't argue the point unless we're on common semantic ground. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:41:45] - Vinnie: I wonder if maybe the generally longer American workday might have something to do with our higher rates of of those things. Certainly more stress could lead to more heart disease, and having to eat on the run could lead to obesity and diabetes. -Paul
[2010-05-18 16:40:36] - vinnie: i think a lot of this country's health problems are tied to people living in suburbs... there's been studies showing that that's the least healthy place to live, because that's where you're the least physically active - aaron
[2010-05-18 16:39:25] - Xpovos: Ok, well, I would say we're already bankrupt... but I'm thinking this will push us to some sort of reckoning where America is going to have to default on it's debts or see the dollar go hyper-infaltionary. -Paul
[2010-05-18 16:36:21] - mig: not just perception. we have higher obesity rates, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, you name it, than europeans on average. that's part of the reason I wonder whether a european-style system would really work here. there might be more important root causes of unhealthiness that need to be tackled first - vinnie
[2010-05-18 16:35:25] - at least that's 1 scenario i can envision the government going bankrupt. - mig
[2010-05-18 16:32:53] - xpovos: the chinese will just decide they don't want to keep our currency alive anymore, which will probably cause the government to default on its debts. - mig
[2010-05-18 16:32:18] - mig: I'd agree that the Average American (controlling for factors such as age) is on average less healthy than the average European. I think a large part of that is due to our relatively sedentary lifestyle, which is exacerbated by our geographically structure. To tie it back to the nutrition debate earlier today. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:31:22] - so basically, all 3 of those points just are trying to say socialized medicine in this country is not economically realistic. - mig
[2010-05-18 16:29:10] - 3) For whatever reason, and this might just be perception, but for whatever reason, we seem to lead more unhealthy lifestyles than Europe, meaning the costs of socialized medicine probably would be relatively much higher. - mig
[2010-05-18 16:28:33] - Paul: Define bankrupt here. Because I think this is one of those places we probably disagree. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:26:54] - mig: I think we were well on track to go bankrupt before the health care bill passed. This'll probably just speed up the process some. -Paul
[2010-05-18 16:24:17] - There's no way this government would really be able to hike taxes up that high, aside from doing it stealthily through inflation, but again, that leads to the Greece scenario. - mig
[2010-05-18 16:23:13] - 2) tax rates across the board in most nations that have socialized medicine are significantly higher (I don't know about Canada, but it certainly is the case for most of Europe). - mig
[2010-05-18 16:21:17] - through right now. - mig
[2010-05-18 16:21:12] - aaron: A couple things about that. 1) the federal government decides as a whole to have numerous other obligations that many other countries don't. I'm not quite sure any other nation even comes close to our government's yearly several trillions of dollar budget. To add socialized medicine to that would probably bankrupt us in the same manner that Greece is going ...
[2010-05-18 16:21:05] - Dude, wtf is up with my apostraphe? -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:19:38] - aaron: No, just more willing to accept crappy care. American's have generally demanded infinite care of the best quality, while everyone else is OK to settle for rationed care of the second-best quality. Except the rich people. Who come to America for their medical treatments. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:14:57] - xpovos: yeah i think your article was more realistic which was why i didn't attack it. i mean it's still trying to predict something unpredictable so i don't know. a lot of countries have made the leap to socialized medicine were they just smarter than americans or something? - aaron
[2010-05-18 16:09:22] - aaron: Which is where my article sort of takes over. Not only is the plan worse, but the services provided are worse, and the doctors more scarce. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 16:04:51] - i think, worst case scenario, all of our plans become really expensive and we don't want to pay for them anymore... so we go to the state-run plan which is crappy and worse. - aaron
[2010-05-18 16:01:19] - vinnie: well nah i don't think they'd ever downgrade the plans either... don't you guys have tiered plans? i think any downgrading or dropping of plans would be solely at the employees' discretion. people who wanted a really nice cushy "cadillac plan" could pay out the ear for it if they wanted - aaron
[2010-05-18 15:59:59] - aaron: yeah that's possible too, or downgrade their insurance plans to the point where employees would elect to use the state-run plan - vinnie
[2010-05-18 15:58:10] - i don't see a lot of logic behind the kodos-like "insurance for none" company-wide mandate as implied by the article. i think they'd just raise the price and not a lot of people would want it anymore - aaron
[2010-05-18 15:57:35] - vinnie: yeah i agree it's messing with the architecture of our current system. it could happen where a lot of companies simultaneously decide to drop coverage, i guess. i don't think that will happen, though, i think they'd just pass the cost on to the employee and say "if you want insurance... it's more expensive now" - aaron
[2010-05-18 15:57:20] - aaron: They do note that at one point as a "bargaining" cost. Basically acknowledging that they'd have to give up something else to the employees in exchange for the health care. But if that thing doesn't increase in cost at the same rate as health insurance, they'd still think it a good thing. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 15:51:56] - mig: well yeah but that's what i'm saying, it was never "worth it". just like providing 401k matching or education reimbursements isn't "worth it", it's like - yeah these things all cost companies lots and lots of money. - aaron
[2010-05-18 15:51:14] - aaron: but as the article notes, this bill is really messing with the architecture of our current system which is mostly employer-based coverage. if many companies drop their coverage, it doesn't look as bad for any individual company. the smoking ban is kind of similar in that way - vinnie
[2010-05-18 15:50:11] - mig: hmm it'll be interesting to see if any companies follow through. AT&T needs to do a better job keeping their "confidential & proprietary" powerpoint slides off of the internet! - aaron
[2010-05-18 15:47:53] - I think the point is, it appears to be getting to the point for some companies that the benefits of providing employees health insurance plans are becoming not worth it to the tune of several billions of dollars. - mig
[2010-05-18 15:45:11] - aaron: well if i'm not mistaken, there were/are various incentives in place before to encourage employers to offer health insurance to employees (one of which the article states was eliminated as a result of the new health care bill). - mig
[2010-05-18 15:40:42] - big companies have health care programs to attract talented workers... not to save money - aaron
[2010-05-18 15:39:05] - mig: heh i hear a lot of people complain about CNN being left-leaning but they seem pretty balanced to me. i don't totally understand the article though, why would companies opt to drop health care coverage just because it's cheaper? nobody was forcing them to have a health care program in 2008, why didn't they drop it then? - aaron
[2010-05-18 15:13:59] - xpovos: and i thought the prospect of big companies opting to just drop employee insurance and just pay the penalties was going to be problematic... - mig
[2010-05-18 15:01:17] - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315404575250264210294510.html He's a biased source, and it's an opinion piece, but it seems well-written, and he knows more about it than I do (or is that an appeal to authority?) -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 14:50:11] - mig: Yeah, the character limit is a bitch.
-- Xpovos[2010-05-18 14:30:57] - he of course put it more colorfully than that, but I couldn't be bothered to spew the whole spiel verbatim, because it's really long. - mig
[2010-05-18 14:29:59] - xpovos: it's why I mostly subscribe to the Lewis Black philosophy on health: nobody really knows about what's good for everyone, so it's best for each individual to figure out what works for them and stick with it. - mig
[2010-05-18 14:29:52] - xpovos: good point. Our nutrition guidelines were so heavily influenced by various agricultural lobbies that it may even be healthier to ignore some of them. - Stephen
[2010-05-18 14:28:55] - aaron: 2 cups of fruit a day. i've seen the "5 servings of fruit a day" advertised, but i think it's old. and it's crazy anyways. ~a
[2010-05-18 14:27:44] - You guys are exposing some of the self-contradictions inside best nutrition guidelines. It's not an excuse to ignore it, but it's important to know that it's also practically impossible. Eating well means variety, and that results in overindulgence of some things some times. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 14:20:56] - aaron: You're supposed to get 30-40% of your calories from carbs, right? 150g of sugar would be 30% of your calories, leaving zero room for non-sugar carbs. - stephen
[2010-05-18 14:18:05] - i mean i know fruit isn't great for you but it's not that bad. i think even a glass of orange juice has about 20-30g of sugar. 50g is really low. maybe 150g is really really high but i don't think it's that high. - aaron
[2010-05-18 14:16:14] - stephen: 50g a day? a banana has 23g of sugar. how would you get 5 servings of fruits and still fall under 50g of sugar a day? - aaron
[2010-05-18 14:15:36] - argh, arizona's primary is not today. bah, well nm on that. - mig
[2010-05-18 14:15:32] - a: I'm hoping they didn't lie to me. They said it would ship around June 4! - stephen
[2010-05-18 14:10:44] - stephen: yeah there are quite a few incumbents today that I wouldn't mind seeing get the boot, specter being one of them, and though it's unlikely, the potential of seeing mccain booted would just make my day. - mig
[2010-05-18 14:07:39] - gurkie: it could be he was lied to, like me. the guy on the phone told me my phone would ship in a few days. i called back and they said it would ship in a few weeks. ~a
[2010-05-18 14:06:57] - Mig: I'm hoping Specter loses. I dno't think he should be rewarded for being an opportunist. - Stephen
[2010-05-18 14:06:17] - aaron: My mistake, it's 600 calories, or 30% of the RDA. - Stephen
[2010-05-18 14:06:02] - aaron: 150g of sugar a day is 900 calories, or 45% of the RDA. I'm guessing anything more than 50g a day is bad. - Stephen
[2010-05-18 14:00:58] - paul: yeah it seems like the GOP is getting a big kick in the nuts in Kentucky today. - mig
[2010-05-18 13:58:38] - Mig: I've been watching Rand Paul's primary numbers and it looks like he is in really good shape. I would be shocked if he didn't win the nomination. -Paul
[2010-05-18 13:58:17] - aaron: "we don't regulate crack/crystal meth/whatever other stuff is bad for people" - aren't those regulated by being illegal? Perhaps alcohol / tobacco might be better suited for your point. Even those still have some regulation age wise. -Daniel
[2010-05-18 13:50:55] - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts2100 an interesting day in politics, though I'm really more interested in Kentucky and to some extent, Arizona. - mig
[2010-05-18 13:37:21] - a: yea june is 2 weeks, but when i talked to stephen yest he was saying he was waiting for his phone,,, I thought it was a matter of... days not weeks. ~gurkie
[2010-05-18 13:36:57] - and i'm with andrew (i think?) maybe the government needs to step in and educate the consumer (like, labels on back of cereal boxes-style) but if people want to eat junk food it's their own funeral. i mean, we don't regulate crack/crystal meth/whatever other stuff is bad for people so why should we regulate what food people eat - aaron
[2010-05-18 13:34:49] - Although the chicken nuggets aren't grilled, so I don't know if that proves any point. -Paul
[2010-05-18 13:34:41] - mig: yeah there's no RDA for sugar. zero is the ideal number. i don't know what a "good" number is either! i'm guessing ~150g a day is not terrible, since that's about how much you'd probably get in a daily supply of fruit/cereal/bread and stuff - aaron
[2010-05-18 13:34:36] - paul: clearly the government needs to stop by the house and make sure you don't do that. - mig
[2010-05-18 13:34:15] - Also, I can confirm that Pierce is right about McDonald's underhanded marketing. My beef burger was merely labeled "Made just for you", whereas my chicken nuggets not only were labeled as "crisp", but also had the words "happy", "happiness" and "smile" on them. -Paul
[2010-05-18 13:32:55] - Xpovos: I'm a complete sucker for the McDonalds Monopoly game for some reason. I would go there and eat nothing but super sized premium grilled chicken sandwiches every meal if I could. -Paul
[2010-05-18 13:29:29] - paul: hamburger for me today. yum. - mig
[2010-05-18 13:06:18] - and probably more fat content as well. - mig
[2010-05-18 13:05:35] - it also makes the comparisons a little unfair, because some of them are several magnitudes worse than the supposed "equivalent" drink, because they most certainly had more calorie content than the drink. - mig
[2010-05-18 13:04:35] - xpovos: yeah I was kind of curious why they were harping so much on the sugars, but I'll admit to ignorance in not knowing what the threshold for how bad "sugariness" is. - mig
[2010-05-18 12:59:39] - All this talk of crisp, fresh and tender hamburgers has got me disgusted... I think I'm going to go get me a mouth-watering, juicy, thick, grilled chicken sandwich from McDonalds so I can feel good about myself.
-Paul[2010-05-18 12:59:07] - pierce: I'll grant that I've been tuned by advertising. And I'm definitely tuned by price cuts. If a Big Mac is normally $4, and they lower it to $1 for a week's special, and I'm eating at McDonald's I'm much more likely to buy the Big Mac than the other (probably healthier) alternative I usually do. So, yes, marketing works. -- Xpovos
[2010-05-18 12:56:25] - aaron: i like the receipt thing. i think that would help a bunch! like if they had itemized values and also added it together and gave you totals at the bottom. it would help figuring out what was the worst part of the meal. it would help me, i know, since i'm way too lazy to find the nutrition chart and do the math. i'm sure mostly everyone else is too. ~a
[2010-05-18 12:55:20] - Okay, back to work. Thumbs are cramping from debating on the msgboard via my phone. - pierce
[2010-05-18 12:54:18] - Xpovos: Maybe you can make a deal with Pierce where you follow him around and tell him things he can't eat, and in return, he doesn't ask the government to do it to all of us.
-Paul[2010-05-18 12:53:09] - aaron: that's a complicated question, I am mostly just saying I agree with the principle of regulating what goes into food and drugs. - pierce
[2010-05-18 12:51:39] - xpovos: No offense, but I think it's naive for anyone to believe they're not impacted by marketing. - pierce
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