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[2010-08-31 13:08:53] - not every site change can go over as well as that horizontal line that shows you all the new posts since you last visited the msgboard. /flex - pierce
[2010-08-31 13:08:25] - As an example there was a bbc story about a crowded english festival that hit the front page with like 50 digs the other day. Thats pretty lame. -Daniel
[2010-08-31 13:08:04] - aaron: I think its less the buggy part and more that news stories can be auto submitted by websites and make the front page super fast. It feels a lot more like an aggregator of big sites than a place where people submit cool stuff some of which may have been from big sites. -Daniel
[2010-08-31 12:06:35] - daniel: yeah i am; i've been a little annoyed with them as of two or three months ago with the way that they introduced "sponsored diggs". and yeah the new version of digg has been pretty buggy, i don't know much about it other than what the very very loud userbase has been complaining about... which i'm sure is exaggerated - aaron
[2010-08-31 11:30:38] - anyone else here a digg user? or were a digg user potentially? Curious to see if anyone else is interested in the whole fallout going on with them. -Daniel
[2010-08-30 20:17:03] - stephen: glad you enjoyed it! now she's "oh the girl from scott pilgrim" to me though. don't know why she's not the girl from up in the air. - pierce
[2010-08-30 14:53:24] - that's when i usually find them. ~a
[2010-08-30 14:52:30] - i was mostly referring to when it's discovered after being built but before there are many units to protect it. ~a
[2010-08-30 14:44:30] - "cancel your gateway/barracks if they're discovered too early" oof. that's a sticky situation. unless you're playing someone way below your skill level, or unless you can catch up some other way, then having to cancel your gateway/barracks can be problematic because your opponent will be ahead of you time-wise. ~a
[2010-08-30 13:25:08] - a: yeah, i'm not sure how "all in" the strategies really work out to be, given that you can cancel your gateway/barracks if they're discovered too early, and that bunkers can be refunded for full mineral costs. but yeah, you're right that if you scout them they are in trouble - aaron
[2010-08-30 12:52:22] - pierce: I'm embarrassed to admit this, but yesterday I had to stop myself from saying "oh it's the girl from Twilight!" while watching Up in the Air. Great movie, btw, thanks for recommending it. - Stephen
[2010-08-30 12:10:59] - Word placement is important!
[2010-08-30 12:09:52] - a: I think saying "Banks help more homeowners than Obama" is accurate, but it would also be accurate to say, "Obama helps homeowners more than banks".
-Paul[2010-08-30 12:04:35] - terran can probably still stop this nonsense if their wall can delay the zealots until they manage to get a few marauders, but zerg can't really do a whole lot even if they scout it. - mig
[2010-08-30 12:02:04] - aaron: proxy zealots are a little better because they can do a lot of damage, and with chrono boost they can come out almost as fast as marines. - mig
[2010-08-30 11:55:05] - aaron: my problem with early proxying in general is when you've been scouted early in your proxy process. you can be taken down too easily. i've screwed many a proxyer, but usually when it works it works really well. (this also applies to the early expand) ~a
[2010-08-30 11:50:35] - "Banks help more homeowners than Obama" "Many [of the terms offered by banks] may not be as good as [Obama's plan]" so which is it? the title seems unambiguous enough but the content implies an expected gray area. ~a
[2010-08-30 11:37:27] - Her response? "These banks should be ashamed of the terms that they are giving to borrowers". -Paul
[2010-08-30 11:37:16] - http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/30/news/economy/foreclosure_modifications/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin I love (*sarcasm*) the story at the end where a teacher apparently got a loan she couldn't afford and got what appear to be pretty reasonable refinancing terms from her bank (40 years, 5% with a ~$200k balloon payment at the end). -Paul
[2010-08-30 11:09:27] - sorry, i meant a proxy marine rush with bunkers; where you build a barracks right by the other guy's base (on a map with big bases like desert oasis) and then feed marines into the bunkers... i've seen it work OK, it's beatable but seems in the same spirit as the zealot rush - aaron
[2010-08-30 11:08:31] - mig: yeah i think it would have to be a proxy zealot rush; but i agree, i'm not sure why a proxy zealot rush is much better than a proxy marine rush (with barracks). but, then, they nerfed barracks too, so i guess maybe they thought both were too good - aaron
[2010-08-30 10:39:41] - mig: Perhaps, but I feel like neither do as well as stalkers/mauraders do against roaches, or hellions against zerglings. -Paul
[2010-08-30 10:14:51] - The warp gate change cooldown increase definitely needed to happen though. - mig
[2010-08-30 10:14:25] - I found the zealot change to be curious since I never saw much proxy zealot rushes that they were citing as the reason for the change. Though I suppose an all-in proxy double gateway where you chrono boost the zealots out could be a problem on the smaller 1v1 maps, particularly against zerg. - mig
[2010-08-30 10:09:55] - hydras aren't too bad against them either. - mig
[2010-08-30 10:07:48] - paul: zerglings do pretty well against stalkers if a) you have a fair amount of them, b) you get a good surround. - mig
[2010-08-30 09:30:09] - Pierce: I agree. Personally, I find Stalkers to be a lot more overpowered vs Zerg than I do zealots. I am rarely successfully zealot rushed 1v1, but I've lost many times to Stalkers where I just couldn't find an answer to them. -Paul
[2010-08-29 21:18:20] - seriously why is there talk of me and nude while Im not in the US. You could have waited til I could defend myself before such slanderous comments were made. ~gurkie
[2010-08-27 21:31:11] - I'm a little frustrated they chose that particular nerf for protoss. I think they need to give protoss a faster or ranged early defense tool that doesn't require going into a utility-only build order (forge+cannon) or screwing yourself against an early push (core+assimilators+stalkers) - pierce
[2010-08-27 17:23:37] - great, now i have to switch to zerg? ~a
[2010-08-27 16:16:52] - Hurray for nerfing zealots and reapers! -Paul
[2010-08-27 15:27:39] - patch notes are out for sc2. -Daniel
[2010-08-27 14:26:37] - she seemed to enjoy the strip club. ~a
[2010-08-27 14:19:53] - a: I can't imagine Gurkie enjoying a nude play, for starters. Hamlet in Klingon, however...Paul could bring his bat'leth! - Stephen
[2010-08-27 13:42:04] - based on your sarcasm, you think they wouldn't have fun? i know i'd enjoy it. ~a
[2010-08-27 13:28:37] - a: How did you know? Paul and Gurkie would have so much fun at macbeth in the nude! - Stephen
[2010-08-27 13:24:22] - i know pat. ~a
[2010-08-27 13:23:49] - This made me laugh: "1 mil is shit money, you couldnt even get a yacht or a helicopter. that ain't rich" said by Pat (who none of you know) -Daniel
[2010-08-27 13:22:06] - of course, stephen is referring to macbeth in the nude. ~a
[2010-08-27 13:07:00] - Paul: This is a perfect way for you to get into Shakespeare! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/27/AR2010082702649.html?hpid=topnews - Stephen
[2010-08-27 12:15:05] - I just got to send what was probably the equivalent of an entire tree through the shredder. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-27 12:13:58] - I posted the 1mil vs 50 mil question on another message board I frequent. Results 6 for 1mil 11 for 50 mil. Mostly similar reasons as discussed here. -Daniel
[2010-08-27 11:18:35] - Paul: I've only followed it tangentially. It's pretty absurd, though. I think even if I had 98% confidence this was going to happen, I still wouldn't have bought 3PAR stock a few weeks ago, though. The company is just in bad shape financially. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-27 11:07:29] - paul: lol. - aaron
[2010-08-27 10:34:18] - Has anybody been following the Dell/HP bidding war over 3Par? It's ridiculous. Why couldn't I have owned a couple hundred shares of 3Par two weeks ago? -Paul
[2010-08-27 09:49:52] - Aaron: http://movies.ign.com/articles/109/1092647p1.html Human Centipede: The Game. -Paul
[2010-08-27 09:18:12] - Also, it's entirely possible I wouldn't just retire earlier, but instead might switch to a different job that I enjoyed more but might pay less. -Paul
[2010-08-27 09:10:02] - Daniel: I have no idea, but I have to imagine it would be some 20 years earlier if I had such a big head start on my nest egg. -Paul
[2010-08-26 16:51:14] - xpovos: so if i was financially set for life i'd probably code different stuff. maybe some sort of open source project or maybe just personal projects, but it would be cool to pick my own projects and not have to worry about them being lucrative - aaron
[2010-08-26 16:50:14] - xpovos: i agree, i really like programming. but i'd rather be programming for myself rather than for work. on days/weeks where i don't work, i often program at home - aaron
[2010-08-26 16:44:50] - xpovos: definitely not strange. if I had the 50mil now, I'd probably be doing something approximating my work now, maybe just less of it. I'd have to do a lot of thinking about what I want to do - vinnie
[2010-08-26 16:39:58] - Paul: How early do you think you could retire if you were given 1m today? -Daniel
[2010-08-26 16:30:25] - I could quit my job when I turned 50, at $50m, but I would have to work until I was 50 (another 20 years). $1m now might mean I wouldn't have to work for another 20 years before quitting my job. -Paul
[2010-08-26 16:23:39] - Strangely, I like working, and I find my job to be particularly satisfactory in regards to personal achievements. Also, I doubt I'd have that much more 'free' time if I stopped working. Wife and kids kind of kills that. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-26 16:13:59] - Mostly I want what will allow the most free time and the 1m doesn't seem to buy me more free time but the 50m means everything past 50 is free time and I plan on living long enough after 50 to make it worth the wait is the other part I guess. -Daniel
[2010-08-26 16:13:03] - with enough for retirement then perhaps the 1m now could win. -Daniel
[2010-08-26 16:12:52] - Paul: Mostly what Aaron said. With 1m I still have to work because I can't live off 1m for forever. I feel like I could wait till 50 then not have to worry about any money stuff again. I guess if I could work out somehow where I worked part time but supplemented my salary with the 1 mil so that my standard of living stayed the same / grew over time and still ended...
[2010-08-26 16:09:41] - Xpovos: True enough but I'm not sure that military strategy and homeland defense are common classes in public education
But yes I see your point that there are times where its educational and appropriate. -Daniel[2010-08-26 16:04:51] - paul: you can quit your job for $50m, you can't quit your job for $1m - aaron
[2010-08-26 15:52:30] - i think i'd buy a cessna and a sweet house. i guess that could be less than 1m. ~a
[2010-08-26 15:38:33] - Daniel: Oddly enough, I just don't see such a huge difference between $1m and $50m in terms of how it would affect my life. What can I do with $50m that I can't do with $1m? -Paul
[2010-08-26 15:37:38] - Daniel: I guess I just value time more than money. In this case, I think it's more important for me to have the money for longer (~50 years instead of ~20 years) rather than having more money for a shorter period of time. -Paul
[2010-08-26 15:36:22] - Daniel: Because the $1m would help to improve my life now. whereas the $50m wouldn't really start improving my life until I get to 50... and who knows how many more years I have then. -Paul
[2010-08-26 15:36:09] - Daniel: Which is why it depends on what the class is trying to teach. If it's history and culture, you're right. If it's military strategy, and homeland defense, I'm right. I definitely want my homeland defense 'experts' to have at least tried to 'walk in their shoes' for a bit. Know where the weak targets are to defend, or lure. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-26 15:23:07] - Xpovos: Its hard for me to see an time where its educationally important to actually pretend to plan the attack. I think it more important (and educationally more valuable) to talk about why its happening, what could / couldn't be done about it and things like that. -Daniel
[2010-08-26 15:17:59] - aaron: I run terrorist thought exercises a lot. But, I'll admit to being a bit weird when it comes to stuff like that. I think it's a useful lesson plan for certain kind of classes; though I can see it being insensitive. Sometimes education is. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-26 15:16:09] - a: With the added stipulations, definitely the $50M later. My estimate is only $6.25M required at projected retirement, so that's well in excess of that. I'd need $1.25M today. Also, as Daniel pointed out, I could stop saving, which would increase my utility now. (Substantially, actually) -- Xpovos
[2010-08-26 14:53:10] - a: maybe not a good bank, but there are tons of shitty companies that do things like "cash now for your structured settlement" and "cash now until payday" and stuff like that, i think you could find one as long as you were willing to settle for a super shitty interest rate - aaron
[2010-08-26 14:50:34] - daniel: sure thing. i'll bring a bunch and let you choose your favorite two. ~a
[2010-08-26 14:50:15] - hmmm, i doubt a bank would let you do this. banks don't just give out 30m loans with no collateral (or insufficiently large collateral). ~a
[2010-08-26 14:41:49] - a: If you could bring two SATA cables to poker on Friday that would be great
Hopefully then I can get the new machine up and running this weekend. -Daniel[2010-08-26 14:33:21] - aaron: I think that was my same thought. 1m isn't enough for me to just retire today and never have to work again. It would be enough to buy a house, pay off my studen loans, and get a good jump start on retirement. It would definitely be nice, but put against 50 million later where I could then pretty much do w/e I wanted in early retirement I think thats my choice. -D
[2010-08-26 14:30:22] - a: but either way i'd go with the $50m at $50. i know i'm spoiled but $1m just isn't a life-changing amount of money to me. it's not like i could quit my job or do whatever i wanted, i'd still need to think about my future and stuff. - aaron
[2010-08-26 14:29:02] - a: it's against the spirit of your question but couldn't you accept the "$50 at 50" deal... and then take out a 30-year loan out for the amount of $30m, using your eventual lump sum payment to pay back the loan? that way you get tons of money immediately... not a lot but at least more than $1m - aaron
[2010-08-26 14:21:28] - i was going to ask the same thing. the only reason to take the 1m now is to spend it. (or at least some) ~a
[2010-08-26 14:19:28] - Paul: If you are saving it why not take the 50mil since thats going to be like saving it but at a much better interest rate? -Daniel
[2010-08-26 14:09:39] - Inflation fears aside, i'd go for the 50 million at 50, since I don't really have a pressing need for a million dollars right now. - mig
[2010-08-26 14:06:03] - Daniel: Honestly, probably just save it, but there's always a chance I would blow it on some half-baked idea like purchasing a franchise. -Paul
[2010-08-26 13:54:01] - right i should l2 read. - mig
[2010-08-26 13:52:50] - or, if you'd prefer, assume for this scenario that you won't die by 50. ~a
[2010-08-26 13:52:01] - yeah daniel asked the same thing. lets just say if you die, then it goes to your next of kin or the person/people of your choice. ~a
[2010-08-26 13:48:58] - but anyways, I would actually have to know more about the stipulations on getting paid $50m at 50? What happens if you die beforehand, etc. - mig
[2010-08-26 13:46:13] - a: i'm thinking more of a hyperinflation scenario, but then again, I am a pessimist about such matters. - mig
[2010-08-26 13:42:10] - -Daniel
[2010-08-26 13:42:06] - Paul: what would you do with the 1m then?
[2010-08-26 13:40:46] - a: Also if I knew I was getting 50 million at 50 then I could stop saving for retirement completely which would boost my current income a good chunk. -Daniel
[2010-08-26 13:40:41] - $1m now. -Paul
[2010-08-26 13:38:57] - haha, i didn't even think of my family. i was mostly thinking of myself
~a[2010-08-26 13:37:50] - a: if I had to choose b/w a million now and 50 million then I would probably go with the 50 million if there was the stipulation that even if I died it would still go to my family / estate / whatever even if not until such a time as I would have been 50. 50 million could help my entire family while 1 million would help me buy a house in the dc metro area. -Daniel
[2010-08-26 13:37:04] - daniel: not an actual situation. i know lotteries in real life do weird payouts. in this situation, it's one lump sum now or at 50. ~a
[2010-08-26 13:36:18] - as a reference, for the past ten years, we've seen like 2%-3% inflation per year. the average historically is around 4% per year. ~a
[2010-08-26 13:36:06] - a: thats a tough call with such a big disparity... are you asking about actual lottey lump sums vs payouts over time or just a are you able to put off insta money now for a lot more in the future? -Daniel
[2010-08-26 13:30:31] - wow! very unlikely. 50^(1/20) is 22%. you think we'll see 22% inflation every year for 20 years? ~a
[2010-08-26 13:25:32] - a: that's a tough choice, since it's very possible that 50 million when i turn 50 might be worth less than 1 million today. - mig
[2010-08-26 13:23:20] - you have won the lottery. you get to pick between receiving $1m today, or $50m when you turn 50. what is your preference? ~a
[2010-08-26 10:34:18] - Stephen: Hehehe, nice joke.
-Paul[2010-08-26 10:33:23] - Any chance anybody has an RS-232 to USB adapter? -Paul
[2010-08-26 10:19:29] - stephen: heh yeah. i mean i somewhat agree with his point that it's lousy that a restaurant would open near his house and make his house smelly? but the extra points he tacked onto that basic argument just made his argument soooooo much weaker - aaron
[2010-08-26 10:09:29] - aaron: I just find it weird that a white person claiming to be African-American says that a barbecue restaurant in the City of Alexandria would be full of conservatives and form a hostile environment for black people. Since when are there conservatives in Alexandria? - Stephen
[2010-08-26 09:38:03] - http://www.newser.com/article/d9hqbp3g0/australian-teacher-assigns-students-to-plan-a-terrorist-attack-to-kill-as-many-as-possible.html australian teacher gives students an assignment to plan a terrorist attack - aaron
[2010-08-26 09:37:43] - stephen: how culturally insensitive of you! - aaron
[2010-08-26 08:40:42] - msg board: Thanks! - Stephen
[2010-08-26 08:40:36] - This is just all kinds of messed up: http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=343722&paper=59&cat=104 - Stephen
[2010-08-25 15:03:43] - a: Thanks! Well, I'll try again next year. Catch you all later. =} - Kaleb
[2010-08-25 14:33:56] - Paul: I'd be interested. -Daniel
[2010-08-25 11:32:47] - I can plan poker for this friday, if enough people are interested. I was holding off because I thought I might be busy but it's looking like I will be free. -Paul
[2010-08-25 11:15:22] - a: The link agrees, in the sense that it's an effort to make peace between two non-warring camps. I think their real pressure is an effort to eradicate creationism as a line of thought, even among those who do reject science. That's a mission set-up for failure. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-25 10:50:20] - daniel/aaron: sent email about ultimate. note the time change. ~a
[2010-08-25 10:22:06] - daniel: i haven't heard anything either but i hope we're doing ultimate on sunday - aaron
[2010-08-25 09:07:49] - Are ultimate or poker happening this weekend? I haven't seen any emails about either one. -Daniel
[2010-08-24 23:29:46] - a: Yeah I think I can handle that, I looked at BestBuy just to see and they are $20 per there. -Daniel
[2010-08-24 22:48:45] - daniel: i have like seven extra sata cables. motherboards and drives i buy always give me a bunch. if you can wait until the weekend, i can bring them to poker and/or ultimate (assuming either of them happen). ~a
[2010-08-24 22:42:43] - xpovos: yeah i totally agree. and so does the link, right? but i'm guessing that a lot of people disagree. ~a
[2010-08-24 22:39:54] - got all the way to the end of building my computer and realized for my 3 sata drives (2 hdd and 1 optical) I had one sata cable. So close... -Daniel
[2010-08-24 21:55:09] - Science and religion aren't really enemies... -- Xpovos
[2010-08-24 21:19:02] - "we the undersigned, christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. we believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests." nice ~a
[2010-08-24 14:27:15] - kaleb: aw, lame! well i'll have to let you know what you're missing. that is assuming that weekend i'm not otherwise busy snowboarding or attending a wedding. ~a
[2010-08-24 14:04:58] - daniel: wow i can't believe he survived the crash too - aaron
[2010-08-24 13:05:52] - http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/video%3A-i-675-crash-caught-on-tape Yikes! -Daniel
[2010-08-23 18:19:27] - will be saving my money for school. Going back to college to get a BS in Music Composition. Currently working on getting into Cogswell in Sunnyvale, CA. - Kaleb
[2010-08-23 18:18:09] - I won't be going to MAGFest in Jan 2011 as planned before. Instead I
[2010-08-23 11:57:09] - no, you'll understand when you're younger. ~a
[2010-08-23 11:45:15] - xpovos: heh heh that was pretty great. but what was with the screw, the bone, and the two hands? is that one of those things i'll understand when i'm older? - aaron
[2010-08-23 10:10:36] - Xpovos: Thanks! I thought I remembered it being taken so I thought I had to make some variation. Apparently that was all just in my head. -Daniel
[2010-08-23 10:07:11] - So, yes, exactly as you had it. Your team name is Brawlers. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-23 10:06:24] - Daniel: mrc1ark. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-23 10:04:51] - Paul: (or someone else in that TJ & Friends FF league) can you look at the yahoo user ids for people in the league and see which one looks like mrc1ark or something close to that? Apparently I can't remember the yahoo id I created
-Daniel[2010-08-23 09:27:54] - xpovos: haha that was well done - vinnie
[2010-08-22 17:25:22] - a: I laughed hard at that one myself, because it's damn true. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-22 13:40:24] - "are you done having sex with other people?"
that was an unexpected follow up question. ~a[2010-08-21 11:20:45] - Can We Date Also works for 'should' some times. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-20 14:14:41] - yeah hahah. it does. ~a
[2010-08-20 13:46:44] - a: ha! it reminds me a lot of sound effects from robotron - aaron
[2010-08-20 13:40:27] - me neither. ~a
[2010-08-20 13:35:25] - I had never heard of the gnome sort before. -Paul
[2010-08-20 13:26:42] - my favorites in the video are merge sort and heap sort (heap sort is the second video). ~a
[2010-08-20 13:26:02] - sorting algorithms with sound! i thought this was going to be really dumb and useless, but i was very surprised by the results. it's neat and it actually makes these algorithms a little easier to understand (if you kind of understand them now). ~a
[2010-08-20 11:10:44] - http://tv.ign.com/objects/066/066525.html Apparently the Kids in the Hall are doing an 8 episode TV show on cable soon. -Paul
[2010-08-19 18:27:30] - Don't ignore the placebo effect in audio perception. Placebos have been proven to work, and it has also been shown that higher priced placebos are more effective.
[2010-08-19 14:00:50] - Daniel: QC is fun. Girl Genius is a (very) long running steam-punk, fantasy, mad-science comic. Without giving much away, the main character, Agatha, goes on a journey of discovery about her origins while becoming entangled in a complex political environment based on a fantasy-feudal Europe. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-19 13:47:12] - Xpovos: I read questionablecontent.net but I would try a new webcomic. Whats girl genius about? -Daniel
[2010-08-19 13:42:29] - Does anyone here read "Girl Genius" I've been going through the archives for the past two months or so.. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090706 -- Xpovos
[2010-08-19 13:02:35] - daniel: "ultimate people", i like that. it makes me feel mighty - aaron
[2010-08-19 11:46:37] - ultimate_people: where was this weather yesterday!? -Daniel
[2010-08-19 11:13:44] - i'm going to go ahead and cast my vote for shake weight for men, that thing is great. i gained some respect for it when i learned it wasn't battery operated. it still looks just... awesome - aaron
[2010-08-19 11:13:01] - http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2011470,00.html 25 best (worst?) infomercials - aaron
[2010-08-19 09:25:33] - Daniel: I've built computers, the processor was the new bit for me then too, and it was OK, read the directions a few times first, and be careful with any thermal glues you need to use. Otherwise, it's snap-in for the most part too. I'm a fan of Windows7, in general. My caveats are basically gurkie's. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-19 08:08:32] - mig: heh heh the photoshop isn't that bad, except that the shot of dorothy looks like it was taken indoors - aaron
[2010-08-18 17:44:42] - http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/No-poorly-Photoshopped-Nick-Saban-does-not-supp?urn=ncaaf-263306 how sad. - mig
[2010-08-18 16:47:36] - ultimate_people: too much rain in the vienna area (this morning and again right now). no games today.
~a[2010-08-18 16:46:15] - And I'm not sure I would really notice otherwise, but horray for a functioning 64-bit OS, i guess. - mig
[2010-08-18 16:43:32] - The biggest drawback I see with Windows 7 is things are no longer where I expect them to be. I have had to google a couple of the settings to figure out where I go to update them which is a nuisance but I just assume its part of a learning curve. Also I havee only had it for like 2 weeks.~gurkie
[2010-08-18 16:42:49] - daniel: I would have to say windows 7 is a vast improvement from vista (not saying much), and I have had a much better time with it than XP, with some caveats. - mig
[2010-08-18 16:38:40] - -Daniel
[2010-08-18 16:38:37] - as an addendum to my earlier question who already uses windows 7? any drawbacks or all good things?
[2010-08-18 14:05:40] - that's very weird that a spectator could change the game. you'd think they'd have special code to make sure spectators were read-only when it comes to game data. crazy. ~a
[2010-08-18 13:49:57] - at first i thought it was a bad bnet connection and the commentators were just trying to ignore it? but then one of the players typed something like "friedman376 leave now" and the guy left and then the jitter was resolved. so i think it was just a spectator dragging down the game - aaron
[2010-08-18 13:48:22] - mig: i watched a handful of games between some guy "Madfrog" and... some other guy on blizzard's site - and in one of the games, it kept jittering ever 20 seconds. it looked like they were having some problems with one of the spectators though - not necessarily a bad bnet connection - aaron
[2010-08-18 13:47:26] - mig: not sure ill ask him later. ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 13:43:34] - aaron: yeah that's been a concern for tourney organizers ever since blizz said "There will be no lan support for sc2". I haven't heard of any major in person tournaments until this one, so I can't say whether it's really been an issue. - mig
[2010-08-18 13:37:53] - mig: oh okay. my only gripe is that i think these supposed "lan games" will be impaired by shitty internet. if they lose internet in the middle of a game or if they start having 500 ms ping times (maybe their ISP is overloaded) then their game performance will decrease. it may not be true? but i don't know that's my understanding - aaron
[2010-08-18 13:23:40] - gurkie: what is his bnet name? maybe i have played him? - mig
[2010-08-18 13:10:13] - aaron: actually I should clarify, what i'm saying is their LAN is sharing an internet connection most likely, so technically, the LAN is being used. - mig
[2010-08-18 13:08:51] - our computers are hooked up to the same network, but bnet is able to differentiate between us. - mig
[2010-08-18 13:07:36] - aaron: i don't know, but paul and I can play games at the same time just fine. - mig
[2010-08-18 13:02:19] - mig: how do you tell your machines to connect to eachother? it's not like you can key in IP addresses or anything. if blizzard is doing the matchmaking how do they tell your computers to connect over a network that blizzard possibly knows nothing about? i'm not saying you're wrong i'm just confused how this could work architecturally - aaron
[2010-08-18 13:01:00] - ah k... yea im not up on the details the guy who said it is apparently in the diamond? league... ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 12:59:42] - so you can technically play on a LAN right now, but the LAN has to be able to connect to blizzard's servers to actually start multiplayer games. - mig
[2010-08-18 12:59:10] - gurkie: well it's nitpicky all i'm saying is they're not playing on a lan. it would be kind of like reading "minesweeper lan tournament" and you'd probably think - wait? you can't play minesweeper over a lan. but they're not actually using the lan to play starcraft - aaron
[2010-08-18 12:58:35] - gurkie: all multiplayer games have to go through blizzard's server on battle.net, at least currently. Blizz has said they are eventually going to release a patch "to address the concerns of lan tournament organizers" but haven't really spelled out what they actually will do. - mig
[2010-08-18 12:54:04] - aaron: I think Id need to be educated... but I thought it was a tournament over a LAN connection playing SC2... Hmm that link appears to show the details... ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 12:43:57] - oh i think i get it. they have a LAN, and they have a starcraft tournament, and if you pay money you get access to both. kind of like a starcraft 2 vodka tournament - aaron
[2010-08-18 12:42:41] - gurkie: isn't SC2 LAN tournament an oxymoron? - aaron
[2010-08-18 12:23:15] - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=141899¤tPage=All
[2010-08-18 12:13:08] - a: I wont be playing
but I overheard it at work and thought some of you might be interested. ~gurkie[2010-08-18 12:12:16] -
i'll be out of town. ~a[2010-08-18 12:10:56] - Apparently there is a SC2 LAN tournament in Fairfax on Sept 25th... ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 12:01:20] - I looked at one of the free services to register your site, it wanted waaaay too much information about me so I closed the link ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 11:56:20] - google's suggestions ~a
[2010-08-18 11:53:43] - "free services to register your website may hurt you" . . . interesting. ~a
[2010-08-18 11:51:46] - 2. have something useful that people care about. 3. have a page that is easily consumable by search engines. 4. read about seo and sites that talk about it ~a
[2010-08-18 11:45:39] - gurkie: i think google mines facebook/twitter/wikipedia RSS feeds for URLs too. while i wouldn't advise spamming wikipedia with your web page, it's worth mentioning that yeah, just putting the word out on social media sites might help google decide to index your site sooner - aaron
[2010-08-18 11:41:32] - a: k, I already suggested my mom do that. Its her site... ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 11:32:39] - get links added from other related sites. ~a
[2010-08-18 11:30:40] - Who has tips for me on getting a website listed on search engines? I submitted to google, and I googled submitting -> it mentioned having links on other pages so that the web crawlers will find you... They also mentioned that it can take 6 weeks. Any ideas on speeding that up? ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 11:30:39] - yeah. and there are other benefits too. you end up with a much better computer for the same amount of money. ~a
[2010-08-18 11:14:59] - a: Well the parts are already ordered so that parts to late
I think if nothing else it will be educational and my current computer still runs so its not a disaster if I run into trouble and it takes longer to figure out. -Daniel[2010-08-18 11:03:46] - i build my own computer in 2005 and 2009. it's not easy; i've always had problems doing it myself. i don't know if it's something i'd recommend. ~a
[2010-08-18 11:00:09] - daniel: all my computers have been built from scratch, though I haven't done the building personally myself for the more recent ones. - mgi
[2010-08-18 10:58:56] - Daniel: I built my own computer for college (around 1999) and a new one right after I graduated (2003). I just bought a new computer (2010) which I got assembled by a third party (Digital Storm). -Paul
[2010-08-18 10:51:43] - Paul: its all interesting but I dont know whose page I am viewing... ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 10:43:38] - How many people here built their own computers? I just ordered all the parts for one but haven't put one together by myself before ( I had a friend help/do parts of it in college once). Mostly I'm not sure about the installing the cpu part of it since RAM / video card stuff I've done before. -Daniel
[2010-08-18 10:41:39] - aaron: gotta love an overexpansive and overly broad intereperation of the commerce clause, yay! - mig
[2010-08-18 10:35:02] - Gurkie: Hehe, that's pretty good. I especially liked the USSR's "wtf, you can't sleep here!" and Germany's "too bad, still coming..." along with the USA sending the fat man and little boy gifts. -paul
[2010-08-18 10:26:37] - yay a summary I understand http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1802364 ~gurkie
[2010-08-18 10:22:06] - vinnie: oh, good catch. that's a sad precedent. wah. - aaron
[2010-08-18 09:45:47] - aaron: in the update at the bottom of that article they mention that the FCC already mandated DTV tuners in digital televisions - vinnie
[2010-08-18 09:34:53] - a: because while it's not the most important aspect of the "fm tuner" proposal, i mean, one big issue is that super-small devices might just not have room. so it would make things like ipod shuffles and pacemakers illegal in the US (well, depending on how far they try to stretch the definition of portable electronics) - aaron
[2010-08-18 09:33:24] - a: i was thinking more about enforcing physical restrictions not software ones, but you're right that's kind of similar. i was thinking more like, the government passing a law that was like, "if you sell a hamburger it has to have mayonnaise". or, "if you sell a child safety seat it has to have a parachute." - aaron
[2010-08-18 09:12:15] - aaron: "i can't think of the last time they did anything even close" oh? what about the dmca? anyways, the fcc does stuff like this all the time. the fcc mandated that you weren't allowed to create a DVR that ignored the broadcast flag. ...until the courts stepped in. ~a
[2010-08-17 20:29:11] - a: oh or actually it's probably a US law that cars adhere to certain safety standards, i think seat belts and airbags are mandatory for any cars sold in the US. that might be something kind of in the ballpark. i guess they could make the "public safety announcement" kind of argument and get it to pass. i just really don't think it'll happen - aaron
[2010-08-17 20:27:23] - a: i can't imagine the government would do that, i can't think of the last time they did anything even close. the closest thing i can come up with is the UK mandating that windows come prepackaged with like a dozen competitors to IE but that wasn't even in america - aaron
[2010-08-17 18:03:45] - aaron: i don't think the government should be mandating FM chips being put into cell phones. (i love the buggy-whip analogy) what's more, i don't think lobbyists should be able to put so much money into the wallets of legislators. ~a
[2010-08-17 17:35:29] - I think I had one teacher per year (at most I had two) until around 6th or 7th grade... when I think I had four a year. -Paul
[2010-08-17 17:29:00] - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/radio-riaa-mandatory-fm-radio-in-cell-phones-is-the-future.ars music + radio broadcasters want congress to mandate that FM radio receivers be built into cell phones, PDAs, and other portable electronics - aaron
[2010-08-17 16:42:30] - xpovos: you weren't the odd man out. in annandale i had one teacher per year (with a few exceptions) until 7th grade. ~a
[2010-08-17 15:23:30] - yea I had a computer teacher in first grade, along with a french teacher, japanese teacher, english teacher... And honestly I dont remember all of them but I assume we had one per subject + home room. ~gurkie
[2010-08-17 15:12:50] - xpovos: terraset elementary started experimenting with that "multiple teachers in elementary school" idea in like 1990, 1991, and i thought it was pretty cool. they had a really awesome math teacher who kind of changed my life. he wouldn't have been my math teacher if we hadn't shuffled around. - aaron
[2010-08-17 15:02:00] - I guess if people already had that, I was the odd man out. I had one teacher (total) per year up until 6th grade. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-17 15:01:25] - No, I meant different teachers for different subjects. But I guess you could expand upon that to different teachers within the school year too... -- Xpovos
[2010-08-17 14:48:07] - aaron: Yeah we would go to one classroom for math, one for english, one for other stuff that I dont remember. It was the same 3 teachers all year but we would rotate around each day or so. -Daniel
[2010-08-17 14:34:57] - daniel: i think xpovos is suggesting that in november, you get a new teacher; and then in february you get a new teacher again... so that you're less penalized if there's one terrible teacher. but they'd all teach the same subject. i think you're more talking about having a math teacher in elementary school right? - aaron
[2010-08-17 14:07:27] - groups of 3*
[2010-08-17 14:04:43] - I had different teachers for different things in elementary school. We had groups or 3 (i think, long time ago) teachers that would rotate their students around for different subjects. So its possible to do but perhaps just not widespread. -Daniel
[2010-08-17 14:01:53] - you know, kind of like the first 2 weeks of the seventh grade when everyone has to learn basic geometry - just because two out-of-state kids didn't have it in their sixth grade curriculum. only, it would be happening every 3 months. i mean, maybe it would be no big deal. it would certainly be a cool compromise for the pathological "one good teacher" case - aaron
[2010-08-17 13:58:31] - xpovos: well, to be less absurd, most literature teachers like some books more than others. i guess it might encourage a more diverse curriculum; but it also might encourage teachers to only teach things at a "lowest common denominator level" which would be guaranteed to apply to everybody regardless of background. that might be bad. - aaron
[2010-08-17 13:40:29] - aaron: If that is "restrictive to the teacher's curriculum" is the biggest obstacle, I'm pretty sure this is a good plan, then. Specifically, I don't think any grammar school student will be reading the complete works of Chaucer--and the high school students are already rotating, as I noted. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-17 13:37:05] - xpovos: it might be restrictive for teachers to have to synchronize their curriculum. particularly for literature classes where there's no set curriculum; if one particular teacher wanted their students to spend 8 months reading the complete works of chaucer, for example - aaron
[2010-08-17 13:25:32] - I liked a lot of the discussion about disclosure of information re: teachers. But why do we expect that our children will be taught by only one teacher in a year? That's not true for any child except in grammar school, basically. So--why is it true there? Why not rotate teachers, while attempting to improve the overall teacher stock simultaneously? -- Xpovos
[2010-08-17 13:20:09] - aaron: Standardized tests clearly aren't a perfect tool, I don't think they're supposed to be. But that doesn't mean we can just ignore them. It may not tell us everything; but it certainly tells us something. And I wonder if the lack of defensive teachers was a selection thing, or if they really are that willing to accept correction. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-17 12:51:15] - Mig: I agree about teacher's unions. They are hard for politicians to go against and they operate on the teacher's best interests and not the students. The students get the short end of the stick then. -Daniel
[2010-08-17 12:47:54] - xpovos: i agree with all your points! i thought it was cool that the teachers weren't defensive about it. and yeah the first thing i said after reading the article was that a lot of people shoot down standardized testing without coming up with a viable alternative. i don't think tests are a perfect answer but it's hard to think of something better - aaron
[2010-08-17 12:47:30] - paul: the rubber rooms in NYC are probably the most ludicrous display of the power they wield. - mig
[2010-08-17 12:46:36] - paul: it's not like they don't try, but unfortunately, teacher's unions wield incredible amounts of power, and are quite influencial politically. - mig
[2010-08-17 12:45:40] - mig: Possibly true. I just wish I saw schools fighting the unions harder over it. -Paul
[2010-08-17 12:36:26] - Comment of the win: ["You're leading people in a dangerous direction, making it seem like you can judge the quality of a teacher by … a test," said A.J. Duffy]. vs. the fact that teachers generally do and are often required to judge their students based on tests. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-17 12:34:26] - paul: i think most schools are indeed very much interested in promoting good teachers and firing bad ones. it's the unions that are deadset against it. - mig
[2010-08-17 12:31:15] - Personally, I enjoyed a lot of the anecdotal bits in the article. The 'bad' teachers (interviewed) were chagrined they were bad and wanted to see the data and find out why they were bad. That doesn't imply they could fix it, but it's a good sign on an individual level. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-17 12:29:58] - Yay! Busy topic. Everyone was talking while I was off training. Blah. -- Xpovos
[2010-08-17 12:07:57] - I think Amrit's school was merit based on timeslots, I dont know if ours was... ~gurkie
[2010-08-17 12:07:38] - Just because parents might not have complete freedom to have their kids taught by "good" teachers doesn't mean the information wouldn't be useful to them. -Paul
[2010-08-17 12:07:37] - aaron: our school gave us timeslots based on names I believe where we had a chance to sign up for all the classes we wanted. Good time slot = good classes, bad time slot = well that sucks. ~gurkie
[2010-08-17 12:06:11] - I still don't think that's a compelling reason to intentionally keep this stuff secret, though. If the data is there, I think parents should have it. Maybe they can't transfer their kid into a class with a "good" teacher, but maybe they decide to send their kid to private school or get him a tutor or send him to summer school to make up for it. -Paul
[2010-08-17 12:05:59] - vinnie: the school my mom used to work at charged more for specific teachers. ~gurkie
[2010-08-17 12:05:06] - vinnie: i kind of forget how that used to work back at tech. didn't everybody put in their initial requests for which classes they wanted, some of them got bumped out, and from then on it was a "first in wins" scenario? with just a little bit of nerfing afterwards at the discretion of the faculty? - aaron
[2010-08-17 12:04:27] - I'll agree that in our current system, where parents have no control over the teachers their children get in public schools (and the schools themselves seem to not be interested in promoting/firing based on the data), releasing the data might not help out that much. -Paul
[2010-08-17 11:54:18] - now that I'm thinking about it, maybe a system like applying for college classes might work for public schools. the parents who are most interested in their children getting the best teachers sign up at the right time to get the best teachers? would that cause a lot of anger, for the people who weren't able to get the teacher they wanted? - vinnie
[2010-08-17 11:52:19] - vinnie: "surely you can't put a price on your son's education!" "yeah, i wouldn't have thought so but... here we are" - aaron
[2010-08-17 11:47:27] - daniel: yeah, that's where i think (maybe the current system even works this way?) that students can only switch teachers if another student in another class is willing to switch. i think that's an OK system that won't punish anybody. could create a black market for good teachers though
- aaron[2010-08-17 11:46:50] - I could see a private school that charges different amounts for different teachers, where they reveal teacher's scores to the public, working out. I'm not aware of a private school like that - vinnie
[2010-08-17 11:46:25] - maybe it's just like, an etiquette thing. like how fuddruckers doesn't tell you how much fat is in their 1 pound burger, or how grey goose doesn't tell you how much calories are in a shot of vodka. schools shouldn't reveal teacher-specific information to parents because it's mean - aaron
[2010-08-17 11:45:29] - inevitably one teacher will be the best and everyone will want that teacher. it doesn't seem like it's in a school's best interest, public or private, to reveal that kind of data. it is almost certainly in their best interest to use that data internally though - vinnie
[2010-08-17 11:45:28] - If they aren't allowed to switch out from bad teachers but are told to try and compensate or something then maybe. -Daniel
[2010-08-17 11:45:10] - Paul: I think the idea of parents choosing good teachers is ok its just that the implementation doesn't work out for me. I'm starting I guess with the assumption that some students are going to get stuck with the bad teacher. If the parents know this and are allowed to try and switch their students doesn't that create a problem where they all want out? -Daniel
[2010-08-17 11:44:20] - paul: a part of me things like, what if someone's parent happened to be the principal at the school? isn't it unfair that they would know which teacher to pick? or what if someone hacked into the school's computers and got the information. - aaron
[2010-08-17 11:43:55] - since the parents don't have a choice in the matter. I think it'll just cause demands that can't be met - vinnie
[2010-08-17 11:43:32] - paul: I agree that it would be useful for parents to see how schools perform compared to each other so that they can pick the best school for their child. it also makes the schools more competitive to be good. but as far as revealing how teachers compare against one another, I don't think that's good for a school to reveal...
[2010-08-17 11:43:09] - paul: i know, it's kind of a weird argument that we should withold information from parents. i'm still trying to figure it out myself. i definitely don't think we should give parents all the information and full freedom of choice because that would be chaotic. but, maybe just restricting their freedom of choice is enough. - aaron
[2010-08-17 11:32:51] - Gurkie: Ah, ok. So if you're relying on public schools, then you should just resign yourself to the fact that your kid might have a crappy teacher and there is nothing you can do about it?
-Paul[2010-08-17 11:31:34] - also I am glad my parents would want to ensure I had the good teachers at school, however they put me in private school there werent choices on teachers really.... there was one 8th grade class I was in it. Once we got to TJ yea I changed my schedule around a lot to get teachers that were supposed to be good, and I did the same in college ~gurkie
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