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[2010-10-25 13:17:41] - pierce: well, it's not about doing more than one thing at a time. Issuing reports and passing resolutions are things that take time and resources. Resources that could perhaps be used in more productive ways. - mig
[2010-10-25 13:12:07] - xpovos: meanwhile, "black people have other problems to worry about" implies that the NAACP is only capable of working towards one thing at a time. How does Jason Riley find time to rail against the NAACP when there are children starving in Africa? - pierce
[2010-10-25 13:07:05] - xpovos: it's exactly like a million other articles that deign to tell the NAACP what its own priorities should be. which is fine, but "the tea party is about limited government and isn't intrinsically racist" is hardly the settled argument this editorial pretends it is. - pierce
[2010-10-25 12:19:16] - Editorial from the WSJ. Now owned by Murdoch, so we can see them going more conservative. But, any discussion? -- Xpovos
[2010-10-25 11:37:03] - Sunuvabitch. Also: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-25/obama-excitement-wanes-as-young-voters-tune-out-to-leave-democrats-vexed.html -- Xpovos
[2010-10-25 11:36:41] - OK, now I get it. What was the frame of reference the let other people figure it out first? -- Xpvoos
[2010-10-25 11:17:59] - yeah that one doesn't remotely make any sense other than than making it sound someone phonetically similar to the original. Then again, Walter was kind of crazy. - mig
[2010-10-25 09:41:42] - a: I think we used to quote that, having seen it on TV. definitely one of the weirder censorings I've seen - vinnie
[2010-10-25 09:22:16] - http://pc.ign.com/articles/113/1130198p1.html These stats sound a lot different from the ones I read before on Battle.net -Paul
[2010-10-23 03:15:15] - title: i just got it. nice. ~a
[2010-10-22 14:45:27] - aaron: S'ok. Cool stuff, none-the-less. I've built some impressive workarounds for the projects I've wanted to have. I've nested IF loops as deep as Excel will allow... -- Xpovos
[2010-10-22 13:50:13] - oh sorry, a lot of his solutions use VB too. i thought he was only using excel - aaron
[2010-10-22 13:45:11] - xpovos: but if you're talking about the former, this guy has been taking on "project euler" in excel which might help you figure out some insane ways to use excel to implement the equivalent of a for loop - aaron
[2010-10-22 13:43:33] - xpovos: on second thought i'm pretty sure you mean like, "edit a bunch of cells" and not, "calculate this value based on these other values" in which case i totally missed the point - aaron
[2010-10-22 13:41:47] - xpovos: aren't excel spreadsheets turing complete? i'd be surprised if they aren't. assuming they are, you can use a for/while loop it would just be cumbersome - aaron
[2010-10-22 13:38:12] - I really wish I could use FOR or WHILE loops in Excel without needing to write a macro. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-21 14:25:12] - Oh... that kind of casting. 'casting (broad/pod) casting. Not "I'm going to cast a spell" casting. Like watch me cast Psionic Storm on this pack of Mutas. Makes much more sense now. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-21 14:14:34] - xpovos: yeah that's how husky starts all of his casts, something like "H to the Usky Husky up here and i'm going to be casting the last pro-level 2 versus 2 in this replay pack," and he ends all his casts with a similar line - aaron
[2010-10-21 14:10:47] - aaron: Well, if it's any consolation to the deaf/hearing impared, neither the original nor the scrambled makes any sense. "H to the usky husky"? -- Xpovos
[2010-10-21 14:04:24] - xpovos: example: "however this is eight to the sp up here!" (H to the usky husky?) "and i'm going to be casting it be less perot that'll tissue overseas hugo's" (and i'm going to be casting the last 2v2...) - aaron
[2010-10-21 14:00:06] - haha my numbers are way off but you get my point - vinnie
[2010-10-21 13:59:22] - a: maybe they tailor national ads for time zones but wouldn't those be "16 if you live in what used to be eastern or central, 17 for mountain, 18 for pacific, 19 for alaskan, 20 for hawaii?" - vinnie
[2010-10-21 13:35:47] - xpovos: ha ha yeah, for a laugh i've watched a few starcraft videos with CC turned on, it's usually funny - aaron
[2010-10-21 13:35:26] - i don't think i like "human time". i'm not sure why you need two systems where one is just fine. in vinnie's example, i'm pretty sure TV schedules would cope. instead of "8pm, 7 central". it would just be "16". in many ways it would be easier. ~a
[2010-10-21 12:53:17] - Here's an example. http://www.youtube.com/v/bLpkjtWuPs8 Also, interesting in it's own right. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-21 12:43:30] - New to me: YouTube has a closed captioned feature on at least some of their videos. Awesome. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-21 11:30:23] - aaron: heh. that would be a very interesting system - vinnie
[2010-10-21 11:28:58] - aaron: I agree with all of that. before the internet and such massive globalization, the need for UTC really wasn't that high. the way the world is moving, a permanent switch to UTC may become more and more useful - vinnie
[2010-10-21 11:25:25] - vinnie: so like maybe the "human time" clock is like, on a 6 hour clock, and we don't use a colon, so times would be like "2.5 nighttime" or "3.25 morningtime" or something like that. just something insane looking to resolve the problem of having two widely used time zones in use at the same time - aaron
[2010-10-21 11:24:00] - vinnie: but yeah i agree about the practicality of "human time". what would be super-unconfusing would be if it were blatantly different. nobody confuses "7 dollars" with "7 cents" because the numbers are always expressed in a radically different way. I'd like to see something similar for UTC and "human time" - aaron
[2010-10-21 11:22:06] - vinnie: for some TV shows, and some time zones, yeah. stuff like the world cup is exempt. and honestly so much of the world is moving towards "TV on demand" that i bet in 10 years, the TV time zone argument will be moot - aaron
[2010-10-21 11:13:58] - the reason I'm hesitant about switching everyone to UTC is that there are things that are useful to keep time zones for. for instance, showing television programs in the evening. we'd have to keep our time zones so that different parts of the country see their shows around the same times of day? hopefully that makes sense, I had trouble describing that - vinnie
[2010-10-21 11:06:43] - aaron: it was much longer ago than that and was helped by the fact that the system they had in place wasn't widely followed. it's a comparable change but I don't think as severe as a switch to UTC. metric measurements don't come up as often in real life for the average person as time does - vinnie
[2010-10-21 10:04:58] - aaron, plssss reply to the *ultimate* email. we need a few more people for a game. someone yell ultimate things at wes and jeff too. ~a
[2010-10-21 09:57:21] - i think they just like - had some sort of law like you described, a short period of time mandating that scales couldn't show "pounds" unless they also showed "kilograms" and stuff like that - aaron
[2010-10-21 09:55:41] - vinnie: didn't india switch to the metric system like 15 years ago? that was a pretty huge change, and iirc had like 2 years of upheaval but they got over it. i think it would be a comparable change - aaron
[2010-10-21 09:30:25] - I'd propose promoting UTC alongside local time, maybe pass a law mandating that clocks always show both? that's probably not a good idea, but if more people were used to the idea of UTC, they could use it when it mattered - vinnie
[2010-10-21 09:29:17] - a: we've had this debate before and Paul took your side. there would be a TON of adjusting people would need to do, and probably a lot of problems at first. the fact that we still use DST seems to suggest that having the time be more relative can help, as well - vinnie
[2010-10-21 08:20:30] - well not every time but lots of the time
[2010-10-21 08:16:35] - no it's not just a single adjustment. you have to adjust every time you communicate with people outside of your timezone. ~a
[2010-10-21 03:50:57] - on the other hand, it's somewhat useful to know that no matter where in the world you are, 7am is morning and 7pm is evening. if you traveled for business a lot, it might be harder to keep track of when the day starts in a timezoneless world than it is to make the single adjustment of a time zone. - pierce
[2010-10-20 21:26:03] - Paul: If you have a direct flight, you land at roughly the same time as when you departed. It's the day that will never end. - Stephen
[2010-10-20 19:16:50] - time zones ARE hard. we should get rid of them imo. i'm surprised that politicians and businessmen (who both travel time-zones a lot and hold all the power in our society) haven't started a UTC revolution. ~a
[2010-10-20 19:08:16] - a: I believe our flight leaves Japan on the 29th, but it's a 13 hour flight, so we might not be getting back to the US until the 30th, although Japan is 13 hours off, so maybe we'll arrive the same day and time we leave? Time zones are hard. -Paul
[2010-10-20 17:50:34] - can we buy tickets at the non-discounted price? i'm guessing people will be less interested though so maybe never mind. ~a
[2010-10-20 17:42:45] -
~a[2010-10-20 17:11:51] - frick. nevermind, we underestimated the popularity and now the date we'd bought coupons for is sold out. sorry folks, disregard. - pierce
[2010-10-20 14:37:57] - pierce: in. ~a
[2010-10-20 14:23:19] - pierce: That looks epic! -- Xpovos
[2010-10-20 14:12:24] - hey, violent people: is anyone interested in clay pigeon shooting and scotch tasting for $80? here's the link. - pierce
[2010-10-20 13:56:16] - l
[2010-10-20 13:56:13] - bummer. -Danie
[2010-10-20 13:24:38] - daniel: i believe same make and model. - mig
[2010-10-20 13:21:51] - for sli stuff do the two cards have to be the same? -Daniel
[2010-10-20 13:05:49] - so I will be upgrading my video cards very soonish (again), if anyone is interested in either 1 or 2 nvidia gtx 275 cards, let me know. For performance reference those cards can run sc2 at 1920x1200 with all the settings cranked up. - mig
[2010-10-20 12:12:14] - a: I thought it was 10/29. Paul and Gurkie are supposed to be in town for all of the Halloween weekend, but they thought they'd be too jet-lagged to be social. - Stephen
[2010-10-20 12:10:09] - a: I believe he's coming back sometime between 10/29 and early nov. not sure of the exact date. - mig
[2010-10-20 11:48:19] - just curious (for ultimate related reasons), when does paul get back in town? ~a
[2010-10-20 09:22:04] - i guess that's cool. i don't know anybody personally with an article on wikipedia. i don't think. ~a
[2010-10-20 09:20:59] - awwww, i think you're a stalker too. ~a
[2010-10-19 23:00:35] - a: Most obvious is my bosses' boss: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Loverde, I also communicate with some authors, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Wright_(author), or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Watt-Evans, though the former would know me (if only by my handle) and the latter might think I was a stalker. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-19 16:53:28] - xpovos: who do you know on wikipedia? ~a
[2010-10-19 16:44:31] - Daniel: hahaha I forgot that "Boobie's" real name was Daniel. I'll have to start calling you "Boobie" too - vinnie
[2010-10-19 15:49:34] - xpovos: nickname doesn't really work for a girl - aaron
[2010-10-19 15:43:42] - Sadly, as far as I can tell, her nickname is not "Boobie". -- Xpovos
[2010-10-19 15:42:12] - Hey, I have a basketball player named after me, too! Mostly. She plays for the Sparks. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-19 15:36:48] - Reminds me of Friday Night Lights -- Xpovos
[2010-10-19 15:26:15] - Xpovos: Yeah I was excited there was an nba player with my same name. Its fun to cheer for him. However its was pretty sad for me when I discovered the disaster of a nickname he has. -Daniel
[2010-10-19 15:13:39] - Daniel: "His nickname, "Boobie," was given to him by his mother." Poor guy. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-19 15:08:53] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gibson I'm almost that guy. By almost I mean born in the same city with the same name. -Daniel
[2010-10-19 14:51:21] - I know I know people who are in Wikipedia, but mostly indirectly, or less closely/formally. So, I'm two degrees from notable? -- Xpovos
[2010-10-19 14:20:37] - except that's actually my friend's dad. i.e. not just his name. ~a
[2010-10-19 14:13:56] - nm it got deleted. I guess I'm not as notable as I think I am
- vinnie[2010-10-19 14:13:23] - a: psh so do I Vinnie Prabhu - vinnie
[2010-10-19 13:57:01] - haha, no way, my friend's dad has an article on wikipedia! Tesfaye Dinka. so crazy. ~a
[2010-10-19 13:28:32] - woo Fallout New Vegas, I'm excited it comes out today. -Daniel
[2010-10-19 11:23:01] - mig: ooh that looks badass! - aaron
[2010-10-19 11:16:43] - xpovos: but seriously, no, i don't know of any resources on proxying. everything i know about them i mostly figured out on my own playing with apache and ssh. ~a
[2010-10-19 11:05:50] - the proxy away from my house is mostly used to pump out stalkers. ~a
[2010-10-19 10:50:48] - http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/10/fan-made-duke-3d-update-is-now-official-blessed-by-creators.ars relive duke nukem 3d on the unreal engine. - mig
[2010-10-19 10:45:44] - xpovos: obviously miguel is talking about setting up your own proxy servlet mappings but you don't need to do that - aaron
[2010-10-19 10:42:24] - in my defense, i've been to the unfun dentist visit this morning and still loopy from the anesthetic - mig
[2010-10-19 10:39:48] - lol
[2010-10-19 10:37:11] - oh nm, sc2 on the brain. - mig
[2010-10-19 10:36:31] - xpovos: there's not much to proxying, really other than being familiar with the maps. - mig
[2010-10-19 10:30:34] - a: I need to learn more about proxies, too, I see. Any good resources? -- Xpovos
[2010-10-19 10:27:55] - if you're going with primarily gateway units against terran charge is almost required. - mig
[2010-10-19 10:20:12] - xpovos: yeah, slashdot talks about them a lot for dealing with stuff like china's great firewall. i'm sure you can still read about them on wikipedia, right? i run my own proxy at home, but if i didn't i'd consider running tor. ~a
[2010-10-19 10:18:41] - aaron: usually stalkers. ~a
[2010-10-19 10:11:36] - Anyone familiar with TOR (Online Anonymity project) or Freenet (similar)? I just heard about both of them today and can't get much information...their websites are both blocked under "Proxy avoidance". Heh. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-19 10:04:42] - a: you don't get zealot legs as protoss? how do you deal with stuff like marauders? - aaron
[2010-10-19 10:01:15] - i almost never good for speed techs. but . . . i don't know, maybe the speedling tech makes sense. ~a
[2010-10-19 10:00:17] - http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/1018/Netflix-disc-free-streaming-comes-to-Sony-PS3-Nintendo-Wii netflix streaming on the PS3 - aaron
[2010-10-19 09:54:58] - a: yeah speedlings, it seems like even if you only ever have 2 zerglings on the map you want the speed tech just for the map control/scouting advantage - aaron
[2010-10-19 09:48:45] - a: speedlings would be my guess. -Daniel
[2010-10-19 09:36:56] - what do you need the 100 vespene for? ~a
[2010-10-19 09:33:29] - matt: i use banelings a lot against terran, but not too much against zerg. especially not in the early game, i'm usually either pulling my drones off gas at 100 vespene to build an economy, or saving gas for fast mutas - aaron
[2010-10-19 09:31:02] - matt: yeah he had a couple zerglings too, it was kind of weird. he like, 10 pooled, and got about 6 zerglings, which made me nervous. but then he threw down two spine crawlers and waited until like the 6-8 minute mark to push out with roaches. should have been an easy win - aaron
[2010-10-18 22:17:50] - aaron: how much do you use banelings? 1 crawler is standard base defense, but if he's doing 2, and not making units, 10ish banelings should be able to decimate his drones, provided you lead with zerglings to soak the spine crawlers. If he is making units, just expand while you have the unit advantage - Matt
[2010-10-18 20:54:23] - a: 85% *.sid, 11% *.mp3, 2.3% ogg, 0.5% m4a, 0.0% m4p. those sid files are kind of weird, I got a torrent of (practically) every commodore 64 song ever made and now it accounts for 85% of my music collection apparently - aaron
[2010-10-18 20:49:30] - matt: i agree, i played two ZvZs; one on scrap station where I 10 pooled and won in like 3 minutes; and one on metalopolis where we spawned on opposite diagonals, and my opponent threw up two spine crawlers - so it was hard to ling/roach rush for a win - aaron
[2010-10-18 19:44:43] - uhhh, i used find. find -type f \! -iname '*.jpg' \! -iname '*.txt' \! -iname '*.bz2' \! -iname '*.pls' | sed 's/.*\.//' |sort |uniq -c |sort -nr |head -50 ~a
[2010-10-18 19:42:06] - a: sorry can you give me a grep statement? otherwise it'll seriously take me like two or three minutes to figure out. i'm grep stupid - aaron
[2010-10-18 18:32:43] - my answers: 72% *.mp3, 28% *.flac, 0% *.ra, 0% *.mpg. ( the 0%s are one file of each
) ~a[2010-10-18 18:28:30] - poll: what file types (with percentages?) are in your music collection? ~a
[2010-10-18 18:14:52] - aaron: ZvZ is probably the worst matchup to focus on your econ. At least the way I play it, it's generally hyperaggressive between lings/blings or roaches into tier 2, at the expense of your econ. If either side steps off army production too much, they get swarmed. ZvT and ZvP are more macro/econ friendly - Matt
[2010-10-18 16:01:37] - aaron: That's preposterous. As the article states, 37 percent believe him to be a grain such as wheat or millet. - Stephen
[2010-10-18 14:44:01] - http://www.theonion.com/articles/poll-1-in-5-americans-believe-obama-is-a-cactus,18127/ - aaron
[2010-10-18 11:22:49] - aaron: well if you only watch one, thats a really good one to pick since its addressing pretty much what you are talking about exactly. -Daniel
[2010-10-18 11:19:51] - daniel: i really hate day 9's voice. i tried watching some of his videos this weekend. i'll check that one out when i get home - aaron
[2010-10-18 11:16:14] - Aaron: its long but has good advice economy wise. -Daniel
[2010-10-18 11:15:25] - Aaron: try watching www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jxdX3514t0 when you get a chance. Its a day 9 video on zerg and drones and stuff and it helped my macro a lot this weekend. -Daniel
[2010-10-18 11:14:14] - daniel: then looking at the units lost tab i was up by like 2000, but he had like 45 harvesters to my 30. that's kind of like all my games. it's hard for me to figure out when to build drones. it's not like i forget, it's just hard to understand when it's tactical to invest in an economy - aaron
[2010-10-18 11:13:32] - Yeah the rounds between him and Idra that I watched were pretty anti climatic. -Daniel
[2010-10-18 11:13:24] - daniel: i still have trouble with basic economy as zerg. i played a pretty good ZvZ this weekend; i did a good job setting up contain with speedlings; he countered with mass roach and I set up good defense with spinecrawlers/queens on high ground, then countered mutas; he got enough corruptors to take out my mutas, and i thought it was a close game... - aaron
[2010-10-18 11:08:21] - Daniel: Ugh, I found pretty much everything Select super boring. He seems like a korean master of cookie-cutter with 0 originality but awesome execution. - Matt
[2010-10-18 10:52:04] - Matt: that sounded funny, I was saying I thought that game was worth watching, thats all. -Daniel
[2010-10-18 10:51:29] - Matt: I think it was KiwiKaki vs White Ra(?) game one that was amazing. it was super epic and worth watching (if I'm remembering the two players correctly). -Daniel
[2010-10-18 10:50:35] - Matt: I watched the Idra vs Select ones from the championship ones but those are the only ones I watched so far. Also I made it into diamond 4v4 random this weekend as zerg. Clearly making me an absolute master of all things zerg. ... or something like that.... -Daniel
[2010-10-18 10:44:20] - daniel: yeah, it was pretty cool. Have you checked out any of the replays? I really liked IdrA vs Kiwikawi, game 2. - Matt
[2010-10-18 09:51:10] - a: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/jackass-3-d i think i'm going to lose our bet. i really didn't think critics liked the jackass series!! apparently jackass 2 even scored "fresh" on rotten tomatoes. i guess i under(?)estimated movie critics - aaron
[2010-10-18 09:33:20] - daniel: wait, did i say sport? i meant... it's the only... damnit - aaron
[2010-10-18 09:33:05] - daniel: cool i hope it catches on! i think it's funny that they have to go to lengths to make sure players can't hear the commentators or the audience. i think it's the only sport like that- aaron
[2010-10-18 09:01:28] - i watched part of the sc2 stuff online this weekend. it was entertaining to me to be watching sc2 like sports with live commentary. -Daniel
[2010-10-15 17:33:47] - a: the finals are scheduled 5:30 to 7, so I think its only till 7 - Matt
[2010-10-15 17:13:50] - 7pm saturday from and until when? i might be able to get there just after 7pm. ~a
[2010-10-15 16:29:27] - a: I just checked the schedule -- sc2 is only friday and saturday, with the finals at 7 PM saturday, so you'll miss that. I don't know if I'd stay much beyond that, although WoW runs till 10:30 - Matt
[2010-10-15 16:01:59] - well there's like 4 hours both nights i'm free. ~a
[2010-10-15 15:59:53] - a: haha, isn't that the entire weekend? I'm probably gonna try to get there ~3 on saturday. - Matt
[2010-10-15 15:58:49] - mig: I doubt it. I'm pretty sure MLG qualifies for all that LAN play, so they usually play a full patch or two behind I think? And it's Friday - Sunday...your sister has an all-weekend party? - Matt
[2010-10-15 15:37:04] - matt: when are you going? i'm busy from 08 until 20 on saturday and 08 until 20 on sunday. ~a
[2010-10-15 15:05:43] - matt: is the wow arena tourney going to be on 4.0.1? that would be pretty interesting to see. - mig
[2010-10-15 14:58:59] - matt: i do want to but my sister might get really upset if I told her I was going to skip out on her birthday for it. Shame, because the wow arena streams are always fun to watch. - mig
[2010-10-15 14:44:40] - paul: i can do it! - aaron
[2010-10-15 14:42:57] - Is anyone planning on going to MLG (Major League Gaming) this weekend? It's their first time in DC, and you can spectate free. I'm planning on watch some WoW Arena and Starcraft II, but you can see the entire list of games @ www.mlgpro.com - Matt
[2010-10-15 14:39:06] - mig: Thanks. Good luck, Aaron. Weasel your way into a three way draw somehow!
-Paul[2010-10-15 12:48:49] - paul: done. - mig
[2010-10-15 11:54:54] - Stephen: Thanks. -Paul
[2010-10-15 11:48:19] - Have a fun trip, Gurkie and Paul! - Stephen
[2010-10-15 11:35:23] - I know a bunch of you read /. games, so this is mostly just crossposting. http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/10/15/1411228/emStarCraftem-AI-Competition-Results -- Xpovos
[2010-10-15 11:34:07] - mig: Also, I don't see you online, but the Diplomacy admin said he needs to hear from you in order to approve having Aaron replace me. If you could contact him about it, I would appreciate it. -Paul
[2010-10-14 16:22:24] - mig: Sounds like I should get a Terran vs Zerg rematch between us sometime when I get back.
-Paul[2010-10-14 16:20:49] - matt: I don't know. maybe there's just some truth to the perception that zergs in diamond have to be super godly good or there's something just fundamentally wrong about the build orders I've been using. I probably win more than i lose against toss, and TvT is kind of a coin flip, but my win % vs. zerg is downright miserable. - mig
[2010-10-14 16:11:17] - Paul: I'm coming around on roaches. Diamond terrans are now fond of going straight mech, i.e. helions into thors, so there's not much other than roaches I can use early on. I'll take the love, but I don't expect it to help much - Matt
[2010-10-14 16:09:37] - aaron: hey, the other graph made the same "mistake" (if you even want to call it a mistake) ~a
[2010-10-14 16:08:51] - Matt: I know you hate roaches, but I'm looking forward to how the range increase helps them out. I don't see it as being a huge boost against Terran right now, but I would love to be surprised. -Paul
[2010-10-14 16:08:15] - xpovos: wow yeah bush had a lot fewer... uhhh... a lot fewer... lost jobs??? okay sorry /pedant - aaron
[2010-10-14 16:05:44] - ah thanks. ~a
[2010-10-14 16:05:40] - oh? which graphic? ~a
[2010-10-14 16:05:31] - Aaron: Wow, I mis-read the void ray part at first and thought they had actually buffed them. I was about to freak out.
-Paul[2010-10-14 16:05:00] - a: Here's the graph: http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4bb614577f8b9a1667ae0100/chart-020510-update.gif No idea if that link will work forever, but I found it quickly enough. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 16:03:56] - a: That fact has been used in a number of pro-Obama graphics I've seen. It shows the pre-inflection point data in red (Bush) and post- in blue (Obama) and is supposed to show how it's Obama's policies, etc. that are the magic force, even if his own staff and numbers paint a more complex picture. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 16:00:49] - ...aaaaaand I'm still gonna get stomped by terran. I don't know how you lose to zerg at this point mig, I'm at the point of just staring blankly at the screen on ZvT - Matt
[2010-10-14 15:59:42] - and yeah, EMP-ing a thor was pointless. - mig
[2010-10-14 15:58:05] - feedback was a big problem for thors because their only energy based ability was 1) a research upgrade that hardly anyone got, 2) very situational, so it was very common for thors to be on full energy bars, and templars i'm guessing weren't intended to be a super-hard counter to them. - mig
[2010-10-14 15:55:13] - aaron: the health increase probably won't affect the baneling busts (still takes 5 to kill one) but probably will affect protoss early rushes a bit. - mig
[2010-10-14 15:52:53] - mig: oh yeah, i guess it makes EMP and feedback a tiny bit worse. not that EMPing a corruptor was ever that great anyway - aaron
[2010-10-14 15:52:16] - mig: whoa maaaaad void ray nerf. and they went through with the barracks change, that's interesting. i don't think the supply depot change really affects baneling busts. i can't really tell what effect the thor/corruptor changes have. any major change? i guess you can't use a single corruptor to corrupt 2 units anymore? - aaron
[2010-10-14 15:51:26] - xpovos: also interesting, the inflection point is exactly where obama took office.
~a[2010-10-14 15:49:55] - although it's sad i won't be able to blow up thors with high templars anymore. - mig
[2010-10-14 15:48:08] - strangely, the medivac speed reduction is actually a welcome change. they were so annoying to be baby sit them to make sure they didn't fly ahead of a bio ball. - mig
[2010-10-14 15:47:34] - paul: that's OK, i trust your judgment - aaron
[2010-10-14 15:47:07] - http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/936928
[2010-10-14 15:43:49] - And I'm sure the shape of the Great Depression would be similarly interesting, even if not displayed. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:43:03] - a: Yeah, probably. I can't say where exactly without the numbers, but that sounds right. But this graph is useful (IMO) not just because it shows this current recession as the worst for employment since then, but because it shows the shape. It was slow to start, sped up fast in the middle, and went down lower and stayed lower than any other in the graph. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:42:27] - sc2 patch now live apparently. - mig
[2010-10-14 15:39:07] - xpovos: yeah, i know "percent job losses relative to peak employment". still 1930 would see a line what would extend way into the about -15% area. ~a
[2010-10-14 15:36:39] - Aaron: I emailed the Diplomacy Admin, haven't heard back yet. Assuming you are taking over, do you have any suggestion on which unit you would like disbanded? You can email me if you don't want Daniel to hear. -Paul
[2010-10-14 15:35:22] - a: That's not 6% unemployment. That's 6% of total jobs lost. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:34:38] - a: OK, you're asking the question Paul thought you were. That's part of the reason why, actually. It was so crazy that it doesn't mesh well with the non-crazy stuff since. After all that craziness THINGS were DONE to ensure it never got that crazy again, right? -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:33:34] - "unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and in some countries rose as high as 33%" relative to the 1930s, 6% is extremely small and the graph kind of hides that fact. ~a
[2010-10-14 15:31:39] - yeah, but why? the 1930s is where all the real unemployment craziness was. ~a
[2010-10-14 15:31:27] - Paul: So, our target unemployment is 7% by Q1 2012? -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:30:31] - a: It did say it was only post WW2 recessions. I'm guessing you're wondering why draw the line there? -Paul
[2010-10-14 15:30:13] - a: Not really, it's clearly titled as Post WWII recessions. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:29:39] - Xpovos: http://www.suitablyflip.com/.a/6a00d8341c572653ef0120a65c0b63970b-800wi Thank God we passed the stimulus. Otherwise, unemployment might've hit 9%! -Paul
[2010-10-14 15:27:23] - anon: it's a little weird that none of the 1930s is included in that graph. ~a
[2010-10-14 15:25:07] - Matt: Maybe, but I think most Redskins fans understood and appreciated the call, even if the player didn't. That's one player, and the situation is not an easy one. I think going for it is right, and Godfrey had his chance to have a say on the field. Stop 'em on 4th. Needless to say, that didn't work out too well. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:24:04] - Xpovos: Heh, I like how they claim that the nation's politics are more toxic than ever. Their evidence? Obama's approval ratings are down, Democrats are demoralized, and Tea Party candidates "oppose virtually every role government plays". -Paul
[2010-10-14 15:22:04] - It's staggering how this recession measures up in scope and duration of unemployment with other recessions. Compare with 2001, e.g., which is widely considered to have been a 'jobless' recovery. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:21:11] - Xpovos: I don't think I agree. They want you to take a knee and just give it back to the other team. Pats vs Skins in 2007, the skins complained about going for it on 4th down rather than taking a FG: http://www.patriots.com/games/index.cfm?ac=gamereportdetail&pid=28692&pcid=82 - Matt
[2010-10-14 15:21:02] - If you guys read my Buzz posts, you'll know I love reading Calculated Risk. He does a pretty decent job of staying factual on economic matters. This is one of his frequent reprint graphs (updated monthly, basically).
[2010-10-14 15:19:44] - I'm not saying I'm necessarily in favor of running up the score, but I also don't like seeing a team half-ass it and stop trying just to take it easy on the opponent. -Paul
[2010-10-14 15:18:45] - Matt: I somewhat agree. While I usually don't like blowouts unless my team is blowing out the other team, I also don't really like it when the winning team blatantly starts showing pity (endless runs up the middle, dribbling the shot clock out and launching a 3, etc). -Paul
[2010-10-14 15:15:30] - Matt: In football, it's generally considered more sportsmanlike to go for it on 4th downs in the opponent's territory rather than going for a field goal. It's a strange kind of logic, but it works. Even if it does mean that the better team ends up scoring a TD eventually a large portion of the time anyway. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 15:07:22] - and I also remember a Red Sox game where they were up by 10 or 12, and played so "sportsmanlike" afterwards (not throwing on a guy attempting to steal, etc), that the other team eventually won. I think its far more unsportsmanlike to expect your opponent to give you mercy - Matt
[2010-10-14 15:05:35] - aaron - it's probably that college and pros are different, but as a patriots fan, I *loved* when they would blow out teams, but maybe that's because there is supposed to be parity there. - Matt
[2010-10-14 15:01:32] - This one would make a good link for "Know yourself" -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 14:55:28] - Know yourself, and know your enemy and fear not peril in 100 battles. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 14:36:58] - Besides, even if the margin of victory component is taken out of the calculations, there's still the human polls (which are the majority of the BCS rankings) and humans are often impressed by blowout wins. -Paul
[2010-10-14 14:36:01] - Pierce: Ah, ok. I'm not sure the BCS rankings exist to dissuade unsportsmanlike conduct, though. -Paul
[2010-10-14 14:31:16] - a: one of my friends played in a chess boxing league in Richmond. ~gurkie
[2010-10-14 14:11:10] - the article was making a big deal out of how it's terrible that BCS emotionally loads the rankings by abandoning mathematical purity, and I was criticizing it on that basis. it's impure regardless. - pierce
[2010-10-14 14:10:07] - mig: I'm saying it's not "mathing it out" regardless of whether it's the victory or the margin. there's common-sense logic that applies to actually wanting to predict who will win a given game, and it's likely that margin of victory would be helpful, but there's not mathematical purity in it by any stretch of the imagination. - pierce
[2010-10-14 14:04:53] - the winner of the game is not arbitrary even if the rules are. ~a
[2010-10-14 14:04:37] - Do you want a fundamentally right answer? Or a fundamentally fair answer? -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 13:48:58] - why can you math that out, but not math out the score of that game? - mig
[2010-10-14 13:48:15] - pierce: ok then, if the rules are completely arbitrary, then why does who won or lost a game matter, then? - mig
[2010-10-14 13:42:57] - aaron: well i agree that's a problem with arranging a ranking the system like, that, but I don't agree with the whole "the rules are arbirtrary therefore the scores don't matter" bit. - mig
[2010-10-14 13:42:10] - mig: "if you want to take that logic to an extreme"? who said I did? I think the logic makes sense where it is, trying to dissuade blowouts by not incentivizing margin of victory. - pierce
[2010-10-14 13:40:27] - that said i don't think the ranking system is bad. i'm just saying pierce's point is valid. when you factor in "how much did this team win by", one side effect is that you're encouraging unbalanced games to become even more unbalanced, which is bad - aaron
[2010-10-14 13:39:49] - mig: as a spectator of a basketball game, i would be annoyed watching a team, which was winning like 120-60, if they were trying to play games with the clock in the last 2 minutes to try and win 130-60 to improve their ranking. i would be annoyed with the team and with the ranking - aaron
[2010-10-14 13:38:41] - mig: yes... but rankings can have an impact on whether or not games are fun to watch. having a ranking system be more accurate is probably more important but to spectators, i think they're both important - aaron
[2010-10-14 13:36:48] - and if you haven't noticed, it hasn't dissauded teams from blowing each other out, just take a look at Boise State's box scores. - mig
[2010-10-14 13:35:52] - the rankings are for determing who is better than who, not whether games are fun to watch. - mig
[2010-10-14 13:34:50] - pierce: i agree, depending on the sport. i think games like soccer or baseball, whatever, scoring is rare enough it won't matter. but football or basketball, there are some games that are really really unfun if a good team is giving 110% over a worse team - aaron
[2010-10-14 13:34:49] - pierce: if you want to take that logic to an extreme, then declaring who won or lost a game is pointless because everything supossadly arbitrary. why is 2 FGs < 1 touchdown + PAT, the 2FG team should have won! - mig
[2010-10-14 13:32:55] - mig: what about pierce's point though, making unbalanced games less fun to watch? like say team Z is terrible... if team A beat team Z by a huge margin, and then team B plays team Z... isn't it bad that team B is encouraged to beat team Z by an even wider margin, to improve their ranking? - aaron
[2010-10-14 13:30:52] - paul: fair enough. I was talking about how I think it's logical to dissuade the (in my opinion) unsportsmanlike practice of pummeling a dramatically worse team 60-0. - pierce
[2010-10-14 13:28:28] - Pierce: Ok, I was just trying to address your "the logic of omitting margin of victory is sound" comment. I don't quite understand what you meant by that. -Paul
[2010-10-14 13:28:17] - in which case which one you choose becomes a judgement call, and the BCS judged that the negatives of using margin of victory outweighed the positives. - pierce
[2010-10-14 13:27:24] - mig: well if there's no math behind the scores (which are a subset of the rules) then basing the math on win/loss results is exactly as mathematically sound as basing it on margin of victory. - pierce
[2010-10-14 13:26:31] - mig: that doesn't explain the ratio between the scores for different types of achievements in football. there's nothing intrinsic about a touchdown that's exactly three times more difficult than a safety, so why is the score worth three times as much? - pierce
[2010-10-14 13:26:08] - pierce: there's no math behind the rules. there's math behind the results based on those rules. - mig
[2010-10-14 13:24:54] - paul: I think it's fine that the rules are arbitrary. "logically sound" doesn't make any sense since I'm not applying logical rules to either, though obviously there is logic that can apply to either. - pierce
[2010-10-14 13:23:23] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_playoffs it is. "Best net points in common games." - mig
[2010-10-14 13:23:05] - mig: why is that any more absurd than the rules that gave those scores in the first place? why is a touchdown worth 6, a safety worth 2, etc? why is a field goal from the 1-yard line worth 3 points, but an extra point after touchdown is worth only 1? you imply that there's strict math behind those numbers but as far as I know there isn't. - pierce
[2010-10-14 13:20:26] - paul: i don't know for sure. it very well might be. it definitely is in soccer and it comes into play often. - mig
[2010-10-14 13:20:09] - sd
[2010-10-14 13:19:11] - mig: Is margin of victory a tie-breaker for who makes the playoffs in the NFL? -Paul
[2010-10-14 13:13:07] - pierce: margin of victory is important, and if you want to rank teams on a mathematical basis it should be considered. If team A and B both play team C and A wins by 40 and B wins by 3, it's absurd to think that those 2 victories are totally and completely equivalent, especially when there's so little common data to compare 110+ teams with. - mig
[2010-10-14 13:10:16] - Pierce: By that logic (that football is a game of arbitrary rules), can't you say that any arbitrary rule is logically sound? -Paul
[2010-10-14 13:07:13] - Xpovos: I wouldn't necessarily call myself pro-BCS, but I am very against the people who are constantly whining about the BCS and I do think it's an interesting system that in many ways works better than the playoff system the NFL uses. -Paul
[2010-10-14 12:59:45] - far as I'm concerned, the logic of omitting margin of victory is sound. giving 110% against a dramatically weaker team is risky to players, less fun to watch, and less fun to play in my opinion. and there's no reason "we only measure wins or losses" is any more arbitrary than "touchdowns are worth six points". - pierce
[2010-10-14 12:57:15] - and then it criticizes the "emotional loading" of the rankings via the omission of margin of victory. Oh no! How dare the system designed to measure performance in a game with arbitrary rules have an arbitrary rule! Won't someone PLEASE think of the purity? - pierce
[2010-10-14 12:53:02] - Paul: Are you pro-BCS? -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 12:40:48] - mig: Although I will say, even just reading the first few paragraphs of your article annoys me. Lots of emotionally loaded opinions with very few facts. -Paul
[2010-10-14 12:38:12] - mig: Your article is too long, but I will debate the BCS with you anytime.
-Paul[2010-10-14 12:13:41] - http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=At0AnDJB4.JC0ipoGtcgLW8cvrYF?slug=ys-deathtothebcs101310 a pretty interesting read if you are interested in the absurdity that is the BCS. - mig
[2010-10-14 11:58:15] - a: it could have been worded better, yes. but i don't view it as a OMG i can't believe he said that type moment. - mig
[2010-10-14 11:57:40] - pierce: mig's example of theft (pickpocketing) is a pretty good example, actually. It's non-violent in the standard (mainstream) sense of the word, but considered to be a violent act by many libertarians who use the alternate meaning. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 11:55:37] - well it's also a little dishonest you still haven't admitted that what he said was a mistake. ~a
[2010-10-14 11:52:44] - paul: given the context of the conversation (talking about gambling), drawing the conclusion that he somehow would support legalizing pickpocketing or the like is just a tad dishonest. - mig
[2010-10-14 11:52:10] - haha, we were talking about rand in 2001? oh "ayn rand". ~a
[2010-10-14 11:44:30] - Xpovos: I could see it either way, but I do think it was just Rand mispeaking. I've read articles where he tries to clarify his thoughts about victimless crimes and consensual activities, and my guess is he just confused himself onetime when discussing it. -Paul
[2010-10-14 11:40:25] - it's probably not wise to use nonstandard definitions of words when trying to communicate with people who only know the standard definition. I'm fairly sure I know what you're talking about, but (for once) I don't want to put words in your mouth. what other things fall under the umbrella of libertarian "violence"? - pierce
[2010-10-14 11:33:21] - a: No, that's pretty close to a libertarian statement of an ideal system of laws. It just the word 'violence' has a broader meaning to them than is interpreted by most people hearing the word. -- Xpovos
[2010-10-14 11:17:26] - haha, the submessage is apt. ~a
[2010-10-14 10:36:06] - stephen: I believe paul said crazy not conservative... although I will grant they are fairly synonymous
~gurkie[2010-10-14 10:35:45] - Ah, gotcha. Sorry, I got a little turned around. I probably should've said "all else being equal, maybe going with the crazies over the intelligent might not be a bad idea". I probably only agree with Palin a little more than Obama, but I agree with Paul a helluva lot more. -Paul
[2010-10-14 10:19:17] - gurkie: Exactly. If you want an unintelligent conservative, you'd be better off with Palin than with Ron Paul. - Stephen
[2010-10-14 10:12:30] - Paul: but Stephen's point was that Ron Paul is intelligent... and you said you want to ignore the intelligent and pick a crazy ~gurkie
[2010-10-14 09:34:55] - mig: "I'm for having laws against things that are violent crimes, but things that are nonviolent shouldn't be against the law." i'm guessing he didn't mean to say this? as the article states, the second half of that statement is likely a mistake. ~a
[2010-10-14 09:11:47] - Stephen: Definitely not over Ron Paul, but I think the media in general thinks of Paul as much crazier than Palin. -Paul
[2010-10-13 17:27:48] - paul: i'm OK replacing you, just contact the administrator for diplomacy.ca and give them our info. i think you need to initiate it since it's your account - aaron
[2010-10-13 17:26:23] - gurkie: there was an episode of south park i forgot about, where the japanese invent a new "chinpokomon" fad to brainwash kids into bombing pearl harbor. i forgot about it the other day when you were mentioning the dearth of pearl harbor spoofs/jokes - aaron
[2010-10-13 17:13:09] - Paul: But would you trust Palin (not so bright) over Gingrich and Ron Paul (a Duke alum, therefore undeniably brilliant)? - Stephen
[2010-10-13 16:54:18] - http://reason.com/blog/2010/10/13/what-sort-of-lunatic-thinks-a slightly on-topic link! - mig
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