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[2011-08-15 14:04:23] - xpovos: maybe i'll tinker with it. I do have to question the credibility of the numbers from something that thinks that a public option would reduce the deficit. - mig
[2011-08-15 13:04:05] - This should be an interesting week in college football ... possibly with SEC expansion. - mig
[2011-08-15 12:22:51] - Keeping in mind the limited solutions available for selection, I'm reasonably content with the results. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-15 12:22:36] - Here's the simulator. And here's a link to the changes I made en route to successfully reducing the debt to GDP ratio to below the target set by the CRFB. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-15 12:18:47] - Speaking of doing the heavy work of budget balancing, last November we played with the CRFB's Budget simulator. The same problems exist, it's impossible to get fine-tuning on it, but they did seem to make it so that you could share some result now. Assuming you have a place you can upload pdf documents. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-15 11:59:30] - s/ever/never
[2011-08-15 11:59:05] - xpovos: not entirely, it's obviously still an unpopular proposal amongst democrats and he would have a tough time selling it to them. But still, up until very recently, any talk he's had about debts and deficits he essentially pretended that the commission ever existed. - mig
[2011-08-15 11:13:14] - mig: To be fair to Obama, the Bowles-Simpson proposal is relatively comprehensive and it's not entirely his fault it's going nowhere. I think it's probably as good a starting place as we're going to get though. I think given the recent electoral swings it needs to be adjusted 'rightward' to succeed, but it should. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-15 10:39:27] - very least there needs to be some reform. - mig
[2011-08-15 10:39:20] - xpovos: at the very least now, even obama has admitted that any progress towards fixing the debt problem has to deal with social security and medicare in some way. Granted, he's being insincere since he hasn't proposed anything himself (what was that whole point of his debt comission last winter then?), but there's at least some acknowledgement on the left that at the
[2011-08-15 09:24:10] - The third rail(s) of American politics is(are) also the first and third largest expenses. So, eventually their popularity will not save them. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-15 09:22:42] - Daniel: Word I heard is that what really interested them was some of the patents Motorola owns. I'm sure the rest is exciting too, but maybe viewed as 'gravy'. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-15 09:19:50] - Google bought Motorola?! That was unexpected. -Daniel
[2011-08-15 09:13:19] - Aaron: Yeah, the word "erode" is a little loaded, but other than that... I'm sure a few candidates would say that we have to end Medicare as we know it and reform social security. The only thing is that neither are likely to be big rallying points because both of those programs are pretty popular. -Paul
[2011-08-15 08:50:01] - if a republican belted that out in a public speech, emphasizing the correct words, i think people would cheer - aaron
[2011-08-15 08:48:51] - paul: i like it because out of context, it could almost come from a democrat or a (certain unelectable breed of) republican, who genuinely wanst to end medicare, and erode social security, and because of the dangling participle, it could be interpreted that "erasing the investments" will "create the jobs of the future" - aaron
[2011-08-15 08:47:23] - paul: i like this quote, "the republican field has doubled down in their effort to court the most ideological faction of their party, committing to end medicare as we know it, erode social security and erase the investments necessary to create the jobs of the future" - aaron
[2011-08-14 21:07:54] - http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2011-08-14-gop-race-bachamann-perry-romney_n.htm I know this claim is probably right, but it still hurts that right after Ron Paul gets 2nd place in the Ames Straw Poll, the thinking is that it's a three person race between the person who barely beat him in the straw poll, and the distant 6th and 7th place finishers. -Paul
[2011-08-14 12:13:09] - xpovos: if i think about it, i can usually solve most of it logically, although it's more fun imho to click randomly
- aaron[2011-08-13 23:19:58] - aaron: Interesting game (Zen loops) every time I think I have it figured out for a few levels something goes wonky and I'm back to clicking randomly. I think it helps (hurts) that you can't see the actual tile outlines of what you're rotating. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-13 17:05:49] - a: I think we've had this discussion before, but what if the majority of people in a state want creationism taught in their public schools? They shouldn't be allowed to have that? -Paul
[2011-08-13 15:06:34] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWY4S1glWjM&feature=related oh! there's a rhythm heaven sequel on the wii in japan. i hope it comes out in the states too! - aaron
[2011-08-13 08:56:14] - amy: http://www.kongregate.com/games/ahnt/loops-of-zen we were talking about "loops of zen" last night so here it is. it's pretty mindless and fun but addicting somehow - aaron
[2011-08-12 17:13:59] - i doubt the ed department was created to "save" the school system. it was probably created to organize the school system. i'm not a huge proponent or opponent of the department though. i think the 50 states could probably handle most things on their own, but might need someone to kick them in the pants when they decide to teach creationism in a science class. ~a
[2011-08-12 16:36:58] - ah me too. ed stands for emotionally disturbed though. ~a
[2011-08-12 16:25:02] - Ah, and apparently I have been using the wrong acronym, since it's supposed to be ED and not DOE (department of energy). -Paul
[2011-08-12 16:23:32] - a: I'll tell you what: I'll work on finding proof that public schools didn't suck before the DOE, and you can work on proof as to why they would suck if we got rid of the DOE. -Paul
[2011-08-12 16:23:01] - a: I'm saying that public schools were around in this country for around 200 years and appeared to have done a good enough job with our population to where we went from a backwater bunch of colonies to the world's sole super-power. I find it hard to believe that if we got rid of the DOE, then suddenly public schools would completely fall apart. -Paul
[2011-08-12 16:21:24] - a: I hope you're kidding about the feelings vs facts and figures. You're asking me to prove to you that public schools weren't a disaster before the DOE was formed to save them? I thought we could all agree on at least some points. -Paul
[2011-08-12 16:00:44] - if i learned anything in college, it's that paul bases a lot of his beliefs on his feelings instead of actual facts and figures.
~a[2011-08-12 15:59:25] - anyways, i know a bunch of well-educated older people. i think there are a lot of things i understand better than my parents did at my age, and a slew of things that my parents learned in school that i'll probably never know. that, however, tells me nothing about how the education system is progressing. ~a
[2011-08-12 15:57:02] - "I don't know about you, but I feel like people older than me who went to public schools aren't horribly more ignorant than people my age or younger." aren't horribly more ignorant? that was hard for me to parse, but you could be saying that the school system is getting better at a slow rate? ~a
[2011-08-12 15:56:19] - so something has been around for a long time dealing with the nations schools at a national level. Not saying its good or bad just not a recent development. -Daniel
[2011-08-12 15:55:41] - from wikipedia -"A previous Department of Education was created in 1867 but soon was demoted to an Office in 1868.[3] As an agency not represented in the president's cabinet, it quickly became a relatively minor bureau in the Department of the Interior." -Daniel
[2011-08-12 15:54:54] - So the Dept of Education as a cabinet level dept came into being in 1979 but there was national gov "Office of Education" since 18something something it was just rolled into other Depts until 1979. -Daniel
[2011-08-12 15:44:52] - aaron: Ok, I might look into that, although honestly it might not be for a few weeks. I have a lot of other stuff to work on first.
-Paul[2011-08-12 15:39:19] - why we have to keep a department around which spends a lot of money and hasn't proven to improved anything (and maybe have made things worse). -Paul
[2011-08-12 15:38:34] - a: I just skimmed things over, so I apologize if I am arguing the wrong point, but I felt like we were discussing whether or not public schools across the country would go to hell if the DOE was abolished. It seems to me that, "You can't prove schools weren't worse before" and "our school system could get a lot better" aren't compelling reasons...
[2011-08-12 15:36:58] - a: According to me? I don't know about you, but I feel like people older than me who went to public schools aren't horribly more ignorant than people my age or younger. Has the Department of Education made our school system better? -Paul
[2011-08-12 15:36:16] - aaron: is that what video postings in g+ go to? - mig
[2011-08-12 15:25:10] - paul: picasa lets you submit videos if you don't want to release them to the whole world on youtube. i don't care either way - aaron
[2011-08-12 15:19:52] - "it seems like the public schools ran fine before then" according to whom? our school system could get a lot better. ~a
[2011-08-12 15:15:12] - Daniel: Honestly, I thought that was a pretty crap question, because there are so many variables that you can't really simplify it down to something so black and white. Also, I fully expect everybody up there but Ron Paul (and maybe Bachmann) was lying when they said that. -Paul
[2011-08-12 15:14:10] - Daniel: Also, is this the best I could get? I would love to draw a hard line in the sand and get absolutely no increase in taxes, but if it's a decision between 10:1 or nothing at all (and staying on the path we are on with no cuts at all), then I might consider the lesser of two evils. -Paul
[2011-08-12 15:13:00] - Daniel: Depends on a ton of things. Are we talking about actual cuts to spending? Or is it the BS "cuts" that we had with the recent package where they're counting a drawdown in troops in Afghanistan as cutting defense spending, and increasing budgets by a lower amount to be cuts? -Paul
[2011-08-12 15:12:04] - a: The department of education was founded until 1979, according to wikipedia, and it seems like the public schools ran fine before then. Public schools are managed at the local level. As far as I know, there are no federal public schools (outside of maybe military academies?). -Paul
[2011-08-12 15:09:03] - Paul: With a deficit reducing package that included ten dollars of spending cuts for every 1 dollar of tax increases. So yeah 10:1 -Daniel
[2011-08-12 15:07:04] - Aaron: The photos should be up on google plus... not sure where to put the videos. I guess I could put them on youtube... -Paul
[2011-08-12 15:06:41] - Daniel: Are you asking if I would be ok with 10:1 spending cuts to tax increases? -Paul
[2011-08-12 14:48:47] - I see I am behind the curve on this discussion. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-12 14:45:42] - i don't have a strong opinion one way or the other; i think there should be some federal laws/regulations on how public schools are organized and what they're allowed to teach, but i don't think that's really what the DOE does today. i just don't understand enough about the situation to say one way or the other - aaron
[2011-08-12 14:39:32] - Mind you, I think DOE should continue to exist, but as far as Cabinet-level agencies go, they're one of the less important ones. - Stephen
[2011-08-12 14:39:26] - a: Perhaps we have a terminology issue? How is the DOE 'managing' the schools? Public schools are run by the individual states, and usually at an even more local level than that. School boards are often county-run things. If the DOE were abolished tomorrow, those school boards would keep right on doing the same thing, right? -- Xpovos
[2011-08-12 14:39:18] - aaron: it does but it doesn't change the lion share of school management. Even with NCLB, the DoE isn't in the business of hiring/firing teachers, building/closing down schools, or even dictating how school spend money outside of the federal money they funnel to it. - mig
[2011-08-12 14:39:13] - aaron: Yep, that's one thing they do. Although the always-authoritative Wikipedia says that "the federal government and Department of Education are not heavily involved in determining curricula or educational standards (with the recent exception of the No Child Left Behind Act)" - Stephen
[2011-08-12 14:35:37] - stephen: what about the no child left behind act? that sounds like something the DOE had a hand in huh - aaron
[2011-08-12 14:21:11] - a: I honestly don't know much about DOE's role in public education, but I'm pretty sure that states, counties and municipalities do the lion's share of school management. - Stephen
[2011-08-12 14:04:52] - a: is there any reason the schools cannot manage themselves? Individual states and localities? I'm not of the opinion that it's an absolute necessity that some centralized management bueracracy needs to exists in order for schools to function. - mig
[2011-08-12 14:01:55] - mig: "what value has the dept of ed's 'management' added to our schools?" i don't think you answered the question. so, you think the doe is doing a bad job, we get that. what would replace it though? who will manage the 100k+ schools we have in this country? ~a
[2011-08-12 14:01:30] - stephen: I suppose some reason for optimism, though since SCOTUS is the only ruling that will ultimately matter, I see no reason to jump for joy just yet. I do think it was interesting that apparently this is the first time an democrat appointee broke ranks and concurred that it was unconstitutional. - mig
[2011-08-12 13:54:50] - Libertarians: The 11th Circuit struck down the health insurance mandate. - Stephen
[2011-08-12 13:54:19] - Daniel: That's about right. I do a lot of consulting work for DHS, and it's a quagmire of uselessness (I can say that since I've given my notice). - Stephen
[2011-08-12 13:48:36] - and in some cases is the security that the DHS provides even necessary? (TSA, i'm looking at you) - mig
[2011-08-12 13:46:57] - a: I'm not really sure about the Dept of Ed, but DHS isn't really 'in charge' of all those things. Its supposed to help all the agencies in charge of those things coordinate better. I've not heard much positive about the DHS mostly just that its extra bureaucracy. -Daniel
[2011-08-12 13:46:34] - as for DHS, it's not like the concept of security or hiring security personnel had not existed before DHS's creation. - mig
[2011-08-12 13:45:11] - a: what value has the dept of ed's "management" added to our schools? I think just about everyone agrees that our public school system is one huge disaster. NCLB and RTTT have been at best noneffective, and in some respects have made things worse. - mig
[2011-08-12 13:36:12] - mig: there are 100,000 public schools currently managed by the department of education. if it is not replaced, the 100,000 public schools will go unmanaged? they'll go about their merry way with no structure or organization? (same question for the dhs and its 14 thousand airports, ports, railways, borders, roads, and whatnot). ~a
[2011-08-12 13:31:05] - http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Florida-State-joins-Texas-A-amp-M-on-the-SEC-rum?urn=ncaaf-wp4902 SEC expansion rumors rumbling again. Virginia Tech keeps getting mentioned as a sleeper candidate if they ultimately go to 16 teams. - mig
[2011-08-12 13:10:26] - Daniel: Almost as big as the SATA in my desktop. Granted that's 6+ years old now. But, dang. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-12 12:57:05] - paul: hey that reminds me when are you going to upload your photos/videos from the bachelor party? - aaron
[2011-08-12 12:56:21] - a: even if you think government should be all the various things it's doing now, there are plenty of Deptartment of Redundancy Departments. - mig
[2011-08-12 12:42:38] - This still seems crazy to me even used to all the other technological marvels we have. Thats a decent sized hard drive right there on its own. -Daniel
[2011-08-12 12:14:51] - it actually got the highest reviews of the series even including the first one, i find that very strange - aaron
[2011-08-12 12:12:39] - decapitated by an elevator 5 is out! who wants to see it - aaron
[2011-08-12 11:57:33] - a: why do they have to be replaced? - mig
[2011-08-12 11:44:11] - a: Nothing, or state-designed and run programs if they truly are the purview of government? Despite decades of efforts to eradicate the notion, the individual states are still sovereign. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-12 11:38:57] - a: In DHS's case, nothing. Pretty much all of the functions carried out by DHS now were carried out before 2003, there was just one less Cabinet agency mucking things up. - Stephen
[2011-08-12 11:11:47] - "Outright eliminating some departments wouldn't be a bad idea either in that regard" what would they be replaced by? ~a
[2011-08-12 10:55:14] - wooo, my little outpost got onto the internets. ~a
[2011-08-12 09:44:35] - So, they take the stand of "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on the President ("Read my lips, no new taxes" -> one term). And we'll be damned, and we'll take the country to hell with us if you'll fool us a third time". Not saying I agree completely, but when you come in expecting your opposite to negotiate in bad faith, it hurts the process. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-12 09:43:00] - Daniel: You'll find a lot of resistance to an agreement of a ratio of cuts to tax increases among long-term conservatives, because they've been burned by that in the past, most notably Reagan and the elder Bush agreed to tax increases in exchange for a relative budget cut. In the end, the taxes were increased, but no significant budget cuts occurred. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-12 09:27:12] - Outright eliminating some departments wouldn't be a bad idea either in that regard (DHS would be #1 on my list, followed closely by the Dept of Ed.) - mig
[2011-08-12 09:26:11] - The debt ceiling was supposed to be that, but it's proven to be utterly ineffectual. - mig
[2011-08-12 09:25:23] - daniel: In theory, I probably would agree to something like that. But I'd also probably want some assurances that this sort of spending binge would never come up again, so I'd want either a BBA or some other type of mechanism so that congress is beholden to some sort of rules that keep spending under control. - mig
[2011-08-12 09:15:26] - mig: hmm could be. the supreme court seems like a better example of how it "should work", where there's a limited number of people and they (imho) genuinely seem to contribute independent points of view, as opposed to sticking to "party lines" or anything. maybe the problem with congress/senate is that there's just too many representatives, or how they're selected? - aaron
[2011-08-12 09:09:18] - aaron: "i think it only works if you pick your representatives in a smarter way," that is part of the reason why some view allowing the direct election of us senators was a mistake. - mig
[2011-08-12 08:51:01] - the state of the U.S gov't - aaron
[2011-08-12 08:50:54] - paul: well, ideally, representative democracies should help resolve that, since your representatives won't be as short-sighted as the average voter. but in practice i think it only works if you pick your representatives in a smarter way, i think we've gone over the alternatives to first-past-the-post voting and we mostly agree that a different system would improve - aaron
[2011-08-12 08:42:12] - Paul: In the republican debate they got asked if they would be ok with a 10:1 cuts:tax increase package to reduce deficit. They all said not good enough. Good enough for you? -Daniel
[2011-08-11 23:43:49] - http://screenrant.com/eureka-canceled-series-finale-ending-aco-127496/ and http://collider.com/universal-dark-tower-ron-howard/103247/ Some additional and perhaps unexpected reasons to have been against the NBC/Universal and Comcast merger. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-11 16:48:02] - aaron: I somewhat agree, and it's why I feel like democracies and representative democracies aren't ideal forms of government. It's way too easy for voters to always vote for goodies for themselves and taxing "others", which eventually becomes fiscally impossible to maintain. -Paul
[2011-08-11 16:45:22] - mig: Frankly, I'm not in favor of any net tax increases (as discussed on facebook, I would be ok with eliminating certain tax breaks in return for lower tax rates), but I agree that giving in some there might help secure larger spending cuts. -Paul
[2011-08-11 16:36:38] - mig: even in an ideal world where politicians were working 100% towards the needs/desires of the american people, i think it would be literally impossible for a politician to remain loyal to the voting public and still submit a tax proposal which would "impress" you, given that you're (admittedly?) a few standard deviations away from the mean wrt to tax policy - aaron
[2011-08-11 16:34:30] - mig: in the democrats' defense, i think most people are opposed to entitlement reform (even if imho it's a good idea). making budget cuts within the constraints of what voters are in favor of is difficult, and stuff that you and I might see as easy money (like defense spending or social security) are things that a majority americans consider "off the table" - aaron
[2011-08-11 16:24:53] - s/was/wasn't
[2011-08-11 16:24:25] - I guess I might have been more for the "grand bargain" if it was clear that pretty much every congressional democrat has been vigorously opposing any sort of entitlement reform. Implementing tax increases is easy, implementing spending cuts, not so much. - mig
[2011-08-11 16:12:30] - daniel: I'd have to look at the details of that again. Honestly, I haven't been all that impressed about all of the proposals that have been offered so far by either side. - mig
[2011-08-11 16:09:15] - mig: Would you have supported the "Grand Bargain" b/w obama and boehner? I don't remember it exactly but it was like ~1 trillion in taxes and ~3 trillion in cuts or something like that? -Daniel
[2011-08-11 16:07:22] - $1 trillion is just a random figure i threw in my head, btw. The main point, show me real decreases in overall spending (elimination of programs, real entitlement reform), and then talking about tax increases becomes more reasonable to me. - mig
[2011-08-11 15:58:35] - Now, if they do something of substance, like reduce the budget by around $1 trillion (that would put it at what, $2.5 trilion?). Now if that happens, yeah let's talk about tax increases to make up the difference. - mig
[2011-08-11 15:54:50] - The "cuts" that are being boo-hooed by the left aren't reduction in spending. They're simply reductions in increases they were originally planning. Even with the deal spending overall will increase. - mig
[2011-08-11 15:52:34] - paul: I would say that tax increases shouldn't be on the table until there are real, credible plans of reducing total spending (the phony "cuts" in the debt deal don't count), since it is the larger problem currently. While my disgust for the GOP is quite high, the one thing I was glad they did during the debt ceiling fiasco was being uncompromising on tax hikes. - mig
[2011-08-11 15:42:24] - mig: The short version is ~a commented that he thinks his tax bracket could afford to pay more taxes, I suggested that it is easy to donate money to the government to pay down the debt. The discussion is now about whether or not we should increase taxes as part of the solution to the national debt problem. -Paul
[2011-08-11 15:34:02] - paul: well if you do it'll be easier for me to participate, can i get a TL:DR? - mig
[2011-08-11 15:23:41] - a: I almost suggested taking the discussion to the message board to not muck up Ricky's facebook. -Paul
[2011-08-11 14:37:40] - aaron: Hey these are those links I was mentioning the other day for coming up with playlists for spotify, though I haven't tried them out myself yet. http://sharemyplaylists.com/playlist-generator and http://www.last.fm/group/spotify -Daniel
[2011-08-11 14:30:09] - paul: haha its like we're having a message board conversation on facebook. ~a
[2011-08-11 14:20:52] - Top SciFi Fantasy books, determined by online NPR poll: http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/139248590/top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books -Daniel
[2011-08-11 13:52:08] - the most important thing, practically speaking, is that they're unique and not guessable. using the same pw for WoW and gmail is asking for trouble - aaron
[2011-08-11 13:50:07] - g: i've yet to hear a good system for remembering/storing passwords in a secure way, i'm still just saving all of my passwords in a big file on my computer hoping openid catches on - aaron
[2011-08-11 10:50:40] - g: well, keep your hashes private. which your computer already does if you're using macosx, or linux. or hash your passwords multiple times with a complicated hashing algorithm and a huge ass salt. basically you want to set up a system that even if they get your hashes, they won't be able to try more than a few passwords per second. ~a
[2011-08-11 10:44:23] - although actually it isnt based on a word... ~g
[2011-08-11 10:40:49] - aaron: sooo not to be dumb, but is that accurate? Cause I can change my pwd if its too easy to hack... ~g
[2011-08-10 21:57:33] - http://xkcd.com/936/ password strength - aaron
[2011-08-10 16:41:17] - daniel: indeed, which is why I'm hoping firaxis(or meier at least) will be involved in some way. Though EA does have some good studios under their wing. I just hope they don't give the development to a cruddy one. - mig
[2011-08-10 16:30:09] - I would buy a sequel that they didn't butcher or destroy. -Daniel
[2011-08-10 16:27:58] - either way a sequel would be cool, as long as they approach it the right way. i don't think they'd need to do much innovation to release a great game - aaron
[2011-08-10 14:49:37] - mig: I wonder if it's because they released it on GOG and had impressive demand? I wouldn't be surprised. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-10 14:24:35] - http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/08/charges-filed-over-leaked-iphone-4-prototype-gizmodo-let-off-the-hook.ars the gizmodo/apple iphone 4 saga seems to have finally come to an end. - mig
[2011-08-10 14:08:28] - the only catch is that because firaxis is under 2k games now, there's some uncertainty if there was an alpha centauri sequel that firaxis would be the ones developing it. - mig
[2011-08-10 14:04:13] - apparently EA purchased a bunch of trademarks relating to Alpha Centauri. Let the sequel speculations begin! - mig
[2011-08-10 13:14:30] - Xpovos: It was also interesting to see because several of the new authors that I enjoy do blog/tweet/post about things and I had just been assuming that was due to their nature of wanting to write in various formats and connect to fans or something. I wonder now how much its pushed for all authors to do that stuff. -Daniel
[2011-08-10 13:13:01] - Xpovos: Ha, that was pretty good. I haven't bought it yet but its definitely on my radar. I like the concept of it. -Daniel
[2011-08-10 12:42:42] - xpovos: it appears so, though perhaps not as much fun as they would have liked. - mig
[2011-08-10 12:33:43] - Daniel: Follow up from the book posting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEN10axDJtA -- Xpovos
[2011-08-10 12:30:59] - Xpovos: So did England! - Stephen
[2011-08-10 12:27:27] - So, Wisconsin had some fun. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-09 20:53:23] - my girlfriend is like a trampoline - aaron
[2011-08-09 18:11:13] - a: That sounds like a bad way to make a piece of electronics... but I guess it works. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-09 17:00:00] - i'm actually surprised that the keyboards work as well as they do. based on my understanding of the electronics of keyboards, i would expect chording the keyboard would produce letters that you didn't touch. it's measuring the total-resistance of a number of resistors in parallel and trying to guess which resistors were connected. that seems hard. ~a
[2011-08-09 13:02:28] - Aaron: Ah, I thought it was something smaller like 4 or 5, but cleverly managed so that most of the time people don't notice. Good to know. -Paul
[2011-08-09 12:43:10] - paul: the key limit is ridiculously high, depending on the keys you pick you can press 10 or more keys at once. i found a web site which let you test this once, but i can't find it anymore - aaron
[2011-08-09 12:41:11] - xpovos: but they neglect some like shift-R-T that you'd need to type certain words - aaron
[2011-08-09 12:40:32] - xpovos: yeah, like daniel said, i can type out "asdfjk" without lifting any keys, but if i try to type "ert" the t doesn't come out. it's a key-by-key keyboard-specific limitation. i guess they care about combinations like shift-W-A which you'd need to play FPSes, - aaron
[2011-08-09 12:31:31] - Xpovos: Other key combo's work differently though. If I hold shift then hold f, then hit g the F's stop coming and G's start, even though I'm still holding F. It just seems like an odd quirk that RT/YU behave differently than the rest of the keyboard. -Daniel
[2011-08-09 12:31:02] - I thought keyboards could only accept a certain number of keys pressed at a time, but were designed so that most common key combinations were possible. -Paul
[2011-08-09 12:13:55] - Aaron: A lot of keyboards have a keystroke memory limit, yours might just be two characters? Have you tried on another keyboard? Or is it like a laptop? -- Xpovos
[2011-08-09 12:12:44] - Even as a non-(Jew/Black/Martian) I take offense at this and don't want it being taught to the children, mine or anyone elses! And now I'm forced through taxation to do just that. I don't think there are any obvious examples of this kind of behavior right now, but the potential for it to exist is real as long as the tax and education system remains unchanged. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-09 12:11:38] - I think one interesting side of the debate that I don't recall coming up is not just the impact has on one's own children--that can be mitigated. Private school, tutoring, home instruction/indoctrination... But let's take a crazy hypothetical, say the public schools are teaching children that certain kinds of people (Jews/Blacks/Martians) are inferior. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-09 12:10:44] - a: You planning frisbee this weekend, or should I? -Paul
[2011-08-09 12:10:11] - For the record, it's not really that I think slavery was a side issue, I just disagree with people who like to frame the civil war as some battle between good and evil where the confederates were only fighting to keep slavery alive. -Paul
[2011-08-09 12:05:00] - i do not seem to have this problem. - mig
[2011-08-09 11:59:19] - aaron: Same for T-R and UY/YU but all the other combos I've tried seem to work 'normally' -Daniel
[2011-08-09 11:55:00] - on my work keyboard if i type shift-R-T without lifting my middle finger off the R, then the T doesn't come out. i guess on dvorak it's shift-P-Y. it's really annoying because RT is such a common digraph - aaron
[2011-08-09 11:21:24] - but since that's impossible, i guess that kind of lesson should be left for the comparative religion class? ~a
[2011-08-09 11:20:44] - i think it would be awesome (except outrageously unfeasible) if every 10th grade history teacher started out one day every year saying (possibly lying): "i am not a christian, but since many christians live in this part of the world, let me tell you the history of their beliefs". since they're almost un-endorsing the religion, it would be cool, right? ~a
[2011-08-09 11:04:07] - g: correct on all accounts. and that's exactly how i would expect it to be taught in an english class. ~a
[2011-08-09 11:02:45] - a: Bigler/Green? I also read the bible, but it was like reading any other book not to necessarily be equated with history. ~g
[2011-08-09 11:02:19] - "slavery was a side issue for the south" mmmmph. i guess i don't know how true this is to have a strong opinion on that one way or the other. whether it was a "side" issue, or "one of many issues" is probably a good point of debate. this is one case where "teach the controversy" might actually apply. ~a
[2011-08-09 11:01:24] - a: you think creationism should be taught in english? Doesn't seem logical to me... Possibly in studying the Bible, but not as a theory in itself. In History I wouldn't want it taught either, although if it were taught I would want a huge caveat on it ~g
[2011-08-09 11:00:17] - lol, i got p0wned. seriously, though, i was required to read a few parts of the bible in high school. it was an english class. i actually didn't mind back then, and i don't remember ever thinking (in high school or ever) it was a bad move on the teacher's part. ~a
[2011-08-09 10:59:32] - a: I dont think that most schools treat the Civil war the way Paul thinks it should be. If I understand Paul correctly (who knows?) he says that slavery was a side issue for the south, and was more of a rallying point for the north rather than the real issues that were being fought over... ~g
[2011-08-09 10:57:35] - a: Now who has toned down their beliefs?
-Paul[2011-08-09 10:55:19] - private school? sure. public school? yep. in a comparative religion class? of course. in an english class? probably. in a history class? probably. ~a
[2011-08-09 10:48:43] - a: It's possible I've toned down, but I can't even think of what "extremist me" would be talking about there, I think my views are pretty much the same. I disagree, though, that you think most people would agree with me. You think creationism should be taught in schools? -Paul
[2011-08-09 10:47:09] - a: In other words, I don't think I generally have a problem with a topic being discussed, as long as it is discussed in an even handed way (as dictated by my own personal beliefs
). -Paul[2011-08-09 10:46:59] - well it seems you've toned down your beliefs then. those examples are boring since most people would agree
~a[2011-08-09 10:44:15] - a: I would be concerned with any curriculum which stressed the "rightness" of things like Keynesian economics or how the civil war was exclusively about slavery or whatever without offering contrasting viewpoints. -Paul
[2011-08-09 10:42:31] - a: Off the top of my head, I can't think of any topic (in general) that I would be opposed to teaching, as long as it was handled properly (sex ed not before a certain age, creationism is a non-scientific alternative belief to evolution, etc). -Paul
[2011-08-09 10:41:14] - a: Well, I don't know what I was referring to back then, but right now, I think I am more concerned about how certain topics are taught rather than what is taught. -Paul
[2011-08-09 10:24:34] - paul: (sub-message) which others? dont think you ever finished that thought, but it was a super interesting conversation. ~a
[2011-08-09 10:07:02] - mig: I agree that's a little overly pessimistic, but from what I can tell Appalachian State is a better team than JMU and isn't it also the first game of the season? Strange things can happen in the first game. -Paul
[2011-08-09 10:05:04] - Hmm I received an invite to "Psychiatry" on Thursday in CA... I think someone is trying to tell me something. ~g
[2011-08-09 09:43:12] - bah 2x-negative. take one of those out. - mig
[2011-08-09 09:42:26] - I think that's being way more pessimistic than warranted. The idea of losing to a DIAA team again is unlikely. And honestly there were some somewhat credible explanations for the JMU debacle. Not that it excuses the loss, but tech was not playing the game in very non-ideal circumstances. - mig
[2011-08-08 16:44:27] - I wouldn't put it past us. Appalachian State rocked Michigan a few years back after all. Side note, I very nearly went to Appalachian State instead of VT. If that had happened I wouldn't be here right now. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-08 16:29:19] - mig: Unless we lose to Appalachian State early on. Then we'll have a pretty good idea of how good we are.
-Paul[2011-08-08 16:23:05] - a: Heh, doesn't have to be this week. Of those two, Wednesday probably works better for me, though. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-08 15:42:45] - xpovos: ummm. whenever. i'm free for lunch most days. tomorrow or wednesday would be best i guess. ~a
[2011-08-08 15:39:04] - the only problem right now for VT is that the schedule is so favorable that no one will really know how good the team is until fairly late in the year. - mig
[2011-08-08 13:25:49] - Xpovos: My biggest problem now is that my only two big gainers are also good defensive stocks (so I don't want to sell them), and my bad defensive stocks are down big already, so I want to hold onto them. I blew what little extra free cash I had to buy some Kraft stock after they announced the split, but the dip wiped out it's post-split gains. -Paul
[2011-08-08 13:15:22] - Xpovos: Also, I think the coaching changes could help out a ton. I was a big critic of Stinespring's play calling. -Paul
[2011-08-08 13:14:11] - Xpovos: #12 seems fine. We have a lot of unproven starters, but so do a lot of other teams, and I don't know if we're considerably worse than we were last year. A lot depends on our defense getting back to form, I think. -Paul
[2011-08-08 13:12:41] - Xpovos: I haven't changed my investing strategy much (outside of putting less money in this year, but that was because of upcoming large bills rather than strategy). I sold my shares of GE a few months ago... but used part of that money to buy shares of Bank of America (ouch). -Paul
[2011-08-08 12:38:18] - daniel: for some reason (and obama has this problem as well), politicians are obssessed with america "winning" some sort of imaginary competition in the world. - mig
[2011-08-08 12:36:28] - xpovos: possibly. people are going a little too bonkers over florida state in comparison, though. - mig
[2011-08-08 12:29:42] - "Only if America's economy continues to lead the world can we be sure of our freedom long term." - Mitt Romney That seems on the surface ridiculous since lots of countries are able to secure their freedom w/o being number 1 in the world. Anyone here agree with that idea? -Daniel
[2011-08-08 12:28:41] - Xpovos: My investment strategy is to buy index funds and wait. -Daniel
[2011-08-08 12:22:46] - Hokies ranked at #12 pre-season. Probably too high. http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1244730 -- Xpovos
[2011-08-08 12:06:22] - I mention this mostly because I know we haven't talked investments nearly as much recently as we used to, but it's still kind of a big deal. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-08 12:05:46] - So, probably about three weeks too late (if only I'd done this before going to the beach!) I've gone mid-defensive on my stock holdings again. I think the donwside risk is substantially less (particularly since we've already absorbed so much of it) than the last time I did this (10/2007), but I've really just lost my appetite for risk right now. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-08 10:38:01] - a: Yeah. Speaking of which, when (generally) did you want to try to get together for lunch? I'll probably want to know in advance so I can avoid brown bagging that day. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-08 10:36:55] - Paul: The article author was a doctor and was referring, at least in my reading, to the harmful psychological and placebo effects of miracle drugs on the patient-doctor relationship. I think that's a legitimate concern, but she singled out anti-oxidants unnecessarily. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-08 10:11:47] - a: I noticed that too, and thought it was weird. I also didn't notice any evidence that anti-oxidants were harmful in the article, which the headline seemed to indicate they might be. -Paul
[2011-08-08 09:59:51] - it's funny that xpovos and i were talking about this on the way back from the bachelor party. ~a
[2011-08-08 09:59:21] - paul: "there is limited scientific evidence to support the use of antioxidant supplements to prevent disease." so which is it? do they not work, or is there limited evidence to support that they work? "limited" != "none". and certainly if the kind doctor is claiming they don't work, i hope he has limited evidence to support that they don't work. ~a
[2011-08-05 13:32:39] - mig: Or so we think! -- Xpovos
[2011-08-05 13:26:54] - xpovos: well at least madden is out of broadcasting now. - mig
[2011-08-05 13:18:13] - mig: Best line: "The Dolphins open the season on "Monday Night Football." Can we, America, stand idly by while Jon Gruden gets the opportunity to sayeth "this guy here just loves the game" repeatedly during the opening ESPN game of the season?" -- Xpovos
[2011-08-05 12:56:30] - http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/The-Crisis-Dolphins-reportedly-considering-addi?urn=nfl-wp4569 oh dear god please, no. I'm not sure anyone can handle going through this again... - mig
[2011-08-05 12:39:18] - xpovos: http://spamusement.com/index.php/comics/view/237
- aaron[2011-08-05 11:51:45] - http://deadlinelive.info/2011/07/15/ron-paul-hits-home-run-literally-a-first-ever-for-the-annual-congressional-baseball-game/ A bit misleading since it appears to have been in the past, not this year's, but still an impressive thing. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-05 11:45:57] - a: I didn't just use the search engine. I went to the actual timestamps, there were no posts, and no related posts at the specified points or nearby. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-05 11:31:59] - mmph. those aren't spam. i'm guessing the search engine is broken. i'll look at it later. ~a
[2011-08-05 11:29:34] - Someone (I'm assuming a) posted timestamps for some spammy posts and they are definitely not in the archive that we can search. But the random title picked one up--but that could be because we found the humor value and did it ourselves. Anyway, there appears to be some repository of posts spammed to the board and rightfully deleted, but maybe not entirely. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-05 11:22:24] - xpovos: which spam posts do you mean? - aaron
[2011-08-05 11:01:58] - aaron: I think people care about the debt but they currently care more about the economy. Which is a big reason the debt has become so big over time. People want it dealt with but at a perpetual later time. -Daniel
[2011-08-05 11:01:56] - a: Do you keep record of even the spam posts you've deleted? I thought I was a digital packrat... -- Xpovos
[2011-08-05 10:57:37] - mig: i guess i understand how theoretically those two concepts aren't contradictory, "we're in debt, so let's (presumably) spend money on new government programs to encourage job creation"?? but man that's quite a leap - aaron
[2011-08-05 10:56:24] - mig: yeah i was confused by the poll at first; mostly because of the (seemingly contradictory) conclusion that americans were disappointed by the high U.S debt, and that they wanted the government to focus on job creation instead of cutting spending - aaron
[2011-08-05 10:14:06] - prev - message board [2006-10-12 09:01:15] - real nice dishes there, necky [2006-10-11 13:39:13] - government, even in its best state, …
[2011-08-05 09:20:34] - said
[2011-08-05 09:20:31] - paul: like i sad, more useful for the earmark debate. - mig
[2011-08-05 09:18:01] - mig: Heh, interestingly, I don't think I am as fond of that analogy anymore since there are some minor distinctions. In fact, you touched on one of them: People choose to order a pizza, they don't choose to be born in the US. -Paul
[2011-08-05 09:06:27] - paul: and I approve of your pizza analogy now. Though I've found it more useful to refer to it when talking about earmarks. - mig
[2011-08-05 09:03:08] - There is an interesting discussion between Miguel and I surrounding the pizza analogy in my way-back quote. It includes me referring to the SATs as "Scholastic Applitude Test".
-Paul[2011-08-05 09:02:51] - "If you put people back to work, you are cutting spending.” ok, I guess I do understand the results of this poll now. - mig
[2011-08-05 08:59:29] - “Unless you have working people you don’t have revenue from taxes. If you cut spending, jobs will be eliminated and you won’t get any revenue. Every dollar spent creates jobs.” spoken like a true keynesian ... - mig
[2011-08-05 08:51:38] - 72% dissaprove of how republicans handled (not enough compromise with the president), yet 44% think spending cuts didn't go far enough and 29% said the cuts were just about right .... that ummm, makes sense. - mig
[2011-08-05 08:07:52] - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/us/politics/05poll.html?_r=2 disapproval rate for congress at record 82% after debt talks - aaron
[2011-08-04 18:49:51] - 7
[2011-08-04 16:45:13] - 6
[2011-08-04 16:13:36] - For my fellow Redskins fans: $10. 'Nuff said. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-04 15:29:23] - http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Shanahan-wants-his-Australian-punter-to-marry-fo?urn=nfl-wp4529 the redskins, for whatever reason, cannot escape bizzare headlines. - mig
[2011-08-04 15:28:13] - Xpovos: Oo that does look interesting, thanks
-Daniel[2011-08-04 15:23:22] - Daniel: I have just the thing for you. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-04 15:05:27] - Xpovos: I hope to live forever by systematically replacing all my humans parts with superior machine ones and joining Skynet when the time comes. Woo Robot Overlords! -Daniel
[2011-08-04 14:45:55] - aaron: Right, I'm not claiming anti-oxidants will raise your life expectancy. I'm saying that if you are going to be one of those who lives to be 120, anti-oxidants will be a big part of that. No amount of anti-oxidant consumption is going to stop a bus. Or even a heart attack. It's pretty much just cancer. But by 120 that's about all that's left. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-04 14:42:00] - xpovos: kind of like how they've demonstrated that ingesting ridiculous volumes of saccharin leads to increased risk of cancer in lab rats... but afaik there's never been a link demonstrated in human subjects, mostly because the volume we'd need to ingest would be so ridiculous - aaron
[2011-08-04 14:40:28] - xpovos: sure, although that doesn't necessarily correspond to a measurable increase in life expectancy or anything like that. without human trials it's all still somewhat theoretical. but at least it's backed by some form of scientific evidence, that's better than nothing - aaron
[2011-08-04 12:49:10] - Thats weird... -Daniel
[2011-08-04 12:43:08] - looks like 3 have happened at fair oaks, 1 at fairfax towne center, 1 at greenbriar and the last at tysons. ~g
[2011-08-04 12:41:31] - http://abcnews.go.com/US/serial-butt-slasher-assaults-women-virginia-police/story?id=14221912 ~g
[2011-08-04 12:40:05] - Daniel: Yea there is a guy who follows teen/early twenty yr old females into stores makes a disturbance and slashes their bums with a box cutter of some sort. It has happened all around my place, one in fair oaks mall, one in fairfax towne center, and one in greenbriar. ~g
[2011-08-04 11:48:11] - aaron: No double blind studies in vitro, but plenty that indicate that free radical exposure increases the decay rate of DNA strands and frequency of DNA mutations. And conclusive scientific evidence that demonstrates free radicals are neutralized by antioxidants. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-04 11:26:11] - daniel: there's someone going around sneaking around behind women and cutting them in their behinds with a boxcutter or something. - mig
[2011-08-04 11:05:40] - butt slasher? -Daniel
[2011-08-04 11:02:53] - daniel: I feel a bit bad for him if so his description is platered online... ~g
[2011-08-04 10:59:24] - Also the butt slasher struck again on Aug 1st... At TJ Maxx by us... ~g
[2011-08-04 10:56:29] - Gurkie: Yeah abc says a similar thing. Lets hope it was just a oddly shaped cucumber or something stupid. hopefully... -Daniel
[2011-08-04 10:54:09] - Not sure what ABC says but CNN's newscast seemed to be saying the kids thought the guy might have a gun under a towel or something along those lines. ~g
[2011-08-04 10:51:39] - Paul: I just saw it on the news, I was about to post that. ~g
[2011-08-04 10:50:49] - http://abcnews.go.com/US/virginia-tech-gunman-loose-blacksburg-virginia-campus/story?id=14230729 Virginia Tech Locked Down After Report of Man With a Gun -Paul
[2011-08-04 10:21:20] - xpovos: are there double-blind studies showing that they increase your life span, or reduce certain medical risks? the best i've found are studies which suggest that fruits are good for you, and fruits contain antioxidants... - aaron
[2011-08-04 10:04:22] - Paul: Antioxidants are decidedly good for you. It's just the wide range of health benefits ascribed to them by some are probably inacurate and misleading. Still, they're pretty close to vital if you want to live a long life, regardless of what the Slate article is implying (I'm reading it now). The antioxidant benefit is at a much smaller level than cellular. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-04 09:01:16] - http://www.slate.com/id/2300578 "Antioxidants don't work, but no one wants to hear it". Has anybody else heard anything about this? I know a lot of nutrition science is in constant upheaval (eggs are good, now bad, now good again), but I thought it was safe to assume antioxidants were good. -Paul
[2011-08-03 16:25:04] - I think the article title is misleading, but this is still something of a big deal. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/07/undeletable-cookie/ -- Xpovos
[2011-08-03 16:09:12] - Stephen: yea im not surprised... ~g
[2011-08-03 15:53:17] - An interesting take on Otakon http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/awkward-moments-at-baltimore-anime-convention-as-art-form-comes-of-age/2011/07/31/gIQAFYY5rI_story.html - Stephen
[2011-08-03 15:16:46] - Now I want to play War on Terror again. -- Xpovos
[2011-08-03 14:46:23] - not go into it right now* - stupid rant derailed by missing words...
[2011-08-03 14:45:40] - I'm pretty sure thats how I'm supposed to respond to that based on what I've learned from the internet. -Daniel
[2011-08-03 14:45:20] - Paul is such a terrorist for wanting to not go into now. I can only imagine thats because he has to finish hiding his hoarded wealth in over sea's accounts to fund who knows what groups instead of paying his rightful taxes to enable our free birth control and free smoothies for life! -Daniel
[2011-08-03 14:02:54] - Daniel: But of course, I think that's a discussion for a different time.
-Paul[2011-08-03 14:01:22] - Daniel: Well, I think the point is that all of those things sound good on the surface, but aren't quite what they appear to be. In other words, things designed to "help working families" end up hurting them. -Paul
[2011-08-03 13:53:08] - daniel: I was also amused by the fact that these same people several months ago were urging a call to "civility" in the wake of the Loughner shooting spree, and now just as Rep Giffords has returned to congress the "uncivil" rhetoric on the left goes into full overdrive. Irony meters set to overload! - mig
[2011-08-03 13:43:26] - Mig: But yeah calling people terrorists all the time seems a little extreme and does seem to get thrown around a lot lately. -Daniel
[2011-08-03 13:42:53] - Mig: Its funny in the last paragraph of your article, they list off a series of things in quotes that the author thinks we shouldn't be doing (presumably?) but I would take the quotes off and say I'm for all of those things. -Daniel
[2011-08-03 13:31:05] - Going back to the subject of political vitriol, I do wonder if we should consider revising godwin's law a bit. - mig
[2011-08-03 13:18:16] - but that was the biggest revelation for me, was realizing how much utility i had received out of google's services, and by extension, how valuable my personal data/attention must be in order for them to provide those services for free - aaron
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