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[2012-06-07 13:08:28] - paul: i guess it's because media are obsessing too much over wisconsin. - mig
[2012-06-07 13:08:16] - Paul: Nothing 'consistent' that I've seen. I played a session with Daniel, Amy and Aaron that was pretty awesome. I did some public play last night. And I've got a character that I'm playing with Katie exclusively. Really I don't have an alt though. I'm definitely down for some form of MP in the near future. -- Xpovos
[2012-06-07 13:05:43] - paul: i probably watched the may 31st episode. but i don't remember the part you're referring to. ~a
[2012-06-07 12:59:17] - On a complete non-political note, I know I'm way behind everybody else on playing Diablo 3 (my highest level character is still on Act 3 in normal difficulty), but is there any kind of somewhat consistent coop playing going on? I've got three characters of varying levels who would be interested in leveling up with some other people's alts sometime soon. -Paul
[2012-06-07 12:56:25] - In fact, he even touches on Obama's promise to close Guantanamo, "until it turned out to be hard to do". Loving it. -Paul
[2012-06-07 12:56:00] - Do people here watch the Colbert Report? I DVR it, and so I might be behind a bit, but I'm loving the May 31st episode where he has a scathing "The Word" about Obama and his drone strikes and how it's actually far worse than what Bush did with Guantanamo. -Paul
[2012-06-07 12:54:17] - mig: Yeah, I've been following it some for the past week or so. Surprised it hasn't been in the news more. -Paul
[2012-06-07 12:16:11] - paul: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/paycheck-fairness-act-fails-in-the-senate-as-expected/2012/06/05/gJQATX4XGV_blog.html your favorite issue is a hot topic again. - mig
[2012-06-07 11:09:48] - mig: Whether or not a mandatory savings account is constitutional overreach certainly wouldn't have mattered to FDR... -- Xpovos
[2012-06-07 10:26:54] - daniel: i wonder that myself a lot lately. The way the players get stronger faster and hitting harder I think that eventually someone is going to die on the field during a game at some point after taking a brutal hit. Despite its overwhelming popularity, I don't think the NFL can surive if something like that happens. - mig
[2012-06-07 10:22:31] - Of course, that would mean that SS would still be around, with all of its current problems. Maybe that's would still be an improvement over what we have now, but I'm not sure. - mig
[2012-06-07 10:19:41] - daniel: Although there are probably ways to design a "mandatory savings" account in a way that could satisfy the courts. The fact that Social Security, which in of itself could be considered mandatory savings has been upheld by the courts. Maybe if it was designed as kind of a way to "opt-out" of SS, then people and the courts would object to it less?. - mig
[2012-06-07 10:09:27] - Daniel: I would say "mandatory savings" would be a government overreach. Personally, I feel there's enough social safety nets already for the people who don't/can't save for retirement. And even if there weren't, I'm perfectly comfortable saying fuck all the old people, because the alternative is us working people getting fucked a whole lot harder. - mig
[2012-06-07 09:51:04] - A mandatory savings plan would be an interesting idea but would seem depenedent on whether the individual mandate for healthcare holds up. Would Republicans freak if it did hold up and then another new mandate was introduced that you had to save for retirement? Isn't that the gov dictating private citizens lives? -Daniel
[2012-06-07 09:49:51] - screws over the masses either. It's similar to health care in that I think we as a country shouldn't bail on our citizens but how do you do that w/o costing a bajillion dollars and in a sensible fashion. -Daniel
[2012-06-07 09:48:46] - Xpovos: SS is a tricky thing for me. I generallly think pensions aren't really a good system illustrated by the fact that they are bankrupting everything everywhere as people miscalulated how much $ they would need for them. However I'm not sure that I trust the masses to all take care of themselves either but I'm not sure I want a system that...
[2012-06-07 09:46:22] - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3310979/ I wonder at the future of football sometimes. I'm not sure if 20-30 years from now its not a sport on the way out as more and more kids are prevented/discourged from playing. Though I guess the rise of MMA would argue that there are still new people willing to enter into violent sports. -Daniel
[2012-06-07 09:06:53] - mig: i just ran "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" on five different computers. don't you miss debian?! ~a
[2012-06-06 17:52:09] - mig: A while back I posted a Samuelson link talking about how even FDR hated the idea of the SS system as it exists today. He wanted an initial program like that followed up with an essentially 'mandatory savings' plan, a genuine individual account lockbox. If even FDR didn't like the system we have now, that's petty damning for the system as a whole, IMO. -- Xpovos
[2012-06-06 17:40:51] - vinnie: That's way worse. Ouch. No, my co-worker went to the local hospital 'not feeling well', and died there shortly afterwards. The causes aren't clear yet, but it's probably heart-related. -- Xpovos
[2012-06-06 15:17:41] - vinnie: wow... - aaron
[2012-06-06 14:32:02] - really just terrible when people die that young - vinnie
[2012-06-06 14:30:51] - xpovos: god, sorry to hear that. a couple years ago, someone on my floor committed suicide in his office over the weekend; they found his body Monday morning and we weren't permitted near his office that day. I didn't know him but it obv affected the people on my floor a lot - vinnie
[2012-06-06 14:23:15] - So I guess the push for public sector pension reform is more or less officially a thing now. thoughts? could it potentially morph into a general push to seriously reform social security? - mig
[2012-06-06 13:47:59] - xpovos: do you know what he died of? And did he die at work? ~g
[2012-06-06 11:45:24] - aaron: Honestly, I think it's worse because I disliked him which now brings in some extra guilt. There's a lot of shock. -- Xpovos
[2012-06-06 11:25:03] - xpovos: were you close? how is everyone reacting? - aaron
[2012-06-06 11:23:22] - xpovos: oh my goodness that's terrible!!! - aaron
[2012-06-06 10:58:20] - I took yesterday off to deal with some home-front projects. A 26-year old coworker of mine died while I was out. Yikes. -- Xpovos
[2012-06-06 10:46:11] - http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/258146/58/After-Wisconsin-loss-Barrett-supporter-slaps-him lose a election, get slapped by a supporter .... ouch. - mig
[2012-06-06 00:52:37] - http://imgur.com/cdCEq man i'm glad i clicked this stupid picture at home and not at work - aaron
[2012-06-05 20:03:19] - mostly in agreement with paul on this topic. I'm not against foreign intervention, and I don't know how we could have retaliated against Al Qaeda except how we did, but I don't think most of our work we did and do there will do us favors in the future - vinnie
[2012-06-05 17:51:23] - a: Personally, I lean more towards the side of all these interventions mostly not doing much good. Sure, we crippled their leadership (even though it took a long time to track down Bin Laden), but we probably pissed off a new generation of people too. -Paul
[2012-06-05 17:49:27] - a: But if we hadn't invaded, and 9-11 part 2 happened, then everybody would be calling for Bush's head for having "done nothing". -Paul
[2012-06-05 17:49:05] - a: Right, and it's actually something I thought about back then when everybody was questioning whether the Afghanistan War was helping... It's a bit of a no-win scenario, because you won't know if it did any good. -Paul
[2012-06-05 17:32:21] - "how many future 9-11's would we have to have prevented to have made all these wars worthwhile?" interesting point. i don't think i disagree with it. but it's hard to argue since we didn't live out that scenario. after the third or fourth 0911, bush might have regretted not invading afghanistan. ~a
[2012-06-05 17:21:23] - a: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror#Casualties I mean, when you compare the number of casualties from 9-11 to the casualties (even just counting civilians) from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan... it really seems like the mother of all over-reactions on the surface. -Paul
[2012-06-05 17:17:47] - a: Well, I definitely agree that the actions of the US has done something to affect their ability to attack us, I just wonder if everything we've done has been worth the cost. How many future 9-11's would we have to have prevented to have made all these wars worthwhile? -Paul
[2012-06-05 16:52:58] - of course it's impossible to know. i think it's A, B, or C. A. we have done nothing real to stop them and they failed anyways. B. we have successfully thwarted their attacks using (among other things) drone attacks. C. something between A and B. ~a ~a
[2012-06-05 16:51:54] - a: What do you think the answer is? -Paul
[2012-06-05 16:50:42] - a: I think they've been unsuccessful because they're just not that big of a threat. 9-11, for as bad as it was, just needed a bunch of people (some of which knew how to fly a plane) who were willing to die for their beliefs. We've seen how that wouldn't work anymore from Flight 93. The passengers tried to take control of the plane back. -Paul
[2012-06-05 16:49:35] - ok, now for the non-joke answer?
~a[2012-06-05 16:47:25] - a: Because I have a magic rock which protects me from terrorist attacks.
-Paul[2012-06-05 16:44:21] - mig/paul: but how do you determine why they have been unsuccessful? ~a
[2012-06-05 16:32:23] - a: How many major successful attacks have they carried out against us in the US? As far as I know, it's the one, and they haven't had any since. -Paul
[2012-06-05 16:28:55] - a: on us soil, i would say the threat of any sort of terrorist attack is very insignificant. Obviously, american citizens and us soldiers in countries like afghanistan and pakistan the risk is higher- mig
[2012-06-05 16:27:09] - "If it's a war against another nation, then let's have Congress declare it." ha. good luck with that. that ship has sailed. ~a
[2012-06-05 16:23:19] - "Considering the seemingly complete lack of a threat that Al Qaeda presents to us now" hmmm? ~a
[2012-06-05 16:20:57] - Daniel: Considering the seemingly complete lack of a threat that Al Qaeda presents to us now, it seems like we could stand to have a little more discretion or even try to do things through more official channels when it comes to people like Anwar al-Awlaki. -Paul
[2012-06-05 16:15:10] - Daniel: If it's a war against another nation, then let's have Congress declare it. If we're passing death sentences down on people, can we at least get some sort of due process and try to find a way that doesn't involve the death of innocents? -Paul
[2012-06-05 16:13:20] - Daniel: Right now, we have a President who is fighting an undeclared war and executing people (including American citizens) without any kind of input from the judicial system. -Paul
[2012-06-05 16:12:27] - Daniel: I think that's mostly accurate, although I'm really not against retaliation of terrorist attacks, I would just prefer that they were conducted differently. -Paul
[2012-06-05 14:56:33] - Paul: So it seems like your position is to not retaliate to terrorist attacks because they are pretty infrequent and if we don't retaliate then we will stop doing things that feeds their recruitment efforts and eventually they will just peter out on their own? I can't tell if I'm making that sound bad or not but I'm trying to objectively summarize it. -Daniel
[2012-06-05 14:21:16] - Daniel: I want to stress those are the odds if they were to execute an attack of that size once a year. I think we can agree that they seem to be having a hard time doing it once a decade. -Paul
[2012-06-05 14:19:33] - Daniel: http://www.asktheodds.com/death/terrorist-attack-odds/ "If terrorists were able to execute one 9/11 atrocity sized attack per year in the United States, the odds of dying in a terrorist attack in any given year would be 1 in 100,000... The odds of dying by drowning in one year are 1 in 88,000." -Paul
[2012-06-05 14:18:38] - Daniel: Maybe we get another terrorist attack like 9-11 in our lifetimes, and it would be terrible, but Al Qaeda's follow-up attempts so far have been fairly inept. -Paul
[2012-06-05 14:07:40] - Daniel: September 11th was terrible, certainly, and I don't want to try to minimize it, but around 3,000 people were killed. We're approaching that number in drone strike kills in Pakistan alone (not counting the war in Afghanistan or Iraq). -Paul
[2012-06-05 14:04:45] - Daniel: "do you also think that they are done with us?" I'm not saying it would be some magic elixir where suddenly we won't be the target of more terrorist attacks, but I think it would go farther towards winning the hearts and minds of our enemies over than to keep creating martyrs and killing innocents. -Paul
[2012-06-05 14:03:31] - Daniel: "If you do think we should just be done with them" To clarify, I think we should pull our troops out of Afghanistan and Pakistan and stop doing other things in our foreign policy that makes people resent us as a country (foreign aid for brutal dictators, for instance). -Paul
[2012-06-05 14:01:00] - in the future. -Paul
[2012-06-05 14:00:56] - Daniel: I find it far more acceptable to shell some town and accidentally kill innocents inside when troops inside the town are shelling you back and the other side is actively and immediately trying to kill you. The morality of things seems MUCH murkier when we're talking about bombing houses of people who we think support groups that might want to hurt us... -Paul
[2012-06-05 13:56:57] - Daniel: Sorry for the confusion. I have a problem with these drone strikes, period, no matter who is in charge (military or CIA). I think there is a big difference between a outright military conflict type of war like WW2 and the very targeted fight against terrorist that is the war on terror. -Paul
[2012-06-05 13:54:41] - daniel: I don't see why not. In all honesty, Al Queda is nowhere near the global threat that the US govenrment would have us believe. Just look at all the plots that get foiled. They're either carried out by incredibly incompetent people or they're abetted by our own law enforcement because they can't possibly carry out their plans any other way. - mig
[2012-06-05 13:50:50] - Paul: If you do think we should just be done with them, do you also think that they are done with us? -Daniel
[2012-06-05 13:49:36] - -Daniel
[2012-06-05 13:49:34] - Paul: So if you don't want military or CIA to be dealing with them currently you think we should just be done with them (terrorists / militants in afghan/pakistan) all together currently? Thats just to clarify my understanding, I thought after reading below you didn't like the military using drone strikes but would be ok with the CIA doing it which seemed odd to me.
[2012-06-05 12:21:58] - Daniel: I almost didn't list the FBI, since it's supposed to be focused on domestic stuff, but they do seem to play a big role in tracking terrorist suspects now. The CIA being in charge of drone strikes doesn't change anything for me, I don't care if NASA is in charge of them, I still don't like it. -Paul
[2012-06-05 11:23:00] - On a side note its interesting you listed FBI as an intelligence service. I also think that the CIA was the one originally in charge of drone strikes. Does that make it better? -Daniel
[2012-06-05 11:10:23] - mig: I think Walker is going to win, so I guess a sad day for Big Labor. -Paul
[2012-06-05 10:26:14] - Daniel: Personally, I don't think we should be using the military to fight terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan right now. Let's use our intelligence services (CIA, FBI, NSA, etc) to try to catch them when they do stuff to us instead. -Paul
[2012-06-05 10:23:50] - aaron: I know where I recognized puzzle strike from, there is an expansion to it on kickstarter although it was funded already. ~g
[2012-06-05 10:12:16] - Paul: I'm not pro collateral damage but I'm curious about how you would fight against terrorists / guerilla fighters in afghan/pakistan. You mention conventional war being different in your head but the other side isn't really giving us that option. So how then do we proceed with dealing with them? -Daniel
[2012-06-05 10:06:31] - wisconsin recall election today: happy or sad day for big labor? - mig
[2012-06-04 18:53:03] - paul: yep me too. probably the thing I'm most disappointed with obama for - vinnie
[2012-06-04 17:45:52] - a: Agreed on not making war. I just get frustrated people get passes based on their party affiliation. I was pissed at the Republicans when they happily spent money hand over fist during Bush's presidency, and now I'm annoyed with the Democrats who seem to have lost all anti-war and pro-civil rights sentiments since Obama is in office. -Paul
[2012-06-04 17:04:12] - yeah agreed. after thinking about it longer, i agree not all collateral damage should be treated equally. i also obviously understand this is outside our judicial system, and hesitantly agree we need to be more cautious about who we kill. anywho, we should be making love, not war. ~a
[2012-06-04 16:45:34] - a: And again, these aren't people who our judicial system has tried and found guilty and sentenced to death. -Paul
[2012-06-04 16:42:45] - a: Yeah, I'm not surprised. Even if it's technically correct, though, I think there is a meaningful difference between artillery bombardment of a city that enemy troops have entrenched during an outright conventional war, and tracking somebody for days/weeks/month who MIGHT be plotting to harm you and then dropping a bomb on his village. -Paul
[2012-06-04 16:31:43] - "I think even calling those casualties collateral damage is a bit misleading, because these people aren't accidentally getting killed in the heat of battle or something" speaking from a military perspective, they call it collateral damage (oops, no wikipedia page) in both circumstances. ~a
[2012-06-04 15:27:38] - a: Sure, but I think even calling those casualties collateral damage is a bit misleading, because these people aren't accidentally getting killed in the heat of battle or something. We're making the deliberate decision to drop bombs to take out specific people (who are given no due process) and sometimes those bombs fall on civilians too. -Paul
[2012-06-04 15:12:32] - "How many innocents die in drone strikes". ah right. ok, so. "Civilians reported killed: 484 - 830" "Children reported killed: 175" seems high, but this is over a decade. though 50 civilians per year is still high imo. ~a
[2012-06-04 14:48:02] - a: People (rightfully) gave Bush a lot of crap for wanting to treat terrorism suspects as enemy combatants and using torture, but frankly I see that as preferable in many ways to our current policy of outright killing them (and sometimes their families or people unlucky enough to be around them). -Paul
[2012-06-04 14:45:35] - a: Honestly, I don't know if we ever got our discussion much past: "How many innocents die in drone strikes", but the point I was trying to make is that I'm not a big fan of how they've been used. -Paul
[2012-06-04 14:42:27] - a: By ground strike, do you mean artillery shelling or something like that? If so, I would say probably none for the purposes of this discussion. -Paul
[2012-06-04 14:32:00] - paul: ah. ok, so explain to me (i'm seriously curious) what is the difference between collateral damage from a drone strike, and collateral damage from a ground strike? ~a
[2012-06-04 14:28:24] - a: I was talking about dead civilians from drone strikes (mostly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but not necessarily exclusively). -Paul
[2012-06-04 14:26:47] - a: Well, on Friday night I was just commenting on how many innocent civilians have been killed by the drone strikes. As long as they are initiated, authorized and carried out by the US, I don't think it matters much to my point where they took off from. -Paul
[2012-06-04 14:25:55] - paul: collateral damage exists in afghanistan. are you talking about collateral damage in general? or collateral damage specifically in pakistan? ~a
[2012-06-04 14:25:07] - vinnie: i went once in dc and once in fairfax. i wanted to go again in alexandria more recently, but never got my shit together. ~a
[2012-06-04 14:25:02] - paul: it was a very strange game, even before the end of regulation, pretty much every player of note was in foul trouble. - mig
[2012-06-04 14:24:26] - a: I can see how it could matter in terms of how much the Pakistani government would hate us, but I'm not sure how it matters in terms of the civilians being dead. -Paul
[2012-06-04 14:24:10] - if pakistan knows we're doing it, then whether you agree or disagree with what we're doing in pakistan, it's no different than what we're doing in afghanistan. am i oversimplifying? is it because it's across national boundries? does it matter? i guess maybe it does. ~a
[2012-06-04 14:23:09] - a: that might have been what I was thinking of. that sounds pretty fun too. where did you go hashing? - vinnie
[2012-06-04 14:22:42] - paul: yes it matters. ~a
[2012-06-04 14:18:55] - a: Does it matter if they are flown out of a Pakistani base or not? Or are you saying that the drones aren't ours? -Paul
[2012-06-04 14:18:02] - mig: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--lebron-james-upset-with-foul-call-that-ended-his-game-4-and-swung-tide-toward-celtics-.html;_ylt=AvQI_lHtb4UReCznF_JH45w5nYcB I guess you were right: "I don't foul out," James said. -Paul
[2012-06-04 14:17:43] - "US Senator Dianne Feinstein said in February 2009: 'As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base.' Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi denied that this was true" So what's the more up to date back-and-forth? Is our government still claiming that Pakistan is involved? ~a
[2012-06-04 14:14:50] - vinnie: i have not been geocaching. i have a friend that does it on occasion. maybe you heard that i went hashing over the winter? ~a
[2012-06-04 10:55:16] - a: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_attacks_in_Pakistan Putting some numbers to the discussion we were having on Friday about innocents killed from drone strikes. -Paul
[2012-06-04 10:49:29] - Vinnie: I've read comments in articles where people are angry at libertarians for (according to them) advocating things like secession (with regards to the Free State Project) and overthrowing the government. -Paul
[2012-06-04 10:48:21] - Vinnie: Yeah, and libertarians don't help themselves sometimes with quotes they use: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -Paul
[2012-06-04 10:37:40] - that makes sense. I'm used to the world of games and movies where the word "revolution" gets added as an afterthought, but I guess in the political world it could literally mean people calling to overthrow the govt - vinnie
[2012-06-04 10:31:39] - Vinnie: I have to admit, though, that it's never been my favorite Ron Paul logo. Just never made a ton of sense to me. -Paul
[2012-06-04 10:31:01] - Vinnie: I agree with what Xpovos said. I think it was largely meant to soften the word "Revolution" so people didn't think Ron Paul was talking about a literal revolution to overthrow the government or something. -Paul
[2012-06-04 09:53:54] - vinnie: Revolutions tend to be violent and messy. La révolution dévore ses enfants. The emphasis of the word 'love', which has to be reversed because of spelling issues, which helps make it stand out, indicates that the revolution is not intended to be violent. It also fits nicely with libertarian force theory. -- Xpovos
[2012-06-04 09:53:18] - oh also has anyone done geocaching? (i think I remember a saying he has.) anyone want to go sometime, maybe this weekend? - vinnie
[2012-06-04 09:48:12] - help me out here, why do the Ron Paul Revolution stickers emphasize the word "love"? is it just that someone noticed that the word is in there and decided to highlight it, or is there some other meaning? - vinnie
[2012-05-31 16:40:31] - Xpovos: Not sure I can imagine a low-voiced shouting match that involved logic and reason... -Paul
[2012-05-31 16:25:14] - Paul: Eh, I guess more metaphorical. It was a highly involved low-voiced shouting match where logic and reason were employed more than might be expected. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-31 16:09:01] - Xpovos: Literal or metaphorical? -Paul
[2012-05-31 15:21:44] - Knock-down drag-out office-place fight has me craving red meat. Strange thing to cause me to burn through calories. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-31 14:57:41] - Paul: Yeah once the rockets werne't getting the #1 I was rooting for the Wizards too. -Daniel
[2012-05-31 14:23:34] - https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/#!/petition/create-do-not-kill-list/HwqFwRtG I want on this list. -Paul
[2012-05-31 13:31:24] - a: No problem, I can plan it. -Paul
[2012-05-31 13:28:29] - paul: no, sorry. i was going to plan it up until a few hours ago. ~a
[2012-05-31 13:09:19] - Daniel: Disappointed the Wizards didn't get the #1 pick (they had the second worst record), but at least it's a deep enough draft that they could get a good player at #3. -Paul
[2012-05-31 13:02:54] - Go. Go. NL East. Nice. 5 teams all above .500 baseball. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-31 13:02:48] - a: Are you planning frisbee this weekend? -Paul
[2012-05-31 12:57:30] - Woo... Rockets with the 14th pick... again... -Daniel
[2012-05-31 12:22:01] - http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/charlotte-bobcats-look-bright-side-losing-2012-nba-145001667.html also, I took great amusement in this. - mig
[2012-05-31 12:21:42] - paul: true, but it becomes slightly less insane when you take into account he came into the NBA straight out of high school. Most people would be in their 40s after 17 seasons in the NBA. KG is "only" 36. - mig
[2012-05-31 12:16:02] - Paul: I know I don't follow basketball, but part of my ambivalence towards the Celts, even in my picks, was based on the fact that KG was gone. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-31 12:14:12] - Xpovos: I believe he is in his 17th season, which is insane. -Paul
[2012-05-31 12:09:29] - xpovos: no, he's still around. Though it has been widely speculated though that this is the last season that Boston's big 3 will be together. - mig
[2012-05-31 12:07:07] - Wait. Kevin Garnett is still playing for the Celts? Didn't he retire? -- Xpovos
[2012-05-30 19:01:15] - ok that was probably my favorite AMA ever - vinnie
[2012-05-30 17:09:46] - not to say I only enjoyed him in SLC Punk. but that alone was enough for my $10 - vinnie
[2012-05-30 17:09:14] - aaron: yeah I actually sent him $10 for it. just based on SLC Punk, pretty much, but he's had a pretty amusing AMA so far - vinnie
[2012-05-30 16:31:18] - he's using it to promote a movie he directed called fat kid rules the world which is up on kickstarter, they're trying to raise $150,000 for marketing/distribution... i really like the whole kickstarter model for having fans fund larger projects, i think it's got a future - aaron
[2012-05-30 16:22:54] - i just wish someone would ask me something juicy? It's all SCREAM and 14 GHOSTS and shit... lets get down to the dirty already! AMA? hardly. I'm going to the bottom of the page... they know where it's at! - matt
[2012-05-30 16:12:56] - vinnie: aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! -aaron
[2012-05-30 13:24:16] - aaron: you probably already saw but http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/uc94p/im_matthew_lillard_stu_from_scream_shaggy_in/ starts at 2 - vinnie
[2012-05-29 13:09:38] - Paul: eh in some ways you have to take a hardline to negotiate on prices, and I wanted to get us the best price we could... Which I think we did a good job of, if you look at the site you were using I think we are even better than the "great" price range they had. ~g
[2012-05-29 12:59:57] - g: I agree. I said we got a "good to great deal". I actually thought you might've thought we didn't get a good deal considering how you felt at the negotiation yesterday.
-Paul[2012-05-29 12:56:52] - on an msrp of 29380 ~g
[2012-05-29 12:56:36] - paul: also in terms of price I think we got a great price... the price you were comparing with online is pre add ons... which for ours ended up being 25540... ~g
[2012-05-29 12:28:55] - Vinnie: Sent you an email. Let me know if you want any more info. -Paul
[2012-05-29 12:26:24] - Biggest non-stat was the description indicating they were going to reduce the gem formulas from 3-> 1 to 2-> 1. That's a big change. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-29 12:24:37] - mig: I read this earlier this morning. Biggest stats for me where 3 characters created per account (I have two, jumping soon, I think) and 80% under level 30. Obviously a simple analysis is that 100% of alts are under 30 meaning that 60% of the players have a character level 30+. That's bad statistics, but it's the best we're going to do with the data we have. -- X
[2012-05-29 12:19:54] - diablo: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6018173 apparently a big developer blog post was released yesterday, with oodles of interesting information. - mig
[2012-05-29 12:10:25] - daniel: also apparently a lot of the american cars actually have things assembled in central america where as japanese cars get assembled in the USA... ~g
[2012-05-29 11:42:12] - paul: I am indeed! - vinnie
[2012-05-29 11:37:09] - Vinnie: A Toyota Camry XLE (which is basically the top model). We test drove a lot of other mid-size sedans, though, and would be happy to share our thoughts if you're interested. -Paul
[2012-05-29 11:27:44] - paul: what car did you buy? - vinnie
[2012-05-29 11:10:15] - How the heck did I sign that post twice? -Paul
[2012-05-29 11:10:00] - Daniel: It also offered some features that we wanted that other cars didn't offer (or cost a lot more to add). Also, I'm pretty sure the car we bought WAS made in the U.S.A., so there.
-Paul-Paul[2012-05-29 11:08:39] - Daniel: Short answer? It was in the top 2 on my list and Gurkie's list, while no other car could say that. Longer answer? It had probably the nicest drive (although I think the acceleration was better on other cars) and I think we liked the interior best on the Camry. -Paul
[2012-05-29 10:55:24] - Paul: What swung you towards that car over others? Also WHY DO YOU HATE U.S.A. WORKERS?!? (says the man who owns two japanese cars) -Daniel
[2012-05-29 10:53:38] - Xpovos: Thanks (for the congrats and the recommendations). Overall, I think we're happy with the price. We went in thinking we were going to get an awesome deal, but ended up "only" getting a good to great deal, I think. -Paul
[2012-05-29 10:27:49] - mig: gems and other commodities would be nice. I've maxed out my blacksmith/jewelcrafter until I hit Nightmare unless I can buy pages in the AH. And I'm not even done with Act 2 yet.
-- Xpovos[2012-05-29 10:27:03] - Congratulations on the new car purchase too, btw. That's always a big deal. Are you happy with the price? -- Xpovos
[2012-05-29 10:26:36] - Paul: The NFL Network (88 I think) and Bloomberg Radio (113) are two of my favorite. For our recent road trip to Nashville we listened to BPM (51) and Area (52) pretty much exclusively. I can't say there's anything non-obvious I like. Bloomberg is probably the oddest, I really like their morning show "Surveillance", 7-10AM. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-29 10:20:02] - Anybody here have SiriusXM and want to educate me on what some good channels are and features I might not know exist? I've got a free 3 month subscription and want to put it through the paces to see if it's something I might want to renew. -Paul
[2012-05-29 10:19:14] - For those who have been wondering, we bought our new car yesterday. It's a 2012 Toyota Camry XLE. I'm going to try to post a picture of it on facebook later today. -Paul
[2012-05-29 10:16:53] - xpovos: yeah it's patch day, I think. Hopefully this means they'll fix the AH for gems. - mig
[2012-05-29 10:12:35] - I suppose it's for my own good that they're performing maintenance this morning, and I couldn't even if I was at home. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-29 10:12:04] - Ugh. First day back after 6 work days off. I'd so much rather be at home playing Diablo 3. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-25 14:39:38] - http://sports.yahoo.com/news/legalizing-sports-gambling-is-smartest-bet-yet.html chris christie is quite the mixed bag, but I love his bravado at times. - mig
[2012-05-25 12:43:38] - a: Well, it doesn't make me smile. I don't particularly care about it being Fox News, but I'm always a little sad when I see examples of how little people know about world affairs. -Paul
[2012-05-25 12:30:52] - that doesn't make you smile? or cry? ~a
[2012-05-25 12:30:42] - paul: hmmm? less likely to know news things that people who watch no news and read no news articles at all? ~a
[2012-05-25 12:24:55] - a: It makes you smile that people who watch Fox News are less likely to know those things? Why? -Paul
[2012-05-25 12:23:35] - http://sports.yahoo.com/news/shaq-declines-invitation-discuss-magic-200014293--nba.html shaq declines an apparent interview offer to the magic's GM, but I'm having a hard time finding anything confirming that the Magic were even interested, let alone offering an interview. - mig
[2012-05-25 12:17:27] - mig: Yeah, I've heard more about the Magic too. I've also heard the Bobcats, but I hope he gets a better team than that. -Paul
[2012-05-25 12:16:57] - Daniel: Then I saw them lose again next year. Always felt sorry for the Jazz and when Stockton and Malone retired, those feelings lived on in Sloan. I also think he's incredibly underrated as a coach. -Paul
[2012-05-25 12:16:14] - paul: I think it's very likely he'll be employed by another NBA team before the Heat's season ends. - mig
[2012-05-25 12:15:41] - Daniel: My first memories of being interested in the NBA was when I watched the NBA finals between the Jazz and Bulls. I remember thinking Jordan had enough championships and wanting to see Stockton and Malone win one. -Paul
[2012-05-25 12:14:18] - "People who watch Fox News... are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who watch no news at all...also 6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government..." kind of old, and not very scientific, but it made my smile. survey (pdf) ~a
[2012-05-25 12:12:45] - Daniel: I agree that it's hard to envision him meshing with the players there. I'm only worried about it because I would hate it so much. -Paul
[2012-05-25 12:11:50] - http://www.foxsportsflorida.com/05/22/12/Jerry-Sloan-interested-in-Magic-coaching/landing_magic.html "Sloan told FOX Sports Florida on Tuesday he has interest in the Orlando Magic job" - mig
[2012-05-25 12:10:29] - I also can't imagine him watning to go to the heat given why he left the Jazz. - mig
[2012-05-25 12:10:03] - paul: are you sure you aren't mistaking them for the Magic? Because I have heard rumors about that. - mig
[2012-05-25 11:21:59] - Paul: Why is Sloan your favorite coach? I kind of don't like him but mostly because I don't like the Jazz and nothing personally against him. -Daniel
[2012-05-25 11:20:47] - Paul: Its hard for me to envision Sloan coaching Miami. I wouldn't be to worried about that. -Daniel
[2012-05-25 11:19:06] - mig: I just heard a rumor that has my favorite NBA coach (Jerry Sloan) coaching the team that has surpassed the Lakers as my most hated (Miami Heat). That would be soul crushing. -Paul
[2012-05-24 21:54:55] - a: sweet! ~g
[2012-05-24 18:36:05] - its in my amazon cart . . . yeah ill buy it. ~a
[2012-05-24 17:25:34] - a: u buying it? If not I might... I didnt really read it earlier when Paul sent it to me but it looks amusing. However if you buy a copy I dont think I need my own. ~g
[2012-05-24 16:20:27] - mig: Half his life. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-24 16:20:18] - Paul: I'm not a party-game consumer. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-24 15:52:28] - mindblowing fact of the day for me: this fall kobe bryant will be entering his 17th NBA season .... at age 34. - mig
[2012-05-24 15:24:33] - Huh, I thought somebody who was a bigger fan of Apples to Apples than me would be jumping all over it. Is everybody waiting on me to buy it?
-Paul[2012-05-24 14:22:02] - Paul: I saw people playing this at a game shop while I was there for a Magic event. It sounded like they were having a really good time. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-24 14:13:20] - paul: i've heard it's fun, i think amy's played it a few times. i'd play it! - aaron
[2012-05-24 13:39:21] - a: Oh, I see what you're saying. The theme of the message board is how silly we limited government folk are for our black and white arguments?
-Paul[2012-05-24 13:38:06] - though maybe thats a bad example. im against stimulous spending. ~a
[2012-05-24 13:35:32] - " Usually it's stuff like whether or not the government should do stimulus at all.". exactly. thats the black and white argument. just like always, it doesnt have to be all or nothing. ~a
[2012-05-24 13:30:47] - a: Somebody described it as Apples to Apples where every card is Anne Frank.
-Paul[2012-05-24 13:30:04] - a: Not sure I agree. I feel like most of the disagreements here aren't shades of grey disagreements where somebody wants $500 billion stimulus and somebody else wants $1 trillion. Usually it's stuff like whether or not the government should do stimulus at all. -Paul
[2012-05-24 13:29:50] - paul: i like the example cards. i would buy that game. ~a
[2012-05-24 13:22:06] - paul: good point, but isn't it a similar argument? the proper role of government should be one that allows for shades of gray or not? often times our shades-of-gray arguments come down to what should be controlled by the government or not controlled. ~a
[2012-05-24 13:09:03] - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product//B004S8F7QM?t=slickdeals&tag=slickdeals I've heard that this is kind of a popular adult variant of Apples to Apples which can be hard to find. Not sure if anybody here would be interested in it. -Paul
[2012-05-24 12:43:33] - Xpovos: I'm an INTJ, but I don't remember if they're supposed to see the world more in terms of black and white or not. -Paul
[2012-05-24 12:43:03] - a: I thought the theme was more like discussion the proper role of government. How often does that come up instead of black and white vs shades of grey? -Paul
[2012-05-24 12:17:15] - Aren't most of us INTJs? Don't we all, basically by nature, see things in black and white? -- Xpovos
[2012-05-24 12:08:53] - i feel like that's been the theme of the message board for the past decade. thank you, miguel.
~a[2012-05-24 12:05:56] - Perhaps this is just another example of how it's silly to turn an overly complex issue (abortion and I guess reproductive rights in general) into a simple black and white with no allowances for shades of gray. - mig
[2012-05-24 09:46:48] - xpovos: awww! ray combs must be rolling in his grave - aaron
[2012-05-23 19:05:31] - Poll takeaway: never believe anything a person tells a pollster. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-23 17:20:05] - aaron: Yeah, I don't know. I guess the pro-life "brand" is more appealing than the pro-choice one right now? Even the morality graph has remained constant. -Paul
[2012-05-23 17:18:47] - or you know, it could be that modern republicans/independents are more OK having a separation of their personal morals, and what they think the government should regulate! that would be reassuring, maybe that's what the data means... - aaron
[2012-05-23 17:16:41] - like, maybe 10 years ago, a republican who thought, "abortion is morally wrong, but it shouldn't be illegal" would tell others they're pro-choice... but now the same person would tell others they're pro-life? i don't know, that's the best i can come up with - aaron
[2012-05-23 17:14:23] - paul: hmm! i wonder what's driving that. interestingly, the poll of whether or not abortion should be legal/illegal remains unchanged over the last 10 years....they're just labelling themselves differently - aaron
[2012-05-23 16:51:33] - http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76660.html The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as “pro-choice” is at the lowest point ever measured by Gallup. -Paul
[2012-05-23 16:27:24] - aaron: Clearly you need to watch more Law and Order. I guess I've known about them for awhile but probably only due to that show. I do wonder how slippery the relgious part is though. What does it take to start a religion and have it recognized by the gov? -Daniel
[2012-05-23 16:20:21] - daniel: well, unless there's a prerequisite they have to be adherent to one of the two religions approved of by the US constitution, or something... i'm pretty much learning everything about "blankety-blank privilege" today based on cursory review of materials available on the internet, so i'm probably missing the whole point - aaron
[2012-05-23 16:19:26] - daniel: which honestly kind of surprises me, but i guess it's suppose it's nice that people who participate in "sham marriages" have a loophole if they really want the legal benefits of spousal privilege... they can just make up a religion which protects all speech between them - aaron
[2012-05-23 15:07:48] - Xpovos: Nevermind, Aarons link says that the same idea exists for priests so thats what I was looking for. -Daniel
[2012-05-23 15:05:33] - Xpovos: I didn't follow your sentence. If a priest breaks confessional confidentiality did he break the law or is he just a bad priest? -Daniel
[2012-05-23 15:01:26] - wtf? canonical is a new word? ~a
[2012-05-23 14:19:20] - Daniel: Seal of the Confessional is protected still in all jurisdictions. revelation from that would not be similarly illegal, but would be a major canonical issue. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-23 14:17:09] - Aaron: right, in this case the confessional was not involved, and the actions described were equally legal for all parties. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-23 13:00:04] - daniel: http://www.answers.com/topic/spousal-privilege huh! well TIL another legal benefit to choose heterosexuality, and ideally, polygamy as well - aaron
[2012-05-23 12:53:21] - daniel: i didn't know about spousal or doctor privilege, although i guess that makes sense. so if a person goes to a hospital because of like a drug overdose or something, they can't then be prosecuted for having illegal drugs in their system... but what's the point of spousal privilege? that seems really cruel to the LGBT community - aaron
[2012-05-23 12:51:30] - yeah really i want to retract my earlier comments because it doesn't sound like this is a religious issue at all, as i had assumed. i don't think confessional was involved at all (at least it wasn't mentioned in the article), it's just that a priest who allegedly observed misconduct and didn't report it, which is equally illegal for anybody - aaron
[2012-05-23 12:46:47] - Aaron/Xpovos: Is it actually legal valid for a priest to not testify about things heard in confessional (like spousal or doctor privilege) or is it like a reporter where they just don't talk as a choice but could be put in jail for contempt? -Daniel
[2012-05-23 12:41:35] - Aaron: For some reason your point got me to thinking about the sacrament of communion, and how something about it is probably a crime for an athiest (cannibalism? fraud?) -Paul
[2012-05-23 12:36:28] - A colleague made frequent use of confession with a priest who spoke little English. Sacramentally valid, and amusingly accurate insight from the priest. Essentially, the priest is not there, except as required to be in order to confer the sacrament. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-23 12:35:37] - aaron: Protestants don't like the confessional because it places a human between themselves and God for forgiveness for their sins. But even in the Catholic faith, the human is removed from the equation. The priest is not there to hear the sins, but to provide absolution from God (when applicable). -- Xpovos
[2012-05-23 12:31:40] - the only complication to me being that it seems like common law is in contradiction with the laws of the church. if my friend tells me they're torturing four children in their basement or something, and i don't tell anyone, it's a crime right? but if it's in confessional, then i guess i'm expected to keep their secret... but that's still a crime isn't it? - aaron
[2012-05-23 12:30:02] - as an atheist, i guess i feel like confessional should have the same laws that non-religious people are subject to. if one of my friends tells me about a crime they committed, and i don't tell the police, it shouldn't matter whether or not we were in a church. isn't that the way it is currently? or is it more complicated? - aaron
[2012-05-23 12:27:39] - Paul: Those are subject to the seal, but again that's fairly irrelevant, and a condition for absolution generally involves turning oneself in. Kinda like murder. It's not a GOJF card. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-23 12:16:17] - g: What if somebody confesses to abuse? -Paul
[2012-05-23 12:02:04] - mig: I didnt think of that aspect... Allegations of abuse shouldnt fall under the same protection as a confessional, imho. ~g
[2012-05-23 11:51:10] - xpovos: does that the non "mandatory reporter" label have to do with priest's obligation to not divulge what is confessed to in a confessional? - mig
[2012-05-23 11:23:27] - g: So, while I'm sure the policy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (which is in major trouble for this and related issues) is not to "not report" I'm sure it is to "comply with the law" which would mean they did not HAVE to report. They still should have, of course. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-23 11:22:24] - g: This is my area of expertise. Pennsylvania's laws are terrible. See also: Sandusky. From a legal perspective, though, clergy are not mandatory reporters, even in Virginia: thank you Baptist congregation. -- Xpovos
[2012-05-23 11:14:48] - g: You can be our chief negotiator, then. -Paul
[2012-05-23 11:14:28] - Daniel: thats pauls main complaint about my altima coupe... no visibility... ~g
[2012-05-23 11:14:23] - a: Done. Thanks. -Paul
[2012-05-23 11:14:01] - in terms of cars, I can try to negotiate... I am really good at walking out on people
~g[2012-05-23 11:10:08] - I know that churches and such have special rules but not reporting abuse as a policy of the archdiocese seems like it would still be illegal. http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/22/us/pennsylvania-priests-abuse/index.html?eref=rss_crime&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_crime ~g
[2012-05-23 10:57:36] - paul: yep, see my email "Wed, 16 May 2012" ~a
[2012-05-23 09:47:17] - a: Sure, can you send me an updated list? -Paul
[2012-05-23 09:41:58] - i'm out this weekend. if you'd like to plan, feel free. ~a
[2012-05-22 21:17:28] - weekend? -Paul
[2012-05-22 21:17:14] - a: Is frisbee going to be Sunday at 3 like normal this weekedn
[2012-05-22 19:57:12] - http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2012/may/21/late-night-expansion-updates apparently the VT to SEC rumors are starting to fly around again after FSU is rumored to be unhappy with the ACC. - mig
[2012-05-22 14:06:59] - as opposed to compact and efficient death machines - aaron
[2012-05-22 14:06:27] - paul: honestly i can't remember my source for the hyundai comment. it might have been you! i'm not really considering another VW, the primary reason i picked my VW was because it was very small and zippy, the newer VWs i've driven are more like "american cars", they tend to be more boaty and more luxury-oriented - aaron
[2012-05-22 13:45:44] - Vinnie: If you have a few minutes, and can access google docs/drive, Gurkie and I are on the Ireland Trip now trying to sort things out. -Paul
[2012-05-22 13:42:05] - Apparently upon rereading that should have been directed at Vinnie and not Paul. Oops. -Daniel
[2012-05-22 13:40:57] - -Daniel
[2012-05-22 13:40:56] - Paul: I'm happy with it. Andrea thinks some of the windows are small in the back which makes it harder to check your blindspots but I don't feel like I've had any trouble with it. Its not amazing but definitely better than our '06 Nissan Sentra but I don't think thats a super high bar. I've had no problems with it and had it for ~2 years now, no buyers remorse.
[2012-05-22 13:32:31] - Vinnie: I think Aaron was joking. I know I was. -Paul
[2012-05-22 13:08:40] - also, I will likely be buying a new car soon, so I'm interested in hearing advice too. how are you liking your Mazda 3, daniel? that was the car I liked most last time I did some test driving - vinnie
[2012-05-22 13:06:36] - I'm going to guess, yes you are - vinnie
[2012-05-22 13:06:07] - you're supposed to tip on cars?? I can't tell if you guys are joking - vinnie
[2012-05-22 13:03:00] - Daniel: I'm thinking of test driving the Fusion this weekend, as it's one of the top ranked mid-size cars. I don't care about supporting US manufacturing, since lots of foreign cars are still manufactured in the US. In fact, I kinda have a bias against domestic cars from back when they used to suck. -Paul
[2012-05-22 13:01:39] - Aaron: Is the 15-20% tip on the pre or post tax amount? The Hyundai Sonata is near the top of my list because it's supposed to be a really good value. Are you also considering sticking with VW? -Paul
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