prev <-> next
[2013-01-28 17:10:30] - a: I wonder if Mark would be good enough to get on the team. -Paul
[2013-01-28 17:02:58] - heh, that's moot. these guys are all way better than we are. you should be suggesting that paul join the rec league. we know lots of people who have been on the rec leagues and i'm totally interested in joining. when does the next rec league start? ~a
[2013-01-28 16:59:17] - also, I think its sketchy that there is a CHARGE to try out... ~g
[2013-01-28 16:58:53] - ... i am not interested in trying out. But I think it would be cool if someone I knew was on the team. Not sure that you have the time though Paul... ~g
[2013-01-28 16:56:17] - i'm pretty sure she wants you to try out. ~a
[2013-01-28 16:52:26] - g: You wanna try out? -Paul
[2013-01-28 16:42:59] - paul: I would go to 1 to give it a chance at least... ~g
[2013-01-28 16:42:14] - paul: sure. ~a
[2013-01-28 15:55:01] - paul: looks like the breeze are having tryouts (I almost called it auditions) this weekend... just saying. ~g
[2013-01-28 15:08:07] - http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/17fylz/iam_roger_goodell_nfl_commissioner_ama/ NFL commissioner roger goodell is doing an AMA on reddit, lots of pretty aggressive questions - aaron
[2013-01-28 14:51:07] - http://theaudl.com/ Would anybody here be interested in going and seeing a game sometime? -Paul
[2013-01-28 14:15:03] - http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57566163-1/objectify-a-male-tech-writer-day-gets-canned Disappointing. I thought this could be an interesting thing, but I guess if it's already sparked discussion then the purpose has been served (like the article mentions). -Paul
[2013-01-28 09:56:54] - mig: I heard that it was likely any post-war (presumably meaning WW2) president was off the table due to them potentially being polarizing. -Paul
[2013-01-28 09:47:47] - aaron: they would have never picked someone currently living, let alone somebody who's that polarizing (same would go for Bush II). - mig
[2013-01-27 18:22:16] - a: that's awesome!! - aaron
[2013-01-27 18:18:55] - i'm super-glad the new racing president wasn't obama, that would have just been tacky. - aaron
[2013-01-26 16:28:18] - a: When our lives do depend on it, we can do amazing things. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee#Weight_loss_and_health_advocacy 130lbs drop by another politician. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-26 11:52:07] - he lost the weight. man, i don't think i could lose 80 lbs if my life depended on it. ~a
[2013-01-26 11:45:48] - Taft? Didn't see that one coming. How is he going to race? He barely fit in a bathtub. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-26 09:51:00] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/01/25/nats-will-name-william-howard-taft-new-racing-president/ -Paul
[2013-01-25 16:27:08] - what adrian does for a living ~a
[2013-01-25 14:50:36] - haha, weeee. ~a
[2013-01-25 14:30:12] - a: Too late, I already sent out an email, and the rejections are coming in fast and furious.
-Paul[2013-01-25 14:19:38] - paul: i'm busy but i can still plan it if you'd like. ~a
[2013-01-25 12:57:51] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/federal-appeals-court-rules-obama-recess-appointments-to-labor-board-are-unconstitutional/2013/01/25/0df0fa14-6707-11e2-8 obama "recess" appointments to labor board ruled unconstitutional, invalidating nearly a years worth of rulings by the board. - mig
[2013-01-25 10:36:35] - *Sigh* Over the past few months, I sold 160 shares of Netflix stock for between $80-92 a share. I made a fair amount on it, but I'm looking longingly at the $164/share price now... -Paul
[2013-01-25 10:27:34] - Does anybody know if ~a is planning on organizing Ultimate this weekend? -Paul
[2013-01-25 10:27:19] - I can't imagine they would go with anybody remotely controversial, so I have a hard time believing it would be anybody after FDR (perhaps even including him). The problem is that most of the well known presidents before FDR are already taken. Should be interesting to see who they pick. -Paul
[2013-01-25 09:56:41] - http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/nationals-add-fifth-racing-president-one-071128270--mlb.html odds on who the 5th president will be. I'm not sure what the sources of these odds are (either he made it up or if it's from vegas). - mig
[2013-01-24 15:37:29] - http://invisiblebread.com/2013/01/party/ party nap - aaron
[2013-01-24 14:56:14] - mig: Well, that would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath. -paul
[2013-01-24 14:49:48] - And given the unlikelyhood that we will actually need a draft, it seems more people would be more for getting rid of the selective service than expanding it. - mig
[2013-01-24 14:17:13] - I can imainge a lot of parents finding the idea of their daughters signing up for the selective service a terrifying prospect, even if it's very unlikely we will ever have a draft. - mig
[2013-01-24 13:36:15] - paul: if that's ever proposed I think they're might be a full scale revolt against it from parents. - mig
[2013-01-24 13:28:52] - mig: Wouldn't it more likely just require women to register too? -Paul
[2013-01-24 13:24:37] - http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/01/23/women-in-combat-may-kill-the-draft/ does the repeal of the ban on women serving in military combat mean that the draft, which currently requires only males to register will eventually officialy go away? - mig
[2013-01-24 12:19:22] - I would put my money onJFK, mostly becuase they've actually paraded a JFK mascot during a race before. - mig
[2013-01-24 12:14:04] - http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/338681/next-washington-nationals-mascot-obama A 5th president added to the mascot race in Nationals Park? I'm surprised there were no polio or wheelchair jokes about the FDR idea. -Paul
[2013-01-24 11:45:01] - http://www.eyeofthetiber.com/2013/01/20/notre-dame-linebacker-duped-into-playing-for-fake-catholic-university/ -- Xpovos
[2013-01-24 10:48:22] - mig: Yeah, I agree that it's hard to think of it as anything BUT intentional, and I suppose he can be a hothead, but he's also a veteran who (as far as I can tell) has never pulled a stunt like this. Besides, you would figure he would go after Pollard instead of Reed.
-Paul[2013-01-24 10:33:56] - I guess it was just frustration? It never seems to get mentioned, but Brady can act like a real hothead sometimes (in ways that gets someone like Culter skewered in the media). - mig
[2013-01-24 10:33:05] - paul: I'm biased, obviously, but it did look really intentional. Brady has played in the league for well over 12 years, it's not like he's never scrambled and slid before, and it wasn't like he slipped or anything. - mig
[2013-01-24 10:28:07] - mig: And while Brady certainly has his faults, I don't think anybody has ever thought of him as a dirty player. Such a weird play. -Paul
[2013-01-24 10:27:31] - mig: We know fines are all out of whack in the NFL and they have a love/hate relationship with player safety, but I'm more intrigued by what Brady did. I can't figure it out. It looks pretty intentional, but why on earth would he try to do that? And why to Ed Reed? -Paul
[2013-01-24 10:25:17] - http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/tom-brady-fined-10-000-kick-ed-reed-015540238--nfl.html tom brady dangerously slides cleats up and almost fucks up Ed Reed's knee. $10k fine. Frank Gore's socks were too low. $10.5k fine. Clearly player safety is priority #1 for the NFL. - mig
[2013-01-23 19:46:29] - xpovos: i have no doubts it will be a disaster. But that's not a guarantee of failure, unfortunately, I mean look at how Romney waltzed to the nomination. - mig
[2013-01-23 17:34:11] - a: Sorry about missing Ultimate last weekend. Is is happening this weekend? -Paul
[2013-01-23 17:01:22] - mig: I'm sure Biden will run, but given how his campaign was a complete disaster in 2008 and how he's comported himself over the past four years, and I expect him to continue in that vein for another 4, I don't think he has a serious chance at the nomination, even with an Obama endorsement. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-23 16:58:30] - Xpovos: Thanks, but it's hard to say any pick is better than another right now. The field is so broad and beyond a few, we don't even know if any of these guys are going to run. -Paul
[2013-01-23 16:57:43] - mig: If you get a GOP dark horse, then I'm going to throw out Bobby Jindal as mine. I was torn between him and Paul Ryan. -Paul
[2013-01-23 16:54:04] - being retarded and goes with a more libertarian bent. - mig
[2013-01-23 16:53:38] - Now that I know Hilary is out for 2016, I don't see how Biden doesn't get the nom unless he willfully bows out. Obama will almost certainly endorse him and it's going to take someone who has Bill Clinton-like charisma to overcome that. For the Rs, I'll go with Chris Christie for now, but I'll reserve Rand Paul as a potential dark horse in case the gop somehow stops
[2013-01-23 16:48:02] - Good choices. Probably better than mine. -- Xpovs
[2013-01-23 16:37:49] - Xpovos: I think I'm going with Mark Warner and Paul Ryan. -Paul
[2013-01-23 16:36:19] - mig: No, for President. I mentioned Virginia because we have three former or current governors who are assumed to be interested, along with an attorney general. -Paul
[2013-01-23 16:32:42] - paul: for gov? - mig
[2013-01-23 16:30:30] - Paul: Showing my local bias, I'll say Eric Cantor (R) and Martin O'Malley (D). -- Xpovos
[2013-01-23 15:59:06] - Anybody want to put down some guesses for 2016 right here and now? Virginia has a lot of potential candidates in both parties... -Paul
[2013-01-23 14:29:35] - paul: yeah, we had mentioned romney on the message board in 2007, so we at least had a chance to guess that one - aaron
[2013-01-23 14:11:51] - Aaron: On the flip side, 2012 was pretty easy to predict because you knew one side (Obama) and Romney was a pretty clear front runner since he dropped out in 2008. -Paul
[2013-01-23 14:09:51] - aaron: I think it would definitely be reasonable for 2016 because the Republican field is kinda wide open. Lots of potentials and no front-runner. For the Democrats, it seems like you could probably narrow it down to at least 2 or 3 front runners at least. -Paul
[2013-01-23 14:09:22] - aaron: well as paul mentioned earlier, usually the VP of the incumbent party is a given. But other than that, you can only really guess the field, but nobody really knows who'd ultimately win the nomination. - mig
[2013-01-23 14:08:19] - paul: yeah i mean, i'd be willing to pay like 6 to 1 to anybody who thought they could actually predict one of the 2016 presidental nominees right now. i mean, even at 20 to 1 it would probably be a reasonable bet - aaron
[2013-01-23 14:07:02] - mig: i meant like, predicting Obama/McCain in 2005, or predicting John Kerry in 2001, or Al Gore in 1997 - aaron
[2013-01-23 14:05:45] - Aaron: But, yeah, I think there's often a lot of unpredictability. If I recall, Bill Clinton came out of nowhere and Obama stole the nomination that most people assumed was Hilary's to lose. -Paul
[2013-01-23 14:05:15] - paul: mccain was also a runner up to W in 2000. - mig
[2013-01-23 14:02:43] - Aaron: I've also heard (no idea how accurate it is) that the Republican party has a history of rewarding the runner-up from the previous primary (so Romney got it this time around since he came in 2nd to McCain last time around). -Paul
[2013-01-23 14:02:29] - aaron: do you mean guessing who the field of candidates will be , or who ultimately wins the nomination? - mig
[2013-01-23 14:01:27] - aaron: It's often obvious for the incumbent party, because it's often the vice president. Cheney was an exception, but before that we had Gore, HW Bush, etc. -Paul
[2013-01-23 13:56:34] - maybe i just don't follow politics closely enough, but what's the last presidential election where someone could have realistically guessed the democratic/republican presidential candidate 3 years ahead of time? it seems like it's always up in the air until the last 9 months or so - aaron
[2013-01-23 11:35:02] - paul: well WoL was for terrans, HotS for zerg, i'm sure we'll see plenty of protoss for LotV. - mig
[2013-01-23 11:32:29] - mig: Right, and that's fair, but the major plot point of the last game was Raynor getting Kerrigan back, so this will be the second storyline in a row with the Protoss as a bit of a sideshow. -Paul
[2013-01-23 11:24:48] - paul: well a major plot point is going to be kerrigan vs. mengsk, so I think they just wanted to set that vibe with the trailer. - mig
[2013-01-23 11:20:04] - Wondering what happened to the Protoss, though. They felt like bit players in the first and it looks like the same with the second. Guess they're saving them for the big finale? -Paul
[2013-01-23 11:19:33] - mig: Oh, and I watched the HotS trailer last night. Pretty sweet, and as a zerg player, I can only dream of the day ultralisks are that powerful. Terran players had some cool moments too, even though they got their asses kicked. Loved seeing that Viking swoop down. -Paul
[2013-01-23 11:11:29] - There's 3 years to find a dark horse. Hillary would be good, but she'd have been better in 2008 and Obama would have come in nicely in 2016. He really jumped the gun there. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-23 10:40:03] - Biden 2016 I guess then. If I were a democrat I might be terrified at the prospect. - mig
[2013-01-23 10:39:28] - xpovos: nevermind, quick google search shows a headline saying explicitly she will not run. Nevermind on that question then. - mig
[2013-01-23 10:36:10] - xpovos: i was under impression that she still had aspirations, and was thinking that there's still a big voting bloc that does want her to run. - mig
[2013-01-23 10:32:31] - mig: She's not going to run in 2016. Even before any testimony today that was off the table, she's feeling her age a little bit, and more importantly, since she's still young enough to run, is the health concern. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-23 10:31:19] - mig: Doubt it. Is today the day Rand gets to grill her? We could be seeing a preview of a 2016 presidential debate. -Paul
[2013-01-23 10:28:09] - bid for hilary clinton that is. - mig
[2013-01-23 10:27:54] - benghazi inquisition today! any danger this could potentially end a potential presidential bid for 2016? - mig
[2013-01-23 09:37:32] - Aaron: That's more of a twitter thing? -Paul
[2013-01-23 09:29:41] - paul: don't say that on facebook - aaron
[2013-01-23 09:26:08] - aaron: Heh, I wasn't going to bring it up, but it's definitely something I was thinking about. -Paul
[2013-01-23 09:22:39] - paul: and perhaps it's inviting a firestorm -- but i think there's also a gender correlation there - aaron
[2013-01-23 09:20:14] - paul: but if you're unsure, just listen and nod - aaron
[2013-01-23 09:20:00] - paul: it really depends on the nature of the opinion and whether it's inviting controversy or not. it's like when someone tells you about their problems; sometimes they want you to fix them, but sometimes they just want you to listen and nod. it's kind of the same with opinions, and it can be similarly difficult to tell the two situations apart - aaron
[2013-01-23 09:15:21] - paul: in fact it's kind of the opposite of the message board, where i kind of expect almost every comment here to invite some discussion. when someone says something innocuous here like, "the USA spends too much on national defense" a lot of times i'm almost offended like -- what? how is that supposed to invite discussion? everyone agrees with that... - aaron
[2013-01-23 09:14:37] - Aaron: Having said that, I think lots of people agree with you. I've gotten in trouble disagreeing with things people have shared with me on google reader, and I've also gotten a little in trouble disagreeing with articles people have emailed me. -Paul
[2013-01-23 09:13:37] - Aaron: I can see that viewpoint, and I think that's what this person was going for, but I think I minorly disagree. If you are throwing out a political opinion on a public-ish forum like Facebook, I think disagreeing is fair game. -Paul
[2013-01-23 09:12:05] - a: Not sure I believe some of the conspiracy theories that I've heard he believes... -Paul
[2013-01-23 09:11:24] - paul: yes -- it's not quite like the message board. as pointless as it sounds, a lot of people say things on facebook just to have people agree with them. unless it's clear based either on the comment, or the person's character, that they're genuinely welcoming discussion, i think it's rude to just jump in with your own viewpoint - aaron
[2013-01-22 23:47:24] - ron paul has awesome ideas about everything. ~a
[2013-01-22 17:47:52] - Aaron: I would be a little weirded out if I came on here and said, "Ron Paul has awesome ideas about everything!" and people didn't disagree with me. -Paul
[2013-01-22 17:46:59] - Aaron: I think of Facebook similar to how I think of the message board. It's kinda like a public forum, and if you are expressing support for something then it's fair game to criticize (maybe that's why I piss off so many people here). -Paul
[2013-01-22 17:46:19] - Aaron: Interesting. So you think it would be rude to disagree with somebody who is just speaking out in favor of something on Facebook? More or less rude than if they had just said it out loud in person? -Paul
[2013-01-22 17:34:11] - paul: that said, if they said something like, "Man, Bush was such a better president than Obama" or "If Bush could have been elected for a third term, we wouldn't be in this mess" then the gloves are off, and I'd feel free to defend my opinions politely... - aaron
[2013-01-22 17:32:15] - paul: but maybe just something like, "Going by opinion polls, many people would disagree with you" but... honestly I wouldn't say that. i mean it just seems rude to me - aaron
[2013-01-22 17:25:12] - paul: if someone's literally just speaking out in favor of something, it's a little rude to disagree in the first place. but if you honestly thought that they weren't aware that dissenting opinions existed, you could just point to something like opinion polls, you could even do it in a bipartisan way - aaron
[2013-01-22 16:23:21] - a: So you're saying maybe I should post, but just not be snarky? The problem is that I am not sure if I know of a good way to make a short political point without being snarky. If somebody told you that they thought GWB was a great president, how do you succinctly disagree snark-free? -Paul
[2013-01-22 16:21:05] - if anybody is spouting crap, even if they're a coworker or distant family: i'll try to make it obvious i disagree with them. ~a
[2013-01-22 16:19:04] - paul: part of me doesn't want people to assume that everybody agrees with them. if there are other people making a counter-point, i usually let it slide. if it's somebody that knows i disagree with them, i let it slide. if everybody is agreeing with them, i feel the need to post at least one counterpoint. i also agree with everybody here: skip the snark. ~a
[2013-01-22 13:49:01] - Ok, thanks all. I think you've confirmed that it's a bad idea since it's (A) a person who I have concerns wouldn't take it well and (B) a topic I know I'm not changing their mind on. -Paul
[2013-01-22 13:47:35] - Aaron: Yeah, I don't see any way it ends well (I know I won't be changing their mind), but a part of me just feels like people interested enough in politics to post things on facebook about it should be exposed to opposing viewpoints even if it makes them uncomfortable. -Paul
[2013-01-22 13:45:37] - paul: depends on the person and the topic. There are definitely a few people on facebook who post political stuff that I just don't bother with anymore because it's pointless (especially when one person's only counterpoint to any argument is that you're a closet racist). - mig
[2013-01-22 13:35:15] - paul: there's a very very short list of people i'd consider even making a regular counterpoint with on facebook... i don't think i'd ever say something snarky in that situation - aaron
[2013-01-22 13:34:53] - Paul: To my frequent regret, yes. But it does depend on the original poster. Some people I don't bother getting involved with. So, actually, it's generally just a handful of people that I get involved in those debates with. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-22 13:32:03] - Question: Somebody on facebook makes a political post you disagree with. You have an opportunity to make a snarky (but accurate and relevant) counter-point. Do you? -Paul
[2013-01-22 13:29:31] - Xpovos: I enjoyed having satellite radio while I did (free trial), but I'm not missing it too much. I can still get acceptable sports, news and music through a combination of 3 regular radio stations and that's not even counting stuff like pandora. -Paul
[2013-01-22 13:19:01] - I still think the whole Mantai Te'o situation is primarily sad, but I couldn't help but laugh at this burning meme. http://blog.timesunion.com/hottopics/files/2013/01/teo1.jpg -- Xpovos
[2013-01-22 13:11:39] - I wish my car had an Aux-line in feature. That would help. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-22 13:03:36] - Unfortunately, Android App doesn't do a very good job of replacing car radio and only mediocre job of replacing non-car radio. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-22 13:03:13] - Paul: The latter. I had a 6-month free trial, but I purchased a full 4 years of service after that. They raised the prices and I was spending less time in the car. Also the one radio station I listened to the most (Bloomberg) was completely available via Android App for free, so no need to keep paying. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-22 12:59:38] - Xpovos: Did your free trial expire? Or did you just figure it was no longer worth the cost? -Paul
[2013-01-22 12:58:16] - xpovos: though tbh 980 really gets on my nerves a lot of the time. It's only saving grace is that they have a pretty good show during my ride home. I do like Mike and Mike in the morning, but it gets pre-empted an awful lot during the football season for vapid redksins coverage that I don't care about. - mig
[2013-01-22 12:53:28] - also, yeah it seems these days Kornheiser does more political commentary than talking about sports. - mig
[2013-01-22 12:53:05] - xpovos: you can try 106.7fm if you need a some sports chatter. - mig
[2013-01-22 12:51:19] - Since I no longer have sattelite radio, I'm listening to more terrestrial stations. Since the selection is limited I was listening to sports radio this morning. At least that's what the station promised. Instead the Tony Kornheiser show was a love-in for the Obama inaugural address. *sigh* -- Xpovos
[2013-01-22 12:21:48] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbeoSPqRs4 HotS opening cinematic released. The zerg players I'm sure will love it. - mig
[2013-01-22 11:03:25] - a: Did you celebrate gun appreciation day? -Paul
[2013-01-22 10:55:55] - a: I know it wasn't. Actually, the "people" isn't what stuck out to me, it was the word "must", which to me would indicate the speech taking a bossy-like tone (we must do this, we must do that). - mig
[2013-01-22 10:49:14] - "people must" wasn't the topic of his speech. ~a
[2013-01-22 10:45:33] - troll. ~a
[2013-01-22 10:42:24] - http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/01/21/word-clouds-obama-speech-inauguration-2013/1851961/ i didn't bother watching the speech or even reading the transcript yesterday, but if this word cloud is any indication I can probably guess the general tone. PEOPLE MUST! - mig
[2013-01-22 10:00:05] - it is a full automatic weapon. you could put out something like 10 or 20 bubbles per second with that thing. ~a
[2013-01-22 09:41:18] - http://wnep.com/2013/01/18/hello-kitty-bubble-gun-controversy/ it's kind of sad how quickly schools have regressed to the post-columbine hysteria days. - mig
[2013-01-22 09:11:19] - Xpovos: I liked how somebody had to ask him to take his finger out of the trigger guard. -Paul
[2013-01-22 09:09:51] - a: Not sure why they left out women, but I can understand it. Ethnicity is a little different from gender. -Paul
[2013-01-20 08:36:36] - gun appreciation day celebrated. ~a
[2013-01-20 08:35:36] - what about women? a whole article about diversity completely ignores women. it's a little weird they would skip that whole demo. ~a
[2013-01-20 08:25:08] - paul: it seems this peculiarity only affects the statewide elections? he did touch on non-statewide elections: "The new 113th Congress is the most diverse in history, but that diversity comes almost exclusively courtesy of the Democratic side of the aisle. For example, there are 42 African-American members of the House -- all are Democrats..." ~a
[2013-01-20 07:38:51] - mr. wikipedia goes to washington ~a
[2013-01-19 09:42:40] - Could have been Connolly. http://washingtonexaminer.com/virginia-lawmakers-ak-47-sparks-gun-debate-on-house-floor/article/2518986#.UPqwJG92xf9 My take-away? Of course he wants more gun control, he doesn't have enough sense to use basic gun safety techniques, so clearly no one else does either. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-18 20:09:46] - The crackdown was a response to allegations of sexual misconduct and a culture of intolerance towards women. That makes the items Paul highlighted even funnier, IMO. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-18 17:04:43] - http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/18/16587944-air-force-searches-out-porn-other-offensive-material-on-its-bases Other less explicit material, deemed less serious but still inappropriate, included a shirtless photo of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and a “Ken Doll dressed only in swim trunks." -Paul
[2013-01-18 14:49:07] - mig: Wow, that seems like a bit of a crazy article even for the NY Times opinion section... -Paul
[2013-01-18 14:35:34] - paul: oh yeah, well those people the gop put out there are just like ... tokens ... man.. - mig
[2013-01-18 14:08:36] - a: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/18/opinion/avlon-gop-diversity/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7 A CNN article which is surprisingly relevant to the discussion we were having about diversity among governors and congress. -Paul
[2013-01-18 13:45:34] - aaron: It's a pretty good metaphor. -Paul
[2013-01-18 11:09:03] - http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/01/18 i thought today's penny arcade was cute! they could have gone with a flimsier metaphor and had the joke still work, so i was kind of impressed - aaron
[2013-01-18 10:04:03] - Or even something as simple as a newspaper local to Stanford just doing a routine obit (considering how much national news this made it's amazing that nobody local did anything like this). - mig
[2013-01-18 10:02:27] - Also how does no media outlet pick up on this after all this time. All it would have taken was a single new outlet saying, "hey this girl was such an inspiration to this kid, we should do a bit of a feature on her" and this whole thing would have unraveled in a very short order. - mig
[2013-01-18 09:55:48] - Although considering how elaborate this whole hoax was it does make me wonder on the online dating things i'm on what % of all the women who abruptly end contact with me (which happens a lot) were real people and how many just ended up figuring that I wasn't going to be an easy mark to hustle for some money. - mig
[2013-01-18 09:24:55] - mig: Oh I was not aware he was mormon. That is interesting. I know they, stereo-typically speaking, end up married with kids much younger than a lot of their non mormon peers. -Daniel
[2013-01-18 09:22:29] - aaron: well he's mormon since he's going to head to the NFL, I'm guessing he already did his 2-year mission. Usually, a mormon male is expected to marry shortly after going to their mission. So yeah the "shame" of singleness could very well apply in this case. - mig
[2013-01-18 09:14:26] - Honestly, I can kind of see him possibly being the hoax victim. People of all sorts get duped by these online romances with an alarming frequency. And if he was a victim, he kind of got off lucky, becuase most of the time people duped by these things end up getting swindled out of a lot of money. - mig
[2013-01-18 09:13:44] - mig: it's one of the more rational reasons someone would lie about having a girlfriend. i guess another possible reason would be, shame out of being single?? but that's a little weirder - aaron
[2013-01-18 09:12:19] - How worried should I be that when I went to turn off the alarm on my phone this morning, I saw that the Bank of America app was opening itself for some reason?
-Paul[2013-01-18 09:11:44] - daniel: yeah I'm kind of surprised how quickly people are jumping to the "he's hiding the fact he's gay". Not sure where that is coming from. - mig
[2013-01-17 14:06:44] - mig: I heard / read rumors that he has had several gf's who were always far away and further speculation that this could be covering for being gay. If so and if he came out (and super big if since thats multi levels of speculation) that would be quite the story for the first major active athlete to be gay (that I'm aware of anyway). -Daniel
[2013-01-17 11:44:55] - ironically, that made me laugh. ~a
[2013-01-17 09:10:19] - a: Yeah, but it's funnier when explained. -Paul
[2013-01-16 21:03:31] - paul, i think that was the joke. ~a
[2013-01-16 18:28:18] - http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/manti-te-os-girlfriend-supposedly-died-september-never-225622613--ncaaf.html this might be one of the weirdest stories relating to sports that i've ever read. - mig
[2013-01-16 17:32:41] - Xpovos: More like: Unless you're the federal government. -Paul
[2013-01-16 16:55:01] - http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/582410_10151217979475911_723077951_n.jpg Too fast? Too furious? -- Xpovos
[2013-01-16 15:30:24] - a: They probably got tired of fielding questions about secession and death stars.
-Paul[2013-01-16 14:30:07] - it's also interesting that they changed the threshold for responses. new petitions need 100k signatories to warrant a response. ~a
[2013-01-16 14:24:51] - a: My complete guess is that whoever does these prefers to answer the ones that look interesting to them. -Paul
[2013-01-16 13:36:13] - Probably a good thing, given how much healthcare those babies were bound to consume. Cheaper for everyone now. http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20603065/southwestern-pa-hospital-to-stop-baby-deliveries -- Xpovos
[2013-01-16 13:30:50] - that's exactly what i was thinking in #1. they responded to this petition even though they didn't get the signatories . . . so what about all of the other petitions that got more votes that they didn't respond to? ~a
[2013-01-16 12:08:45] - a: of course they responded. it's harmless and maybe good pr to respond. Anything to avoid petitions that address serious issues. - mig
[2013-01-16 11:40:58] - a: Which one? For the governors, I looked up the current governors and counted how many seemed to be a minority (I know, very unscientific). I basically did the same for Congress. For presidential cabinets, I checked articles online. -Paul
[2013-01-16 11:35:46] - petition: release that recipe! 2.5 things i found interesting: 0. wow, that's awesome. 1. hey, they responded even though it didn't get the votes! 2. they admitted to the whitehouse being a giant speakeasy during prohibition. i wonder if they have weed smoking during prohibition2. ~a
[2013-01-16 11:26:03] - where did you read this? ~a
[2013-01-16 10:37:08] - a: Cabinet positions are harder to compare, since we only have one president at a time, but I think Obama's first cabinet had more women and minorities than GWB's, but his second has less. -Paul
[2013-01-16 10:35:07] - a: Depends on how you want to count it. Without going over it completely, I believe there were more Republican governors that were female or a minority, but more Democrats who were female or minority in positions of power in Congress. -Paul
[2013-01-16 10:30:15] - by "his" i mean obama's. ~a
[2013-01-16 10:30:01] - according to stephen colbert, 46% (remembering this stat from memory) of his staff is female. ~a
[2013-01-16 10:29:09] - "which party puts more women and minorities in positions of power" which party does put more women and minorities in positions of power? ~a
[2013-01-16 10:27:12] - http://reason.com/24-7/2013/01/15/white-house-paid-female-staffers-less-th White House Paid Female Staffers Less Than Men in 2012. This whole "controversy" (and I use that term very loosely) reminds me of the discussion about which party puts more women and minorities in positions of power.
-Paul[2013-01-15 16:17:34] - they were probably just using the term colloquially. ~a
[2013-01-15 16:16:58] - in that situation, yeah, i wouldn't have said he was "fired", because i'm not sure "fired" has much meaning in contract law. it's not employment termination if there is no employee/employer relationship. you can't terminate somebody that doesn't work for your company, but you can terminate a contract for various reasons. ~a
[2013-01-15 15:50:36] - mig: I had to double check it was from a reputable source, because (A) it's a pretty huge and unusual move for the Nats and (B) it came out of nowhere. I didn't hear any rumors that we were going for Soriano. -Paul
[2013-01-15 15:44:49] - paul; WOAH. That is huge. - mig
[2013-01-15 15:41:53] - http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/01/15/rafael-soriano-washington-nationals-closer-drew-storen-tyler-clippard/1836421/ Washington Nationals reportedly sign Rafael Soriano. -Paul
[2013-01-15 15:41:32] - mig: It's ok, because he's black. -Paul
[2013-01-15 15:21:16] - paul: for whatever reason, the talking heads on First Take are afforded a really wide berth. Stephen A Smith has gotten away with saying the n-word on air ... twice. - mig
[2013-01-15 15:00:52] - mig: I'm a little surprised they didn't fire him, even if his contract was expiring. That's just the kind of PR move that would seem to be win/win for them. -Paul
[2013-01-15 14:45:52] - paul: yes. - mig
[2013-01-15 14:43:28] - mig: Is it the RG3 cornball brother guy? -Paul
[2013-01-15 14:35:10] - a: no idea. I was reading an article about an espn talking head whose contract expired and not renewed (quite recently before he had said something controversial which led them to not renewing). They used the term "fired" but I wasn't sure if that was technically accurate. - mig
[2013-01-15 14:16:13] - are they a 1099 (somebody self employed under a contract)? or are they an employee working under a contract between companies? ~a
[2013-01-15 14:15:05] - a 1099? ~a
[2013-01-15 13:38:00] - random question: when you have an employee on a contract expires and you decide to not renew it, do you consider the person to be 'fired"? - mig
[2013-01-15 11:25:56] - http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6 I'm as laissez-faire as they come, but this is ridiculous. And it's already inaccurate because Viacom and CBS (two of the six) are already both controlled by National Amusements. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-15 11:09:00] - Update on the CNET/CBS Dish Hopper story: in a prepared statement CBS said that the CNET staff retained full editorial independence while covering "actual news". Hilarious. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-15 10:56:42] - aaron: the "why now" is alluding to the fact that he may just be admitting his ped usage now because of the aftermentioned statute of limitations apparently passing on potential perjury charges. It's more of a "well isn't that timing convenient?" criticism. - mig
[2013-01-15 10:42:11] - aaron: that's really I guess my thing with it. The doping is really irrelevant to me and alwas has been, but this henchmen bullying and attempts to use the legal system to ruin people has really changed my view on him. - mig
[2013-01-15 10:35:13] - mig: calling someone "vindictive, bitter, vengeful and jealous" is true/false either way. having the doping charges be true doesn't really change anything there, and ditto for the cases where his "henchmen" were bullying people, that's a shitty thing to do regardless of whether the doping charges are true or not - aaron
[2013-01-15 10:33:00] - mig: i might be missing something in this article, but the "why now, lance?" article seems to be criticizing him for waiting six months after his tragedy, to do some kind of interview?? is that even abnormal? most of the rest of the criticism is like -- yeah it's fair, but it's totally unrelated to the doping charges - aaron
[2013-01-15 09:51:15] - paul: yeah i heard that, problably the funniest remark I heard about the whole thing. - mig
[2013-01-15 09:42:27] - mig: Somebody on the radio this morning made the comment that it has soured the movie Dodgeball for him.
-Paul[2013-01-15 09:39:31] - http://sports.yahoo.com/news/questions-oprah-should-ask-lance-armstrong-230849439.html normally, I'm not one to care about PED usage in sports, but this extra information has really soured my view on Lance Armstrong. It's one thing to be a user and simply deny it. Its quite another to attempt to destroy other people's lives to keep your squeaky clean image. - mig
[2013-01-15 09:31:22] - paul: I'll put my optimism glasses on and hope that's the reason they kept him around all this time. - mig
[2013-01-15 09:29:32] - mig: Yeah, he might be a good recruiter, I have no idea, I just want him away from the offense.
-Paul[2013-01-15 09:21:49] - Stinespring might not be totally gone. I had heard rumours that he would be demoted or just relegated to recruiting. But I guess as long as he's nowhere near playcalling or coming up with offensive schemes it doesn't matter whether he's still with the program. - mig
[2013-01-15 09:20:22] - A lot of people are making a big deal how much of a disaster Auburn's offense was last year, but at the same time he has a fairly good credentials up until that point. - mig
[2013-01-15 09:19:15] - mig: I approve just on the grounds it means Stinespring is gone. The fact that I've heard good things about him and he seems to find success wherever he goes is gravy. -Paul
[2013-01-15 09:17:08] - just saw it this morning. I *think* I approve. - mig
[2013-01-15 09:10:17] - mig: I assume you heard about Tech potentially hiring Auburn's OC? -Paul
[2013-01-15 09:10:03] - a: Btw, not sure if you are interested or not, but I got xbmc working on my Raspberry Pi last night. Pretty impressed by it's ability to play HD video off an attached external hard drive. Next step is to see if I can get the video streaming to work a little better (watching a Day[9] daily had a lot of buffering). -Paul
[2013-01-15 09:08:31] - a: It's funny to hear you say that, because it sounds almost like a libertarian complaining about excessive government regulations.
-Paul[2013-01-14 16:53:44] - guy working for some other company: "no, adrian, i can't resolve your simple request, because to complete this simple request i'd have to spend a whole day talking to our lawyers" adrian: "your whole company is doing it wrong" ~a
[2013-01-14 16:36:54] - i've had to indirectly deal with lawyers a bunch in my daily life, and they decrease the productivity of whole teams even when they're not directly doing anything. it becomes a giant and transitive chilling effect that make engineers they touch less effective at their jobs. i could probably rant about this for hours. ~a
[2013-01-14 16:29:00] - i hate lawyers in computing. they are counterproductive at every turn. copyrights, patents, and protecting their blessed "intellectual property" are all they care about and that only slows down progress. ~a
[2013-01-14 16:26:33] - "because of active litigation between CBS and Dish, we had to disqualify Dish and that the only fair thing to do in this new reality was to revote and inform Dish about what had happened" don't revote. fuck the lawyers: the 2013 winner is: nobody. nobody, because lawyers suck. ~a
[2013-01-14 16:01:26] - http://news.cnet.com/8301-30677_3-57563877-244/the-2013-best-of-ces-awards-cnets-story/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=readMore Not sure how many people here read Cnet for reviews. But apparently there was some controversy regarding their CES winner this year. -Paul
[2013-01-14 13:11:49] - Paper Tiger!!
[2013-01-14 13:06:15] - mig: Hehe. We'll see. Their offense certainly surprised me this past weekend (I wasn't surprised the Ravens won, but I was surprised it was by essentially their offense outperforming Denver's). I still think it's a Tebow-ish like mirage, but we will see. -Paul
[2013-01-14 11:59:00] - paul: forgot to mention this to you on sat, but it seems like the Ravens won't be regretting firing Cam Cameron one bit. - mig
[2013-01-14 10:38:16] - a: It doesn't say recommended, but it's right underneath two statistics talking about recommended preventative services. -Paul
[2013-01-14 10:37:24] - a: Two quotes from your source. "Only 2.5 percent of Americans receive all recommended preventive services" and "seven preventive care services including [...] chlamydia screening, and colorectal, breast, and cervical cancer screening". -Paul
[2013-01-14 10:27:17] - "As far as I can tell, if you miss out on a chlamydia screening then it sounds like you're part of that 97.5% which doesn't get all the recommended preventative treatment." as far as i can tell, you're wrong. where does it say that? ~a
[2013-01-14 09:48:24] - aaron: Right. Would it be nice if we tested everybody in the US for every disease they might possibly have every year? I guess. But it's also really expensive. Maybe we should just test people if they have good reason to worry about having chlamydia or something like that. -Paul
[2013-01-14 09:46:30] - Dee: Which is kinda the goal of having people pay out of pocket... so they understand just how expensive these things are (we actually are indirectly paying these costs one way or another, usually through health insurance costs, we just don't get exposed to them) and maybe are a little more restrained in how often they use health care. -Paul
[2013-01-14 09:45:10] - Dee: Was it nice that our doctor's were so thorough and that we had the baby checked out so many times to make sure everything was ok? Sure. But it was also a little excessive (IMHO). If we had been paying for those appointments out of pocket (and paying for each service they provided), then we still would've had some appointments but not nearly as many. -Paul
[2013-01-14 09:43:44] - Dee: And in a way, what you are saying kinda proves my point. Gurkie and I went to so many doctor's appointments and had so many sonograms and stress tests and blood tests and everything for a pregnancy that had no real warning flags other than health issues from the parents. -Paul
[2013-01-14 09:42:24] - Dee: and (B) doctor's appointments would be a little cheaper since fewer people would be having so many. -Paul
[2013-01-14 09:41:45] - Dee: Well, in theory people wouldn't just be paying the current doctor's appointment fees completely out of pocket. My point was that if health insurance was more for emergencies, then (A) health insurance would be cheaper, meaning more take-home pay... -Paul
[2013-01-14 09:41:19] - a: yeah even the link itself pointed out that this number wasn't really representative of how many people avoided care; it was representative of the fact that there are so many recommended tests, many of which are unnecessary of even harmful - aaron
[2013-01-14 09:40:31] - that said, "noscript" is a huge pain in the ass sometimes and i hope some day i can get by without it. i'm even going whole hog at work, and rejecting all cookies except for sites on a whitelist, so i'm starting to really hate the internet! ha ha. - aaron
[2013-01-14 09:39:54] - a: "the chlamydia screening might not apply to you" That's why I thought your link was bunk. As far as I can tell, if you miss out on a chlamydia screening then it sounds like you're part of that 97.5% which doesn't get all the recommended preventative treatment. That's not quite what we were talking about. -Paul
[2013-01-14 09:38:46] - dee: i disable everything everywhere, using a program called "noscript". java/flash exploits are found so frequently that it barely qualifies as news. javascript/cookie exploits are less common but they're still around too. but yes, if you can get by without java in your browser, you should keep it off, whatever the news says - aaron
[2013-01-14 09:34:58] - paul: hey, "a fifth... avoid preventitive treatment because of cost!" that's really close to my 15% number i pulled out of my butt. how cool am i! - aaron
[2013-01-12 15:04:06] - A: Thanks. I remember needing Java for my online classes last year but wasn't sure if I needed it now. ~Dee
[2013-01-12 09:00:33] - dee: no sites today require java in the browser. you can disable java in your browser without affecting anything. ~a
[2013-01-12 01:14:48] - I would NOT go to the doctor's if I had to pay for routine check-ups and "preventative" care. Paul- did you see Gurkie's insurance paperwork after the insurance company paid up? My bills for the hospital visit alone were $9000+ and a pregnancy is pretty routine in the US; not a med emergency. Even if I had just had to pay for the weekly check-up's we'd be broke! ~Dee
[2013-01-12 01:12:00] - Whoa just tried to catch up on this health care debate. Lengthy! Paul said "I definitely agree, and it's why I think one of the best things that can happen is if we find a way for people to people to pay for more things like doctor's appointments out of pocket and return health insurance to paying for medical emergencies instead of routine check-ups
[2013-01-12 01:03:54] - Opps.... ~Dee
[2013-01-12 01:03:40] - My mom posted this article on her facebook page today... and I was a bit lost to be honest. I use java plug ins on my computer (I think) to make things run properly right? So what is Java vs javascript and plug ins? http://www.zdnet.com/homeland-security-warns-to-disable-java-amid-zero-day-flaw-7000009713/
[2013-01-11 18:03:19] - the chlamydia screening might not apply to you. some STD tests only exist for the females. ~a
[2013-01-11 18:02:18] - just because it's provided doesn't mean it's recommended. i doubt you got the cervical cancer screening too
~a[2013-01-11 18:01:18] - xpovos: is that a recommended preventive service? ~a
[2013-01-11 17:30:33] - I would fall in that 97.5% number too, I'm sure, because I've never been tested for chlamydia. There is such a thing as unnecessary care. -- Xpovos
[2013-01-11 17:26:36] - i'll agree the 97.5% is a little restrictive, but the 20% is way off too. let's split the difference and say 60%?
~a[2013-01-11 17:11:25] - a: With the implication being that it's an oversight, not people intentionally avoiding preventative care for some reason. I don't think it's fair to count somebody who might've accidentally missed a mammogram. -Paul
[2013-01-11 17:09:04] - a: Sure, and here was the first line from your article, "Only 2.5 percent of Americans receive all recommended preventive services. In our complex healthcare system, preventive care often falls through the cracks." Your stat is measuring people who have missed as few as one of the recommended preventative measures. -Paul
[2013-01-11 17:00:48] - "A survey of hundreds of Californians enrolled in health savings accounts" we were talking about the nation, not rich people who were enrolled in FSAs. 0% of poor people are californians enrolled in FSAs. ~a
[2013-01-11 16:45:51] - a: That MUCH more closely correlates with what we were talking about. -Paul
[2013-01-11 16:45:22] - a: If so, then here's my stat: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/12/04/1277071/americans-skip-preventative-care/?mobile=nc "A fifth of those surveyed said they had avoided preventive examination or treatment because of cost." -Paul
[2013-01-11 16:44:47] - yes. ~a
[2013-01-11 16:44:05] - a: You really think my estimate (which isn't even an estimate, it was a number I picked out of my ass to make a point) is at all relevant to your stat? -Paul
[2013-01-11 16:43:16] - a: But fine, we can use that stat. That means 2.5% get preventative care now, so who cares if my method brings it down to 0%? No big loss.
-Paul[2013-01-11 16:42:59] - "let's say 15% don't do preventative care right now for whatever reason" ~a
[2013-01-11 16:42:46] - 15% is such a ludicrous number. you both think 15% of the nation doesn't get preventative care right now for whatever reason. that's so divorced from reality. 97.5%. ~a
[2013-01-11 16:42:24] - a: I don't think that particular stat is very relevant to what we're talking about. I thought we were talking about people who intentionally and knowingly avoided preventative care due to costs. -Paul
[2013-01-11 16:40:09] - a: Which I readily admitted, but I have observations that I am basing it off of (car maintenance, home maintenance, my own behavior). Do you have any numbers to support your side? -Paul
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