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[2014-05-14 17:03:31] - yeah, i actually see that as a very interesting feature too. now i wonder if chromecast or roku will support flipping (or splitting) multiple feeds in the future. some smartTVs will let you split feeds, but i don't think any of them will let you flip through feeds as easily as you suggested. but man, i hate the idea behind smarttvs. ~a
[2014-05-14 16:52:08] - a: So you could have some cable show on part of the TV (maybe a football game) while playing a video game in the main part, and both are controlled by the Xbox (via the Kinect). I have no idea how often that kind of functionality would actually be useful, but it just seems pretty cool to me. -Paul
[2014-05-14 16:50:40] - a: The kinect has an IR blaster, so it can send signals to the cable box, and the Xbox One has HDMI pass-through, so you can plug your cable box into your Xbox One. -Paul
[2014-05-14 16:48:43] - "the ability to control cable boxes" how? ~a
[2014-05-14 16:46:55] - mig: Hell, I have two Rokus, two chromecasts and I'm STILL interested in the Xbox One functionality because it still offers stuff (like the ability to control cable boxes and to quickly go from TV to video game and back) that those devices don't. -Paul
[2014-05-14 16:45:45] - mig: Sure, except not everybody has Smart TVs (or are happy with them). Otherwise, there really wouldn't be a market for stuff like Rokus and Chromecasts and Amazon Fire TV and whatnot. -Paul
[2014-05-14 16:36:51] - paul: I could maybe understand if smart tvs didn't exist. The problem with the xbox one's vision was summed up perfectly by a commentry from the escapists: "Microsoft is trying to sell me the TV that I already have, which ironically requires my TV to even work." - mig
[2014-05-14 16:33:19] - Xpovos: Yeah, I might too, which is why it annoys me. Instead of getting a potentially super cool media hub type device, I'll "just" be getting an upgraded console, which leads me back to wondering if I should just go back to computer games or look into a steam box. -Paul
[2014-05-14 16:29:01] - Paul: And yet, I'll still likely buy a One at some point in the next year...
-- Xpovos[2014-05-14 16:05:41] - Xpovos: Now, it's been castrated so much that it's basically just a bigger, underpowered PS4. -Paul
[2014-05-14 16:03:27] - Xpovos: Right. I understand why Microsoft made all the decisions they did, but the original Xbox One concept was one I was excited about: a next-gen home theater media-hub with kinect voice commands AND a forward thinking all-digital game distribution system which made sharing games easier (not harder). -Paul
[2014-05-14 16:03:02] - "checking my privilege" was a big part of my college experience, but I don't think it would have been as beneficial to me if it were force-fed instead of being allowed to be expressed through the day-to-day of college life. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-14 15:58:42] - On the One: MS needed to suck it up and sell the console for a loss (or bigger loss). They had to match Sony's price and they chose the near-sighted option. I'm definitely not thrilled about it. I realize the Kinect is an issue for some things... there are legitimate privacy concerns, e.g. But it's a gimmick the One needs. PS4 just won the next-gen race. -- Xpovo
[2014-05-14 14:30:26] - mig: And that's part of why I don't think it will be done right. It sounds like the people in charge of this are not trying to elicit genuine discoveries, but instead are just trying to enforce their point of view that everybody is "equal". -Paul
[2014-05-14 14:21:26] - “If what you’ve been told all your life is you’re really talented and you deserve what you have, it’s going to be really hard to find out Maybe I don’t deserve it, and all these other people equally deserve it but never even had a shot,” I don't see this quote as "trying to put yourself in another shoes" but trying to elicit guilt. - mig
[2014-05-14 14:16:00] - a: I suppose if it's done correctly, it could be an interesting way to looking at how you were raised and how it might be different than how somebody else was brought up (and it seems like that could be especially helpful for people in ivy league schools), but I just don't know if this is likely to be "done correctly". -Paul
[2014-05-14 14:06:42] - unless i completely misunderstand the point of the article, i think it's similar to "putting yourself in someone else's shoes". in this case, it's focused on learning more about your shoes and how they're different from everyone else's shoes. that seems good to me. ~a
[2014-05-14 13:49:54] - mig: I haven't read much about it. Seems kind of silly to me. Is it supposed to help people analyze their own upbringing? -Paul
[2014-05-14 12:01:34] - http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/05/harvard-adds-privilege-checking-to-orientation.html any thoughts? This more I've been reading about this "check your privilege" thing the more ludicrous it seems to me. - mig
[2014-05-14 11:49:00] - a: Bingo. It's like what Aaron and I talked about so many months ago. Once something is no longer "required", then developers can no longer assume people have it and so I'm guessing that'll lead to a lot less effort involved in developing for it. -Paul
[2014-05-14 11:48:46] - ugh. i fucking hate spam bots. what horribly parasitic behavior. who devotes their life to being the best parasite? ~a
[2014-05-14 11:47:50] - mig: If the Kinect-less Xbox One becomes popular, then why would Microsoft bother dedicating muhc effort towards developing for the Kinect? -Paul
[2014-05-14 11:46:35] - i have a feeling like the kinnect being separate means that games can't just assume it's an available ui control. ~a
[2014-05-14 11:46:25] - mig: Nope, and if I bought the Xbox One, I would probably buy it with the Kinect bundled, but the point is that making the Kinect optional is a big signal that the Kinect will no longer be as important. -Paul
[2014-05-14 11:45:06] - paul: is buying the kinnect separately really that much of a burden for you? - mig
[2014-05-14 11:34:27] - a: Although I will admit my remark was a little tongue in cheek. We're still not really screwed since the oceans rising isn't supposed to happen until we're all likely to be dead anyway. -Paul
[2014-05-14 11:32:35] - a: Maybe we have different definitions of "it"? My "it" was the antarctic ice sheets melting and raising the oceans. My point is that, according to this article, that is going to happen whether I use an incandescent bulb or LED bulb, whether I drive a Hummer or a Prius. -Paul
[2014-05-14 11:12:01] - paul: "Doesn't that kind of contradict the whole 'passed the point of no return' thing?" uhhh, no? seriously, this is a very simple logical situation. it sounds like you're arguing that if you pass a point of no return, then your position is irrelevant. ...you can't go from where you are to your original state, so now all states are equal? ~a
[2014-05-14 09:46:04] - http://www.cnet.com/news/why-the-death-of-microsoft-xbox-one-vision-means-we-all-lose/#ftag=CAD590a51e This is kind of how I feel about Microsoft's decision to strip the kinect from the Xbox One. In a weird way, it actually makes me less likely to want one now, because it basically means the Xbox One is just an under-powered PS4 for the same price. -Paul
[2014-05-14 09:35:44] - a: Doesn't that kind of contradict the whole "passed the point of no return" thing? -Paul
[2014-05-14 09:20:25] - i think there are tons of things we can do about it. ~a
[2014-05-12 18:04:19] - http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/05/12/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-stability-sea-level-rise/9001819/ "The researchers say the fate of the glaciers is almost certainly beyond hope." That's a relief. We can all stop worrying, now. We're definitely screwed and there's nothing we can do about it.
-Paul[2014-05-12 12:04:16] - *can't ~a
[2014-05-12 11:27:11] - yeah i'm not excited about them either. the fact that the "menu" is no longer considered a toolbar means you can as easily put everything on the same row anymore. ~a
[2014-05-12 10:51:31] - i'm really unhappy with the UI changes to firefox australis (29.0.1), the titlebar takes up about 5-10 more pixels of vertical real-estate now. I kind of fixed it with a combination of "slimmr" and "classic theme restorer" but it took some fiddling - aaron
[2014-05-11 14:41:15] - Anybody here watch Stossel on Fox Business? He had a pretty good segment (I thought) a week or so ago dealing with the Donald Sterling incident that I liked. -Paul
[2014-05-11 10:08:18] - Xpovos: I might share some of your concerns if he had went to the Dolphins (which was reportadly a possibility), given the idiotic tweet that came from Don Jones probably would foretell a hostile environment for Sam, which almost certainly lead to some backlash for the nFL had he not made that team. - mig
[2014-05-11 10:01:54] - xpovos: Barring any Richie Icognito-like incident, I don't really see any major angst backlash should he get cut. If he's not up to par his play on game tape will bear that out. I'm sure there are those who will conjure a reason to get offended about Sam getting cut should that come to pass, but again, I don't think any backlash will be really noteworthy. - mig
[2014-05-10 21:11:39] - I should clarify though that I hope not. It would be good to get over the whole issue and focus on the game as sport again. And that's clearly not going to happen as long as my predictions are correct. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-10 21:10:59] - mig: Clearly, I was wrong. Alrighty then. Let's see how this pans out when he gets cut. If there's media angst and protestations I still claim partial victory. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-10 19:55:54] - xpovos: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/st--louis-rams-make-michael-sam-the-first-openly-gay-player-drafted-by-nfl-230231290.html - mig
[2014-05-10 18:08:18] - tangent: I love Kluwe's twitter handle and avatar. - mig
[2014-05-10 09:43:12] - This again: http://time.com/94608/dont-freak-out-if-michael-sam-isnt-drafted/ Not gonna happen. He will not be drafted. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get called to camp at all; it's not so much bringing him in as the inevitable letting him go. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-09 17:38:41] - aaron: oh god i didn't realize it was in a jacuzzi, though i probably should have guessed from the name. ~a
[2014-05-09 17:30:06] - mig: and all i could think is "she's too young for him."
~a[2014-05-09 17:11:05] - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/sefer-calinak-dating-show-contestant_n_5293545.html is this amusing or terrifying? I honestly can't tell which. - mig
[2014-05-09 14:52:07] - Ignoring unanticipated side effects is status quo for Washington, though. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-09 14:24:57] - "If you're looking at a ten year budget it's revenue neutral" i doubt it. that math doesn't take into account lots of things like interest, inflation, and unintended/unanticipated side effects. "effects from withdrawing that much stimulus from the education market" i couldn't agree more. ~a
[2014-05-09 14:16:18] - a: It is a huge some of money, but 1) It's not that big in terms of the overall debt. 2) It 'pays for itself' in 9-10 years. If you're looking at a ten year budget it's revenue neutral. Honestly, the bigger argument against is the knock-on effects from withdrawing that much stimulus from the education market. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-09 13:34:45] - http://www.messhof.com/Poocuzzi poocuzzi is a gripping game of fecal deception. earn points for pooping, lose them if you’re caught - aaron
[2014-05-09 12:51:24] - umm, i guess i'll go first. i think it's a shitty idea. that's a huge sum of money. is it ok if i leave it at that? did you want an alternative proposal to solve a specific problem? ~a
[2014-05-09 10:32:09] - a: For simplicity, let's throw them all in the pot too. If it's beyond grammar and high school (which both typically get very little federal money) it's excluded under the terms of this particular bargain. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-09 10:17:50] - xpovos: to avoid confusion i'd prefer the term "higher education". It's less ambiguous. - mig
[2014-05-09 10:13:40] - though i'll admit, the government probably already has a system in place for which of those things they'll create loans for. ~a
[2014-05-09 10:12:20] - what about all of the other situations? associates degree? vocational education? online colleges? junior colleges? technical institutes? doctoral degrees? continuing education? accreditations? ~a
[2014-05-09 10:01:22] - mig: University level. Baccalaureate and graduate. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-09 09:59:49] - So definitions apparently vary by country, what are we defining as "secondary education"? - mig
[2014-05-09 09:06:24] - It's not my idea, but I'm not going to provide the link at the moment, because I want to see if we can debate it on the merits without the source biasing anyone. Ignore feasibility for a moment, is this a good idea? -- Xpovos
[2014-05-09 09:05:35] - Idea time: pro/con, how do you feel about the following proposal? Twinned: eliminate (forgive) all existing student loan debt owed to the federal government, pay down existing student loan debt owed to private companies (~-$1T) AND permanently reduce federal expenditure on all forms of secondary education to zero. (~+110B/yr) -- Xpovos
[2014-05-08 22:12:21] - kyle fuller goes 14th overall to the Bears. Not bad. - mig
[2014-05-08 11:32:28] - ... 5) Requiring extra reporting to DOJ on these measures and 6) stipulations for further punishment if these are not met. In all there are ten parts, but most fit into those broader categories. #1 and #4/5 are the 'problematic' ones. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-08 11:30:13] - *severe is in the eye of the beholder, but here are some of the required punishements. 1) Hiring an equity consultant to advocate for Title IX issues. 2) Tracking statistics on complains of sexual harrasment. 3) Providing a guide to students for educational anti-harrassment purposes 4) Getting more nebulous monitoring "campus climate" for necessary corrective mesaures
[2014-05-08 11:26:59] - So, when those failures of Title IX enforcement come, we've a handy blueprint for how the DOJ will proceed, in general? -- Xpovos
[2014-05-08 11:26:04] - The issues are 1) Of course DOJ has the authority to enforce law, such as Title IX. 2) Of course UM is going to accept DOJ's punishments when they fail. 3) The punishment is severe* and impacts UM's autonomy (think Alabama and civil rights level of involvement) and then my new point 4) Failure is bound to come in new flavors soon. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-08 11:24:04] - a: Sorry, it is pretty long, and it's not even entirely on my subject. The agreement is between DOJ and University of Montana: Missoula and is a penitential action by UM as a result "concerns" by DOJ about UM's handling of sexual harassment and Title IX issues. The agreement is incredibly strong and invasive. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-08 11:19:06] - tl;dr. what is montana doing? ~a
[2014-05-08 10:27:17] - Anyone seen this? http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/edu/documents/montanaagree.pdf I'm guessing not, it's low profile, but I've been wondering for a while now how our advancement on social issues such as acceptance of gender-identity options will interface with existing jurisprudence like Title IX. Should be fun. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-06 16:50:16] - awww that makes me so sad. honestly though, it's a movie i love, but i know that almost everybody who is 40+ hasn't seen it. ~a
[2014-05-06 12:56:35] - "and it really tied the room together". Not a one of them has seen the Big Lebowski. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-06 12:56:09] - Coworker is complaining over the lunch table about her upstairs neighbors who did something that resulted in a leak into her bathroom. Resultant scheduling problems, etc. Complaint continues, "and the rug has this yellow stain which I'll try to wash out, but if it doesn't, that was an expensive rug and a gift from a friend." I respond, as I must:
[2014-05-06 10:06:27] - i've heard of it but never used it. ummm . . . it's based in des moines, iowa, which i thought was interesting i guess. i know they integrated with bitcoin in the early days of bitcoin but have long since dis-integrated (?). it seems pretty lame that they're US-only. what if i receive money and i'm not in the US? ~a
[2014-05-05 23:36:28] - has anybody used http://www.dwolla.com for sending/receiving money online? - aaron
[2014-05-05 14:46:40] - a: It was like two weeks ago or something but you asked how many years for my wedding anniversary and we've been married five years now. -Daniel
[2014-05-02 17:14:00] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/05/02/judge-sentences-rapist-to-volunteer I'm utterly baffled how this actually happened. - mig
[2014-05-02 12:12:54] - mig: holy crap, looks like it - aaron
[2014-05-02 11:46:37] - mig: WOW. great video. in case you're impatient like me, the fun doesn't start until after 1:00. ~a
[2014-05-01 21:19:43] - http://www.mediaite.com/online/watch-incredible-video-shows-baltimore-landslide-devouring-cars/ dunno why my phone fails at copy/paste with urls. - mig
[2014-05-01 20:47:52] - aaron: was that photo the aftermath of <a href="www.mediaite.com/online/watch-incredible-video-shows-baltimore-landslide-devouring-cars/">this</a>? - mig
[2014-05-01 15:33:00] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4cGqu2_GQQ SOAD + elton john = ??? - aaron
[2014-05-01 15:11:11] - Paul: The next step in obviating men? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10802010/Human-skin-used-to-create-sperm.html -- Xpovos
[2014-05-01 15:01:42] - a: That sucks. At least it was for a good reason. My people are crying over the work environment; which I'll admit is toxic, but still. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-01 15:00:00] - i've only had that happen once i think ever. it was because my officemate found out his dad had passed away while he was at work. ~a
[2014-05-01 14:52:10] - Number of coworkers who have had crying breakdowns in my office today: 2. This is not a trend I want to see continuing. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-01 11:54:08] - a: According to the news stories I was listening to, no. Updates may have new data. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-01 10:52:34] - did anybody get hurt? ~a
[2014-05-01 09:59:10] - aaron: Awesome pic. Thanks. I'd heard about it on the news, but a picture really is worth 1000 words. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-30 22:39:57] - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmfuAMSIMAAFyh6.jpg so apparently this happened in baltimore, 26th street at about 4:30 pm tonight - aaron
[2014-04-30 12:11:50] - nina: i was going to say the exact same thing. looking at, 51.5319,-0.1769, i think it would be very easy to go around that intersection unless traffic was horrible everywhere else. ~a
[2014-04-30 12:06:50] - Once again, youth and transgendered issues clash. http://www.myfoxny.com/story/25388894/lawyer-questions-decision-to-jail-transgender-girl -- Xpovos
[2014-04-30 11:07:13] - aaron: I probably just wouldn't use that road as part of my commute. -nina
[2014-04-30 10:48:45] - http://www.abbeyroad.com/crossing there's a webcam of the abbey road crossing, and every minute or so people block the intersection with their friends to recreate that beatles album... must be infuriating as a commuter - aaron
[2014-04-30 10:26:07] - a: that dying boy would never have gotten his wish if he lived in the US. and that makes me sad. -nina
[2014-04-29 17:15:28] - found this on reddit, dying boy, 15, gets wish: losing virginity. wow. ~a
[2014-04-29 15:18:45] - mig: When MLB banned Pete Rose, it was pretty clear what that meant. I don't follow basketball, so maybe I'm more easily confused, but what does this do? He owns the team still. Is he going to be prohibited from attending games? That would be interesting. What about choice of coaches, or draft positions? -- Xpovos
[2014-04-29 15:06:05] - http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-act-clippers-owner-tied-racial-comments-170911042--nba.html sterling banned from the nba for life. He still will technically own the team, but will pretty much have no involvement in anything nba-related. - mig
[2014-04-29 14:20:20] - TIL a new word. "pother". It's a lot like bother, but with a "p". -- Xpovos
[2014-04-29 14:16:04] - "Please tell me that someone also just broke the record for most rubik's cubes scrambled in 24 hours" ha ~a
[2014-04-29 14:15:58] - a: I may have overstated the inspection period. It felt a bit long. It was certainly long enough to start planning moves, if not all of them. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-29 14:14:09] - those videos are weird. he spent the 24 hours in what looks like a mall? he also doesn't seem that rushed for time between solves, but i only looked at the two solves he linked to. ~a
[2014-04-29 14:09:32] - that's a long inspection period. they (not i) could probably plan out most of their solve in that amount of time. ~a
[2014-04-29 13:17:08] - a/aaron: That's incomprehensible. I watched a video of Milán Baticz solving in a competition. No doubt he was fast, but he wasn't even the fastest in the competition,and was getting ~14s solves with ~25-30s inspection periods. Those 24-hour numbers just seem impossible. How did they even set up enough cubes for him? -- Xpovos
[2014-04-29 13:03:20] - a: this guy solved 5,800 in 24 hours in october. a 14-second average with no inspection time, also about 1-1.5 hours of break time - aaron
[2014-04-29 10:08:23] - a: Yeah, that's why I like to phrase it the way I do. The concept is a little goofy to me. It's like some odd compromise between people who wanted paternity leave and people who didn't want any regulations requiring leave at all. -Paul
[2014-04-29 10:04:37] - hmm, i don't think that word means what i think it means. ~a
[2014-04-29 10:02:36] - "FMLA leave" is funny for me. i'm sure, given your predispositions, you agree, but FMLA leave is like: well you can't legally fire this person for what they've done . . . but if you got to the point that you were going to fire somebody because they had to take some time off of work, haven't things gotten pretty bad? like, won't you just find another reason? ~a
[2014-04-29 09:47:31] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/04/29/mark-cuban-sterlings-racism-abhorrent-bu I like Mark Cuban's take on the Sterling issue. -Paul
[2014-04-29 09:38:05] - a: I find google plus to be a little easier to use. I'm more integrated into the google ecosystem. Google plus also seems to have a more transparent privacy system. Also, I think (and I could be completely wrong about this) that Facebook does some weird stuff with shrinking photos and not necessarily deleting them when you tell them to. -Paul
[2014-04-29 09:36:34] - Nina: But I still want to do something with these videos and pictures that I'm collecting, so I figured google plus might work out. -Paul
[2014-04-29 09:36:00] - Nina: That google ad was actually the inspiration for us creating a gmail account for Talia. We thought that was really neat and wanted to do it for her. For a while, we were both emailing that account consistently. Unfortunately, I don't think either of us has emailed it in a while and we didn't even create one for Kayla. -Paul
[2014-04-29 09:34:54] - Nina: Kind of. I'm on FMLA leave, which means I can be gone from work (without pay) and they can't replace me.
-Paul[2014-04-29 09:25:37] - http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-court-cellphone-20140428,0,5654472.story#axzz30HO1eZ2B No real comment here. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-28 16:49:36] - "somebody tried to tag him as a Republican" yeah, "somebody". you mean, some message board? that thread has since been removed? what a huge non-story. ~a
[2014-04-28 16:42:36] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/04/28/guilty-by-association-an-internet-politi guilt by association is such a fun game. - mig
[2014-04-28 14:39:47] - aaron: "The record for most Rubik's cubes solved in 24 hours is 4,786, set by Milán Baticz of Hungary" wtf. that's, 17-second solves, back-to-back, with like an hour break. all-day-long. hell, i have a hard time staying awake for 24 hours, doing nothing particularly taxing. ~a
[2014-04-28 14:07:57] - a: I don't think it's actually been linked. http://deadspin.com/exclusive-the-extended-donald-sterling-tape-1568291249 -- Xpovos
[2014-04-28 14:02:34] - xpovos: I think it might also have to do with stern stepping down as commissioner as well. - mig
[2014-04-28 13:55:29] - which link is to the sterling story? ~a
[2014-04-28 13:07:15] - I think there's something about the timing. The Redskins were bad for a decade, "no one" cared that they were called the Redskins. They had one winning season and went back to the playoffs, and now everyone's insisting on a name change. Winning changes the profile. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-28 13:06:13] - Anyway, back on Sterling. He's got a history of issues, but was about to be awarded an NAACP lifetime achievement award anyway. He's successful, extraordinarily wealthy, and his method of management for the Clippers, though perennial bottom dwellers, now has them in the playoffs. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-28 11:00:39] - Seriously, I mean you could give Mad Bomber his own show. Such a perfect element of chaos. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-28 10:49:11] - Part of all of this is why I enjoy Hearthstone MORE than MtG sometimes. Magic is all about eliminating randomness, but the randomness spawns awesome games and narratives. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-28 10:43:27] - mig: I have to admit, I'd probably be angry after that eye for an eye trick in the first video too.
-- Xpovos[2014-04-28 10:32:11] - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuChyl5Zve-EFCN8RYwjOkWdhizZ4givw this provided a good source of amusement over the weekend. - mig
[2014-04-28 10:10:51] - paul: why did you pick google plus over facebook? i'm just curious, i don't really care about facebook. ~a
[2014-04-28 10:07:05] - nina: great ad. the ad seems to be for chrome and to a lesser extend for gmail and picaza and youtube. the ad came out before there was a google plus (though not long before). ~a
[2014-04-28 09:52:45] - xpovos: i've been reading some transcripts of the conversation. it's pretty bad. - mig
[2014-04-28 09:48:40] - of Sterling committing a heinous illegal act that they can actually force him to. - mig
[2014-04-28 09:48:23] - xpovos: it's very strange though it's suddenly exploded now. That Sterling is a rather terrible human being is nothing new and yeah it's rather striking that the NBA has never really punished him in any tangible way. OTOH is it even possible to jettison an owner? Other than fines, what can they do? They can pressure him to sell the team but I can't imagine short
[2014-04-28 09:40:12] - paul: also, i thought of this video when you said you were using google plus, since that's how google is marketing themselves, and yet screwing you over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vkVHijdQk -nina
[2014-04-28 09:37:07] - paul: are you on paternity leave now? -nina
[2014-04-27 22:54:17] - I'll be really pissed if google decides to pull a reader on google plus. I just started using it to post pictures and videos of Talia for my family to see. -Paul
[2014-04-27 19:41:03] - title: I love that movie. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-27 18:17:16] - Somehow, "this time is different", and he's on his way out. I've no idea what he actually said, or is actually alleged to have said. It's apparently so reprehensible that no news outlet is reprinting it. So maybe this time it really is different and egregiously bad. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-27 18:14:26] - This Donald Sterling thing is a little interesting, and might be an interesting continuation of the Eich discussion we had before. Here's a man who is apparently pretty clearly a racist and has been in charge of an business model which employs predominantly African Americans and markets heavily to them; yet has managed to avoid censure for 30 years. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-25 17:24:35] - "no longer be considered a product, but a platform" sounds like marketing to me. where i work we have "projects" and "products" but i'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. ~a
[2014-04-25 17:17:27] - http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/24/google-is-walking-dead/ bye bye google+? - mig
[2014-04-23 15:23:14] - The bit from church made me squirm a bit, which I found interesting. I was also glad it was Episcopalian. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-23 15:22:46] - aaron: I agree, the 'journalism' was a bit suspect, but there were nuggets of interestingness. Like how very few people he interacted with were concerned about their individual privacy as an issue, "can I take your picture?" "Sure". The more than one shrug as a response to government surveillance. The technical aspects and general lack of polish. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-23 14:43:23] - http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/23/jihadists-now-control-secretive-u-s-base-in-libya.html aren't we all glad the US intervened in Libya? - mig
[2014-04-23 13:18:55] - xpovos: i thought that was an interesting read, although it seems obvious that he knew which article he wanted to write before he got glass, and went around acting as annoying and obtrusive as he could to make a good story. pretty questionable journalism - aaron
[2014-04-23 11:26:09] - My takeaways are: 1) Glass photos are low quality. 2) There are real privacy concerns with Glass, but they're more from Google to Glass users than Glass users to the public. 3) It's a good thing this is still beta, because what is being described is far from a completed product. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-23 11:24:42] - I found this an interesting read. There are two pages prior, but they're short and contain relatively little information, almost everything is on this third page. http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/through-google-glass-darkly_787020.html?page=3 -- Xpovos
[2014-04-23 09:04:28] - 8/14. i feel like i could have done better though, i got some of the more obvious ones wrong. ~a
[2014-04-23 08:47:18] - I got 10/14, but I've been to both Real Germany and Epcot Germany. http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/2014/04/19/quiz-real-germany-or-epcot-germany/ -- Xpovos
[2014-04-22 23:00:07] - i didn't know the president could create a commutation. ~a
[2014-04-22 18:42:05] - a: these are commutations, though not full pardons. Usually commutations are granted with more frequency than full pardons. - mig
[2014-04-22 14:52:35] - "I would still grumble a bit about it being a little on the late side" . . . i think the president typically saves pardoning for the last thing in their presidency. sucks if you were convicted on a 2 modulus 4 year, but them's the breaks. ~a
[2014-04-22 14:48:56] - "fixing a paperwork mistake" ha. hardly a paperwork mistake. somebody was incorrectly sentenced. that is a sentencing mistake, not a typo. ~a
[2014-04-22 14:37:02] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/04/21/is-a-major-positive-change-in-presidenti Depending on the scale and scope, this could be something Obama could do to get some kudos from me (although I would still grumble a bit about it being a little on the late side). -Paul
[2014-04-22 14:30:04] - i know you've all heard about this "problem". here's an update though, the federal government is proposing a rule to make hybrid cars "noisyer". link ~a
[2014-04-22 13:54:09] - a: Yeah, I'll be back once I'm back to a more normal internet browsing schedule. It's hard to write stuff using my phone's keyboard one-handedly at 4am.
-Paul[2014-04-22 12:55:30] - a: I'm still checking. I thought about posting a similar message earlier. I think Paul being absent for obvious reasons is a large part of it too, so he'll be back soon. Other than that, I just haven't had any wild and crazy news stories to post. Or my threshold for wild and crazy has gone up... -- Xpovos
[2014-04-22 12:53:42] - i guess things seem dead here because everybody was used to the message board being broken every day. it was fixed too late? ~a
[2014-04-18 09:42:55] - Aaron: Yeah, I read that this morning and thought it was something I should post to the message board (but forgot). It's pretty insightful, and I think it's one of those things that I forget sometimes. -Paul
[2014-04-18 09:37:26] - aaron: nice. the alt-text is delicious too. ~a
[2014-04-18 09:31:10] - http://xkcd.com/1357/ today's XKCD was kind of relevant to stuff we've been talking about. it doesn't really tread any new ground and it doesn't address the negative implications of excessive boycotts or anything, but i thought the alt text was funny - aaron
[2014-04-17 17:01:42] - Umm just read this article and I am horrified http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/17/jews-ordered-to-register-in-east-ukraine/7816951/ ~g
[2014-04-17 15:42:44] - Xpovos: I dislike the extensive appeal to emotion that is basically what that editorial is all about. The pros and cons of raising the minimum wage shouldn't be based on touchy-feely things like measuring dignity and humiliation and fairness. -Paul
[2014-04-17 14:07:10] - Daniel: I think I can top you. The Wizards first playoff game (in years!) is the exact night we're going into the hospital to induce the second baby (unless she comes early). -Paul
[2014-04-17 14:06:17] - a: Lots of the low hanging fruit kind of things like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doing. We can definitively save a ton of lives just by helping to provide vaccinations and clean drinking water and electricity to a lot of the very impoverished parts of the world. -Paul
[2014-04-17 13:41:15] - This continues to infuriate me. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/17/opinion/minimum-wage-maximum-outrage.html?ref=opinion&_r=1 A minimum wage is not the same as a living wage. We've had extensive debates here about how it can't be. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-17 13:14:54] - you wouldn't even need to change the protocol. you'd need to change the software a little bit and people are working on that right now. i'm almost glad though, that they haven't finished, because, like i suggested, i want the governments to get some laws out that are friendly to bitcoin before said software is in wide use. ~a
[2014-04-17 13:12:55] - xpovos: i'm fairly certain that some day bitcoin will become more anonymous. this is just v1 of the system. once the banks and the governments get comfortable with understanding and living with bitcoin, then they'll learn just how anonymous it can be. ~a
[2014-04-17 12:53:09] - a: In reading more about bitcoin, the thing that has surprised me the most is how NOT anonymous it is, for a decentralized system. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-17 12:43:55] - the first bitcoin comic that i didn't totally hate. ~a
[2014-04-17 12:15:51] - a: Ah, I understand now. Yeah, that can be a bit odd. Invisible hand and all that. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-17 12:14:54] - xpovos: yeah, i worded lots of them weirdly mostly because i was trying to make them readable (i left out the concept of "last", "ask", and "bid"). for #1, i just think it's interesting to watch the orders be all red (all of the orders are initiated by a sale) but the price go up. ~a
[2014-04-17 11:58:01] - a: Well, only if you think that the price is the "ask", Generally I assume the price is the "bid", which means if there are zero buy orders, the price momentarily would be undefined, so you'd probably use the last bid. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-17 11:37:17] - 3. every time somebody is selling a certain number of shares for a certain amount of money, you have another person (or people) who are buying for the exact same number of shares for the exact same amount of money. ~a
[2014-04-17 11:36:24] - fun things i learned about stock markets via learning about bitcoin: 1. the whole market can be placing 0 market "buy" orders for a thing, and the price of that thing can still go up. 2. the amount the price of a thing changes when people are buying and selling is not decided by the exchange, it's decided by the people who have waiting orders. ~a
[2014-04-17 10:47:13] - daniel: how many years? ~a
[2014-04-17 10:30:25] - Fucking A. Rockets game six of the first round is the same day as my wedding anniversary. Woo Rockets in 5? Full playoff schedule at http://www.nba.com/2014/news/04/16/nba-playoff-schedule-2014/index.html for those care. -Daniel
[2014-04-17 09:48:05] - we alos can't simultaneously treat this effort as a jobs program either, which has the side effect of prioritizing american jobs over actual environmental gains. If China has cheap solar panels, just fucking take advantage of it. Being protectionist about it didn't save Solyndra anyways. - mig
[2014-04-17 09:43:08] - a: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/us-carbon-dioxide-emissions-2012_n_1792167.html the country is seeming tobe improving thanks in large part to shifting to natural gas. I think it makes more sense to throw money at R&D rather than propping up companies that can't compete in the marketplace. - mig
[2014-04-17 09:30:27] - Megan McArdle is !liberal (not sure where to classify her beyond where she isn't) and this piece is a bit wonkier than most. But I found it ... interesting. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-04-15/is-obama-cooking-the-census-books-for-obamacare -- Xpovos
[2014-04-17 09:10:25] - a: like letting renewable energy technology mature at its own pace rather than ram the tech down everyone's throats when its clearly not ready to efficiently meet our energy needs. - mig
[2014-04-17 08:17:30] - what sort of smaller changes? ~a
[2014-04-16 15:33:44] - Xpovos: But I think that's the point where I probably disagree the most with the (for lack of a better term) climate change alarmists. I'm just not sure we need to take drastic actions or else face a "tremendous mass extinction event". I think we can make much smaller changes that will make much bigger differences. -Paul
[2014-04-16 15:32:43] - Paul: Heh. Fallacies can be fun! -- Xpovos
[2014-04-16 15:31:51] - Xpovos: Yeah! I had already read that one, and so when I read, "Is this supposed to mean the theory of anthropogenic global warming must be wrong?" I realized that maybe the website isn't targeted at me.
-Paul[2014-04-16 15:18:35] - Anyway, I remain unconvinced, but I feel better educated, and probably more amenable to certain anti-CO2 actions. But then again I've always been pretty anti-fossil fuel use. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-16 15:14:32] - Paul: Then this one is probably for you: http://grist.org/climate-energy/climate-change-mitigation-would-lead-to-disaster/ -- Xpovos
[2014-04-16 15:10:28] - Xpovos: Hmmmm, I wonder what it was that I am thinking of, then.... -Paul
[2014-04-16 15:03:34] - That CO2 is a greenhouse gas is pretty hard science. So to are vaporous H2O, which is of course far more common, N2O which is critical for plant fertilization, O3 which is relatively unstable and is most commonly formed by lightning and CH4, or the classic cow farts jokes. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-16 15:00:27] - Xpovos: I scanned the topics and read a few. Looks like a pretty good source of information, but I might not really be their target. Can I be called a skeptic if I don't disagree that the Earth is probably warming and humans probably played a role in it? -Paul
[2014-04-16 14:59:41] - Paul: I'll say that CO2 is reasonably believed to have greenhouse-type effects, and if climate change is anthropogenic it's probably the prime cause of the human-attributable aspects. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-16 14:57:16] - Paul: I'd try, but I haven't read everything yet, and what I have read hasn't been hugely beneficial. But I figured I'd give it a chance at convincing me. Or at least playing devil to my advocate. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-16 14:49:04] - If it would be easier to just tell me to read the damned thing myself, I can do that too.
-Paul[2014-04-16 14:48:42] - Xpovos: Ok, so maybe you can clear something up that I'm a bit confused about... Is Carbon Dioxide a greenhouse gas? Does it contribute towards global warming? I heard something weird about carbon dioxide and how it's some sort of red herring lately and there's a section on your webpage that talks about it. -Paul
[2014-04-16 14:40:59] - A lot of new talk about climate change, so I've been reading through this as I can. http://grist.org/series/skeptics/ -- Xpovos
[2014-04-16 11:23:44] - a: Farmers and I guess maybe bureaucrats at the EPA? Maybe some politicians? Honestly, it seems like one of those things everybody agrees is stupid (like farm subsidies and oil subsidies) but nobody can seem to get the government to stop mandating. -Paul
[2014-04-16 11:23:21] - a: no one wants ethanol. that's why it has to be mandated as no one would use it otherwise. - mig
[2014-04-16 11:19:08] - who, besides farmers, wants ethanol? i think most iowan's i've talked to think ethanol is horrible. and most of them know farmers and therefore would probably be biased by them. ~a
[2014-04-16 11:16:25] - mig: True, and I almost said something along the lines of, "I don't know if Cuccinelli would've been much better", but at the very least I don't think he would've gone out of his way to re-activate that plant like McAuliffe did. -Paul
[2014-04-16 11:14:46] - paul: to be fair ethanol cronyism is usually a bipartisan debacle. - mig
[2014-04-16 11:11:27] - Paul: But at least Cuccinelli isn't imposing his retrograde personal beliefs on all of us. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-16 10:58:15] - http://reason.com/archives/2014/04/16/the-dumbest-federal-policy-youll-read-ab "Virginia taxpayers will shell out millions to help make food and gasoline more expensive while making global warming worse." This is the kind of crap I was worried about with a governor McAuliffe. -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:32:13] - i agree. ~a
[2014-04-15 13:31:15] - a: And there are definite grey areas for both as well. I'm just not sure I would agree with a blanket statement saying it's generally more acceptable to be intolerant of beliefs than to be intolerant of types of people. -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:30:09] - a: I'll just drop this particular line of debate and say this (and I think hopefully you agree). There are definitely some very "acceptable" intolerance of beliefs (antisemitism, certain race is inferior/lazy, etc), just like there are some "acceptable" intolerance of types of people (those who are violent, verbally abusive, etc). -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:27:37] - Xpovos: Yeah, and then we end up with silly disagreements over technicalities like Adrian and I are having. I don't even really know what we're disagreeing on (other than a technicality) since I think we agree on the same principle here. -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:22:24] - Paul: The issue, I think, is a failure to understand what the word 'marriage' means. It's been re-defined to be something much more nebulous than it was previously. But still probably outside the realm of polygamy and bestiality for most people. In the end, it's a failure to have a common definition that causes this ugliness in debate. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-15 13:21:55] - a: I'm not trying to use this as a criticism of gay marriage or trying to claim it will lead to a slippery slope. I don't think it needs saying, but if we have to have the government defining marriage, I am all for legalizing gay marriage and polygamy. -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:19:38] - a: If it's such a silly technicality, then can you address the point about marrying your pet? Or marrying more than one person? It seems to me that the same logic that says being against gay marriage is being against equal standing would support being for letting people marry anybody (or anything) they want. -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:17:02] - a: I mean, not to put words in your mouth, but I think I agree with you on general principle that there are certainly more "acceptable" instances of intolerance of beliefs (legitimate homophobia or antisemitism), but I think the same can be said of intolerance of people for who they are. -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:16:20] - yes, paul, it is a silly technicality. ~a
[2014-04-15 13:15:56] - paul: their beliefs are irrelevant because they're historical. some people believe the world is flat. some people believe that black people shouldn't have the right to vote. or that they should count as 3/5ths of a human when determining the census. i'm not going to take their beliefs into account, sorry, and neither should you. ~a
[2014-04-15 13:13:13] - a: And therefore, I guess, are your beliefs irrelevant? -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:12:49] - a: I know, it's a silly technicality, but I think it's meaningful if you move the discussion to something like allowing people to marry their dog. If you're against allowing people to marry their dog, does that mean you are against equal standing? -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:12:01] - a: What makes their beliefs irrelevant? Because you said so? Also, I didn't really wanted to turn this into a technical argument, but I guess that's how it'll have to go... Technically you can be against gay marriage and not be against "equal standing" because straight people also can't marry people of the same sex. -Paul
[2014-04-15 13:05:28] - paul: "other is intolerance of somebody's beliefs" their beliefs are that some people shouldn't have equal standing. if i believe that black people shouldn't be allowed to marry white people, my beliefs are irrelevant. ~a
[2014-04-15 12:37:50] - xpovos: you're right there are some gray areas. and i can easily come up with lots of analogies where i'd have a much harder time deciding what kind of intolerance was "ok" and what kind wasn't "ok". ~a
[2014-04-15 12:28:17] - a: And, honestly, that's only if we're assuming being against gay marriage is equivalent to disliking gays, which I don't think it fair, but it simplifies what we're talking about. -Paul
[2014-04-15 12:27:33] - a: I.... don't know if I agree (legitimately don't know, not just disagreeing in a polite way). It seems like two different types of intolerance with one not necessarily being better or worse. One is intolerance of what kind of person somebody is, the other is intolerance of somebody's beliefs. -Paul
[2014-04-15 12:21:51] - a: Who gets to define the tolerance, though? At some point, there comes an issue which can't be cut cleanly. -- Xpovos
[2014-04-15 12:14:39] - yes, i understand your point now. and i agree . . . sort of. intolerance of intolerance should be treated differently though. like, assuming you aren't a dick about it, i think it's ok to be intolerant of intolerant people. ~a
[2014-04-15 12:05:19] - a: I guess I wanted to stress that perhaps in their zeal to be so super tolerant of gay marriage, some people were becoming (IMHO) very intolerant of other people's political views, regardless of how intolerant other people are. -Paul
[2014-04-15 12:04:12] - ah ok. ~a
[2014-04-15 12:04:06] - a: I guess mostly the former? I wasn't really trying to compare who was winning and losing, and more saying that such strong backlash to a person's political views strikes me as fairly intolerant, which I think is notable for a group that I believe normally prides itself on it's tolerance. Not sure how it's worded weirdly... -Paul
[2014-04-15 12:01:34] - a: I'm picking them out because I thought it was a waste of typing to say conservatives/Republicans can also be intolerant. The main point about the Eich story is how he is intolerant, and I didn't feel like it needed to be repeated. I thought the idea that his critics were also being intolerant was one that was worth noting. -Paul
[2014-04-15 12:00:29] - are you pointing out that democrats are far behind, but catching up? or are you pointing out that they've passed their conservative counterparts in the intolerance race? if it's the former, you chose to word it weirdly. if it's the latter, then i disagree. ~a
[2014-04-15 11:57:34] - "I tend to think a lot of democrats/liberals/progressives have gotten to be fairly INtolerant lately" . . . you're picking out democrats here. if what you say is true, i guess i'm not sure why. ~a
[2014-04-15 11:54:21] - a: "intolerance is not primarily a democrat/liberal/progressive problem" That was never my premise. In fact, the article specifically pointed out examples from both sides. -Paul
[2014-04-15 11:53:14] - And how DADT was a Clinton policy because "it was a different time" and that's why those people weren't hateful bigots. But as soon as Obama changed his mind, suddenly everybody else has to change theirs at the exact same time. We're not giving people like Eich or Dan Cathy or whoever a few more years to "evolve" their thinking the same way Obama did. -Paul
[2014-04-15 11:51:29] - One last quote: "Eich has been ousted for a 2008 view shared at the time by Barack Obama". It's also a little weird how much weight seems to have been placed on when Obama "evolved" on gay marriage. Before his evolution, all sorts of excuses could be made for why Obama (and many Democrats) were against gay marriage... -Paul
[2014-04-15 11:49:40] - i disagree with your premise. the tendency of intolerance is not primarily a democrat/liberal/progressive problem. D's incorrectly label others as bigots in far smaller numbers than R's are intolerant of people who don't fit their very specific mold. ~a
[2014-04-15 11:45:07] - And also: "It’s possible to disagree about an issue without despising those you disagree with". This is why I tend to think a lot of democrats/liberals/progressives have gotten to be fairly INtolerant lately. Too much of a tendency to label people who disagree with you as hateful bigots. -Paul
[2014-04-15 11:42:41] - And how many people on both sides look to be hypocrites when their stance changes depending on the issue involved. Some choice quotes I liked: "Should nonprofits and civic groups also enforce ideological conformity? They certainly have a right to. But having a right to X does not make X the prudent thing to do." -Paul
[2014-04-15 11:41:20] - http://reason.com/archives/2014/04/14/bipartisan-hypocrisy-on-free-speech I don't agree with the entirety of this article, but I think it does as good a job as any I've read about how I feel about the controversy over Eich and Mozilla, and how even though everybody had the "right" to do what they did, I'm not sure it's the best idea. -Paul
[2014-04-14 10:14:13] - mig: Yeah, I read an article about how it was crazy that the media devoted so much attention to such a tiny group of people (no matter how crazy they were) and that we basically fed them way more attention than they deserved. -Paul
[2014-04-14 09:53:48] - a: "who cares" is probably the best attitude to have. Westboro thrives on attention seeking and getting angry reaction. The only way tocombat that sort of lunacy is to just ignore them. - mig
[2014-04-14 09:22:28] - Also, not sure if anybody here drives the road, but watch out for West Ox road today. It looks like the cops are trolling it looking to give out speeding tickets. -Paul
[2014-04-14 09:21:32] - a: As I understand it, there was a debate about whether or not to picket his funeral, which I found to be interesting. -Paul
[2014-04-14 08:26:31] - til Fred Phelps is dead. i guess maybe i knew but forgot, because honestly, who cares? ~a
[2014-04-14 08:23:58] - "april fool's day is an informal holiday during which people lie to each other for amusement instead of to get ahead." ~a
[2014-04-13 20:56:52] - about half of them are funny ~a
[2014-04-11 14:32:24] - If only you could see what I've seen with your Google-glass. Oh, wait. You can. -- Xpovos
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