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[2014-06-04 09:50:56] - I looked it up too. And I LOLed. -amy
[2014-06-04 09:09:38] - title: i had to look it up . . . i instinctively guessed it had something to do with "the bodyguard". maybe since whitney houston is known for so few other things other than her singing and her untimely passing. ~a
[2014-06-04 09:06:14] - amy: coooookie crisp. ~a
[2014-06-04 08:59:48] - amy: OK, so that makes it more likely a cultural thing than an anti-GMO thing. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-03 17:43:02] - oh, the breakfast foodstuff. -amy
[2014-06-03 14:14:21] - amy: as in the grains in general, or as in the breakfast foodstuff? -- Xpovos
[2014-06-03 13:34:52] - yeah. anybody else who knows the answer feel free to answer, but i'm not sure anybody besides vinnie does
-amy[2014-06-03 13:30:32] - cereal? ~a
[2014-06-03 13:28:41] - vinnie: are you there? how do i feel about cereal? -amy
[2014-06-03 11:10:15] - damn ~a
[2014-06-03 11:10:07] - /email to ~g: hey, check the message board. ~a
[2014-06-03 11:00:11] - a: Didn't you read what she just said? If that's directed at her, you need to tell her you posted something for her to see!
-Paul[2014-06-03 10:50:20] - you go through his computer to check for . . . what exactly?
~a[2014-06-03 10:43:46] - paul: if it was for me you should have told me you had posted something for me to see! luckily you caught me going through your computer so I saw it... ~g
[2014-06-03 10:40:38] - g: It was for others to see as well. If it was solely for you, I would've emailed it or something. -Paul
[2014-06-03 10:36:30] - paul: knowing how frequently (or inferquently) i check the msg board was that really directed at me? ~g
[2014-06-03 09:39:07] - g: https://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/is-this-the-geekiest-wedding-ever-173448718.html We need to renew our vows now...
-Paul[2014-06-02 13:35:17] - mig: Yeah, no doubt that's ridiculous luck. Even better that he was streaming. I think the (rough) odds on that occurrence are one in ten trillion. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-02 13:23:12] - Daniel: Black Knight. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-02 12:56:29] - http://youtu.be/z2cFsiPknec starts at around 2:42. This guy might win luckiest pack ever. - mig
[2014-06-02 12:38:51] - Xpovos: What was your legendary? -Daniel
[2014-06-02 12:31:04] - My best pack was last week. Two goldens (one rare, one epic), a non-golden epic, and a legendary. Oh, and some common, of course. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-02 12:30:04] - Daniel: Ah. Not sure about the Moat Cailin bits, but I followed the rest of that. I'll avoid giving spoilers as well, but I *think* I figured out the sad part. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-02 12:15:57] - Xpovos: 15 packs (so pretty lucky on legendaries, also got a few epics). Yesterday had resolution at Moat Cailin, Wildlings on a lovely jaunt through a town we know, and the Mountains big fight. No idea where those are in the book so hopefully that doesn't spoil things. -Daniel
[2014-06-02 12:01:17] - Daniel: Nice. How many packs? Side note: I don't follow GoT, but I'm just about finished with the third book, so is there some non-spoiler version you can tell me about what happened last night so I know where the show is in the plot? -- Xpovos
[2014-06-02 11:42:43] - ah, duh. ~a
[2014-06-02 11:41:14] - Hearthstone Peeps: I bought my first set of packs last night (GoT made me sad and I wanted something happy) and I got three legendaries! Was pretty sweet. Got Harrison Jones, Black Knight, and Lord Jarraxus. -Daniel
[2014-06-02 11:40:20] - http://fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html displays the schedule both in local time and our time zone. - mig
[2014-06-02 11:36:16] - a: those are actual start times. The world cup is in Brazil this year, so there's only a 1 hour time difference. - mig
[2014-06-02 11:16:52] - a: I've no idea. I am just going by what Miguel said. -Paul
[2014-06-02 10:21:13] - paul/mig: those times aren't the "rebroadcast" times? ~a
[2014-06-02 09:17:09] - mig: Wow, nice having the games in our hemisphere so the times are reasonable. Thanks for the heads up. -Paul
[2014-05-31 10:17:27] - the friend-zoner vs the nice guy ~a
[2014-05-30 21:27:08] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF7EpEnglgk kids react to old computers - aaron
[2014-05-30 21:03:04] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/05/30/that-time-tom-friedman-said-the-iraq-war i've seen really stupid justifications for the iraq war, but really this one might be one of the most stupifying. That this idiotic utterance wasn't considered even remotely controversial at the time is also rather mindblowing. - mig
[2014-05-30 20:53:45] - for anyone who cares about the world cup the USA games are as follows: 6/16 6:00PM EST vs. Ghana, 6/22 6:00PM EST vs. Portugal, 6/26 12:00PM vs. Germany. - mig
[2014-05-30 16:53:59] - a: Well, the way I took it is that people want their movies to look like movies (kind of like how they want their CG to look like CG) and not have it look too much like something live (much like how the uncanny valley deals with CG looking too realistic). -Paul
[2014-05-30 16:51:47] - "live, right in front of you" nothing about "uncanny valleys" is like live right in front of you. (the world doesn't have pixels. well . . . your eyes have pixels but that's at a different level.) ~a
[2014-05-30 16:33:27] - And now I'm trying to find that clip, but apparently there are no youtube clips of 30 Rock that don't involve me buying the entire episode. -paul
[2014-05-30 16:20:14] - Daniel: Although when I read things like this, I always think of one of those live episodes of 30 Rock where 99% of the episode is shot like SNL and looks "live" but at the very end, it switches back to it's normal "sitcom" look and it's kinda jarring. -Paul
[2014-05-30 16:19:04] - Daniel: I don't know. It doesn't make any sense to me. I don't understand why people would want to make something not look like it's live, right in front of you. -Paul
[2014-05-30 15:56:29] - Paul: Andrea and I switch it to get rid of the Soap Opera effect. Maybe its an uncanny valley type thing for a lot of people? -Daniel
[2014-05-30 15:28:31] - http://www.cnet.com/news/what-is-the-soap-opera-effect/ I'm surprised to hear that I am in the minority in terms of liking a smoother picture that looks less fake. That makes me sad. -Paul
[2014-05-30 10:55:03] - http://www.cato.org/blog/what-we-can-expect-supreme-court-next-month Thought this line from the "Hobby Lobby" section was interesting: "he’ll probably still dissent to prevent the ruling from being six men versus three women". -Paul
[2014-05-30 10:14:10] - I go back to thinking about Bowling for Columbine, where Moore kept going through different "reasons" why the US had more gun deaths, but kept coming up with counter-examples as to why it didn't make sense. -Paul
[2014-05-30 10:09:06] - a: Moreover trying to compare what other countries supposadly do to "prevent" these sorts of things is a futile exercise. As horrifying as these shootings are, they are statisically very rare in a nation w/ a population of 300 million. - mig
[2014-05-30 09:20:52] - if carpenters were hired like programmers - aaron
[2014-05-30 09:05:50] - a: going by the Mother Jones data, I can say the statistic cited by the onion is completely made up. - mig
[2014-05-29 22:40:47] - i guess i should back off. i'm not sure if that statistic is even close to correct. it could be completely made up. this is the onion after all and i keep forgetting that. ~a
[2014-05-29 22:39:05] - when you say "that statistic", you're referring to "the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past five years" i assume? i can't find where either of your links address this. ~a
[2014-05-29 22:37:04] - mig: i don't see "triple" or "tripled" anywhere in the article. ~a
[2014-05-29 22:31:11] - the # of shootings listed on here is nowhere near "roughly 2 mass shooting every month for the past 5 years". - mig
[2014-05-29 22:30:23] - http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data mass shooting data from 1982-2013 (it says 2012 in the article but it looks like they've been keeping the data in this article current). - mig
[2014-05-29 22:26:29] - a: i'm going to guess that statistic is probably manipulated to fit the narrative. - mig
[2014-05-29 22:21:05] - paul: "the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past five years" I'm guessing that wasn't made up, but i obviously don't know how they define advanced nation. i hope they're not using the no true Scotsman fallacy
~a[2014-05-29 22:19:46] - paul: most of the meat of the satirical article was focusing on "developed nations" / "advanced nation". (guessing) we're using an HDI of "very high"? ~a
[2014-05-29 22:19:14] - mig: who in your feed? anybody i know? ~a
[2014-05-29 22:13:39] - mig: specifically? look to the other nations. find out, what do they do differently. ~a
[2014-05-29 16:32:26] - http://knowmore.washingtonpost.com/2014/05/29/this-chart-suggests-that-50-cents-first-pitch-was-indeed-the-worst-ever/ Having watched both, I still think the Carly Rae Jepsen pitch was worse than 50 cent. -Paul
[2014-05-29 12:03:41] - a: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers Is this really the only nation where this regularly happens, though? -Paul
[2014-05-29 11:57:56] - a: "yes, clearly something could have been done". please elaborate. What specifically in this particular case, could have been done. - mig
[2014-05-29 11:51:34] - a: I've seent it about 5-6 times alreay on my feed. - mig
[2014-05-29 11:11:59] - "has been all the rage on facebook lately" it's also interesting to me that my recent facebook feed doesn't have this (or any) onion article on it.
~a[2014-05-29 10:58:55] - it's interesting to me that you call the onion article snarky. aren't most onion articles snarky? isn't that the point? ~a
[2014-05-29 10:58:10] - mig: "Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens" yes, clearly something could have been done: look to the other nations. what do they do differently? ~a
[2014-05-29 10:38:35] - mig: "and limits on magazine capacity (which already exist in California, so Rodger used legal 10-round magazines) in order to deter spree killers who, like Rodger, generally don't intend to survive their crimes." -Paul
[2014-05-29 10:38:09] - mig: Clearly you didn't read my article, "Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.) took the opportunity of the Isla Vista murders to push for background checks (which the murderer, Elliot Rodger, passed), bans on "assault weapons" (which Elliot Rodger didn't use)"... -Paul
[2014-05-29 10:23:29] - I know this snarky onion article has been all the rage on facebook lately but has someone pointed to what specifically in this case, could have been done? - mig
[2014-05-29 09:45:38] - http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/28/why-new-laws-are-an-ineffective-response "Research to date generally indicates that increases in the certainty of punishment, as opposed to the severity of punishment, are more likely to produce deterrent benefits." I thought that was an interesting point to consider. -Paul
[2014-05-29 00:19:10] - paul: the app says how much time you have left, right? . . . now it's my turn. so you're fine. ~a
[2014-05-28 13:58:14] - Xpovos: Oh, snap. And he used the "YesAllWomen" hashtag? Wow. -Paul
[2014-05-28 13:26:50] - mig: Or I could let the Ayotallah Khameni say it for me. That's probably a first. https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/statuses/471004760473370625 -- Xpovos
[2014-05-28 11:25:02] - Hah, look at that, I may have learned some wisdom in 13 years. Or not. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-28 10:44:17] - mig: I have another take on that as well, but it's a bit moralistic, so I'll keep it to myself for now. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-28 10:33:58] - a: How much longer do I have to make my chess move? -Paul
[2014-05-28 10:12:13] - xpovos: my bigget worry over this is that the root of Rodgers rage is something that's very common to many adolescents. I wonder how many kids are going to be labeled potential time bombs if they confide in a counselor that he is sad he doesn't have a date to prom or some teacher overhears such a conversation. - mig
[2014-05-28 09:36:30] - mig: Out of the wide range of hypotheticals. I'm personally pretty sure that's the best one (letting them be free; occasionally really bad things happen). But I figured my position was more extreme, at least based on the hand-wringing every time there's a Cho, Lanza, Deeds, Loughner or Rodge. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-28 09:23:16] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/28/googles-new-driverless-car-has-no-brakes-or-steering-wheel/?tid=hp_mm I want these now. -Paul
[2014-05-28 09:13:26] - xpovos: vs treating every person we can aribirtrarily label as "mentally ill" as potential homicidal maniacs by default and lock them all up? - mig
[2014-05-28 09:10:13] - Xpovos: I'm not even sure if permanent mental asylums would work. Cho had seemed to fallen through the cracks so it's hard to say whether he would've been in one, and Adam Lanza had shown no indications that he was violent or unstable enough to do what he did. -Paul
[2014-05-28 08:55:59] - mig: So we should look at these mass murder events as statistical abberations in terms of our likelihood of death, essentially ignore them, and hopefully the media will stop turning it into a crusade? -- Xpovos
[2014-05-27 22:09:21] - disease or we can call it an evil response to a recognizable human condition." - mig
[2014-05-27 22:08:45] - "Since the vast majority of people diagnosed with mental disorders (including psychoses such as schizophrenia) never commit violent crimes, giving someone like Rodger a psychiatric label hardly qualifies as an explanation. His emotions were common, but the way he dealt with them was rare. We can call his murder spree the symptom of a mysterious and unverifiable ...
[2014-05-27 22:08:22] - xpovos: http://reason.com/blog/2014/05/27/does-mental-illness-explain-elliot-rodge the last paragraph has a really good response to the whole mental illness issue I think. - mig
[2014-05-27 18:52:30] - Paul: I probably don't disagree, but that argument isn't going to convince the author of that article. Meanwhile, you have people on the other side who might legitimately argue that it's the responsibility of the state to reopen permanent mental asylums. Treat them all as actual criminals to protect society. Less contact not necessarily more treatment. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-27 16:38:59] - Maybe it wasn't the right kind of care, but this seems like a far cry from somebody like the Virginia Tech shooter where he was a mentally ill person who slipped through the cracks. -Paul
[2014-05-27 16:38:24] - Xpovos: I've always been of the opinion that it's basically impossible in any sort of free society to completely prevent actions like this from people with mental issues. From what I've heard, this person was in therapy for a long time and was getting more than enough care. -Paul
[2014-05-27 13:54:18] - "Clearly, whatever care he received was not sufficient." Regarding individuals with significant mental health issues: what is 'sufficient' care? -- Xpovos
[2014-05-27 10:58:43] - http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/26/a-modest-proposal-to-ban-volunteering Obviously tongue-in-cheek, but I thought it was interesting how his arguments appeared to be logically sound extensions of the pro-minimum-wage-increase crowd. -Paul
[2014-05-24 16:44:56] - http://www.theonion.com/articles/bored-gop-vetting-rand-paul-just-to-kill-time-befo,36113/ I feel like it could've been funnier, but it's interesting that Rand Paul is a big enough name to be parodied by the Onion. -Paul
[2014-05-24 15:17:04] - aaron: i think the taxi driver is going the way of the elevator operator. probably a lot sooner than we think. -nina
[2014-05-23 12:23:53] - aaron: it could work pretty well as a replacement for ride share type arrangements. - mig
[2014-05-23 12:22:07] - but what do you think about autonomous minivans? where like, they'd have up to six-seven passengers at once, and they'd drive around taking each one to their destination. i think that would be pretty funny, and effiicent. i think there will some day be a niche for this - aaron
[2014-05-23 12:21:10] - as autonomous vehicles become more popular, obviously things like driverless taxis are going to come about, but they wouldn't be too efficient economically -- presumably they'd pick up one passenger, take them to their destination, then search for a new passenger, so there's a lot of overhead time when they're driving around passengerless - aaron
[2014-05-23 10:44:35] - a: the bahamas thing was kind of bad, but I can't imagine this revelation will go over well with soldiers who have been stationed there. - mig
[2014-05-23 10:13:29] - link ~a
[2014-05-23 10:13:24] - wel'p, it's official. i have been party to a conversation fully recorded by the NSA. "The Intercept said there was another country in which the NSA was [recording the content of every cell phone call], but declined to name it . . . WikiLeaks has spilled the beans: the country being fully monitored by the NSA is Afghanistan" ~a
[2014-05-23 09:30:51] - nina: I'm not sure. It seems to be all over the internet. example - title
[2014-05-23 08:52:49] - title: where did you come from? i love it -nina
[2014-05-22 15:14:02] - a: If you're working for a Democratic senator, the chances are good your boss is on there.
-Paul[2014-05-22 15:13:35] - a: Yeah, that threw me off for a minute. It's the second Udall signature. It just looks so un-stylized and almost childish. -Paul
[2014-05-22 15:10:37] - paul: what's amusing about mark udall's signature? wait, there are two udall's in the senate. they're cousin's. ha. ooh, audrey's boss is on there. ~a
[2014-05-22 14:59:30] - Lately it seems Harry Reid has been looking for anything for democrats to rally around (give his unhealthy obsession with the Kochctopus), so I would not be shocked at all if that was really the motivation. - mig
[2014-05-22 14:56:57] - paul: again, cynic speaking: you don't let republicans sign it because you want it to be *your* issue that you can tell people, hey our party cares about this the other party doesn't. - mig
[2014-05-22 14:51:43] - mig: I'm not sure what the rationale is behind not even bothering to show it to Republicans. Even if you're sure they wouldn't sign it, wouldn't that be a strong PR move? "Almost all Democrats signed it but all those racist Republicans didn't!". -Paul
[2014-05-22 14:40:46] - paul: Even if they were 100% certain that no republican would sign it, I think it takes a lot of the sincerity out of he letter. The cynic in me says this is a desperate attempt by Harry Reid to find a democratic "cause" to rally around beofre this November. - mig
[2014-05-22 14:16:44] - But most importantly, I just really found Mark Udall's signature to be endlessly amusing.
-Paul[2014-05-22 14:15:50] - http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/redskins/2014/05/22/washington-redskins-senate-nickname-american-indians-daniel-snyder/9439613/ I found a number of things interesting from this article. It's interesting that the letter apparently wasn't distributed to any Republicans. It's interesting that the Virginia Senators were 2 out of the 5 that didn't sign. -Paul
[2014-05-22 12:07:19] - mig: Honestly, that seems a little tame than what I was worried some outlets might report. I guess I have low standard when it comes to where media meats the internet.
-Paul[2014-05-22 10:12:31] - paul: it also doesn't help that some oultlets are sensationalizing the comments out of context, as they are wont to do. - mig
[2014-05-22 09:04:00] - I'll bet he wishes he hadn't mentioned, "a black kid in a hoodie", though. I get where he was going, but that was probably a mistake. -Paul
[2014-05-22 08:40:45] - And if the morning sports radio shows are any indication, a lot of people are upset with him about it. -Paul
[2014-05-22 08:40:31] - For the record, I agree with a lot of what Cuban said, and I think he has consistently had the proper approach to this Sterling issue (and I'm interested in seeing how he'll vote in terms of ousting him and his rationale for it), but it seems to me that he is admitting a certain degree of racism himself. -Paul
[2014-05-22 08:37:48] - http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2014/05/22/mark-cuban-mavericks-donald-sterling-racist-clippers/9427895/ I thought what Mark Cuban said was very interesting and I think it'll be interesting to see if the NBA responds. Does he get fined or punished in some way? -Paul
[2014-05-21 12:27:28] - mig: they could disallow you from using the same password. or, use key stretching (something i came to learn about from bitcoin's BIP38) ~a
[2014-05-21 11:58:50] - a: there's nothing paypal can really do about that, though. - mig
[2014-05-21 11:29:18] - https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/PayPal-Forward/eBay-To-Ask-Users-to-Change-Their-Passwords-No-Evidence-PayPal/ba-p/815612 "PayPal customer and financial data is encrypted and stored separately, and PayPal never shares financial information with merchants, including eBay" though, 110% of all paypal users use the same password on ebay's website. ~a
[2014-05-21 11:19:54] - a: http://ballotpedia.org/Filibuster Yeah, sounds like I was wrong and that it's two different things. Sorry. -Paul
[2014-05-21 11:17:37] - a: Hmmm, maybe I am confusing things. I thought it eliminated the silent filibuster but now I can't find evidence of that. Maybe I was wrong. -Paul
[2014-05-21 11:08:51] - so the nuclear option let congress eliminate the silent filibuster? wikipedia doesn't actually say the nuclear option was used to eliminate the silent filibuster or that the silent filibuster was even eliminated. ~a
[2014-05-21 10:55:57] - a: The nuclear option? Yeah, Harry Reid went through with that. Wouldn't have made a difference for Rand Paul, though. Both of his filibusters have been the traditional talking ones. -Paul
[2014-05-21 10:53:08] - i think everybody (here) cares about drone assassinations of us citizens. rand paul, on the other hand, i couldn't give two shits about. no, i'm kidding, rand paul is fine. hey, did they get the rules on filibusters changed? 'cause the "silent filibuster" is bullshit. ~a
[2014-05-21 10:33:11] - *"who care about" -Paul
[2014-05-21 10:32:51] - http://www.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-filibuster-barron-nomination-drones-senate-floor-2014-5 For those who are about drone assassinations of US citizens, Rand Paul is doing another filibuster today. -Paul
[2014-05-20 15:16:29] - By the same logic you only have to fear corporations having your data if you have money. Phew... I'm in the clear. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 14:47:59] - mig: Yeah, but they're only looking to arrest bad guys. If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about. </devil's advocate> -Paul
[2014-05-20 14:43:11] - i detest this iphone keypad sometimes. - mig
[2014-05-20 14:37:19] - paul: what makes the NSA activity dangerous is its intentions. They are actively looking for people to arrest. Provate companies are mostly just trying to monetize the data you hive them. - mig
[2014-05-20 14:36:30] - Touche. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 14:29:41] - Xpovos: I was more thinking about the "rational discussion" part.
-Paul[2014-05-20 14:29:02] - Paul: It does. Just because we see some examples where progress gets shouted down by Luddites and the uneducated doesn't mean the system isn't working. Sometimes people vote against progress. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 14:26:06] - Xpovos: That's how it should work. Not sure that's how it often works, sadly. -Paul
[2014-05-20 14:23:09] - Paul: Then we can all have a rational discussion about the pros and cons of giving up privacy for personal and society benefits. Put it to a vote, get laws made and clarified, have a few lawsuits so the judges can iron out the wrinkles. That's how our society works! -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 14:03:26] - Xpovos: Yeah, that would be ideal. I think the concern is that if they were transparent about everything, people might freak out over what they find. Similar to the NSA, sometimes you don't want people knowing what you're doing even if it's all "okay". -Paul
[2014-05-20 13:40:39] - To turn it back to Learning Tree, I assume that if anyone started grilling you about the unsubscribe process you could actually just answer, "Here, go to this webpage it explains what you'll need to do." -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 13:37:37] - I'm not saying the company(ies) can pre-emptively answer all questions that gadflies might ask, but they can certainly assume what some of the most common ones would be and preempt them. And by so doing increase transparency and their own legitimacy as a service provider and not data thieves. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 13:36:13] - Paul: I agree with your statement, but the problem is that I have to ask. Imagine a different hypothetical where a company does the same thing but produces what I (gadfly that I am) would have asked for and makes it readily available. My potentially difficult questions are defused as is the uncomfortable situation. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 13:00:31] - what makes you think google has more information on you than the nsa? it's possible the surveillance has saved lives by preventing terrorist attacks. it's possible the surveillance has saved zero lives. but we can be 100% sure that our rights have been trampled on. "those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety . . . " ~a
[2014-05-20 12:43:29] - a: And I could totally see why somebody on the other side would just throw their hands in the air and say I'm some sort of paranoid, anti-government conspiracy nut. -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:42:31] - a: It feels very weird for me to say, "I know there's no concrete evidence of anybody being directly hurt by the NSA having this info, and it's possible the surveillance has saved lives by preventing terrorist attacks, and I'm completely okay with google and other companies having even more information, but I still think the NSA having this info is dangerous." -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:40:19] - a: Abuse in the sense of somebody actually being hurt. Again, I'm being devil's advocate here, but it's these kind of arguments that I have a hard time articulating good defenses for. -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:36:49] - concrete examples of abuse: the nsa since 2001? or any us government body during any time? even if it's just the former, breaking the law counts, i assume. ~a
[2014-05-20 12:34:22] - "it sounds very libertarian to me" always discounting my true nature?
~a[2014-05-20 12:33:14] - a: Sure, in theory it's more dangerous for the government to have my data, but in reality it's hard coming up with concrete examples of abuse (and thus those concerns can be waved away as paranoid rambling) whereas theoretically the NSA can do a lot more good (preventing terrorist attacks) than google. -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:31:53] - a: Completely agree (and I smiled a bit at that coming from you, since it sounds very libertarian to me), and we're definitely on the same side here. I just find that I have a hard time articulating specific reasons what the big difference between google and the NSA having my data is. -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:25:16] - paul: "ignoring the method of how they got the data" why are we ignoring how they got the data? that seems silly. but, even if i (for some reason) stipulate that we can ignore this, there's still other reasons a government (with the license to kill/incarcerate) having this data is worse than a company without these powers. ~a
[2014-05-20 12:13:49] - Xpovos: And even if everything you do is legal, it might set off people's "creepy" detector and cause controversy. Technically most (all?) of what the NSA did was "legal". -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:12:58] - Xpovos: Even if the gadfly's intentions are good and even if he's in the right, there's basically nothing good that can come of being open. Either you're completely in the right and so nothing bad happens, or maybe you one time collected data from a minor who lied about their age and are now in trouble. -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:09:14] - Xpovos: Yeah, I agree. It's reasonable for you to ask and for you to get answers, but I also think it's reasonable for me to be a little guarded. Sure, I likely wouldn't be as guarded with you (a friend), but that's a wildly different relationship versus a company and some random gadfly. -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:06:52] - a: Right, I know. But my point is more that the objection is HOW they got the data instead of the fact that they have it. To me, ignoring the method of how they got the data, it's hard to articulate why it's super dangerous for the government to know who I called when I think it's a positive for google to know the exact contents of my emails. -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:06:08] - Or even more important, if she is addicted, I can use those data points to get her the help she needs. And bam, there's the relevancy. Instead, you know she's addicted and maybe are going to sell that fact to the casinos? -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 12:05:33] - Paul: But in this situation, I'm not a cop,I'm a concerned parent. If you were my kid's buddy and I'm asking about the poker tournaments that my daughter's been going to at your place,I can understand if you'd be a little put off by that, but particularly if she's under 18,I have a responsibility to ensure she's not developing bad habits,or getting addicted. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 12:03:53] - Xpovos: And it's not because I feel like I'm doing something wrong or even necessarily that I'm hiding something, but it's more like I'm worried I'm in trouble and trying to figure out the motivation of the cop. I'm pretty sure the cop is just trying to get me into trouble, so why bother helping him? -Paul
[2014-05-20 12:03:06] - Xpovos: I know, and I agree mostly, but I can just understand why the companies would be reluctant. I think I have a better example. If a cop randomly starts asking me specific questions about the poker games I've hosted in the past, I'll probably quickly clam up and get defensive and ask why they are asking. -Paul
[2014-05-20 11:57:20] - Paul: I'm probably the troublemaker, when is transparency a bad thing? If the company is doing something illegal isn't the best option to find out and STOP DOING IT? Not to pretend that it was all legal all along and hope no one notices? It'll come out eventually, and then trust is broken. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 11:56:43] - "the only objection is that they didn't ask for it" to get some of this data, the NSA would have had to ask more than just you. for instance, when the NSA illegally hacked into google's servers, they'd have to also ask google. which, they did not do. ~a
[2014-05-20 11:56:25] - mig: I'd love to have my child(ren) reduced to mere data poiints if it helps me understand, relate to and educate her/them. But in this situation I'm paying all of the costs and recieving (personally) none of the benefits. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 11:49:15] - mig: Sure, in principle it's nice to say that one voluntarily got my info while the other didn't, but that seems to weaken the argument that the NSA having all this information is dangerous if the only objection is that they didn't ask for it. -Paul
[2014-05-20 11:48:12] - mig: I assume the NSA point was directed at me, since I think I was the only person to draw the comparison. I understand what you're saying and agree to a certain extent, but I also can see the opposite side of it. Why are people like me completely fine with companies like google tracking my data but creeped out by the NSA? -Paul
[2014-05-20 11:45:31] - That children are involved also adds to he hysteria. As was pointed in response to the parent whining about their kid getting "reduced to mere data points", thats not an actual argument, but an empty emotional plea. - mig
[2014-05-20 11:41:12] - a: i get why people *think* its scary, but I think those fears are a bit overblown. hence i am not concerned. - mig
[2014-05-20 11:39:39] - Comparing this to the NSA is also a false equivalence. The government acts through the use of force, private companies don't have that backing of coercion to get their data. - mig
[2014-05-20 11:37:50] - if it's scary, but not concerning, i don't think i understand. ~a
[2014-05-20 11:36:26] - Xpovos: I kind of get why people think its scary and creepy to have their activities and habits get translated to data points but I don't find it all that concerning, personally. - mig
[2014-05-20 10:56:17] - Xpovos: That sounds like a rotten defense, but I think it's a decent reason to be nervous. If somebody started grilling me about Learning Tree's unsubscribe process, I would be afraid to share information, not because I think we do anything wrong, but because I would be worried they might find some non-obvious violation. -Paul
[2014-05-20 10:54:30] - Xpovos: I can see that, but I can also see it from their point of view. The people who start digging into things like this are almost certainly going to be trouble-makers of some sort to them, and they're probably worried about some "gotcha" moment where they may have inadvertently run afoul of the law or something. -Paul
[2014-05-20 10:48:31] - If someone is going to track my data, I can live with that, but my criteria, as much as I'm able to put one in place is: I get to see my data at any time. As a parent, I get to see the data you're tracking on my kids. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 10:47:38] - The line of the article that scares me is this one, "“When you really start digging in… they start getting antsy. It’s ‘Why are you asking this?’” said Lenny Schad, chief information technology officer for the Houston Independent School District." We don't even know what information they're actually collecting, and they're not sharing it back. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 10:40:22] - Xpovos: So... I guess the concerns with kids being tracked doesn't really concern me much right now until I hear some good evidence on why it's bad and how that trumps the good that can come out of it. -Paul
[2014-05-20 10:39:44] - Xpovos: And while the NSA spying stuff does concern me, I do find it hard to come up with good, logical reasons why that concerns me whereas I am fine with google reading all my emails. -Paul
[2014-05-20 10:39:04] - Xpovos: As a general rule, "privacy" violations like private companies (or even the government) tracking my behavior doesn't bother me as much as it does some people. In fact, in most cases I kind of like the fact that I get ads that are meaningful to me instead of just random stuff. -Paul
[2014-05-20 10:37:01] - mig: Completely agree, but the NBA turned a blind eye to all of that until these tapes came to light, so it's hard for me to take seriously the argument that this is about much more than what he said. -Paul
[2014-05-20 10:19:47] - Xpovos: That's a good way to look at it, and there's probably a lot of truth to that. Another point Mike and Mike made was that while it's smart for the NFL to let the legal proceedings take their course before acting, that's never a luxury afforded to players. -Paul
[2014-05-20 10:19:09] - paul: It isn't just for "mere words". There's a rather long and sordid history that Sterling is being made to account for here. Granted I do agree that the focus on his words rather than his other more vile actions that actually hurt people is a bit silly. - mig
[2014-05-20 10:06:26] - "but does it automatically elevate the offense over seemingly more serious things like assault and DUI and whatnot?" nope. ~a
[2014-05-20 09:53:45] - Paul: Well, since what Sterling did wasn't illegal, the only comeuppance he'll get is from the NBA; where as with Irsay the NFL can wait and let the legal proceedings take full effect before seeking out their own pound of flesh, if they think additional punishment is required. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 09:51:14] - http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/data-mining-your-children-106676.html Comments or thoughts? -- Xpovos
[2014-05-20 09:31:19] - And I guess that's a part of what has me a little uncomfortable about the Sterling thing. I understand (and agree) that racism is repulsive, but does it automatically elevate the offense over seemingly more serious things like assault and DUI and whatnot? -Paul
[2014-05-20 09:29:06] - And while they made great pains to say they weren't necessarily comparing what the two did or excusing Sterling, they pointed out it was a little odd that Sterling is getting such harsh (and swift) punishment from the NBA for what amounts to "mere" words (and a non-criminal offense) while Irsay is facing no punishment (so far) over his offenses. -Paul
[2014-05-20 09:27:35] - Mike and Mike had an interesting analogy on their show this morning between Donald Sterling and Jim Irsay (NFL owner who face aces four felony counts of possession of controlled substances and a DUI charge). The NBA has come down about as hard as possible on Sterling while the NFL has so far not disciplined Irsay at all. -Paul
[2014-05-20 09:17:37] - a: yeah, i played with it for a few seconds but i found it really clumsy compared to the Petrus cube! it was really unintuitive to rotate and manipulate so I stopped playing with it. still cool that they put it on the front page though! - aaron
[2014-05-19 17:27:57] - xpovos: the controls i've found so far: x, X, y, Y, z, Z, l, L, r, R, u, U, d, D, f, F, b, B. i'm not sure how to turn a face twice using only the keyboard (except hitting the key twice which of course over-inflates your move count). ~a
[2014-05-19 16:23:40] - ... uh. What are the keyboard controls? -- Xpovos
[2014-05-19 16:22:47] - a: See below... WOO Keyboard controls! Thank you! -- Xpovos
[2014-05-19 15:50:10] - Ok, so I'm going to try to plan ultimate frisbee for this weekend. Any requests for a specific date or time? -Paul
[2014-05-19 15:33:52] - oh wow, there are keyboard inputs. that's going to be way faster. ~a
[2014-05-19 15:15:45] - nm, audrey figured it out. you can click outside the cube. ~a
[2014-05-19 15:12:39] - aaron: i assume somebody has pointed you at google's front page today . . . is there no way to look at the back without making turns? ~a
[2014-05-19 13:03:06] - to be honest, my opinion of the world has become increasingly pro-choice (proer-choice?) in the past few years, but i've only been focusing my mental energy on unwanted pregnancies. i know your argument is that this is merely an unwanted pregnancy, but i think it's not the same. this is a distinctly different kind of unwanted pregnancy. ~a
[2014-05-19 12:53:21] - mmmmm. i don't know. ~a
[2014-05-19 12:51:58] - a: I often hear from some pro-choice people (not necessarily you) how an argument in favor of legal abortion is that sometimes it's better for all involved if a baby ISN'T born into a bad situation. This specific situation seems similar to that. -Paul
[2014-05-19 12:50:44] - a: How "problematic" would you say it is, though? Problematic enough to make illegal? Or just problematic in the sense that it seems a little creepy? -Paul
[2014-05-19 12:49:21] - a: Haha, that would be interesting to see if the likeliness of somebody (me?) to disagree has to do with the signature after the (presumably similar) thought... -Paul
[2014-05-19 12:43:07] - xpovos: yes, thank you. all of those things are pretty much what i was going to say. but i'm guessing paul will be able to accept it much easier coming from you. ~a
[2014-05-19 12:39:52] - Paul: I think most wouldn't be, except perhaps out of some nebulous "doesn't feel right/playing God" issue. Some people, though would justify it as problematic, because they're "only" in favor of abortion because they believe it is the least-bad solution, whereas this arguably creates the bad situation in searching for the solution. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-19 12:20:34] - Xpovos: Yeah, to me, that's (unsurprisingly) the part that muddies the water. Although if people don't have a problem with abortion, I would be interested in hearing why they would have a problem with designer babies like this. -Paul
[2014-05-19 12:09:18] - Anyone (else) played with today's Google Doodle? I'm having a hard time with the controls. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-19 12:08:50] - Embryo destruction is pretty much essential for a wide range of the concepts in designer babies, either explicitly in a selection process or implicitly through a pre-natal genetic breeding process. That's the fundamental reason to be against it. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-19 12:07:30] - Paul: Who do you think you are? Pierce? Me?
-- Xpovos[2014-05-19 10:51:56] - no, it's cool. i didn't know of the word. ~a
[2014-05-19 10:44:41] - a: Did I use it wrong? I didn't even realize I was using such a pretentious word at the time.
-Paul[2014-05-19 10:29:42] - paul: engender? SAT word? ~a
[2014-05-19 09:42:21] - mig: Although I am a little curious if the "discarding embryos" thing is an integral part of the process or if it could be done differently in the future. It seems like that part could engender a lot of objections on abortion type grounds. -Paul
[2014-05-19 09:32:25] - mig: Emotionally, it kind of creeps me out a bit if you take the designer baby concept to the extreme, but I can't really articulate a good reason why it's something that should be banned, so I think I generally agree with Bailey. -Paul
[2014-05-18 18:12:29] - mig: I didn't expect to like that movie. Ended up being decent. I think that may overstate some of the problems though; there are more fundamental and invisibly crippling problems with most of those efforts. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-18 14:22:59] - xpovos: well having seen Gattaca i can imagine some of the cons. - mig
[2014-05-18 08:22:04] - mig: I can argue the cons when necessary, at least from one perspective. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-17 19:53:27] - http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/17/the-moral-case-for-designer-ba thoughts? I have to say its a fascinating topic on a lot of levels. - mig
[2014-05-16 16:17:47] - Here's the view a little further south. You still see similar deliniations, but there are other intersting factors at play, too. It's not surprising that people tend to segregate themselves, though. Sad, maybe, but not surprising. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-16 15:29:18] - Aaron: That's pretty neat. Really surreal to see random areas that have such a higher concentration of a certain race nearby where I live. -Paul
[2014-05-16 15:14:13] - http://i.imgur.com/27rSfUH.png re-link since that last one didn't get link-ified - aaron
[2014-05-16 15:13:47] - http://i.imgur.com/27rSfUH.png racial distribution in DC. i vaguely knew some of these patterns existed, but i'm still surprised some areas are as solidly-colored as they are! here's the source if anybody is curious about other areas as well - aaron
[2014-05-16 14:05:13] - xpovos: i'm still nervous about my new car, which doesn't have a "press this button to honk" kind of feature on the key. i feel like i'll lose it in a parking lot some day, so this feature might come in handy then. - aaron
[2014-05-16 12:37:37] - aaron: I'd heard about the feature and thought it was nifty. The one time it comes in handy can save 30 minutes or more... I'm remembering a specific trip to FedEx. But that's a hilarious false positive. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-16 12:02:46] - Its not like this stuff was a well kept secret, either. Its very much part of the public record. Honestly if I was Elgin Baylor I'd be livid with the NBA right now. - mig
[2014-05-16 12:00:23] - paul: the whole toleration for Strerlin up until now is really the thing that really bothers. If the NBA can really can jettison an owner that easily, why not back then, when his animosity towards minorities was actually hurting people? - mig
[2014-05-16 11:52:04] - http://imgur.com/1g0Kpuy google now was recently updated to show locations where you previously parked. it does not take dc traffic into account... - aaron
[2014-05-16 11:36:01] - a: Again, Sterling is guilty of a lot more than just his private conversation, but the NBA was apparently completely willing to overlook all of that until this came to light. -Paul
[2014-05-16 11:34:59] - a: So the NBA is currently setting the standard that if you say something stupid in a private conversation... there's no punishment too harsh for you. It's an interesting position to take for a league who has had players run into the stand to punch fans, had superstars yell out homophobic slurs, etc, and those guys got lesser punishments. -Paul
[2014-05-16 11:32:27] - a: I wouldn't phrase the other principle as "freedom of speech" or necessarily "political correctness gone bad", but it's more in line with what Mark Cuban said about it being a slippery slope. All this punishment seems to be coming down on Sterling based solely on a leaked private conversation he had with his mistress. -Paul
[2014-05-16 11:30:43] - a: You'll get no argument from me that Sterling is an idiot, and quite possibly legitimately crazy, so he's certainly not the standard bearer that I would choose. The right to privacy is one thing. Even Bill Maher has made it a pet cause of his. -Paul
[2014-05-16 11:24:17] - paul: d sterling is an idiot. i have a hard time understanding these principles you're referring to. this clearly isn't a free speech issue. i guess it could be a situation of right to privacy? or political correctness gone bad? ~a
[2014-05-16 11:03:24] - Xpovos: Yeah. I don't know much about NBA by-laws and everything, but it seems like he has a pretty decent legal case. I just hope the players don't decide to start boycotting games or something. -Paul
[2014-05-16 10:51:31] - Paul: I was actually about to bring that up. It's gonna be pop-corn worthy, that's for sure. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-16 10:50:14] - aaron: Yeah, I'm not hugely fond of it, but I run two because I need demon minions, and even if it goes as a two-for-one-usually coin+removal for succubus+random and then I can life tap for the card back; which I have no problem doing particularly if I got a hit in. But against priest, ouch. So I kept the one succubus in my opener, and drew the second. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-16 10:23:56] - I absolutely don't want to defend him at all, but I do think that there are some principles on his side that are worth defending. -Paul
[2014-05-16 10:22:33] - http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sterling-refuses-pay-nba-fine I can't really explain why, but I'm actually a little happy that Donald Sterling is deciding to fight the fine the NBA levied on him. -Paul
[2014-05-16 09:42:40] - a: true enough, something I had not considered. Smart TVs don't lend themselves to updating or new features while consoles do. - mig
[2014-05-16 09:37:25] - xpovos: aww, ha ha. succubus is especially hard for priest to deal with, since it's immune to shadow word pain and shadow word death, and won't be killed by holy nova or holy smite. but, it's terrible against literally every other class in the game since it's almost always a 2-for-1 for your opponent - aaron
[2014-05-15 21:33:29] - new wolfenstein game, yay or nay? I didn't think much of the previous 2 post-wolf3d efforts but this one looks promising. - mig
[2014-05-15 19:04:06] - a: Ok, so I see that as basically two problems. It's a computer with a really big monitor and a closed-source OS with poor post-development support. I can understand that. -- Xpovos
[2014-05-15 17:34:39] - xpovos: i don't like that once you have a smart-tv, you can't replace the software (or operating system) with something different. it's too big of a thing to replace every time you want to try something new. i prefer things like chromecast/roku where i can unplug it and plug in something different if i don't like it. ~a
[2014-05-15 17:15:52] - mig: I have one of those funny Hearthstone moments of my own; no video though. My 'lock deck. Him priest. I'm first. Turn 1, no plays. Turn 2, Succubus (discards Dread Infernal), no play. Turn 3, Attack with Succubus, cast new Succubus (discards Mortal Coil), Voidwalker, "You have bested me". -- Xpovos
[2014-05-15 16:45:52] - a: What's the problem with the smart-tv idea? -- Xpovos
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