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[2014-06-20 15:42:14] - you've got two children. i'll take one. ~a
[2014-06-20 15:36:16] - a: You really want to go halfsies with me on everything.
-Paul[2014-06-20 15:27:07] - i did end up buying brk-b. ~a
[2014-06-20 15:23:04] - and amused by this: http://aporter.org/msg/?action=search&search=halfsies contains three proposals from adrian to paul
~a[2014-06-20 15:17:31] - paul: the price for "halfsies" went down from 100k to 25k. the catch, you have to trust second market in addition to trusting the USMS. with that, there are also the slew of other issues that could arise from syndicated bids. ~a
[2014-06-20 13:26:06] - Xpovos: Hmmmm, I haven't noticed any upgrades or changes in usability recently. I do think I prefer the Yahoo Mail of a couple years ago to what we have now, though. -Paul
[2014-06-20 13:24:26] - Paul: Web. I've not tried the app. I don't believe in downloading apps for things I can do via web interface. The exception is my banking app, since there's better security there. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-20 12:59:20] - Xpovos: On the web or on android? -Paul
[2014-06-20 12:38:21] - Wow. Yahoo Mail has become almost completely unusable after their latest round of 'upgrades'. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-20 10:05:44] - (oops) - aaron
[2014-06-20 10:05:26] - paul: yeah, it reminds me of SMBC's take on [internet fighting](http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2939), where people assume a group is composed entirely of overly-sensitive social justice warriors -- because those are the people that speak up - aaron
[2014-06-20 09:57:40] - aaron: Almost like a circle of sensitivity. One transsexual flips their lid over something seemingly harmless, it makes news, now everybody makes the connection of transsexual = overly-sensitive and so people go out of their way to try not to offend even though transsexuals as a whole might not be more sensitive than other LGBT types. -Paul
[2014-06-20 09:55:59] - aaron: I think some of it is also how non-transsexuals and muslims handle it too, though. Sometimes I feel like half the problem is that non-muslim/non-transsexuals are hyper-sensitive to offending those groups because they feel like they are some specially protected group and so they treat them with kid gloves. -Paul
[2014-06-20 09:51:47] - Aaron: Heh, I like the transsexual / muslim comparison on a few levels.
-Paul[2014-06-20 09:49:58] - I think for me the thing that sticks out is the abject hypocricy of the card-burners. "I'm totally fine making jokes that offends others sensibilities, but I'm going to flip my shit if my own sensibilities get offended." - mig
[2014-06-20 09:43:38] - for no good reason, other than the fact that they get really grouchy about it - aaron
[2014-06-20 09:43:10] - mig: transsexuals seem kind of like the muslims of the LGBT community, where like -- making jokes at the expense of some religions is OK if they're tasteful, but making jokes about muslimes is never OK... the same goes for transsexuals, i hear a lot of derogatory jokes about lesbians/gays/bisexuals but for some reason transsexuals are off-limits for humor - aaron
[2014-06-20 09:41:56] - mig: yeah, CAH is a hard thing to judge because people make their own jokes and word associations. i don't fully understand why that card crosses a line for some people, and whether something like "closeted homosexuals" or "robert downey jr in blackface" would cross the same line - aaron
[2014-06-20 09:34:47] - But Card Against Humanity is very much in the college-level, dare I say it, sophomoric style of humor. That's part of the fun of it, it breaks boundaries and forces us to be obscene for a joke. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-20 09:33:33] - I understand the creator's point, we say and do stupid and offensive things as young people that we don't any more as older people, and sometimes wish we hadn't as young people. "Would you guys stop staying rape so much?" I recall being asked in college. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-20 09:23:04] - It's interesting they mentioned rape jokes in passing as well. I've been reading an increasing number of article talking about the subject of rape has been increasingly tough to discuss since some people are so quick to take offense regarding it and jump down people's throat for discussing it the wrong way. -Paul
[2014-06-20 09:21:04] - Yeah, seriously. If they're going to get rid of cards like that (and, really, "passable transvestite" is pretty tame compared to other cards) they might as well ditch half the deck. -Paul
[2014-06-20 01:26:16] - yah. ~a
[2014-06-19 22:39:13] - a: The creators, apparently? -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 20:53:12] - somebody doesn't understand the point of cards against humanity. ~a
[2014-06-19 20:48:38] - http://fusion.net/modern_life/story/cards-humanity-creator-publicly-apologizes-transphobic-card-790882 given we all play cards against humanity i figure this might be of interest. It brings to mind that kay and peele article about certain groups becoming "off-limits". - mig
[2014-06-19 17:21:06] - a: Right, which is why I said I might have felt the same way, but I still don't know if that makes it a logical thing. -Paul
[2014-06-19 16:59:46] - haha, yes. well, i'm sure you can imagine a situation a little more annoying where you'd consider not renewing your service. like . . . this situation.
~a[2014-06-19 16:36:31] - a: Like, if I walked into a Best Buy to buy a Chromecast and a salesperson was like, "Hey, do you want to buy a Chromecast?" and I reply, "Not anymore!" and walk out.
-Paul[2014-06-19 16:35:12] - a: Eh, I'm not sure it makes sense to go from "I am going to pay money to renew my service" to "I am no longer paying money to renew my service" just because somebody asked you to pay money to renew your service. -Paul
[2014-06-19 16:24:28] - what's illogical about it? {company} has just told you that their needs (making sure you pay them money) are more important than your needs (not being pissed off with inane sales calls). seems pretty logical to me. i'd consider doing the same if {service} was something that i was not dependent on. ~a
[2014-06-19 15:53:17] - Xpovos: Not sure if that makes you weird, but I understand the sentiment. I might have felt the same way. It's certainly a little illogical, I would say. -Paul
[2014-06-19 15:52:32] - Daniel: I would play (either online or in person, although in person would be really hard to work out with the kids) and there's a slight chance I could convince Gurkie to play online (but no chance of her playing in person). -Paul
[2014-06-19 15:50:56] - Am I weird? I subscribe to {service}. It's good at what it does and is a reasonable price. I've been subscribing on an annual basis for a few years now. Today I get a phone call from {service} asking me to re-up for the next year. Contract year ends in August. I had been planning to re-up. Because of this call, I'm now strongly tempted NOT to re-up. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 15:49:26] - Diplomavengers: Assemble! -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 15:13:19] - would we be able to assemble seven players? that's the problem I think. -Daniel
[2014-06-19 11:40:02] - "semi-related" because neither of them show up on your bitcoin auction which surprises me. ~a
[2014-06-19 11:39:48] - paul: semi-related. winklevoss capital isn't mentioned on wikipedia here or here (here it's only mentioned in the references). what gives? principles at winklevoss capital is their labeled employment on facebook (is it ironic that they both have facebook profiles?). ~a
[2014-06-19 11:28:17] - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/us-marshal-hits-reply-all-reveals-those-interested-in-anonymous-bitcoin-auction/#p3 -Paul
[2014-06-19 11:06:29] - It's a fun game, and always good to come back to after a long period away. But a long period away seems a necessary condition for coming back. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 11:02:07] - a: We should totally play again. I miss it. -Paul
[2014-06-19 11:01:56] - a: Heh, you might be right. I guess out of all the people in our group who play, I might be one of the more stabby ones. I guess in my perfect world, I would just ally with somebody the entire game, but I never see that as practical. -Paul
[2014-06-19 10:47:04] - paul: such blatant lies. this is very meta of you though, convincing us, your potential enemies in a as-of-yet undetermined future game that you're a care-bear. you're the least care-bear player of almost everybody. ~a
[2014-06-19 10:41:48] - aaron: I think in practice I am more a care bear, but I do tend to agree that the point of the game is a solo victory. -Paul
[2014-06-19 10:22:09] - a:
~a[2014-06-19 10:15:50] - aaron: that said i recognize the game is really really boring if everyone forms unbreakable alliances, so i force myself to behave more unpredictably/maliciously than normal when playing diplomacy - aaron
[2014-06-19 10:10:47] - i'm definitely a care bear in diplomacy. i get so much more joy out of trusting someone than i do out of stabbing someone, and i think i even get more joy out of joint victories than solo victories - aaron
[2014-06-19 10:03:56] - Paul: To slow! -Daniel
[2014-06-19 10:03:48] - re: the article... that therapist! Who in their right mind gives Diplomacy as a way to rebuild trust?! -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 09:55:29] - Then, it's a race to see who trademarks "Shit" first. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 09:55:16] - a: The appeal might win, not because the name isn't offensive, but for other reasons. It'd just end up back in court again at a later date, unless and until something changes and we no longer are debating whether it's offensive, or if someone says, "doesn't matter you can trademark offensive shit." -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 09:48:41] - Daniel: Wow, how bizarre, I just started reading that article and was totally going to post it when I was done.
-Paul[2014-06-19 09:48:21] - a: Pretty clear cut that it's offensive? I don't really agree or disagree (again, no real dog in this fight), but I am always interested in where the line is drawn, then. Like you said, Fighting Irish seems almost equally (if not more) offensive, but nobody seems to be complaining, I guess it makes it less offensive? -Paul
[2014-06-19 09:48:04] - Diplomacy Peeps: Good read about the game http://grantland.com/features/diplomacy-the-board-game-of-the-alpha-nerds/ I can totally identify with several parts of that article. I still feel a little bad about lying to people while playing but its pretty inevitable during that game. -Daniel
[2014-06-19 09:44:04] - the appeal better not win. the redskins name is pretty cut and dry, imo. but maybe i'm a little skewed, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish seems pretty horrible too. ~a
[2014-06-19 09:40:51] - If the appeal doesn't win out. Which it might. Did before, more on a technicality than anything, but that's what appeals are all about: technicalities. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 09:40:25] - a: Unless the defendent in that case could make a case for sufficient market confusion, ala Xerox. And since the term is "offensive" it's unlikely to be picked up as a rallying cry by people trying to make if financially painful to the team and owner. There were 6 registered trademarks, though, so that might be broad enough to do something... -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 09:38:54] - Daniel: That sounds disappointingly subjective to me... and likely how it actually happened.
-Paul[2014-06-19 09:37:50] - a: Of course, that could be completely wrong, but if it's not that, then what info do you think they based it on? -Paul
[2014-06-19 09:37:42] - would their lawsuit win? if they aren't using a registered trademark? i guess it probably would, wouldn't it? ~a
[2014-06-19 09:36:47] - a: Right, I don't think the 30% was codified anywhere, but what I heard is that the National Congress of American Indians represent roughly that percentage of Native Americans and they had passed some resolution condemning the name and that likely played a role in the decision making. -Paul
[2014-06-19 09:35:55] - a: No, the trademark still existed, it just loose "registered" status, which is a federal thing. It's still civilly protected, just not legally. That is, the Redskins could sue you for money and confiscate your labeled wares, but you wouldn't end up in the slammer for it. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-19 09:29:36] - now that their trademark is done, can i start selling "redskin" labeled wares with impunity? ~a
[2014-06-19 09:29:20] - Paul: Seems like a jury to me. Lay out a general criteria then those people have to look and decide if they feel the general criteria is met in this case. Apparently the resolution was enough to push them over the tipping point. -Daniel
[2014-06-19 09:24:00] - "Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter; or matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute" is the act. pretty general, as you would expect, and obviously 30% isn't in there anywhere. ~a
[2014-06-19 09:20:07] - a: Well, from what I heard on the radio, the reason they ruled like they did was because some group that represents 30% of native americans passed a resolution saying the term was offensive, and that apparently was enough for them (hence the numbers I used). -Paul
[2014-06-19 09:14:15] - uspto probably has a policy. it's the kind of thing that could create HUGE problems for a large number of people (like this instance, actually). so, they probably don't take it lightly. ~a
[2014-06-19 09:09:33] - It sounds like at least part of the current issue is whether or not a significant portion of a subset of the population finds the term offensive. I wonder if it's some weird binary thing where if 29% find it offensive, that's not enough, but 30% suddenly makes the term offensive. -Paul
[2014-06-19 09:08:03] - So, the radio was full of talk about the Redskins losing their patent (trademark?) on the name (3 out of my 4 normal stations were talking about it). I don't really care about this specific instance (not offended by the term, but also no loyalty to the team/name), but I find the discussion over what is offensive to be interesting. -Paul
[2014-06-18 10:29:13] - a, title: ty <3 -amy
[2014-06-18 10:12:01] - congratulations, amy! ~a
[2014-06-18 10:06:19] - amy: Glad to hear.
-Paul[2014-06-18 09:50:16] - thanks everyone! <3 we are super excited and happy! -amy
[2014-06-18 09:36:03] - amy: wow, congrats! - aaron
[2014-06-18 09:30:09] - Amy: Congrats! -Paul
[2014-06-18 09:12:15] - amy: Congratulations
-Daniel[2014-06-18 08:05:40] - Hey anyone that's not on FB... I'm engaged! .D -amy
[2014-06-17 11:25:14] - former. the latter may or may not come to pass in the foreseeable future. ~a
[2014-06-17 11:15:39] - a: Resolved in that they lose the 51% control? Or resolved as in the issue is "patched"? I fully admit I don't understand the nitty gritty with bitcoin, but that seems like it would be a relatively major change. -Paul
[2014-06-17 11:08:57] - paul: yes, i think that's a serious problem. i'm pretty sure it'll be resolved in a few months or so, but in the mean time it is very worrying. ~a
[2014-06-17 10:21:37] - a: http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/06/bitcoin-security-guarantee-shattered-by-anonymous-miner-with-51-network-power/ Any concern about this? -Paul
[2014-06-13 16:51:58] - Paul: Looks like money. They apparently tried to trade him and failed, and didn't want to eat the contract. Releasing him avoids some of that, but he'll definitely land with another team, but for less money. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-13 16:50:11] - Xpovos: Wow, why? I didn't hear of any disciplinary issues, and he still seemed to be an elite player... -Paul
[2014-06-13 16:48:42] - Wow. KC Chiefs released Flowers. Figured it might be of interest here given his VT alum status. Reminds me of DeAngelo Hall from a few years back. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-13 16:22:50] - mig: Honestly, though, I know next to nothing about Labrador except that some people I respect (like Amash) seem to like him. -Paul
[2014-06-13 16:16:12] - mig: Well, it sounds like it's either going to be McCarthy (who sounds terrible) or Labrador (who sounds like he might actually be okay), except Labrador appears to be a big underdog. -Paul
[2014-06-13 16:02:46] - paul: I don't particularly care unless it happens to be someone like Justin Amash, which is unlikely. - mig
[2014-06-13 15:56:18] - Anybody here have any thoughts on who the next Majority Leader is going to be? -Paul
[2014-06-13 15:00:22] - yes!
~a[2014-06-13 14:53:21] - a: Oh, I'm an idiot. I think I got it now. You sold some now (thinking it's at a high) and have a limit-buy order in for if it hits 0.3. Is that finally right?
-Paul[2014-06-13 14:37:14] - you made me realize something though, i was wrong about the date: the date they receive possession of the coin has not been made public, but could be after the 1st. ~a
[2014-06-13 14:33:32] - paul: no not an option trade. i just did a normal sale. ~a
[2014-06-13 14:32:43] - a: Ah, ok. So an option trade? Will these people get possession of the bitcoins they bid on before July 1st? -Paul
[2014-06-13 14:30:49] - paul: no no no. i have no intention on buying 300k USD in bitcoin. that's too rich for my blood too. i am doing something different we discussed: betting that bitcoin's price will fall around the 1st of july. ~a
[2014-06-13 14:26:05] - a: Ah, ok. So you put in a bid for a block of 3000 or so bitcoins which values them at around $300 per bitcoin? -Paul
[2014-06-13 14:22:30] - paul: the simplified version is: i sold, and i have a limit-buy. ~a
[2014-06-13 14:21:23] - paul: nah, i fucked up the wording. i'm just not sure why we use "buy" and "sell" in a currency exchange context. aren't you just exchanging currencies? ~a
[2014-06-13 14:05:55] - a: I'm confused about the "limit transfer" part... and pretty much everything after the "of my holding for usd". Is this like a stock thing where you're looking for somebody to buy your bitcoins at a certain price? -Paul
[2014-06-13 13:36:00] - ok, i did it. i transfered 2% of my holding for usd, with a limit transfer from usd for .3 usd/mbtc. i might transfer at a higher value if i convince myself that it won't go any lower. ~a
[2014-06-13 11:16:56] - well we'll see. my predictions on what will cause a panic and what won't in the bitcoin world are often wrong. ~a
[2014-06-13 11:05:40] - I can see the bitcoins going for a slight discount, but not 80+% off, and while I can also see a slight dip after the auction, I doubt it'll be a panic and would expect the price to recover fairly quickly. -Paul
[2014-06-13 11:02:35] - a: Or... panic, and you're broker than normal. Still I think you're right, overall. Good odds that it'll bounce back too, if it does go down, given that this does semi-legitimize this. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-13 11:02:14] - a: A $300k bid for $1.8 million worth of bitcoins? That would be pretty sweet if it worked.
-Paul[2014-06-13 10:57:57] - well it can't hurt to put in a bid for 300k (i guess the only way it would hurt if i lost out on the bid is paying taxes on gains in 2015; ironically i'd have to sell bitcoins for a small chance to buy more bitcoins). if it worked out in your favor, you'd be mega-rich overnight. ~a
[2014-06-13 10:26:29] - a: Yeah, I still don't have $500k laying around.
-Paul[2014-06-13 10:06:19] - paul: yes, yes, and yes. though the 1.8m is the market rate. it could be that one of the blocks goes for under 1m? who knows. ~a
[2014-06-13 10:03:35] - a: So you think the influx of bitcoins is going to cause a panic drop in the "price" in USD? -Paul
[2014-06-13 10:03:03] - a: Ah, ok. So people would have to bid on ~1.8 million USD worth of bitcoin and no less? And $200k has to be ponied up immediately? Yeah, I think that's too rich for my blood right now. I'll go one thousandthies with you.
-Paul[2014-06-13 09:51:32] - i guarantee that people will be watching this sale closely, and once it ends, people will move a few % of that to exchanges, and when this happens, panic. so much panic. ~a
[2014-06-13 09:49:46] - 2. series A block is just how they defined one of the things being sold. the first 9 groupings of coins being sold were each ~1.8m USD worth. ~a
[2014-06-13 09:49:33] - 1. well mostly it's a guess. i don't think there will be a huge number of bidders since the bar to bid is so fucking high. also there are 10 different "things" being sold, so even if there are some serious bidders, you could still win out. ~a
[2014-06-13 09:37:01] - a: Why do you think below market? What's a series A block? I don't know much about government auctions. -Paul
[2014-06-13 09:29:19] - yeah, i read about that. it's pretty bizarre that the government can't really consider bitcoins illegal now, right? the us marshals aren't allowed to auction off illegal products. i'm wondering what the final sale price of the coins will be? considerably below market i'm thinking. does anybody want to go halfsies on a series A block with me? ~a
[2014-06-13 09:16:27] - a: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/us-to-auction-off-29656-bitcoins-seized-from-silk-road-worth-over-17-5m/#p3 -Paul
[2014-06-12 17:38:51] - a: I think the first step is to have more than a few ISPs available to choose from. Not sure there are many places where you can choose between more than 2 or 3. -Paul
[2014-06-12 17:34:36] - *seeing. ~a
[2014-06-12 17:34:30] - so, i guess i'd be more interested in seeping an ispspeedindex for other services. so we could decide as consumers which ISP we want
~a[2014-06-12 17:32:32] - a: I believe it's "with", but I am not sure. -Paul
[2014-06-12 17:26:14] - paul: http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/usa . . . this is pretty cool. i wonder if this is *with* or *without* the special netflix/verizon/comcast deals. i.e. will hulu's ispspeedindex be significantly different? ~a
[2014-06-12 17:11:35] - a: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/06/why-verizon-wont-solve-its-netflix-problem-as-soon-as-comcast/#p3 Apparently this is why Netflix is still slow on Verizon. -Paul
[2014-06-12 16:29:56] - a: I like the idea of prime music but until I get a chance to mess around with it and see how much music it has that I actually care about I won't be to gung ho. I saw somewhere that Spotify currently has a library of 20 million songs to Amazon's one million so far. -Daniel
[2014-06-12 15:06:01] - i recently let my premium pandora membership expire . . . which was great timing: http://primemusic.com/ ~a
[2014-06-12 14:59:14] - Paul: Still don't know why Google shut down Reader. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-12 14:58:59] - Whoa: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you -- Xpovos
[2014-06-12 11:12:05] - Xpovos: The benefits of an RSS feed.
-Paul[2014-06-12 10:51:14] - Paul: Thanks for the reminder of "what if". Without my RSS feed I haven't read it in a while. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-12 10:20:35] - http://www.imdb.com/keyword/shirt/ People who read "what if" might've already seen this, but apparently imdb tags are often used for "adult" purposes (as evidence by the "refine by keyword" section). -Paul
[2014-06-12 10:13:25] - xpovos: yes, i completely agree. the libraries have really come a long way. oh, some moron provided the data you want in CSV? no problem, jquery has a CSV parser! javascript (with jquery) is almost as easy as writing java at this point. ~a
[2014-06-12 09:13:56] - a: That's impressive. Man, web tech has really come a long way in 15 years. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-11 17:07:42] - a: Ah, yes. I should've thought a little harder about why there was an "m" in front of the "btc". -Paul
[2014-06-11 17:05:44] - paul: well, short answer "yes". long answer: y axis is USD, but for an mbtc. ~a
[2014-06-11 17:03:46] - a: Is the y-axis in thousands of dollars? -Paul
[2014-06-11 15:59:36] - mig: Also, if the people commenting on Ramon's post (which is what I assume is what you were referring to earlier) are representative of the kinds of political arguments you normally see on Facebook, then I can understand how friendships got ruined. Those are some strong words being exchanged. -Paul
[2014-06-11 15:41:32] - mig: Even if that might mean voting for the more despicable candidate, since it means an easier fight for your true guy later. That's sort of a twisted type of logic, though, so maybe I should just stick with my original thought of: "They both seem equally fine (or sketchy) to me". -Paul
[2014-06-11 15:39:00] - mig: Regardless of sabotage, the way I see it is that using Lo2E is pretty much by definition not voting your true conscience since you are not voting for the person you really support. Voting in the Republican primary (even if you find Republicans repugnant) seems a little more genuine in a way since you are voting for what you most want to happen. -Paul
[2014-06-11 15:36:38] - mig: Maybe. I think the Lo2E strategy can still be a kind of sabotage in a way. If I voted for Romney (or Obama) as a Lo2E candidate, it wouldn't be because I was in favor of either of them, but because I felt like I had to sabotage the other one. -Paul
[2014-06-11 15:21:18] - to it. - mig
[2014-06-11 15:20:59] - paul: Its similar in some respects because you are for the most part voting against someone, but I think the intent separates them. In the lesser of 2 evils your intent is still to vote for the lesser evil, whereas with the primary crossover, your intent is to sabotage the other party by trying to saddle them with a less desirable candidate, which has malicious feel
[2014-06-11 10:58:19] - Mig: Not really sure what word I want to use there. In a weird way, I almost think of this as less subversive than "lesser of two evils" because as I understand it, there was no Democratic primary for them to vote in, so it's not like they passed up a vote more in line with their issues for this. -Paul
[2014-06-11 10:56:22] - mig: I don't feel like it's any more subversive than the idea of voting for the "lesser of two evils" instead of the candidate you really support in a general election. Sure, neither is probably going by the purest definition of democracy, but both are... unsurprising(?) results of the system we have. -Paul
[2014-06-11 10:50:54] - daniel: no way to really know, aside from exit polling, which may not be helpful either. I'm just going of people I know on fb who've admitted to it and reddit posts that encouraged people to do so, which is of course anecdotal. - mig
[2014-06-11 10:37:27] - mig: I always wonder if there is any evidence of a large scale move by an opposition side to sway a primary? I've heard of theories about it several times but is there any way to know? I'm sure some people do vote in opposition primaries to try and sway things but I always wonder how many bother to do it. -Daniel
[2014-06-11 10:23:12] - mig: Short answer, no. And Democrats who did vote in the open primary with the intent of making Brat the candidate because he'd be an "easier target", rather than, "great opportunity to toss Cantor, who is a major opposition figure", will likely be sorely disappointed. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-11 10:03:37] - So my question is does a movement (if it indeed caused Cantor's downfall) like this "subvert" democracy in some way? I don't pass judgement one way or another but thought it was an interesting question. - mig
[2014-06-11 09:48:51] - I'm sure everyone has heard about Eric Cantor's electoral demise by now. What I found interesting was a kind of movement of democrats to get the vote out for Dave Brat. I don't know how big of a movement it was or if it had any real effect. I did see some friends of liberal persuation on fb bragging about it. - mig
[2014-06-10 17:05:37] - That turned out to mean nothing. -Paul
[2014-06-10 17:05:29] - Aaron: I know a lot of people got worked up and bothered about everything that happened once "Star Child" appeared, but I actually started getting disappointed once the battle for Earth began, because I wanted those scenes like you described to happen. I wanted to be rewarded for bringing the Geth and Quarians together and not just have it be some vague number.. -Paul
[2014-06-10 17:03:54] - Aaron: Exactly. It's not anything that would be unreasonable or difficult to pull off, I wouldn't think. Plus, how cool would it have been to have the whole squad available for the final fight instead of throwing it into a relatively unimportant fight in a DLC? -Paul
[2014-06-10 17:00:24] - but i don't think it would have been completely out of the question to have some sort of moderately open-ended final mission, which gives you a few different paths based on who's alive/who's dead, which alliances you kept, and how strong your military support was. it sounds like that's what the ME writer wanted, it would have been much better than cutscenes - aaron
[2014-06-10 16:59:23] - paul: during the second phase, maybe there's some kind of enormous organic threat, and either the salarians give you some kind of biological weapon, the krogans give you ground support to fight it, or the rachni queen bursts out and forgoes the last half of the fight entirely, something crazy like that - aaron
[2014-06-10 16:58:04] - paul: nothing super impossibly diverse or open-ended, but you know, maybe just have a battle in three phases. during the first phase, either the geth, quarians, or both give you a varying level of air support against some reaper ground forces, depending on your choices and military strength. - aaron
[2014-06-10 16:56:52] - paul: yeah, i think that article brings up a lot of good points about the ending. i'd rate the original ending at like, a 4/10, and the director's cut at like a 6/10, i didn't think either one disastrous. but reading his proposed endings, it makes me think about mass effect 2's ending, and how cool and diverse the final mission could have been - aaro
[2014-06-10 15:59:42] - I felt like I went through all this trouble during the game to recruit the different races and in the end it still felt like me and my squad alone against the reaper hordes. Whether the Krogan were involved or not was reduced to a single throw-away scene, which felt like a shame considering the impact they should've had. -Paul
[2014-06-10 15:58:29] - "Here's the horror the Reapers inflicted upon each race, and here's the army that you, Commander Shepard, made out of every race in the galaxy to fight them." This kind of stuff is some of the stuff I wanted to see during the battle to retake Earth. -Paul
[2014-06-10 15:57:24] - "I wanted to see banshees attacking you, and then have asari gunships zoom in and blow them away. I wanted to see a wave of rachni ravagers come around a corner only to be met by a wall of krogan roaring a battle cry." -Paul
[2014-06-10 15:56:39] - http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/5695/article/mass-effect-3-writer-allegedly-slams-controversial-ending/ Not to dig up an old story (also, spoiler alert for the end of ME3), but I just stumbled across this for the first time. -Paul
[2014-06-10 15:52:30] - aaron: Yeah, it's weird how something as seemingly small as living in the city vs the suburbs totally colors certain aspects of your life like that. I still can't believe how tolerant city people are of the fact that there is never parking anywhere.
-Paul[2014-06-10 15:46:41] - aaron: you could always do both . . . live in/near a city but also have a car. otoh, this is usually expensive since parking is sometimes paid per month. ~a
[2014-06-10 15:33:42] - i'm always baffled by problems city people face, *"oh, this event is 150 miles away? i guess there's no way for me to go then"* but I'm sure they're equally baffled by the problems we face, *"i can't get home right now, because i'm too drunk."* - aaron
[2014-06-10 15:29:11] - paul: totally, there's actually already a pretty weird divide where people in suburbs can't imagine the inconvenience of not owning a car, while people in big cities can't imagine the danger of driving everywhere. - aaron
[2014-06-10 15:15:49] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/06/10/robot-cars-are-a-moral-imperative "The next generation will be shocked at the carnage that we tolerated during the primitive era in which people were actually allowed to drive themselves down highways." I could totally see that happening, where driving our own cars is considered too dangerous is like 30 years. -Paul
[2014-06-10 14:37:46] - anon: she writes fast. ~a
[2014-06-10 14:24:23] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAxMyTwmu_M
[2014-06-10 14:17:16] - a: But I don't think this fits into either narrative, really, since Netflix paid for it's fast lane (apparently) and doesn't appear to have gotten it (for whatever reason). So it's kind of the worst of both worlds? -Paul
[2014-06-10 14:16:31] - a: It's not (only) that it would've been unnecessary, but it would've basically been illegal. The snarky comeback would be that in a net neutrality world, Netflix could be slow for people on Verizon and it would be cheaper for Netflix.
-Paul[2014-06-10 14:13:38] - paul: "Netflix paying Verizon" netflix giving money to verizon to avoid slowdowns would have been unnecessary if the slowdowns were against the law. mostly i'm being tongue in cheek though, because i don't really have a strong opinion on network neutrality: i'm network-neutrality-neutral. ~a
[2014-06-10 14:11:31] - a: Furthermore, from what little I do understand about this particular issue, it sounds like the problem is that there isn't really a "fast lane" (or it's not done right), not that traffic isn't being treated all equally. -Paul
[2014-06-10 14:09:52] - a: I'm not sure I follow. How did what I say have to do with net neutrality? -Paul
[2014-06-10 14:06:22] - paul: what? your non-network-neutrality position didn't turn out as you had hoped? but, but...free markets! </snark> ~a
[2014-06-10 14:04:31] - aaron: As a Verizon Fios subscriber and Netflix user, I've been following it with interest as well. Unfortunately, I am not knowledgeable enough regarding how the internet works to form a good opinion on whose "fault" it really is. I was hoping Netflix paying Verizon meant we would be no longer hearing about slowdowns. -Paul
[2014-06-10 13:19:11] - also gtav is coming to next gen after all. I figured a PC version was definitely coming but seeing ps4/xbox1 versions as well is a little surprising. - mig
[2014-06-10 12:56:09] - aaron: little big planet 3 was announced yesterday. - mig
[2014-06-10 10:59:30] - yep. ~a
[2014-06-10 10:57:49] - a: "assuming netflix isn't lying.". that's a bit of a caveat, isn't it? - mig
[2014-06-10 10:48:10] - love it. assuming netflix isn't lying when they put up this message, i think it's a great move. reading the letter though, verizon might be right and might be wrong about some of their counter-points. ~a
[2014-06-10 10:34:11] - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/netflix-refuses-to-comply-with-verizons-cease-and-desist-demands/ netflix is testing a new feature which explicitly says, "verizon's network is slow right now", and verizon is upset about this. this interests me given the companies' history regarding paying for "fast lanes" and the precedent for future services - aaron
[2014-06-10 10:00:27] - argh extra negative in there. - mig
[2014-06-10 09:59:48] - And that's not to say we shouldn't try to come up with policies to not lessen unnecessary ER use. But we should keep the problem in its proper perspective. - mig
[2014-06-10 09:56:45] - a: sure, that low % still translates to a lot of money. But if we're talking about primary drivers of spiking health care costs (and ER overuse amongst the uninsured was brought up by pro-ACA people in that context fairly often), then I can't say ER use was much of a factor towards the rising cost problem. - mig
[2014-06-10 09:30:56] - my first post to /r/bitcoin/ got to the front page: Yahoo Finance just added bitcoin prices: I have been on the lookout for BTCUSD=X and now it is here. ~a
[2014-06-10 09:08:18] - is 2% high or low? i think if you could cut half of that 2% of health spending, that would be a windfall. ~a
[2014-06-09 20:10:05] - xpovos: spending on ER care has honestly been a bit of a red herring issue, honestly. - mig
[2014-06-09 17:38:40] - But, but... savings due to preventative care! http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2014/06/07/patients-flocking-emergency-rooms-obamacare/10181349/ -- Xpovos
[2014-06-09 12:26:54] - nah. it's got a short-loop. you don't have to do the whole thing. the same thing regarding quantico. the only reason it's not a million times harder than meadowood is you don't have to do the whole thing: you can go until you're tired and not have to get stuck out on a huge 15k loop. ~a
[2014-06-09 11:58:32] - a: from how it's been described to me, i've seen it as a benchmark of relative maximum difficulty. -amy
[2014-06-09 11:58:14] - a: i would potentially be interested in road biking, but that would require me to actually buy a bike. at moment, i've been borrowing jeremy's extra mountain bike and he's only got mountain bikes. also, that is nuts to me that fountainhead is "not significantly" harder than something that i've done... -amy
[2014-06-09 11:56:05] - regarding on-road stuff, most of the places i know about aren't on that map. (it's mostly a mountain biking map) i.e. i biked to work today, and took a couple of fun trails/roads. ~a
[2014-06-09 11:49:36] - amy: yes, yes, and yes. i also have a motorcycle that's built for both on-road and off-road. so, yes. yes to all of the things. ~a
[2014-06-09 11:48:32] - schaeffer farms (gaithersburg) and rosaryville (upper marlboro) are about the same difficulty as meadowwood. fountainhead (burke) and quantico (quantico) are harder than meadowwood, but not significantly so. ~a
[2014-06-09 11:43:02] - a: do you have both mountain and road bike/s? you also do road stuff liike W&OD, right? -amy
[2014-06-09 11:42:15] - a: OK. i liked meadowwood ^_^ i would be good with places that are around that level. that last climb though, that was rough. i had to stop a lot, but i made it eventually. -amy
[2014-06-09 11:37:34] - if you're looking for a difficulty rating, that's in my head. again, if you're looking at a place in particular i can tell you how much easier/harder it is than the other places you've been. ~a
[2014-06-09 11:36:20] - red: it's a place that i have not been to yet (usually because i'm worried they'll be lame). gray: not a biking location, but instead a biking POI: like both ends of the CCT, the W&OD, and the C&O canal. ~a
[2014-06-09 11:32:52] - a: what do red and gray mean? -amy
[2014-06-09 11:31:47] - a: yeah, i was gonna suggest that, we should go sometime!
cool map; i think jeremy would be interested in going to some of the places that are a bit further out that he hasn't been to yet. -amy[2014-06-09 11:27:20] - a: burke lake and the trails off of that, and then we did wakefield/accotink saturday. meadowood yesterday. i feel awesome having been able to do that, there were some parst that were scary/tough, and there were times i fell off the bike but i always landed on my feet. have not totally wiped out (yet). -amy
[2014-06-09 11:26:08] - amy: here is a map that i've been adding to over the last six+ years. i've been to all the places in green, so if you have any questions about them i can tell you how they compare to other rides that you've done. also! we should go out riding some time. i was just at wakefield on saturday. ~a
[2014-06-09 11:12:30] - amy: yay meadowood is fun. where were your first two times? ~a
[2014-06-09 09:42:02] - a: i did meadowood yesterday!! it was my 3rd time on the trails. i think that was my fav trail i've done so far. -amy
[2014-06-06 16:47:27] - Xpovos: I'm fine with Ryan or Wilson, but less so RG3. I think he could have a big year this year and I'm already quasi-betting against him with Dave, so I need to diversify.
-Paul[2014-06-06 16:44:00] - Ryan's a good choice for me. I mentioned Wilson previously. Obviously I'm a homer-fan of RG3 as well. All three of those are guys I would take over Flacco, probably Kaepernick too. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-06 14:51:12] - Maybe Matt Ryan? I would gladly take Kaepernick over Ryan and Flacco in a total fantasy points bet, and it sounds like Miguel would take Flacco over Kaepernick or Ryan... -Paul
[2014-06-06 14:43:14] - Maybe we should find some mid-level-ish QB that Xpovos can champion and then have a three way bet pitting my guy (Kaepernick) vs Miguel's (Flacco) vs Xpovos' (???)... -Paul
[2014-06-06 14:42:33] - mig: Hmmm, I am pretty sure I can name 10 QBs that I would definitely take over Flacco (Kaepernick being one of them) and there's probably more than that, but we've already had this debate.
-Paul[2014-06-06 14:27:18] - There's 4 QBs currently playing I would take over Flacco. Kaepernick is not one of them. - mig
[2014-06-06 13:04:38] - Xpovos: Heh, I suppose so, even if that might initially appear to be a sort of twisted logic. -Paul
[2014-06-06 13:01:52] - Wouldn't that mean I'd want the Ravens to keep him? (I do.) -- Xpovos
[2014-06-06 10:19:09] - Xpovos: In Flacco's defense, you do hate the Ravens... -Paul
[2014-06-06 10:16:52] - Paul: Give me a binary choice between those two contracts and those two players, and I pick Kaep's both times. Unless my name is Joe Flacco, or Joe Flacco's agent. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-06 10:04:47] - Although I will note that I think Kaepernick is significantly better than Flacco and I'm not 100% convinced the 49ers will regret this contract. -Paul
[2014-06-06 10:04:17] - Xpovos: Yeah, I totally don't understand sports contracts and don't have much of an interest in them. I'm reminded a bit of the Flacco contract from a year or two ago. Sure, he probably wasn't worth it and the team might regret it in a few years, but I'm not sure what alternative the team had. -Paul
[2014-06-06 09:52:55] - Paul: Though reading your article it mentions the $61M and another $13M figure as both the guaranteed totals. Which is confusing. Clearly there are complicated clauses in the contract. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-06 09:50:32] - Paul: IIRC though, the Kaep deal was $61M guaranteed. That's not as bad, sure, but it's still a huge amount and way more than he was making, so the previous analysis remains, even if it isn't as one-sided, or as long-term detrimental to the organization. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-06 09:27:45] - Daniel: Well, aren't NFL contracts non-guaranteed anyway? I'm not entirely sure how it all works, but except for the "guaranteed money", I though teams could essentially tear up contracts whenever they felt like it. -Paul
[2014-06-06 09:14:32] - That at least makes a lot more sense, is there somewhere that lays out what clauses in his contract determine what amount he gets paid? Why don't more teams push for these kinds of contracts where its more performance based? Wouldn't you as a team always want to go that route so if a player drops off you aren't stuck paying big bucks? -Daniel
[2014-06-05 17:02:10] - Xpovos: http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2014-06-05/colin-kaepernick-contract-analysis-russell-wilson-andrew-luck-seahawks-colts-49ers Sounds like the 49ers actually did a little covering of their asses with the Kaepernick deal... -Paul
[2014-06-05 15:05:20] - Daniel: I can't figure out the rhyme or reason either. I understand Obamacare, since it's key to his legacy, but this trade (and not notifying Congress) seems bizarre. I can't figure out why he doesn't try to scale back deportations and marijuana dispensary raids either, since that likely wouldn't hurt him politically much AND theoretically goes with his ideals. -Paul
[2014-06-05 14:56:34] - Paul: Yeah I think the trade seems pretty questionable as well. As to when Obama seems to think its ok to go to the edge of the law sometimes and not others I'm not sure. Maybe its just on what he thinks is important to spend his political capital? Dunno. -Daniel
[2014-06-05 14:33:40] - Daniel: And it makes it doubly frustrating that the 5 guys he did release are almost certainly dangerous bad guys, whereas there are still a bunch of people being held that appear to be innocent of any wrong doing. -Paul
[2014-06-05 14:32:19] - Daniel: So, yeah, it might be hard to close down Guantanamo Bay, but at least I think it's within his legal powers, and even if it's not, he apparently has no apologies about using illegal powers (or at least not informing Congress about releasing prisoners to the wild) when it suits him. -Paul
[2014-06-05 14:29:57] - Daniel: He (or his supporters) suddenly claim his hands are tied. -Paul
[2014-06-05 14:29:45] - Daniel: (And when it suits him is almost always when he does something I disapprove of). And yet, there are many times people are critical of him not acting on something theoretically in his power (closing Gitmo, rescheduling marijuana, stopping marijuana dispensary raids, clemency for non-violent offenders, stopping deportations, etc)... -Paul
[2014-06-05 14:27:52] - Daniel: Sure, and I think there's a lot to that. What frustrates me is that Obama seems to have zero problem blatantly ignoring the law (airstrikes in Libya, recess appointments, pushing back Obamacare deadlines, not notifying Congress of Gitmo releases) when it suits him. -Paul
[2014-06-05 14:25:08] - Paul: I would still make the point that its hard for him to shut it down without doing something with the people there and Congress doesn't make it easy for him to move them into the US so I think its valid. It might not be the only way but it doesn't mean its easy for him. -Daniel
[2014-06-05 14:16:04] - yah, ok. ~a
[2014-06-05 14:13:42] - a: http://aporter.org/msg/?action=prev&prev=115500#115738 Here we go, Vinnie too. -Paul
[2014-06-05 14:12:41] - a: http://aporter.org/msg/?action=prev&prev=115500#115729 I am pretty sure Vinnie made the point somewhere, but I can't seem to find it right now, so I'll have to settle for Daniel half-making the point.
-Paul[2014-06-05 13:30:39] - "a lot was made about how his hands were tied because congress wouldn't let him" i don't know if anybody here said that, did they? ~a
[2014-06-05 11:54:15] - http://reason.com/24-7/2014/06/05/bergdahl-prisoner-swap-reignites-debate I remember having a debate about how much blame Obama should get for not closing Gitmo like he promised. A lot was made about how his hands were tied because congress wouldn't let him. Well, congress didn't stop him here.
-Paul[2014-06-05 11:04:58] - Xpovos: Fantasy points for the year? I would have to look into it some, but I think I could be convinced. -Paul
[2014-06-05 10:45:39] - Well, we've agreed to disagree on Kaep for a while. Be interesting to see a retake on last year's wager for this year. Kaep vs. Wilson. I don't know if it works straight up, though. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-05 10:42:46] - Xpovos: Probably a better comparison, in all sorts of ways. I'll admit Wilson might be the better QB now, but I don't know if his upside is much higher than he is at now, whereas I think Kaep could be a top 5 QB over the next 5 years or so (key word being "could"). -Paul
[2014-06-05 10:40:08] - Paul: Probably not elite, but better than your average starting QB level. Brad Johnson might be an apt comparison. I think Doug Flutie might be a better one, though. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-05 10:38:45] - Xpovos: I'm still not 100% sold on Wilson yet in terms of his long term viability. It seems like his upside is Brad Johnson (albeit in a totally different playing style), which isn't bad, but I'm not sure it's elite or even great. -Paul
[2014-06-05 10:36:23] - Paul: I think Wilson has a lot more upside than Kaep in that equation, though. Kaep may be the more unique physically, but you can get another hybrid like him, particularly if you're only interested in 2-3 seasons. I mean that seems to have been Shanahan's plan with RG3.
It's just they made the mistake of trading 3 #1s for him. -- Xpovos[2014-06-05 10:31:07] - Hmmmm, I don't necessarily disagree, but I wonder what the alternative is. Do you let them walk and try to get another great rookie QB? -Paul
[2014-06-05 10:24:05] - Xpovos: Yeah I think I'm with Andrew. I'm skeptical of 49'ers and Seahawks continuing their run after their QB's get paid. Their biggest luxury was high level performance at the QB level without having to pay for it. I wonder if losing that luxury brings them back down. -Daniel
[2014-06-05 09:51:42] - Paul: Mostly column B. Both the 9ers and the Seahawks have been very good the past two years because they have young QBs that play at a high level on a rookie pay scale, which allows them to splurge on defensive stars across the board. I will admit column A has a few points to it as well, though. -- Xpovos
[2014-06-05 09:27:38] - Xpovos: Because Kaep is going to be their QB for the next decade? Or because they spent too much money on him? -Paul
[2014-06-05 08:46:04] - And thus ends the 49er's brief return to glory. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24580524/report-kaepernick-49ers-agree-to-6-year-deal-110-million-deal -- Xpovos
[2014-06-04 17:30:10] - Paul:
-amy[2014-06-04 12:41:50] - Amy: So I guess I lost a game of chicken to a vegetarian?
-Paul[2014-06-04 12:08:51] - Paul: Honestly, it's kind of a game of chicken; I thought about planning without asking, too. If you hadn't, I probably would have eventually today. -amy
[2014-06-04 12:07:56] - Amy: Yeah, I almost didn't bother asking.
-Paul[2014-06-04 12:03:20] - Paul: I volunteer you. You know how it goes, the person who asks "who's planning" is it
-amy[2014-06-04 11:44:25] - also, count me in if it's sunday at 3 or earlier. ~a
[2014-06-04 11:43:31] - you!
~a[2014-06-04 11:31:40] - aamy: Either of you planning frisbee or should I? -Paul
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