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[2014-07-22 19:52:28] - has anyone had issues with the battle.net client leaving dangling processes running after exit? I'm trying to figure out if this is a windows 8 issue or not. - mig
[2014-07-22 17:02:29] - a: http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/22/dell-embraces-bitcoin Dell is accepting bitcoin now. -Paul
[2014-07-22 16:30:11] - Anub was the hardest for me, I took out Fae and the Spider Queen without much trouble. The Class challenges, you have to use their precon deck, so it's interesting. Druid was easy enough. I'll do the Rogue later. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-22 16:00:28] - Expect some serious lag tonight. The servers are getting crushed.
[2014-07-22 15:52:15] - Man, I really wish I had invested in Herbalife yesterday like I was tempted too... -Paul
[2014-07-22 15:41:53] - yeah, looks like 3 matches to start, with extra modes. First match is Anub'Rekhan, so it seems to follow the pattern mig suggested. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-22 15:14:42] - No hunter? I thought their card was spider themed. Though I guess they want to spread them out. - mig
[2014-07-22 14:41:41] - The class challenges in Wing 1 are Rogue and Druid--the other classes will get their class challenge in other wings. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-22 14:39:05] - Daniel: Unfortunately, there's a bug and I've not gotten any further. The store is down and without the store you can't confirm purchase of any of the wings, even the first free one. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-22 14:32:18] - Xpovos: Are there fights between the bosses? If so who are you playing against? Thats one of the main things I'm curious about. -Daniel
[2014-07-22 14:31:15] - Ooh, it's live now. There are three levels, normal, class challenge and heroic. So there's enough content to warrant playing through each wing three times. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-22 14:29:50] - Daniel: I think that's the gist of it, but there may be fights between the bosses. E.g. like the tutorial section. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-22 13:56:08] - mig: that trailer makes me want to see the movie! good writing - aaron
[2014-07-22 13:54:09] - So the expansion is new cards being added and however many boss fights per wing. So in theory I could go home tonight and go 3-0 against spider bosses and be done with the adventure portion of the expansion until the next wing? -Daniel
[2014-07-22 13:25:44] - mig: Interesting. I guess playing WoW would help with this. I never got far enough to go raiding. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-22 13:18:54] - daniel: as far as I can tell the adventure part is all the bosses of he original raid. So the spider wing is 3 bosses (anub/faerlina/maexanna) while the construct wing would be 4(patchwerk/grob/gluth/thaddeus) - mig
[2014-07-22 13:08:22] - I'm interested in Naxx but I'm curious about what it actually is. Like the 'Adventure' part of it. Is it just 3 AI fights per wing or is it something more / else? -Daniel
[2014-07-22 12:55:40] - Hearthstone peeps: Excited for Naxx? I'm excited. I'm also weirdly impressed by my new warrior deck. I'd had some success with it, got to rank 15, but then it stalled. I gave it a few days then started tweaking. Post tweaks... it hasn't lost. That's more luck than anything, but clearly I tweaked it in the right direction! -- Xpoovs
[2014-07-22 11:06:32] - http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/07/22/obama-health-care-court-ruling/12482127/ another ACA scotus case looks likely. - mig
[2014-07-21 22:48:24] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bFmqO7IF_A for those who watched the guardians of the galaxy trailers, this is the full "I have a plan" scene that was spliced in at the last trailer. - mig
[2014-07-21 14:21:03] - It's kind of crazy how much its exploded in popularity. Last years tournament had a total prize pool of like $2.8 million, this year its over $10 million. - mig
[2014-07-21 13:08:15] - I was aware of it. they also did a preview show for the match last night on ESPN2 so there was some coverage on actual cable. - mig
[2014-07-21 12:16:18] - did anybody else know that ESPN3 is showing the International Dota 2 Championship Main Event: Grand Finals right now? i never expected ESPN to cover stuff like that, that's pretty crazy isn't it? - aaron
[2014-07-18 15:43:31] - I've probably asked this before, but does anybody here have a good knowledge of audio receivers? I'm trying to figure out how to set one of mine to where it outputs the same audio to each speaker. Right now, I can't get it away from the 5.1 setup where, for instance, dialogue only comes out of the center speaker. -Paul
[2014-07-18 13:04:49] - Aaron: Sure, sure. I understand. And I'm not necessarily trying to pimp the Xbox One (I don't even own one and I might never own one). I just felt like it was three(?) PS4 owners (not sure if Daniel owns one yet) throwing out info so I felt like I should throw out some info for Xbox.
-Paul[2014-07-18 13:04:47] - paul: oh yeah, i forgot that the PS4 performs a little better! i don't honestly think i'd notice, people were pointing out how the PS4 had higher resolution or realistic sky boxes, but i really don't think i'd ever notice during an actual game - aaron
[2014-07-18 13:01:54] - paul: to be clear i'm not trying to hate on the xbox one, i think the xbox one and PS4 are both great consoles, it was a difficult decision for me and it just boiled down to XBox's philosophies regarding indie titles and DRM in 2013. if i had to make the choice today, i don't know what i'd base it on, there's no easy winner - aaron
[2014-07-18 13:01:11] - aaron: Yeah, they've gotten much more similar. There were some stark difference between the PS3 and Xbox 360 in terms of hardware. Now, the consoles (hardware wise) are mostly the same except the PS4 is probably a tiny bit more powerful (and smaller) and the Xbox has the kinect (unless you buy a version without it). -Paul
[2014-07-18 12:59:14] - a: the choices PS3 made last generation. but, Microsoft has copied all of those things for this generation, so now it's a toss-up! the xbox one and PS3 are both great consoles. also -- XBox One controllers work great on a windows PC for gaming, you can just plug them in and they work with a lot of games. PS4 controllers aren't plug-and-play with windows - aaron
[2014-07-18 12:57:06] - a: PS3 supported wireless internet, XBox 360 made you use a cord, XBox 360 went with HD-DVD. and yeah like paul said, XBox supported a lot of this stuff with peripherals, "buy our wireless internet adapter!" "buy our recharger station!" "buy our special microsoft-certified keyboard!" "buy our blu-ray player", but overall i was just happier with the choices PS3 - aaron
[2014-07-18 12:45:33] - I think all of us understand the value and importance of retirement savings, and make it a priority, though. I'm sure that if you ask the general population, you'll get very different numbers. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-18 12:26:59] - i'm totally impressed with kinect 2 and tof imaging. it bothers me a little that sony didn't get into this field at all. ~a
[2014-07-18 11:34:23] - And, of course, the big negative was that the battery packs (and subsequent charging kits) usually cost extra. -Paul
[2014-07-18 11:33:50] - To be clear, Xbox 360 controllers COULD use batteries, but they also had rechargeable (and replaceable) battery packs that a lot of people used. Honestly, I've heard that a lot of people preferred the ability to swap out the battery packs (or use normal batteries in a pinch) to the closed PS3 controller. -Paul
[2014-07-18 11:32:06] - a: Hopefully this drives the bitcoins startups out of NY and into a location more accepting of business. -Paul
[2014-07-18 11:30:06] - Xbox controllers used batteries?! -Daniel
[2014-07-18 11:16:09] - a: the PS3 was compatible with generic USB devices like keyboards and headsets, XBox 360 wasn't. PS3 offered free online play, XBox 360 charged for it. XBox 360's dashboard was cluttered with ads, PS3 had some small scrolling text at the bottom. PS3 had rechargable controllers, XBox 360 used batteries - aaron
[2014-07-18 11:12:35] - a: i think they're both about the same for online, for their network, and for their marketplace. honestly, this generation is kind of a tie for me, i had trouble picking. but the XBox 360 did a lot of stuff way way shittier than the PS3 in general imho, which has mostly been erased this generation. - aaron
[2014-07-18 10:41:37] - yesterday, NY announced they came up with new rules to regulate our bits (paul, this is the real reason i posted that video this morning). the internet doesn't like it ~a
[2014-07-18 10:40:55] - although i haven't really had the chance to try the party functionality for ps4 since I tend to get games no one else plays. - mig
[2014-07-18 10:34:32] - both consoles have all their games available digitally. Xbox is probably slightly ahead on the social aspect, particularly with multiplayer gaming. - mig
[2014-07-18 10:33:35] - a: and "always online!", but I do think the Xbox team is generally a little more willing to take chances on new things like that, which I appreciate. -Paul
[2014-07-18 10:33:02] - a: There was an idea of the game basically being tied to your account, so you could play it anywhere (even on a friend's console) pretty easily without bringing the disc and could even share it with friends and family to a limited extent. Unfortunately, they had to walk it all back since all anybody saw was "intrusive DRM!"... -Paul
[2014-07-18 10:31:10] - a: One thing I will say in favor of the Xbox One, is that Microsoft originally had a pretty cool (I thought) vision of an always-online console with a more forward-looking concept of "ownership" and sharing of games rather than simply checking if you had the disc or not. -Paul
[2014-07-18 10:29:56] - a: Microsoft was a trail-blazer with Xbox Live and the things it could do, but I think Sony has closed the gap. I think they're pretty comparable now, although maybe Xbox has a few more "apps" for watching videos? As far as I know, both are good with online downloads and gift-cards. -Paul
[2014-07-18 10:16:00] - paul/mig/aaron: i feel like i'm less likely to buy games the old-fashioned way: more likely to buy games online via download. and i'm more likely to play games that have better online/social play aspects. which has a better "network"? which console is better in these regards? both networks will let me use gift-cards, right? ~a
[2014-07-18 10:09:41] - But, honestly, I feel like the PS4 just might be the better match for Adrian in terms of the games released, unless he is into the Kinect (and the Xbox One comes with one). -Paul
[2014-07-18 10:09:00] - I feel like I should defend the Xbox One here by pointing out things like how they have Games with Gold (similar to PS+ free games, but a little different in execution) and the like, since I'm probably the only Xbox defender on here... -Paul
[2014-07-18 09:55:55] - a: The video touches on a lot of stuff I read about all the time (particularly the licensing issue). I'm glad more people are becoming aware of it and companies like Uber are even thumbing their noses at it. -Paul
[2014-07-18 09:54:58] - playstation now is also coming down the piepline which should open up the libraries from the previous consoles. - mig
[2014-07-18 09:53:14] - aaron: yeah the free game(s) every month with ps+ has been a bit of a boon. - mig
[2014-07-18 09:51:49] - depends on what games you want to play and perhaps any specific "entertainment center" needs. - mig
[2014-07-18 09:50:43] - a: Except for my outlier of retirement savings to normal savings.
-Paul[2014-07-18 09:49:53] - a: Yeah, I expected them to be a little similar, but they're closer than I would've expected. -Paul
[2014-07-18 09:48:32] - a: also, i get the sense that the PS4 has better support for indie devs. this was greatly exaggerated towards the beginning of the console life cycle, when XBox One's policy was literally, "you cannot develop games without going through a publisher," and it's been mitigated since then, but it's still the case somewhat - aaron
[2014-07-18 09:45:58] - a: the PS4 is getting littlebigplanet 3, which looks corny but it's a fun 4-player couch-cooperative game, with an unprecedented level editor. personally this was a system seller on the PS3 since i love building stuff - aaron
[2014-07-18 09:43:33] - a: the two things which would swing me one way or the other -- Dance Central Spotlight is, i think, literally the best dance game ever made, it tracks your full body movements and works with kinect and it's done by the guys who did frequency and amplitude. great package and fun dance moves - aaron
[2014-07-18 09:40:11] - xpovos/daniel/paul: what's most interesting about these numbers to me is how close we are to each-other on most of them. ~a
[2014-07-18 09:36:25] - I'm not 100% on what constitutes cash savings. I think all my $ that is still under my name (retirement savings + non retirement savings + checking (not a lot)) = .33 of my rough estimate for my professional life time earnings (last eight years). Unless I'm botching my math / numbers somewhere. -Daniel
[2014-07-18 09:35:09] - a: Does the Xbox One come with the kinect or not? I know lots of people aren't fond of it, but in my mind, the Xbox One with Kinect is more valuable and interesting than a PS4. -Paul
[2014-07-18 09:29:11] - Using just 'cash savings', my ratio of savings to lifetime earnings would be approximately 0.15, or if my rough estimates are right, about half of Paul's number and an even smaller number compared to a. Part of the problem, though, of course, is that my lifetime earnings are far smaller so a bigger percentage has been spent to cover necessities. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-18 09:25:56] - I think I'm at like 3.5/1 retirement / non retirement but thats largely because Andrea and I have been saving up for awhile with the theory of being looking at buying a house at some point somewhere though those points are TBD still. -Daniel
[2014-07-18 09:23:00] - a video i liked about starting a business and regulations. i'm not sure it's the best video in the world, but i found some of the points interesting. ~a
[2014-07-18 09:22:02] - paul: i'm guessing (as the xpovos theme suggests) that your recent house purchase probably pushed some of your misc savings into home equity. ~a
[2014-07-18 09:20:34] - paul: i was going to go for the ps4 (you know, microsoft, evil) but was trying to see if there was some information i didn't have about the two. ~a
[2014-07-18 09:19:59] - paul: i have considered a steam box, but in this case i won a console and i get to pick one or the other (ps4 or xb1). ~a
[2014-07-18 09:16:54] - a: Probably depends on what kind of games you would be into playing. Assuming your taste in games would be somewhat similar to Aaron's (which for some reason I think it is), my guess is the PS4 makes more sense. Have you considered a Steam Box? -Paul
[2014-07-18 09:15:58] - a: My numbers were also excluding house equity and mortgage debt. Sounds like you have a lot more misc savings than I do.
-Paul[2014-07-17 22:15:22] - playing games? i don't actually know what they do since an n64 is the only console i've ever owned and i've hardly even used a console since the ps2. ~a
[2014-07-17 22:10:50] - a: what are you primarily getting this console for? - mig
[2014-07-17 19:37:02] - paul: retirementSavings/nonRetirementSavings = 4, totalSavings/lifetimeSalary = 0.4. neither number includes home equity or mortgage debt. ~a
[2014-07-17 17:36:39] - if i was to pick an Xbox One or a PS4, which should i pick and why? ~a
[2014-07-17 17:35:45] - paul: i'll answer my questions later tonight or tomorrow. it'll take some time to process the answers. ~a
[2014-07-17 14:53:05] - a: "lifetime salary+bonus income" is tough. I can only come up with a very rough estimate, and using that, I get something like 4:13. -Paul
[2014-07-17 14:48:13] - a: My (our?) non-retirement savings is pretty small compared to my retirement savings, in my opinion, so my ratio would be pretty big. 100:7 or something? -Paul
[2014-07-17 14:17:10] - xpovos: "you have to be careful to compare apples to apples" agreed. "sometimes people's life choices make that essentially impossible" disagreed. i think as long as you're both either including or not including it, then you're close enough to comparing apples to apples. ~a
[2014-07-17 13:52:26] - a: How would you calculate in things like mortgage debt and housing equity (if at all)? I think ratios like that are pretty nifty, but you have to be careful to compare apples to apples, and sometimes people's life choices make that essentially impossible. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-17 13:47:28] - seriously though, no. i know i make enough, and don't want to gloat about it.
other numbers that would interest me though, is ratio of retirement savings to non-retirement savings. or the ratio of total savings to lifetime salary+bonus income. ~a[2014-07-17 13:16:08] - paul: i can't discuss it with you. my friends told me if i discussed my salary with my other friends, i'd be defriended. ~a
[2014-07-17 12:25:07] - Am I the only one who feels like everybody is dying to ask everybody else what their salary is now?
-Paul[2014-07-17 11:23:09] - paul: i agree again. i've never been told not to discuss it and i've never told anybody not to discuss it. ~a
[2014-07-17 11:15:54] - I don't think employers should be telling employees not to discuss their salary, but I do think that complete openness about salaries will probably just make most people unhappy most of the time. -Paul
[2014-07-17 11:14:14] - a: But at the same time, if you are happy with your salary now, then it seems a little silly to try to find out if you're underpaid relative to coworkers so you are now unhappy with something you were previously happy with. -Paul
[2014-07-17 11:13:39] - a: Well, to be honest, I'm torn. I'm all for being open and don't really mind discussing my salary with coworkers or friends (although I might feel embarrassed if my salary was significantly higher or lower)... -Paul
[2014-07-17 11:11:51] - paul: i couldn't agree more. why discuss it? there are better ways to find out if you're underpaid in your field which is what really matters. who cares if you're under/overpaid in your office? ~a
[2014-07-17 10:50:43] - Daniel: I feel like it's probably more likely to cause resentment. Maybe somebody is perfectly happy with their salary now, but once they find out they're paid 20% less than everybody else, they're not so happy anymore. -Paul
[2014-07-17 10:29:23] - I've been told by a boss before not to discuss pay with coworkers but not at my current job. I think the principle of everyone knowing salary is good-ish but its tricky to do without causing some tension. The gov manages it though so its possible. -Daniel
[2014-07-17 09:47:26] - I'm in a weird spot because I am a technical person in the marketing department where the work I do is so incredibly different from the work almost all my coworkers in the same department do, so there's not an easy comparison for me unless I compare my salary to that of the programmers in IS. -Paul
[2014-07-17 09:46:23] - I don't think I've ever been told by my boss to not discuss my pay (and like the article mentions, that seems stupid anyway, since it draws attention to the fact they might be hiding something), but it does seem taboo to discuss anyway. -Paul
[2014-07-17 09:43:08] - Amy: Haven't read the article yet, but what if you are overpaid (or underpaid) for a reason? Not all employees are equal and in most places I've been there are people with the same job title who are quite different in the value they provide. -Paul
[2014-07-17 09:39:55] - otoh, how do you broach the subject when it's so taboo? -amy
[2014-07-17 09:39:46] - i kind of feel like it's a good idea to talk to coworkers and friends about salary so that everybody gets an idea of what is reasonable pay for their job, but can see how that could potentially introduce tension. i think though, without having these kinds of conversations, there is the potential to be vastly underpaid and not even know it. -amy
[2014-07-17 09:38:05] - http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/when-the-boss-says-dont-tell-your-coworkers-how-much-you-get-paid/374467/ -amy
[2014-07-17 09:14:54] - yeah or Ted Stevens ~a
[2014-07-17 09:00:10] - mig: i got more of a jeffrey tambor vibe from him - aaron
[2014-07-17 07:59:04] - he didn't seem to be acting like dick cheney to me. ~a
[2014-07-16 20:57:47] - is the old guy who's narrating attempting to impersonate dick cheney? - mig
[2014-07-16 15:51:17] - paul: yeah, it's unintuitive that anything could be simultaneously offensive and politically correct. kind of like south park i guess, as long as you target everyone equally, and as long as you don't use incredibly offensive words without including a lot of subtext - aaron
[2014-07-16 15:23:38] - Aaron: I guess it makes some sense, but it's still a little crazy to think of "Cards Against Humanity" and "sensitive" being in the same sentence.
-Paul[2014-07-16 15:15:59] - paul: yeah! cards against humanity was a sponsor of gaymerX, they were giving out free cards against humanity booster packs. that whole "passable transvestites" thing made a lot more sense after i saw they were a sponsor, they're obviously very sensitive to that stuff in general. bioware was another big sponsor, one of their writers delivered a keynote speech - aaron
[2014-07-16 15:06:45] - Aaron: Wow, really? What a weird coincidence.
-Paul[2014-07-16 15:02:08] - paul: aww I saw that guy last weekend at gaymerX! i didn't know he needed a hug - aaron
[2014-07-16 14:59:56] - http://youtu.be/BDLf2Yc2PJo Yale's freshman safety orientation video - aaron
[2014-07-16 14:42:25] - Daniel: Ugh, it's not as easy to do as I thought. Do city councils not have partisan elections or something? I can't find any information on them being Republican or Democrat. -Paul
[2014-07-16 14:36:51] - Daniel: Well, not just California, but Berkley (for the first half of the story). Also, cell phones causing cancer is much more of a stereotypical liberal cause than a conservative one. I fully admit, though, that I just assumed they were democrats. I can look it up, though. -Paul
[2014-07-16 14:34:53] - http://blog.maxistentialism.com/post/91476212698/this-is-a-blog-post-thats-incredibly-confusing Apparently one of the co-creators of Cards Against Humanity has been accused of rape. -Paul
[2014-07-16 14:26:02] - Are the people the article is talking about left leaning? Does it say that somewhere and I missed it? Or are we just assuming cause they are in Cali they are D's? TBH I read the part about activists and planes and would assume those were right leaning activists not left. -Daniel
[2014-07-16 13:41:35] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/16/berkeleys-council-says-cell-phones-cause For anybody who still thinks the right has a monopoly on being "anti-science". -Paul
[2014-07-16 13:38:34] - Aaron: I didn't play multiplayer ME as much as you, but it was a little important to me that the combat mechanic at least was tolerable (and it was certainly more than tolerable for ME2 and ME3). I loved ME1, but the combat in that got really frustrating at times. -Paul
[2014-07-16 12:38:41] - paul: Thanks for the link, filled it out. We will see if ME4 magically confirms to all my desires! -Daniel
[2014-07-16 10:17:57] - paul: whereas in multiplayer i really enjoy trying out different builds and experimenting with which powers and which weapons work best on a character - aaron
[2014-07-16 10:17:15] - paul: it didn't occur to me until i filled out that survery that i approach singleplayer and multiplayer completely differently in ME3. i never cared about the mechanics of the different powers, biotic combos or weapons in single player, i just wanted to get through the combat sections to see more of the story - aaron
[2014-07-16 10:09:37] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/decriminalization-arrives-and-dc-police-prepare-for-sea-change-in-marijuana-laws/2014/07/16/0f21a2b8-0c82-11e4-b starting this thursday, carrying small amounts of marijuana in DC is no longer a crime - aaron
[2014-07-15 16:45:58] - http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/15/tell-bioware-what-you-want-in-mass-effect-4 Tell bioware what you want in ME4. -Paul
[2014-07-15 14:23:31] - so the people who've been organizing barcrafts from years past are doing another gaming event at public tenley this weekend. Except the game will be dota (no starcraft this time), and it'll be for the whole weekend + monday. I was thinking of going down there for saturday at least, anyone interested? - mig
[2014-07-14 14:49:11] - Just saw a quote on Facebook that I thought was just perfect and felt like I needed to share it somewhere, " HOA's are just like the government. Only they are run by old people and bored housewives. So they are much more effective at controlling your life." -Paul
[2014-07-14 14:01:23] - http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2014/07/14/hillary-clinton-jon-stewart-daily-show/ I'll probably miss it and only read the highlights the day after, but it should be interesting to see how Hillary Clinton's interview with Jon Stewart goes. -Paul
[2014-07-14 10:37:23] - Daniel: If it makes a difference, I'm sad the Wizards are losing him. He played well for them last year. -Paul
[2014-07-14 10:14:35] - Maybe Ariza can redeem himself by not sucking this time around? We'll see. -Daniel
[2014-07-14 09:49:40] - Daniel: Especially since you hate Ariza, right? I guess Ariza might be better on defense, though. -Paul
[2014-07-14 09:39:38] - I'm sad about Parsons leaving. -Daniel
[2014-07-14 09:28:46] - I guess this frees up some more minutes for Otto Porter, though. Still, I can't help but feel like the Wizards might be taking a step back next year after the craziness in the East so far. -Paul
[2014-07-14 09:28:06] - How about Ariza to Houston and Paul Pierce to Washington and Chandler Parsons to the Mavs, though? Crazy train of events. The Mavs obviously improved, but I'm not sure if Ariza is an upgrade over Parsons or if Pierce is an upgrade over Ariza. -Paul
[2014-07-14 09:26:53] - mig: Yeah, I'm shocked by Bosh staying with the Heat too. You're right that I'm pretty happy about the balance in the Eastern Conference now, though. Looking like 4 legit teams to compete for the top spot, and those Miami/Cleveland match-ups should be sweet. -Paul
[2014-07-11 20:38:45] - although while it may make daniel weep, it definitely will make the east really interesting, which I'm sure paul will be more thrilled by. - mig
[2014-07-11 20:04:54] - bosh stays with the heat? seriously? I guess the money is better but Houston seemed like a perfect situation for him. - mig
[2014-07-11 13:31:40] - I'm thrilled LeBron is going back to Cleveland. It helps karmicly (is that a word? karmically?) fix the problem with the original decision, it helps balance out things in the Eastern Conference some, and it makes the off-season pretty interesting now to see where Bosh/Carmelo/Love/etc go. -Paul
[2014-07-11 12:40:28] - daniel: james is going to the cavs, officially. bosh to rockets should pretty much be a lock now. - mig
[2014-07-11 12:25:15] - people who are into the whole carbon offset thing can pretty meticulously measure their own carbon footprint. I do wonder if at some point the EPA will become the "IRS" for people's carbon footprints. - mig
[2014-07-11 12:22:18] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/11/the-war-on-meat-will-make-the-war-on-coa I'll fully admit that a war on meat seems to head into silly paranoia territory but I do wonder about some other things the study could eventually lead to. - mig
[2014-07-11 10:58:14] - i'm at the beach sunday, sorry p funk. ~a
[2014-07-11 10:56:16] - By the way, we're still short a few people for being able to have frisbee this weekend, in case anybody here wants to reply to the invite.
-Paul[2014-07-11 10:47:20] - paul: somebody has to decide what funds to pick. for some reason, more options isn't better? people don't like too much choice? i think it's dumb, but that's psychology for you. ~a
[2014-07-11 10:35:15] - Daniel: I didn't even know such a committee existed at companies.
-Paul[2014-07-11 10:22:15] - Paul: I got on the 401k committee at my company specifically so I could get more index funds in what was offered to us. -Daniel
[2014-07-11 09:53:06] - Daniel: Interesting. I think I've always had to put up with managed funds to invest 401(k) monies into foreign markets. It's the main reason why my 401(k) (unfortunately) isn't primarily invested in index funds. -Paul
[2014-07-11 09:45:23] - -Daniel
[2014-07-11 09:45:21] - Paul: I am able to put $ into foreign based index funds in my 401k. Target Dates funds that aren't index based do share some of the same problems as actively managed funds. However those are "better" problems to have than having 70% of your 401k in municipal bonds and 30% in real estate or something wacky so it does help people that are just shooting in the dark.
[2014-07-11 09:36:46] - a: Yeah, although I was still contributing up until a few years ago. Either way, it's still a guess regarding it's performance, and I know that I definitely outperformed the S&P500 during stretches (thanks to my volatile 3d printing stocks). -Paul
[2014-07-11 09:35:35] - http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-07-11/cynk-halted-after-no-member-network-s-surge-from-pennies I have no idea why the shorts aren't just crushing this stock... -Paul
[2014-07-11 09:28:38] - "I am actually not legally allowed to contribute to my RothIRA anymore (which is the money that I invest myself)" ahh, that's the thing . . . you have a "basket" that you can't add to anymore. i have one or two of those, so i guess i could look at them, but really i would like to look at all of the baskets (including ones that i can add money to) ~a
[2014-07-11 09:24:41] - Daniel: Also, as much as I agree with index funds being the right call, how do you deal with diversification in terms of exposure to foreign markets? I don't think I've ever had a 401(k) which has let me invest in foreign index funds... -Paul
[2014-07-11 09:23:41] - Daniel: Correct me if I'm wrong, but target date funds don't necessarily invest in index funds, right? Wouldn't they be subject to the same problems as other actively managed funds where the fees are high and the performance doesn't justify it? -Paul
[2014-07-11 09:22:53] - a: I am actually not legally allowed to contribute to my RothIRA anymore (which is the money that I invest myself), so I don't have any additional contributions to keep track of over the past few years. -Paul
[2014-07-11 09:22:11] - a: That's why I can only say, "I think I have largely under-performed". I haven't found any way to really compare an actively managed account like mine with an index like the S&P, so I just compare the percent increase of the whole portfolio over time vs the same percent increase of the S&P500 during that time. -Paul
[2014-07-11 09:17:56] - a: I answered on facebook, sorry for slow response. Target dates are ok, I like index better, target date is good for people who are to lazy / disinterested to ever manage their own stuff. -Daniel
[2014-07-10 18:28:29] - it is hard to do comparisons. you may not be a fool, you may have been too-aggressive for the down economies / not-aggressive-enough for the up economies. i'm actually more curious as to how you are calculating performance: do you use software to calculate this? i have so many buys and sells over so many systems that it's hard to compare to the s&p500. ~a
[2014-07-10 17:41:10] - adaniel: So I agree that index funds are pretty clearly the best way to go, but at the same time I have roughly a third of my retirement monies that I am actively managing myself. It's a little hard to do comparisons, but I think I have largely under-performed the S&P500 over the course of the past 8 years or so. Am I a fool? -Paul
[2014-07-10 17:30:40] - daniel: i couldn't agree more. what are your thoughts on index funds vs target-date funds? ~a
[2014-07-10 17:17:46] - Daniel: I figured Houston would match any offer, but I guess if they're holding out hope for Bosh... -Paul
[2014-07-10 16:47:03] - Paul: I hate my congressperson! -- Xpovos
[2014-07-10 16:41:43] - https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/article/indexing-myths-062014 Gogo index funds -Daniel
[2014-07-10 16:16:23] - Paul: I'm going to be a sad sad panda if Parsons is a Mav next year. And I've totally bought into the Bosh would be great for houston koolaid so I really really want LeBron to go to Cleveland now. -Daniel
[2014-07-10 15:45:45] - Also, note that "corporation" doesn't appear once in this text. So any legislation based on the powers granted in this amendment could apply to individuals as well as corporations. - mig
[2014-07-10 15:26:43] - a: maybe they can get around the concept of the amendment, but what about the amendment text? Ultimately that's what future sc justices will be going on. - mig
[2014-07-10 15:17:10] - a: America hates congress with a passion... and yet they keep re-electing the same people. They hate everybody else's congressmen, but not their own. -Paul
[2014-07-10 15:14:42] - well obviously it'll go nowhere. Still this is a bit of a hot topic on here so I wonder what people thought about this specific proposal. - mig
[2014-07-10 15:08:39] - paul: i obviously don't know if they'll get enough votes, but there are liberal and conservative members of congress that can get behind this. on the one hand, it can empty out their own pocketbooks. but, america hates congress. hates it with a passion. if i were a member of congress, i'd be thinking of ways of mitigating that intense and unpredictable rage. ~a
[2014-07-10 14:59:27] - mig: Oh, haha, somehow I completely missed that even though I clicked on your link and started reading. I can't see how they get enough votes to pass it, then. -Paul
[2014-07-10 14:58:23] - paul: this is a proposed constitutional amendment, not legislation. - mig
[2014-07-10 14:40:16] - mig: How is this going to pass muster with the SCOTUS? -Paul
[2014-07-10 14:39:45] - mig: My thoughts are that I don't care about the specifics of the bill, I just think the general idea of trying to restrict political speech is a bad idea and goes against the first amendment. -Paul
[2014-07-10 14:38:19] - Daniel: At least your team is already somewhat a contender and you're just looking for a piece to put you over the top. Some teams (*cough*theheat*cough*) might be falling apart entirely. -Paul
[2014-07-10 14:35:24] - https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/19/text here's the text of the "Citizen's United amendment". Thoughts? I personally think section 3 makes it incredibly problematic. What will be the definition of "press"? - mig
[2014-07-10 14:00:14] - NBA Free Agency is causing me stress. :LKSSDLKJ#$<MC -Daniel
[2014-07-10 13:32:52] - mmmm, you could write an chromecast app that would let people vote on things. but yeah, it'd be especially hard if it was something where you wanted to agree on which TVs would have their audio pumped up to the max. ~a
[2014-07-10 12:14:55] - mig: Wouldn't be a bad idea if each table had their own TV, maybe. -Paul
[2014-07-10 11:41:23] - I was thinking as I'm sitting in this restaurant, is how cool it would be if the TVs all had chromecasts that patrons could stream video to. There are too many potential problems for it to ever be a reality, however. But it'd be kind of cool to do impromptu barcrafts/pubstomps. - mig
[2014-07-10 11:33:32] - mig: But it's got an A+ rating!
-Paul[2014-07-10 11:29:06] - paul: absolutely not. - mig
[2014-07-10 10:25:42] - mig: Gonna go see it? -Paul
[2014-07-10 09:57:17] - yikes, Dinesh D'Souza's new movie is actually showing in theatre nearby work. - mig
[2014-07-09 11:55:46] - That would've been clever. I'm clearly far too tired to be clever.
-- Xpovos[2014-07-09 11:39:41] - Xpovos: You could blame it on your phone's auto-correct. I wouldn't know if you were typing on a phone or keyboard.
-Paul[2014-07-09 11:36:54] - Yeah. On. *sigh*. I'd blame my fatigue, but I'm no more tired today than I was earlier this week, and I was definitely more coherent then. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-09 11:34:34] - Xpovos: Turned... out? Do you mean turned off? I think I always have them turned on (whichever the default is for web browsers). -Paul
[2014-07-09 11:13:33] - Paul: As long as you have cookies turned out.
-- Xpovos[2014-07-09 11:08:21] - Oh, wow. I just realized that (at least for some ads), I have control over whether they show up or not. There was an "X" in the corner that I could click on and ask for it not to be shown again. Sweet. -Paul
[2014-07-09 11:01:10] - mig: But like I said before, sports is more fun when you get emotionally invested, and it's just as easy to hate a team as root for another, and the Heat have done a lot of things to make it easy to sports-hate them. It's like rooting against Apollo Creed or the Russian hockey team.
-Paul[2014-07-09 10:59:40] - mig: Yeah, and I guess that's the difference. I "hate" LeBron James in the same way I "hate" the Yankees. It's sports-hate. It's nothing actually personal against the players or the organization. I actually kind of like Chris Bosh as a player and James seems like a pretty nice guy. -Paul
[2014-07-09 10:28:47] - paul: I take no issue with people rooting against him or even rootin for him to fail, even. My issue is with people whining that he's doing some sort of obscene attocity against the nba for merely wanting to put himself in the best position to win. - mig
[2014-07-09 10:27:37] - mig: Honestly, loyalty to franchises makes being a fan easier. Sports are fun when you can love your team and "hate" the opposition. It's harder when players switch teams so often. I loved the Celtics and hated the Lakers, so how was I supposed to feel when Boston signed Shaq? -Paul
[2014-07-09 10:25:38] - Mig: Versus rooting for pretty much any other team, where they draft smartly and develop talent and carefully manage the cap and sigh smart free agents? Yeah, I'm going to probably root for the other teams. I think it's cool that Dirk has stayed with his franchise for his entire career and I'll root for that over mercenary behavior any day. -Paul
[2014-07-09 10:24:59] - paul: I've mellowed out on the Yankees considerably over the years. - mig
[2014-07-09 10:24:19] - mig: And also, I still don't see what's so crazy about wanting LeBron James to lose. In order for him to win, another team (in fact, every other team in the league) must lose. I don't really wish him ill-will, but given the choice of rooting for a team where a bunch of super-stars got together to try to unbalance the system... -Paul
[2014-07-09 10:21:47] - mig: Okay, let me try another track... Don't you hate the Yankees? If so, why? -Paul
[2014-07-09 10:18:58] - paul: Heaven forbid an athlete try to put himself in a better position to win! For shame! - mig
[2014-07-09 10:18:35] - mig: (Yes, that was about 90% a joke). -Paul
[2014-07-09 10:18:22] - mig: Loyalty to a franchise is only part of it. I love it when players stick with their franchise, but I don't necessarily blame them if they go. The bigger issue for me is the forming of the super team. What if Neymar decides his talents are wasted on Brazil and decides to join Germany for the next World Cup?
-Paul[2014-07-09 10:16:14] - mig: Although I fully admit that this position is a little harder to defend. I just think him going back to Cleveland would "fix" some of the wrongs of the decision, even if he would essentially be doing the same thing he did before. -Paul
[2014-07-09 10:15:06] - mig: For being a mercenary and jumping around to whatever team he thinks would give him the best chance of winning (even though he might be doing that again with a move to Cleveland) and for breaking Cleveland's heart with "The Decision". -Paul
[2014-07-09 10:14:37] - I honeslt get really annoyed from this silly demand of "loyalty" to a franchise. Just what did this loyalty get KG, Iverson, or Tmac? We all bemoan that wasted potential but would probably scold them if they bolted for better situations sooner than they did. - mig
[2014-07-09 10:11:03] - paul: forgive him for what exactly? Not wanting to waste his prime years playing for a dump of a franchise? - mig
[2014-07-08 15:19:30] - mig: Going back to something we talked about previously, if LeBron somehow goes back to Cleveland, I actually think I would "forgive" him for the past 4 years or so and no longer root against him so much. -Paul
[2014-07-08 12:25:06] - mig: I'm more afraid of what my daughter might do if I don't read to her, rather than getting fined.
-Paul[2014-07-08 12:24:19] - a: Interesting. I installed the app and everything and it doesn't LOOK like it supports gift cards right now, but I'm also totally new to it. -Paul
[2014-07-08 11:59:03] - mig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzr6wk7FVXE 'bout sums it up. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-08 11:50:08] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/08/britain-parents-who-dont-read-to-their-k thoughts from the parents here? - mig
[2014-07-08 11:47:31] - If they have a trademark, they should totally sue the Islamic state.
-- Xpovos[2014-07-08 11:37:36] - this would be a major boon for me if isis would let me use gift cards more easily at stores via nfc. some of the stakeholders in isis probably really want giftcards (the stores) and some of them don't want giftcards (the banks / credit companies). ~a
[2014-07-08 11:35:43] - interesting. so i installed to see if i had a compatible card (i do not). but more importantly to me, i wanted to find out this: does the app support gift cards? see . . . here's the thing. i use gift cards a *lot*. a lot a lot. because bitcoin. and the stupid scanners at most stores have trouble reading the bar-codes off my phone. ~a
[2014-07-08 11:00:06] - a: I appear to have one, since the app didn't throw an error. I have a Droid Maxx, which I got within the past 6 months or so (I think). Didn't have to get a replacement card. -Paul
[2014-07-08 10:56:09] - paul: you have a compatible sim card? how long ago did you get your card? (how long ago did you get your phone?) ~a
[2014-07-08 10:48:34] - a: Oh, sorry, I just assumed. -Paul
[2014-07-08 10:48:16] - Also, if anybody wants a referral to ISIS (have to have a compatible phone), let me know and hopefully I can hook you (and me) up with a $10 amazon gift card.
-Paul[2014-07-08 10:47:27] - oh that wasn't from me. but i agree. re-branding is a painful necessity. ~a
[2014-07-08 10:26:30] - a: Yeah, that kind of sucks for them that they need to re-brand now. -Paul
[2014-07-08 09:27:57] - http://www.mediaite.com/online/tech-company-isis-forced-to-change-name-due-to-unfortunate-association-with-terrorism/
[2014-07-07 18:22:05] - seems pretty cool. i love that companies are finally using NFC to do something fun with payments. apple is kind-of holding that back. ~a
[2014-07-07 16:48:12] - Does anybody here use ISIS (the payment system, not the Islamic republic)? I'm tempted to try it out, but I'm still a little iffy on the specifics of it. -Paul
[2014-07-06 20:49:26] - Man, double blood lust from the shammy. That's brutal. I just attacked for 28 damage in a turn. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 11:53:06] - Honestly, you should probably just ignore that particular comment from me, as it's almost tautological. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 11:52:47] - a: It wasn't a legal argument, but one of comparison. The arguments being used in both are of such a strongly similar nature, that clearly they have a common root. And that's not surprising because HL, etc are claiming one to be the other, so the roots would be most fitting. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 11:28:26] - "certain forms of contraception are morally equivalent to abortion" i'm not sure i agree also i'm not sure how you'd argue this legally. ~a
[2014-07-03 11:08:13] - The fact that so many of these arguments strongly resemble the arguments around abortion is telling, I think, that perhaps the Hobby Lobby people might have a point that certain forms of contraception are morally equivalent to abortion. Obviously, there are arguments against other forms of contraception as well, but those aren't abortion arguments. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 11:06:02] - But a lot of the people most upset about this ruling probably don't believe in (or at the very least, don't consider on a daily basis the importance of) humans HAVING souls. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 11:05:16] - I didn't even try to touch the soul. I think a soul is an innate part of being a human, but you can feel otherwise and still struggle to argue with the science of biology that the blastocyst is a unique human being. Now, if you think that human doesn't have a soul yet and so therefore it's OK... that's logically consistent. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 10:35:01] - paul: being serious, there's a much more apt m-w definition of soul: "the spiritual part of a person that is believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live forever" ~a
[2014-07-03 10:34:03] - nope. mostly tongue in cheek. my serious response is far more boring. ~a
[2014-07-03 10:29:56] - a: Can anything definitely "factual" be said about a concept like a soul, though? That's why I get a little uncomfortable with Jon Stewart's statement about Hobby Lobby being factual wrong (or whatever he said). -Paul
[2014-07-03 10:20:03] - one of m-w's definition of soul: "the ability of a person to feel kindness and sympathy for others, to appreciate beauty and art, etc."
i'm sure developmental psychologists would say that no 1-year-olds fit any part of this definition. ~a[2014-07-03 09:56:05] - That should be sufficient. Any questions? I'll stop posting a wall of text. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 09:55:25] - The plausibly viable option may make a lot of sense, but it opens up a lot of problematic logic in the post-birth world as well, because if innate rights are actually somehow contingent on viability, things like abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and other form of killings are logically consistent as well. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 09:54:10] - But biologically, those are distinct new human beings, albeit at an early stage of development. The question then comes down to when a human being gets the rights innate to being a human being? Is it when he becomes a human (fertilization) or is it when he becomes plausibly viable (implantation). -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 09:52:51] - So, many people these days ignore non-implanted blastocysts because the concept of something that is frequently discarded during normal biological processes, even if it's full of potential, being lost is impossible to rationalize. It can't be valuable, otherwise, look at the enormity of the millions of souls lost and humans killed through failure to implant naturally
[2014-07-03 09:51:33] - The result, though, is that a potentially viable human blastocyst is prevented from implanting through human interaction, rather than the natural selection that normally occurs. It may not have implanted, but it might, and we'll never know. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 09:49:42] - So, "Plan B" provides a short-term high does of progesterone, a pregnancy hormone, which leads the woman's body to believe it is already pregnant, which makes it significantly less receptive to additional implantation--as new implantation during pregnancy could be extremely dangerous to both pregnancies as well as the mother.
[2014-07-03 09:48:11] - We do understand some of the factors though. Some women are much more prone to implantation. Some are anti-prone leading to barrenness. One of the most important factors in determining the likelihood of implantation is the hormonal balance of the woman at the time of implantation, which can be 6-12 days after fertilization.
[2014-07-03 09:44:35] - A new life starts at fertilization. Not all fertilized eggs implant, and the either/or aspect of the definition of conception is in large part a result of our debate over this question for centuries--about as long as our science has understood it. The percentage of fertilized eggs that implant is unknown and probably unknowable.
[2014-07-03 09:42:55] - Conception is "the process of becoming pregnant involving fertilization or implantation or both". Fertilization is: "the process of union of two gametes whereby the somatic chromosome number is restored and the development of a new individual is initiated". Within those definitions, it should be pretty obvious as to what the problem is, actually, but I'll proceed.
[2014-07-03 09:39:39] - Before continuing, because the answer is technical, we have to have some definitions. I'll pull from Merriam-Webster. If you prefer a different one, and the definition is significantly altered, let me know, it shouldn't be. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-03 09:37:16] - Sorry, I wasn't available yesterday for the contraception question. I was helping a friend move. In related news: I HURT. -- Xpovos
[2014-07-02 14:02:59] - mig: Which is kinda why I thought it seemed a little unfair to say that Hobby Lobby's beliefs are factually incorrect. Again, I don't know much about the specifics, which is why I phrased it as an honest question. -Paul
[2014-07-02 13:59:48] - paul: there is still a raging devate whether the morning after pill affects fertilized eggs and seems to get rather technical (at what point is an egg considered fertilized?)- mig
[2014-07-02 13:59:45] - git GIT ***G. I. T.*** ~a
[2014-07-02 13:58:57] - i was like . . . i have no idea who that is. ~a
[2014-07-02 13:58:35] - yeah, i know. i'm floored. ~a
[2014-07-02 13:57:29] - a: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/07/famed-investor-tim-draper-wins-auction-of-silk-roads-29655-bitcoins/ Here's the person who won the auction. -Paul
[2014-07-02 13:23:40] - a: I kinda figured, which I find hilarious based on the position he took a few years ago on taxi medallions and how we totally needed them to keep taxis regulated since the taxi service around here sucks so much. -Paul
[2014-07-02 13:22:39] - a: http://www.cato.org/blog/uber-lyft-told-halt-operations-pittsburgh-0 How about a Cato link? This one actually outlines the different types of insurance Uber and Lyft offer. -Paul
[2014-07-02 13:20:41] - paul: I'm not familiar enough with the 4 contraceptives in question. Maybe andrew can chime in on that if he's around. - mig
[2014-07-02 13:18:13] - paul: plot twist, pierce loves uber. ~a
[2014-07-02 13:17:06] - a: Now we just need Pierce to chime in to make it feel like old times. -Paul
[2014-07-02 13:17:01] - still, posting a link to reason probably isn't the best way to get your point across
~a[2014-07-02 13:16:34] - yay, this time i didn't miss the uber discussion on fb. ~a
[2014-07-02 13:11:42] - mig: Hmmmm, okay. I guess none of the forms of contraception under debate for Hobby Lobby involved terminating fertilized eggs? -Paul
[2014-07-02 12:51:44] - paul: re ramons fb post. I just saw the relevent tds segment. "Contraception is not abortion that's a scientific fact," says Stewart. - mig
[2014-07-02 10:53:16] - probably. there's still $.1b in bitcoin that was confiscated by the gubment. ~a
[2014-07-02 10:45:39] - a: There is a next auction? -Paul
[2014-07-02 10:31:32] - paul: yes. want to buy some? . . . anyways, it looks like going halfsies to get a cheap bid would have been a huge waste of time and i was wrong about every aspect of how the auction would turn out. so that being said, my prediction for the next auction is now: i have no reason to believe that the next auction will be any different than this one. ~a
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