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[2015-01-02 13:51:18] - a: If not mention the 401k Lockheed lawsuit
-Daniel[2015-01-02 13:51:04] - a: Yeah thats not good. I got on the 401k committee at my company in order to get more index funds offered. You could email someone and ask what process there is to review / update funds offered by your 401k. Your company has a fiduciary obligation to not have shitty funds so should have some idea of what you are talking about. -Daniel
[2015-01-02 13:49:33] - Hedge funds are a subset of actively managed funds and I'm definitely with Buffet on this bet. Hedge funds in my head are pretty much a disaster of a choice. Regular actively managed funds are just a not a great idea. -Daniel
[2015-01-02 13:49:01] - daniel: yeah active vs passive is what i'm talking about. my company's 401k has 0 passively managed funds and 27 actively managed funds. all 27 of the funds have a more than 1%/year load. ~a
[2015-01-02 13:47:02] - daniel: no, not a managed account. a fund with fees greater than (say) .5%/year. long bet by warren buffet. market watch where he's winning. ~a
[2015-01-02 13:46:07] - a: If we mean mutual funds that are actively managed vs passively managed (tracking an index) then I am 100% in the camp of the passive index funds. -Daniel
[2015-01-02 13:42:12] - a: If this is the definition Buffet is using (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/managedaccount.asp) then I would agree its a bad idea since that is just paying someone to market time on your behalf which seems bad. Maybe you could have a managed account that just did index funds but then you are still just increasing your expenses for not much gain. -Daniel
[2015-01-02 13:39:41] - My investing principle is that people are not good at picking which stocks to invest in and when. Thus I think it would be better to be 100% in index funds. However I feel its more important for those that have none or very little in index funds for me to try and persuade. -Daniel
[2015-01-02 13:37:56] - a: If you have 90% of your stuff in index funds then you are probably more or less good. I would argue for 100% but I think that you are close enough that I wouldn't quibble to hard against doing random things with that 10% as long as you are informed about your choices. -Daniel
[2015-01-02 13:35:53] - a: For the Warren Buffet question do you mean actively managed funds? All mutual funds are managed in some capacity so I want to make sure I understand the question properly. -Daniel
[2015-01-02 13:32:24] - Sorry, I guess I didn't really mean "managed funds". My stuff is in a mix of index funds and managed funds (managed funds are mostly for foreign diversification). -Paul
[2015-01-02 13:31:12] - Odds are I won't beat the house (managed funds), but maybe I will, and at least I'll have some fun while doing it. -Paul
[2015-01-02 13:30:56] - I would estimate about 75% of my retirement funds (and probably 100% of Gurkie's) are in managed funds as well. I kind of see the retirement funds that I manage as gambling. -Paul
[2015-01-02 13:23:01] - daniel: while you're here, i read recently that warren buffet is against managed funds (balanced funds with a "high" load). i've heard you previously speak in favor of managed funds. thoughts on this? . . . my company's 401k doesn't have any low-load/no-load funds (everything is over 1%/year), and i'm not sure how i should go about fixing this. ~a
[2015-01-02 13:18:21] - daniel:
i was hoping you'd chime in. i actually have ~90% of my stuff in index funds (and other similar things). do you think 90% is not enough? ~a[2015-01-02 13:14:26] - Index funds! Boo market timing and individual stocks! -Daniel
[2015-01-02 13:08:41] - a: Yeah, I know. I just figured some might argue they are a retailer first. It was either that, or mention my 3D printing stocks or LinkedIn (which I actually think I might sell soon). -Paul
[2015-01-02 13:05:58] - haha, no amazon is very tech heavy what with their aws and whotnot. i'll check out bofi and dis though, thanks! ~a
[2015-01-02 12:53:54] - a: I'm a little tech heavy at the moment. The companies that I own stock in which are less tech-centric are: Disney (DIS), Bank of the Internet (BOFI) and arguably Amazon (AMZN). -Paul
[2015-01-02 12:32:46] - paul/xpovos: what non-technical companies are you invested in? i sold some of my GLW recently, and i'm looking for some non-tech companies to reinvest the money with. ~a
[2015-01-02 12:21:53] - Paul: It's teenage paranormal romance fantasy. Of course there's needless drama, that's pretty much the entire point. -- Xpovos
[2015-01-02 12:16:17] - Aaron: Yes! It was everything it claimed to be as well. -Paul
[2015-01-02 12:16:04] - Xpovos: Based on everything I know about Twilight (which is remarkably little), then yes, I am team Jacob. Seems like there is a lot less needless drama there. -Paul
[2015-01-02 11:13:27] - paul: http://laist.com/2014/12/13/update_30000_people_really_did_buy.php wait, did you really order poop off the internet?! i saw this box in your house... - aaron
[2015-01-02 11:01:32] - Spoiler alert, Paul's Team Jacob. -- Xpovos
[2015-01-02 10:53:29] - aaron: Wow. Major obsession with "Twilight". Okay. Thanks for the clarification. -Paul
[2015-01-02 10:35:41] - paul: sorry, the game i was describing was "Eclipse". Twilight Struggle is the game from the boardgamegeek article. Twilight Imperium is another different 4X space game, which i haven't played - aaron
[2015-01-02 10:23:49] - aaron: Okay, so that's Twilight Imperium and the game from the boardgamegeek article was Twilight Struggle? Sounds good. Maybe after we open our copy of Mage Wars, I'll look into both of them.
-Paul[2015-01-02 10:04:51] - paul: lose against ships with missiles because missiles do more damage. so there's also a bit of a rock-paper-scissors element to the all-out arms race. and of course there's diplomacy and formal alliances (allying is a gameplay mechanic, not just an informal agreement). the only downside is the game takes about 2-6 hours depending on player count/player speed - aaron
[2015-01-02 10:02:49] - paul: but like a traditional 4x game there's always a reason to do both. you want to explore to develop your economy, but someone who goes all out economy will get taken over by someone with better military. you can research good missiles, but they'll get stopped by ships with shields. shields will get gradually overpowered by lasers, but ships with lasers will - aaro
[2015-01-02 10:01:01] - paul: the game looks like this, everyone starts in their own corner of the galaxy. on your turn you get 3 or more actions, you can use them to explore outer space, colonize new planets, research new technology, design new ships, build new fleets or attack enemies - aaron
[2015-01-02 09:26:41] - a: The article mentions Firaxis too, which is a kick-ass video game company that is based in Maryland. I'm constantly surprised that Sid Meier's stomping grounds are so close, and I really feel like I should visit their place some time (apparently there is a Firaxicon). -Paul
[2015-01-02 09:24:55] - aaron: Is that the game you were talking to me about NYE before a kid distracted me? That DOES sound like a game I would enjoy. -Paul
[2015-01-01 01:35:54] - a: To answer the question specifically, yes. But the game is new to me, so awesome. -- Xpovos
[2014-12-31 17:32:07] - daniel: i WOULD think it's more likely for them to get started in europe, just because they're less lawsuit happy... but google's an american company, and they've been exclusively test driving them in the US... so i'm really not sure! - aaron
[2014-12-31 16:24:13] - aaron: Self driving cars was my first thought. I could see them catching on fairly quickly if any gov agencies give them a blessing. (also first post in a long time woo!) -Daniel
[2014-12-31 13:51:40] - a: i've heard a lot about twilight struggle, i always get it confused with twilight imperium. i think paul would really enjoy both - aaron
[2014-12-31 13:44:11] - the best board game according to boardgamegeek was designed in columbia, maryland. isn't that where travis and faith live? ~a
[2014-12-31 13:32:40] - on the other hand, tipping somebody who doesn't already accept btc less than $5 seems like a dick move. in my opinion, you'll see less of that in the future. ~a
[2014-12-31 13:23:34] - a: ha ha ha. i got like $0.0001 from a comment a few months ago, but you win. i guess it makes sense /r/bitcoin would give the best tips - aaron
[2014-12-31 12:49:13] - wow, wtf. internet people just gave me $6 for posting this thing. ~a
[2014-12-30 16:50:25] - http://i.imgur.com/DfbtYP2.jpg
[2014-12-30 16:22:42] - NSA has VPNs in Vulcan death grip—no, really, that’s what they call it ~a
[2014-12-30 15:27:40] - xpovos: yeah, looking at the full list below, the following states are focused on specific kinds of porn: utah, virginia, oklahoma, michigan, and california. the first few i found were southern states so i was going to make some sort of point, but then i found michigan and california were also on the list. ~a
[2014-12-30 15:15:50] - Way to go, Utah. Porn capital again. -- Xpovos
[2014-12-30 14:41:07] - kansas? ~a
[2014-12-30 14:39:22] - ebola conspiracy? that's a thing? ~a
[2014-12-30 14:38:48] - "what is a selfie?" wtf ~a
[2014-12-30 14:38:22] - business insider: what did each state google this year? (compared to other states) ~a
[2014-12-30 14:14:53] - a: I did.
-- Xpovos[2014-12-30 13:56:45] - http://www.montulli.org/theoriginofthe%3Cblink%3Etag the origins of the <blink> tag - aaron
[2014-12-30 12:12:17] - iow, paul krugman can't predict shit. ~a
[2014-12-30 12:11:48] - xpovos:
that's a nice coincidence. did you read my last link? ~a[2014-12-30 12:06:51] - Krugman interviewed by Ezra Klein? I'm going to hate this, and yet--Asimov? http://www.vox.com/2014/12/29/7458807/paul-krugman-economist -- Xpovos
[2014-12-29 10:02:02] - i think it's too late for driverless cars to catch on by 2020, but maybe i'm being pessimistic. i agree with adrian actually, i think decentralization or more specifically bitcoin/cryptocurrencies is a good contender. we'll see though, it's still a long way off from that "every household" tipping point - aaron
[2014-12-28 21:10:57] - I haven't given it much thought, but I think drones are a possibility. Also, maybe wearable technology like smart watches. I would love to say driver-less cars, but we might be too far away from that right now. -Paul
[2014-12-26 14:31:32] - I'll give 2020s to crypto-currencies. -- Xpovos
[2014-12-26 14:31:23] - I was thinking something like Wikipedia might be the 2010s thing. It was created in the naughts, but it's reached a whole new threshold in the teens. The vast availability of free, reasonably accurate, and growing information makes a lot of things possible that were impossible before. The fact that Wikipedia is not entirely centralized fits with a's assessment too.
[2014-12-26 12:34:35] - i also think 2015-2019 will bring us lots of new decentralized services: i.e. services that no person/company/interest/government can control once it has been deployed. ~a
[2014-12-26 12:31:25] - aaron: i've thought about it and i'll say 2010s (will have) brought us: decentralization. torrents, tor, virtualization, user-driven-content: all help and are helped-by decentralization. ~a
[2014-12-26 12:22:30] - aaron: if you want my predictions anyways, i can give them to you but i don't think you'll like them
~a[2014-12-26 12:20:09] - i think you have to wait until at least 2021 or so to see the decade with nearly as much clarity as we have for the 80s and 90s today. ~a
[2014-12-26 12:19:59] - aaron: it's very hard to judge these things in the present day. i doubt in 1984, we could have predicted that 1980s=PC. i doubt in 1994, we could have predicted that 1990s=internet. hell, here's a popular economist in 1998. ~a
[2014-12-24 16:23:40] - and, do you think any of the other decades had a better landmark invention? obviously the internet was invented way before the 1990s but the 1990s is when it went from like, 1% of households to like 40% of households - aaron
[2014-12-24 16:22:35] - if i had to pick one invention per decade which changed US households, i'd say the 1980s brought us the PC, the 1990s brought us internet, 2000s brought us cell phones.... what do you will be "the invention" for the 2010s? - aaron
[2014-12-24 15:14:47] - I abstain. Of the 2014 releases, I only saw two. Neither was worthy of best picture nods (sorry Guardians and mig; also, more evidence for the "apparently xpovos is racist" line of argument). The ones I feel probably are worth considering I haven't seen at all yet, so I can't rightfully vote for them. -- Xpovos
[2014-12-24 09:41:18] - mig: it's got a basis in reality and statistics, and it makes sense that if you're going to prevent black people from giving blood, you should prevent gay people from giving blood as well. but yeah hopefully some day they'll reverse the policy, because more blood donations would be good for everybody - aaron
[2014-12-24 09:40:45] - mig: yeah, i personally disagree with the policy but i understand why it's in place. i don't know if it's fair to call it a "stereotype" any more than it's a stereotype that fat people have diabetes, or a stereotype that black people have aids - aaron
[2014-12-23 18:06:24] - www.politico.com/story/2014/12/fda-blood-donation-gay-men-113768.html?hp=l5_4 i suppose this is an improvement but it amazes me a very ugly stereotype that nonetheless has little basis in fact has such influence here. - mig
[2014-12-23 17:56:28] - a: i can't login to the wiki. my vot is for guardians and if you disagree you're racist. - mig
[2014-12-23 17:32:45] - paul/aaron: we need more nominations! tell mig/xpovos/gurkie/vinnie/amy/etc pls? ~a
[2014-12-23 14:49:01] - mig: I've been thoroughly enjoying it. I almost posted a link to his Rand Paul 2016 shirt with a comment that I wonder if that was his official announcement. -Paul
[2014-12-23 14:40:15] - http://www.mediaite.com/online/happy-festivus-here-are-rand-pauls-grievances/ rand paul's twitter rampage today is pretty great to read. - mig
[2014-12-23 12:56:00] - a: Hmmmm. Maybe. No. No. Sounds like it's worth a Netflix viewing at least! -Paul
[2014-12-23 12:53:12] - paul: if you didn't like snowpiercer then you won't like edge of tomorrow. (i'm mostly joking) it comes down to this: are you bad at ignoring minor plot holes? do you hate tom cruise? did you hate groundhog day? if any of those are true, you won't like edge of tomorrow. i have to say i LOVED it: it's at least worth a rental! ~a
[2014-12-23 12:48:49] - a: I want to see Edge of Tomorrow. It was good? Even if I wasn't enamored with Snowpiercer?
-Paul[2014-12-23 12:45:25] - a: oh, edge of tomorrow was good! i was trying to remember that one, i was like... "looper? no, looper wasn't this year..." - aaron
[2014-12-23 12:44:01] - aaron: there were a ton of great movies this year. the grand budapest hotel was a great kooky movie (my nomination also kooky). edge of tomorrow, snowpiercer, and interstellar were superbly executed sci-fis. all is lost, her, and boyhood were all very innovative. and i haven't seen it, but the imitation game looks good. you didn't see any of those movies? ~a
[2014-12-23 12:34:07] - paul: i'm not sure exactly, i haven't played any multiplayer except for doing the pass-and-play with someone on the iPad a few months ago. but yesterday, i saved and exited my campaign while i was in the middle of building a ship -- and when i restarted galaxy trucker, i was still in the middle of building the same ship! (in real-time mode) - aaron
[2014-12-23 12:31:31] - I only saw three movies in 2014. Horrible Bosses 2 was definitely not the best movie of 2014. I suppose if someone nominates the other movie I saw this year I'll vote for it
- aaron[2014-12-23 12:28:57] - Aaron: For the turn-based, can you take, like, hours between turns? Finding hours to sit down and play Galaxy Trucker is hard to do, but if I could take a few turns during my lunch break, or a few turns in the evening, or a few turns while driving to work (kidding!), that would be cool. -Paul
[2014-12-23 12:24:34] - paul: It is only the base game for now. There are two multiplayer modes -- a real-time mode and a turn-based mode. The turn-based mode is innovative. You get a few action points to spend each turn, so you might reveal 2 new tiles and add 4 parts to your ship, or you might look at 2 stacks of adventure cards, and reserve 2 parts for later - aaron
[2014-12-23 11:53:28] - hmm, ok! one nomination as usual, please. this year, you also vote for two movies under the "Votes" section (presumably your nomination can be one of them). feel free to change your votes any time and you can wait for nominations to roll in before voting if you want. the BEST MOVIE of 2014. ~a
[2014-12-23 11:32:22] - a: When does the voting for best movie of 2014 start? -Paul
[2014-12-23 10:35:37] - http://www.cbsnews.com/news/justin-lin-to-direct-star-trek-3/ I guess he's a good fit for the new-style Star Trek, but I feel like this just solidifies that the new movies will be very different tonally from the originals. -Paul
[2014-12-23 09:53:28] - aaron: Yeah... I can see that being an issue. Is it just the base game for now? How does multiplayer work? Do you need to sit down for one long sitting to play the entire game? -Paul
[2014-12-23 09:51:10] - paul: but the UI is very forgiving. if you grab the wrong tile, you can just put it back. if you put the tile in the wrong place, you can just pull it off your ship. just like in the real rules, you're allowed to mess with or remove the last piece you've placed, as long as you haven't looked at any other pieces. plus it's only 3 bucks right now! - aaron
[2014-12-23 09:49:32] - paul: yeah i played it for like... five hours on my 5" galaxy S5, the worst thing is that the pool of tiles looks like this so sometimes it's hard to see what's available or grab at them accurately, - aaron
[2014-12-23 09:45:49] - a: very cool article. i agree with the author on all the points he raised about the car, it'll be great to have around and even if it's severely restricted for the moment it's going to change some people's lives - aaron
[2014-12-23 09:40:51] - aaron: Really? It works on a phone? I would consider giving it a try on a tablet, but I figured my 7" Nexus would be the smallest screen I would consider. -Paul
[2014-12-23 09:40:04] - a: I see a lot of that with Uber right now. Any time anything bad happens and it involves an Uber driver (even if they're not currently "on the clock"), it's a sensationalized news story. Uber driver rapes woman! Uber driver hits a kid! -Paul
[2014-12-23 09:38:33] - a: I'm totally on board with #5, but I also totally fear this part of #6: "Even if in a few years self-driving cars are proven to be ten times safer than human-operated cars, all it’s going to take is one tragic accident and the public is going to lose their minds." -Paul
[2014-12-23 09:38:07] - like a mission where you have to protect other unarmed ships from pirates and smugglers, missions with certain kinds of dangerous cargo, or missions which focus on certain adventure cards. it's really varied and engaging - aaron
[2014-12-23 09:37:54] - policy is behind the recovery. - mig
[2014-12-23 09:37:48] - paul: what's interesting is the economy seems to be starting to make sort of a recovery without any sort of "new deal" type government plan. It's hard to both complain about government doing "nothing" and then claim government
[2014-12-23 09:35:40] - the galaxy trucker android/iphone app is really fun if you like galaxy trucker! it works amazingly well on a tiny screen, the AI is great, and it's got a campaign mode where you have to build different kinds of ships and fulfill different challenges... - aaron
[2014-12-22 21:31:08] - lots of text, but funny. ~a
[2014-12-22 21:29:28] - ". . . I got the impression that it’s more likely to annoy other drivers than to harm them. Google can adjust the level of aggression in the software, and the self-driving prototypes currently tooling around Mountain View are throttled to act like nervous student drivers" google self driving car. ~a
[2014-12-22 13:07:21] - http://www.cato.org/blog/worst-congress-ever-you-must-be-kidding A reminder that "least productive" is far different from "worst". Sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something just for the sake of doing something. -Paul
[2014-12-22 11:08:54] - mig: Eh, I think the completely blew it up long ago, when the traded Pierce and Garnett to Brooklyn. I think they were hoping they could build a new contender around Rondo, but for whatever reason it didn't work out. -Paul
[2014-12-22 10:58:34] - paul: what to make of the Celtics now? Looks like they've finally completely blown it up. Still kind of weird that Rondo was the last to get jettisoned from the team. - mig
[2014-12-22 10:21:58] - aaron: i'm not sure they are rolling their own, though. reddit notes will be based on bits either directly or indirectly: it'll probably be similar to a colored coin which uses the blockchain to hold data. ~a
[2014-12-22 10:20:43] - aaron: yes, i agree a centralized solution means we don't see as many useless comments: i hate the tipbots. ~a
[2014-12-22 10:16:10] - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.czechgames.galaxytrucker (galaxy trucker) - aaron
[2014-12-22 10:16:04] - galaxy trucker is now available on android and iphone... i've got no idea how the shipbuilding works on such a tiny screen! - aaron
[2014-12-22 10:04:06] - a: seems cool, there's been a lot of bitcoin/dogecoin tipbots and i like the idea of a centralized solution to that problem. but, i kind of wish they had just piggybacked it on an existing digital currency instead of rolling their own - aaron
[2014-12-22 09:57:22] - mig: ha ha cute - aaron
[2014-12-20 17:50:06] - https://www.facebook.com/CampaignforLiberty/photos/a.10150287871494614.352904.15271979613/10152945480674614/?type=1 this is good for a cheap chuckle. - mig
[2014-12-19 17:46:29] - aaron: any thoughts on reddit notes? ~a
[2014-12-19 16:39:13] - a: Thanks. Don't have hulu plus, but I'll try comedycentral.com at some point. Heck, they might just re-show it on their actual channel sometime, right? -Paul
[2014-12-19 16:24:38] - if you don't have hulu plus it's probably free on comedycentral.com. ~a
[2014-12-19 16:24:13] - hulu plus on chromecast. that's what i'm doing tonight. ~a
[2014-12-19 16:23:59] - hulu plus. ~a
[2014-12-19 16:09:43] - What's the best way to catch the final Colbert Report? I forgot to DVR it (hard to believe, but I actually didn't realize it was last night). -Paul
[2014-12-19 15:50:38] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/12/19/drop-comedy-bombs-not-real-bombs-why-not Also a good idea. -Paul
[2014-12-19 15:23:52] - a: The most I heard is that Sony was "okay" with the major theaters dropping it. I guess meaning they didn't fight it. Wouldn't be surprised if they were the cause, though. -Paul
[2014-12-19 15:09:02] - the order does matter too. if sony was the impetus, then the sony internal data being released could have been related. ~a
[2014-12-19 15:06:50] - there is a rumor that sony was the impetus of the theaters pulling the movie: instead of the other way around. i don't have a source . . . did you guys hear this? ~a
[2014-12-19 11:33:07] - Tony Kornheiser had a good idea: Why doesn't Sony just release the movie over pay-per-view for $5 or something? They would probably make serious amounts of money that way, and it would completely negate the ability to have a terrorist attack on a movie theater. -Paul
[2014-12-18 17:16:41] - aaron: Yeah, I saw. There was a tweet (only half sarcastically, I think) wondering when Netflix was going to pull Team America from their streaming list. -Paul
[2014-12-18 17:15:09] - paul: did you hear about paramount cancelling team america screenings? i'm not making this up
- aaron[2014-12-18 12:05:34] - paul: I did. - mig
[2014-12-18 11:36:07] - mig: Did you hear about the Texas movie theater that decided to show Team America in the place of The Interview? -Paul
[2014-12-18 11:31:29] - paul: it's just weird that *this* is the movie that causes "north korea" to lose their shit and not something like Team America World Police. - mig
[2014-12-18 10:17:14] - mig: I'm disappointed that Sony and the movie theater chains basically surrendered, but I also can't blame them too much. They were in a no win scenario. If anything had happened, they would've caught so much flack. -Paul
[2014-12-18 10:16:33] - mig: I think it's because Aurora happened and it would be relatively "easy" (versus, say, an actual military strike against the US) to have some suicidal lone wolf shoot up a movie theater. -Paul
[2014-12-18 10:13:20] - I'm still not sure why this "threat" from North Korea is being taken this seriously. They've had a long history of making ridiculous threats that they never follow up on. I'm beginning to wonder if Sony execs are worried there's more dirt that could have been released on them and are afraid of that. - mig
[2014-12-18 09:44:40] - Aaron: Yeah, I heard about it. You know it's because of the threats of violence against it, and how subsequently the top 5 movie theater chains said they weren't going to show it, right? -Paul
[2014-12-18 09:28:56] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Interview_%282014_film%29 did you guys hear about sony cancelling the theatrical release of "the interview"? i saw previews for it during horrible bosses 2, it looked mildly offensive but nothing over the top - aaron
[2014-12-17 12:46:51] - i fucking love github. seriously, before github, could you propose changes to public websites and have those changes seriously considered? what's more, have those changes implemented with a single click of a button? sheer craziness. ~a
[2014-12-17 12:10:28] - There hasn't been a Bush v. Clinton in 25 years. I doubt many people would be against that particular match-up. But there are probably a lot of people very anti-Bush and also very anti-Clinton just because of the concern of political dynasty families. -- Xpovos
[2014-12-17 10:41:14] - mig: Maybe? I could see some people getting really worked up to vote AGAINST the other candidate. I think lots of people see the name "Bush" or the name "Hillary" and just go into a rage.
-Paul[2014-12-17 10:27:19] - paul: do you think bush v clinton pt 2 would lead to the worst voter turnout ever? I can't imagine anyone getting excited about that. - mig
[2014-12-17 10:16:09] - and your violent skepticism of my claims is only adding to my trauma! - mig
[2014-12-17 10:07:50] - so, it doesn't matter that what's making me feel bad is legitimate or not. What matters is *I FEEL BAD* and that must be remedied. - mig
[2014-12-17 09:58:07] - a: sure it's bull. but I'm getting the vibe that f-e-e-l-i-n-g-s is more important than substance in these matters. - mig
[2014-12-17 09:43:33] - Anybody here got experience with cooking chicken in a crock pot? I'm going to try a recipe which basically involves chicken breasts and salsa but I thought I might try tossing in some veggies too. I just don't have any idea what would work. -Paul
[2014-12-16 14:23:44] - oh sure, and i agree with you. but your example about partial differentiation seemed like bull to me. ~a
[2014-12-16 14:17:00] - a: As I said before, if you were a family member or close friend of someone who was actually affected, sure I can buy that trauma as legitimate, otherwise I think the assumption that most of these people demanding relief are lazy bums just looking for an excuse out of their exams isn't that far off. - mig
[2014-12-16 14:04:34] - mig: "partial differentiation triggers traumatic memories" in this example, i assume you'd be lying about your memories. whining or not, at least some of the people who claim trauma aren't lying. ~a
[2014-12-16 14:00:37] - I wonder if I could get away with demanding special treatment in multivariable calculus because thinking about partial differentiation triggers traumatic memories. I think I probably could. - mig
[2014-12-16 13:47:58] - paul: that's the first I saw of it, and then saw that there were universities that actually caved into these ludicrous demands. - mig
[2014-12-16 13:46:52] - as a side note, were people in college always like this(trigger warnings, "tolerance", whiny demands, etc), and we just happened to miss out of that sort of nonsense at VT, or are these type of things relatively recent developments. - mig
[2014-12-16 13:46:01] - mig: You didn't see the reason article about the Oberlin professor who declined to delay exams, then? -Paul
[2014-12-16 13:40:20] - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/10/law-schools-exams-ferguson_n_6301282.html i just saw this today. Is this for real? Like seriously? I can sort of understand if you are a family member or close friend of someone who was actually affected by the non-indictments, but otherwise.... wow, this is really fucking sad and pathetic. - mig
[2014-12-16 12:04:26] - mig: I don't think any Democrats other than Hillary counts, honestly. I don't think her nomination is a foregone conclusion at all, but no other Democrats seem to poll well at all compared to her and the media has (justifiably) been touting her as the big front runner. -Paul
[2014-12-16 11:54:16] - paul: does jim webb count? - mig
[2014-12-16 11:54:06] - http://www.cnet.com/news/hearthstone-storms-onto-android-tablets-phone-version-incoming/ Hearthstone is available on android phones now, if people are still into that. -Paul
[2014-12-16 11:51:31] - http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jeb-bush-actively-explore-possibility-running-president/story?id=27633330 Jeb Bush is looking into running for President. I don't know why, but this feels like the official start to the 2016 campaign. Isn't he the first heavyweight to officially announce? -Paul
[2014-12-16 11:35:42] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-poll-finds-majority-of-americans-believe-torture-justified-after-911-attacks/2014/12/16/f6ee1208-847c- I'm a little surprised the public appears to approve of torture by this big of a margin. -Paul
[2014-12-15 15:01:55] - mig: Not sure. -Paul
[2014-12-15 11:54:48] - paul: is spain also the same country that originated that whole "right to be forgotten" nonsense? - mig
[2014-12-15 09:58:53] - paul:
- aaron[2014-12-15 09:39:59] - http://reason.com/blog/2014/12/15/force-google-news-to-stay-in-spain-newsp Irked by it's market dominance, Spain wants to force Google to pony up for news snippets in Google News. Google decides to remove News in Spain. Now Spain wants to force Google to bring News back. -Paul
[2014-12-15 09:28:53] - aaron: I used to call it National, now I usually call it Reagan National (although I do sometimes just shorten it to National). -Paul
[2014-12-14 22:56:00] - mig: "Aside from trusting Police Departments to strictly enforcing body camera policies I'm not sure what else to do to ensure bad cops don't tamper with them. - mig" Orlando Police Department . . . purposely withheld body cam video ~a
[2014-12-14 21:49:39] - from august Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows. ~a
[2014-12-12 21:48:35] - 97/2 Gahz'rilla! -- Xpovos
[2014-12-12 17:27:05] - aaron: when i was a kid, i called it national. hell, i still call it national. or DCA. but only because my dad wasn't a big fan of regan (the airport was renamed to this in the 90s). sometimes i call it regan national. ~a
[2014-12-12 17:24:04] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2014/12/11/the-d-c-airport-thats-not-dulles-or-bwi-what-do-you-call-it/ the D.C. airport that's not Dulles or BWI: what do you call it? I never even realized there were multiple options... - aaron
[2014-12-12 15:56:03] - the purple cards are hilarious, trying to draw "theory" or "loyalty" AND not getting it confused with "idea" or "selflessness", AND trying to guess someone else's card at the same time. i really want to try this game - aaron
[2014-12-12 15:54:22] - http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/review-pictomania/ pictomania is a drawing game where everybody's drawing and guessing simultaneously. also you only get one guess and everybody can see the answers - aaron
[2014-12-12 14:57:33] - we experienced something like #5 over here, but I'm not sure it had the desired effect. - mig
[2014-12-12 14:24:23] - https://imgur.com/a/gtHz5 "When your energy starts flagging, try jogging up and down the stairs a few times. It’ll restore your vigor and get the blood flowing back to your brain." ~a
[2014-12-12 12:33:48] - paul: it seems very similar to the situation with John Lannan. He's a good pitcher but the rotation is too crowded and the bullpen thing didn't work out too well (and he wasn't happy with the arragement). Probably for the best though I typically hate these player to be named later deals- mig
[2014-12-12 12:15:03] - sometimes i get a few % for using gift cards, but that's nothing compared to the annoyance of using gift cards and the volatility of bit/usd rate. ~a
[2014-12-12 12:12:55] - "To reward people who accept it?" this "Or is it cheaper sometimes?" only rarely, so no. ~a
[2014-12-12 11:35:46] - a: Any particular reason you pay with bitcoin instead of USD? To reward people who accept it? Or is it cheaper sometimes? I know I have seen some companies offer discounts for using bitcoins. -Paul
[2014-12-12 11:34:56] - mig: Yeah, Detwiler seemed to have fallen out of favor lately. I'm a little sad, since I thought he was a good 5th starter and bullpen piece, but he does appear fairly expendable. Hope they got something good back. -Paul
[2014-12-12 11:24:47] - paul: i think i can also pay for PSN (once i actually buy a ps4). ~a
[2014-12-12 11:03:12] - paul: i'm now paying for netflix, hulu plus, and amazon instant video with bits (via gift-cards, though) ~a
[2014-12-12 10:14:24] - Roark was really good last year and Jordan seems fine. I've never been a fan of Detwiler, he always seemed to underperform expectations. I'm not sure if the two minor-leaguers are enough, but that's inside baseball, so I'll leave it to the pros. Our GM team seems to be decent. Better than the Skins at least. -- Xpovos
[2014-12-12 09:36:34] - paul: ross detwiler will be traded to the Texas Rangers. I guess they're really putting their faith in Taylor Jordan and Tanner Roark. - mig
[2014-12-11 17:13:15] - a: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/12/11/you-can-now-pay-for-xbox-and-windows-content-with-bitcoin -Paul
[2014-12-10 14:41:10] - mig: That's an interesting take on the issue. A little more reasonable than I would expect of Bill O'Reilly, but then again, I really only know of him based on the criticisms of him. -Paul
[2014-12-10 10:45:21] - so I *think* he supports the report's release, provided the charges about the CIA lying are true, which is why he kept asking the republican congressman about whether he thought the CIA wasn't being honest with congress. - mig
[2014-12-10 10:09:34] - paul: he explicitly says he's in favor of the torture programs, but that if people broke laws doing it (including lying to congress) we should know about it. - mig
[2014-12-10 10:02:28] - mig: Sounds a lot like the people who were trying to claim Clapper didn't lie. Surprised it was Bill O'Reilly, though. Is he general against the torture programs? -Paul
[2014-12-10 09:49:05] - paul: Bill O'Reilly asks a republican congressman no less than 4 times to answer a simple yes/no: was congress misled by CIA on the nature of the torture programs. The dodges to the question get progressively sadder to watch. - mig
[2014-12-10 09:36:28] - Mig: Can't watch the video at work right now. Can I get a short description of what it's about? -Paul
[2014-12-10 09:36:03] - mig: I'll leave it to you. I feel like I made my point and am good with where I left things, and Ricky doesn't appear to have anything more to address to me. -Paul
[2014-12-09 21:51:33] - paul: which one of us should tell Ricky that Rand Paul and John McCain support the release of the torture report? - mig
[2014-12-09 21:45:30] - http://video.foxnews.com/v/3933226494001/america-the-torture-nation-/#sp=show-clips skip to around the 6:00 mark. It might be the most painful 3:00+ minute of tv you may ever see. - mig
[2014-12-09 17:16:12] - http://www.cato.org/blog/welcome-american-republic-william-windsor Thought this was an amusing, short article about the royals visiting America. Also heard a few jokes yesterday about how we fought two wars to get rid of British royalty, and now we get all excited when they come to visit. -Paul
[2014-12-09 15:43:46] - paul: it does. ~a
[2014-12-09 15:40:06] - Does libel have to be purposeful? Do we even know if she was aware that there was a Barry that fit her description? -Paul
[2014-12-09 14:56:03] - i believe that the law should come down hard on incorrect rape charges. but this is clearly not one of those cases. no formal charges brought. apparently, rape was only an insinuation. and it's not clear who she's even talking about. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:50:38] - mig: cya is exactly that, cya. you have cya so people can't sue you. what's more, libel has to be false. so he'd have to prove he didn't rape her? which . . . might actually be possible since she actually did admit that it was a different person. maybe reckless defamation?
~a[2014-12-09 14:43:47] - a: there certainly was a cya there with that notice, but it's not something that most people really look at it. To add some confusion though, it does say some, and in the book it is mentioned a few times when a name was changed explicitly in a footnote (in barry's case it was not). - mig
[2014-12-09 14:24:28] - but it seems like rules on which companies allow naked and the details vary. nasdaq nyse ~a
[2014-12-09 14:22:27] - paul: no. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:20:25] - mig: "Some names and identifying details have been changed" as clear as day, so i say no. but it would be nice if dunham could confirm that her barry != that other barry. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:20:03] - a: Can buyers tell if they are buying lended shares or nakedly sold shares? -Paul
[2014-12-09 14:17:44] - wow. that's fucked up. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:17:16] - "In naked short-selling, the trader sells the shares without properly borrowing the stock. When the stock isn’t properly borrowed, the buyer at the other end of that short-sale doesn’t get delivery of the shares within the mandated three-day window. The buyer also loses out on voting rights and tax-advantages until the short-seller closes out the position." ~a
[2014-12-09 14:16:45] - lenders lose their voting rights. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:11:16] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/12/08/lena-dunhams-publisher-says-her-alleged-rapist-barry-wasnt-actually-named-barry/ does this barry have a case for libel? - mig
[2014-12-09 14:08:46] - a: Yeah, I don't know. It's kind of crazy how it works because it feels like "stock inflation" where you could have more votes than units of stock floating around. -Paul
[2014-12-09 14:05:37] - i wonder how voting rights work. i guess lenders lose their voting rights. shit, i wonder if they do get money for this. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:04:30] - longer explanation, basically yes you were right. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:03:00] - if you have a short-seller, you potentially have created a new owner. because when somebody short-sells that creates a new buyer. you're probably right! ~a
[2014-12-09 14:02:18] - oh wait no. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:01:50] - as it is now, when a stock has a dividend, it probably goes from the company to the owners and short sellers not counting as owners. ~a
[2014-12-09 14:00:59] - a: Yeah, I don't quite fully understand how it works that you can sell something you don't have. At least when a stock DOES have a dividend, the short sellers have to pay that out of pocket, right? -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:59:51] - a: Yeah, I guess it's hard to say because there's rarely any definitive consensus when it comes to stocks. If a heavily shorted stock goes higher, that might prompt some short sellers to bail (driving it even higher), but it might also prompt MORE short sellers to jump onto what is perceived to be an even more overvalued stock. -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:58:56] - you could even have another market to determine the rental price. ~a
[2014-12-09 13:58:43] - anyways, i'm actually ok with the idea of non-naked-short-selling save one thing: you should have to pay rent. yes, you can borrow stock from the owners, because come on, the owners all think it's going up and a few extra sell orders shouldn't scare them: but this rental for free? wtf. pay the owners $$$/day/share. pay it out like a dividend. ~a
[2014-12-09 13:55:14] - "won't it just bounce the stock back up to where it theoretically should've been all along" i don't think you could know one way or the other. (assuming it is over-valued and this is a bubble, they short-bought at a more insane price than they short-sold. that doesn't prove that the value would have been higher or lower with them not being there though). ~a
[2014-12-09 13:53:57] - a: So I guess the drop might be sharper, but maybe there is a softer landing? -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:53:25] - a: For worsening a crash... Do short sellers often sell a crashing stock? I guess it would appear to be "safe" money, but the upside also seems like it wouldn't quite be there. Even if they did, though, they eventually have to buy those shares back, right? -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:51:03] - a: Ah, okay. So a short-squeeze? Well, if short sellers are wrong about a stock, then they would be artificially keeping it low, right? So when they're proven wrong, won't it just bounce the stock back up to where it theoretically should've been all along? -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:42:17] - *worsen crashes* when a stock is in the process of crashing, they can initiate a short-sale making it crash "harder"? ~a
[2014-12-09 13:41:46] - no, that's not it. *worsen bubbles* when short sellers are wrong, or when an overvalued stock becomes more over valued, their short-sale is called and a buy order is reached. so now this thing that apparently was over-valued will become more-over-valued. ~a
[2014-12-09 13:40:53] - a: For the record, I'm not sure I'm 100% on board with all of this. It's something I read about and it made sense, but I don't have strong feelings one way or the other. -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:40:19] - a: As for efficiently getting money to the people who can efficiently use it, I would guess the best way of doing that is making sure the market is accurately valuing companies. I don't know if I understand how they're "sapping" value. -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:39:11] - a: Why do you think they'll worsen bubbles and crashes? Once a stock gets low enough, the short sellers will mostly go away, as the potential profits wouldn't be worth it. -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:38:59] - "stronger correlation of stock price to how valuable a company actually is" interesting. i think now i i agree with that goal and the solution, but i'm still worried they create more problems than they solve. ~a
[2014-12-09 13:37:51] - ok i agree unbridled-optimisms and bubbles are bad. but i'm now taking the position that short-positions don't help the problem. if anything, they will worsen bubbles and worsen their crashes. also, they go contrary to the point of the market: efficiently getting money to people who can efficiently use it. they're like a middleman sapping from the transansansaction ~a
[2014-12-09 13:35:04] - a: It "seems" like it should be better to have a market where things are less volatile and there is a stronger correlation of stock price to how valuable a company actually is. -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:34:23] - a: I think the argument would be that short selling would "lessen" bubbles (make them less likely and decrease the severity). Is that true? I thought there was some research indicating it was, but I'm not sure. Is that good? I don't know. -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:33:08] - a: 1. Right, but you can only sell a stock that you own. Anybody can buy a stock. Short selling extends the ability of anybody to sell a stock, so the sides are "balanced", if you will. 2. I guess I would point to the housing bubble as an example of the perils of unbridled optimism. -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:28:40] - paul: 1. people who believe it will go down always have the option to sell it. like . . . normal selling. if the optimism gets unbridled as you say, then you'll get people who regular-sell. 2. what's wrong with unbridled optimism? if the price gets out-of-whack, why is that bad? maybe . . . you're saying short-selling lessens bubbles? i don't think i agree ~a
[2014-12-09 13:24:38] - a: The theory that I've heard is that it helps keep unbridled optimism regarding a stock in check. Without short selling, there's no way outside of options to express your opinion on a stock going down, whereas people who believe it'll go up always have the option to buy it. -Paul
[2014-12-09 13:21:54] - i asked this question to google, and it didn't know. i'll ask here: how does short selling help the market? i have a few theories but none of the seem to work out in practice. ~a
[2014-12-09 13:08:28] - Helluva day for government transparency. Senate torture report is released detailing how the government lied about what they were doing and how effective it was, and the same time Jonathan Gruber is being grilled about how the government had to lie about Obamacare to make it palatable to the people. -Paul
[2014-12-09 12:07:56] - http://imgur.com/tQp5Kl2 this comes with refrigerators you buy from ikea, to tell you how refrigerators are supposed to sound - aaron
[2014-12-09 11:41:04] - a: My world makes sense again.
-Paul[2014-12-09 11:19:29] - paul: in some ways they did overpay. they ended up paying 1000 bits ($.35). this was probably much higher than they needed to pay for a transaction of this size. they probably could have gotten away with paying as low as 100 bits ($.04). ~a
[2014-12-09 10:56:28] - a: Surprised the government didn't find a way to overpay.
-Paul[2014-12-09 10:53:51] - yup. ~a
[2014-12-09 09:40:41] - a: Is that from the auction of seized bitcoins? -Paul
[2014-12-09 02:09:09] - ha ~a
[2014-12-09 01:38:29] - the US government just spent $0.35 to transfer $35million among ten companies instantly. how much would a bank have charged? ~a
[2014-12-08 16:42:35] - mig: Having said all that, I'm not hugely against the change, or even think it's bad. I just don't think it has improved things as much (or at all) like the BCS bashers claimed would happen. -Paul
[2014-12-08 16:41:50] - mig: Is the new system better or worse? I have no idea. It'll likely take a few more years for a bigger sample size to say. Best I can say is it's different. Maybe we'll get two more compelling games from the playoffs, but, like I already said, we've lost the luster on some regular season games to even it out. -Paul
[2014-12-08 16:39:30] - mig: It's even partially the case in the NFL. Big games are hyped up primarily because they might be previews of the Super Bowl or something like that. When it all comes down to it, very few games in the regular season are hugely important. -Paul
[2014-12-08 16:37:30] - mig: Lots of people don't care at all about regular season basketball because there are so many games that any individual one often doesn't make a difference. There's even a perception that players often take games off (a definite reality with the Spurs). -Paul
[2014-12-08 16:36:17] - mig: I agree it happened before, but it's roughly twice as likely to happen now (maybe not, I don't know what the probabilities are like, but it's at least much more likely). You don't understand why regular season games being less important is bad? I would point to basketball and baseball as examples. -Paul
[2014-12-08 16:31:30] - paul: I guess my question is to you - is this new system as a whole, better, than the old system? - mig
[2014-12-08 16:30:18] - paul: I guess I just don't see why any of what you mentioned is "bad". And some of the things you mentioned (big games not "mattering" and the 2-loss team scenario) have already happened under the old system. - mig
[2014-12-08 14:13:25] - mig: http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2012/1/5/2684470/nfl-playoffs-2012-seeds-records-stats I'm not so sure if the seeding really matters a great deal. Keep in mind that the 1 and 2 seeds get a BYE (less games to play means less chances to lose) and the higher seeds are probably the better team to begin with anyway. -Paul
[2014-12-08 14:05:49] - seeding matters a great deal in the NFL (which has 12 teams making it). I don't see why it'd be any different for college if they moved up to 8 teams. - mig
[2014-12-08 13:52:00] - mig: Since both teams are making it into the playoffs. Georgia Tech upsets Georgia during rivalry week? It's fine, because they'll still squeak into the playoffs because they play in the "mighty" SEC. -Paul
[2014-12-08 13:50:47] - mig: But when the playoffs get expanded to 8 teams (and we all know it will), then two loss teams making it in will be more routine, and that's going to make a bunch of otherwise high-profile games almost pointless. Florida State and Miami both undefeated going into the ACC championship game? Nobody is going to care about the game. -Paul
[2014-12-08 13:48:53] - mig: I agree "so what" if it was just this specific game. But it's not just this specific game. All the regular season games involving top ranked teams have been devalued by a small amount. It's not a big deal now, since the number of teams making the playoffs is still small... -Paul
[2014-12-08 13:45:00] - 't matter. it just didn't matter as much as you think it should've. - mig
[2014-12-08 13:44:47] - and it's not like the game didn
[2014-12-08 13:32:17] - paul: I mean you're right about the VT/OSU thing, but ... so what? Was it any better when not only the 2003 Oklahoma/KSU from game didn't end up mattering at the end of the season, but everyone knew beforehand that mathematically, it didn't matter. - mig
[2014-12-08 13:24:28] - mig: Fair enough, I'm not saying it's 100% true that every week was a playoff before. But last year, the Ohio State loss to VT would've been absolutely huge, as it would've knocked them out of the running. This year? The game was ultimately meaningless beyond seeding purposes. -Paul
[2014-12-08 13:22:29] - paul: I don't really agree with that. There's been plenty of instances in the past to explode the whole BCS proponents' "every week is a playoff" myth. And I kind of liked that the committee didn't just pencil in FSU as #1 just because they were undefeated (even if I do find the ACC bashing lately to be really irritating). - mig
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