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[2015-02-26 13:01:28] - Aaron: Considering we know that at least some of those people in #2 probably didn't warrant deadly force being used, then maybe it's worth considering having the cops be a little less trigger happy and have the pendulum swing the other way. -Paul
[2015-02-26 12:59:26] - Aaron: And I think there are a number of statistics (including the article) which show that (1) it's actually pretty rare for a cop to be shot and killed in the line of duty and (2) cops shoot and kill a lot of people. -Paul
[2015-02-26 12:58:36] - Aaron: And the excuse that is often given to me about why cops seem to be so trigger happy in using deadly force is because it's such a dangerous job and they sometimes need to shoot first or else they'll be dead. -Paul
[2015-02-26 12:57:28] - aaron: I guess the ideal statistic would be zero to zero, but I get your point. I think I've been explaining myself poorly. The point is that we KNOW cops sometimes use deadly force when it appears to not be warranted (Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley, John Crawford III, John Geer, etc). -Paul
[2015-02-26 12:26:42] - a: ha ha ha
- aaron[2015-02-26 12:24:05] - a: well as long as cats and dogs aren't living together, that's not too bad. - mig
[2015-02-26 12:17:27] - Possession of marijuana is now legal in DC and it is utter chaos! ~a
[2015-02-26 12:04:32] - aaron: that's hard though, because police don't record these sort of statistics, as most of the stats we do have are compiled trudging through media reports on police shootings. And even in the cases where the person shot is a criminal there's still the question about whether the use of lethal force was excessive- mig
[2015-02-26 11:45:22] - i think the more relevant statistic would be something like -- how many innocent civilians are killed for every criminal cops kill, or something like that. we don't really care about casualties, we care about collateral damage, those are the kinds of stories that outrage people. - aaron
[2015-02-26 11:44:18] - this isn't war, where it's our trained troops against their trained troops. this is a trained team of heavily armed people with bulletproof vests against one or two disorganized criminals who are often taken by surprise - aaron
[2015-02-26 11:43:30] - shouldn't the statistic be pretty staggering though? i mean, what would be ideal -- 1 to 1? would it be good if 1 cop died for every 1 criminal cops killed? i would think the ideal would be something like a billion to one. - aaron
[2015-02-26 11:03:31] - a: yeah that statement was a little silly, though the rest of the article has quite a few points worthy of discussion. - mig
[2015-02-26 10:39:01] - "the 3 billion base pairs that comprise the human genome didn’t arrange themselves randomly?" sigh. ~a
[2015-02-26 10:29:41] - xpovos: http://thefederalist.com/2015/02/25/scott-walker-flap-shows-how-political-media-actively-loathe-christianity/ i'm guessing this is the context? - mig
[2015-02-26 10:20:17] - the militant atheists, anyways. - mig
[2015-02-26 10:18:23] - and it reminds me why I don't like associating with atheists. - mig
[2015-02-26 10:16:10] - xpovos: so i found the context of this, and boy is it really fucking bonkers. - mig
[2015-02-26 09:57:02] - daniel: the robots always find us. most of the time the robots are too stupid to get past my genius anti-spam filtering. (/s) ~a
[2015-02-26 09:35:06] - Lol did a robot find us? -Daniel
[2015-02-25 18:19:05] - xpovos: context? - mig
[2015-02-25 15:35:42] - Pish, it could've answered some tough questions. "The Office of the Governor in Wisconsin has no record of communications between Gov. Scott Walker and any deities, according to the office’s legal counsel." -- Xpovos
[2015-02-25 15:04:52] - it's a cherrypicked statistical comparison to give it greater effect, but at the same time, I do recall that the ratio of (people killed by cops) / (cops killed in the line of duty) is pretty staggering. - mig
[2015-02-25 13:53:37] - paul: ok. ~a
[2015-02-25 13:50:39] - a: Even if all 116 of those totally deserved it (unlikely), then it would indicate that cops are using deadly force judiciously, but it doesn't address the fact that it's relatively rare for cops to be shot and killed on the job. -Paul
[2015-02-25 13:48:58] - a: And I think the data speaks otherwise. Being a cop, while still more dangerous than many jobs, is relatively safe, especially considering how dangerous it is for other people to have run-ins with cops (whether warranted or not). -Paul
[2015-02-25 13:47:57] - a: I agree that's a worthwhile thing to know, but I don't know how pertinent it is to the point I was trying to make (at least). I hear a lot about how cops need to be granted leeway to do certain things because their job is so dangerous... -Paul
[2015-02-25 13:23:13] - paul: hmmm, i think you and the article are missing a key point. how many of those 116 deserved it? like what percent of the 116 were in a shootout with the cops? what percent of the 116 were trying to stab a cop with a knife? if you're in utah, and not pointing a gun at a human, are you still more likely to be shot and killed by a cop than a criminal? ~a
[2015-02-25 13:10:28] - a: I know there was one city (state? maybe Utah?) where you were more likely to be shot and killed by a cop than a criminal over the course of a year. -Paul
[2015-02-25 13:09:27] - a: Yeah, it's definitely handpicked, but even though we're only talking about 1/6th of the year, the numbers are still pretty glaring (not only 116-0, but also the only three cops to die by gunfire was from other cops). -Paul
[2015-02-25 12:06:22] - on the other hand, 116 to 0 is interesting i guess. ~a
[2015-02-25 12:05:51] - paul: this year? 2015? kind of a shitty sample set if you ask me. they only looked at like 30 days. if that were true for 2014, that would be an interesting statistic! ~a
[2015-02-25 11:52:57] - http://thefreethoughtproject.com/year-identified-cop-killers-cops/ "While 116 citizens have been killed at the hands of law enforcement thus far this year, the only shooting deaths of officers this year have all been attributed to fellow officers." -Paul
[2015-02-25 10:41:09] - http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/25/new-ducktales-animated-series-coming-to-disney-dx-in-2017 Maybe a cartoon I can watch with my kids.
-Paul[2015-02-25 08:31:17] - Or about to be legal. -Daniel
[2015-02-25 08:31:04] - aaron: I thought buying or selling was still illegal, it was possessing that was now legal. Maybe I'm wrong though. -Daniel
[2015-02-24 16:20:11] - aaron: purchasing = legal, selling = illegal. hmmm. ~a
[2015-02-24 16:19:33] - aaron: something will probably change before thursday. that's my guess. ~a
[2015-02-24 14:07:07] - paul: DC has traditionally avoided any sort of "M" or "R" rating for any of its properties (with some notable exceptions, like Watchmen), so I think it is a bit noteworthy. - mig
[2015-02-24 13:44:10] - mig: Doesn't seem like a huge deal to me. Aren't the Diablo games rated M? I'm a little surprised the Arkham games were only rated T previously. Some were fairly dark. -Paul
[2015-02-24 13:19:20] - it's odd though they don't explain in even general terms what the rating is for (usually they provide something like blood/gore alcohol/drugs/etc). - mig
[2015-02-24 13:16:54] - http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2015/02/24/batman-arkham-knight-earns-an-m-rating/ arkham knight earns an "M" rating. That's kind of crazy that one of DC's main franchises receives this kind of rating. But it looks like the developers didn't want to go back and "fix" whatever pushed it to "M". Kind of interesting. - mig
[2015-02-24 13:06:54] - http://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/2wwp8c/this_friday_it_is_expected_that_it_will/ this thursday at 12:01 a.m it will become legal to purchase or possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana in washington dc - aaron
[2015-02-24 10:00:20] - ha! that's horrible. i'm surprised he noticed the ads on facebook, though, my eyes skip past them now. ~a
[2015-02-23 19:03:04] - http://mysocialsherpa.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-my-roommate-with-targeted-facebook-ads/ pranking my roommate with targeted facebook ads - aaron
[2015-02-23 12:23:59] - paul: i'm not sure! it feels a little light for my usual gaming groups, i usually play crunchier games like Power Grid or Goa. but if i'm ever looking for a new party game, it's on my list - aaron
[2015-02-23 10:34:46] - paul: i really can't tell what is more bizarre, that Ripken is the center of this story, or how Zaun is glowingly remembering his abuse at Ripken's hands. - mig
[2015-02-23 10:29:20] - mig: I remember reading an article where some guy was talking (apparently approvingly) of the "practical joke" war he had with Tom Brady, but the way he told the story, it just made Brady seem like a giant jerk. Maybe professional athletes have different ideas of what's normal behavior... -Paul
[2015-02-23 10:28:28] - aaron: Sounds like a pretty good game. You going to get it? -Paul
[2015-02-23 09:46:00] - http://www.csindy.com/IndyBlog/archives/2015/02/21/why-snake-oil-kills-cards-against-humanity "we were left in tears when my stepdaughter tried to explain why something called a 'death tent' would be appealing to, of all people, a pregnant woman" - aaron
[2015-02-22 21:25:05] - http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/gregg-zaun-says-physical-abuse-from-cal-ripken-jr--kept-him-in-line-071143606.html this just in: cal ripken jr might have been a major abusive asshole. I'm curious to how the baseball world will respond to this. - mig
[2015-02-20 15:18:47] - http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/the-2015-springfield-nine--if--homer-at-the-bat--happened-today-190620081.html "The legendary baseball episode of "The Simpsons" titled "Homer at the Bat" turns 23 on Friday", aren't we all old now. - mig
[2015-02-20 13:21:46] - http://www.cato.org/blog/interventionist-wreckage-kosovo-libya Is there any military intervention in the past 40 years that has had a net positive effect? Hard to think of many. -Paul
[2015-02-20 10:25:49] - http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/please-stop-snowing#.abJjLDkmn Boston has been getting an insane amount of snow. -Paul
[2015-02-19 14:34:31] - paul: i'll agree that's definitely a statement worthy of criticism but there's been plenty of oxygen expended on tearing into Christie and Paul for saying specifically that vaccination shouldn't necessarily be mandatory. - mig
[2015-02-19 14:28:35] - mig: Yeah, it certainly seemed like manufactured hype, although I certainly admit Rand Paul did himself no favors at all when he even brought up "mental disorders" (or whatever he called it) in the same breath as vaccines. -Paul
[2015-02-19 13:15:58] - so, in short, I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE ARE YELLING ABOUT! - mig
[2015-02-19 13:08:42] - It seems they all agree on this point, essentially: "vaccines, very good idea, you should all go and get vaccinated but we don't need to mandate everyone do it." - mig
[2015-02-19 13:06:59] - thing. - ig
[2015-02-19 13:06:57] - paul: it's strange that there no one prominent involved in government (I think, at least). The president certainly isn't advocating mandatory vaccination. The surgeon general flat out stated he doesn't think a federal mandatory vaccination policy is necessary. Yet everyone is breathing fire over Chris Cristie and Rand Paul over them essentially saying the same
[2015-02-19 13:04:55] - Luckily, most of the time it's finding out something is safe when we thought it was harmful, but even that has negatives (unvaccinated kids getting measles, not using DDT causing more malaria deaths, etc). -Paul
[2015-02-19 13:03:24] - aaron: Yeah, it circles back to why I find it very hard to support mandatory vaccinations or stuff like that, because it seems like we get an example every few months of how everything we thought we knew was wrong. -Paul
[2015-02-19 13:02:03] - aaron: Oh, I think that was a pretty old clip from 2005 or something. I don't think there is anything recent about it. -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:46:44] - paul: well, stuff like nutrition and cancer and autism is especially difficult because it's such a miniscule chance of something horrible happening. i get what you mean though, about these huge life altering decisions which nobody knows the answers to yet, and people who supposedly know keep changing their minds - aaron
[2015-02-19 12:41:01] - paul: after watching the clip, i'm a little interested in the timing that they had that kind of controversial segment about a week after jon stewart announced his retirement. i wonder if he knew it was going to hurt his public opinion - aaron
[2015-02-19 12:36:29] - I dunno, I just find these kinds of things fascinating. I feel like we live in such a scientifically advance time, and yet we still get lots of stuff so completely wrong so often that sometimes it feels like we're not too far removed from using leeches or mercury to treat things. -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:34:08] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT#Effects_on_human_health Heck, even DDT hasn't been shown to be clearly dangerous to humans, as far as I know. In fact, a strong argument could be made that the deaths from malaria due to no longer using DDT dwarfs any potential deaths from DDT. -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:33:01] - aaron: Okay. I'm totally on board with the science pretty much being settled now that vaccines are safe, I just thought it was worth mentioning that it seemed far from settled fairly recently. And I'm constantly surprised by other things (like the BPA and aspartame) that I thought was just common knowledge that they were bad when in fact it was mostly unfounded. -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:28:34] - paul: i'll have to watch the clip to understand the context, i haven't watched it yet. - aaron
[2015-02-19 12:26:19] - most of the anti-gmos movement is driven by anti-corporation zealotry rather than any practical safety concern. - mig
[2015-02-19 12:25:29] - aaron: gmos actually have had a lot of research behind it. And have to pass FDA scrutiny before being allowed into the market. There's really not much "up in the air" about gmos, specifically. - mig
[2015-02-19 12:25:15] - aaron: Okay, so do you think that Daily Show segment is pretty damning for Jon Stewart, then? He seemed to buy into the vaccines cause autism argument pretty seriously. -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:24:03] - Aaron: Heck, I consider myself pretty well informed too, but I'm pretty sure there was a stretch of a few years where I was probably concerned about links between vaccines and autism (just like I was concerned about BPA and aspartame, two other things that apparently turned out to be safe after all). -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:21:55] - paul: and sorry, by "these beliefs" i'm specifically referring to the "vaccines cause autism" crowd, i totally understand the backlash against gmos, raw milk and carb stuff. those are a lot more up in the air - aaron
[2015-02-19 12:21:18] - aaron: I don't think you would ever see Jon Stewart or Clinton or Obama giving even a few seconds of serious consideration to 9/11 conspiracy theorists or holocaust deniers, but all three smart and well-informed people appeared to be pretty concerned about vaccines. -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:19:29] - "Following a mandated review of mercury-containing food and drugs in 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) asked vaccine makers to remove thiomersal from vaccines as quickly as possible as a purely precautionary measure, and it was rapidly phased out of most U.S. and European vaccines." -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:19:25] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal_controversy As for vaccines, I don't know if there was any scientific consensus that they caused autism, but there was enough of a concern to get some precautionary measures taken. -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:18:38] - Aaron: I disagree. The dietary cholesterol thing was definitely supported by mainstream science for a long time and was an official government recommendation. -Paul
[2015-02-19 12:16:23] - but there was a time when those opinions were more popular - aaron
[2015-02-19 12:15:27] - paul: "behind the times" in the same way 9/11 conspiracy theorists and holocaust deniers are "behind the times", yes. there was never a time when these beliefs were commonly upheld by the scientific community or public opinion, - aaron
[2015-02-19 10:41:41] - And while I think GMOs are perfectly safe to consume and vaccines are perfectly safe and am a little leery of raw milk... I certainly don't know what the science is going to say 5 - 10 years from now. Maybe people will be laughing at us all for this crazy phase where we tried to cut back on carbs... -Paul
[2015-02-19 10:40:12] - and why I try to be understanding when talking to people who believe otherwise. I believe the vast majority of parents who didn't vaccinate their kids did it out of love and concern for their kids, not to be evil. They're just a few years behind the times now. -Paul
[2015-02-19 10:38:33] - I don't know if I have any main point for posting that, just that I feel like this (along with the recent about face regarding dietary cholesterol) is a good example of why I try to stay a little skeptical of common scientific knowledge when it comes to medicine and nutrition... -Paul
[2015-02-19 10:36:08] - I don't post that as any kind of slam on Jon Stewart, but just as an example of how recently the topic was taken seriously by some very smart people (I believe Hilary Clinton and Obama both also have expressed concern in the recent past). -Paul
[2015-02-19 10:35:03] - http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/uwf623/robert-f--kennedy--jr- Daily Show with Robert Kennedy Jr where nearly 7 minutes are dedicated to the serious (there is literally one instance of laughter from the audience) discussion of how vaccines cause autism. -Paul
[2015-02-18 23:03:32] - aaron: the first ten seconds or so, the cube looks fairly randomized . . . though that's hard to know. my guess is he inspected the cube a bunch, and this is similar to a blind-fold-solve. except, wtf, 1:34? wholly hell, only like a quarter of the time he's actually moving the faces. what's more, he's probably moving more than one face per throw. ~a
[2015-02-18 22:40:27] - http://time.com/3713264/joe-biden-stephanie-carter-shoulder-rub/ is it wrong to tolerate VP Biden's weird behavior around women? - mig
[2015-02-18 21:22:32] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAIPL5O9Uwk rubiks cube juggle solving - aaron
[2015-02-18 17:37:21] - mig: http://maristpoll.marist.edu/215-2016-wide-open-gop-field-in-early-caucus-and-primary-states-clinton-solid-front-runner-on-democratic-side/ actually i'm sorry, looking at the source data it's just 50/50, not a majority. so maybe you're right, it's either a non-issue for them or they're split - aaron
[2015-02-18 17:32:06] - mig: you're coming at it from like, "well maybe it's not a big deal" but that's not what the poll said, the poll essentially said that a majority of republicans will refuse to vote for someone who opposes gay marriage (i.e a majority of republicans will not vote for literally any republican presidental candidate in the history of forever) - aaron
[2015-02-18 17:30:31] - mig: doesn't the poll indicate that being against gay marriage IS a deal breaker for most republicans though? that like, 55% of republicans won't vote for a candidate who's against gay marriage? THAT'S what's fishy, they said "being against gay marriage is unacceptable" - aaron
[2015-02-18 17:00:25] - mig: I had a hard time getting through the press conferences (specifically Brady's) without chuckling sometimes. -Paul
[2015-02-18 16:53:46] - "Report from @AdamSchefter includes new info about League Official #1 losing his job over mishandling of balls postgame (selling balls)" I cannot read this sentence without laughing. - mig
[2015-02-18 15:03:59] - http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/top-swing-states-its-rand-paul-vs-hillary-clinton-n308261 "In a head to head matchup, Clinton snags a narrow lead among voters in Colorado (43 percent) and Virginia (44 percent). But Paul's numbers remain within the margin of error at 41 and 42 percent, respectively." -Paul
[2015-02-18 10:48:50] - I imagine a lot of republican voters are at this point, "Look I may not like gay marriage but I'm kind of done fighting this pretty obviously losing battle anymore." - mig
[2015-02-18 10:40:02] - looking at it in that light, I don't think this poll is honestly all that fishy. - mig
[2015-02-18 10:35:29] - anyways, I think what this poll may indicate is that republican voters may not consider being against gay marriage per se as a deal breaker, but it may be if the candidate makes it his #1 issue (like Ted Cruz seems to be doing). - mig
[2015-02-18 10:09:39] - mig: Totally agree. I'll never understand why Republicans were so willing to vote for Romney considering he was against most of what they should believe in, just how Hilary should be against so much of what Democrats believe in. -Paul
[2015-02-18 09:53:32] - It just seems like unless it's your #1 issue, even if you might say you find a particular position to be "unacceptable", it seems to be negotiable as long as more important (to you) issues align with a particular pol. - mig
[2015-02-18 09:47:06] - aaron: even if they do say it's "unacceptable" the party over principle effect still applies. There's plenty for progressives to find "unacceptable" in Hilary Clinton, but at the end of the day they'll vote for her if she's on the ballot as the dem nominee. - mig
[2015-02-18 09:18:12] - aaron: Yeah, I ultimately agree that it's a little fishy, but I still just thought it was funny that instead of thinking of something positive about Republicans (maybe they're not as homophobic as we think!) they assumed something else negative about them. -Paul
[2015-02-18 08:07:47] - paul: well, i don't think it's as much a "republicans are stupid" thing as much as that their voting record doesn't align with the poll. i agree there's probably something wrong with the poll, i don't think 55% of south carolina republicans suddenly found opposition to gay marriage unacceptable - aaron
[2015-02-17 15:23:52] - I read that section as saying, "I can't believe Republicans aren't as homophobic as we thought... they must be stupid and misunderstood the question."
-Paul[2015-02-17 15:23:17] - http://reason.com/blog/2015/02/17/gay-weddings-prepare-to-crash-gop-primar I thought this was amusing for the part about Republicans being unexpectedly against a candidate being against gay-marriage. -Paul
[2015-02-17 15:20:03] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2015/02/17/mlb-execs-vote-nationals-max-scherzer-the-worst-free-agent-signing-in-espn-poll/ Way to go, Nationals. -Paul
[2015-02-17 12:50:13] - http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/02/17/upshot/what-do-people-actually-order-at-chipotle.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1 Some info about nutrition from Chipotle. I was disappointed by the relative lack of attention to salads (my preferred "vessel") and soft drinks (my biggest weakness in terms of ordering something unhealthy). -Paul
[2015-02-13 10:24:19] - It's because they don't know. They've never known. Every single piece of information that I've been given about my health has been changed 10 times in my lifetime. They don't know. - Lewis Black
[2015-02-13 10:23:07] - Xpovos / Mig: I will probably start a season two character at some point but it might not be till after I finish Dragon Age. Last time I started late and just played a season character up to lvl 70 but that was it. -Daniel
[2015-02-13 10:22:15] - Paul: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidents%27_Day_(Botswana) -Daniel
[2015-02-13 10:02:39] - Daniel: What article? -Paul
[2015-02-13 10:02:32] - aaron: Yeah, I certainly can't blame the scientist who saw cholesterol as being a problem and made the assumption that eating it had to be bad. It's a big reason why I get so discouraged when trying to eat healthy. It's so hard to figure out what "makes sense" as healthy and what actually is. -Paul
[2015-02-13 09:58:16] - I've edited an article on wikipedia for the first time ever. Makes me feel like an internet adult. -Daniel
[2015-02-13 09:56:50] - it's such an intuitive thing you know, like your body would be like, "oh cool, some cholesterol! just pass that on through, no need to process that" - same with fat you know. like your body just takes animal fat and puts it in your gut. none of it's true, but it's intuitive - aaron
[2015-02-13 09:55:47] - paul: yeah i just found that whole "dietary cholesterol" thing out last year, i was arguing with a vegan online about whether or not meat diets were inherently worse for you, and they mentioned how they were higher in cholesterol and i was found out that yeah -- unsurprisingly the cholesterol you eat doesn't go straight into your bloodstream - aaron
[2015-02-12 16:17:44] - With my family medical issues, I grew up constantly hearing about how certain it was that foods high in cholesterol were going to give me heart attacks and everybody seemed so certain of it. Just goes to show how even now, medical science is an uncertain thing. -Paul
[2015-02-12 16:16:30] - http://reason.com/blog/2015/02/10/cholesterol-warning-may-be-ditched I've known for a while that dietary cholesterol might not be as bad for people as the government/medical establishment has been saying, but this still shocks me. -Paul
[2015-02-12 15:30:00] - reddit getting ddos'd? it looks like they've had major server issues today. - mig
[2015-02-12 12:55:09] - mig: I dunno about consensus, but I'll be playing bounties. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-12 12:08:12] - i may have actually asked this question before, now that I think about it. - mig
[2015-02-12 12:07:49] - xpovos: what is the consensus for pre-70 level grinding, story mode or bounties? - mig
[2015-02-12 11:57:28] - mig: I'll create a seasonal character. Probably play it about as much as I did Season 1, which was enough to get to Paragon 100ish. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-12 11:44:26] - who is actually going to be playing diablo for season 2? I've been giving it some thought. - mig
[2015-02-12 11:12:16] - mig: But he's just representing his constituency! He got pushed out for political posturing and then he got re-elected. Clearly they want this kind of thing. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-12 11:08:22] - xpovos: ah yes. that's the sort of judicial activism i'm sure probably conservatives and progressives (though I'm guessing they won't) should agree on is not a good thing. - mig
[2015-02-12 10:52:58] - mig: How about some hell-bent elected judge. Looking at you, Alabama. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-12 10:39:50] - a: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=criiu2h3ZAk I guess here is your video evidence. Sure, it's only him saying he defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, but the implication seems clear that it's not for homosexuals. -Paul
[2015-02-12 10:38:06] - a: not really, If some senator is hellbent on fighting same sex marriage because that's what his constituency wants, I'm pretty sure that's not something we want. - mig
[2015-02-12 10:37:20] - a: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.samesexmarriage.html I'm having trouble finding any video evidence, but there's plenty of "compare the candidates" pages from the McCain/Obama election which makes it clear he "opposes same-sex marriage". -Paul
[2015-02-12 10:34:09] - a: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76109.html there are a few instances where he explicitly says, "I do not support gay marraige". - mig
[2015-02-12 10:27:05] - "basically said he was against it" what does basically mean here? i'm seriously asking because i don't know what he said exactly. ~a
[2015-02-12 10:26:43] - "we also ask them to stand up for the right thing" oversimplification though because we ask them to balance that with representing their constituency. ~a
[2015-02-12 10:24:05] - a: Sure, but he was also asked during the election about his stance on gay marriage and basically said he was against it. How is that not pretending? -Paul
[2015-02-12 10:13:30] - a: we also ask them to stand up for the right thing rather than cower to political expediency, which is exactly what the president did during his first four years in office. - mig
[2015-02-12 10:04:50] - paul/mig: i disagree with the wording "pretending". his office decided not to execute based on their personal beliefs and we ask politicians to do this on a regular basis. ~a
[2015-02-11 14:20:26] - mig: I can't tell if it's weird that I blame somebody for believing the "right" thing (gay marriage is okay) but pretending not to, but I don't seem to blame people who believe the "wrong" thing as much. -Paul
[2015-02-11 13:42:08] - paul: i dunno, slightly worse. Honestly, I don't think it's as bad as having his public "evolution" occur 6 months before facing re-election (how convenient!). - mig
[2015-02-11 13:31:14] - http://www.dailydot.com/politics/mark-cuban-net-neutrality/ Not sure if anybody else really cares about Mark Cuban's NN thoughts but me, but here is another article about them. He touches on one of my thoughts that a lot of the "problems" this is supposed to address don't really exist except in theory. -Paul
[2015-02-11 13:29:52] - http://reason.com/blog/2015/02/10/obama-ally-reveals-that-obama-repeatedly Apparently Obama was for gay marriage all along, but kept it under wraps for political considerations. I'm not sure if this makes me think better of him or worse... -Paul
[2015-02-11 12:29:37] - paul: good job finding the buried treasure, i thought that was clever.
- aaron[2015-02-11 10:56:45] - well ex-host, since the egyptian government pretty much shut down his show and practically exiled him. - mig
[2015-02-11 10:56:08] - aaron: Oh, I did find the buried treasure, though. You are allowed to give up on the time traveling scientist missions? I thought I needed to finish them all to get his recommendation. -Paul
[2015-02-11 10:56:08] - They just recently hired the host of the "Egyptian Daily Show" as a middle east correspondent, he was apparently really popular over there, maybe he could do it. - mig
[2015-02-11 10:54:39] - aaron: Yeah, it would be one thing to compete with just one AI, I can often outlast or outscore one or two of them, but inevitably one of them will just have the magic ship combination to outscore me, and the three rounds makes it really hard to get lucky that many times in a row. I just need to get better. -Paul
[2015-02-11 10:42:47] - aaron: the only one I can think of who could is John Oliver (while I personally don't like him, he was obscenely popular as a fill in host), but that ship has sort of sailed. - mig
[2015-02-11 10:38:11] - mig: "I’m going to have dinner on a school night with my family, who I have heard from multiple sources are lovely people". oof yeah 17 years is a long time. i wonder who will replace him, i feel like this is the kind of thing that might kill the show. some people are just irreplacable - aaron
[2015-02-11 10:36:14] - paul: and let's play galaxy trucker again soon!!
- aaron[2015-02-11 10:35:15] - paul: good luck with it let me know when you win!! - aaron
[2015-02-11 10:35:02] - paul: and yes, the transgalactic trek -- that took me several tries to win. The AI is really good!! and it's not even the hardest AI in the game. you can go into custom games and challenge the toughest AI and it's even worse. it's not like, unfairly cheaty good either, i can build reasonably faster than him, but i still usually lose - aaron
[2015-02-11 10:33:07] - paul: ha! ha! oh man! the time travelling scientist? yeah if that's the one i'm thinking of, i think that's the one i eventually gave up on. he eventually makes a joke about it if you ask him something like, "what is the point of this?" i thought that was really funny - aaron
[2015-02-11 10:08:23] - aaron: Geez, the Galaxy Trucker app gets hard... Not sure if I'm on the last mission or not, but the last deliveries for the scientist were tough and the transgalactic trek has been ridiculous. -Paul
[2015-02-11 01:05:54] - mig: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ~a
[2015-02-10 19:54:13] - http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/02/jon-stewart-leaving-the-daily-show-202418.html - mig
[2015-02-10 14:07:51] - aaron: I guess that makes some sense but it seems like it'd be wasting a lot of people's times to have votes for literally every single report without some sort of pre-screening for those "report mid gave fb gg" nonsense reports. - mig
[2015-02-10 13:53:42] - mig: yes, from what i understand they automatically send of all reports to the tribunal process. as long as 2 or more people report a player during a match, it goes to tribunal. in tribunal, players might vote to punish -- and then punishments (bans, suspensions) are handled by riot admins. so getting to tribunal is the first step of a 3-step process - aaron
[2015-02-10 13:04:58] - aaron: yeah I hand't considered the last one in terms of an abandon, but that makes sense. I'm still surprised that some of those got to the point of voting whether to punish or not, unless they just have a policy of automatically sending all reports to the tribunal process. - mig
[2015-02-10 12:26:58] - mig: if the last guy left during a match he'd probably get reported, the others wouldn't make the cut for player toxicity though. they might still get put in tribunal though, that's just the place where it gets put to a vote - aaron
[2015-02-10 12:23:32] - the answer is, "if the first coin is heads, pick the first square. if the first coin is tails, pick the second square". it succeeds in all eight cases -- you always have the flexibility to ensure the first coin is heads or tails, and the jailer can only pick two squares - aaron
[2015-02-10 10:55:06] - aaron/xpovos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbvYReBN2x4 I'm not familiar with LoL's tribunal system but is this what usually makes the cut for "player toxicity"? Some of this seems pretty innocuous. - mig
[2015-02-10 10:43:34] - If the answer is "pick the first head" then the extra data point that is assumed is direction, which kills a lot of his parity calculations. This head is first from this corner, but this head is first from the other corner. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-10 10:42:45] - aaron: Interesting, but the problem is that I don't think he solved the two-square board, either. I believe he's assuming a piece of data which can't be assumed. If the answer is "pick the head", then it fails 50% of the time because after the fixing flip, there are two heads--unless you can elect to refuse to flip, in which case it fails 25% of the time. ... -- Xpo
[2015-02-10 10:04:08] - http://datagenetics.com/blog/december12014/index.html how to encode 6 bits by flipping 1 out of 64 random bits. one of those prisoner problems where you are condemned to die unless you can prove your intelligence to a devious jailer - aaron
[2015-02-10 09:48:14] - a: yeah i've seen that comic every couple months when there's a really good one! but i don't check it every day. that guns one is a great premise! - aaron
[2015-02-10 09:32:07] - hah . . . never mind. of course.
~a[2015-02-10 09:29:52] - aaron: . . . have you heard of invisible bread? it reminds me a little bit of the perry bible fellowship, except most of the jokes are completely nonsensical. all guns now self-aware and angry! ~a
[2015-02-06 17:55:06] - holy fuck, I thought I was making that comment sort of in jest! - mig
[2015-02-06 13:18:40] - interesting things to learn though: Oregon governors are not term limited (kitzhaber is in his fourth term), also there's no lt. governor it looks like, the next in line for governor is the secretary of state (in oregon). it's interesting that states could differ this much on things like this. - mig
[2015-02-06 10:28:56] - that's not virginia. i only care about mcdonnell because i live here. ~a
[2015-02-06 09:35:38] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/02/05/the-oregonian-wants-gov-kitzhaber-to-resign/ looks like the democrats have their own Bob McDonnell. - mig
[2015-02-05 16:02:03] - http://sports.yahoo.com/news/wisconsin-speaker-says-bucks-arena-plan-zero-chance-184351530--nba.html so cities providing taxpayer money to help pro team stadiums is nothing new, but state governments funding stadiums? I think this might be a first. - mig
[2015-02-05 14:42:20] -
~a[2015-02-05 13:53:50] - a: It's 733+. Kids still speak that, right? -Paul
[2015-02-05 13:48:40] - paul: is that perl/php? $hi+=5; ~a
[2015-02-05 12:22:09] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/02/02/the-john-geer-case-new-details-from-the-police-file-raise-new-questions/ More info here, including some evidence that Geer was alive after the shooting. Maybe he would've survived if they hadn't waited 70 minutes to go in. -Paul
[2015-02-05 12:10:42] - a: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/officer-who-shot-john-geer-says-he-moved-hands-toward-waist-3-other-officers-say-no/2015/01/31/7cc2c0da-a7f6-11e4-a06b Here are some statements from the officers. -paul
[2015-02-05 12:08:50] - a: I would rather not get (more) on her $hi+ list right now.
-Paul[2015-02-05 12:08:40] - i wonder who the other "three Fairfax County police officers" witnesses are. where are their official statements? ~a
[2015-02-05 12:05:56] - paul: you should ask dee . . . ~a
[2015-02-05 11:40:01] - "The feds — first the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, then the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — sat on the case for months more, saying nothing." let me guess, it's because Geer was white, isn't it? - mig
[2015-02-05 11:14:30] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/cover-up-in-fairfax-county/2015/02/02/1e7f5262-ab26-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html A lot of people here live in Fairfax county. Has anybody else been following this case? -Paul
[2015-02-05 11:11:06] - a: I'm thinking 3.3 sounds more reasonable. -Paul
[2015-02-05 10:50:17] - paul: what about 3.5 hours?
~a[2015-02-05 10:04:16] - Honestly, if I was ever on a jury, I would never feel comfortable convicting somebody in under an hour, no matter how guilty they seemed. It's an awesome responsibility holding somebody's life in your hands like that. -Paul
[2015-02-05 08:22:09] - haha. yeah. ~a
[2015-02-05 00:41:01] - I wonder if the deliberation included any phrase like, "He's guilty as sin, but if we don't take at least an hour it'll look bad"? -- Xpovos
[2015-02-04 17:39:29] - except most people would have a hard time convincing themselves what he did should be legal. he hired somebody to kill a few people? i dunno the details, but crazy shit like that. ~a
[2015-02-04 17:29:45] - a: perhaps some of them considered jury nullification? - mig
[2015-02-04 16:55:35] - response by a random to the 3.5 hour deliberation by the jury: "I'm surprised it didn't take 10 minutes. The evidence was overwhelming and they even caught him in the act." ~a
[2015-02-04 16:53:12] - silk road website founder ross ulbricht found guilty on all counts ~a
[2015-02-04 13:03:25] - https://medium.com/tech-liberation/new-fcc-rules-will-kick-at-least-6-million-households-offline-58eeba0b3b71 And apparently this reclassification is going to cause a lot of people to lose internet. -Paul
[2015-02-04 12:06:29] - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/fcc-net-neutrality_n_6613494.html In other news, it looks like Net Neutrality advocates are getting a big win. -Paul
[2015-02-04 12:01:35] - Also, as far as I know, there IS a pretty serious side effect to some vaccines (albeit a really small chance of it occurring). Autism (even though there apparently isn't any connection) isn't the only reason for people to fear vaccinations. -Paul
[2015-02-04 12:00:06] - mig: I didn't see it there, but there is also a difference between a vaccine for tetanus (which is not communicable, to my knowledge) and something like measles. All the reasons for making vaccines mandatory rest on the herd immunity aspect, so it wouldn't make sense for all vaccines to be mandatory. -Paul
[2015-02-04 11:54:32] - mandatory? - mig
[2015-02-04 11:54:29] - whether vaccines should be mandatory or not. There's a lot of vaccines out there. What should be the criteria for deciding if it should be mandatory? What sort of risk is acceptable and what is not? Maybe it's more clear cut with something like MMR shots, but what about other things? Also, maybe related, maybe not, should we give consideration to flu shots being
[2015-02-04 11:51:02] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/vaccine-debate-presents-a-political-minefield--as-hillary-clinton-can-attest/2015/02/03/1fa7fc4c-abc7-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f8 I thought this was interesting because it mentioned the Rick Perry HPV mandate debacle, which was panned by just about everybody. This whole discussion isn't really as simple as just deciding
[2015-02-03 14:14:02] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/03/what-everybody-gets-wrong-about-the-political-vaccine-debate/ probably why I find this current debacle irritating. Nobody is really disagreeing with each other all that much, yet we are expending all this oxygen about how "extreme" people we don't dsiagree with are. - mig
[2015-02-03 14:02:37] - winter selfie done right: http://imgur.com/gallery/UEuE8u4 ~a
[2015-02-03 12:45:17] - The part about the government (and medical establishment) being wrong particular hit home for me. That's a major factor why I find it hard to support mandatory vaccinations. Sure, we all think they are completely safe, but what if it turns out we're wrong? -Paul
[2015-02-03 12:44:01] - http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2015/02/03/confessions-of-a-conservative-vaccine-truther/ Not sure if all of this guy's info is correct, but I did think this was a level-headed rebuttal to the idea that everybody who questions vaccines are ignorant and/or anti-science. -Paul
[2015-02-03 11:50:07] - To be a little serious, I can understand being hesitant about mandating any vaccine with any known side effects, even if the chances of it are minuscule. But the science has been pretty indisputable that the pros far outweigh the cons, and it is a legitamate public health issue. - mig
[2015-02-03 11:38:50] - mig: Not just an anti-vaxxer, I support mandatory injections of the live measles virus for all children! -Paul
[2015-02-03 11:31:17] - paul: didn't you hear me. No nuance allowed, we know you are an anti-vaxxer! - mig
[2015-02-03 11:21:55] - "very much on the fence" I realize that probably sounds contradictory to what I said before. I'm absolutely on board with vaccinations being good and having my kids vaccinated, but am on the fence about if it should be voluntary (but tilting towards it). -Paul
[2015-02-03 11:20:19] - a: But I just find it very hard to take the stance that the government should be forcing people to inject something into their bodies, even if it means putting the community at risk. -Paul
[2015-02-03 11:19:15] - a: "aren't parents who refuse to vaccinate their children harming the herd immunity in a serious way?" Absolutely, which is why I'm very much on the fence on whether it should be voluntary and would absolutely encourage people to get their kids (and themselves) vaccinated. -Paul
[2015-02-03 11:18:21] - mig: Heh, I like the "no nuance is permitted" phrase. I'm surprised Rand made what appears to be such a big mistake after the whole Civil Rights Act fiasco. -Paul
[2015-02-03 11:15:42] - paul: "it should be a voluntary choice by parents" should it? aren't parents who refuse to vaccinate their children harming the herd immunity in a serious way? i mean, i can come up with lots of analogies on both sides of this issue, but without analogies, it's hard for me to decide if anti-vax should be legal or illegal. ~a
[2015-02-03 11:10:44] - paul: yeah, this issue is going to be very clearly a "no nuance is permitted" since now everyone is in a rush to politicize it (even though anti-vaccine folks runs across the political spectrum). You're only allowed to be pro or anti vaccine. No, in between position is allowed. - mig
[2015-02-03 10:52:38] - Sad thing is, I think I mostly am in agreement with his underlying stance (vaccinations are good, his own children are vaccinated, but it should be a voluntary choice by parents), but that's all going to get lost in that other quote. -Paul
[2015-02-03 10:51:18] - http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/02/politics/rand-paul-vaccine-effects/ "I've heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines." Yeah... really wish Rand hadn't said that... -Paul
[2015-02-03 10:45:50] - Huckabee is the one that makes the least amount of sense. These fringe people have been mostly parlaying their candidacies into tv jobs or book deals. Huckabee already has that, so his sudden "interest" in running is baffling. - mig
[2015-02-02 17:07:29] - Walker's gotten a fair bit of positive press from Drudge, so it's not out of left field, but it is disproportionate. I think it speaks very poorly for Santorum and Huckabee, though. They each polled in the 1-2% range. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-02 17:06:20] - Paul: I dig the analysis, but the problem is that the Seahawks let that clock wind just as much as the Patriots did. They COULD have run the ball with Beast Mode three times, but they chose to dawdle after his first run because they wanted to run time off the clock for the assumed next Patriots possession. High risk, high reward. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-02 16:16:14] - that's very, very odd. I didn't (and still don't, really) considered Walker a serious candidate. - mig
[2015-02-02 16:12:34] - http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-head-coach-botched-the-end-of-the-super-bowl-and-it-wasnt-pete-carroll/ Not sure I buy (or even understand) the math here, but I thought this article brought up some good points about the Super Bowl last night. -Paul
[2015-02-02 15:57:47] - Xpovos: I saw that. Even knowing that polling this early is prone to crazy results, that was a big "WTF". I have no idea where that is coming from. Walker isn't even that big of a social conservative, is he? -Paul
[2015-02-02 15:22:46] - Drudge primary poll has Scott Walker in a commanding lead with 45%, Rand Paul: 13%, Jeb Bush ~5% Considering the field is 13-deep, Walker's position is a bit stunning. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-02 15:04:19] - xpovos: the whole piece was an interesting TIL for me, I recall the government intervention in trying to keep Teri Schiavo alive but I didn't really know how personally involved Jeb Bush was in the case. - mig
[2015-02-02 14:47:55] - xpovos: gotcha. ~a
[2015-02-02 13:38:17] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-rand-paul-tried-to-lead-an-eye-doctors-rebellion/2015/02/01/010994da-9cd6-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html a pretty interesting read on rand paul's self-created Optometry Board. Most of the time I read about it generally is oozing with derision or mockery, but it's interesting to see a more balanced account of it. - mig
[2015-02-02 13:09:45] - a: Not permissible. The distinction is that the person must always have access to the materials of life (food, water, air, shelter) but if the body refuses to process those materials, additional aid is not REQUIRED. It's certainly still permissible to have a person on an iron lung. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-02 10:27:15] - what about not refilling a feeding tube? ~a
[2015-02-02 10:05:12] - xpovos: interesting to me the sentence you had about the iron lung. hmmm. so, adding a feeding tube is permitted morally? ~a
[2015-02-02 08:32:34] - I don't see any posts from me in either 2001 or 2005 about this, though I did reference the case a few times later (2009, eg.). It shouldn't be too surprising that I was on the side I was, and that hasn't changed. Removing a feeding tube is never permitted morally. Fun fact, though. If she were in an iron lung, that would've been fine. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-02 08:29:42] - the resisting individuals should have been the parents, not the government. -- Xpovos
[2015-02-02 08:29:12] - Obviously, it's been a while, so it's probably good to review the situation anyway. As a proponent of the rule of law, I'm not in favor of what Jeb Bush did, even though I was in disagreement with the outcome of the court case. I do believe individuals should resist jurisprudence that results in extremely negative situations, as this did, but [...]
[2015-02-01 11:10:15] - in 2005 it appears we discussed it a little, but not in any great detail. ~a
[2015-02-01 09:17:56] - what were xpovos's feelings on the case? did we discuss this in 2001? ~a
[2015-01-31 21:15:35] - xpovos: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/jeb-bush-terri-schiavo-114730.html i'm curious about your thoughts, since you feel pretty strongly about the Schiavo case. What do you feel about Jeb Bush's role in it? - mig
[2015-01-30 21:04:20] - paul: perhaps you should be thanking Donald Trump. - mig
[2015-01-30 12:43:35] - Honestly, there's not a lot of new info in the article, but I thought there was some interesting commentary (from the article itself and the editorials it quotes). -Paul
[2015-01-30 12:42:43] - http://reason.com/blog/2015/01/30/a-silly-fight-over-what-part-of-a-cake-c Some more info on the "anti-gay cake" lawsuit. Apparently the person who wanted the cake is disputing that he wanted to "demand all sorts of offensive anti-gay comments". -Paul
[2015-01-30 11:17:59] - So, at least Romney isn't running again. Thank goodness. -Paul
[2015-01-29 12:10:50] - mig: Right, I think he took some comparisons a little too far, but I thought it was interesting to think of those civilians that were trying to kill American soldiers as people defending their country instead of terrorists. -Paul
[2015-01-29 11:51:44] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/brace-for-it-robert-and-maureen-mcdonnell-could-ultimately-be-cleared-on-appeal/2015/01/28/ce77ebd6-a732-11e4-a2b2-776095f39 much outrage will be incoming, I'll bet. - mig
[2015-01-29 11:37:36] - paul: I'm not sure I'd go as far as comparing Kyle to Adam Lanza. But, his other main points, 1) that soldiers are not heroes simply by virtue of being soldiers, 2) questioning the assumption that soldiers fighting in far away lands that are of no tangible threat to the safety of us citizens are "fighting for our freedom", are things worthy of discussion. - mig
[2015-01-29 10:32:01] - http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/01/netflix-like-payments-to-isps-could-be-reviewed-but-not-banned-by-fcc/#p3 I'm hopeful that even the most ardent Net Neutrality enthusiasts are at least a little wary over the idea of the government reviewing a bunch of business deals between internet companies to determine if they're "reasonable". -Paul
[2015-01-29 09:54:29] - http://reason.com/archives/2015/01/29/the-american-sniper-was-no-hero A strongly worded article about how Chris Kyle was no hero. I don't agree with a lot of what he wrote, but I did think it was thought provoking. -Paul
[2015-01-28 16:45:09] - mig: hmm, i want to define the term using discretionary income but maybe that's not fair. something like, you're middle class if your household spends less than 75% of its income on food, shelter, taxes, and immediate necessities (electricity, running water, etc) - aaron
[2015-01-28 15:25:19] - paul: not to mention your home's value. - mig
[2015-01-28 14:38:19] - mig: That's an excellent question. I've always considered myself middle class, but at the same time, I think I'm in the top quintile in America in terms of income. -Paul
[2015-01-28 14:22:36] - I'm just curious, what qualifies middle class these days? A lot of the arguments about this topic seem to stem from people's personal definition on what that line is. - mig
[2015-01-28 11:35:50] - biased sources. - mig
[2015-01-28 11:35:40] - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/politics/obama-will-drop-proposal-to-end-529-college-savings-plans.html maybe of some interest to the parents here. I was wondering if there was any actual truth behind the president's community college for all plan actually included a proposal to start taxing 529 savings accounts, since the info seemed to come from pretty overtly
[2015-01-28 11:02:31] - mig: Losing the health for my deck is a big deal, but not completely destructive. I'd guess it shaves a percentage point from my win chances. Probably a bit more because it's probably deeper than I realize, but Undertaker was always a high priority target, and it will remain so, it's just now slightly easier to contain. -- Xpovos
[2015-01-28 11:00:19] - mig: I think you observed a few games where I was playing a Deathrattle Hunter. Even in those games, with two copies in the deck, it doesn't come out all the time. But there are definitely games where it took over I think I mentioned the Undertaker, coin Undertaker, T2 Leper Gnome, Webspinner. Insta-concede. -- Xpovos
[2015-01-28 10:57:21] - about it. I mean I can understand why it's a big deal amongst the media because they feel slighted by it, but I don't get the vitriol from other people. - mig
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