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[2016-01-06 11:29:54] - he also may have killed someone. - mig
[2016-01-06 11:14:49] - ronald regan? the actor? ~a
[2016-01-06 11:05:57] - a: The founder of the anti-virus company. He might also be/have been a drug dealer. I've seen it be said that he's lived a "colorful" life. -Paul
[2016-01-06 11:04:26] - john mcafee? the drug dealer? ~a
[2016-01-06 10:54:47] - mig: Doubt it will be, but if it is... I might be writing in a name. I guess we'll see. -Paul
[2016-01-06 10:46:40] - paul: what if it's mcafee? - mig
[2016-01-06 10:46:10] - https://reason.com/blog/2016/01/06/gary-johnson-to-run-for-president-2016 The guy I'll probably end up voting for in 2016 might announce that he's running today. -Paul
[2016-01-06 10:29:22] - a: Oh, it's actually in that article I just posted. How bizarre. I missed that, but read something ELSE that mentioned Crash just yesterday. -Paul
[2016-01-06 10:15:21] - a: What is that in reference to? I just read something recently that mentioned Crash as one of the worst "best picture" movies ever, but I can't remember where it was from. I happen to disagree (with the "worst" comment, not yours). I enjoyed Crash and thought it was much better than I expected. -Paul
[2016-01-06 10:12:40] - http://www.factcheck.org/2015/07/was-hillary-clinton-the-original-birther/ The answer to this URL appears to be "no", but I did find it interesting that the first signs of questioning Obama's birthplace might've come from liberals and not conservatives. -Paul
[2016-01-06 09:55:42] - paul: why wouldn't "crash" deserve best picture? that was a solid movie. ~a
[2016-01-06 09:45:41] - http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/you-cant-trust-what-you-read-about-nutrition/ The URL says it all.
-Paul[2016-01-06 09:37:55] - you can see the address on streetview. it almost looks like a normal store-front (their next-door neighbours are both traditional store-fronts) except that it almost does look like a residential space. ~a
[2016-01-06 09:33:09] - daniel: it's at a special place. "Incubator/pop-up concept featuring a rotating lineup of local chefs cooking in industrial-mod space." ~a
[2016-01-06 09:28:59] - a: I'm still not sure what a pop-up restaurant is. Like if I went to eat dinner at Rooster & Owl is it in their house? Do they actually have a restaurant somewhere thats only open 3 times a week? -Daniel
[2016-01-05 17:36:08] - i used kickstarter for the first time today! it's here (i'm assuming you're not on the tj alumni page or otherwise didn't see it) ~a
[2016-01-05 14:39:00] - paul: hah. ~a
[2016-01-05 13:46:24] - a: Ah, right. Hopefully you got a price you were happy with for your condo. -Paul
[2016-01-05 13:35:55] - paul: no not really. i stopped searching when the condo didn't sell. ~a
[2016-01-05 13:33:37] - a: Ah, ok. Good luck. Seems like you've been searching for a long time. -Paul
[2016-01-05 12:50:09] - paul: finding a place i like. the supply and demand are both pretty small in the winter. ~a
[2016-01-05 12:31:32] - I can't think of any other game that came close to Witcher 3. Fallout 4 and Metal Gear Solid V were good, but definitely didn't come close to Witcher 3. - mig
[2016-01-05 12:21:51] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2015_video_games
[2016-01-05 12:18:32] - i'm in a weird position for GOTY because the games i *played* the most in 2015 are niche games: Cities Skylines, Crypt Of The Necrodancer, Undertale and Disgaea 5. i didn't get deep into any mainstream games, the way i did with Mass Effect 3 last year - aaron
[2016-01-05 12:13:41] - paul: having seen Ori And The Blind Forest at AGDQ yesterday i really wanna give it a shot. it's a PC metroidvania with really good graphics and tight controls. i can't really say much about GOTY, i guess probably Crypt Of The Necrodancer for me but that's a total aaron game - aaron
[2016-01-05 12:11:10] - so I paid around that much for mine (284). 3.5 baths, 3 bedroom, about 1800 sqft? - mig
[2016-01-05 11:53:58] - 2800ish sq ft 4 bedroom 3 bath for 280. With small front yard but pretty sizable back yard. -Daniel
[2016-01-05 11:45:52] - daniel: are house sizes comparable? or is the pricing disparity mostly the land value? - mig
[2016-01-05 11:25:07] - Having just been to TX and talking to family members there who recently bought houses - prices here make me sad. -Daniel
[2016-01-05 11:09:46] - a: What's been the constraining factor? Finding a place you like? Or a place you like at a reasonable price? Or something else? -Paul
[2016-01-05 11:05:58] - paul: arlington. ~a
[2016-01-05 10:46:50] - Witcher 3 as GOY easy. Fallout 4 is strong but Witcher is a better game. -Daniel
[2016-01-05 10:41:37] - a: Where are you looking? -Paul
[2016-01-05 00:35:09] - http://wkrn.com/2016/01/04/oregon-becomes-first-state-to-make-birth-control-available-over-the-counter/ it's ... happening? - mig
[2016-01-04 16:27:00] - paul: nah. not yet. we're renting in crystal city for six months while we find a new place. ~a
[2016-01-04 12:17:01] - https://reason.com/blog/2016/01/03/free-state-project-crosses-90-percent-th The free state project looks like it's about to go from curiosity to pretty interesting. -Paul
[2016-01-04 09:58:16] - a: You buy a place? -Paul
[2016-01-03 21:51:05] - aaron/mig: new ip! i live in arlington now. ~a
[2016-01-01 10:02:52] - mig: Best game of 2015 is depressing because I've played so few games released in 2015. I played a few hours of Witcher 3, I've installed Legacy of the Void, and started episode 1 of Tales from the Borderlands.... Any I've missed? -Paul
[2016-01-01 10:01:59] - aaron: I do like the idea of ranking our friends, though. -Paul
[2016-01-01 10:01:48] - aaron: I was thinking something similar (what our rankings all had in common). We could try that game, but my guess is it would be hard for stuff that people might passionately disagree about (like, for instance, "best presidents"). -Paul
[2015-12-31 20:04:31] - mig: Hmm. Tales from the Borderlands was released episodically. The first episode was November 26, 2014, I'm inclined to call that 2015. So the top games are probably: TftB, Life is Strange (for all it's faults), Neverwinter, Magic Duels: Origins, Pneuma and Gems of War. Ori and the Blind Forest should probably be in there too, but I haven't played it yet. -- Xpov
[2015-12-31 17:18:22] - best game of 2015 would probably entail just games released in 2015, I'd assume. Something like Legacy of the void (an expansion) is sort of grey area though. - mig
[2015-12-31 15:06:55] - mig: I apparently have 138 Xbox/Xbox One games to go through for that list. And obviously I'd have to include some PC titles like Hearthstone and Starcraft 2. So, does it have to have been released in 2015? That would narrow the field significantly. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-31 13:39:06] - best game of 2015? I might find that discussion more interesting given my lack of movie watching this year. - mig
[2015-12-31 10:25:52] - also it wouldn't need to be favorite to least favorite, it could vary each round. "which of these celebrities is the most washed up." "which of these hobbies is the nerdiest." "which of these cartoon characters is most closely associated with stalinism" - aaron
[2015-12-31 10:20:36] - maybe in the spirit of the game, we then rank miguel above aaron and the goal of the evening is to rank all of our friends from best to worst
okay maybe that's too far - aaron[2015-12-31 10:20:15] - I'm pretty sure star wars is the only movie I saw this year. - mig
[2015-12-31 10:20:10] - e.g, aaron says "I think a new hope is at the top of the list." correct! miguel's turn. miguel says, "i think phantom menace is at the bottom." also correct! back to aaron. "hmm. i think return of the jedi is #2? " WRONG it is a empire strikes back, you idiot! miguel is the winner - aaron
[2015-12-31 10:18:40] - ha ha so here's a party game. two people leave the room. the remaining players all collaboratively negotiate a ranking of items, like "star wars movies", ties are broken by vote or coin flip if necessary. so, you have one ultimate ranking. then the two players return, and take turns trying to pick which item is either at the top or bottom of the list - aaron
[2015-12-31 10:04:47] - 1. all movies in the original trilogy are better than all of the prequels, 2. TFA is better than all of the prequels, 3. revenge of the sith is the best of the prequels - aaron
[2015-12-31 10:04:23] - i thought this was an interesting problem, so i wrote a program to calculate the things which everybody on the message board agrees on regarding the ordering of the star wars movies. and there are exactly three things - aaron
[2015-12-30 19:21:03] - Paul: Ok, I saw Ultron as well. For some reason I thought that was 2014, but of course it wasn't. For the record, my current ranking would be 5>4>7>6>3>1>2. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-30 15:35:27] - aaron: That would be another movie I would suggest maybe checking out. -Paul
[2015-12-30 15:35:15] - a: Is it cheating to nominate two films? I forgot Ex Machina came out this year and I really enjoyed that movie as well. -Paul
[2015-12-30 15:25:11] - aaron: You might enjoy Ant-Man as well. -Paul
[2015-12-30 15:01:22] - a: i've been told that i need to see mad max, the martian, and inside out - aaron
[2015-12-30 14:58:26] - a: 6>4>7>5>3>2>1 - aaron
[2015-12-30 14:55:36] - mig: I honestly envisioned most games to be like the Eagles game last week: high scoring on both sides with Kirk Cousins overcoming a mistake (in this case, his bizarre knee at the end of the half, but I was thinking interceptions usually). -Paul
[2015-12-30 14:32:00] - paul: yeah the defense has certainly played much better than anyone would have thought. - mig
[2015-12-30 13:18:32] - mig: For me, the most surprising has been their defense. I figured their schedule could be soft since it looked like the NFC East was shaping up to be weak and the NFL rewards bad teams with easy schedules the next year. -Paul
[2015-12-30 13:09:08] - It's kind of amazing, they may finish 9-7 and not have beaten a single team with a winning record (Rams and Bills *could* get to .500 next week). - mig
[2015-12-30 13:04:16] - paul: honestly, the redskins record has been more surprising. Who knew a lot of the teams they played would be so bad? - mig
[2015-12-30 11:44:45] - aaron: I wasn't as big of a fan of Mad Max as some, but I do agree there are lots of movies that would probably be worth you seeing. -Paul
[2015-12-30 11:44:11] - mig: I also have no idea if he can sustain it long term, but over the past 6 weeks or so he's quite possibly been a top 5 QB (and yes, I'm well aware of how tiny a sample size that is). -Paul
[2015-12-30 11:43:11] - mig: I was going to post something to facebook about how my prediction on Kirk Cousins (and the Redskins this year) is probably my best prediction of the year. I think I said something about the team being able to go 8-8 or 9-7 if they stuck with him all year and that he would put up points and all that has been eerily true. -Paul
[2015-12-30 11:42:03] - a: Sorry to hear you're sick. Feel better soon! It's hard to judge 7 properly because of recency vs nostalgia. I can probably better rank it in a few years. Right now I think I would go: 6>7>5>4>3>1>2. It's worth noting that I hardly remember what happened in 2 and I actually initially enjoyed 1 a fair bit when it came out. -Paul
[2015-12-30 11:26:02] - I still question whether he can sustain this kind of performance long term, but he's certainly proven he's a viable starting QB. - mig
[2015-12-30 11:25:21] - paul: so as the NFL season comes to a close, I must say I was pretty wrong about Kirk Cousins. Can't argue with the results, and as of now he's a top 10 QB this season (albeit this is due more to the horrendous injuries all across the league and inexplicable regression of some others like Matt Ryan). - mig
[2015-12-30 10:40:10] - aaron: you're crazy. see mad max (if you like action) or the martian (if you like sci-fi). i also loved the new star wars. (my star wars opinion: 5>4>6>7>3>2>1). ~a
[2015-12-30 10:31:53] - best movie of 2015! sorry for the lateness. i'm (sick and) on vacation in colorado. ~a
[2015-12-30 10:06:55] - aaron: Wow, that's surprising. I didn't see a ton of movies in 2015, but more than 1.
-Paul[2015-12-30 09:18:51] - paul: no, i double-checked a list of 2015 movies to make sure i didn't forget any. i rewatched a lot of older movies but nothing 2015 - aaron
[2015-12-29 16:10:50] - Wait, really? No Jurassic World? No Age of Ultron? Inside Out? -Paul
[2015-12-29 15:48:15] - xpovos: me too, that's surprising. i thought i had seen more than just that one! - aaron
[2015-12-29 15:02:12] - I'm pretty sure the only movie I saw in theatres this year was Star Wars. I think that likely disqualifies my vote. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-29 12:03:25] - a: Are we voting on the best movies of 2015? Or do I have the wrong time period? Do we not do that at the end of the year? -Paul
[2015-12-28 09:36:29] - a: Ah, right. Odds. Boo. -Paul
[2015-12-25 19:08:20] - $120?
~a[2015-12-25 08:34:44] - mig: If I lose all my bets, it means our next president is either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump and that we won't have meaningful self-driving cars for another decade. I'll have more problems than being down $30 (or whatever it is).
-Paul[2015-12-24 15:05:23] - paul: come to terms with the fact that you might lose all of your bets. ~a
[2015-12-23 15:55:44] - mig: Sure! Although I frankly forget what the stakes were. I'm betting she's not the nominee, right? That one isn't looking good for me.
I'm going to need a to fund my losing bets with you. -Paul[2015-12-23 15:27:53] - paul: we are still on for the Clinton bet, yes? - mig
[2015-12-23 15:17:01] - paul: shit! big money. sure! ~a
[2015-12-23 14:19:26] - a: Ugh, fine. $10 at 10:1 odds? So I win $10 win Trump flames out and you get $100 if by some miracle he becomes the nominee? -Paul
[2015-12-23 14:17:38] - paul: nah, i don't like their idea. i'd prefer people bike because they want to. if you want a car tax or a gas tax, fine, but no need to complicate my taxes because of it. just tax everybody a little bit less on income. ~a
[2015-12-23 14:15:41] - paul: nah, i'd rather not take 5:1.
~a[2015-12-23 13:52:37] - a: http://www.cnet.com/news/swedish-university-suggests-reverse-congestion-charge-to-benefit-bikers/#ftag=CAD590a51e Sounds like you should move to Sweden.
-Paul[2015-12-23 13:29:18] - a: So if Trump is the Republican nominee, you get $10 from me otherwise I get $1 from you? How about 5:1 odds instead?
-Paul[2015-12-23 13:28:11] - mig: I saw. Personal favorite so far is his Rubio attack. -Paul
[2015-12-23 12:59:33] - paul: rand is doing his festivus twitter rampage again. - mig
[2015-12-23 12:55:28] - paul: "I'm still willing to bet money Trump won't be the nominee" even money? or are you willing to bet with worse odds? if you bet for trump losing on a 10:1 on, i'd take that. ~a
[2015-12-23 12:02:13] - https://reason.com/blog/2015/12/22/its-probably-safe-to-start-paying-attent "It's Probably Safe to Start Paying Attention to the Polls Now". I'm still willing to bet money Trump won't be the nominee, although I've been wrong every step of the way so far.
-Paul[2015-12-22 21:34:23] - sure, if you want to own a whole culture. jeeze. ~a
[2015-12-22 21:13:49] - http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/hillary-clinton-abuela-217072 do I have a legitamate gripe about "cultural appropriation" here? - mig
[2015-12-22 11:14:58] - i'm wondering why more people don't try to use one-time-pad. it seems like combining one-time-pad with a traditional asymetric encryption for passing around the initial pad, you could seriously make things very hard on your adversary (sadly, in our case the adversary is our own damn government). ~a
[2015-12-22 10:30:05] - aaron: "maybe everyone but her won't realize it's been broken" if it were me actually trying to do what she asks, i'd probably do it this way, because the other way doesn't make sense
imo, there probably already is *some* encryption that the NSA can break and there's no fucking way they would tell hclinton about it. anyways, i hate her now. ~a[2015-12-22 09:42:24] - a: wow, i wonder what she thinks encryption is. or maybe i just misunderstand what she's thinking. does she think breaking RSA encryption would work like breaking the enigma machines in world war 2 -- like everyone would keep using RSA even though it's broken? either like, maybe everyone but her won't realize it's been broken or we can't switch? - aaron
[2015-12-21 18:05:12] - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWwLUyKVAAQt5_k.jpg have to admit, this was worth a good chuckle. - mig
[2015-12-21 18:02:44] - a: yeah honestly just her invoking the "manhattan project" was creepy as fuck. - mig
[2015-12-21 16:41:26] - mig: (from the comments) "i feel like there is some level of irony in calling for a 'manhattan-like' project; the manhattan project didn't develop nuclear weapons that could only be used against 'bad guys'." ha. ~a
[2015-12-21 15:09:09] - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/hillary-clinton-wants-manhattan-like-project-to-break-encryption/ I'm reminded of a bit of a recent somewhat amusing anecdote of Glenn Beck doing an interview and stating he wasn't sure if Trump or Clinton would be worse as president. I'm wondering the same thing myself. - mig
[2015-12-21 09:13:26] - I probably could use signal, now that I'm aware of its existence. - mig
[2015-12-20 14:33:34] - a: I don't use signal. I love encryption in concept, but in practice it's clunky. In this case I didn't even know about it. And I don't think I'll end up using it because I don't really use SMS-types of technology. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-20 11:16:58] - http://www.mediaite.com/online/college-students-claim-cafeteria-food-service-misappropriates-asian-culture/ is this real life? - mig
[2015-12-20 09:35:11] - the only notable democrat that seems to be against the bill is Bernie Sanders, but he seems more concerned with other stuff in the bill rather than CISA pt deux. - mig
[2015-12-20 08:32:33] - a: Justin Amash had a lot of tweets about that (and the Omnibus in general), but I can't tell you why it didn't get more play in the mainstream media or other tech sites. -Paul
[2015-12-20 08:31:34] - a: Sure. I still wish there was an easy way to spice up the terms using units of (more) variable value like bitcoin or shares of Tesla, but 10 years is a long time and that could get ridiculous. -Paul
[2015-12-20 08:07:52] - clarification: i meant to say the only people in congress. - mig
[2015-12-20 08:06:51] - a: because the only people complaining right now are TP people? They're the devil, you know, and are only being obstructionist assholes. - mig
[2015-12-19 10:46:45] - On that topic, do you guys use signal or a similar app? If not, why not? ~a
[2015-12-19 10:44:59] - why didn't this get the same play as the last time these fuckers pulled this shit? ~a
[2015-12-18 18:01:12] - "Sounds like a deal I can accept" does this count as acceptance? ~a
[2015-12-18 18:00:40] - mig: the point is that americans are full of blind rage. ~a
[2015-12-18 16:53:24] - mig: Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I would hope voters would at least have enough self control to not reflexively say they want to bomb a place that they don't even know is real. -Paul
[2015-12-18 16:18:13] - and honestly, I think this also reflects badly on the people who devise these type of polling questions. What real point is there here? - mig
[2015-12-18 16:08:23] - paul: eh, should people in general be that snooty over this? I mean, it's funny, but at the same time, given no other context it sounds like a real place and it's not like people are going to remember that it's the name of the place from a 20-year old movie. - mig
[2015-12-18 15:42:47] - http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/18/republican-voters-bomb-agrabah-disney-aladdin-donald-trump?CMP=fb_us "30% of GOP voters support bombing Agrabah, the city from Aladdin". Not sure Democrats should get too snooty over this, though. It sounds like 19% of Democrats want to bomb it. -Paul
[2015-12-18 15:36:35] - Also, I feel like I have some bet with Aaron that I need to remind myself of. Something about the national debt at the end of Obama's presidency. -Paul
[2015-12-18 15:36:07] - a: Instead of $10 in bitcoin, I almost feel like the bet should be made in other denominations to spice things up (1 bitcoin vs 2 shares of TSLA?), but that's a little more expensive and a little more volatility than I want, I think. -Paul
[2015-12-18 15:34:24] - a: Hmmm, so the technology will have to have advanced that far AND it'll have to be cheap AND legal in Virginia? Sounds like a deal I can accept, although I briefly had a heart attack because I thought you had said 10 bitcoin so I had to go look up what that was in USD. -Paul
[2015-12-18 14:49:24] - crazy image that shows various kinds of money in one graph. reminds me of the xkcd from a while ago. ~a
[2015-12-18 13:19:49] - available for sale in virginia. ~a
[2015-12-18 13:19:27] - paul: nice. i forgot about those! ok. i'll pose a bet and you can accept or reject. bet is $10 in bitcoin. you win if there is a level 3 car for sale with a sticker price of 20k or less by 2025-12-18 or sooner. you also win if there is a level 4 car for sale with a sticker price of 30k or less by 2025-12-18 or sooner. i win otherwise. ~a
[2015-12-18 13:13:57] - a: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car So basically level 4? I'm fine with that definition, except why do we need the deaths per car per year stat? Also, are there cost restrictions? Lastly, does it have to be available in all states? -Paul
[2015-12-18 11:26:29] - mig: using my definition, model s auto-pilot does not fit, but google car does fit. ~a
[2015-12-18 11:25:51] - paul/mig: ok, i'll make the definition of self-driving. self-driving means you can take a nap while the car is driving. . . . less than 1 death per car per year (i'll probably be *much* less than 1, otherwise it would never hit the market, but i'll add it to the definition anyways). ~a
[2015-12-18 11:08:13] - http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign-dnc-suspension/index.html Bernie Sanders scandal or entrapment by the DNC? - mig
[2015-12-18 11:00:24] - a: how are you making the distinction between "auto-pilot" and "self-driving"? - mig
[2015-12-18 08:11:47] - paul: i'd like to bet on it, but can we first define a self-driving car? the model s autopilot is not a self-driving car. ~a
[2015-12-18 06:45:45] - a: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/18/google-slams-california-over-driverless-car-proposals.html Although one thing I will not underestimate that could screw the whole thing up is government regulations.
-Paul[2015-12-18 06:26:27] - I know that's not the same, but it shows how close we are to that now. -Paul
[2015-12-18 06:26:08] - a: I think it's possible there will be one for under that price point. The google self driving cars look like they would be pretty cheap to mass manufacture (they are relatively small and seemingly non-fancy outside the self-driving tech). Tesla's model 3 is due out in a few years aiming for a $35k price tag and I don't see why it wouldn't have the model s auto-pilot.
[2015-12-17 23:36:29] - paul: in the next decade for how much? i doubt you could buy one for under 30k. ~a
[2015-12-17 16:45:03] - a: Are you talking about a full transition to self-driving cars? Or our ability to use them? I wouldn't be surprised if we could buy a self-driving car in the next decade. -Paul
[2015-12-17 15:48:27] - xpovos: "the self-driving car option Paul mentioned is the most likely technological near-term solution" disagree. it likely won't be something that will affect your commute . . . unless you're talking about your commute to the nursing home. imo, it's at least a few decades off for you-and-me. ~a
[2015-12-17 13:59:46] - And this is why universal suffrage is a bad idea... OK, one of the millions of reasons. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 13:33:45] - mig: But even in general I think that's true. According to my Facebook feed, everybody thinks that we should be banning all guns. That's because when there is a mass shooting, I don't think anybody feels motivated to write up a Facebook post about how the problem just might not be the lack of common sense gun laws. -Paul
[2015-12-17 13:32:33] - mig: My guess is that you're going to hear from 100% of the people on your facebook feed who believe that (hyperbole, but at least a very high percentage) and closer to 0% of the people who don't believe it. Nobody is going to be motivated to write a thoughtful defense of Trump, I don't think.
-Paul[2015-12-17 12:59:59] - tangentially there were a similar conversation over Carly Fiorina's anti-PP rhetoric being responsible for Robert Dear's shooting spree. - mig
[2015-12-17 12:58:51] - paul: generally that's my view. My FB feed seems to disagree however, with all the blood on "his/their" hands commentary. - mig
[2015-12-17 12:55:34] - Also, how perfect is it that Putin is endorsing Trump?
-Paul[2015-12-17 12:43:06] - If there is such a solution, it might just be Nobel worthy. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 12:42:55] - Paul: I'm guessing a: is saying that biking, or something similar, is a viable option for the majority of commuters with a commute of 15km, or about 9 miles. That would be only ~45% of people anyway. Clearly the solution has to be workable for everyone but the super-comuters, like you and me. And that can't be just biking. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 12:30:28] - a: More seriously, how did we suddenly determine that your "solution" (is it biking to work instead of driving?) would work for 85% of people? How do you figure that? And why are you making me convert from miles to kilometers?
-Paul[2015-12-17 12:24:12] - mig: In most cases like this, I generally go with "very little". I like to try to hold people responsible for their own actions and not try to spread the blame to others. -Paul
[2015-12-17 12:22:52] - a: Doubtful. You would need to bomb a few hundred people first. Too soon? -Paul
[2015-12-17 12:21:01] - To add to information I think both Andrea and I are in the 10-15 mile commute range. -Daniel
[2015-12-17 11:58:25] - a: Probably. But since Paul and I are both in that 15% category, we're probably not going to be too interested in it. Particularly given some of the other drawbacks likely. I think the self-driving car option Paul mentioned is the most likely technological near-term solution. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 11:55:26] - because it seems to be the hot topic of the day on my FB feed: how much personal moral responsibility does Donald Trump have for incidents of violence against Muslims or Hispancs in this country? - mig
[2015-12-17 11:01:40] - xpovos: hmm. if i was able to come up with a "solution" to commuting that worked for 85% of the commuters, i'd probably get nominated for the nobel peace prize. ~a
[2015-12-17 10:12:22] - a: Assuming you're talking about miles driven on the road, it's around 40km if I drive straight from home to work. It's around 54 kilometers if I drop my kids off at school first. -Paul
[2015-12-17 10:07:25] - a: Is 15% unusual? Serious question, since 15% is certainly not the majority, but it's pretty common too. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 09:47:25] - xpovos/paul: so paul's 50km (or whatever) commute is longer-than-usual. jah? ~a
[2015-12-17 09:45:13] - xpovos: thanks for the data, too! that's actually better than i thought it would be. ~a
[2015-12-17 09:44:56] - xpovos: (median 20km) my is current bike commute 10km. but i've had bike commutes as long as 15km. bike commutes longer than 10km in the summer is pretty bad especially if you don't have access to a shower at work. ~a
[2015-12-17 09:31:04] - Oh, and lastly, those are one-way commutes, so double it for the daily grind. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 09:25:25] - However, I know for a fact that those in the 0.2 commute drive that distance. I'm sure it makes sense. Grouping by distances. 0-5 miles: 22%. 5-10 miles: 23%. 10-15 miles: 12%. 15-20 miles: 17%. 20-25 miles: 12%. 25-30 miles: 6%. 30-35 miles: 3%. 35-40 miles: 4% 40+ miles: 2%. A lot of rounding error in there, sorry. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 09:19:04] - Point one. The average distance of a commute among my coworkers is 14.3 miles. That's skewed up from the median (12.3) because of a couple of super-commuters. The singled longest commute came in at 55.4 miles, but I'm not positive that's a daily. However the 53.1 mile commute I am sure is daily. The shortest commute is 0.2 miles. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 09:14:53] - 5) I had to exclude a few data points. I started with 192, but tossed 11 because the address I had was out of state, or close enough (e.g. Newport News), I was confident they didn't commute on a daily basis, or I didn't have an address at all. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 09:12:56] - it had tolls, in which case I chose the next fastest. 4) This is just distance and doesn't include anything about how the person gets in, e.g. I know one of the people with a long commute takes a bus daily. Several others are able to take Metro, etc. I didn't discount them from the review because I don't have perfect knowledge. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-17 09:11:43] - Ok, so I've finished my distance from work data set. A few brief points on error. 1) I used Google Maps exclusively, any bias or error that Google Maps had was carried over 2) To protect privacy of my coworkers, I didn't enter the full address in my search, this can add or subtract a significant distance in some cases. 3) I chose the fastest route (by car) unless ..
[2015-12-16 14:52:52] - a: Instead of blurted out a nonsensical stream of words that give stream of consciousness a bad name. I can't even figure out what his ultimate point is, other than nuclear weapons are very powerful. -Paul
[2015-12-16 14:51:26] - a: I half blame him for not knowing the term when running for president and at a national security debate, but I really blame him for not being able to figure it out. The moderator mentioned two of the legs in the first question, Trump could've just picked one of those and ran with it. -Paul
[2015-12-16 14:47:55] - xpovos/paul: they want a washington-outsider, they want a black-sheep, they want a non-politician, which donald trump hits on the head: they better expect he isn't going to know how we currently . . . do things. i don't fault trump for not knowing terminology. ~a
[2015-12-16 14:28:54] - paul: yeah that is pretty amazing. I mean, even if you didn't have a clue what the term "nuclear triad" meant (I certainly did not), Hewitt isn't exactly obscuring the term and at least hints what it means. - mig
[2015-12-16 13:48:49] - xpovos: the last four times i've biked to my parents house i've taken four different routes: #1, fairfax county parkway, #2, lorton parkway and 123, #3, w&od (to reston) and the fairfax county parkway, #4, w&od (to vienna) and pickett. ~a
[2015-12-16 13:45:47] - http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/428591/after-trump-blanks-nuclear-question-rubio-explains-triad-terminology God, Trump sounds even stupider when you read transcripts of what he says. I knew it was a rambling response when listening, but it's just nonsensical when you read it. -Paul
[2015-12-16 13:37:41] - xpovos: biking-mode on google maps is invaluable. ~a
[2015-12-16 13:34:45] - xpovos: like learning to drive in dc, it's something you get used to. i know about tons of back-ways to get places really fast just like audrey always knows the best places to park in dc. but also learning to find bike-lanes and learning to be comfortable driving with (*OR IN* traffic, in dc or on a long downhill) can take a while. ~a
[2015-12-16 12:30:41] - a: I can't imagine trying to bike much around here. I'm sure it's possible, but it doesn't seem like a safe choice for a consistent approach. I'm putting my data set together, because now I'm curious regardless. I'll post some results this afternoon. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-16 12:06:43] - a: And I'm totally supportive of people who want to bike to work. I wish I could. But I can't, and I think a lot of people in this area can't. So I don't know how people like me are supposed to get around in this magical world of everybody bike/bus/light rail everywhere. -Paul
[2015-12-16 12:05:23] - a: Right, school buses are special situation where something like this isn't as horrible as it is elsewhere. You have a bunch of people from one location all needing to get to another location at the same time. Most of the rest of the world doesn't work like that. -Paul
[2015-12-16 11:46:54] - park *dr* sorry. ~a
[2015-12-16 11:46:14] - xpovos: you know i bike past your work on the way to my work?
(most days that i bike in, i cross 50 at park rd but some days, i cross 50 at glebe) ~a[2015-12-16 09:21:19] - a: I work in Arlington. Basically the same, but slightly different. And of course my data set is necessarily skewed and can't possibly be representative of the commuter patterns of the city, or extended urban area. But it is a data set we have access to. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-16 09:09:04] - xpovos: i guess it depends on what set of people we're looking at. my guess is people working in dc probably have an above-average commute. ~a
[2015-12-16 09:05:24] - Being in the position I am I could abuse my power and see if I could figure out how long the average commute here is and tell you what percentage is above some threshold we determine to be "long". -- Xpovos
[2015-12-16 09:04:48] - a: "not a lot of people commute as fare as you do." I suppose it depends on what you mean by "a lot" here, but in this area particularly the long commute is extremely common. I commute about 60 miles round trip daily. I carpool with people who's home-side destination is even further away. -- Xpovos
[2015-12-15 12:11:38] - a: fair point. Things (namely technology) can change. Typically when I see these sort of things it's usually from people (not you, of course) who want their public transit utopia *right this very minute* and push for those type of things, economic or practical sense be damned. - mig
[2015-12-15 11:27:19] - paul: not a lot of people commute as far as you do. personally, i will seriously try as hard as i can to always be able to commute to work by bike. ~a
[2015-12-15 11:26:02] - paul: or a bus. they have those already though. they're called . . . school buses? ~a
[2015-12-15 11:25:13] - "I don't think it accurately represents how people would be comfortable commuting by bike" i disagree here. if you've ever been on the mount vernon trail on a warm weekend, we pack a lot of people into that much-smaller and bi-directional trail. ~a
[2015-12-15 11:23:49] - a: I would basically need a train that went straight from my house to my kids' school, and then to my work. And then that would have to change when my kids switch to a new school in a few years. -Paul
[2015-12-15 11:23:05] - a: But I think the future is likely to be more like self-driving cars (possibly much smaller ones like the Google car) than bikes/trains/buses. I can't even envision a future where a combination of those could adequately replace my currently pretty crappy morning commute by car. -Paul
[2015-12-15 11:21:57] - a: "*today*. the only constant is change, blah blah blah." I don't quite get your point, here. Bikes, trains and buses would appear to be the transportation methods of the past more than the future (aren't most of them older than cars, too?). No doubt things will change... -Paul
[2015-12-15 11:20:03] - aaron: Sure, but they didn't spread them out. They purposefully packed them together to try to make a visual point, which is fine, but I don't think it accurately represents how people would be comfortable commuting by bike. -Paul
[2015-12-15 11:19:09] - paul: cars are just so much more convenient for the vast majority of people ... *today*. i like to be the change i see in the world. i'll admit you're right today. i see a better future for me and . . . your children?
~a[2015-12-15 11:17:50] - mig: has it ever come under consideration that these forms of transit are just not feasible in an economical or practical sense in this country ... *today*. the only constant is change, blah blah blah. ~a
[2015-12-15 11:16:26] - paul: "I still would be a little nervous biking that close together" 1. you have the other lanes to use. 2. you get used to it. imagine if you'd been biking all these years that you were driving. 3. much like aggressiveness and defensiveness in driving, everybody is different. ~a
[2015-12-15 11:15:23] - aaron: "200 people in 177 cars" statistically pessimistic? without any actual data i guess i can't refute that. but why do you say this? if you're talking about a morning commute, i'm surprised they were that optimistic. i don't know of any of my coworkers that have more than one person in their car every morning. do you? ~a
[2015-12-15 11:07:05] - aaron: if we're talking about solely space occupancy, I guess I can't really argue that. - mig
[2015-12-15 10:57:19] - paul: well, you'd be nervous driving that close to each other too. if you expand each picture to assume it represents the vehicles acutally moving, then cars are horrible, bikes are just OK and buses and trains are crazy efficient - aaron
[2015-12-15 10:41:23] - paul: yeah i was about to say, the bike photo looks more like a competitive bike race than actual biking commuters. - mig
[2015-12-15 10:39:48] - a: Cars are just so much more convenient for the vast majority of people. I think even you would have to admit that. -Paul
[2015-12-15 10:39:02] - a: I still would be a little nervous biking that close together, but I second what Miguel said. There's no way I could walk or bike to work (too far AND I would have my girls along for parts of it) and busing/light rail would be so inconvenient that I'm sure it would add hours to my commute each day. -Paul
[2015-12-15 10:10:25] - a: cool graphic, it's interesting they put 200 people in 177 cars. i wonder why they chose that number! it seems statistically pessimistic. - aaron
[2015-12-15 09:55:48] - a: i understand why bike/light rail/public transit advocates are making this pitch, but has it ever come under consideration that these forms of transit are just not feasable in an economical or practical sense in this country? - mig
[2015-12-14 19:15:38] - http://i.imgur.com/kw8DaST.gif . . . reminded me of the conversation we had here a few months ago. ~a
[2015-12-14 10:15:29] - xpovos: latinos, actually. - mig
[2015-12-14 08:50:50] - mig: Ah, but are they Muslim? </sarcasm> -- Xpovos
[2015-12-13 20:45:01] - So this is now 2 nights in a row cops start swarming the neighborhood over something to have to do with my next door neighbors. This is starting to get concerning ... - mig
[2015-12-13 14:19:42] - paul: you should not. your 10 words are meant for offline storage. ~a
[2015-12-11 23:03:58] - a: You probably have already answered this, but is there a good reason why I shouldn't keep my 10 words for my wallet stored online somewhere? -Paul
[2015-12-10 13:00:26] - aaron: Sounds like a charming guy all around, what with the follow up threat at the end. -Paul
[2015-12-10 11:59:53] - aaron: if he says so... - mig
[2015-12-10 09:51:12] - a: Well this is in the context of the supposed "epidemic of gun violence" in this country, so I doubt the President is referring to most of the weapons you list there as that are unaccessible to the civilian population. - mig
[2015-12-10 09:48:56] - http://dcist.com/2015/12/_all_aaditya_shah_wanted.php painting company tells customer who canceled "death to muslims" -- after the story broke the company's owner actually spoke with the reporter about why they said death to muslims, and how it might help them drum up new business
- aaron[2015-12-10 09:25:51] - a: after looking at a few more comics, i think they use the <end-of-string-literal> as a token. however, there's a special case where the text balloon runs out of space in which case it just chops the sentence off prematurely - aaron
[2015-12-09 18:29:47] - As somebody who hasn't heard the term in context, I'd guess tanks and fighter jets? Rpgs, mortars, 40mm, 50cal, howitzers, ieds? ~a
[2015-12-09 10:50:49] - paul: what really grates me is this new term of "weapons of war" that gets thrown around by the President every so often (and the recent NYT editorial started using it too). What does that term even mean? - mig
[2015-12-08 15:50:12] - aaron: as real examples: "they jump on like to" "oh, yeah ... we go to" it's very rare i think that a sentence ends in "to". (that sentence exempting) ~a
[2015-12-08 15:48:38] - their markov chains don't end correctly. they don't end like most sentences end. for instance, in my last sentence, if you ran a chainer on it and it ended a sentence with "most" then it's probably not using a "null" like we did, but if it ended a sentence with "end." then you'd know it was working. ~a
[2015-12-08 15:43:30] - a: i never know where to stick weird sandboxy code like that! i'm have a couple google docs with like 20 pages of code. and sometimes i e-mail it to myself. what makes you think they forgot <end-of-string-literal> as a token? - aaron
[2015-12-08 13:57:44] - aaron: YES YES YES. awesome. btw, i think they forgot to add the <end-of-string-literal> as a token like we did. (looking at LexicalChainer.java, you used "null" to signify the end of a "phrase". if you ever want that code, i can put it on github
) ~a[2015-12-08 13:07:34] - But when you dig into the details of the proposals, they often wouldn't have done anything at all to prevent said recent shooting. As far as I know, the "assault weapons" that were used in San Bernardino fully complied with California's pretty strict "assault weapon" ban. -Paul
[2015-12-08 13:05:58] - From discussing things with people on Facebook (and over the years, honestly), I feel like one common misconception (in my opinion, of course), is that there is some easy/simple "common sense" fix that could make a major impact but the evil NRA keeps not allowing it. -Paul
[2015-12-08 13:04:14] - Daniel: I'm glad. I know a common theme from the articles I read is frustration over the fact that oftentimes people who advocate gun control have no idea what they're talking about (even Obama has used some confusing terminology which implies he doesn't know what he's talking about). -Paul
[2015-12-08 12:43:10] - Paul: I liked the gun control talking article. I liked the part about the dogs. -Daniel
[2015-12-08 12:19:08] - http://joshmillard.com/garkov/ "garkov" generates garfield strips using a markov model - aaron
[2015-12-08 11:25:22] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-world-reacts-to-trumps-proposed-ban-on-muslims-entering-us/2015/12/08/50eea1dc-9d4a-11e5-9ad2-568d814bbf3b_story.html So... how big of an increase does Trump get after this?
-Paul[2015-12-07 14:07:59] - https://popehat.com/2015/12/07/talking-productively-about-guns/ I thought this was a good article about something that frustrates me about the gun debate (or often any political debate) on Facebook: People seem far more interested in preaching to the choir than making persuasive arguments. -Paul
[2015-12-07 09:31:50] - aaron: that's pretty macabre for a game concept. - mig
[2015-12-07 08:56:23] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPfZRjKv3-0 a 2-player game where you either play as an adult who has to rapidly babyproof their house, or you play as a baby who has to try to kill themself - aaron
[2015-12-05 07:34:47] - Makes it pretty clear that they didn't stay that way for long, if they even ever were. -Paul
[2015-12-05 07:34:26] - "It was very sobering for me. I’m that guy.†- Congressman Thomas Massie. That article sums up a lot of my frustrations. I really thought the tea party was libertarian-ish at it's founding, but the wacky way that they've gone about supporting all sorts of politicians with no real economic conservatism... -Paul
[2015-12-05 07:32:53] - https://reason.com/blog/2015/12/04/being-libertarian-vs-being-anti-establis “I’m thinking, wow, the American public really seems to like these libertarian ideas. And then Donald Trump runs and he gets all of their (Rand Paul and Ron Paul) voters, he gets all of my voters. I’m thinking, no, they’re just voting for the craziest guy in the race." -Paul
[2015-12-04 14:09:10] - Wow... the advertising/ad-blocker war has gone insane. I dare anyone to actually be able to read the content of this page without an ad-blocker. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/3/syed-farook-tashfeen-malik-erased-digital-footprin/ -- Xpovos
[2015-12-04 13:20:22] - oh, that wasn't directed at me. nm. . . . anyways, yes. 50 questions is the full amount. ~a
[2015-12-04 13:19:51] - g: how is it bestiality? i'm without-child so you can prove nothing. ~a
[2015-12-04 11:39:08] - g: ONLY 30 questions. Daniel and Adrian answered more. -Paul
[2015-12-04 11:36:52] - paul: you answered 30 questions to determine if you are into beastiality? ~g
[2015-12-03 15:06:49] - mig: oh gosh i really just thought it was a non sequitur. now i'm disappointed! - aaron
[2015-12-03 12:17:27] - paul: there's a mobile game that called "My Horse" were you control a horse and collect gems. I assume that 1) the game is somewhat popular and 2) it's popular among women. - mig
[2015-12-03 12:06:52] - Wait, so it eventually gave an answer? I gave up after answering 30 questions because I assumed it wouldn't end. Also, I was confused about the gems. -Paul
[2015-12-03 09:20:18] - daniel: keep an eye on your gems, just in case - aaron
[2015-12-03 08:46:21] - That was weird and confusing. But Andrea isn't a horse, so thats good? -Daniel
[2015-12-03 08:43:03] - my girlfriend is not a horse. at least, probably not. well . . . ok . . . there's a 16% chance my girlfriend is a horse. ~a
[2015-12-02 16:54:40] - http://isyourgirlfriendahorse.com/ is your girlfriend a horse . com - aaron
[2015-12-02 15:24:38] - a: I'm sure that's part of it, but I'm responding to your comments, which appear to be criticisms (art least), which I tend to associate with disagreement instead of agreement.
-Paul[2015-12-02 15:21:52] - paul: except i don't disagree with you. maybe you're putting me in the same camp as daniel as force of habit?
~a[2015-12-02 15:17:13] - a: Because the 1% is so big, I suggested looking at a more reasonable sized group (although 500 is still too many for me to bother with the research). Do you have a better method for me to try to prove my point? I've offered a lot of data points so far (while admitting it's far from a "proof") while all you guys have offered is that "it's not everybody".
-Paul[2015-12-02 15:15:17] - a: Right, but like I said, I'm not going to go through every member of the 1% to report back on how many contribute a lot to charity. Also, I wasn't necessarily talking about the 1% originally (Zuckerberg, Gates, Buffet and Musk are certainly far wealthier than that). I only brought it up as an example of who some people fixate on. -Paul
[2015-12-02 15:06:17] - paul: forbes 500 != the top 1% or the top 0.1%. forbes 500 is the top ~.00001%. you're only off by like 4 or 5 orders of magnitude. ~a
[2015-12-02 10:42:26] - Daniel: Well, the 1% is a pretty large group. Going through everybody 1 by 1 isn't going to work. Honestly, though, if you go down the list of the Forbes 500 richest people, I'll bet the vast majority of them have significant charitable contributions. -Paul
[2015-12-02 10:29:19] - http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2012/05/17/an-inside-look-at-the-millions-mitt-romney-has-given-away/ Mitt Romney? - mig
[2015-12-02 10:12:07] - I would also say I'm not currently trying to assert that the top 1% is greedy, I'm just not sure that if someone were to make that assertion that listing 105 rich people that give a lot is a suitable refutation. -Daniel
[2015-12-02 10:11:14] - Is there a list of rich people who don't give to charity? How would you even get that list? I'm just not sure how one is able to draw the conclusion that the 1% isn't greedy based on the actions of 100 people. -Daniel
[2015-12-02 09:55:57] - Daniel: http://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2015/06/26/the-koch-brothers-gifts-to-society And just because the left seems obsessed with them as boogie men, I'll throw out that the Koch brothers have also contributed a bunch to charities and other causes that are typically considered non-evil. -Paul
[2015-12-02 09:50:59] - Daniel: http://givingpledge.org/index.html Here's 100+ of them to give me a head start. -Paul
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