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[2017-01-26 17:00:25] - paul: yes. the "institutional shares" are usually used internally by other vanguard funds (and the fund minimums are rediculously huge: in the millions). or in my case, it's because i still have a raytheon 401k, which makes some vanguard funds available. ~a
[2017-01-26 16:57:12] - paul/daniel: i understand that the results will change if i reinvest the dividends or pocket the dividends, but it seems like most tools do neither. when it comes to displaying "gain" it assumes the dividends are 0 (when they are not), which is neither of those things. ~a
[2017-01-26 16:56:30] - paul/daniel: i have a financial problem. most tracking systems (yahoo finance's portfolio, and google finance) seem to hide dividends from me. when my portfolio says it's gone up X% in the past 5 years, it always keeps dividends out of the equation! of course, i can calculate in dividends myself, but they always make it hard. vanguard otoh does show dividends well. ~a
[2017-01-26 16:48:18] - a: Is 200m typically required for it? -Paul
[2017-01-26 16:48:03] - Daniel: Yeah, I'm mostly just looking for a nice diversified spread, nothing like 90% weighting either way. I basically want my traditional IRA (which is exclusively Vanguard funds) to be a simple diversified basket of domestic and international stocks. Large, mid and small cap. -Paul
[2017-01-26 12:30:06] - paul: i use vtsax. also vitpx because i'm cool like that (in case you were wondering, no i don't have 200m). ~a
[2017-01-26 12:19:09] - Paul: I guess that would depend on the ratios of VFIAX and VSMAX you have / want. Like if you want 90% to be in VSMAX then VTSAX isn't going to replicate that. If you are fine with the allotment in VTSAX then yeah seems to make sense to go with it as its cheaper and should be a good total market index. -Daniel
[2017-01-26 12:08:20] - Daniel: Would I probably be better off just moving that money to VTSAX (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares)? The expense ratio is a little lower (0.05% vs the 0.08% for the Small-Cap Index Fund) and in theory I get a better mix because it includes mid-caps. -Paul
[2017-01-26 12:06:45] - Daniel: I've got a Vanguard question for you. Right now I have some of my retirement money in VFIAX (Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares) and VSMAX (Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund Admiral Shares) as a way of getting exposure to the total domestic market. -Paul
[2017-01-26 10:45:58] - mig: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/cavs-brass-responds-to-lebron-we-have-enough-on-this-team-to-win-a-championship-051550482.html There's also some information in here about how much the Cavs have been spending on salary and luxury tax payments. -Paul
[2017-01-26 10:02:30] - mig: I'm basically saying that, in my opinion, he has the least right to gripe about needing more playmakers on his team than anybody else in the league except people on the Golden State Warriors. -Paul
[2017-01-26 10:01:45] - mig: I'm judging his comments GIVEN his current situation and history. To make an analogy, it's like saying I'm not judging a Patriots fan for his team winning so many Super Bowls, but I AM judging him for complaining about not winning more given that his team has already won so many. -Paul
[2017-01-25 17:32:44] - "I'm not even passing judgement here" "Sure, it's probably okay to think that, but to gripe publicly about it when your team is already stacked and you have a history of jumping from lesser talented teams to more talented teams to chase rings make it look really unseemly to me." that kind of sounds like passing a judgment to me. - mig
[2017-01-25 16:22:28] - Here's my argument, simplified: (1) James has twice jumped ship on teams to leave for teams with superior (top 2 in the league) talent. (2) His Cavs currently probably are second in the league in terms of talent now. Ergo (3) James probably shouldn't publicly complain that his team needs another play-maker. -Paul
[2017-01-25 16:20:01] - mig: I don't know. Maybe asked somebody who has called him that?
I'm not even passing judgement here (that's an argument for a different time), I'm just stating that this is the reputation he has (even if it's just with me) and that, combined with the talent the Cavs already have, make this complaint of his sound tone deaf to me. -Paul[2017-01-25 16:07:34] - paul: so I'll grant no "great" player has done it, but why does that make James the devil incarnate? - mig
[2017-01-25 16:04:55] - Daniel: I can't think of any great player in their prime that has done something similar in the modern NBA. Karl Malone and Gary Payton joined the Lakers, but they were past their prime and that was only one move. Maybe Dwight Howard with the Lakers and then Rockets? -Paul
[2017-01-25 16:02:13] - Daniel: And it's not like the Shaq to Miami kind of leaving where the Lakers didn't seem to want him anymore. Both times the teams he left desperately wanted him to stay and were doing everything they could to keep him. -Paul
[2017-01-25 16:00:45] - Daniel: I don't know if I would say it's crazy either, just pointing out that's it's an established trend. Some players leave for more money. Some leave for a change of scenery. Some are loyal to their franchise. It seems like it can be definitively said that James has left twice to join a presumed front-runner team. -Paul
[2017-01-25 15:59:06] - mig: Isn't it pretty well established now that he's pulling the strings and is their de facto GM?
If LeBron is just trying to nudge Cavs management, then why take it public? It's not like they've been sitting still. They did make one of the bigger trades of the past month in acquiring Korver. -Paul[2017-01-25 15:29:59] - also, if he added to the gripe, "I'm going jet if things don't get better!", I might be more with you. - mig
[2017-01-25 15:28:42] - -Daniel
[2017-01-25 15:28:36] - Paul: I said I didn't think you were wrong. Just very glass half empty. I don't think it was crazy of him to leave the Cavs after six years of them not finding any real talent to go around him (Antwan Jaimison? Big Z?) and go play with his friends. I don't think it was crazy after four years and some championships out of the way to go back to the Cavs and try again.
[2017-01-25 14:56:17] - I put fan and player griping in different categories. If James was/is complaining literally ever day about this, then I might be more swayed to your stance. But I'm not going to really kill him over what probably is a strategic gripe intended to nudge Cavs management into some form of action. - mig
[2017-01-25 14:49:42] - mig: Sure, but would you want to hear a Patriots fan complain about how they didn't win a championship last year or a Spurs fan complain about not winning last year? Sure, it's every team's responsibility to win every year, but I don't want to hear the rich vocally complain about not being richer.
-Paul[2017-01-25 14:46:11] - Daniel: How many times has he re-signed with a team versus switching to a more talented one? It's probably somewhere near 50/50, right? -Paul
[2017-01-25 14:45:29] - Daniel: I'm trying to find a history of the contracts he has signed. Sure, he's only switched teams twice, but you have to admit that they have been very high profile switches with one blatantly geared towards joining a more talented team over a lesser one (and seeming to apply to the second switch as well). -Paul
[2017-01-25 14:39:22] - paul: given that, I'd assume any team would want to figure out ways to improve their roster, regardless of how "stacked" it is currently. - mig
[2017-01-25 14:37:48] - mig: No team as constructed is favored to beat the Warriors.
The Cavs at least might be the closest. -Paul[2017-01-25 14:04:38] - it should be noted he gave 6 years to the Cavs the first go round and was in Miami for 4. How many years must a player give their team before they are "morally" allowed to leave? - mig
[2017-01-25 13:59:26] - Paul: I'm not sure your quote of "you have a history of jumping from lesser talented teams to more talented teams to chase rings" is objectively wrong but it definitely seems like a glass half empty reading of James career when he has only switched teams twice. -Daniel
[2017-01-25 13:41:18] - "but to gripe publicly about it when your team is already stacked" the bottom line is the team as constructed isn't favored to beat the Warriors and just about everybody knows it. If I was a Cavs fan, i'd much rather see people lobby for some sort of action rather than the team sit on their laurels hoping they'll just "get better" when the finals comes around. - mig
[2017-01-25 13:27:57] - mig: Sure, it's probably okay to think that, but to gripe publicly about it when your team is already stacked and you have a history of jumping from lesser talented teams to more talented teams to chase rings make it look really unseemly to me. -Paul
[2017-01-25 13:26:22] - Paul: It does seem odd. And comparing to golden state is tough. Like the Rockets or Spurs have less stars and get by. Playmaker is kind of nebulous. In terms of creating shots now a days thats mostly driving and kicking so maybe no one else on the Cavs can drive besides Irving and Kyrie? Love should be able to post up though. Odd. -Daniel
[2017-01-25 13:24:49] - I certainly don't feel sorry for James, but I don't feel this is something to criticize him over. -mig
[2017-01-25 13:23:41] - "I mean, his team probably has the most talent of any other besides Golden State." Isn't that the main sticking point. The Warriors are still the team to beat. So if you feel your overall team talent doesn't match up with Golden State, that's a problem. - mig
[2017-01-25 13:18:58] - I mean, his team probably has the most talent of any other besides Golden State and he's asking for a play-maker? Come on. -Paul
[2017-01-25 13:18:09] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/01/24/frustrated-lebron-james-desperately-wants-the-cavs-to-get-a-playmaker/?utm_term=.ca900dc7bc2a Does anybody feel sorry for LeBron "I'll jump to whichever team where I can play with 2 perennial all-stars" James? -Paul
[2017-01-25 13:16:53] - mig: Yeah, sorry, the loathing isn't about the politics specifically, but just how he expresses them. Even though it pains me to say this, he seems like just a bad human being. -Paul
[2017-01-25 12:50:29] - paul: well the loathing wouldn't necessarily be about politics here, but more so for being a crude ideological bigot. - mig
[2017-01-25 11:54:35] - http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/01/25/filmmaker-joss-whedon-fires-after-at-first-family.html This is why I don't like boycotting people/companies/things that might hold views i disagree with. I absolutely love Joss Whedon's work, but loathe his politics. I need cognitive dissonance here. -Paul
[2017-01-25 10:55:12] - Daniel: In theory they did, but the one I used was having issues, so they ended up transferring my order to a human cashier who "handled" it (I swiped my card at their station instead). -Paul
[2017-01-25 10:50:22] - daniel: well the reason sheetz don't handle payment is that it also doubles as a convenience store and they don't have full fledged self checkouts like grocery stores do now, so there's a clerk who has to scan in your order barcode (in addition to anything else you might have bought). - mig
[2017-01-25 10:47:39] - mig: Oo you might be right about the ones I've seen too. Maybe you still had to pay with a person. Paul did the ones at McD's handle payment? -Daniel
[2017-01-25 10:44:24] - The only major difference is it doesn't handle payment. You still have to see a human for that. - mig
[2017-01-25 10:43:38] - Sheetz has had self ordering kiosks for as long as I can remember. A little different because it's primarily a gas station, but it has a comparable menu to McDonalds or any other fast food eatery at this point. - mig
[2017-01-25 10:25:54] - Paul: So not surprising as they get cheaper / less buggy for more places to adopt them. -Daniel
[2017-01-25 10:25:26] - Paul: I think those things have been somewhat in the pipeline for awhile. I know other places have had them already. I've seen them for places in airports before and at Wawa's up in PA. -Daniel
[2017-01-25 10:20:09] - paul: yeah i saw that in northeast alexandria too. it was weird. almost made me want to get mcdonalds food, but then i was like, no i hate mcdonalds food, so i ordered my coffee. ~a
[2017-01-25 10:11:40] - I had stopped by a McDonalds in Tysons yesterday and they had these fancy new self-ordering kiosks to take the human element out of ordering and the reaction from people seemed surprisingly positive. Guess they're prepping for the minimum wage increase? -Paul
[2017-01-23 16:18:09] - Aaron: Nice, thanks! I went on a strange game buying binge this weekend (bought Journey for PS3 after I dusted that off and Valkyria Chronicles on Steam). Might as well round it out by buying the Witness on Xbox One.
-Paul[2017-01-23 14:01:25] - paul: yeah! it's a solid game. really clever puzzles - aaron
[2017-01-23 10:46:03] - aaron: But it's good so far? Worth a purchase? -Paul
[2017-01-23 10:06:13] - aaron: I didn't really either. If it's mostly like Braid, then I'm probably into it. The whole plot thing just left a bad taste in my mouth (after I initially liked the reverse surprise). -Paul
[2017-01-23 09:47:01] - paul: yes i've played the witness. it is 100% puzzles so far, although i'm only about a third of the way through. although honestly i probably would have said the same about braid, i didn't really notice braid's plot until the last 5 minutes of the game - aaron
[2017-01-22 23:35:56] - a: lubuntu installed on my netbook with wi-fi working! Browsing even a single webpage isn't too fast, but it's bearable. -Paul
[2017-01-22 22:42:19] - a: I was on the mall in front of the air and space/native american museum for most of the rally time. Then walked up the mall up 7th and then up Pennsylvania.... ~g
[2017-01-22 20:51:32] - Has anybody played The Witness? I played Braid and kinda liked it, but I also hated the "artsy" parts of it (basically that the plot barely made any sense) and I'm worried The Witness will be more like that. -Paul
[2017-01-21 22:05:32] - g: cool! where were you? i biked into dc and spent most of my time nearby 12th and independence. then walked to the ellipse. ~a
[2017-01-21 17:42:17] - A: I went to the march ~g
[2017-01-20 13:12:44] - paul: I too, hope Democrats (and some more principled republicans like Paul and Amash) will hopefully be able to disrupt things, but if this petulant whine fest that I'm seeing on my feed today is the typical opposition, I'm not holding out much hope it'll be effective. - mig
[2017-01-20 12:19:45] - Daniel: Added a caption. -Paul
[2017-01-20 12:09:54] - Daniel: Yeah, in a lot of instances I didn't notice other online newspapers and the like doing it either, which is why I wasn't sure how to do it. -Paul
[2017-01-20 12:01:03] - Paul: I'm not sure either? I googled for like 30 seconds and it seemed like there should be? But I'm certainly no expert. I just noticed there were none. -Daniel
[2017-01-20 11:49:56] - Daniel: You think I should include a caption? I'm perfectly good with adding that. -Paul
[2017-01-20 11:49:34] - Daniel: And even then, I wasn't entire sure if I should put a caption or alt tag or link or what. I'm trying to do things as much by the book as possible, but unfortunately the book isn't clear to me. -Paul
[2017-01-20 11:48:58] - Daniel: That is an excellent question. Are you referring mostly to the political cartoons from today's article? I actually spent a lot of time trying to find ones that didn't explicitly say I needed to pay for them (there were cartoons I liked better) and I also spent a lot of time trying to track down the original author. -Paul
[2017-01-20 11:47:54] - Daniel: And I'm hoping the Democrats (and Republicans) can obstruct whatever bad things Trump has in store for us. -Paul
[2017-01-20 11:47:33] - Daniel: I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with obstruction. In fact, I think that's how the system was kinda supposed to work. There was supposed to be a give and take between the three branches of government. I was for most of the Republican obstruction during Obama's administration (and wished there was more during Bush). -Paul
[2017-01-20 11:46:26] - On a totally separate note - do your images in your articles Paul need citations? Like given you are trying to have a for realzies website do they need more than to be URLs back to source? I honestly don't know. -Daniel
[2017-01-20 11:46:01] - I finally got something right about this election! -Paul
[2017-01-20 11:45:52] - [2016-03-16 15:35:43] - Daniel: My guess? It gets totally drowned out by the much more interesting (to me, at least) presidential race.
-Paul[2017-01-20 11:41:56] - Like the Garland nomination is a crazy example. It drives me nuts that they did it but it makes me even more crazy that I think its going to work. I hate that a lot. Like if it works and the D's don't do it are they just ceding the ability to actually do things to the R's? I don't know... -Daniel
[2017-01-20 11:40:57] - Yeah I'm not sure how I feel about Dem obstruction. I get angry that R's are the party of obstruction yet when they win they get to enact stuff because D's aren't as hardline. Then when D's win the R's just obstruct so D's don't get to do things. I think until R's start to get punished for obstruction I'm not sure how I feel. -Daniel
[2017-01-20 11:35:52] - Daniel: And I'm guessing the same people who were bashing "obstructionist Republicans" will now be cheering on Democrats to use any means necessary to obstruct Trump... without any self-reflection of the hypocrisy there. -Paul
[2017-01-20 11:34:13] - Daniel: This is why I'm torn about how to feel about all the "Trump is not my President" people. On one hand, I understand the emotions behind it and even the logic behind worrying about Russian interference. On the other hand, it seems like a lot of sour grapes from the same people who were bashing Trump for implying he might not accept election results. -Paul
[2017-01-20 11:32:45] - Daniel: Ah, okay. Sounds like somebody reads Rampant Discourse.
-Paul[2017-01-20 11:27:53] - Same thing. Peaceful transition of power is pretty much our hallmark. -Daniel
[2017-01-20 11:02:46] - Daniel: I assume I know the embarrassing part, but what is the proud part? -Paul
[2017-01-20 10:59:33] - Today is both embarrassing and proud at the same time together. Its confusing for me. -Daniel
[2017-01-19 10:38:15] - a: I supported many of the issues that were raised very early on in the tea party (opposing the bailouts, concern about debt and deficits and taxes and spending, etc). By the end of the tea party (and I consider it pretty much ended now) I didn't really see much commonality with them. -Paul
[2017-01-19 10:14:44] - nah. i'm not really as invested as you think i am. i'm not bringing a sign or anything. it's like the tea party rally in reston. do you support the tea party, paul? ~a
[2017-01-19 10:11:06] - a: I know you didn't ask, but this is why I have such a hard time supporting stuff like this women's march or Black Lives Matter or other stuff. Those groups just never seem to be able to stick to a single issue and always try to tie everything together with every other liberal talking point. -Paul
[2017-01-19 10:10:11] - a: http://reason.com/blog/2017/01/17/womens-march-strikes-sex-worker-rights I don't expect this to change your mind at all, but does stuff like this concern you? -Paul
[2017-01-19 10:09:24] - a: I also have gone back to try to find uses for my old HP touchpads (from 2011). -Paul
[2017-01-19 10:08:59] - a: I know. I've spent way too much time over the past few weeks trying to find a way to save my netbook (and also my chromebook, which has developed an annoying green tint to the screen) instead of just biting the bullet and buying a new machine. I hate tossing out perfectly good (relative term) hardware. -Paul
[2017-01-18 13:25:03] - paul: otoh, i strongly recommend you ditch the netbook. you've been through good times and bad, but i think you eventually have to say goodbye. ~a
[2017-01-18 13:23:36] - paul: nope. vanilla ubuntu is what i use on my desktop and in production (currently 16.10). i have some coworkers that love arch but i couldn't recomend that to anybody. ~a
[2017-01-18 12:10:54] - a: You know much about lubuntu? I'm thinking of trying to install it on my old netbook as a last ditch attempt to get a functioning OS on it that I could use for web browsing. -Paul
[2017-01-18 11:00:34] - mig: I could see the public education lobby, but it also seemed like my personal Facebook feed was also losing it's shit over her. Seriously, it was the most posts I've seen on a single topic since Trump won the election, I think. -Paul
[2017-01-18 10:45:31] - paul: I think that's more than likely it, just looking around at reddit or other news sources, the public education lobby is completely losing their shit over DeVos. - mig
[2017-01-18 10:32:25] - Daniel: That's what's weird. It seems like Sessions should have so much more opposition from what I've heard of, but I hardly heard a peep on social media about him. I think Miguel might be on to something with his education comment, since two of the people on Facebook I believe are somewhat tied to education. -Paul
[2017-01-18 10:31:14] - a: I remember reading about hearings for Supreme Court justices where it was common for them to refuse to answer the majority of questions because it might bias them in the future or something. -Paul
[2017-01-18 10:30:36] - a: Yeah, I saw a clip of that. Presumably you are mocking how she is repeating the same claim and not answering the question. I pretty much don't watch any confirmation hearings because I feel like they're 90% just congressmen showing off to their base by trying to ask gotcha questions, but I feel like that kind of dance is normal. -Paul
[2017-01-18 10:22:17] - paul, who doesn't support accountability? do you support accountability? ~a
[2017-01-18 10:18:10] - Paul: Yeah I'm not aware of more venom towards her than say Jeff Sessions. Or this Price guy who is having his hearing today. -Daniel
[2017-01-18 10:17:48] - paul, she supports accountability ~a
[2017-01-18 10:11:34] - paul: I think it might be because we know a fair amount of people either who feel strongly or are tied to public education. - mig
[2017-01-18 09:53:35] - I've hardly heard anything at all about the other confirmation hearings and suddenly last night Facebook was just post after post sharing video from Occupy Democrats. Was she really that bad or is this just a case of where some of her views touched a particularly sensitive nerve? -Paul
[2017-01-18 09:53:03] - So, I didn't watch any of the confirmation hearing last night, but I'm kind of shocked that out of all of Trump's picks so far, Betsy DeVos seems to be getting the most venom directed at her by far, if my Facebook feed is any indication. -Paul
[2017-01-17 17:54:20] - mig: ok. but both of those things are bad. espionage 101: find something private on a foreign political enemy through illegal means to make a "free and fair" election anything but. it's immoral and illegal when we do it, and it's immoral and illegal when the russian federation does it. ~a
[2017-01-17 17:09:09] - a: The statement that the "interference" by Russia somehow was the factor that got Trump elected. For all the hyperventilating about the evil Russian influence, all that came out of it was that some of the DNC's dirty laundry got aired in public. Voters still voted. There's no allegations of machines/ballots being manipulated. - mig
[2017-01-17 16:45:03] - wow. ~a
[2017-01-17 16:36:13] - http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/chelsea-manning-sentence-commuted/index.html Wow. Color me surprised. I didn't think Obama would go that far. Maybe hope for Snowden yet? -Paul
[2017-01-17 16:02:23] - mig: though i'd like to learn more about russian influence regardless. it pains me to not put him up against his own standards. ~a
[2017-01-17 16:02:02] - mig: "That his statements have no basis in facts seems to be beside the point" which statements? if it matters, i concede to this: "You can believe that Trump is completely wrong AND that Lewis is wrong as well. They are not mutually exclusive positions." trump isn't an illegitimate president imo. ~a
[2017-01-17 15:59:10] - a: Anyway, I assume I was right and it is the women's march thing. In which case, no, I don't plan on joining. Sorry.
-Paul[2017-01-17 15:51:37] - a: I can't tell if grammatically "or whatever" implies it's something else or the thing I mentioned.
-Paul[2017-01-17 14:49:26] - or whatever. ~a
[2017-01-17 14:44:44] - a: What's happening on the 21st? Is that the women's march or whatever? -Paul
[2017-01-17 14:42:39] - anybody going into town on the 21st? i might go for a bike ride (and probably walk if there's enough people). anybody want to join? ~a
[2017-01-17 14:42:29] - a: This was at the office, where we didn't have non-disposable spoons. -Paul
[2017-01-17 14:40:01] - paul: why wouldn't i just reuse non-disposable spoons? ~a
[2017-01-17 14:35:59] - a: He made a bit of a splash at Intwine when it was discovered that he was re-using disposable spoons (and tried to convince others to re-use them too). -Paul
[2017-01-17 14:35:28] - a: Not that I know of (inheritance). I think he's just been a hardcore advocate of MMM and has been very diligent saving over the years. -Paul
[2017-01-17 14:33:58] - i guess you answered my first question. yeah i think i'd feel weird if i retired and audrey did not especially since we're sans kids. ~a
[2017-01-17 14:27:48] - paul: is he financially independent because of an inheritance? ~a
[2017-01-17 14:26:31] - paul: does his (?) wife work? ~a
[2017-01-17 14:20:58] - a: Zero? I'm honestly not sure. He might have some part time job or does some occasional contract work (and I do believe his wife works since they moved to Tempe for her job), but the implication I got is that he is essentially retired or a stay-at-home dad. -Paul
[2017-01-17 14:20:18] - paul/daniel: i like the idea of retiring early and am planning on at least having the option to retire early. i mostly learned about it on /r/financialindependence/. i also like firecalc and use it to check my simulations. ~a
[2017-01-17 14:08:29] - paul: matt retired already? how many hours per week does he work? ~a
[2017-01-17 13:45:44] - Daniel: I think he's working for some educational company? Actually, checking LinkedIn, it looks like he doesn't do that anymore. I'm not actually sure. Full time author on RD?
-Paul[2017-01-17 13:31:53] - Paul: Andrea has some mixed feelings currently but I'm trying to bring her around. -Daniel
[2017-01-17 13:31:22] - What does Matt do for his semi-retirement? -Daniel
[2017-01-17 13:31:05] - Paul: I'm familiar with MMM. Yeah I think the semi-retired early is a much easier path certainly. I could see in like 10 years (if things don't go crazy) that I could downgrade to some random part time job that pays like 10-30k a year to help deal with bills but not really need to save a lot more. I've heard it called "barista retirement". -Daniel
[2017-01-17 13:30:12] - Daniel: I'm interested in hearing how it goes for you. I would love to save more and spend less and work towards an early retirement, but I feel like the spouse has to be on board and I don't think Gurkie is.
-Paul[2017-01-17 13:24:29] - Daniel: Not sure how much you've spoken with Matt Herndon (of Rampant Discourse fame), but I believe he is a big devotee of Mr. Money Moustache and has even semi-retired early. -Paul
[2017-01-17 13:20:12] - Non pedestrian topic but good read: https://livingafi.com/2015/07/07/becoming-a-saver/ I've started to try and look at the math that would let Andrea and I retire early but there are still a lot of variables. -Daniel
[2017-01-17 12:50:51] - paul: yeah i'd feel bad as a pedestrian to make a 90 degree change of direction in front of a car, so, i imagine it was awkward. still, you're supposed to yield to pedestrians in the roadway <= 35 mph (though they're supposed to be paying attention too). ~a
[2017-01-17 12:45:32] - a: Either way, I stopped, and obviously running him over would've been bad, so I'm not saying I shouldn't have stopped, just that it was an awkward pedestrian interaction.
-Paul[2017-01-17 12:44:55] - a: So because they were blocking that traffic, I decided to go ahead and take my left turn. The only problem is the first guy who was crossing the street had decided to make a 90 degree turn and cross the road I was turning onto as well (where there was no crosswalk). That road probably doesn't have a speed limit. -Paul
[2017-01-17 12:43:54] - a: I don't know. It was a weird situation where I was on a road (speed limit was probably around 35 mph) and trying to turn left (not at a light or stop sign and I did not have my own lane). There were pedestrians crossing in a cross walk in front of me (and therefore "blocking" traffic from the opposite lane). -Paul
[2017-01-17 12:21:31] - paul: was the speed limit <= 35mph? ~a
[2017-01-17 12:21:11] - paul: actually, it doesn't always matter if they're in a crosswalk. in va you're allowed to cross anywhere (with or without a crosswalk) if the speed limit is <= 35 (source: § 46.2-924). ~a
[2017-01-17 11:43:12] - aaron: I'm still bad at it. I almost ran over a pedestrian this morning (although in my defense, he was not in a cross-walk). -Paul
[2017-01-17 11:42:28] - aaron: Cool, thanks! I didn't even know monoprice sold through Amazon now. I ended up getting some Anker cables through Amazon that didn't end up being TOO much more expensive that Monoprice, thanks to shipping (and I should get them sooner too). Thanks! -Paul
[2017-01-17 11:23:03] - paul: left on green gets me more than right on red, but yes i've had to deliberately retrain my brain to look for pedestrians in certain circumstances. i think my mindset changes in cities, but out in the suburbs pedestrians always catch me by surprise - aaron
[2017-01-17 10:52:43] - paul: yeah that's the most frustrating thing about this. People are basically using Lewis's history as an activist and Trump's dumb response essentially as a shield from any criticism. That his statements have no basis in facts seems to be beside the point. - mig
[2017-01-17 10:51:15] - paul: monoprice has great prices on micro-USB, although they supply through amazon too http://a.co/cm1Prhn lately because of prime i think it's better just to get everything off amazon; monoprice's savings get eaten by shipping costs - aaron
[2017-01-17 10:27:40] - And I believe it's very common among libertarians to have to say: You can believe that Trump is completely wrong AND that Lewis is wrong as well. They are not mutually exclusive positions. -Paul
[2017-01-17 10:26:57] - I think it's very common among people entrenched in the two-party system to think that attacking the other side helps legitimize their own side. So in this instance, Lewis can be defended by pointing out how wrong Trump is and how much of a jerk he is. -Paul
[2017-01-17 09:56:13] - mig: Yeah I saw that headline and was annoyed / bummed at Lewis. I think Trump will probably be a terrible president. I think Russia probably did work to try and get him elected. I think US voters voted him into office. Therefore not illegitimate. -Daniel
[2017-01-16 12:41:18] - a: sure, let's all stoop to Trump's level. - mig
[2017-01-16 12:11:54] - after all, it's the election he won that we're discussing. ~a
[2017-01-16 12:07:32] - paul/mig: i'm fine conflating the two independent points if trump is. ~a
[2017-01-16 11:52:24] - Completely off topic, but is monoprice still the place to go for micro-USB cables? I read some reviews that said they had gone downhill... -Paul
[2017-01-16 11:47:55] - a: But Trump could be entirely wrong in his assessment of Lewis AND Lewis could be wrong about Trump and the Russians. They're independent points. -Paul
[2017-01-16 11:33:53] - mig: sure they do. djt (stupidly) tried to claim lewis was "sad" and wasn't a man of action or results. ~a
[2017-01-16 09:46:38] - a: Lewis's storied history fighting for civil rights has no bearing on whether his comments about Trump's legitimacy are sore loser whining. - mig
[2017-01-14 22:48:34] - "silliness" "whining" and "sad": all assessments i have trouble with. john lewis is nothing but action. ~a
[2017-01-14 18:14:01] - a: trump silliness nonwithstanding John Lewis probably has better uses of his time than whining about crank conspiracy theories about the russians. - mig
[2017-01-14 11:39:48] - mig: Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad! ~a
[2017-01-14 09:39:42] - re: http://aporter.org/msg/?action=prev&prev=139000#139204 - mig
[2017-01-14 09:38:16] - daniel: http://www.weeklystandard.com/john-lewis-says-trump-is-not-a-legitimate-president/article/2006310#! are we at "that point" now about democrats not accepting the election results? - mig
[2017-01-13 13:31:33] - paul: "I just am not used to dealing with pedestrians when it comes to roads." yeah, i've experienced this as a driver as well. there just aren't very many pedestrians to get your brain programmed to deal with them. until there are more of us pedestrians sharing the road, i think the job of the driver is "hard" (ish), but the law requires it regardless. ~a
[2017-01-13 13:25:35] - https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/44/84/448459db-e9ea-417f-8adb-8d16be9ff786/swi41_spread_final-good.png so TIL there apparently exists evil versions of R2-D2 and C-3PO. - mig
[2017-01-13 13:22:38] - a: I feel terrible about it, and I wish that wasn't how it is, but it is. I just am not used to dealing with pedestrians when it comes to roads. -Paul
[2017-01-13 13:22:16] - a: Similar thing with intersections. I'm at a red, wanting to turn right. I know to check my left for cars coming, but I always forget to check my right for pedestrians crossing. I've almost run over a few people that way. -Paul
[2017-01-13 13:21:32] - a: For instance, there's a cross walk near my work that I drive past every weekday. 95% of the time there's nobody there, and I drive through it without thinking. 5% of the time, though, there's somebody there, and it's jarring and surprising and I always feel like I almost run somebody over or am a jerk and didn't yield on accident. -Paul
[2017-01-13 13:20:27] - 's not because I think I own the road. It's just that my brain doesn't always process pedestrians and crosswalks for whatever reason. -Paul
[2017-01-13 13:20:00] - a: Related, but I'm totally one of those drivers. In my defense, though, it
[2017-01-13 13:19:47] - a: "chances are high i'll get hit by a car eventually. and it'll likely be fatal" But isn't this what we're talking about? That the chances actually aren't high? -Paul
[2017-01-13 13:07:18] - paul: i dunno. i'm not very rational about this. it's a point of unhappiness for me because car drivers think they own the road. and i get angry when i get almost hit. and it happens a lot. and chances are high i'll get hit by a car eventually. and it'll likely be fatal. ~a
[2017-01-13 12:53:47] - a: Okay. I think I understand where you're coming from, but I just don't agree that safety (or, I suppose, death rate) should be correlated to speed. -Paul
[2017-01-13 12:25:48] - paul: more specifically, if they were sharing the same spaces with me, then i'd say yes. ~a
[2017-01-13 12:25:05] - paul:
if they were on the ground, then i'd say yes. ~a[2017-01-13 12:18:28] - a: So you think airplanes should be more dangerous too? -Paul
[2017-01-13 12:07:56] - paul: it's backwards because i'm going 3 miles per hour. walking-rage isn't a thing. regardless, it should (IMO) be safer than going like 25 times that speed. ~a
[2017-01-13 10:47:10] - a: "it's safer to be in a car than out of it. that's just backwards!" Can you explain why it's backwards? It makes sense to me. A car is a protective armor around us that pedestrians don't have. Isn't that the same reason that trucks are "safer" than cars? -Paul
[2017-01-13 10:42:03] - mig: this is also even true for drunk drivers! as a drunk person, you're less likely to die driving a car than walking. (albeit you're much more likely to kill someone else, but that doesn't change this fucked up statistic) ~a
[2017-01-13 10:41:08] - mig: ok, but in this case, they are. the same number (annual per 100k) is ~9 in death by motor vehicle when you aren't a pedestrian. so, since we spend way more time behind the wheel (and this is also backed up by studies): it's safer to be in a car than out of it. that's just backwards! ~a
[2017-01-13 10:40:07] - mig: Yeah I agree - anytime I hear about stats where its like this danger went up 100% but it went from like .001 to .002 then it doesn't seem like a big deal. -Daniel
[2017-01-13 10:33:34] - I dunno, I hear scary statistics from time to time about certain dangers that are much more frequent, like "once every X second, or once an hour" about things that aren't really that prevalent dangers in a practical sense. - mig
[2017-01-13 10:32:36] - a: "higher than average", but are they "high" in a practical sense? - mig
[2017-01-12 23:56:03] - "Folders 'containing his business plan' appear to be blank" -the independent. w.t.f. ~a
[2017-01-12 18:49:35] - mig: i just wish cars didn't ignore crosswalks like 50% of the time. i have two crosswalks i try to use every day (one on the way to work and one on the way home). basically i have to be in danger of being hit, AND waving my arms, before a car will think of yielding to me. ~a
[2017-01-12 18:48:30] - mig: 1 anual pedestrian death per 100k is pretty low. 3 on the other hand, is pretty high? i dunno. maybe it's because i'm a pedestrian a lot, but my odds of being killed by a car is *much* higher than average. if there's going to be a pedestrian death in arlington in 2017, it'll probably end up being me. ~a
[2017-01-12 16:51:17] - a: is being a pedestrian really that dangerous in Florida or DC? These are numbers are made to sound really scary, but 814 deaths over the course of 9-10 years doesn't really sound like a lot to me. - mig
[2017-01-12 12:48:54] - remind me to never move to florida ~a
[2017-01-11 16:40:45] - a: Interesting. I didn't know the exchange fees are charged by the exchanges (although that seems overwhelming obvious by now). -Paul
[2017-01-11 15:04:03] - paul: in this example, the china exchanges all have literally *no* fees for trades. (there are other fees, how they make their money, like fee for deposits and withdrawals). ~a
[2017-01-11 15:03:10] - paul: "volume" has a contextual meaning. if, on exchange Alpha, we have 1 million shares traded today, with a $10 trading fee each. then on exchange Bravo, we have 1 *billion* shares traded today, with a $0 trading fee each. how do i possibly compare the volume on exchange Alpha to the volume on exchange Bravo? ~a
[2017-01-11 11:14:14] - a: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/11/bitcoin-falls-5-as-china-plans-to-investigate-firms.html "Chinese investors dominate the global bitcoin volume trade". Do you know if this is true? It wouldn't surprise me, necessarily, but it does seem interesting if true. -Paul
[2017-01-11 10:03:15] - *** Paul spits out banana in mouth
[2017-01-10 18:15:11] - paul: banana equivalent dose. does this make you feel better? ~a
[2017-01-10 14:02:34] - i don't think i agree with your assessment. the table does not support your claim. bigCitiesDifferenceTopTwoParties = 32%. ruralDifferenceTopTwoParties = 37%. ~a
[2017-01-10 14:00:56] - a: So maybe I would be better off saying: Cities and rural areas are more politically non-diverse than the non-urban and non-rural areas (suburbs? sprawl?). -Paul
[2017-01-10 14:00:02] - a: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-2016-urban-rural-divide-n580056 Here's another table to somewhat support my claim (if you focus on the urban and rural stuff and ignore the rest). The part of it that doesn't support me is that it looks like rural areas are similarly non-diverse. -Paul
[2017-01-10 13:56:25] - a: That's a fair accusation, and I'm perfectly willing to admit I could be wrong. I tried eyeballing election results, and while Richmond/Alexandria/Arlington had pretty high slants for Clinton, there were similar slants for Trump in a few counties that I can only assume are rural (Bland county?). -Paul
[2017-01-10 13:49:21] - a: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/clinton-trump-city-country-divide/507902/ I randomly came across this article while doing some research for something else just now. Scroll down a third of the way for a table that provides SOME evidence of what I was saying. -Paul
[2017-01-10 13:48:46] - a: More seriously, I guess I would look for areas where Clinton or Trump got 70%+ of the vote in the past election. -Paul
[2017-01-10 13:46:55] - regardless. i want to refute your assertion that there's less political diversity in cities. your "seems" word seems to be a cop-out. ~a
[2017-01-10 13:45:49] - a: Hmmm, yeah, I don't know if third party percentages is how I would judge political diversity. Not sure how I would put a number to it. Basically, I see it as the chance of getting yelled at for wearing a Trump/Hillary shirt while walking through said area.
-Paul[2017-01-10 13:37:39] - so depending on how you look at the numbers, "diversity" (can we please come up with a shared definition of political diversity?) could be higher or lower in dc vs va. ~a
[2017-01-10 13:36:37] - more data: js in va = 0.7%, js in dc = 1.4%, js in us = 1.1%. ~a
[2017-01-10 13:35:21] - paul: some data i found. gj in va = 3.0%. gj in dc = 1.6%. gj in us = 3.3%. ~a
[2017-01-10 12:01:44] - but NOT overwhelmingly so... -Paul
[2017-01-10 12:01:28] - a: And, again anecdotally, it seems like around here the suburbs lean democratic, but overwhelmingly so, but as you get closer to DC it just gets more monolithic. -Paul
[2017-01-10 11:59:38] - a: Anecdotally, I also think of the closest city to us, Washington DC, and how there's virtually no Republican party to speak of. -Paul
[2017-01-10 11:59:01] - a: Sure, that's probably more to do with population density than anything else, but it often seems like the percentages are skewed even higher too. -Paul
[2017-01-10 11:58:35] - a: Not off-hand (hence why I used the softening "seems"). I was mostly thinking about how often when John King is doing his map thing during elections, it's all about ignoring those counties with lots of land but fewer people and waiting for returns from the dense urban centers which can quickly swing results. -Paul
[2017-01-10 11:41:53] - "in general cities are some of the least diverse in terms of political opinion" do you have an article for that? ~a
[2017-01-10 11:06:39] - mig: Well, I found it a little ironic because it seems that in general cities are some of the least diverse in terms of political opinion. Also, libertarians have been making the points about how diversity of thought on the Supreme Court should matter more than diversity of skin color (or genitalia) for years without anybody listening. -Paul
[2017-01-10 09:52:57] - paul: I was just amused by it. Its just kind of funny how the reaction to criticism about being in a bubble appears to be "I'm not in a bubble, I'm surrounded by 'diversity'!". - mig
[2017-01-09 14:30:50] - Paul: That's because you're in a bubble!
-- Xpovos[2017-01-09 12:21:41] - mig: I certainly think it would be good for everybody to try to check their blind spots and be more understanding, but I don't see it as some "Only liberals are in bubbles and conservatives are not" thing. -Paul
[2017-01-09 12:20:43] - mig: I frankly don't care who lives in bubbles or not or if liberals want to try to reach out to "flyover country" or vice versa. To me, all this talk about bubbles and reaching out is for the benefit of the losers of this most recent election. People want to know how/why they lost. It sounds like this guy isn't interested. -Paul
[2017-01-09 11:48:40] - https://twitter.com/Justin_Marks_/status/818321153655586816 is this the progression version of "But I've got so many black friends!" - mig
[2017-01-09 09:30:05] - mig: I suppose. I'm just like the 5th Column hosts that I don't want to at all sound like I'm defending Trump.
-Paul[2017-01-06 14:40:40] - paul: what is there to be torn about? Those feelings aren't contradictory. - mig
[2017-01-06 12:59:47] - mig: I'm torn. Part of me agrees with the idea that Trump could be a disastrous president (and is dismayed that he won). But another part of me doesn't like where some of those emotions are leading people (demonizing the other side, partisanship, believing that everything Trump does is evil). -Paul
[2017-01-06 12:49:22] - My FB feed has been whipped up in hysteria since Trump won. Yes, Trump is going to be bad. But good lord, this isn't the coming of the third reich. Calm the fuck down, people. - mig
[2017-01-06 12:37:42] - Daniel: Yeah, I think there's something to be said for Fox News' impotence in stopping Trump as well. -Paul
[2017-01-06 12:15:35] - How much of all of this is due to 24 hours news cycle and needing to generate content that sells ads 24/7. Like news used to be like 2 hours ish a day back when it was a morning / evening / night news broadcast on networks? NPR has a different model but people think its biased too so I dunno. -Daniel
[2017-01-06 12:14:11] - Yeah I think that is probably true. I think the mirror theory was that R's decried the media as biased for so long that when some R's tried to then point out some of Trump's issues based on reporting in those media sources people no longer believed them. So I think the boy who cried wolf part bit both sides somewhat. -Daniel
[2017-01-06 12:09:34] - Daniel: I think there's something to those theories. -Paul
[2017-01-06 12:09:21] - Daniel: And so when they saw those same charges leveled against Donald Trump (and saw him crusading as the anti-PC candidate), that made him look a lot more appealing regardless of what he was actually saying. -Paul
[2017-01-06 12:08:40] - Daniel: Those charges fell a little flat. A parallel theory was that many Republicans have felt condescended to in terms of being called homophobic for opposing gay marriage (which was the majority position until very recently) or bigoted for supporting the NC bathroom law or racist for opposing BLM... -Paul
[2017-01-06 12:07:16] - Daniel: Yeah. There was also a theory that I read about that there was a bit of a "boy who cried wolf" element to things too in the sense that liberals have been trying to smear Republican candidates as racist and sexist for many elections and so when somebody who actually seems racist and sexist comes along... -Paul
[2017-01-06 12:05:17] - Yeah I think one of the things I think I realized was that its not just that people think there is a liberal media bias and to take things with a grain of salt but rather that there a lot of people who don't believe news organizations at all and think they straight up lie. That was somewhat surprising to me. -Daniel
[2017-01-06 11:25:39] - Daniel: When phrased like that, he sounds appealing to me. And if you don't trust the media and don't follow politics as much as we do (I have to remind myself that most people probably follow politics 5% as much as we do), that's an easy bill of goods to be sold. -Paul
[2017-01-06 11:24:32] - Daniel: I also think there are a large group of people out there who were just entirely fed up with politicians in general and who don't trust the media who saw Trump as a straight-talking successful businessman who says what he means and will shake up Washington DC. -Paul
[2017-01-06 11:16:25] - Sadly I think it will make the world a worse place by the time Trump's time is over but hopefully we survive and move on. -Daniel
[2017-01-06 11:15:44] - then maybe they vote for him because even if he can't do the things he said maybe they think its worth trying. -Daniel
[2017-01-06 11:15:18] - I think that people who strongly agree with the R party policy position probably accounted for the majority of Trumps votes. I think its the less than 20% (not sure of exact number) that swing back and forth that went to him because they believe he can do things that I think he can't. I get tempted to call them dumb in my head sometimes but if there world sucks...
[2017-01-06 11:13:54] - thats all that matters. -Daniel
[2017-01-06 11:13:45] - I think that like me with Clinton many R's probably would acknowledge that Trump is/was a terrible candidate for president but that (same with me and clinton) it doesn't really matter cause on some level you are voting for party positions. Like if you are a pro life voter it kind doesn't matter how terrible a person Trump is. He (in theory) supports pro life so...
[2017-01-06 11:06:50] - Paul:
~a[2017-01-06 11:06:30] - Paul: I agree with Daniel. They aren't hillbillies they aren't knuckle draggers but (imo) they were sold a bill of goods. ~a
[2017-01-06 11:05:16] - a: What!? That's how I enter it into Scottrade. "I want maybe Y shares if the price gets around $X.... maybe." -Paul
[2017-01-06 11:04:45] - Daniel: Yeah, I disagree with Trump on tons of positions too (although it's hard to tell where he stands on many). It just makes me sad to see the demonization of the "other side" so often (and it happens both ways). -Paul
[2017-01-06 11:03:03] - Paul: your order seems very wishy washy so I'll wait for you to decide
~a[2017-01-06 11:02:57] - a: So my "almost positive" was mostly just because I wasn't sure if they followed through and if I was remembering correctly. -Paul
[2017-01-06 11:02:54] - I don't think all Trump voters are racist or hillbilly. I think I disagree with them on many positions though and I think that some people voted for Trump based on things I'm currently convinced he will be unable to follow through on but I suppose we will see over the next four years if I'm wrong about that. -Daniel
[2017-01-06 11:02:34] - a: I had a member of my extended family tell me in an email before the election that they would be voting for Trump and I think somebody told me after the election that they had voted for Trump. -Paul
[2017-01-06 11:01:22] - a: Limit and amount? Not sure. Maybe $800 as limit and amount of $500? That might be too much. Also, it's still down a fair amount from its high, so maybe I should just buy some now... -Paul
[2017-01-06 11:00:27] - Ah. Though there's a difference between "almost positive" and actually outing oneself as a trump voter. ~a
[2017-01-06 10:59:28] - Xpovos: So, yeah, this is a pretty intimately familiar concept to me.
-Paul[2017-01-06 10:58:58] - What's your exposure to the other side? ~a
[2017-01-06 10:58:18] - Xpovos: On the flip side, I'm almost positive members of my family voted for Trump, and I don't consider any of them to be knuckle dragging sexist/racist idiotic hillbillies. In fact, our families have met, and I would guess (and hope) Gurkie's family wouldn't think that of my family either. -Paul
[2017-01-06 10:57:09] - Yes. What's the limit and what's the amount? ~a
[2017-01-06 10:56:58] - Xpovos: And seem to assume that anybody that did is a knuckle dragging sexist/racist, idiotic hillbilly. -Paul
[2017-01-06 10:56:21] - Xpovos: Not sure if anybody else here is in a similar position, but this election has been very interesting to me because I think I have exposure to both sides. Gurkie's family is kinda what you would expect of a typical liberal family in that they are aghast at Trump's election, can't fathom who could've possibly voted for him... -Paul
[2017-01-06 10:54:18] - a: I don't use them for transactions at all, but I am interested in holding a very small investment position, because I think there is a chance it becomes a better store of value than gold over the next 5-10 years. -Paul
[2017-01-06 10:53:42] - a: Can I set up a limit order with you where I buy bitcoins from you if it ever goes below $X a bit?
-Paul[2017-01-06 10:17:44] - If you don't know anyone who is on the other side of the divide, you're going to have a hard time reporting on them. That seems fair. The answer, then, would seem to be less reliance on the coastal cities for new media. -- Xpovos
[2017-01-06 10:17:01] - Yeah, it is, basically, a simplification of a lot of the social disconnect between coastal city and non-coastal city. And while I don't think too many people are saying that these journalists should own trucks, or find friends who do, it's the journalists where were bemoaning their lack of understanding a month ago. -- Xpovos
[2017-01-06 09:55:41] - a: I think there is a little more to it than just city / not city but I would agree thats a big part in a lot of places. Here in TX a lot of people own trucks even if they do live in the city. -Daniel
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