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[2019-06-17 15:14:27] - a: "Welcome to driving" is an analogy to my car examples, not to biking. I don't think it's fair to constantly bring up the lack of crumple zones for something that is entirely your choice and not theirs. If I drove a car with the airbag removed, can I blame bad drivers for putting me at risk for not having airbags? -Paul
[2019-06-17 15:12:21] - a: Except... he already has parked in the bike lane. Twice, by your estimation, so your obvious solution isn't working.
-Paul[2019-06-17 15:12:18] - paul: "welcome to driving" is a very false analogy (can something be "very false"?). i don't have a roll-cage or any crumple zones. as an analogy to your analogy: if someone said: walking across the cross-walk is such a pain, the drivers fucking swerve around me. you would say "welcome to crosswalks"? ~a
[2019-06-17 15:10:45] - paul: not parking in the bike lane.
~a[2019-06-17 15:10:33] - a: I was comparing my example of a car stopping to drop somebody off with your truck picture. What's the more obvious solution? I guess I clearly am missing it.-Paul
[2019-06-17 15:09:44] - a: If you want to take it as dismissive, I'm okay with that. I know it'll probably sound bad and maybe make you mad (sorry!) but I wouldn't resist that characterization of how I feel about it. If somebody else came on the message board ranting about how somebody switched lanes without signaling or blocked an intersection I would feel the same way: "Welcome to driving". -Paul
[2019-06-17 15:09:38] - paul: i feel like you're missing the more obvious solution to the problem though. i mean, we have 14.2-65f to address this specifically. the law isn't there just to address the convenience of the whole thing. ~a
[2019-06-17 15:08:50] - paul: "but I guess I think they're more similar than you do" i don't follow your point, sorry. "Why do they have to go into the road? Why not the sidewalk?" which situation? in the real situation, i am legally allowed to ride on the sidewalk, but that is also dangerous for different reasons (sidewalks are very busy in arlington, and hitting pedestrians is a problem). in my hypothetical, i stated they were blocking the sidewalk. ~a
[2019-06-17 15:07:27] - paul: i knew what you meant, but an implication was there, and it wasn't difficult to see it from the dismissive perspective. ~a
[2019-06-17 15:06:25] - a: Well, when I was saying that I was mostly thinking of myself and less so your problems. I wouldn't necessarily say I was trying to be dismissive of your problems.... but I guess I was trying to give an example of the amount that I care? Like, yeah, it's annoying, and I wish people didn't do stuff like that... -Paul
[2019-06-17 15:02:25] - a: Um... it's a little hard to tell based on the picture (I'm assuming there's no room between the truck and the car), but I guess I think they're more similar than you do. Why do they have to go into the road? Why not the sidewalk? Sure, there's probably more danger in your example, but that's mostly about you being on a bike, right? -Paul
[2019-06-17 15:00:45] - paul: "Life's too short to be mad at everybody all the time" although i clearly agree with your thesis, when applied to someone else's problems that don't affect you, it sounds dismissive. "Life's too short to be mad at everybody all the time" could be applied to people suffering (i'm not suffering, i'm just making an argument). ~a
[2019-06-17 14:59:19] - paul: understood. this is clearly not a convenience issue though. agreed? if you were a pedestrian, and you saw a car parked on the sidewalk (such that pedestrians would have to walk in the road), you'd consider that more than an inconvenience, right? walking in the roadway (especially if the speed limit is very high) is dangerous compared to walking on the sidewalk? when you're in your car you have crumple zones and a roll-cage? ~a
[2019-06-17 14:45:08] - a: I try not to lose any sleep over it. Life's too short to be mad at everybody all the time. -Paul
[2019-06-17 14:44:41] - a: There's probably like 5 times a week where I run into a driver breaking the rules and inconveniencing other people just to benefit themselves. I kinda look at driving as similar to the internet: Lots of people seem to lose respect for others and become selfish jerks and do stuff they wouldn't think of doing outside their car. -Paul
[2019-06-17 14:43:00] - a: Eh, I care as much as I care when a car stops in the road of a parking lot (inconveniencing everybody waiting behind them) so somebody can get out. I think they're being rude and I'm annoyed with them, but a minute later it's all forgotten. I typically wouldn't think of taking a picture of them and posting it on the internet.
-Paul[2019-06-17 14:41:05] - paul: yeah, i understand you're joking. seriously, though, i doubt anybody cares. ~a
[2019-06-17 14:35:42] - a: Well, they could've ticketed him, right? I understand he's not there now. I guess my implication was report him to the cops the next time you see him. Of course, I was mostly joking about that too. -Paul
[2019-06-17 14:34:56] - paul: ha. what are they going to do? assuming they were inclined to do anything? he's an out of state vehicle. are they going to put out an APB?
~a[2019-06-17 14:34:04] - a: Report him to the cops, then.
-Paul[2019-06-17 14:32:14] - paul: it's a self-perpetuating fallacy. people think that HGVs have special rights, and that people on bikes have fewer rights, but both of these are almost always wrong. ~a
[2019-06-17 14:29:17] - paul: they do not. in arlington (where this lane is), we have "no person shall stop, stand or park a motor vehicle in a bicycle lane" 14.2-65f which does not have special rules for 18 wheelers. ~a
[2019-06-17 14:26:34] - mig: I was going to post something similar. Disappointing that it was only him and RBG who dissented. -Paul
[2019-06-17 14:25:29] - a: I'm being at least half serious, but do 18 wheelers have special rules? I feel like I often see big trucks like that doing things that would be completely illegal for me to do with my car but it seems to be accepted. -Paul
[2019-06-17 14:22:24] - i took a picture of a guy parked in a bike lane, and then two weeks later i took a picture of the same guy in the sam bike lane. me thinks he does this pretty often, considering there are like 10 million drivers in the dc area. and this dude even had indiana plates! pic1, pic2. ~a
[2019-06-17 14:19:06] - “a free society does not allow its government to try the same individual for the same crime until it’s happy with the result. Unfortunately, the Court today endorses a colossal exception to this ancient rule against double jeopardy.†. I like this Gorsuch guy. - mig
[2019-06-14 11:44:14] - paul: cute!
- aaron[2019-06-14 10:41:53] - halloween burn. ~a
[2019-06-14 10:40:54] - a: Did I ever show you my Halloween costume from... maybe two years ago? The girls were both Disney princesses, and I had a simple sign that said something to the effect of: "Hello, my name is absent Disney father" and then listed all of the cases where the Father was dead or not around. -Paul
[2019-06-14 10:40:22] - i'm actually surprised that *any* of those are actual cards. ~a
[2019-06-14 10:38:43] - haha, found on reddit: someone has a sense of humor ~a
[2019-06-14 10:24:19] - "let’s be honest, when does trump ever pay his bills?" city council member of a city in washington that trump owes money. ~a
[2019-06-14 10:19:14] -
love it! ~a[2019-06-14 09:14:09] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-OfK7sR-Aw I'm so super unreasonably proud of how this video turned out. It was essentially made in a single night with about 2 hours total effort put into it. I made it to announce to my old TKD instructor that I was coming back to try to get my 2nd degree black belt. -Paul
[2019-06-13 11:00:20] - a: Yeah, I have no idea why I randomly picked 400%. That's not even 230x2! -Paul
[2019-06-13 10:59:43] - Daniel: Or maybe put yet another way, I thought Shopify was undervalued at a $15 billion market cap, but now the market cap is $34 billion and that seems less undervalued.
-Paul[2019-06-13 10:59:19] - 230% in 6 months is 1000% per year
~a[2019-06-13 10:57:19] - Daniel: I guess in other words, just because I like something and want to be a long term investor doesn't mean I can justify when a stock doubles+ in 6 months on no clear thesis-changing news. That was my point. It would be one thing if it was 100% in 6 months or if they signed some agreement with Amazon or expanded into China... -Paul
[2019-06-13 10:54:48] - a: Sure. If I was being honest, I was probably hoping for something more like 30% a year or more. I certainly never imagined like, uh... 400% a year? -Paul
[2019-06-13 10:53:56] - Daniel: So, yeah, I liked the stock and thought it could get to this point in 5+ years. However, I have no idea why it got there in 6 months. I think there's a difference between liking a stock and then seeing it double in 6 months and not knowing why it went up SO much and having no idea why the stock would go up at all. -Paul
[2019-06-13 10:52:32] - and some. 20% growth rate in 5 years is only 150% increase. ~a
[2019-06-13 10:51:31] - Daniel: If we take that random/arbitrary 20% growth rate, that's like saying it's gained all 5 years worth of growth in 6 months. -Paul
[2019-06-13 10:50:24] - Daniel: It is up like 230% in the 6 months since. -Paul
[2019-06-13 10:49:41] - Daniel: I get what you're saying. Let me try a specific example with some made up numbers. On Jan 1, 2019, I liked Shopify to beat the market over the next 5+ years. I don't put specific numbers on things, but I guess I was hoping for something like 20%+ a year for those 5 years. -Paul
[2019-06-13 10:34:44] - Paul: I think the poker analogy still works best but even then there is some math and statistics that its built upon. I felt like a take away for me from the shopify article was just a sense that you didn't know why it had done so well so didn't know if it would continue to do well. So its hard to see a basis for skill when things can just go up (or presumably down) with you still wondering why. -Daniel
[2019-06-13 09:51:03] - Daniel: I wish I knew how to play craps so I could make a clever "crapshoot" analogy, but I know it involves dice so how about this? I wouldn't necessarily bet a hundred thousand dollars that a rolled pair of dice wouldn't come up snake eyes but I certainly would consider it if the bet was that 5 consecutive ones wouldn't come up snake eyes. -Paul
[2019-06-13 09:35:27] - Daniel: That's why I like the poker analogy. Not willing to bet thousands of dollars that my pocket aces will win any one specific hand because there's lots of straights and flushes and trips that can flop, but over 100+ hands I really like my chances of pocket aces doing well for me. -Paul
[2019-06-13 09:34:29] - Daniel: But another point I want to make, that I think goes with Adrian's point, is that I NEVER feel amazingly confident about any single position. Any single company could have some accounting scandal or the founder could die of a heart attack or whatever. But in aggregate, I think my ~30 positions are going to net do better than the market over the long term. -Paul
[2019-06-13 09:33:14] - Daniel: Either way, I do believe that 5 years down the line Shopify is a market beater, I just wonder if there's going to be a big 50% drop between now and then. I like to fancy myself a long term investor, though, so I try not to time things like that, hence why I am holding. -Paul
[2019-06-13 09:32:07] - Daniel: So I'm actually trying to figure out if I should sell now and lock in a big, market-beating gain or hold and take the chance that it becomes just a smaller market-beating gain but there's also a chance it becomes a HUGE market beating gain... -Paul
[2019-06-13 09:30:58] - Daniel: The Shopify one? Um... not really? I guess I can see how some of the terminology I used (and the uncertainty in my tone) could give the impression it's a coin flip, but I think that's the wrong interpretation. I've already got a huge gain in Shopify (+ almost 600%) so even if it gets cut in half it's still a winner for me. -Paul
[2019-06-12 13:12:28] - daniel: think of the poker analogy. sometimes a specific decision will come to a winning outcome regardless of your decision (i have the best hand, i could push him out of the pot and win a bunch of money, or keep him in the pot and win a different amount of money). ~a
[2019-06-12 13:11:10] - daniel: "guess and hope for a good outcome" you're assuming that guessing is always bad. it isn't. some guesses have lots of upside: after the fact it looks like strategy A beat the market by 4% and strategy B beat the market by 3.8%. i make decisions like that all the time where i'm not sure what the correct action is, but both actions ended up being good, but slightly different in magnitude. ~a
[2019-06-12 13:08:58] - a: I think Paul's poker analogy is the best so far (incorpates luck but the theory is that skill wins out in the long term) but his latest article definitely shows that when faced with a market movement he can't explain he just has to guess and hope for a good outcome. -Daniel
[2019-06-12 13:07:40] - a: Sure - I don't intend to argue that people can't beat the market. Many people do. But if its a crap shoot then its hard to know who will or won't in a given time frame. -Daniel
[2019-06-12 13:04:48] - daniel: crap shoot != you can't beat the market. even if you're right and the market is a crap shoot, that doesn't detract from paul's ability (or inability) to beat the market. they're like . . . orthogonal concepts? ~a
[2019-06-12 12:59:28] - Paul: Without expecting to change your mind - do you understand how your latest pvtm article feeds into my feelings about active investing being a crap shoot? I'm not trying to sway you but at least show you a clear example of what helps to form my position. -Daniel
[2019-06-12 12:47:41] - Xpovos: I didn't know about it until like a month ago when I saw a post where someone else asking WTF is this. So don't feel bad. -Daniel
[2019-06-12 12:46:53] - a: Sure, but to not have even stumbled on it tangentially in 5-6 years seems incredible. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-12 12:32:07] - xpovos: i don't think that's the case. internet culture has *lots* of subgroups. ~a
[2019-06-11 12:14:55] - Wow. So, I'm just out of touch... -- Xpovos
[2019-06-11 09:55:04] - oops, "a few years ago" = 2013 apparently. ~a
[2019-06-11 09:53:59] - daniel: many of the newest ones are original content posted to /r/imsorryjon. according to knowyourmeme, this one was the first (from a few years ago): https://i.imgur.com/psZDvT8.jpg . ~a
[2019-06-11 09:50:59] - Xpovos: In yet another weird twist of the internet there is a whole community for those type of pictures that has gotten popular on reddit. -Daniel
[2019-06-11 09:04:07] - remove child from parent with fork! ~a
[2019-06-11 04:03:44] - title: That is terrifying. Well done. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-10 11:47:03] - a: I figured the weekend it was closer to... so the one after. Maybe I'll reach out to people about the 7th and hope for no rain? -Paul
[2019-06-10 11:29:56] - paul: july 4th weekend? which weekend is that? is that the weekend before july 4th or the weekend after? i think it'll be open. yes, people will be available. i joined a biking team so i'm busy most weekends. also i'm in south carolina both weekends
i could play on the 7th though! ~a[2019-06-10 11:09:31] - a: What do you think about trying to plan Ultimate on the July 4th weekend? You think Nottoway will be open and people will be available? -Paul
[2019-06-10 11:08:55] - a: Let's be honest, that's not the stupidest thing he's tweeted.
-Paul[2019-06-10 10:46:14] - wait, what? ~a
[2019-06-10 10:40:24] - yeah, hah. i imagine it'll correct down at some point. ~a
[2019-06-10 10:05:06] - a: Another big day for BYND.
-Paul[2019-06-07 12:19:48] - Success! -- Xpovos
[2019-06-07 12:19:42] - Cool, time to test. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-07 11:43:07] - xpovos: ok now turning off notifications uses an alert instead of a notification. ~a
[2019-06-07 11:36:19] - Paul: Shh. No spoilers. Also, that is a terrible idea. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-07 11:30:33] - Xpovos: Nationalize the message board. -Paul
[2019-06-07 11:30:28] - oh yes, it is. i think i can fix that. ~a
[2019-06-07 11:29:46] - oh it's entirely browser controlled. code is here: https://aporter.org/msg/websocket-client.js ~a
[2019-06-07 11:29:42] - a: I may have found a bug, then. I'll get that pop-up every time I post now, and clicking the toggle sends the same error message. It's like it's trying to use the notification system to notify me that it's turning off notifications, but it can't because they're blocked, so it doesn't resolve. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-07 11:28:41] - OK, posting showed me. Still browser controlled. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-07 11:28:20] - a: Interesting. How? Or is it still browser controlled? -- Xpovos
[2019-06-07 10:40:58] - apparently i *may* have turned on notifications automatically even if you hadn't clicked the "toggle" button. sorry about that if you didn't want them. you can click on the "toggle" to get rid of them. OOPS! ~a
[2019-06-07 10:31:34] - a: Assuming today's gains hold, the Freedom Portfolio is back above its starting value about 9 months ago! -Paul
[2019-06-07 09:51:25] - a: CRSP is having a nice day as well. Too bad it's a relatively small position in my portfolio. -Paul
[2019-06-07 09:24:51] - a: That's, what? Almost a triple in a little over a month? -Paul
[2019-06-07 09:24:00] - a: Yeah, color me surprised. I thought it was due for a drop after running up so much. -Paul
[2019-06-07 09:08:27] - paul: check out bynd today. yikes, people liked that earnings report and their possible talks with mcd. ~a
[2019-06-07 08:47:34] - a: Yep, that's what I meant. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-06 18:03:16] - oh you probably mean this: window.alert('Unable to show notification: ' + error.message); gotcha. ~a
[2019-06-06 18:01:48] - error message?
~a[2019-06-06 18:01:28] - a: I auto-block everything a website tries to do by default, so I had no idea what you were even talking about. Good documentation on your error message, though. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-06 17:25:29] - so clicking on it more than once shouldn't hurt anything. ~a
[2019-06-06 17:21:45] - ok, now it's a toggle. ~a
[2019-06-06 17:04:18] - also please let me know other bugs you notice. ~a
[2019-06-06 16:56:12] - ummm, there's a new thing i made (test out listening for notifications). it's still very much in development, so please be gentle. . . . i guess don't click it more than once, i'm pretty sure that'll break stuff? if you do click it more than once or have more than one tab open, i think closing them or reloading should fix things. also turning it off isn't a thing you can do yet
~a[2019-06-06 16:44:21] - Reminder that Adrian and I will be on Battle.Net tonight around 9 pm to play some Starcraft 2 if anybody wants to join us. -Paul
[2019-06-06 14:49:07] - Xpovos: My guess is you get a lot of outcry from non-profits like charities then. -Paul
[2019-06-06 14:45:17] - Paul: The article spells out that Pai didn't specify the service had to be free, but his Democratic colleague "expected it to be free" (or else). Why not get even more creative. We know you guys do this (particularly debt collectors, who do have a legitimate, if annoying purpose). We'll put you on the auto-block list unless YOU pay a fee. -- Xpovos
[2019-06-06 14:24:17] - a: https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/6/18655334/robocalls-blocked-default-carrier-providers-fcc-ajit-pai FCC taking action against Robocallers. -Paul
[2019-06-06 13:55:28] - ah yes. ~a
[2019-06-06 13:50:13] - that was that's a question - aaron
[2019-06-06 13:32:56] - a: I don't know if it was Scruples or not. All I remember is that Vinnie said he would rather be fashionably dressed for his entire life than to let everybody in the world live a year longer (or something like that). -Paul
[2019-06-06 13:21:13] - i half-remember this story. i remember it was a scruples game, right? i don't remember the details, but i remember hearing the story, or maybe even being in the game. ~a
[2019-06-06 13:12:09] - This feels like a fun card game: "Hitler makes a movie". Could be like that game where we learned Vinnie is a horrible person. -Paul
[2019-06-06 13:11:27] - a: Also, Hitler is dead. But yeah, I guess if Putin decides to make the next Star Trek movie, maybe I'll be in an ethical bind?
-Paul[2019-06-06 13:10:45] - a: Right, I'm not saying I would actively see movies made by horrible people to own the libs or anything like that. I'm saying that if a movie looks interesting to me and I want to see it, I won't let misdeeds by people involved stop me. This Hitler movie doesn't sound interesting to me. -Paul
[2019-06-06 13:07:42] - paul: literally hitler made a movie. he get's 100% of the revenue and is going to use the money to . . . god ok, i'm censoring my joke here. there's no historical or educational significance to this movie. ~a
[2019-06-06 13:06:49] - a: Hasn't Kevin Spacey been pretty credibly accused of rape? Even if he was convicted, I don't think that makes me a bad person for enjoying something like Horrible Bosses... -Paul
[2019-06-06 13:04:54] - a: I guess I would need a concrete example but probably not? I mean, did they kill somebody in past and do time and then get released? -Paul
[2019-06-06 13:02:01] - a: So an individual bakery doesn't have to bake a cake for an ugly person, but if an ugly person is forbidden from eating cake at all, that seems unfair.
-Paul[2019-06-06 13:01:45] - paul: "have done stuff that I disapprove of" there's a line though, right? boycotting movies because of being a feminist, or a scientologist, or a tax cheat or something. but like, you'd boycott a murderer, right? assuming the evidence was solid? ~a
[2019-06-06 13:01:18] - a: Nah, that's why I said "society as a whole". I think it's a lot more acceptable when it gets to the individual level. Women don't have to go on dates with ugly men. But if there's some sort of agreed upon "rule" for all of society where attractive men can walk around with no pants but ugly men can't.... that seems less fair. -Paul
[2019-06-06 12:59:16] - a: I'm mostly not on board with the whole boycotting movies based on artists thing. I'm fine if others want to, but so many actors/actresses/directors have done stuff that I disapprove of that I basically would never watch anything if I did that. I don't think watching GotG conveys approval of what Chris Pratt has done. -Paul
[2019-06-06 12:58:35] - paul: "If the ugliest person in the world can't do something" so to take this further: ugliness is a protected group? i assume that means race is also a protected group? and gender? how far do these protections go? if tom brady is allowed to commission a cake for his wedding, an ugly person should be allowed to commission a cake for their wedding too? ~a
[2019-06-06 12:57:58] - aaron: I think that mostly has to do with the fact that the cute girls is related to them and presumably has previously cleared it with me and less to do with the cute girl vs fat man aspect.
-Paul[2019-06-06 12:55:30] - but if they were instead taken by a cute girl (let's say gurkie) then suddenly it's socially OK and you'd let it slide. everyone has some level of favoritism based on gender/age/attractiveness, it's impossible to push it aside even if you know it's "unfair" - aaron
[2019-06-06 12:55:01] - paul: here's a hypothetical: a fat unattractive man grabs your kids and flees to puerto rico. you'd probably call the police, right? - aaron
[2019-06-06 12:53:14] - the boom-operator detail seems made-up too. to get the world on his side. i would totally believe if it came out that he made that part up. ~a
[2019-06-06 12:50:20] - paul: it's also the reason why so many allegations of sexual misconduct don't come out until celebrities get old or fat. in 20 years when chris pratt get fat and ugly there'll probably be a documentary about him. but he's cute right now - aaron
[2019-06-06 12:50:03] - i'm going to go against something i just said actually: we probably should stop watching chris pratt movies, until he apologizes? he seems completely unapologetic. maybe it's ok because there isn't a complainant? ~a
[2019-06-06 12:49:11] - a: Eh, I might be a middle ground. Life doesn't have to be fair in all aspects. But I feel like situations like this where we're talking about society as a whole condoning or condemning things, we should strive for fairness. If the ugliest person in the world can't do something, Tom Brady shouldn't be able to either (except for things like modeling
). -Paul[2019-06-06 12:45:36] - daniel: i'm with paul. life should be fair. the places where it's not fair, "life isn't fair" isn't a valid response unless it's truly something that doesn't have a real victim. ~a
[2019-06-06 12:42:30] - Daniel: Sure, and I tell my kids that all the time, but I get the feeling we wouldn't accept that argument for anything else. -Paul
[2019-06-06 12:41:01] - a: Heh, that IS a pretty good SNL skit, though. -Paul
[2019-06-06 12:34:57] - Life isn't fair? -Daniel
[2019-06-06 12:25:45] - a: No, I have no good answer, other than to say that the status quo is unfair. I wish I knew what the answer was. I was hoping you guys could provide it.
-Paul[2019-06-06 12:18:47] - paul: no of course not. it's the joke answer because it's obviously wrong. it's the serious answer, and it's wrong. what do you want us to do about it, though? i guess we should stop watching chris pratt movies? i'm not sure if that's your position, based on things you've said in the past about politics and actors. ~a
[2019-06-06 12:15:06] - a: I know that's the joke answer (or, sadly, maybe the serious answer), but is that how it SHOULD be? Should we accept that double standard? -Paul
[2019-06-06 12:12:29] - paul: like aaron said "pratt is cute". snl did a skit about it. you can commit sexual assault if you're good looking. fun fact i had forgotten about that skit: amy poehler is in that too! ~a
[2019-06-06 11:37:36] - aaron: I just don't understand the world sometimes.
-Paul[2019-06-06 11:36:11] - aaron: Ah, okay. Sorry, I misunderstood. If it was already unacceptable and society has become more sensitive, then why did Pratt feel comfortable not just volunteering the story but joking about it just last year? And why did everybody else on stage and the host seem to have no problem with it and why hasn't this blown up as a controversy? -Paul
[2019-06-06 11:32:16] - https://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/writeup/ internet over pigeons, ping time 6165731.1 ms - aaron
[2019-06-06 11:29:11] - paul: also i'm not picking 2004 out of some misconception the incident is from 2004; just to refute the assumption that somehow we weren't sensitive to men flashing their dicks before the "#metoo era." people always knew that was too much. that's why NBC sent a letter and why they took it very seriously - aaron
[2019-06-06 11:27:27] - paul: i'm saying the opposite; i'm saying this was *already* unacceptable in 2004 and society has become more sensitive in that time. i'm not saying it was OK then and offensive now, i'm saying it was offensive then and offensive now - aaron
[2019-06-06 09:22:54] - mig: Fair, I guess it depends on the definition of "that far off". Still, the fact that this is played off as a joke (including joking about the letter that warns him that it isn't a joke) and people seem to accept it seems to hinge on the fact that Amy Poehler (apparently?) didn't take offense. Swap her out for somebody who did and aren't we talking about GotG3 without Star Lord? -Paul
[2019-06-05 22:22:03] - paul: Not really. Louis C.K. went quite a bit further. - mig
[2019-06-05 11:48:54] - aaron: But the video looks like it was from last year, which seems too recent to wave off as a long time ago. I get that in a practical sense the fact that it is Chris Pratt and Amy Poehler might make a difference (although we didn't hear from her, she might've been genuinely offended), but it doesn't seem that far off from what Louis C.K. did, right? -Paul
[2019-06-05 11:10:01] - paul: it was the perfect definition of an unacceptable offense 15 years ago which is why he got a letter and why they already had the protocol in place. but chris pratt is cute and amy poehler has a good sense of humor so it's not a big deal - aaron
[2019-06-04 23:39:11] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Epez-jCTic The story that Chris Pratt tells in the first 2:30 of this video clip.... isn't that almost a perfect definition of an unacceptable offense in the current #MeToo era? -Paul
[2019-06-04 13:21:46] - paul: otoh, for short rides i don't shower. for instance i'm up to riding in 5 days per week, and my ride is short enough that i shower at home. ~a
[2019-06-04 13:20:52] - paul: showing up for work or a friends house and needing a shower is my new norm, and i hope every workplace eventually models around this. eventually i'll just leave shower shit at work / people's houses
~a[2019-06-04 13:17:18] - "100% prepared with all the proper gear" remember that this gear will always cost less than a car. so it's easy to discount this. ~a
[2019-06-04 13:16:51] - paul: meh, i'll back off from my statement a little bit, but honestly there *is* a time / place for rain/snow biking/walking. the two places where i find biking/walking in the rain/snow is awesome and better than driving: 1. trails where there are no cars. 2. roads where there are no cars. sadly #2 only exists if there's either a lot of snow or it's a weekend or whatever. but, yes i'd much rather bike or walk in the snow than drive. ~a
[2019-06-04 13:14:25] - a: Even if I was the best biker in the world and was 100% prepared with all the proper gear, I still think I would get to my destination soaked and essentially needing a shower and a change of clothes. -Paul
[2019-06-04 13:13:18] - a: "you think driving when it's raining / snowing is more feasible than walking or biking?" Yes. 100%. And I frankly kinda think anybody who thinks otherwise is crazy or lying to themselves. I get that you're a big biking proponent, but how can biking in the rain or snow possibly be better than driving? -Paul
[2019-06-04 13:11:36] - paul: also busses/metros do work better near a city. so maybe it's not always going to be the best thing for you for commuting. but going to the grocery store, or going to shit on the weekends, it's actually kinda nice to zone out on the bus/metro. ~a
[2019-06-04 13:10:41] - paul: "neither knows how to ride a bike too well so far" cargo bikes exist. so do kid carriers (of many forms). i'm not even close to suggesting you should purchase one of these things, but i am suggesting that you're taking a single-minded view of this. i didn't even suggest that "commuting" would be your first avenue of attack. for instance one of my major rides of the week was going to fair lakes on wednesdays. ~a
[2019-06-04 13:08:23] - paul: there's not a clear line, of course, there never is. i just suggest that honoring people hundreds of years after they're dead, because they fought for something that most people today consider detestable, is at best disingenuous. ~a
[2019-06-04 13:07:24] - paul: "That also assume it never rains. Or snows. Or is too hot or too cold" you think driving when it's raining / snowing is more feasible than walking or biking? i had a conversation with a rando in a grocery store when he saw my bike helmet on a snowy day. he was like "you were out biking in this?". my response "yeah, i couldn't believe i saw people driving out there too. crazy." everybody clapped (/s). ~a
[2019-06-04 13:05:49] - paul: We’re kind of already past Confederate monuments. Jefferson seems for now to be the latest historical figure du jour for erasure. - mig
[2019-06-04 13:01:13] - a: There's not a clear line where I can say, "Yeah, honoring people who owned slaves before 1800 is okay but not afterwards". -Paul
[2019-06-04 13:00:09] - a: Yes! Confederate statues was another thing I think about. I get the arguments against them, but then I think the next logical step (and this isn't an attempt to troll, honestly), is to also remove, like, the Washington Monument. Pretty much all the founding fathers are pretty damned by the same brush. -Paul
[2019-06-04 12:59:05] - a: It looks like biking would take around 34 minutes, assuming the kids could keep up with me (doubtful, since neither knows how to ride a bike too well so far). That also assume it never rains. Or snows. Or is too hot or too cold.... -Paul
[2019-06-04 12:57:52] - a: Well, I think we can safely rule out light rail as being feasible for practically any of the things I do (if we can't agree on that, I give up). I just checked WMATA and taking the bus would take 68 minutes, which is at least twice as long as it currently takes to drive and would cost $2, which maybe saves some money? -Paul
[2019-06-04 12:54:26] - it's also why i think removing statues to confederate soldiers (ones that weren't put in in the 1900s; which is actually a small minority of them) is at best non-neutral. ~a
[2019-06-04 12:52:01] - "It's something I always struggle with" i agree with everything you said. it's something i also struggle with. it's why i don't think tj was the worst president ever
~a[2019-06-04 12:50:27] - paul: yeah, if you changed none of those three things i still think you could use alternate transportation for some of the things. but i also think changing none of those three things isn't the only choice you think it is. ~a
[2019-06-04 12:49:22] - paul: no, you won't get my acceptance.
i don't believe you hate money. i also don't believe you hate the environment. i don't believe you hate entertainment / fun. i don't think you care nothing about your health / body. i think you are also annoyed by finding parking. i wish it wasn't all-or-nothing: driving always everywhere or driving never nowhere. i'll be accepting of a mix of all forms of transportation, is that enough? ~a[2019-06-04 12:48:58] - a: And so I wonder how to weigh those things and how much we should forgive people in the past for things we now consider very wrong. It's something I always struggle with. -Paul
[2019-06-04 12:48:19] - a: Maybe a smaller and better example is homosexuals in the military. Trump is catching a lot of flack for reversing some sort of policy about gays in the military (I can't remember the specifics), but 25 years ago or so the Clinton administration enacted Don't Ask Don't Tell. I think we (rightly) think worse of what Trump did because times have changed. -Paul
[2019-06-04 12:46:43] - a: "japanese internment is worse than anything trump has done" Right, and yet I imagine most people would rank FDR as a better president than Trump. I think it's fair to say a fair bit of that is grading on a curve because of it being 80 years ago. -Paul
[2019-06-04 12:44:12] - a: In order to make it work I think I would literally have to change 2 out of these 3 things: Move where I live, switch jobs, have my kids go to a different school. -Paul
[2019-06-04 12:43:18] - a: Sure, preferable is in the eye of the beholder. For you and your lifestyle, maybe driving isn't preferable. I understand that and accept that. I guess I'm looking for understanding and acceptance from you that biking and light rail and buses aren't preferable for my lifestyle (or for everybody's). -Paul
[2019-06-04 12:27:28] - paul: both. i'm imagining trump being president during ww2. yes i agree with your assesment. worded differently: japanese internment is worse than anything trump has done.
~a[2019-06-04 12:25:25] - paul: i'm sometimes bothered by the hastle of public transport/walking/biking. but then i remember how much worse driving is. ~a
[2019-06-04 12:25:04] - paul: "preferable" is a weird word because im not sure how it's defined. if i'm not in a city, or i don't otherwise have to worry about finding parking, and if i had infinite money, or i hated money or something, and i don't care about my health, or i didn't care what i looked like or how i felt, my time wasn't worth anything, and i didn't care about health of the environment for future generations, maybe then driving would be preferable? ~a
[2019-06-04 11:21:30] - a: Basically, on an "absolute" scale, FDR is worse, but on a "relative" scale (giving him some credit for it being wartime and/or 80 years ago) maybe Trump is worse. Does that make sense? -Paul
[2019-06-04 11:20:47] - a: Because regardless of other redeeming qualities (I happen to think the opposite with FDR, that he had a lot of other terrible ones, but let's just go with your supposition that he had redeeming ones), I still think that if FDR's administration existed today, internment of the Japanese would be so bad it would overrule any redeeming qualities. -Paul
[2019-06-04 11:18:51] - a: There's a lot to unpack with your FDR vs Trump statement, but I guess the part that directly addresses my musings is this: "what's more trump would have definitely (!) interned the japanese or worse". Do you mean if Trump was president 80 years ago or during WW2 or both? -Paul
[2019-06-04 11:17:31] - a: I get the maybe buses and light rail work for some people, but to me it's always a very narrow use case where it's preferable to just driving. Sure, if I'm visiting another city and don't have a car, I might do it, but that's because I don't have the superior form of transit (a car), not because it is better. -Paul
[2019-06-04 11:16:20] - paul: japanese internment is worse than anything trump has done. full stop. i don't think that is the only issue when determining who is better fdr or trump. fdr had some redeeming qualities what's more trump would have definitely (!) interned the japanese or worse. ~a
[2019-06-04 11:16:05] - a: Ah, this is still the personal finance podcast. Yes. I think I was calling back to Travis talking about Faith relying on the light rail, though. It wasn't just a gratuitous shot at light rail. -Paul
[2019-06-04 11:02:44] - paul: i've started to take uber and lyft a lot less when visiting other cities too. i've think maybe uber and lyft are as bad as cars and taxis. and i don't think self-driving cars will solve anything. ~a
[2019-06-04 11:01:33] - paul: the light rail reference was you. you were discussing how the baltimore light rail was for poor people: or something like that. i wish more people considered busses and metros (and light rail and walking and etc) weren't just for poor people. and it's not just you. randos on the internet seem to discount superior forms of transportation just because "it's what you do if you can't afford to drive". ~a
[2019-06-04 09:44:41] - a: Heh, I don't even remember who dissed light rail (we recorded those episodes like months ago) or what lead up to it. I remember my song lyric reference falling flat, though. -Paul
[2019-06-04 09:43:28] - a: So, I dunno, it's probably easy to say that Andrew Jackson was worse because the trail of tears and I'm guessing nobody here wants to defend him. It seems more interesting to compare FDR because I imagine some like him but we can probably mostly agree Japanese internment is pretty bad (and maybe worse than anything Trump has done?). -Paul
[2019-06-04 09:42:06] - a: Well, the high level point of the question is how to compare the "horribleness" of presidents across 200+ years of changing social norms. The slightly more specific question is comparing the horrible things Trump has done with the horrible things other presidents (that people here might like) have done. -Paul
[2019-06-03 09:13:49] - check out this new fun video game? ~a
[2019-06-01 15:37:53] - this is me live-posting while i'm listening . . . aw man, i like light-rail. why you gotta be dissing light-rail? ~a
[2019-06-01 15:25:45] - paul: you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you might find, you get what you need. it's a much more popular song. travis got it too. and it fits well enough, imo. ~a
[2019-05-31 10:56:20] - https://radioinsight.com/headlines/177273/jack-diamond-announces-wrqx-sign-off-move-of-morning-show/ 107.3 WRQX is going off the air today at 6:00 pm - aaron
[2019-05-30 17:00:34] - paul: ah, i guess i misunderstood the point of the question. i have to pick who's the worst of that specific list? how did you pick the list? it's weird, there's a lot you seem to be missing a lot of presidents that seem much worse than fdr or tj. don't historians fucking love fdr (in spite of the internment of japanese americans). didn't a ton of presidents own slaves? ~a
[2019-05-30 14:58:09] - Question for sports gamblers: I have an NBA finals bet that lists Warriors +1 and also seems to be Warriors -110. When do I win? -Paul
[2019-05-30 14:56:07] - Didn't think GWB would have any fans here. I specifically went with people who I thought would have defenders. -Paul
[2019-05-29 16:48:41] - paul: i'm a little surprised you didn't include george w bush. two wars started that both raged on for decades. ~a
[2019-05-29 16:47:12] - also didn't know about lauren graham. ~a
[2019-05-29 12:34:16] - a fun map. i knew some of these like dave grohl and mark hamill, but i didn't know about sandra bullock or samuel jackson. or jfk (though the wikipedia article doesn't say why he's "from" georgetown). ~a
[2019-05-29 10:48:10] - Xpovos: It's weird because it's a completely fair point while also being somewhat meaningless... at least IMHO. -Paul
[2019-05-29 10:34:12] - I like Bitcoin just fine, but that seems... polemic. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-29 09:37:25] - https://cryptoslate.com/us-dollar-lost-99-value-against-bitcoin/ Perspective matters.
-Paul[2019-05-28 19:42:31] - paul: yeah i still have a full month, so anything can happen, but i'm about as likely to lose ground as to gain ground at this point. ~a
[2019-05-28 11:28:48] - a: According to Robin Hood, MELI and SHOP both hit 52 week highs today, which is good news for me in 2018Q3. (Un?)fortunately bitcoin is also up big so you continue to put distance between us in 2017. -Paul
[2019-05-24 13:49:09] - Daniel: But it's not really fair to compare FDR to today's standards because it was 80 years ago and we were (more?) at war. -Paul
[2019-05-24 13:48:30] - Daniel: Yeah, I don't know enough about the pros and cons of each president to properly judge them either. I was more trying to figure out how to compare the badness of Trump to the bad things previous presidents have done. It's hard! By today's standards it seems like Japanese internment is worse than anything Trump has done... -Paul
[2019-05-24 12:03:26] - I don't think I know enough to correctly / accurately judge worst presidents over the countries history though. -Daniel
[2019-05-24 12:02:59] - I don't remember if it was LBJ or Nixon but whoever expanded the president's war powers and congress just let it go was pretty bad for the overall checks and balances of things. I think Trumps "badness" comes not from his legislative accomplishments but from his damage to the institution of the presidency, potentially normalizing corruption, and taking us closer to Idiocracy.. -Daniel
[2019-05-24 11:16:07] - Xpovos: Right, I think he's the poster child for the president who seems to be ranked poorly because he didn't boldly do bad things like a lot of the more highly ranked presidents did. Sometimes it seems like historians just want presidents to do anything, no matter if it is good or not. -Paul
[2019-05-24 11:05:32] - Silent Cal takes a lot of heat and would probably make a lot of people's list of worst, even though I personally really like him. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-24 10:00:46] - Xpovos: Honestly, we make fun of Trump for praising the worst dictators in the world because he perversely admires how "strong" they are, but that's kinda how I feel about the way historians rank presidents. They seem to revere the ones who did bold things even if oftentimes those bold things were kinda bad. -Paul
[2019-05-24 09:59:39] - Xpovos: I don't think Jimmy Carter would make my top 20 list of worst presidents. Like you said, I tend to prefer ineffectual versus presidents who actively do harm, and so many of the "greats" have done a lot of terrible stuff. -Paul
[2019-05-24 09:57:46] - The reason to keep Nixon is that his misdeeds damaged the institution in a way that, say, Jackson's didn't. Jackson hurt a lot more people, but Nixon hurt the governmental framework. That might be worse. Maybe. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-24 09:56:25] - Jimmy Cater for pure ineffectualism, that wo uldn't be my take, I like my Presidents ineffectual. As bad as FDR was for the Japanese, Jackson was way worse for the American Indian. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-24 09:54:57] - Honestly, we could also throw in Nixon too. In some ways, his misdeeds pale in comparison to other presidents. -Paul
[2019-05-24 09:54:21] - Xpovos: Sure, he was one I considered adding as well, but I feel like he doesn't have the fan club that Jefferson and FDR have (I also considered Washington in place of Jefferson). -Paul
[2019-05-24 09:53:38] - In my mind, it mixes two hard to judge things: Judging historical figures by today's ethical and moral standards and balancing the "good" that presidents do versus the "bad". Is it better to do no harm but also accomplish nothing great? Or better to accomplish "great" things but also do some bad things? -Paul
[2019-05-24 09:53:30] - Paul: Let's chuck in Woodrow Wilson. He's a complicated figure who did a lot of things people like while also doing a lot of things people hate. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-24 09:51:53] - I had a thought on the way into work this morning, and it's a legitimate question and not some sort of "gotcha" trying to prove a point: Who is/was the worse president? Trump (for obvious reasons), FDR (internment of Japanese Americans), Warren G Harding (often ranked near the bottom by scholars), or Thomas Jefferson (owned slaves)? -Paul
[2019-05-23 16:41:05] - Xpovos: Which, it should be noted, would be awful because of her past positions. -Paul
[2019-05-23 16:40:35] - Xpovos: Can't read past the headline, but I'm not worried. It's early and name recognition rules the day (hence why Bernie and Biden are on top). She's been hanging out around third place and once people start paying attention then I think those leads for Bernie and Biden evaporate some and she can become a front-runner. -Paul
[2019-05-23 15:27:19] - Paul: This should make you feel better about your #1, then. https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/678973 -- Xpovos
[2019-05-23 11:27:49] - aaron: But even if you do that, Biden fares pretty well. I honestly didn't even look at the favorability column. -Paul
[2019-05-23 11:18:04] - aaron: That's fair. I have this idea in my mind that the undecideds will end up skewing towards "favorable" but I guess there's no real reason to think that. -Paul
[2019-05-23 10:50:40] - wait.... how are you interpreting that data? you can only dislike someone if you know who they are, unfavorable% and favorable% are blatantly linearly correlated in that report. are you implying the most favored candidates are poor choices because more people dislike them? - aaron
[2019-05-23 09:43:20] - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7QWhNEW4AAWbgB.jpg Polls like this are the reasons I picked who I did. Check out those unfavorables from some of the front-runners like Bernie, Biden and Warren. I know Harris and Booker aren't too close behind, and name recognition plays a role, but 40%+ unfavorable is hard to beat. -Paul
[2019-05-23 09:19:51] - a: You mentioned if there's anything we can do in terms of presidential race competition, and I agree it's a bit boring without some sort of daily score to compare. Is there some polling/ranking system that is good enough that we want to use to check on how we're doing on a weekly basis or something? Predict It? -Paul
[2019-05-22 12:50:39] - a: I'm old and boring. I mostly use email. You can sms or call me if you prefer. 99% sure you've got my data. If not, I'll hit you up with them. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-22 12:49:57] - a: I
[2019-05-22 09:57:08] - oof. yeah, i've got a month left. i'll be fine
~a[2019-05-22 09:55:57] - a: Brutal day for QCOM. Anything can happen, but I'm increasing my lead in 2018Q3... -Paul
[2019-05-22 08:52:59] - xpovos: sure, of course. i was looking for your contact earlier. what are the kids using nowadays? gtalk/xmpp? sms? instagram chat? twitter private . . . something? ~a
[2019-05-21 17:34:14] - a: Cooooool. I think I'd probably like to talk to you more about that project offline. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-21 15:03:18] - xpovos: work. chernobyl was well timed, i think, but i've been measuring radiation for work the last few years. this page is like 3 years old, but it's a pretty empty summary so that probably doesn't matter. the biggest noticeable change to that page, that we've made in the last 3 years is that we now use semi-log graphs.
~a[2019-05-21 13:42:38] - a: Personal interest, sparked by Chernobyl, or something else? -- Xpovos
[2019-05-21 12:53:42] - xpovos: ah yeah, ok, i've mostly been studying radiation, so i guess knowing the molecular weight is pretty meaningless to me. i only care about what kind of light is released during scintillation, because we can measure that pretty easily. ~a
[2019-05-21 12:39:34] - a: In all of my Chem classes, I only ever used molweight. I'd guess #N is useful, but probably only in radiology. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-21 12:39:02] - a: I'm not sure... The thing is defining it as K means we know exactly how many protons it has. Ascribing the weight (40) means we know how many P+N we have. So K40 is universally going to be the same. As a naming convention, your system works the same, of course. The difference is the information that is readily to hand. In yours the number of neutrons. In the current standard, the molecular weight. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-21 09:53:45] - xpovos: here's a gripe i have for chemists: K40 (potassium-40). why did you list 40 as the number? that's not the number of neutrons or the number of protons. it's the sum of the two. useless! so, you're saying, if i want to know the number of neutrons, i have to do a subtraction?! what could possibly be useful about the sum of the two? i would have called it K21 
~a[2019-05-21 09:23:12] - xpovos: sorry yeah, you probably figured it out, but Z = number of protons and N = number of neutrons, and the color is if it's stable or not and if it is not stable, how long before it turns into something else. thank you for the description of the valence shell. yeah, i guess that makes sense that one of those "shell things" would be a cutoff you could see.
~a[2019-05-21 09:16:33] - a: Actinium. Not Actium. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-21 09:14:41] - a: I'm not yet sure what the graph is representing on the axes. If 128=radium, than the reason is that 129 is Actium, and the next several elements (13 more) are the actinoids, which are remarkably unstable. Basically, filling the 5f valence shell only partially is "impossible" so they spit off the extra electrons immediately and then will radioactively decay to regain electrical balance ASAP. -- Xpovos
[2019-05-21 09:09:22] - a: I'm guessing that video would have been better if I'd seen The Office? -- Xpovos
[2019-05-20 16:26:22] - xpovos: what's with the gap in this graph around N=128ish (near radium?). here. it otherwise looks like a pretty natural curve that has a hard-cutoff right there. ~a
[2019-05-20 13:00:02] - With Amash's tweets supporting impeachment, I think he's getting closer to being the LP presidential nominee, so that pick is looking good. -Paul
[2019-05-19 20:38:12] - aaron: wtf is this? love it. 754 views? probably the best thing I've seen on youtube with less than 1000 views. ~a
[2019-05-17 15:37:26] - Paul: I haven't tried but I'm not sure how it would work with 2FA. -Daniel
[2019-05-17 11:43:00] - Anybody here know if aggregator sites like Personal Capital or Mint work with accounts that use two factor authentication? Personal Capital hasn't been able to pull in half of my accounts for awhile now and I'm wondering if that's the cause. -Paul
[2019-05-16 10:19:21] - paul: easy come easy go
~a[2019-05-16 10:19:19] - daniel: so i don't have to eat my hat? ~a
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