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[2004-08-30 09:49:34] - aaron: Like I have a converter that will change WAV or MP3 songs into WMA and vice versa. -dave

[2004-08-30 09:49:00] - aaron: but at the same time, I think you can have WMAs that aren't copy protected -dave

[2004-08-30 09:48:11] - aaron: without having to be connected to the inernet -dave

[2004-08-30 09:48:01] - aaron: I believe many mp3 players are compatible with WMA -dave

[2004-08-30 09:47:32] - I'm not sure what format it will be, but apparently whatever format it is, it is compatible with 60 players -dave

[2004-08-30 09:47:17] - Aaron: Ah, ok. Possibly a modified version of WMAs then? -Paul

[2004-08-30 09:42:57] - I'll have to double-check next time my computer can't find internet, but I'm pretty sure WMAs fail if they can't find Microsoft's little database of song certificates... or whatever they have - aaron

[2004-08-30 09:42:00] - Paul: The way the copy-protection scheme for WMAs works, I think the player needs to connected to the internet to play any songs. - aaron

[2004-08-30 09:39:23] - Aaron: Why can't it be WMA? -Paul

[2004-08-30 09:35:28] - I wonder what format MS is choosing for their portable player. It can't be WMA.... and MP3 seems like it's too wide open... - aaron

[2004-08-30 09:11:00] - Dave: I think it'll be similar to how AIM and MSN have coexisted. -Paul

[2004-08-30 08:57:11] - http://www.theregister.com/2004/08/27/ddos_mafia_busted/ MA businessman charged with hiring hackers to use ddos attacks against his competitors. -dave

[2004-08-30 08:54:07] - opinions on whether Apple will be able to hold off Microsoft in the long run? -dave

[2004-08-30 08:53:48] - http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/showstory.jsp?storyid=53675 Microsoft entering online music with public beta this week. -dave

[2004-08-30 07:30:02] - http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/basketball/columns/story?id=1870490 props to Ivereson -dave

[2004-08-29 15:51:03] - "These are some really ugly students in this college ad. It has to be for Virginia Tech. There aren’t that many non-beautiful people on the SC campus. … Yup. …" Ouch. -Paul

[2004-08-29 06:12:42] - hey, it's light out.  and it's a weekend.  yay for random posts!

[2004-08-28 14:30:09] - mmm, claire forlani ^_^ -dave

[2004-08-27 15:58:51] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38575-2004Aug27.html Kerry wants to "curb credit card fees and protect home buyers and military families from unfair lending practices" -dave

[2004-08-27 15:50:35] - that means that if we win our next game we get the bronze, otherwise nothing -dave

[2004-08-27 15:43:27] - does that mean we're out of it? (I haven't been following basketball at all sadly (I'm coming to basketball though)) - vinnie

[2004-08-27 15:01:34] - *cry* - aaron

[2004-08-27 14:56:09] - we lost *sobbing* -dave

[2004-08-27 14:54:43] - Aaron: I'm planning on it. -Paul

[2004-08-27 14:46:26] - paul: Are you coming to basketball today? - aaron

[2004-08-27 14:37:25] - 74 - 67, 5:00 left -dave

[2004-08-27 14:28:46] - Or how they haven't run out of fouls to give yet. -Paul

[2004-08-27 14:28:15] - Dave: I don't understand how Argentina keeps managing to foul the American team without the Americans taking any free throws. -Paul

[2004-08-27 14:26:41] - duncan with 5 fouls =/ -dave

[2004-08-27 14:23:04] - down by 13 going into the 4th. -dave

[2004-08-27 14:10:16] - losing 58 to 42 =[ -dave

[2004-08-27 13:46:36] - US is down by 5 at the half -dave

[2004-08-27 13:46:26] - paul: ahh ok. -dave

[2004-08-27 13:33:26] - Dave: Sometimes they go back during the offseason to play in the European Championships or train for the World Championships. -Paul

[2004-08-27 13:29:36] - Paul: You know what's kinda interesting? NBA players from abroad seem to do just fine when they go back and join their teams. But they don't play international rules regularly anymore do they? -dave

[2004-08-27 13:28:49] - duncan's got two fouls in the second =/ -dave

[2004-08-27 13:26:47] - wasn't going to complete in the olympics at all I mean -dave

[2004-08-27 13:26:27] - http://www.eurosport.co.uk/home/pages/V4/L2/S8/E5769/live_Lng2_Spo8_Evt5769_allLive1.shtml semi-live coverage of US vs Argentina. US is losing so far. I thought Manu had said he wasn't going to compete? -dave

[2004-08-27 13:06:33] - Mig: Just goes to show how entirely subjective the scoring for gymnastics is. -Paul

[2004-08-27 13:04:05] - there's also the issue that the South Korean did an illegal routine that should have cost him points but the judges didn't catch that either so really everything should have cancelled out and Hamm would have been the gold medal winner anyway. - mig

[2004-08-27 12:50:38] - Dave: I mostly feel sorry for him because everybody keeps asking him to give back his medal and saying he isn't the real champion and it must really suck when you spend your entire life trying to win a gold medal and now the moment is ruined. -Paul

[2004-08-27 12:49:57] - Travis: Well, maybe we can play exibition games or set up playbooks or something. I'm sure we'll find something to do. -Paul

[2004-08-27 12:43:15] - Paul: it's kinda like basketball and the fouls the refs call. Lotta the calls suck, but that's the game -dave

[2004-08-27 12:42:55] - Paul: You get the good with the bad as well, as I think Hamm's coach pointed out that the judge's didn't doc him some points they should have as well. -dave

[2004-08-27 12:42:20] - Paul: yeah, it sucks that all this has been happening to him. Like several articles have said, there's always a buncha mistakes that happen from the judging standpoint, but everyone deals with it, or has to complain before the meet is over. Not like a few days later.  -dave

[2004-08-27 12:26:30] - paul: just so someone replies i'll be at basketball, as for what we do afterwards i have no idea since andrew won't be around for football franchise - travis

[2004-08-27 12:05:27] - http://sports.yahoo.com/oly/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpNWZic251BF9TAzI1NjY0ODI1BHNlYwN0aA--?slug=ap-taintedgold&prov=ap&type=lgns I feel real sorry for Paul Hamm. -paul

[2004-08-27 11:34:32] - http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/08/26/canada.us.reut/index.html Canadian member of pariliament calls us idiots for missile defense. Has called us damned americans and bastards in the past -dave

[2004-08-27 11:31:23] - http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/08/27/gator.attack.ap/index.html Man stabs gator in the eye with a pocketknife to save his dog -dave

[2004-08-27 11:29:53] - So, who's going to be at basketball today? -Paul

[2004-08-27 11:09:21] - Dave: I don't remember exactly what it did and now I can't seem to find any information about it, but I think you're right. -Paul

[2004-08-27 10:50:05] - Paul: so the difference between this thing and what the radio places themselves would generate is that probably the radio ones would try to protect against you grabbing the data and using it yourself, altho they'll probably be cracked -dave

[2004-08-27 10:49:06] - Paul: well, XM is developing something like TIVO where you can rewind, fast-forward etc, but it won't let you make an mp3 out of it -dave

[2004-08-27 10:32:46] - Dave: The funny thing about that XM program is that I think Sirius is actually developing something similar to that. -Paul

[2004-08-27 09:50:57] - http://www.talonnews.com/news/2004/august/0826_alice_cooperp.shtml Alice Cooper calls rock stars campaigning for Kerry "morons". -Paul

[2004-08-27 09:33:03] - dave: about team usa article, "In Euro ball, calling a timeout up 12 late in the game is like walking to first while watching your home run sail out of the park" isn't that what players like bonds do all the time? - travis

[2004-08-27 08:58:19] - Dave: "We're not going to see housing sales plummet" -Paul

[2004-08-27 08:53:41] - Mel: There were even some times when they would be talking about some department and I thought it was a person since the acronym could be spoken like a person's name. -Paul

[2004-08-27 07:59:35] - http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-08-24-xmradio-timeshift_x.htm Program (Time Trax) that records XM Radio broadcast to the PC coming under fire -dave

[2004-08-27 07:56:31] - paul: http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/26/news/economy/housing_bubble/index.htm?cnn=yes article about housing bubble -dave

[2004-08-27 07:52:59] - http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/27/iraq.main/index.html Al Sadr asks militia to lay down arms. Would be nice if this actually ends it -dave

[2004-08-27 07:41:51] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36655-2004Aug26.html Beltway HOT lands approved. Done in 6 years at the earliest -dave

[2004-08-27 07:32:46] - oops, here's the link http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/basketball/columns/story?id=1868342 -dave

[2004-08-27 07:32:08] - Fed up Team USA done playing nice guy Hurray! Fed up Team USA done playing nice guy -dave

[2004-08-27 07:24:50] - http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/trackandfield/columns/story?id=1868722 racing the Zebra. heh heh. He uses the word traveshamockery -dave

[2004-08-27 07:22:06] - also of note in the article - "...an Olympic record 22 athletes have either tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs or have refused to take the test. None of them was an American. " -dave

[2004-08-27 07:20:41] - http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/trackandfield/columns/story?id=1868746 we've won 8 of 9 medals in mens sprinting -dave

[2004-08-26 19:35:41] - Paul: yes, working for the government is like that.  For months at lunch I could never understand what people were talking about.    -mel

[2004-08-26 18:44:39] - Dave: Working for the government was a lot like that. Except it was more than just three letter acronyms. Sometimes they were four letters or more. And they even formed words which you wouldn't be able to tell were actually acronyms unless you saw it written down somewhere. -Paul

[2004-08-26 18:40:14] - mel: it's actually pretty funny, whenever he asks a question, someone answers with a list of 3 letter acronyms, rather annoying if you don't know what they stand for -dave

[2004-08-26 18:39:48] - mel: ahhh thx ^_^ I'm taking a network security class, and it came up. -dave

[2004-08-26 18:10:38] - Mel: No problem. I'll be glad to indoctrinate people with my opinions on basketball anytime. -Paul

[2004-08-26 18:09:53] - Paul: haha.  ok.  thanks for the clarification.    -mel

[2004-08-26 17:55:03] - Good three point shooters and dominant big men not being the same person of course. -paul

[2004-08-26 17:54:37] - Mainly, it just changes the strategy. NBA style tends to favor good three point shooters and dominant big men in the paint whereas the international game favors good passers and mid-range shooters and also utilizes a lot more zone defense than the man defense that most NBA teams play. -Paul

[2004-08-26 17:52:52] - Mel: Well, it makes it harder to score (except since the quarters are longer the final scores tend to be similar). -Paul

[2004-08-26 17:48:55] - Paul: With the NBA rules, the 3 point line if farther, the key is bigger, the quarters are longer.. it seems harder.  -mel

[2004-08-26 17:43:00] - Mel: And yes, basketball is definitely getting more popular around the world. Not only are there a lot of foreign players on NBA teams but the recent drafts have had a lot of foreign players taken as well. -Paul

[2004-08-26 17:42:07] - The general difference is that NBA basketball supposedly stresses athleticism more whereas international basketball supposedly stresses passing and team play and fundamentals more. -Paul

[2004-08-26 17:41:07] - Mel: http://www.members.shaw.ca/jazzace/ace/hoop/rulediff.html They don't seem like huge differences at first, but another issue is that the referees call fouls differently (I've heard). -Paul

[2004-08-26 17:38:28] - Paul: That's interesting that the rest of the world is catching up.  Is basketball getting more popular?  -mel

[2004-08-26 17:37:43] - Paul: I see.  How different are the international rules?  -mel

[2004-08-26 17:11:18] - Mel: I think it's a number of things. The rest of the world is catching up to us in terms of talent, we're not used to playing by international rules, there wasn't enough time to train them to play together as a team, we're lacking the proper role players, etc. -Paul

[2004-08-26 17:06:39] - Paul: yeah, why are they doing so poorly?  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:59:44] - Mel: What do you mean what's the deal? Why are they doing so poorly? I also thought the Spanish coach was being a little whiny about things. -Paul

[2004-08-26 16:55:26] - paul: That was a closer game that I thought it would be.  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:54:40] - paul:    so what's the deal with the american basketball team?  I think maybe Spanis was being oversensitive about that late timeout.,  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:53:18] - bug=big  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:53:08] - dave: q is a large prime number too.  basically, it's really hard to factor bug numbers but easy to multiply them together,  So if you can turn encryption into a factoring problem, you can be pretty safe that people can't crack your code.  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:49:08] - dave: basically the idea is that you come up with some large prime numbers that you multiply times each other to create a key.  If you are person A, you can encode your message using your prime number p and send your public key (p*q) with the message.  Hackers won't be able to figure out p or q because their product is such a large number.  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:47:19] - Mel: Well then, color me impressed. -Paul

[2004-08-26 16:45:07] - dave: RSA is one of the most classic cryptography algorithms.  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:44:03] - Paul: I didn't remember the guys names.  I know some stuff about RSA cryptography from school.  I've written code that used it before.  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:37:58] - Mel: Wikipedia? Or did you already know that? -Paul

[2004-08-26 16:29:27] - It was invented by Rivest, Shamir, and Aldeman (RSA).  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:28:54] - based on the factorization of large numbers.  -mel

[2004-08-26 16:28:15] - Dave: It's a type of encryption.  A public key encryption algorithm.  -mel

[2004-08-26 15:27:28] - Dave: Is that a grammatically correct sentence? -Paul

[2004-08-26 15:26:55] - Dave: You mean like "Remote Security Access"? -Paul

[2004-08-26 15:26:55] - Paul: I'm not sure I understand the reasoning that the european rules are better? -dave

[2004-08-26 15:26:26] - paul: oh, you meant americans rooting against the team, yeah, I don't get it either -dav

[2004-08-26 15:20:33] - what is RSA in terms of network security? -dave

[2004-08-26 15:19:56] - paul: because we are the american infidels -dave

[2004-08-26 15:12:57] - Travis: It's not only that, but the entire bit about racism and whose rules are the better rules and whatnot. Although I do admit to being a little confused as to why everybody seems to be rooting againt our basketball team. -Paul

[2004-08-26 15:04:48] - paul: i knew you'd disagree with most of that article because he trashes defensive play - travis

[2004-08-26 15:04:17] - vinnie: so that's why i suck at them so bad! - travis

[2004-08-26 14:52:09] - http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=whitlock/040826 I don't agree with a lot that is said in this article, but the comparisons between hockey and basketball are interesting. -Paul

[2004-08-26 14:30:22] - the flying games in wario ware have non-flight controls, IIRC - vinnie

[2004-08-26 14:29:05] - aaron: then how come it was so active? - vinnie

[2004-08-26 14:11:03] - my hand fell asleep - aaron

[2004-08-26 14:10:44] - Or how about gradius - hehehe. No flight controls on that one. I'm sorry that all i can come up with today are stupid counterexamples. - aaron

[2004-08-26 14:10:44] - Or how about gradius - hehehe. No flight controls on that one. I'm sorry that all i can come up with today are stupid counterexamples. - aaron

[2004-08-26 14:10:43] - Or how about gradius - hehehe. No flight controls on that one. I'm sorry that all i can come up with today are stupid counterexamples. - aaron

[2004-08-26 14:10:43] - Or how about gradius - hehehe. No flight controls on that one. I'm sorry that all i can come up with today are stupid counterexamples. - aaron

[2004-08-26 14:10:07] - In zaxxon you were tied to the back of the screen, and controls moved left/right and higher/lower.... they were not reversed - aaron

[2004-08-26 14:09:30] - vinnie: I never played, I just thought it looked third-person-perspectivey like Zaxxon. So I thought maybe it had the same controls. - aaron

[2004-08-26 14:07:51] - Vinnie: There were two versions of the game, I think. One was overheard and the other was behind the jet. -Paul

[2004-08-26 14:07:14] - Travis: From what I've heard, the coach felt like Brown was trying to embarrass the Spanish team by calling a time out with 20 some seconds left and the US being up by 11. -Paul

[2004-08-26 14:06:42] - aaron: don't you go forward and backward, not up and down in captain skyhawk? that's what I seem to remember - vinnie

[2004-08-26 14:06:05] - paul: that's why you ask if the controls are "flight controls", not "normal". unless the intent was to cause more confusion - vinnie

[2004-08-26 13:57:10] - http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/basketball/news/story?id=1868303 what the hell was wrong with taking a timeout? did the spanish coach feel the us team was rubbing it in/running up the score or something? - travis

[2004-08-26 12:01:11] - http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20040825/ts_usatoday/collegesembracehomelandsecuritycurriculum colleges now offering courses for a ciriculum focusing on homeland security. - mig

[2004-08-26 11:48:11] - What doesn't help me is that I always ask "are the controls normal?" when playing a flying game and to some people that means up is up and down is down and to others it means the opposite. -Paul

[2004-08-26 11:47:12] - the first time i played a flying game it took me a while to get used to it but now it's like riding a bike - travis

[2004-08-26 11:46:44] - it depends on the controller, if for some reason a flying game used the mouse to control up/down then i would get confused but with anything else (keyboard, joystick, gamepad) i just expect it to be up to go down and vice versa - travis

[2004-08-26 11:14:34] - Aaron: Exactly, I still find myself wondering what the controls are every time I sit down to play a flying game (which admittedly isn't very often). -Paul

[2004-08-26 10:56:50] - paul: It's not so clear-cut what is intuitive... It all depends on perspective. Can you imagine playing a three-quarter perspective flying game like Zaxxon or Captain Skyhawk with reverse controls (down to go up, up to go down) - aaron

[2004-08-26 10:30:19] - paul: hence, "take that pau gasol" instead of "take that spain" - travis

[2004-08-26 09:59:49] - Travis: Pau Gasol actually played really well and schooled a lot of our players, it was just that the rest of the Spanish team sucked. -Paul

[2004-08-26 09:59:26] - Travis: Well, some people think it should go the other way and some games have it defaulting to the "wrong" way so there is often confusion when playing flying games. -Paul

[2004-08-26 09:49:41] - dave: take that pau gasol - travis

[2004-08-26 09:45:50] - http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/basketball/news/story?id=1868139 yay! we beat spain this morning, 102 to 94 -dave

[2004-08-26 09:45:34] - paul: except real planes are controlled with up going down and down going up so you should expect it to be that way - travis

[2004-08-26 09:29:44] - Dave: Either they don't count it or it's illegal I would guess. -Paul

[2004-08-26 09:26:46] - how come I don't ever remember seeing stats on what the vote %s were before election day? Like you'd think if half the votes were already cast, they would publish what the current tally was. Or is it illegal or something? -dave

[2004-08-26 09:26:12] - another interesting fact is that they're expecting half of the votes to be cast before election day -dave

[2004-08-26 09:24:31] - other places that have requested satellite locations in the past include union halls, a furniture store, and even a bar -dave

[2004-08-26 09:22:18] - apparently if you can get 100 signatures, you can get a satellite voting station setup at a location. Official quoted as saying he thinks it's wrong since people inevitably use it to try to swing the vote by getting them setup in "biased" locations such as churches -dave

[2004-08-26 09:20:49] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33796-2004Aug25_2.html voting for nov. election starts sometimes as early as 6 weeks before Election Day -dave

[2004-08-26 09:03:02] - a: I saved the kerry one. I'll try to save the other ones too - aaron

[2004-08-26 09:01:59] - paul: Yes like that - aaron

[2004-08-26 07:34:49] - the article also mentions that a man who shipped himself from New York to Dallas was fined $1500 and sentenced to four months of house arrest for being a stowaway -dave

[2004-08-26 07:34:12] - http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/08/25/cuba.crate.ap/index.html 20 year old woman ships herself from Cuba to the US. -dave

[2004-08-26 07:32:57] - http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/25/cali.sale.reut/index.html schwarzenegger holding state garage sale -dave

[2004-08-26 07:03:02] - aaron:  i know it wasn't very clear, but when i said "mig:  isn't that site a joke?", i was talking about the magnus-opus site.  ~a

[2004-08-26 07:00:28] - aaron:  i don't get comedy central in my current hotel (i'll never stay there again) . . . can you save the daily shows?  (esp the kerry one?)  thanks  ~a

[2004-08-25 17:45:58] - Aaron: So it's kinda like some flying games where the controls are reversed from what you think they should be? -Paul

[2004-08-25 17:40:51] - Paul: Skyline mall is the mall below where i used to work. They had Crazy Taxi 3, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, and that Initial D racing game. It was a pretty nice arcade but they got shut down to make way for a target - aaron

[2004-08-25 17:40:13] - The really annoying thing to me is that on the shifter, down shifts up and up shifts down. It blows my mind, kind of like playing an old puzzle game clones where the rotate keys are backwards.... - aaron

[2004-08-25 17:39:51] - Aaron: Wow, that IS pretty cool. What is Skyline? -Paul

[2004-08-25 17:38:11] - By far the coolest thing about the game is that for 4 tokens, you can buy an "Initial D Card" which acts like a memory card, storing all of your race data, so you can upgrade your car and try to beat the game.... - aaron

[2004-08-25 17:37:33] - paul: That initial D game was at Skyline for a while, now it's at SF mall. It's pretty cool. The physics engine seems pretty fun and feels real (even if it's not) - aaron

[2004-08-25 16:25:34] - But Initial D being old is news to me. I was just shocked to hear Initial D music playing in the mall. I wonder if AnimeFX still carries those Initial D CDs... I need to get me some more Initial D songs. -Paul

[2004-08-25 16:24:30] - Travis: "a guy running around shooting stuff" does not a Trigun game make. -Paul

[2004-08-25 16:14:06] - and gamefaqs lists several slayers games, none post-psone, and none probably american.  as for trigun, gungrave is from the same designer and is just a guy running around shooting stuff on ps2 - travis

[2004-08-25 16:12:08] - paul: initial d isn't a new game, there's been versions around for years, although i don't know when the american one was released but i know potomac mills has had one for a while - travis

[2004-08-25 15:51:27] - http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=1866670 should golf be an olympic event? -dave

[2004-08-25 15:48:34] - Dave: And a Trigun first person shooter, and a Slayers RPG... -Paul

[2004-08-25 15:45:14] - Paul: Now we just need to wait for the Eva mech-fighting game to appear ^_^ -dave

[2004-08-25 15:31:34] - Dave: Yeah, I couldn't believe it. I was walking by Time-Out and I could've sworn the DDR music sounded a lot like Initial D music, so I stopped by and saw that they had a (new?) Initial D racing game there. -Paul

[2004-08-25 15:31:03] - that's directed to aaron: obv - vinnie

[2004-08-25 15:30:50] - I saw part of it yesterday. kerry's smile seemed very forced and awkward, but he wasn't as wooden as I expected. jon seemed nervous. more interesting to me that a pres candidate would do tds at all - vinnie

[2004-08-25 15:27:13] - Paul: Initial D arcade game?  *ears perk up* -dave

[2004-08-25 15:23:04] - Has anybody else here seen the Initial D arcade game at Springfield Mall? -Paul

[2004-08-25 13:24:32] - Now that I think about it Jon makes fun of the way Kerry talks a lot... I wonder if he felt weird talking to him - aaron

[2004-08-25 13:18:28] - http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/24/kerry.daily.show.ap/index.html Kerry on Daily Show (did i miss it?) - aaron

[2004-08-25 13:17:31] - But in the short term (and that's almost always what people focus on) you only see less jobs for Americans. -Paul

[2004-08-25 13:16:27] - Well, outsourcing does (very indirectly) help create more jobs in the long run by helping to bring up the other country's economy and thus creating more potential customers for American businesses. -Paul

[2004-08-25 13:12:54] - a: By the way - team america is a real movie. I just noticed your comment earlier - aaron

[2004-08-25 13:09:19] - dave: I think aaron is right.  but I don't think the author's claim is true.  -mel

[2004-08-25 13:06:24] - dave: I think he's implying that cheaper labor -> more profits for companies -> more hiring. I can see how indirectly, it might create jobs. But I can understand why he didn't try to explain it better - aaron

[2004-08-25 13:06:11] - dave: I don't think it does.  -mel

[2004-08-25 12:54:33] - mel: I don't quite understand. How does the outsourcing create new jobs here? -dave

[2004-08-24 20:35:53] - Haha.  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/769493.cms  Outsource your own job.    -mel

[2004-08-24 17:32:18] - "Conversely, if you program a web-based app in C, you're a fucking moron.        Please break it gently to Google!"

[2004-08-24 17:26:36] - aaron:  my favorite part is "I notice everytime I use JAVA, it simply eats processing time, even though I am not currently running anything."  right after the article in question mentioned "in web flame wars, people are happy to discuss their speed impressions for many pages without ever referring to actual data"  ~a

[2004-08-24 17:19:54] - I think "different tools for different tasks" pretty much hits the nail on the head - aaron

[2004-08-24 15:56:05] - "Of all the great programmers I can think of, I know of only one who would voluntarily program in Java. And of all the great programmers I can think of who don't work for Sun, on Java, I know of zero."  http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/04/08/24/1230245.shtml?tid=108

[2004-08-24 12:57:02] - Travis: Nope, that was exactly what I was talking about. The episode itself was decent enough (I didn't think it was one of the best, but not one of the worst either) but the scene you mentioned really sticks out in my mind. That's probably why it's ranked so highly, it has one of those scenes that you never forget. -Paul

[2004-08-24 12:25:56] - paul: i figure you're not talking about the very end, but i do remember being excited at the end of "i only have eyes for you" when spike gets out of his wheelchair since him and faith were the reasons i started watching the show - travis

[2004-08-24 11:32:53] - Travis: Thanks. Yeah, I totally agree with Restless. Totally worthless, especially considering how it was a season finale. "I Only Have Eyes For You", though, I really liked. Especially the end, which still gives me the chills. -Paul

[2004-08-24 11:23:21] - "i only have eyes for you" was a lame ghost story episode http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season2/summaries/31_summ.htm - travis

[2004-08-24 11:22:42] - paul: "restless" is one of joss' postmoderism kinda episodes when everybody has dreams at the end of season four, remember the cheese? - travis

[2004-08-24 10:37:30] - Vinnie: Which one was "I only have eyes for you"? And which one was "Restless"? -Paul

[2004-08-24 10:30:11] - "Restless"??? I HATE that episode! ok, that's got to be the most overrated one on here. I'm not sure people realize how easy it is to write psyche episodes - vinnie

[2004-08-24 10:28:42] - oh god I remember "I Only Have Eyes for You" now. what a deaddull episode - vinnie

[2004-08-24 10:25:09] - the funny (or at least, neutral non-dramatic) episodes outnumber the dramatic ones as well - vinnie

[2004-08-24 10:10:14] - Pierce: It's probably because the dramatic episodes are usually the more memorable ones. Everybody remembers the Friends episode where Rachel finds out Ross likes her (even me, and I hardly watched the show) but few recall an episode which is very funny. -Paul

[2004-08-24 09:26:26] - paul: I get the impression it happens lots of places. Sometimes the sheer volume of mail can crash the mail servers, I remember one of my relatives who works at microsoft mentioning that it happened there a while ago. They had to take the mail servers and delete all of the messages with a script to stop people from replying to them - aaron

[2004-08-24 09:18:47] - ironically, replying to the original message - vinnie

[2004-08-24 09:17:08] - Aaron: That exact same thing happened at my old job. Somebody accidentally sent an email to everybody and people started replying to all with joke responses until some high-up person demanded that everyone stop. -Paul

[2004-08-24 09:11:27] - Hehe. And then there's always 10-20 people who reply to everybody saying "Don't reply to everybody! You're cluttering everybody's mailbox!" - aaron

[2004-08-24 09:05:55] - Tee hee. Every two months, someone in my work group accidentally sends a message to like all 6,000 people in our division of our company, and then everybody replies to it saying "PLEASS REMOVE ME FROM YORU MAILING LISST" - aaron

[2004-08-24 01:52:52] - I mean hell, it was beat out by "I Only Have Eyes For You", which bored me to tears. - pierce

[2004-08-24 01:52:22] - But I agree that "The Zeppo" deserved a much better ranking. - pierce

[2004-08-24 01:51:43] - I mean look, the top twelve episodes in the list (with the arguable exception of OMWF) are all dramatic episodes. - pierce

[2004-08-24 01:50:26] - It also always seems like plotty/dramatic episodes win out in these polls, even in a comedic show.  The Friends greatest hits DVDs suffer from the same problem. - pierce

[2004-08-24 01:40:06] - I do like that episode a great deal though.  Not because it's one of the best from an absolute standpoint, but because it was so much better than it had any right to be.  Same reason I was impressed by "Cast Away". - pierce

[2004-08-24 01:39:25] - All the other nominations (and the actual wins) were for things like makeup, sound editing, etc.  Not nearly as high-profile (or notable in terms of one episode over another). - pierce

[2004-08-24 01:38:26] - grrr, I missed the Buffy conversation.  I think "Hush" may have had such a high rating because it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for that episode. - pierce

[2004-08-24 01:20:48] - vinnie: that's not entirely true... the copyright can hold legal weight even if you don't file for it, it's just that conflicts in those cases almost always boil down to my-word-or-yours. - pierce

[2004-08-23 10:04:08] - and it costs money - vinnie

[2004-08-23 10:03:58] - while correct, if you want any kind of legalness on a copyright, you have to formally apply for one though - vinnie

[2004-08-23 09:54:15] - aaron:  correct.  patents are submitted to the us patent office and it costs money.  i believe copyrights are implied when you put a copyright notice so i think they're free.  ~a

[2004-08-23 09:54:05] - mig:  isn't that site a joke?  ~a

[2004-08-23 09:15:27] - So patent is for inventions only then? I never really learned the difference - aaron

[2004-08-23 08:58:08] - a: it is dealing with copyright.  if i recall when they were talking about it on /. the big issue was what constituted a "public perfomance", which is what the aussies claimed was happening when you made a phone call, and that is spefically related to copyright. - mig

[2004-08-22 17:19:42] - http://www.teamamericamovie.com/ coming in october! - mig

[2004-08-22 15:11:47] - aaron:  isn't that copyrighted, not patented?  ~a

[2004-08-21 12:46:11] - http://www.magnus-opus.com/ this web site automatically plays sound.... but yeah you can hear some of their patented music - aaron

[2004-08-21 12:37:46] - But basically what they ended up patenting (sorry, not copyrighting) was the sound that gets made whenever somebody dials somebody else's phone number on a touch-tone phone... so that legally anytime someone dialed someone else's number, they were infringing on their patent - aaron

[2004-08-21 12:36:48] - A funny example i heard of about that kind of thing is these two australian guys who copyrighted this genre of music where each note in the song was made up one of twelve two-note pairings. The twelve note pairings they chose sounded awful and there were other strange constraints... - aaron

[2004-08-20 23:34:04] - i guess a more extreme example (that hasn't actually happened) would be if the us patent office gave out a patent for water (or something like that).  ~a

[2004-08-20 23:33:32] - do they rescend the patent, or do they let the phoinventors sue to their hearts content?  ~a

[2004-08-20 23:32:38] - what happens when the us patent office issues a patent for something that is already widely used (and therefore makes the pantent pretty dumb).  like this one:  http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,775,781.W  ~a

[2004-08-20 17:41:39] - which is the episode where they sing the whole way through.  that episode sucked.  ~a

[2004-08-20 16:57:30] - And while I don't think Doublemeat Palace is a terrible episode (and you're probably right that there are dozens of worse ones), it's the first thing that comes to mind whenever I think of the worst episode. -Paul

[2004-08-20 16:56:34] - Whereas I was already getting a little tired of the style of The Body like halfway through it. -Paul

[2004-08-20 16:56:06] - Vinnie: For various reasons, I actually ended up watching OMWF three times in a row a couple nights ago (once because I hadn't seen it in awhile, again for the commentary, and a third time to have something on while doing other work) and I never got tired of any part of it. -Paul

[2004-08-20 16:54:49] - Vinnie: I guess Buffy was never really much about realism for me. I mean, I understood where they were going with it and I'm glad they made it because it is a good "different" kinda of episode I just don't think it's the best at all. -Paul

[2004-08-20 16:53:28] - like I can think of probably ten worse episodes at least - vinnie

[2004-08-20 16:51:47] - doublemeat palace was bad, but only in the nothing much happens sort of way. there were some S6 and S7 episodes that made me absolutely cringe, thanks to the plot points they were introducing - vinnie

[2004-08-20 16:49:15] - in that way, OMWF is better. at least they didn't feel the need to have random musical numbers in every other episode for the next season (although, yes, they did bring the musical idea back for a S7 ep) - vinnie

[2004-08-20 16:48:06] - before or again, I meant - vinnie

[2004-08-20 16:47:52] - it's realistic in a way the show never was again. I have a love/hate with the ep though, that touches on your second point: it was too different an episode to just have it be on its own. it started a string of depressing episodes that arguably continued on and off till season 7 - vinnie

[2004-08-20 16:39:51] - To me, The Body is like the last episode of Season 4 where everybody was having crazy dreams, or maybe the second to last episode of season 5 where Buffy was in a catatonic state. They are interesting episodes to see once just because they are different, maybe, but  not really great (IMHO). -Paul

[2004-08-20 16:38:14] - Vinnie: Wow, we definitely disagree then. I think OMWF is clearly the best episode of the bunch with The Body being an "interesting" change of pace but not a great episode. Doublemeat palace I also remember as being one of the worse episodes. -Paul

[2004-08-20 16:35:51] - "Hush" is a pretty gimmicky episode too. a good one, but not that good - vinnie

[2004-08-20 16:33:41] - I certainly like "The Body" more than "OMWF", but those ratings are kind of wack. no way is doublemeat palace that bad an episode - vinnie

[2004-08-20 16:14:15] - I think once I get through the Babylon 5 movies (and maybe Firefly), I need to go through Buffy again, especially seasons 1 and 5, which I don't remember as well as I like. -Paul

[2004-08-20 16:04:20] - Travis: Why is Hush so high? I've no idea, although I'm ashamed to admit that Hush is quite possibly the only non-season 7 episode that I haven't seen. -Paul

[2004-08-20 15:58:05] - yeah, i found it, now answer the other question - travis

[2004-08-20 15:58:03] - I didn't look at the highly ranked ones as much (although having The Body at #1 over Once More With Feeling is a crime), I mostly just looked for my favorites. -Paul

[2004-08-20 15:57:17] - Travis: http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season3/transcripts/42_tran.shtml -Paul

[2004-08-20 15:54:02] - what's the episode (in season three, methinks) when spike comes back for one episode (dru had dumped him and he was complaining about being love's bitch) - travis

[2004-08-20 15:52:45] - another question is why is Hush so high? - travis

[2004-08-20 15:18:24] - http://www.buffyworld.com/news.php?topicid=78 I can't believe Tabula Rasa and The Zeppo are so low. -Paul

[2004-08-20 14:19:49] - (from previous entries) i think if you calculate the speed 2 review at capalert.com? ...get this... "Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) was a bit slow in the US.... because it had grown too big? wahahaha... - aaron

[2004-08-20 13:54:00] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17073-2004Aug19.html ted kennedy was apparently on "no fly" lists. - mig

[2004-08-20 13:04:27] - Do not touch. - willie

[2004-08-20 13:04:07] - Although "don't pet the smelly things" is still good advice. - pierce

[2004-08-20 13:03:45] - Whoever wrote the title misquoted it.  It's "Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things." - pierce

[2004-08-20 13:02:45] - I'm in a perfect condition for flying! - pierce

[2004-08-20 13:02:26] - I'm not going to make it to basketball, my stomach is all tipsy-turvy. - pierce

[2004-08-20 12:01:42] - So let's just hope that his game is one of the last ones. -Paul

[2004-08-20 12:01:28] - Andrew says he can't make it to basketball but he will show up for football and will have more info later (he has to visit relatives). -Paul

[2004-08-20 11:45:56] - I'll see if I can get in touch with him on AIM today. -Paul

[2004-08-20 11:45:40] - Travis: And I have no idea what we're supposed to do with Andrew, which is why I said it raises more questions. -Paul

[2004-08-20 11:45:20] - Travis: I dunno, we could simulate it with their VIP profile as a last resort if somebody doesn't show up multiple times. -Paul

[2004-08-20 11:44:42] - Vinnie: And in my case, it was "you booze you lose" -Paul

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