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[2005-09-26 13:42:08] - so if a minority and/or women is nominated by Bush for a Supreme Court position, do you think that will help the nomination? To me, it doesn't seem like it has helped in the past (Gonzales, Rice, etc) -dave
[2005-09-26 13:29:28] - Sam: also, consider (for gaming) that you'll be gaming for lengthy periods of time at once, which is hard on your lap-tops cooling system. Also the extra matierals you'll need to carry (wireless access, USB mouse, etc)... I mean, have you -tried- playing games with a track pad? I have, it's not nearly as much fun. -- Xpovos
[2005-09-26 13:28:06] - Sam: virus infection is often more than just a file on the hard-drive, so I think your concern is mostly unfounded. But different viruses will act in different ways, and since to the computer, it's just another program, unless you have some protection against it: yes, it will copy the viral file to the redundant disk. -- Xpovos
[2005-09-26 13:27:53] - sam: if Raid 1 is the redundancy configuration, then yes. Just like if you're running the windows backup option (default in XP I believe), then the virus will get mirrored there too -dave
[2005-09-26 13:27:01] - errr, it'd last like -dave
[2005-09-26 13:26:42] - sam: because it's much more difficult to get the same performance out of a laptop because of space and power constraints. Like if you ran a "gaming" pc hardware off of the laptop battery, it'd like like 15 mins -dave
[2005-09-26 13:26:09] - Paul: take it too far, you mean driving themselves to do something? -dave
[2005-09-26 13:18:57] - in RAID 1, if the primary disk gets infected with a virus, does that virus get mirrored to the redundant disk? -sam
[2005-09-26 13:17:00] - Dave: I suppose, but at the same time I think some people take it too far. -Paul
[2005-09-26 13:13:08] - dave&Xpovos: why is gaming on laptops not recommended? -sam
[2005-09-26 13:07:44] - Paul: <nod> but that's the kind of sentiment that drives some people. If you knew that you weren't guaranteed an education (people in other countries have to take entrance exams for first grade and up sometimes) and that an education is the only way you're going to survive, it puts things in a very different perspective -dave
[2005-09-26 13:06:29] - Paul: you can also train your body to do certain things, like wake up automatically after 15 min powernaps etc - so altho it seems easier for some people to work hard, a lot of times it's because they've trained themselves to be that way / overridden all the other urges already -dave
[2005-09-26 13:06:05] - Dave: Heh, that's also a little disturbing.
-Paul[2005-09-26 13:05:45] - Xpovos: I thought it was a little disturbing too. -Paul
[2005-09-26 13:05:26] - Paul: like my dad used to tell my stories about chinese students who would rig things up so that if they nodded off while studying, they'd hit some sort of pin or other object that would cause them pain to wake them up -dave
[2005-09-26 13:05:18] - Xpovos: I suppose that's true. What about work-a-holics, though? -Paul
[2005-09-26 13:05:01] - Sam: I don't know much about graphics cards for laptops because you are generally just stuck with whatever you've got, but I'm also mostly an nVidia kind of guy. -Paul
[2005-09-26 13:04:23] - Paul: yeah, but my opinion is that driven type A people also have urges etc, it's just that their overwhelming willpower squashes out everything else -dave
[2005-09-26 13:03:33] - sam: I'm strictly an nVidia person, but i really don't know much about gaming on laptops, except that it's generally not recommended -dave
[2005-09-26 12:59:37] - Paul: That article is sick. (Louisiana Billions) -- Xpovos
[2005-09-26 12:59:14] - Sam: I'm strictly anti-ATI after my last ATI card, but that's a personal boycott based on their terrible support. I think ATI has a slight technological edge for laptop cards, but by and large, I don't recommend gaming on a laptop. -- Xpovos
[2005-09-26 12:58:14] - Paul: but what are they doing? If it's for leisure, they might still be considered lazy. -- Xpovos
[2005-09-26 12:53:10] - who has better gaming graphics card for laptops? ATI or NVIDIA? -sam
[2005-09-26 12:51:07] - Crap, did I miss the season premiere of The Office? -Paul
[2005-09-26 12:48:53] - Xpovos: At the same time, there are some people who seem like they can't stand sitting still and always have to be out and about doing stuff. -Paul
[2005-09-26 12:48:29] - Some people have compulsions which make them less lazy, but by and large, everyone is lazy, I think. The most productive people, or busiest people, are just the people who for various reasons compel themselves to do more. -- Xpovos
[2005-09-26 12:47:11] - Sam: I think everyone is lazy, it's just a matter of how much we control it. We'd all ideally love to lounge around for a bit and then only do the things we found fun. -- Xpovos
[2005-09-26 12:26:30] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/25/AR2005092501413.html Louisiana Goes After Federal Billions -Paul
[2005-09-26 11:41:19] - http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/26/puppy.swallows.knife.ap/index.html Puppy swallows 13" knife -dave
[2005-09-26 11:24:00] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092600376.html Wizards draft pick shot in the chest -dave
[2005-09-26 11:16:09] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092600481.html IRA disarms -dave
[2005-09-26 11:12:46] - paul: <nod nod> to the poverty article -dave
[2005-09-26 11:07:36] - Sam: I've no idea, it was a little confusing to me. He's a traitor to his race because he dates white women? It sounds to me like that person wants him to date black women. Maybe the writer didn't know Jeter was half white? -paul
[2005-09-26 10:59:53] - Paul: but jeter is half white... so, the hate mailer is saying Jeter is supposed to only date half white/half black women? -sam
[2005-09-26 10:51:14] - http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Alt_OspWxKlhK62DQZSHPDU5nYcB?slug=ap-hatemail-jeter&prov=ap&type=lgns Jeter received racist hate mail. So this probably came from a black person? -Paul
[2005-09-26 10:46:23] - http://www.fredoneverything.net/Poverty.shtml A Fred article talking about poverty. A little related to what we were talking about before, maybe? -Paul
[2005-09-26 10:03:31] - not quite "sharks with friggin' laser beams" but awfully close. - mig
[2005-09-26 10:02:25] - http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.html armed anti-terrorist dolphins on the loose in the gulf of mexico. - mig
[2005-09-26 09:56:24] - http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577750,00.html bush appeals to americans to donate money for the reconstruction of iraq. so far he's raised $600. - mig
[2005-09-26 09:43:23] - "ok class take out your 'Evolution and 2057 alternative theories to it' book....."
[2005-09-26 09:36:23] - methinks conservatives need to be careful what they wish for in regards to this intelligent design issue. - mig
[2005-09-26 09:22:14] - vinnie: how'd the draft go? -dave
[2005-09-26 09:21:45] - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/education/26evolution.html?hp&ex=1127793600&en=a115e44345e68b27&ei=5094&partner=homepage and so it begins, school board sued for teaching intelligent design -dave
[2005-09-26 09:18:44] - a: happy bday! though I'm sure the day wasn't quite as happy as you planned ^_^; - vinnie
[2005-09-26 08:42:58] - http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2170044 three pacers get year probation, community service, fines -dave
[2005-09-26 08:20:07] - adrian - in case you didn't get the message - i seem to have your phone today...and mine is somewhere around the house. - lori
[2005-09-26 07:53:55] - wow, the bengals defense already has 12 interceptions... -sam
[2005-09-25 22:08:13] - *newborn - pierce
[2005-09-25 22:07:59] - sam: I think people can be born with tendencies towards it, like a biochemical predisposition to ADD. I don't think the concept of "lazy" makes sense in any way other than predispositions when you're talking about a newbord. That lying-there thing they do? That's what they're supposed to do. - pierce
[2005-09-25 21:53:35] - to_all: do you think some people are just born lazy? -sam
[2005-09-25 21:34:51] - May 2004 Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates (Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV) http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_8840.htm -sam
[2005-09-24 14:19:25] - paul: yes. ~a
[2005-09-24 02:06:34] - But I think it's fair to use it to avoid the argument in the first place... sometimes. As long as it's not abused. And, um, I'll decide when it's being abused.
- pierce[2005-09-24 02:06:02] - Is ad hominem really completely a logical fallacy? I mean, I agree that it can hold no real weight once you're in the argument; if you can't sufficiently support your beliefs logically then criticizing your opponent's sources is irrelevant. - pierce
[2005-09-23 18:33:39] - everyone must watch this! Unnecessary Censorship clip from the Jimmy Kimmel Show. It' hillarious! http://filebox.vt.edu/users/sapatton/Funny/ -sam
[2005-09-23 17:35:47] - Sam: I'm not too surprised. I don't think they took it that seriously. -Paul
[2005-09-23 17:27:35] - paul: but they got the verse wrong. Psalms 129 is totally different. -sam
[2005-09-23 17:25:31] - paul: lol, amen! -sam
[2005-09-23 17:08:06] - http://www.askmen.com/jokes/2005_sep/sep21.html Words to live by. -Paul
[2005-09-23 16:57:37] - Amy: "And I'll form... the head!" Yay for random Voltron references! -Paul
[2005-09-23 16:46:28] - http://www.cheapassgamer.com/archives/001038.php#more article about Best Buy Customer Centricity with accompanying humorous cartoon. -amy
[2005-09-23 16:44:49] - a: So you're coming? -Paul
[2005-09-23 16:44:42] - Vinnie: Don't people go Kayaking in the Potomac River? -Paul
[2005-09-23 16:33:23] - paul: me. ~a
[2005-09-23 16:32:11] - anyone know anything about places to go kayaking in our area? google is being difficult - vinnie
[2005-09-23 16:24:14] - Pierce: So who am I supposed to win money from? -Paul
[2005-09-23 16:23:58] - Paul: oh, but relevantly, I'm not coming to poker this weekend either. - pierce
[2005-09-23 16:23:44] - Paul: I'm not coming to basketball. - pierce
[2005-09-23 16:06:48] - Vinnie: Heh, yeah, you don't have to worry about letting me know. I pretty much assume you're not coming unless I hear otherwise.
-Paul[2005-09-23 16:06:09] - oh basketball = not happening today for me. maybe it's best if I just tell you all when I am coming
- vinnie[2005-09-23 15:55:53] - Pierce: I would tend to agree, unless he was a smart cookie and wrote up a good legal contract that he had her sign. Then, he might be able to get away with kissing her.
-Paul[2005-09-23 15:55:01] - Paul: yes, I agree. I'd say it's probably a scam, and it's definitely too tenuous to count on. I don't know/care how the guy would look, but I would bet money that he'd be legally culpable for something no matter how he handled it. - pierce
[2005-09-23 15:52:30] - Pierce: I've no idea where the lines are legally drawn in these issues. I just know it's not something I would want to fool around with because I imagine the guy is almost always going to come across as a jerk no matter what. -Paul
[2005-09-23 15:52:11] - ...in other words, she could get hired by a guy who would (quite reasonably) assume that "female attention" referred to sexual things. But then she could sue him for sexual harassment claiming that she actually meant "legal" female-attention-for-money; and since he almost certainly didn't put kissing in the contract, she wouldn't even be bound to that. - pierce
[2005-09-23 15:45:26] - The reason I ask (before you snicker) is that "female attention" as described in that listing may refer to some things that the employer could contractually bind her to do, like kissing. But since he can't contractually bind her to have sex with him, she could claim sexual harassment even though she'd put up an ad with this context. - pierce
[2005-09-23 15:45:22] - ow far do prostitution laws go? Obviously you can't pay someone to have sex with you (making porn as an exception), I assume the same goes for blowjobs, but can you pay someone to kiss you? I'm pretty sure you can, right? - pierce
[2005-09-23 15:44:16] - http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/OlsenArrested.htm
[2005-09-23 15:39:27] - *** Paul wonders when mig became as cynical as himself
[2005-09-23 15:36:33] - dave: silly dave. you should know by now that it's always the guy's fault in these cases. - mig
[2005-09-23 15:35:16] - assuming that he didnt' go too far before he discovered that she was the wrong person -dave
[2005-09-23 15:34:37] - amy: yeah, I don't know. It'd be interesting to see what difference it made what the guy's intentions were. Like what if he somehow accidentally hired the wrong girl and then the girl sued him later. Would it make a difference that he thought the girl was 'consenting' ? -dave
[2005-09-23 15:31:10] - dave: OK yeah, as soon as i said that i realized.. probably a not-so-clever ploy .p (but even if he did, they can't prove that it was her who wrote it, can they?) -amy
[2005-09-23 15:30:57] - Amy: At the very least, she would always have that to fall back on in case she got fired.
-Paul[2005-09-23 15:28:41] - amy: makes you wonder how the case would go if the guy produced the ad -dave
[2005-09-23 15:27:52] - Paul: It could be a clever ploy to file a huge sexual harassment suit .) -amy
[2005-09-23 15:26:23] - Dave: Yeah, I can never tell if they're being totally serious or not. I have to imagine some of them (like this one) are probably serious, though. -Paul
[2005-09-23 15:25:35] - Sam: Hell no, most of those people scare me.
-paul[2005-09-23 15:13:45] - Paul: haha, that's funny ^_^ -dave
[2005-09-23 15:11:32] - paul: for some reason, i feel nervous to contact those people on "women seeking men." -sam
[2005-09-23 15:10:33] - paul: have you replied to any of them and tried to meet? -sam
[2005-09-23 15:02:56] - http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/w4m/99430311.html I love reading this section of craigslist. -Paul
[2005-09-23 14:52:23] - sam: you may think that, but if his words don't carry the force of law then it can go either way. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:51:14] - mig: well, it does in a way. it explicitly assumes the existence of a supernatural force which may be influenced by human pleas. just being the devil's advocate (so to speak), I do agree with you. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:49:48] - on the other hand, I think it's taken too far in some places... like an official chaplain for the house. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:48:38] - errr.... explicit religious overtones i mean to say. - mig
[2005-09-23 14:48:21] - sam: i don't think it's something that should be a big deal, after all "prayer" by itself does not have to have any explicit overtones. - mig
[2005-09-23 14:48:04] - *** amy wants to register whichonedoyoukill.com now, but is way too lazy to actually build the game.
[2005-09-23 14:47:08] - pierce: i think he was in the "public official" mode. -sam
[2005-09-23 14:46:27] - sam: and he is permitted to do that when he's speaking in "private citizen" mode, rather than "public official" mode. It's not a very clear line, I'll grant you that, but practicably it's the only thing that works. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:45:51] - piece: actually, it almost sounds like a command. -sam
[2005-09-23 14:44:34] - pierce: it sounds like he is encouraging his citizens to say a prayer. -sam
[2005-09-23 14:42:44] - sam: and even if he does believe that praying will prevent the hurricane, he's perfectly entitled to that belief. He shouldn't be enforcing it in law or anything, but he has the right as a private citizen (even if he's holding public office) to espouse his religious beliefs. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:42:34] - amy: he said "say a prayer for texas." i think he means if you pray, texas will be safe. -sam
[2005-09-23 14:40:55] - sam: i don't think the prayer is to counteract the hurricane, more to make sure all the people are OK and that evacuations and anything else that needs to happen goes well. -amy
[2005-09-23 14:39:56] - so he believes that if you pray, hurricane won't hit? -sam
[2005-09-23 14:39:08] - is the governor refering to the christian god? if not, which god? -sam
[2005-09-23 14:36:53] - .. by the way that was regarding the hurricane Rita -sam
[2005-09-23 14:36:29] - Texas Gov. Rick Perry says, "So, be calm, be strong, say a prayer for Texas." So, the governor wants us to believe in god now? -sam
[2005-09-23 14:13:02] - amy: yeah, I encountered it in communications class (fm, am, etc) -dave
[2005-09-23 14:12:43] - pierce: i think the maximum audible frequency is supposed to be 22 khz; as you get older that goes down, too. anyway i'm just saying i think they picked 22khz as a maxmium, not as an average, so everybody should theoretically be below that threshold, so they can safely use that as the threshold. --amy
[2005-09-23 14:11:20] - pierce: i only studied it as applied to audio but yeah, it seems like it should apply to other mediums as well. -amy
[2005-09-23 14:11:10] - amy: does the ear have a single natural frequency? I mean, women can hear higher-pitched noises than men (on average), that fact alone seems to indicate that the structures can be variant. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:10:04] - amy: yeah, a brief reading of the wiki page for the nyquist theorem doesn't seem to have anything about an absolute level of audio perception. In fact, it doesn't seem to be referring exclusively to audio either, the logic applies just as much to static images and video. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:09:30] - amy: heh heh heh ^_^ -dave
[2005-09-23 14:09:18] - dave: yeah that is the idea, 44.1 khz is twice the the frequency of the human ear. -amy
[2005-09-23 14:08:37] - i guess that's not really a decision tree game, is it. -amy
[2005-09-23 14:08:17] - fill a data base full of things like: monkey, bee, stranger in a trenchcoat, Republican, etc. and then put it on a website for many people to play...and then keep a score for each tihng. -amy
[2005-09-23 14:07:42] - we should make a decision tree game: stranger-with-a-gun vs. baby. Which one do you kill? -amy
[2005-09-23 14:07:17] - amy: hmm, what I remember of the nyquist theorem is that you need to sample at around twice the rate of whatever it is you are sampling to be able to reproduce it perfectly on the other end -dave
[2005-09-23 14:06:36] - pierce: but basically i guess iw as saying... if you take .wav format (441.khz) and then compress in a way that is at all lossy, the difference is (in theory) perceptible. -amy
[2005-09-23 14:06:33] - Paul+Amy different people have different levels of acoustic perception. There's also the placebo effect, since you know it's lower quality (assuming you were the one encoding it) you pay more attention to the glitches. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:05:44] - pierce: that does make sense. -amy
[2005-09-23 14:05:35] - amy: here are songs available in 256k http://www.buy.com/retail/searchResults.aspx?querytype=256k&qutype=2&searchquery=&loc=58055&dclksa=1 -sam
[2005-09-23 14:04:50] - pierce: acc. the nyquist theorem (as i understand it), anything less than 44.1khz will be perceptible to the human ear (as different than the original sound, or sound sampled at 44.1 khz) -amy
[2005-09-23 14:04:27] - Pierce: Speak for yourself. I probably couldn't tell the difference until it gets to 50% or so.
-Paul[2005-09-23 14:03:50] - I have oversimplified that quite a bit, but that's the gist of the problem with double compression. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:03:36] - amy: I guess you're right - stranger should probably be lower on the food chain than baby. I can't think of a lot of reasons to kill either one. I guess once you get up to "human", the more important criteria is whether they should be in your home, and whether you know the person- aaron
[2005-09-23 14:03:24] - amy: i personally buy both singles and albums online, although I tend to try to buy albums -dave
[2005-09-23 14:03:20] - So if you encode something 5% lossy, then reencode it with a different lossy algorithm, it's like taking another 5% off that 95% accuracy, so you end up with 90ish% accuracy compared to the original sound. That level is now significantly below the point where you can tell the difference. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:02:39] - amy: I think CD sales have gone down a bit, but it's not at all proportional to the amount of music sold online -dave
[2005-09-23 14:02:09] - "Lossy" compression algorithms like MP3 take advantage of that by replacing that outside 5% with something that makes the whole sound easier to statistically compress, and you can barely, if at all, tell the difference. But different algorithms have different ideas of what the "important" 5% is. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:02:08] - amy: how about a strange baby in a cradle with a gun? ^_^ -dave
[2005-09-23 14:01:52] - amy: i don't buy CD's because most of the times, i only like 1 or 2 songs from the album... so it's a big waste of money for me... -sam
[2005-09-23 14:01:07] - sam: err, yeah, WMAs ^_^ -dave
[2005-09-23 14:00:54] - aaron: i would think it depends on the stranger... e.g. stranger with a gun vs. baby in a cradle. strangers can be babies and children too .) -amy
[2005-09-23 14:00:32] - amy: anyway, I'll explain the double-lossiness a bit better. Let's say your ear can hear sounds with a 95% purity rate. In other words, two sounds that are identical for 95% of their waveform will sound the same to you, even if they're different for the other 5%. - pierce
[2005-09-23 14:00:15] - so is the trend towards buying indiv songs in digital format? have CD sales gone down since the onset of all this? -amy
[2005-09-23 14:00:04] - amy: Babies and children provide less value to me than strangers do. - aaron
[2005-09-23 13:59:34] - pierce: i have considered starting my own .wav collection. it's masochistic in terms of HD space and bandwidth (as if anybody wants me to send those to them), but sometimes it's worth it. -amy
[2005-09-23 13:59:33] - dave: ipods don't play WMA's -sam
[2005-09-23 13:59:31] - amy: there is protection, but to my knowledge the protection doesn't follow them onto the CD -dave
[2005-09-23 13:59:10] - amy: if the music file is copy right protected, you can only copy to certain number of computers and mobile devices... -sam
[2005-09-23 13:58:59] - pierce: iPods don't play WMVs though, do they? -dave
[2005-09-23 13:58:22] - amy: yeah, it's prefectly legal to burn it to a cd and then rip it again, as long as you are within Fair Use rules (use it for yourself, or to let friends borrow etc) -dave
[2005-09-23 13:58:15] - sam: all right. i was just asking because i thought there was some protection in the files that is supposed to prevent you from copying or sending to friend, etc. ...otherwise we'd all just buy songs and send them to all our friends, or put them up on the newest incarnation of napster... -amy
[2005-09-23 13:58:11] - amy: sorry, I'm being a bad talked. IANAL = I am not a lawyer. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:57:52] - amy: "yes, iPods play normal MP3s up to 300kbps" and wav files are for the masochistic because they're ginormous. They're lossless and barely compressed (like BMPs), so they're only for the purists who are so crazy about audio that they'll unplug their fridge because they can hear the compressor affect their speakers electromagnetically. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:57:38] - amy: ... for removing the copy right protection via burning and ripping CD's -sam
[2005-09-23 13:57:02] - pierce: not understand: IANAL. you are anal? ,) what does the acronym mean? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:56:16] - amy: i don't think it's illegal, but if it is there is no way anyone can catch you. -sam
[2005-09-23 13:56:13] - it bothers me that the trend in technology is heading for a medium that actually decreases sound quality. (i'm assuming all these compression algorithms are lossy.) -amy
[2005-09-23 13:56:08] - amy: I don't know the answer to 1, I think it's legal as long as you don't then distribute the songs in an illegal manner (but IANAL). 2. There's no protection for it, but you lose a larger amount of audio quality (whether you'll notice is a different question). - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:55:29] - pierce: i'm really sorry, i don't know what "yes, they do" refers to. ^_^; and why are wav files for the masochistically inclined? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:54:24] - amy: yes, they do. and wav files for the masochistically inclined. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:54:04] - amy: AAC files are basically wrappers for another type of song file. In apple's case (and I misspoke before) the song files are MPEG-4 audio. As far as I understand it, the AAC part adds copy protection mechanisms and encryption to the file. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:53:49] - sam: so you are saying that it is not legal, but there are no protections against it, like copying movies or CDs or something? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:53:19] - sam: is it more expensive to buy songs at higher bitrate? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:53:14] - amy: for protected mp3's and AAC's i mean -sam
[2005-09-23 13:53:06] - pierce: that sounds awful. (burning and re-ripping.) ipods also play just plain mp3s too though, right? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:52:53] - amy: burning a CD and ripping is super easy, and right now, nothing can stop you. I do that all the time -sam
[2005-09-23 13:52:06] - amy: at www.buymusic.com, some songs are 256 -sam
[2005-09-23 13:52:02] - are you allowed to burn onto CD the music you buy from iTunes (or wherever else)? i guess that's more of a 2-part question: 1. is it legal and 2. a. is there a protection mechanism against and b. if so, how easy is it to bypass? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:51:56] - pierce: mmm, swiss cheese, who's to say it isn't better with twice as many holes? ^_^ -dave
[2005-09-23 13:51:34] - dave: I think AAC is also VBR, so comparing averages makes sense (I think). - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:51:24] - amy: if I had a gun tho, and the only way to get them off was to shoot them, I'd probably do that -dave
[2005-09-23 13:50:50] - amy: sadly, no; they only (legitimately) work on iPods, computers with iTunes, and that new ROKR phone. You can burn them to a normal audio CD and rip the CD into MP3 files, but then you get double compression with different encoding algorithms, so it's like swiss cheese with twice as many holes. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:50:41] - amy: well that's an interesting thought, whether I went on beating them would probably have to do with whether I thought they were still a threat to me. If I didn't think they were, I probably wouldn't care (tho actuality and what you think can sometimes be drastically different I'll admit) -dave
[2005-09-23 13:49:29] - amy: you can only play stuff from iTunes in an iPod, unless you burn it onto a CD and rip it. Actually, I think there might be software to do the conversion otherwise, but those things go in and out as far as compatibility -dave
[2005-09-23 13:48:59] - amy: well that's true, but not really what I'm saying. the song files you get from iTunes are not MP3s, they're a different type of audio encoding. It's like comparing processor clock speeds between PowerPC chips and Pentiums; the comparison isn't really valid because they don't have the same underlying structure. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:48:42] - dave: what if it was you? .) -amy
[2005-09-23 13:48:39] - pierce: theoretically though, if it's VBR, wouldn't you match it against the highest BR that it encodes, because the lower BR shouldn't matter? -dave
[2005-09-23 13:48:24] - ohhh i didn't realize that music you buy from itunes is not in mp3 format. It's a diff format that you can play in itunes and on ipods? is it compatible with anything else? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:47:47] - sam: it probably depends on who was being raped honestly (tho that probably sounds weird). If it was a family member, I'd probably be more inclined to kill the person. Regardless of who it was, I would definitely smack him off with a bat -dave
[2005-09-23 13:47:41] - pierce: expl AAC? ^_^; I thought they were mp3s... -amy
[2005-09-23 13:47:32] - oh, and sam's right... the songs I've bought from iTunes all seem to be 128 kbps AAC files, so assuming the ratio is comparable they're probably about equal to 150kbps VBR MP3s. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:47:04] - ack, well 3 people beat me to that. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:46:26] - amy: itunes, where i get music when i buy it, does not use the mp3 format, but judging from the file size it's comparable to 128kps. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:46:21] - pierce: expl? do you mean that even if two mp3s are at 128, they won't sound the same depending on how they were encoded? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:46:14] - Dave: Yeah, in a lot of ways I could understand somebody killing a monkey that they find in their house over finding a rabbit. -Paul
[2005-09-23 13:45:47] - sam: yeah, I think iTunes is 128 -dave
[2005-09-23 13:45:42] - amy: ...because you don't buy MP3s from iTunes, you buy AAC files (which I think are encoded with one of the MPEG-2 audio codexes). I think the heuristic is that a 160 kbps AAC file is approximately as good as a 192 kbps VBR MP3 file. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:45:01] - sam: interesting. 128 is the reason why i'd rather pay $15 for a CD than $10 for an album in mp3 format. -amy
[2005-09-23 13:44:10] - amy: (kinda deja vu to my response to your biblical language question) the same bitrates don't apply because they're different encoding mechanisms. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:43:45] - dave: cool, that's what i would think. thanks. -amy
[2005-09-23 13:43:45] - amy: i believe bitrate from itunes is 128 -sam
[2005-09-23 13:43:28] - paul: yeah, an 800 lb gorilla would be a nasty surprise -dave
[2005-09-23 13:43:25] - aaron: you'd sooner kill a baby or a child than a stranger? .) -amy
[2005-09-23 13:43:13] - amy: i mean if it's ok to kill someone who is raping someone... -sam
[2005-09-23 13:43:10] - amy: I buy from Real.com, and I believe they come as 192 -dave
[2005-09-23 13:41:18] - people_who_buy_mp3s: something i've been curious about for a while -- what is the bitrate of mp3s that you buy from like iTunes or somewhere? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:40:43] - sam: do you mean rape justifies murder? -amy
[2005-09-23 13:40:17] - would you say murder justifies rape? like killing someone who is raping your loved one... -sam
[2005-09-23 13:40:13] - sam: i dunno about selfish. but definitely an arrogant asshole. a quite a hypocrite to boot. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:40:03] - Dave: Definitely, I just think that unexpectedly finding a monkey in your house would be really surprising. Monkeys can be very aggressive and vicious animals. -Paul
[2005-09-23 13:38:54] - yeah, don't get me wrong... I think O'Reilly is a pompous ass and almost every time I've seen him he makes irrational arguments and comes to the wrong conclusions. It's just that in this case he was being relatively rational, especially compared to Donahue. He still came to the wrong conclusions though. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:38:36] - Paul: I could also see killing a stranger or a friend, depending on what they were doing in your house ^_^ -dave
[2005-09-23 13:37:27] - Aaron: Using your scale, I would probably agree with the bumblebee spot but at the same time, I wouldn't be too upset if somebody's line was after snake (although I can think of plenty of legitimate reasons for wanting to kill a monkey or some other thing that you unexpectedly find in your house). -Paul
[2005-09-23 13:37:17] - pierce: i have noticed that as well. have you ever seen Hannity & Colmes? Colmes is quite possilbly the worst represnsative of liberal views i have ever seen. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:36:23] - aaron: yeah... I'd probably stop at or around squirrel, depending on the circumstances. But the point is, is the intelligence level or "cuteness factor" or domestication of a non-human animal a rational way to distinguish our justification to kill it? It may, so rabbit's out and tame dog's out and koko the monkey is out IMO, but it's not that clear-cut. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:35:58] - i like the subjects that o'reilly talks about but i think he is very selfish and arrogant, imho. -sam
[2005-09-23 13:34:48] - mig: It's good publicity, if nothing else. -Paul
[2005-09-23 13:34:46] - throw it out -dave
[2005-09-23 13:34:30] - aaron: I actually probably wouldn't kill a mouse in my house if I could actually catch it without killing it (altho I think those glue traps are more cruel than the conventional mousetraps). I wouldn't mind killing a snake, but I think I'd probably find it easier to capture it and through it out than kill it -dave
[2005-09-23 13:33:32] - harry browne was on his show when he was running for president, and almost the entire interview O'Reilly was screaming at him for "hating children", because harry made a point about why he was against the war on drugs. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:31:01] - mosquito -> ant -> bumblebee -> mouse -> snake -> squirrel -> rabbit -> stray dog -> tame dog -> monkey -> monkey who knows sign language -> baby -> child -> stranger -> friend which one is okay to kill because you find one in your house unexpectedly? I'd probably stop after bee (although i wouldn't feel much guilt calling in an exterminator to kill a rat) - aaron
[2005-09-23 13:30:47] - with the way some guests get treated, it's a wonder anyone who disagrees with O'Reilly would ever agree to be on his show. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:30:04] - do snakes have any sort of homing instinct like some rodents do? would a snake try to find its way back to a place where it had nested? because then I would be concerned about just leaving it out there, it might try to come back in the house. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:29:59] - Aaron: Yeah, I can understand that and the argument (that they are a little too sentient) makes sense to me. I think snakes are just one of those things that I irrationally fear too much so I have trouble sympathizing with them. -Paul
[2005-09-23 13:29:52] - mig: oh, ur right about lying. I guess I was too focused on the fact that what you say doesn't really make a difference, but more whether you think that what you are saying is true or not -dave
[2005-09-23 13:27:54] - Killing the snake freaks me out personally (sorry i'm late to the party) I think snakes are a little too sentient to kill for such a trivial reason - aaron
[2005-09-23 13:26:58] - Paul: that's entirely possible. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:26:20] - and also, I wouldn't really call that "blowing up". I don't like people using "don't denigrate the troops" as their own straw men, but he honestly didn't spend that much time on it other than as an immediate retort; and it seemed like a genuine emotional response rather than a debate tactic. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:26:06] - Pierce: Could it be possible that they're not able to get any of the "rational" liberal guests? If most people think that Fox News is very conservative, what point would there be for a liberal to show up on it? -Paul
[2005-09-23 13:25:04] - Sam: Heaven forbid she even thinks about Vegas, either.
-Paul[2005-09-23 13:24:29] - ...but I will say this. The vast majority of the liberal guests that fox news seems to get are the ones who I think are "irrational" liberals. This is just speculation, but I wonder if that is an intentional move on the part of fox news so that they can reinforce that image of the left wing among their viewers. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:22:31] - mig: I can't believe I'm going to say this... I think Bill O'Reilly was the "good guy" in that debate. I disagree with his conclusions, but he was the one making rational assumptions while Donahue was setting up straw men and appealing to emotion. - pierce
[2005-09-23 13:21:07] - mig: lol, good one... -sam
[2005-09-23 13:19:15] - sam: i'm just curious where this person was during the whole TO-Nicolette Sherdian fiasco? - mig
[2005-09-23 13:18:26] - paul: she should not watch football or basketball... they have cheerleaders... -sam
[2005-09-23 13:12:09] - i guess you're right though. when i was thinking of pride and idoltory, i was thinking of more the physical actions for it (like saying I AM THE GREATEST and worshipping some idol), but yeah those you can commit by just thought i guess as well. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:11:09] - dave: lying requires a physical action. ~a
[2005-09-23 13:10:55] - lying requires you to actually say something to someone else that isn't true. maybe thinking up a lie but not saying it may count ... but i really don't know. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:10:37] - Sam: She should watch the WWE. I think her head would explode. -Paul
[2005-09-23 13:09:15] - mig: pride? idolatry? lying? -dave
[2005-09-23 13:07:38] - i think lust might be the purely thought sin though. most of the others do require some sort of physical action. - mig
[2005-09-23 13:05:52] - a: lying, murder, pride, lust, idolatry, etc etc -dave
[2005-09-23 13:04:18] - a: actually, if you think about it, most sins, or even illegal things, are pretty tightly connected to intent / thought -dave
[2005-09-23 13:02:53] - a: lust is one of the seven deadly sins, iirc. - mig
[2005-09-23 12:59:33] - it is a sin to have perverted thoughts? i actually didn't know that one. interesting. ~a
[2005-09-23 12:58:30] - dave: ah, yes. i was meaning that more for things like political policy statements and things like that. yeah in terms of social gaffes i wouldn't really take that into consideration. - mgi
[2005-09-23 12:42:56] - ... because it is a sin to have perverted thoughts. -sam
[2005-09-23 12:41:52] - ... to avoid watching raunchy ads. -sam
[2005-09-23 12:41:38] - i meant to say they changed the channel -sam
[2005-09-23 12:41:09] - i was watching the last superbowl with some of my christian friends and they just turned the channel when raunchy ads came on. -sam
[2005-09-23 12:39:43] - dave: nope. but i could see lots of other liberals making that mistake. ~a
[2005-09-23 12:38:36] - paul: or maybe she should just change the channel when ads like that come on. -sam
[2005-09-23 12:37:20] - paul: if she finds this offensive, there is probably a lot of ads that she finds offensive -sam
[2005-09-23 12:35:06] - paul: wow, this woman needs to watch more TV... -sam
[2005-09-23 12:30:27] - http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2170199 Burk plans to protest new NHL ad campaign. -Paul
[2005-09-23 12:27:59] - Sam: Yeah, but snakes don't seem to be very cute at all, which is why I was surprised by the outrage. -Paul
[2005-09-23 12:27:10] - it seems like people's reactions depend on how cute the animal/insect is... -sam
[2005-09-23 12:21:29] - I was just surprised by the amount of outrage. It was almost as if he had gone and killed a kitten or something. Not that I'm saying killing a snake is inherently different, but usually you don't see that kind of love for non-furry animals. -Paul
[2005-09-23 12:13:39] - Dave: On the other hand, supposedly his friend's wife and kids were absolutely terrified of snakes and one of the kids found it in their bathroom. -Paul
[2005-09-23 12:12:59] - Dave: I'm pretty sure he did, and it's also possible that the snake had no fangs (although I'm not as sure about that). -Paul
[2005-09-23 12:07:56] - Paul: and besides, being bitten by a snake is still no picnic, poisonous or no -dave
[2005-09-23 12:07:43] - Paul: did the guy know it was non-poisonous? -dave
[2005-09-23 12:07:01] - Sam: The pro-snake argument in that specific situation would be that the snake posed absolutely no danger to anybody because it wasn't poisonous. -Paul
[2005-09-23 12:05:04] - including humans.... -sam
[2005-09-23 12:04:36] - i think it's ok to kill anything for self defense. -sam
[2005-09-23 11:59:31] - mig: hmmm, I think it would probably depend on what a president said, in regards to whether I'd reflect it onto his party. Like if it was just a social gaffe, or a slip of the tongue sort of thing, I would probably not. If it was more liked to a policy or political view, then I probably would -dave
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