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[2006-05-25 11:27:55] - paul: i find the lawmakers statement about the interent becoming the "wild west" of the 21st century a little funny in light of the LRC blog discussion going on about how the west was not as wild as history books make it out to be. - mig
[2006-05-25 11:23:17] - paul: there might be state laws. No federal laws i think. - mig
[2006-05-25 11:08:31] - So does that mean that online gambling is legal right now? -Paul
[2006-05-25 11:08:20] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/24/AR2006052402432.html Bill to Ban Gambling Online Gets 4th Chance. -Paul
[2006-05-25 08:57:44] - To be fair to my programming, the $query_1, $query_2 stuff are really just holders, since the data immediately gets dumped into arrays that are much more cleverly named. And I don't feel bad about $conn, because I only ever connect to one server. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-25 08:36:10] - http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/fun.games/05/24/video.games.surgery.reut/index.html surgeons who warm up by playing video games like "Super Monkey Ball"perform faster, with fewer errors - aaron
[2006-05-25 08:21:45] - a: Alright, i'm good for SFM today - aaron
[2006-05-24 22:16:46] - I'm the Juggernaut Bitch! (warning: lots of profanity) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3934651591022114445 -sam
[2006-05-24 20:35:38] - a: i'm feeling a little sick, so i may or may not go. i'll let you know tomorrow. but yes sfm sounds good - aaron
[2006-05-24 17:49:20] - aaron: sfm? ~a
[2006-05-24 16:51:59] - ddr_people: I'm not gonna come tomorrow. I have too much other stuff. sorries - vinnie
[2006-05-24 09:56:03] - a: Springfield is mentioned in there.
-Paul[2006-05-24 09:54:11] - a: http://www.fredoneverything.net/MultiCulty.shtml -Paul
[2006-05-24 09:52:13] - pretty fun to watch if you're bored ~a
[2006-05-24 09:34:27] - what webpage? ~a
[2006-05-24 00:40:58] - That was a quote from a webpage I read which I found to be pretty interesting and amusing.
-Paul[2006-05-24 00:40:19] - Now in newspaper parlance, “minorities” means “permanently underperforming and inassimilable minorities,” which is to say blacks, Latinos and, when anybody remembers, American Indians. It very seldom means successful minorities, such as Chinese, Greeks, white men, Jews, or Anglo-Saxons.
[2006-05-24 00:40:16] - From the Washington Post: “Nearly half of the nation's children under 5 are racial or ethnic minorities, and the percentage is increasing mainly because the Hispanic population is growing so rapidly, according to a census report released today."
[2006-05-23 20:25:23] - flash protest at microsoft's washington campus and defective products by design. ~a
[2006-05-23 14:22:38] - a: well i don't use the practice often but i think it can have some merit. Like java's whole "garbage collection" metaphor, which helps java noobs get a rough understanding of a complex concept really quickly - aaron
[2006-05-23 13:50:23] - yah, i used to name my vars they way a says. when code (that you didn't write) is filled with things like query_1 and query_2, it can be horribly frustrating to work with. - aba
[2006-05-23 13:23:51] - aaron: god i hope you're kidding. ~a
[2006-05-23 13:22:21] - xpovos: usually you don't have to be very creative. if $query_1 is a query that returns people with no last names, then $noLastNamesQuery or $nolastnamesquery would work. ~a
[2006-05-23 13:11:45] - why call a method "computeInfileSize" when you can call it "weighIncomingBeePollenWad" - aaron
[2006-05-23 13:09:24] - xpovos: http://www.xprogramming.com/xpmag/whatisxp.htm#metaphor Inexplicably, one of the primary tenets of XP is "metaphor", i always thought it was kind of silly but it lends itself to more interesting variable names - aaron
[2006-05-23 11:28:54] - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413300/ spiderman 3? I thought dunst said she wouldn't do another one -dave
[2006-05-22 18:51:22] - a: Hehe. I need to come up with more creative variable names... most of them end up being stuff like $query_1, $query_2 or $conn, or something equally boring and descriptive. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-22 17:08:31] - a: hehehe
- aaron[2006-05-22 16:49:56] - heh. i have a variable called hit in my php program. so, the variable is used as $hit
~a[2006-05-22 15:41:32] - i like how the life expectancy row links to a "credit rating" site. how useful. ~a
[2006-05-22 15:28:29] - a: At first I didn't realize it was from age 20 and so I was really surprised.
-Paul[2006-05-22 15:25:07] - Xpovos: ah yes, I know that feeling. -amy
[2006-05-22 15:24:10] - life expectancy is 58?! i know that's from age 20, but still! that's low. ~a
[2006-05-22 15:20:15] - http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/MoneyInYour20s/Your20sSeeHowYourWealthMeasuresUp.aspx Your 20s: See how your wealth measures up. -Paul
[2006-05-22 15:05:28] - amy: Sure, but I don't have the time to fix it. I code for a hobby, and the past few months I've been flat out busy, so my code is just sitting there being ugly. By the time I get around to it, I'll want to tear it all down and start from scratch. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-22 14:47:43] - Xpovos: well that's good... making mistakes is how we learn, right? .) -amy
[2006-05-22 14:44:47] - My tales of woe generally involve my failure of an attempt to program OO into my PHP scripts. I've done some cool stuff, but I make a lot of mistakes along the way. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-22 14:43:58] - http://yahoo.businessweek.com/investor/content/may2006/pi20060522_866341.htm?chan=investing_investing+main
[2006-05-22 14:00:06] - ...that was my invtation for everyone to go share their similar stories of woe. if you want to. -amy
[2006-05-22 13:59:23] - ...i spent 2 hours debugging my code before i finally i looked at what he wrote and discovered that it was a MAX function. i only waited so long to look into his code because i asked him, "are you sure your function is correct?" and he assured me that it absolutely certainly was. so... he didn't hear the end of that for a long long time .) and yes... -amy
[2006-05-22 13:58:02] - xpovos: haha. well i was about to say that we are all human and everyone makes mistakes, and i'm sure there's a good reason for anything strange-looking in this code, so let's not be so quick to judge. but since we are sharing... there was the time i asked my coding partner in college to write a min function while i worked on something that needed to use it... -amy
[2006-05-22 13:38:50] - amy: The only solace I have in being such a bad coder is that there are a lot of people so much worse at it than me. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-22 09:33:31] - a: (in re your comment about the code generator) aha that would make sense... but yet does not explain other strange phenomena... anyway I feel bad so I'm going to stop talking about what I found in someone else's code. -amy
[2006-05-21 23:23:47] - i hate christians. -jesus
[2006-05-21 23:13:02] - a: you probably know who i am. i didn't mean to offend you. i appologize if i did.
[2006-05-21 23:11:43] - a: i was just trying to be funny, but i guess it didn't work out. i'll stop signing as jesus.
[2006-05-21 23:10:31] - a: that's right, i'm a dumbass and i'm stupid. it's very unfortunate isn't it? i wish i was smart like you.
[2006-05-21 22:17:42] - and to answer your first two questions in order: "i don't know" and "i don't know". your third question seems rhetorical. and my answer to your fourth question is "i can't and never tried to, but for some reason you think that i believed you didn't exist". and the best part is the burden of proof is on you. i'll leave you with that. ~a
[2006-05-21 22:15:06] - i'm guessing you misread "i don't believe you are jesus" because your next four questions made no sense in context! i hate to resort to namecalling, but i will! you, my friend, are a dumbass.
~a[2006-05-21 22:11:56] - jesus: you aren't jesus. you are stupid because you aren't listening to what i'm saying; you're just listening to yourself. ~a
[2006-05-21 20:49:44] - a: can you prove that i did not exist? -jesus
[2006-05-21 20:45:25] - a: there are that many stupid people in this world? -jesus
[2006-05-21 20:44:27] - a: why do you think that there are so many believe me and love me? -jesus
[2006-05-21 20:41:52] - a: do you believe that all the stories and paintings about me are made up? -jesus
[2006-05-21 19:31:30] - three in number? three fold? ~a
[2006-05-21 09:58:44] - and the reasons are three. ~a
[2006-05-21 08:37:24] - jesus: i don't believe you are jesus. and yes, i have my reasons. ~a
[2006-05-21 01:29:52] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/20/AR2006052000265.html Nagin Is Reelected In New Orleans. Chocolate city, here we come! -Paul
[2006-05-20 22:22:28] - a: you don't believe i existed? -jesus
[2006-05-20 22:21:26] - a: apparently, many people saw me about 2000 years ago. they wrote stories about me. i wonder if they were just made up stories... -jesus
[2006-05-20 18:49:13] - awwww... she loves me! http://www.onetruth.com/clothing/shortsleeves/ilovejesus/images/hallefront.jpg -jesus
[2006-05-20 18:45:12] - i hate the yankees! http://www.bustedtees.com/bt/images/BT-jesushatestheyankees-featured-926.jpg -jesus
[2006-05-20 18:39:48] - a: that's right! no one fucks with jesus! -jesus
[2006-05-20 16:23:50] - a: you're getting perilously close to fucking with the jesus. - pierce
[2006-05-20 06:59:49] - jesus: can you provide any proof that you were born over 2000 years ago or are we supposed to take your words at face value? ~a
[2006-05-19 23:49:43] - and worship me! -jesus
[2006-05-19 23:49:06] - love me, believe me, read the bible, and pay at least 10% of your income to the church
-jesus[2006-05-19 23:47:08] - if so, why? -jesus
[2006-05-19 23:45:19] - do you love me? -jesus
[2006-05-19 16:39:35] - man, i hate it when people who don't know oo are forced to write oo code. i diff two .java files and find out that the only difference between the classes including the implementation is in the name of the class. ~a
[2006-05-19 16:34:27] - amy: i see stuff like "for(int i = 0; i < 1; i++)" when it's a code generator that wrote the code. ~a
[2006-05-19 16:32:11] - Also, I just hit ctrl-2 to try to get a frowning smiley and wasy confused when firefox took me to the second tab in my browser. -Paul
[2006-05-19 16:31:42] - Wah! I wanted to leave work early today but now it seems like I am going to have to stay late again.
-Paul[2006-05-19 15:44:11] - eventful day at work today. i found this piece of code in the class i have to modify: for(int i = 0; i < 1; i++) ...lots of things going on today that i don't understand. -amy
[2006-05-19 15:29:46] - mig: I would like to see your predictions come true, but I think the Pistons and Spurs will both win their games tonight - vinnie
[2006-05-19 14:35:28] - ...those files at all. -amy
[2006-05-19 14:35:23] - a: well i was working with those files yesterday and i swear their timestamps were normal. in fact all the ones i'd compiled yesterday were dated 5/18/2006. the rest had the weird date. basically i am saying that i don't know what could have caused the changed timestamp, and why that date in particular, since i can't think of anything i did betw yest and today to change...
[2006-05-19 14:32:35] - amy: also . . . if a zip file that you used (with the class files) was created on a machine with a bad system-time, then the timestamps will get propigated to your machine via the zip file (i don't know if that makes any sense). i'm basically just saying that files with a bad system time from another computer will have a bad system time on your computer. ~a
[2006-05-19 14:30:07] - amy: i know this probably doesn't help you, but timestamps on computers are pretty much just informative. in other words, you can set the creation/access/modification timestamp on a file to be whatever you want (in fact, if you have cygwin, the "-d" flag on "touch" will do exactly that) ~a
[2006-05-19 14:22:38] - so i'm working on this java file and i keep compiling and restarting tomcat and it doesn't seem like any of my changes are being reflected... so i go to the directory where my class files are and they are all dated 12/2/2006 yes 6 months from now. i REALLY do not understand computers. -amy
[2006-05-19 13:51:22] - and i would put money up on cleveland closing out the pistons as well. - mig
[2006-05-19 13:50:48] - but I believe the mavs will win tonight anyways. - mig
[2006-05-19 13:50:08] - dave: not saying they were wrong to suspend Terry, but i found it a little puzzling as to what Reggie Evans nut-grabbing just got him a fine, while Terry is suspended for what amounts to pretty much the same thing. - mig
[2006-05-19 13:49:00] - Pierce: The author of the article that I heard about the commercial in said that he thought the balls were just CG at first as well but then was told after seeing the commercial that they were all real. -Paul
[2006-05-19 13:47:45] - aba: Yeah, that had to be a heck of an expensive commercial just because of the cleanup alone. -Paul
[2006-05-19 13:29:57] - pierce: it looks like they set up big nets and everything. in the making of, it said the number was 170k, not 250k. ~a
[2006-05-19 13:29:14] - pierce: making of the commercial. you can skip the first 40 seconds and make sure to skim past all of the boring sony commercialism crap. ~a
[2006-05-19 13:04:10] - ... I assumed that the superballs were computer generated for the most part. Do you have a source that says they really reserved a street and dumped superballs down it? - pierce
[2006-05-19 12:15:49] - paul: that was an amazing commercial, but i have to admit that the whole time i was watching it i was thinking about how awful the clean up/environmental impacts must have been. - aba
[2006-05-19 11:07:53] - Xpovos: Not very often. -Paul
[2006-05-19 11:04:28] - Dave: Well, the Mavs are at home... I think if the Spurs win game 6 then they will win it all and I think I'm leaning towards a Mavs victory in the series so I guess I'm going with the Mavs in game 6. -Paul
[2006-05-19 10:38:48] - Paul: True, but how often do they take the positon of "The government needs to start doing something about ..." -- Xpovos
[2006-05-19 10:18:30] - Xpovos: Well, it's not like libertarians want the government to stop doing EVERYTHING (at least most of them don't feel that way). -Paul
[2006-05-19 10:17:52] - a: Oh, I definitely won't have broken even, but I will have gotten a nice +$1300 or so jump from AMD. I didn't sell either. -Paul
[2006-05-19 08:38:54] - dave: I know nothing about basketball, but I'm guessing the loss of a player I haven't heard of on a team I know is quite good for a single non-deciding game seems unlikely to upset the odds much. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-19 08:29:57] - http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2450020 Jason Terry suspended for game 6. Bets on whether the mavs will still win? -dave
[2006-05-19 00:05:06] - Paul: I just saw something interesting. Libertarians arguing for governrment to do something. The Federal Reserve has stoped measuring and publishing the M3 statistic (I used it for a term paper once...) and a vocal group of hawkish Libertarians want them to reinstate it, ala Ron Paul's bill to that effect. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-18 23:35:32] - paul: yeah i did. i even bought some more. finally some good news in the market. but . . . i still won't have broken even. you didn't sell either? ~a
[2006-05-18 23:24:24] - a: http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Feed=AP&Date=20060518&ID=5733145&Symbol=US:AMD I hope you held onto your shares of AMD. -Paul
[2006-05-18 23:06:08] - http://www.bravia-advert.com/ Commercial which was created by dumping large amounts of superballs down a San Francisco street. -Paul
[2006-05-18 14:55:25] - vinnie: Alright. - aaron
[2006-05-18 13:25:46] - ok. ~a
[2006-05-18 13:15:38] - ddr_people: nvcc then? - vinnie
[2006-05-18 12:46:34] - snl sketch we saw at dewey's ~a
[2006-05-18 11:22:34] - oh heh. s/weekend/week/ (from like three messages ago) ~a
[2006-05-18 10:29:39] - a: sounds cool. if we are putting in a vote, i wouldn't mind trying out nvcc since it is new and sounds awesome, and i also wouldn't mind revisiting good old DDRExtreme which I used to know and love so well. So my vote is a no vote. .) -amy
[2006-05-18 10:20:39] - oh, i forgot to mention that the itg2 at nvcc lets you play like five songs! (over the usual three) ~a
[2006-05-18 10:19:50] - amy: nvcc has itg2. it costs $1 for BOTH SIDES (i.e. .50 if two people do singles, $1 for doubles, $1 if you want to do singles by yourself). sfm has itg2 but it's always broken so we never use it. we only use the 8th mix. prices on the 8th mix haven't changed (.75). sfm also still has the 7th mix on the first floor, but it's sometimes broken AND costs $1. ~a
[2006-05-18 10:04:30] - a: what machines are in each, what are the prices, etc? -amy
[2006-05-18 09:57:50] - amy: nvcc or sfm. last weekend we did nvcc, but i really like both nvcc and sfm a lot. nvcc parking gets "expensive" ($3-$4), but there's often fewer people. ~a
[2006-05-18 09:28:19] - ddr_people: i'm going today! .D What are the usual options? -amy
[2006-05-17 16:49:35] - xpovos: I haven't finished the article yet, but that sounds pretty wacky. -Paul
[2006-05-17 16:49:16] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/17/AR2006051700239.html Senate approves fence for Mexican border. -Paul
[2006-05-17 15:18:28] - I consider myself a smart person, but this one is beyond me. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0605/14light/ -- Xpovos
[2006-05-17 12:08:54] - Paul: Yeah, depends on where you buy in. http://www.moneycentral.msn.com/msn/stock_quote?Symbol=PFSW -- Xpovos
[2006-05-17 11:36:59] - Xpovos: http://moneycentral.msn.com/msn/stock_quote?Symbol=vtss It could be worse, though. -Paul
[2006-05-17 11:36:54] - Paul: I'm pulling together a source of funding for an additional large purchase of SIRI. Might as well make good on it when I can. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-17 11:36:20] - Paul: Waiting. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-17 11:34:05] - Xpovos: Well, I still believe in Sirius even thought the stock has been plummeting lately. I pretty much agree with what that guy wrote. I'm not sure what the people who are selling are afraid of. -Paul
[2006-05-17 11:00:52] - Paul: For you! http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06051608.htm -- Xpovos
[2006-05-17 10:30:40] - You are a human wasteland
[2006-05-17 10:21:39] - I heart boobs
[2006-05-17 09:42:21] - I know for a fact that you had dinner with him last night... Won't somebody just say "Bill Clinton."
[2006-05-17 09:32:27] - Come to the back of the boat!
[2006-05-17 09:29:37] - The number ten. Just say ten.
[2006-05-17 09:07:45] - a: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten vs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_%28number%29 - aaron
[2006-05-17 08:06:29] - a: I wasn't talking about you at all, it was other people who started my train of thought -dave
[2006-05-16 23:09:37] - hahaha, the simple wikipedia is funny ~a
[2006-05-16 18:47:44] - 4jYgvHx2UK5PhNfEuCGfgkIdnLsQUbeUEirh003gsr3kCbSwGwE3GGqersORU8I=====
[2006-05-16 18:14:21] - and a1b909ec1cc11cce40c28d3640eab600e582f833 and b82820e87aadd28051cf607d2d308457cd0c7695. ~a
[2006-05-16 18:12:57] - anon: i also respond to e57b5b0b781032535594ad1ba69a56bf. ~a
[2006-05-16 18:12:29] - anon: yes? ~a
[2006-05-16 18:03:16] - 8c4205ec33d8f6caeaaaa0c10a14138c
[2006-05-16 17:47:25] - and i use debian about 10% of the time at work. i know 10% is a bit low, but hell it's a lot better than 0%. i've seriously looked at generating .exe files from linux and i'm thinking it's entirely possible. i'll keep you posted
~a[2006-05-16 17:45:49] - dave: well i use debian 100% of the time on both of my home machines. this webpage is running debian. is that a strong enough conviction? ~a
[2006-05-16 17:13:18] - a: You're certainly allowed to complain about stuff as much as you want, but it seems a little disingenuous to talk about how much something sucks all the time while still using something (over it's competitors) to improve your life. -Paul
[2006-05-16 17:10:20] - how much you're willing to go through to not use it is the measure of how strong your conviction is - and my point is that generally people have very weak convictions when it comes to actually giving something up to backup their view -dave
[2006-05-16 17:09:43] - a: Well, I just raise my eyebrows a little bit whenever I hear about hardcore environmentalists driving their SUVs and taking private jets places or when people say Microsoft sucks but procede to use Windows and Office. -Paul
[2006-05-16 17:09:03] - but just think, quakers or whatnot won't hurt someone even if they're being beat up / killed supposedly, so how much less impactful is not using Windows, even if it meant not using a PC at all? -dave
[2006-05-16 17:08:24] - and even if they didn't, you obviously don't hate whatever it is enough to not use it. because not using something is almost always an option, although it might be quite unpalatable. -dave
[2006-05-16 17:07:41] - in most examples, people have other viable choices. -dave
[2006-05-16 17:07:10] - or you don't have to work for a defense contractor -dave
[2006-05-16 17:06:34] - a: well, in the examples we've talked about - you almost definitely don't have to work for MS, or you don't have to use Windows really. -dave
[2006-05-16 16:42:04] - when given only a few crappy choices i have to pick the one that's best and declare that it's not crappy? ~a
[2006-05-16 16:41:28] - i have to love everything i use? everything i use must be 100% awesome or i'm a hypocrite? ~a
[2006-05-16 16:40:08] - yes. ~a
[2006-05-16 16:05:36] - a: About what exactly? Saying that a person who talks about how much something sucks but they still use it is a bit of a hypocrite? -Paul
[2006-05-16 16:02:21] - paul: you weren't serious though, right? ~a
[2006-05-16 15:38:37] - a: on the financial statement again: so the 6.2b is what they spend to manufactur their stuff, so I guess just the CDs and hardware etc. The 20b difference is R&D, marketing, etc. I'm guessing it includes code-writing. Still though, 12.5b (what was passed to stockholders) is almost 30% of their sales, that's pretty dang profitable -dave
[2006-05-16 15:33:33] - a: But if somebody thinks taxes are too high and then they vote to raise them... I think it's safe to consider calling them a hypocrite. -Paul
[2006-05-16 15:31:06] - a: Well, taxes are a different matter since you get actively punished for not partaking in it. I don't think anybody is going to arrest you for not using Windows XP. -Paul
[2006-05-16 15:25:46] - paul: if you think taxes are too high you shouldn't pay them unless you want to worry about being branded a hypocrite. ~a
[2006-05-16 15:24:58] - paul: i hope you're not serious. ~a
[2006-05-16 15:24:48] - And I guess that's the final word.
-Paul[2006-05-16 15:05:52] - If you think Microsoft sucks for whatever reason, you probably shouldn't work for them or use their products unless you want to worry about being branded a hypocrite. -Paul
[2006-05-16 15:04:53] - Well, I think Dave's point stands regardless of whether you care about the morals of a company or not. It doesn't matter if you don't like a business like Microsoft because you dislike their ethics or because you think they do a bad job making money. -Paul
[2006-05-16 14:58:15] - a: like if there were no financial repercussions whatsoever to lying about product performance etc, I bet all businesses would do it. It's only because customers will go to someone else if/when they find out that companies don't -dave
[2006-05-16 14:56:37] - a: I'm sure they do, but in general it's usually all about money. Businesses harp about ethics and all that kinda stuff because lying / cheating / etc can be bad for the bottom line -dave
[2006-05-16 14:51:15] - dave: my company believes in being ethical and all that jazz. only do business that premotes our beliefs and goals and stuff. making money should always be on your mind, however, if your competitor accidentally emails you their secret documents, don't publish them to premote your bottom line. ~a
[2006-05-16 14:45:19] - a: well, it's really a philosophical discussion to talk about what business should be like. What it is now is vastly more relevant. But for the record, I dont' think there's anything wrong with businesses being about making money - I mean, it's what they exist for. If you're some charity or do-good organization, then it's a charity etc, not a business -dave
[2006-05-16 14:43:08] - a: about the financials, since 12.5 went to stockholders, I'd imagine that the other 20 went to R&D and other things like that -dave
[2006-05-16 14:43:05] - do no evil, right? ~a
[2006-05-16 14:42:31] - i can't believe that you think companies SHOULD do everything in their power to make money (including lying and cheating; everything short of breaking the law). ~a
[2006-05-16 14:41:46] - a: should be? hehe, how truly subjective. This coming from the man who likes hard facts and numbers -dave
[2006-05-16 14:41:07] - dave: maybe you're talking about the way business is and i'm talking about the way business SHOULD be? ~a
[2006-05-16 14:36:17] - dave: i'm not sure how profit relates to "net income", but microsoft's net income was much less than 34b last year. ~a
[2006-05-16 14:36:00] - a: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=MSFT&annual that's what this says. Looks like they had a gross profit of 33.5 billion and gave stockholders 12.5 -dave
[2006-05-16 14:34:13] - Paul: <shrug> morality is all fine and nice, but business is about making money (this is a generalization, but still, a fundamental reality I would think) -dave
[2006-05-16 14:33:41] - dave: ummm. their revanue was 39b and their profit was 34b? are you sure? ~a
[2006-05-16 14:32:18] - a: and analyst estimates say their sales will grow 13.3% next year -dave
[2006-05-16 14:31:36] - a: msft had a profit (not revenue, profit) of 33.5 billion last year -dave
[2006-05-16 14:31:16] - paul: no irony. christianity thinks homosexuality is evil.
~a[2006-05-16 14:30:31] - companies SHOULD be about making money by innovation and progress. adware companies are evil in my book. ~a
[2006-05-16 14:30:20] - Does anybody else see the irony in the athiest preaching about morality while the believer is downplaying it?
-Paul[2006-05-16 14:29:13] - dave: if you think it's fine for companies to be unethical, then far be it from me to judge you. but if you ask me, companies should not be just about making money. ~a
[2006-05-16 14:26:53] - a: if you can still make tons of money even though people think you're a shady company, then fine. I mean look at playboy, paparazzi, adware companies, they dont' generally have good public opinions, but do they care? They make tons of money. Or tobacco companies too -dave
[2006-05-16 14:25:49] - a: well, you can talk about ethics, monopolies, and whatever else you want, but I think the universal agreement about businesses is that they're about making money, regardless of how. If you want to do it through a monopoly and can still make tons of money while dealing with the Fed monopoly people, then fine. -dave
[2006-05-16 14:23:38] - a: msft makes mountains of money. Their stock price doesn't skyrocket because there's not much more room for growth. I mean, they have most of the OS market locked up, you can't really get too much better than where they are, so that isn't going to make more money that what it is now -dave
[2006-05-16 14:22:42] - a: like there are tons of companies that lose money but have high stock prices -dave
[2006-05-16 14:22:27] - a: just because their stock price has gone down doesn't really say anything about how much money they've made, unless you factor in the P/E ratio -dave
[2006-05-16 14:21:52] - a: well, if you're going purely by stock price, which doesn't really say everything, they're around where they were in 99, that's pretty dang good considering 99 was the heyday for tech stocks. -dave
[2006-05-16 14:02:30] - ... if a company is making money by being unethical, or monopolistic, or just plain unsporting (negative as opposed to positive) then they're not doing their job IMO. ~a
[2006-05-16 14:01:45] - I understand that just because you don't like certain things doesn't mean you can't use it, but I guess I'm amused when that happens because it shows to a certain extent how that exact thing is doing its job . . . no it's not necessarily doing its job. ~a
[2006-05-16 13:52:19] - hey day? ~a
[2006-05-16 13:50:50] - i'll admit they did pretty well in the 80s and 90s, but their hayday has long since passed from a financial perspective. ~a
[2006-05-16 13:50:08] - dave: are you kidding? they've been hemoraging since the y2000. their stock is where it was in 1998 and they've dropped 15% in the past 3 months! ~a
[2006-05-16 13:38:05] - a: I mean, they're in the business of making money (not writing perfect software apps) and they've definitely done that (made money) -dave
[2006-05-16 13:36:04] - a: like take microsoft for example, regardless of what you think of their software or business practices, you can't argue that it doesn't work for them since they've been so successful. And who are we to say that if they tried to do things the way we "think" they should be done whether they would have done so well? -dave
[2006-05-16 13:34:20] - wow, I used too many negatives, oh well -dave
[2006-05-16 13:33:59] - a: I understand that just because you don't like certain things doesn't mean you can't use it, but I guess I'm amused when that happens because it shows to a certain extent how that exact thing is doing its job -dave
[2006-05-16 13:32:27] - a: yeah, that's more of what I meant. I guess what was coming to mind was that I was talking to someone who was trashing certain things and then still using them, and I was like, well, if you really feel that way, don't use it. Just like when I was talking to someone who hates our country being militaristically active, but works for a defense contractor -dave
[2006-05-16 12:55:22] - which is pretty much every company in reality. how many hardware switches are running an embeded linux at microsoft's campuses? ~a
[2006-05-16 12:53:57] - of course we probably shouldn't be ignoring the companies that make money off of oss . . . like my company for instance . . . or ibm . . . or redhat . . . or any other company that runs an oss webserver / domain server / file server / printer server / hardware with embedded oss software. ~a
[2006-05-16 12:50:09] - i'll admit that it's not exactly even; since the open soruce movement might have trouble existing if there were no closed source movement (which is not true the other way around). maybe that was your point. ~a
[2006-05-16 12:49:35] - dave: define "supporting". i don't think the closed source community is supporting the open source community. they're supporting each other. the proponents of open source software are giving up their time in exchange for a salary to write the close source software. ~a
[2006-05-16 12:46:49] - dave
[2006-05-16 12:45:21] - a: actually, I was thinking about it from the perspective that (to me) it's rather ironic that the "closed source" community is what is supporting the "open source" community -dave
[2006-05-16 12:38:05] - dave: as a matter of definition, proprietary software and oss sometimes overlap. in other words, gpl is a restriction that is considered by some to be proprietary. also, it's especially true when you have software that is released under more than one license. ~a
[2006-05-16 12:13:41] - dave: oss is written on the free time of thousands of programmers. ~a
[2006-05-16 12:12:09] - dave: i'll bet it's around 99%. ~a
[2006-05-16 11:36:20] - I wonder how many proponents of open source work for software companies that make their money from propietary software? -dave
[2006-05-16 11:03:15] - a: They probably assume everybody knows. -Paul
[2006-05-16 09:52:49] - in that article, they didn't talk about what "his many problems at Virginia Tech" were. weird. ~a
[2006-05-16 09:12:24] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051501257.html marcus vick gets a contract with the dolphins. - mig
[2006-05-15 18:42:48] - aba: cool that there will be a picnic at TJ. I'd go if I were in town but instead my Dad will be visiting me out here in California. - mel
[2006-05-15 18:08:26] - anon: I bet your phone didn't get good reception there
[2006-05-15 14:44:08] - http://www.bothanspies.com/ -Paul
[2006-05-15 13:29:23] - han shot first . . . i probably shouldn't be surprised that this is its own wikipedia article. ~a
[2006-05-13 15:20:04] - tj kids: http://www.tjhsstalumni.org/news/tjat20.php - aba
[2006-05-12 16:50:52] - paul: yeah the democratic chest-thumping after that sentance got mildly irritating to read. - mig
[2006-05-12 16:49:22] - paul: i'm not. it's been a long time coming. - mig
[2006-05-12 14:51:45] - I'm actually a little surprised to see that conservatives seem to be (finally) turning on the president. -Paul
[2006-05-12 14:51:28] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html I found this interesting up until: "Is Noonan fantasizing about a third party?". -Paul
[2006-05-12 14:30:28] - nintendo wii will cost $200 http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/05/11/nintendo-microsoft-sony_cx_kt_0511wii.html -sam
[2006-05-12 12:58:57] - Hehe, Sirius annouces the lauch of "The Catholic Channel". SIRI stock immediately plummets 2%. Completely unrelated, but amuses me none-the-less. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-12 12:37:20] - anon: into your what? -sam
[2006-05-12 12:04:41] - one time at band camp, i put my phone into my
[2006-05-12 11:47:31] - a: oh yeah. there was the time that I put my phone into my metal lunchbox. the battery was done after a few horus of that, heh. or the time i accidentally left the phone on on the plane, oops. same thing happened -amy
[2006-05-12 11:46:16] - amy: idle use will especially drain your battery if you have a weak signal to the nearest tower. basically searching for a tower uses almost as much power as talking on the phone. ~a
[2006-05-12 11:37:35] - Amy: I'm not sure, since I usually charge my phone over night and therefore don't know how long it takes to charge. Also, I don't know if I have ever charged a nearly dead battery. I'm guessing I get more talk time then it takes to charge, but I am totally not sure. -Paul
[2006-05-12 11:36:22] - xpovos: it took about 2.5 hours to charge... i had used it for no more than half an hur, i'm pretty sure. though it has been a few days since last charging, and that drains the battery too. so it is hard to tell. -amy
[2006-05-12 11:35:41] - xpovos: that's what i was fearing. thanks. -amy
[2006-05-12 11:27:00] - amy: the latter, by a pretty significant margin. If you're experiencing the former, you should probably buy a new battery. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-12 11:14:15] - which is greater (for your phone)? the amount of time it takes the fully charge your cell phone from nearly no battery, or the amount of time you can spend talking on the phone once it's fully charged, before it gets to nearly no battery? -amy
[2006-05-12 10:45:41] - I use a lot of what I learned in college, e.g.: patience, some web-design. But absolutely nothing from in my classes except on completely random and unrelated to my job-function tasks. -- Xpovos
[2006-05-12 10:09:49] - mig: actually, in this case they're not trying to solve the world's problems, they're doing it so we have leverage over them. This is a perfect example too, we don't want Hamas as the govt, so we stop aid and their country is going down the tubes -dave
[2006-05-12 10:08:26] - "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - that by Margaret Thatcher -dave
[2006-05-12 09:18:24] - dave: this is what happens when usgov feels the need (or the divine right in some cases) to solve the world's problems. people will come to expect it, and when they don't get it, they'll get mad. - mig
[2006-05-12 08:20:14] - sam: current status of whitehouse.com. ~a
[2006-05-12 07:30:57] - you know, you feel bad for the people somewhat, but part of me is annoyed that they're pissed at the US for stopping aid. I mean, why should we voluntarily give them 50mil a month (or whatever it is) if it buys us nothing? If we're going to be humanitarians, I'm sure there's plenty of domestic programs that would love that money -dave
[2006-05-12 07:28:43] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/11/AR2006051102089.html Palestinians feeling financial crunch -dave
[2006-05-11 22:33:23] - typo... what = that -sam
[2006-05-11 22:33:01] - did you guys know what http://whitehouse.com/ is not a p0rn site any more? -sam
[2006-05-11 18:27:49] - a: thanks for the help.
- aba[2006-05-11 16:28:30] - and you probably should read the page that talks about matlab and netcdf . . . the pages that talk about c++ are probably not what you're looking for right now. ~a
[2006-05-11 16:27:47] - you use the words "data type" . . . in some respects, that's the same thing as a "class". ~a
[2006-05-11 16:25:57] - aba: it appears to be MANY classes that form what is called an "interface" (or API). here is an example of ONE of the classes in the interface: nc file class. you USE (or instantiate) that class when you want to open or create a netcdf file. ~a
[2006-05-11 15:56:57] - http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/ - aba
[2006-05-11 15:53:58] - a: i am working with a data type in matlab called netcdf that appears to just be a class? - aba
[2006-05-11 15:50:51] - class Student{int smart; public:Student(){smart=0;} void learn(){smart++;} int getSmart() {return smart;}}; int main() { Student adrian;adrian.learn();adrian.learn();std::cout << adrian.getSmart() << std::endl; } ~a
[2006-05-11 15:47:34] - aba: why do you need to know this? are you trying to learn what it means from a hands on perspective, or from a definition perspective? ~a
[2006-05-11 15:43:48] - for a more formal definition, read the first sentence or two of wikipedia's definition of class. ~a
[2006-05-11 15:42:57] - aba: and most importantly, a class is a TYPE. that means you're just defining a type that can be USED (called instantiation) at a later time. once you instantiate a class (or struct in c and c++), you have an "object". ~a
[2006-05-11 15:41:32] - aba: in c++ and java, a class is an unordered set of values: those values can also be functions that operate on other values. ~a
[2006-05-11 15:40:41] - aba: what language are you referring to? ~a
[2006-05-11 15:39:47] - aba: it's an unordered set of values. ~a
[2006-05-11 15:38:32] - 1/3/3/3/3=.012345679012345679012345679012345679012345679012345679012345679012345679
[2006-05-11 15:30:27] - can anyone explain a class structure to me in 10 words or less (meaning a short explanation
)? is it just an array of arrays? - aba[2006-05-11 15:10:38] - sam: I use a decent bit of what I learned in college. A lot of concepts and fundamental things, some specific things, but not as many -dave
[2006-05-11 14:59:36] - sam: and i think that it is a good thing! i think it's dumb that vocational schools teach people to program in perl and c# and jboss and apache configuration. that kind of stuff you can pick up easily. it's the fundamentals that are hard to learn on the job. ~a
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