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[2009-07-01 10:36:05] - gurkie: Congrats on the car! Does this mean I can have Paul back more often now? -- Xpovos
[2009-07-01 10:34:43] - a: Clever, I should have used Crime Spree. I just assumed it was just as likely mis-remembered for the exact title. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-01 10:19:44] - when I told my mom she laughed then told me that we do not laugh at people for not understanding words... ~gurkie
[2009-07-01 10:19:17] - I was just like... Really you think im ARROGANT? Cept he obviously thought he was complimenting me so I figured he probably meant Elegance... ~Gurkie
[2009-07-01 10:18:49] - although im not sure if the guy who was selling it to me really had that great of a grasp on language... Because we walk up to it and he is like its a great car compared to the z it just has that arrogance and class. Its just like you. ~gurkie
[2009-07-01 10:17:56] - I got me a blue altima coupe! its very sexy
just like me ~gurkie[2009-07-01 10:12:13] - and congrats on the car. so yeah, like am said, what kind of car? ~a
[2009-07-01 10:10:57] - g: it isn't spam. ~a
[2009-07-01 10:09:33] - y ^_^;
[2009-07-01 10:09:28] - gurkie: yay congrats. what kind of car? -am
[2009-07-01 09:59:38] - is the groupon thing spam? who posted that... (since it wasnt me) ~gurkie
[2009-07-01 09:57:42] - gurkie bought a car! ~gurkie
[2009-07-01 09:49:20] - I think I've seen like six Dane Cook routines that are like "don't you hate it when..." that are completely, completely untrue. also I blame Nithin and Ryan for making me listen to Dane Cook routines, I think they're probably both sick of him by now too - vinnie
[2009-07-01 07:44:56] - Dunno if you guys have already seen it, but the Groupon has some interesting daily deals in the DC metro area. http://groupon.thepoint.com/
[2009-06-30 18:37:05] - although yeah, it annoys me when sitcoms/comedians make a joke about a type of person who is totally made up. does anybody actually think idiocracy is true? - aaron
[2009-06-30 18:35:54] - a: well, they weren't picking on idiocracy. they were picking on people who thought idiocracy was true - aaron
[2009-06-30 18:18:21] - i don't think xkcd realizes that idiocracy was a comedy. ~a
[2009-06-30 18:14:28] - xpovos: my google search ~a
[2009-06-30 16:06:13] - a: I bow to your google-fu. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-30 16:05:58] - aaron: I think it has a lot to do with expectations. If you expect a movie to be awful, and it's not that awful, you might tend to rate it higher than a not that awful movie you expected to be good. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-30 15:49:19] - a: yesss thank you! gamebox 1.0! wow, a 5.1 at imdb? people were generous... - aaron
[2009-06-30 15:40:26] - there's some more plot description at horror fanatics dot com ~a
[2009-06-30 15:38:20] - aaron: gamebox 1.0 (2004) ~a
[2009-06-30 15:36:46] - and the main character had exactly three lives, which was also a plot point - aaron
[2009-06-30 15:35:45] - there were also exactly four games, one of them was called "Crime Spree" and it was a total ripoff of GTA except really lame looking - aaron
[2009-06-30 15:27:55] - xpovos: reading the synopsis it sounds pretty close, although in the movie he was definitely a video game tester, it was a major plot point - aaron
[2009-06-30 13:58:54] - Update: it was Killobyte (mis-spelled for pun purposes), and I can't find any movie based on the book on imdb. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-30 13:53:28] - aaron/gurkie: The book by Piers Anthony was Kilobyte, I think they made a movie based on it too. So that might be the answer for both of you. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-30 13:47:24] - a: it does... I just wish I owned a clunker so I could get the 4500 bucks back when I buy a car... Sadly I checked the info and you need to own (registered/insured) it for more than a year before you can get the money ~gurkie
[2009-06-30 13:44:02] - CARS FAQ sounds too much like carfax. ~a
[2009-06-30 13:41:59] - amy: the carnivore flyer made me laugh... I might not be much company in a support group! ~gurkie
[2009-06-30 13:39:18] - either that i'll send them directly from my house with "gmail.com" in the "from" field. most servers seem to allow that. ~a
[2009-06-30 13:38:23] - i'll be doing what aaron said though that way i can use my home email. ~a
[2009-06-30 13:37:56] - i did use my gmail account. ~a
[2009-06-30 13:23:10] - a: Why are you going through this complicated process instead of just registering using your gmail account? -Paul
[2009-06-30 13:22:49] - aaron: Oh, ok. I guess that's less ridiculous. -Paul
[2009-06-30 13:21:13] - paul: The e-mails will be sent from adrian's .org domain, but they'll be routed through gmail. So the "from" field will have "gmail.com", but the header info will be "aporter.org" - aaron
[2009-06-30 13:20:27] - gurkie: the carnivore flyer made me cry, can we start a vegetarian support group that i can turn to for consolation? -amy
[2009-06-30 13:17:22] - a: If that's the case, then that sounds totally ridiculous. He won't let you register with a .org name because spam might come from it but he will ACCEPT emails from a .org domain? -Paul
[2009-06-30 13:14:05] - mig: http://www.cars.gov/ Apparently depending on your current mpg on your car you might be eligible to trade your car in for 4500 paid by the govt. ~gurkie
[2009-06-30 13:13:22] - mig
[2009-06-30 13:10:09] - aaron: apparently the washington express had pics of a wedding where the bride and groom had swine flu they wore face masks the whole time and kept a 10 foot distance from the guests. ~gurkie
[2009-06-30 13:08:34] - my understanding from aaron was that we would be sending emails to the website. but i think that might be fine, because i'm hoping he doesn't actually check the headers. ~a
[2009-06-30 12:57:38] - a: Oh, right. I guess you won't have to be sending any emails TO the website, so it won't be a problem in that direction. Got it. -Paul
[2009-06-30 12:46:04] - paul: no i said it correctly. gmail will forward to aporter.org so i can check diplomacy emails on my regular email and i'll hopefully be able to send diplomacy emails from my regular email. ~a
[2009-06-30 12:08:33] - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8125191.stm swine flu parties "a bad idea" - aaron
[2009-06-30 12:08:07] - a: yeah, i'm really annoyed by his e-mail blocklist. it blocked my vt e-mail, and made it really hard for you and tim to sign up also. and yeah there's no logic to it, he blocks tons of very legitimate domains (cia.gov? really?) - aaron
[2009-06-30 10:46:41] - a: Cool. Although don't you mean having aporter.org forward to gmail? -Paul
[2009-06-30 10:42:27] - aaron: it sounds familiar but yea Id have no clue which one... ~gurkie
[2009-06-30 10:41:43] - paul: i'm signed up. i think i can get gmail to forward to aporter.org. ~a
[2009-06-30 10:41:04] - my coworker just sent me this link: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/3642661392_893103fda0_o.jpg ~gurkie
[2009-06-30 10:38:51] - aaron: that kind of sounds like a piers anthony book i read x_x -amy
[2009-06-30 10:37:21] - a: Does that mean you aren't playing? -Paul
[2009-06-30 10:13:31] - paul: "Unfortunately, .org domains are a common source of spam (or used by spammers illegitimately)." groan. ~a
[2009-06-30 09:52:55] - a: Ok, cool. Thanks. -Paul
[2009-06-30 09:44:07] - also, it was really low budget. i know it wasn't "grandma's boy" or "stay alive". - aaron
[2009-06-30 09:35:48] - does anybody remember that movie about a video game tester who got a headset in the mail, and he thought it was for a video game? but then he figured out that the video game was real, or something? and someone kidnapped his girlfriend into the video game world, and he had to try and save her? - aaron
[2009-06-29 17:44:26] - paul: i've emailed him. i'll let you know when he replies. ~a
[2009-06-29 13:20:26] - nm. i found it. ~a
[2009-06-29 13:17:11] - i can't find it and i've searched most of their site. ~a
[2009-06-29 13:16:53] - paul/aaron: who am i supposed to email to get an email domain unblocked on the diplomacy site? ~a
[2009-06-29 13:05:05] - Vinnie: New to me too. I'll watch out for the random Anna Paquin mentions now. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-29 12:36:27] - a: You're not going to play diplomacy with us? -Paul
[2009-06-29 11:06:55] - the message is disagreeable and that's why i like it. on the other hand it's also demeaning and illogical which is why i'm too much of a wuss to wear it. ~a
[2009-06-29 11:05:04] - gurkie: hmmm. i won't wear it because i'm too much of a wuss. i guess that wasn't a joke. ~a
[2009-06-29 10:46:03] - a: but by how much, I assume you wouldnt wear it to work but do you still find u only wouldnt wear it cause you are too much of a wuss? Or was that a joke too... ~gurkie
[2009-06-29 10:39:50] - gurkie: i was obviously joking. ~a
[2009-06-29 10:18:11] - a: I wasn't aware I was putting forth any kind of argument or promoting misogyny. I just thought that the correlation of female babies and divorce was interesting and wondered if there was any meaning behind it. -Paul
[2009-06-29 10:15:55] - realize not realized... ~gurkie
[2009-06-29 10:15:19] - a: how in the world can you think thats a good idea? You realized you could probably lose your job over wearing something like that to work. It would be way too inappropriate on too many levels. ~gurkie
[2009-06-29 10:13:30] - paul: but i still think the t-shirt is a good idea and i plan to wear it to work if you make it.
~a[2009-06-29 10:10:11] - xpovos: I didn't know who Sookie Stackhouse was before a week ago. and I've seen her name mentioned three times since learning who she was - vinnie
[2009-06-29 10:09:36] - paul: 1. you were putting forth a very tenuous argument. 2. you were making a statement but adding a question mark to cya. 3. promotion of misogyny. ~a
[2009-06-29 10:03:08] - a: How was I being stupid? -Paul
[2009-06-29 09:59:43] - title: I'd never seen that punctuation mark before last week. Then this weekend, Gene Weingarten mentioned it in his column in the Post's magazine. Interrobang, how you've stormed into my life. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-29 09:51:12] - I object to the shirt, related to the argument about the subject. And pretty much completely agree with Pierce in his arguments. ~gurkie
[2009-06-29 09:33:39] - pierce: (regarding sub-message) correlation doesn't imply causation only when a confounding factor is possible. since the sex of our children is (almost) random, then it's (almost) causation. though 5% (from the article) is small enough that it still could break causation. plus i vehemently hate to agree with paul when he's being stupid. ~a
[2009-06-27 01:03:08] - probably safe to deprioritize this bug... how often do we get nearly-max-length posts that contain special characters like that? - pierce
[2009-06-26 22:29:48] - pierce: yeah that's probably it. hmmm. ~a
[2009-06-26 22:24:13] - might it be related to the special curly quotes at the end I forgot to replace with normal double quotes? - pierce
[2009-06-26 22:23:26] - interesting. that message was full-length in the textbox when I wrote it, but truncated two characters when I submitted it. a? - pierce
[2009-06-26 18:22:33] - It's like a quote I just read: "It's traditional, conservative values: I love my family, I love my community, I love my church†- Mary Berner, CEO of Reader's Digest. Not like the liberal "values" of our divorced president who hates his community and has never been a member of a church. - pier
[2009-06-26 16:58:50] - mig: democrats are always the sex-crazed free love abortionist atheists. so it's an easy mistake to make. ~a
[2009-06-26 13:48:21] - http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/06/25/fox-news-labels-disgraced-republican-mark-sanford-a-democrat/
[2009-06-26 13:48:05] - www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/06/25/fox-news-labels-disgraced-republican-mark-sanford-a-democrat/ fox labels republican embroiled in a scandal as a democrat. - mig
[2009-06-26 12:27:35] - also related http://picturesforsadchildren.com/blog/famous.png this comic made digg fp today - aaron
[2009-06-26 12:26:35] - gurkie: yea i guess what i'm saying is i think a lot of media outlets are going from "anti new-mj" to "pro old-mj" which isn't necessarily hypocritical - aaron
[2009-06-26 11:56:20] - yea, i guesstimated on the 3 years, I dont really know what time frame it was. ~gurkie
[2009-06-26 11:55:58] - aaron: yea I would agree that there wasnt anti MJ sentiment back then, Im not even saying I am anti MJ. I just find it hypocritical of the media to be going off on how amazing he was and how they loved him when 3 years ago the headlines were all about how awful he was... ~gurkie
[2009-06-26 11:55:00] - a: yes because of the alleged sexual abuse... I know it was never proven but there was a lot of anti MJ sentiment going on in the past few years. Heck I think I read that there was like 20 years of investigation into multiple sexual abuse cases and him. ~gurkie
[2009-06-26 11:09:33] - I don
[2009-06-26 11:08:07] - he was unpopular? because of the alleged sexual abuse or what? ~a
[2009-06-26 10:32:25] - gurkie: sytycd had a pro-mike rant last night but it was focusing on his earlier days (black or white, thriller)... i think it's pretty unanimous that MJ was a really great person during those days - aaron
[2009-06-26 10:05:50] - a: its just frustrating to me that it seems like MJ was pretty unpopular and now that he is dead everyone is saying what a great person he was and how much he will be missed. ~gurkie
[2009-06-26 09:56:36] - sometimes we need something (like a death) to remind us how much we miss that person. plus maybe it's easier to remember the good things about something that's in the past. ~a
[2009-06-26 09:40:13] - why is it that as soon as someone dies everyone loves them? ~gurkie
[2009-06-26 09:03:11] - subtitle: hawaiian punch! - aaron
[2009-06-26 08:13:56] - you can usually connect two random machines together if they have static ips (unless you want to set up dhcp on one of them). you usually (almost always?) need it to be a crossover cable though unless there's a switch in-between. i guess i should have mentioned those. ~a
[2009-06-25 23:56:35] - I always assumed an ethernet network needed a router that was established as the traffic warden, I didn't assume you could just connect any two random machines together and they'd cobble together a coherent network out of it. - pierce
[2009-06-25 23:55:31] - okay, here's where my ignorance of ethernet becomes evident: you can just plug two client machines into each other? it doesn't seem to be working when I try that. I played with bridging the wireless/ethernet networks on the desktop, but for some reason the wireless network refuses to connect when I do that. - pierce
[2009-06-25 17:45:34] - pierce: also, yes you can do what you want to. (assuming your desktop is windows) i think there's something called the "internet connection sharing" (which i've never used and know nothing about). google link. ~a
[2009-06-25 17:41:35] - pierce: you probably can plug your desktop right into the xbox. ~a
[2009-06-25 17:11:18] - - pierce
[2009-06-25 17:11:14] - the xbox is wired-only. the wireless router is not convenient for a wired connection
[2009-06-25 16:53:01] - pierce: hmmm. the xbox is wired-only and your wireless router is wireless-only? ~a
[2009-06-25 16:50:14] - it's been a long while since I've done any network topology stuff. - pierce
[2009-06-25 16:49:47] - in other words: (verizon FIOS modem) <---> (wireless router) <-/ /-> (desktop) <---> WAN|(wired router)|LAN <---> (XBox) - pierce
[2009-06-25 16:46:48] - I feel like I should know the answer to this question, but I don't. Can I share my desktop's internet connection (provided by a wireless card) over its ethernet port as the "WAN" link for a router? - pierce
[2009-06-25 16:23:40] - Entertain me!!!! ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 16:04:22] - yeah it's probably the latter.
~a[2009-06-25 15:59:20] - a: that or aar is more of a stickler for rules than I am which is possible... ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 15:59:05] - a: hrmm, i think ive played both ways where we send people negative in the beginning and we dont... I usually do it based on who I am playing with and how competetive I think the game will be... Must mean he was worried you would win! ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 15:47:07] - i thought the punishment was that you went negative. those are the rules aaron made me play by! ~a
[2009-06-25 15:41:53] - vinnie: its like in the regular game... no punishment if you are losing that bad! ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 15:32:09] - If at any time a player must give up a set card, but has no cards, s/he is seriously berated by the other players
- vinnie[2009-06-25 15:25:34] - a: unkosher due to the data in the db... feasible definately ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 15:25:05] - http://www.setgame.com/set/index.html -> alternative rules... Some of these look like they could be interesting to play ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 15:17:51] - gurkie: can't you just dump the database on the server, and then import the database on your local machine? is that unfeasible or unkosher for whatever reason? ~a
[2009-06-25 15:03:57] - by project I really mean client... since we dont work for them directly I dont think they want us having the db structure loaded on our machines... ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 15:03:21] - a: a lot of my projects havent wanted us to setup a local db... Sometimes we have anyway but some we couldn't. Primarily for it to be useful for us we had to load proprietary data in it or create a whole crap load of fake/relevant data... Or at least I assume that is why. It depends on the project though. ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 14:39:17] - why do you need to access a non-local database? can you set up a dummy local database for dev? i'd go nuts if i couldn't do dev on my local machine. ~a
[2009-06-25 14:38:06] - gurkie: yeah checking in broken code is a constant problem. cruisecontrol/bamboo/whatever usually is able to catch those problems though. ~a
[2009-06-25 14:31:43] - I have had issues where coworkers at my old job would commit broken code which drove me fricking insane cause then you have to fix their code before you could verify any of yours... ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 14:31:10] - a: sounds like you commit more frequently than him anyway hence his need for constant commits. I dont know how your code works but I generally have to have access to a non-local database to execute my code so developing while unconnected is unpractical for me. Plus we tend to check in our code whenever the segment we are working on works properly. ~gurkie
[2009-06-25 13:13:21] - yes, when you "push" your commits to others, you'll still have to resolve conflicts, but it'll be much easier because your code will have been committed in smaller more manageable chunks. at least that's the theory; my coworker has dealt much more with conflict resolution than i have. ~a
[2009-06-25 13:12:07] - gurkie: i think understand your question: what's the point of committing if it doesn't actually resolve conflicts. well here's the deal, if committing is really easy, then you'll do it more often. ~a
[2009-06-25 11:44:06] - a: Im not sure how I get it... If you commit without being connected how does that help others? They cant get your revision requiring the merge anyway... Just as though multiple people are editing... ~gurkie
[2009-06-24 15:02:28] - a: wow, that "no one true server" feature of git seems really cool but scary. - aaron
[2009-06-24 13:34:53] - a: I did not know he was legal in that movie, in fact I didnt know it was him in that movie. Its been awhile since I saw it... ~gurkie
[2009-06-24 12:32:58] - gurkie: WarGames? you know broderick is legal in that movie. ~a
[2009-06-24 12:30:55] - there's git-svn (a git svn bridge), that my coworker uses, but i don't know if that even really buys you much over just using svn. ~a
[2009-06-24 12:29:29] - since you aren't connected and there is no one true "server", there isn't this nice incrementing svn revision number. instead you have an ugly hash as your revision number. ~a
[2009-06-24 12:25:56] - it has a gui (i've never used) and there is tortoisegit. the thing that makes it cool: it's distributed. that means you don't need a server and you don't need a bottleneck (the server). it means that 100% of the actions you can do connected, you also can do unconnected. you can commit without being connected and you can diff/log/blame without being connected. ~a
[2009-06-24 12:22:00] - aaron: let me start out with how git is worse than svn: it's complicated. it's complicated and it's different. it has a very steep learning curve. i'd actually suggest against switching to it at work because it'll only confuse your coworkers. ~a
[2009-06-24 11:53:19] - http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/game_theory.png amuses the heck out of me ~gurkie
[2009-06-24 11:22:43] - lol torvald's anti-cvs rant in that article is pretty funny. how is git better than svn? - aaron
[2009-06-23 19:15:24] - aaron: when i added the message board code to git last night, i broke them (i changed the user permissions all around). anyways they're fixed now. ~a
[2009-06-23 16:17:50] - a: where did the subtitles go? - aaron
[2009-06-23 16:03:45] - amy: expert dribbling? so I guess they're not taking after him then
buuuuurn - vinnie[2009-06-23 15:42:47] - amy: Hahaha, I can imagine like 8 of them all standing on different parts of the three-point line and all draining shot after shot. -Paul
[2009-06-23 15:41:18] - paul: and expertly dribbling bballs too of course ^_^ -amy
[2009-06-23 14:31:27] - amy: I just couldn't help but giggle at the mental image I got. I pictured babies running around with a full shaggy head of hair a lots of facial hair. -Paul
[2009-06-23 14:24:36] - omg little dirks running around <3 i want to be there to see that. -amy
[2009-06-23 14:11:50] - http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4281263 "I still want to have a family, but first the wounds must heal. However, I still want to have a few little Dirks running around later. But it won't be easy to win my heart." -Paul
[2009-06-23 09:36:09] - paul: I want to see Transformers 2! ~gurkie
[2009-06-22 22:01:44] - http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-23-voa3.cfm Train Collision Kills 6 in Washington, DC -Paul
[2009-06-22 18:10:52] - vinnie: aww you had me all excited that there was such a thing as a "clamato"
- aaron[2009-06-22 16:26:38] - see? it's a thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clamato - vinnie
[2009-06-22 16:21:00] - So... any chance that anybody here is interested in seeing Transformers 2? -Paul
[2009-06-22 09:12:32] - amy: the subtitle is offering you financial advice - aaron
[2009-06-20 02:47:39] - damn! i'm the 70th hit this time. I missed 69 by 1 ;_; But the subtitle... hee hee -amy
[2009-06-19 11:06:29] - amy: you shouldn't look to me for financial advice, i'll leave it at that. ~a
[2009-06-19 10:47:27] - amy: They key, to me, is that whatever money you put in the stock market you have to be willing to let it ride for at least a couple of years, because over the long run the stock market tends to outperform most everything else. -Paul
[2009-06-19 10:46:39] - amy: Well, the stock market can be a mistake if you don't know what you're doing, and it's something where you can quite easily lose a bunch of money over the short term even if you're smart. -Paul
[2009-06-19 10:42:02] - aba: hey, it's ralph maggio. ~a
[2009-06-19 10:38:27] - a: what's the alternative? -amy
[2009-06-19 10:18:55] - yeah i've said this here before: savings accounts are scams. you don't want a savings account. ~a
[2009-06-19 07:16:17] - 1.55% is pretty decent right now for a bank account. I think my bank account style accounts are only giving me 0.75% for the best rates. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-19 01:12:16] - xpovos: thanks for the specific numbers, that's good to know. my internet savings account gives 1.55%. i looked around a tiny bit and saw a couple of other banks offering the same or less, and for CDs, too. so i didn't know there were accounts that offer rates that high. hmm. -amy
[2009-06-19 01:10:29] - etc. I have this fear of like if you get a pet and then you forget about it and it dies. only in this case it would be my money dying. holy crap i really shouldn't post on mboard late at night again haha. -amy
[2009-06-19 01:09:26] - Paul: Thanks, and I may have questions in the future, so I will keep you in mind ^_^ I have this probably irrational fear of the stock market because I really am not interested in finance or econmics, and I get this feeling about it that it's something you have to spend time on and become knowledgeable in. In order to know what to invest in, when to buy/sell, how much -amy
[2009-06-18 19:00:18] - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31422688/ns/us_news-weird_news/?GT1=43001 peta has officially flown off the deep end in its desparation for relevance. - mig
[2009-06-18 17:17:38] - money has been since about October 2007. So I don't think you can stick your cash-on-hand into either. So, finding a better yeild 'in the market' as it were will be tough. Try credit unions, they tend to have better rates, better service, and be more secure too. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-18 17:16:17] - amy: Most money market type funds are absolutely giving terrible rates these days, but I've been able to stick most of my money into two, one from American Express giving me 2.75% and one from Prudential giving me 3.75%. The AMEX one comes with my American Express "One" card, so I don't think you can just get into it. And the Prudential is where the bulk of my 401(k) ...
[2009-06-18 09:20:44] - a: I don't know what subtitle you are referring to. -Paul
[2009-06-18 09:20:28] - Amy: I would be happy to try to answer any questions you might have, though. -Paul
[2009-06-18 09:20:12] - Amy: Although, honestly, I think interest rates all over are taking a beating right now due to the actions of the Federal Reserve. I wouldn't necessarily expect to find a much better rate anywhere else. -Paul
[2009-06-18 09:19:10] - Amy: If you have a lower tolerance for risk, there are still plenty of options. CDs are good ones offered by most banks (I have no specific recommendations), and there are also US Bonds and Treasuries, which are lower risk than the stock market. -Paul
[2009-06-18 09:18:17] - Amy: It kinda depends on what the purpose of the money is for and how much risk you want to take on. If you won't need it for a while and have a high tolerance for risk, it's hard to beat the stock market for rate of return (even with the recent crash). -Paul
[2009-06-18 01:57:35] - I probably picked the wrong time to ask this question as I think everybody is going to be at King's Dominion. Also I'm feeling strangely vulnerable and wondering if I have just said too much personal information unwittingly at 2 AM. -amy
[2009-06-18 01:56:45] - I guess the online savings was my way of being able to put money without having to think about it too much and I could watch it slowly grow. And still have the freedom to withdraw without penalty. But at this point I don't care as much about being able to access the money at any time without penalty, I can let it sit. -amy
[2009-06-18 01:54:05] - Hmm. For the past few years I'd been putting my savings into a high-yield internet savings account, but the interest rate has completely tanked. Does anyone have any recommendations for what to do with savings that is non-high-maintenance but may accumulate better interest "in these economic times", like a CD? Any specific banks that offer something particularly good? -amy
[2009-06-17 19:37:17] - paul: regarding subtitle: where did you read that? ~a
[2009-06-17 19:35:59] - xpovos: hmmm. the HTTP_HOST and SERVER_NAME variables both contain the hostname. however, neither the message board nor apache are currently configured to log that information. so, the latter: it is lost to the abyss of the bits. ~a
[2009-06-17 15:05:18] - a: Nifty. Not blocked for me (yet), but good to know for if/when it gets there. Does it track what we use as the prefix? E.g. I'm posting this from xpovos.w.aporter.org/msg. Will it know xpovos, or is that lost to the abyss of bits? -- Xpovos
[2009-06-17 10:45:18] - a: I don't think so. There are times when test.w.aporter.org/msg doesn't resolve to anything (it times out). -Paul
[2009-06-17 10:39:33] - paul: oh so when i accidentally put something else on test.w.aporter.org you thought you couldn't get to the message board anymore? "test" was just an example. you can use anything.w.aporter.org. ~a
[2009-06-17 10:04:48] - I can check from work as long as the test.w.aporter.org site is up. Also, I am back on the east coast (although a bit jet lagged and hugely overwhelmed by email right now). -Paul
[2009-06-16 20:52:19] -
[2009-06-16 13:57:33] - he is blocked from work? has he tried test.w.aporter.org? ~a
[2009-06-16 13:56:05] - Man it gets quiet around here when Paul's on vacation. Of course, that statement is defeated by the fact that Paul is blocked from work apparently, and has in fact been posting here while on vacation. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-16 11:48:07] - vinnie: Even for desktops clunky add-ons, or poorly engineered ones, or ones that are required for the main component to work are still terrible ideas. Add ons only really work if they are truly extensible. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-16 09:52:06] - xpovos: I guess the lesson is that for a portable/semi-portable device, those kinds of add-ons aren't very convenient - vinnie
[2009-06-16 09:06:25] - aaron: Fun article. It's amazing how many of those were related to three basic failures: 1) Terrible input devices. 2) Data erasing bugs (like #4). 3) External (bulky) add-ons. I found the multiple instances of 3) particularly interesting because it is very logical--for certain features. HD space in particular these days. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-15 20:59:16] - mig: the best current way to filter spambots is to have a text field that's invisible (through css). spambots will fill in the invisible field and humans will not. this filtering scheme will only work as long as spambot operators don't fix this. ~a
[2009-06-15 16:32:36] - http://technologizer.com/2009/06/14/fifteen-classic-pc-design-mistakes/ fifteen classic pc design mistakes... i liked #4 - aaron
[2009-06-15 13:59:37] - i like vinnie's idea - an ip-address whitelist. if you're on the blacklist you need to fill out a captcha - aaron
[2009-06-15 13:52:39] - xpovos: so it was indeed talked about before. i've gone through it again and believe i have some ideas now. -mig
[2009-06-15 13:31:25] - mig: It's a debate we've had here before, so maybe check the search? The options have included white and blacklists, captchas, as well as other login-requirements. Also, generally spambots are linking, so scrubbing for links can be effective, while reducing moderation needs. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-15 13:27:33] - mig: I guess some sort of post filtering that would catch that kind of thing? maybe ask ~a what he does. I don't mind capchas at all if it's a one-time thing on sign-up, but it is annoying when you have to do them on every post - vinnie
[2009-06-15 12:24:41] - just as a quick poll, what do you all think would be the most user friendly way of dealing with formbots? captchas is a way but I know most people find those to be incredibly annoying, so I'm looking for other ideas. - mig
[2009-06-15 10:56:51] - I just figured out that on my work keyboard, SHIFT+R+T doesn't type RT. It types R. it explains why i was having so many typos with very common words - aaron
[2009-06-14 22:21:36] - vinnie: the arlington rap was featured on the evening news tonight. ~a
[2009-06-14 15:02:37] - vinnie: federal government websites don't usually have advertisements.
- aba[2009-06-13 22:36:07] - aba: cool, thanks for that, I think I'll start going there for weather. nice to see a site that doesn't throw an ad OVER the weather forecast - vinnie
[2009-06-13 00:10:24] - Darn, I missed my random quote (which I guess was sarcastic). -Paul
[2009-06-12 18:28:30] - vinnie: the national weather service produces most of the model runs for weather prediction, so i just go to noaa.gov to look up forecasts. everyone else pretty much takes their data and puts their own spin on it. - aba
[2009-06-12 18:15:13] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T1RMuoQnKo the arlington rap - vinnie
[2009-06-12 16:27:00] - a: hmm. i can see wanting to know where my friends are. i can't see me wanting to let other people know where *i* am ^_^; -amy
[2009-06-12 16:23:40] - amy: there are lots of times where it's useful for me to know where people are. i think it's a great idea *in general*. the problem is (like the comic suggests) when you forget that it's on or when people you don't know get ahold of the information. ~a
[2009-06-12 16:18:05] - huh. had anyone heard of google latitude before? i just found out about it from the latest xkcd. seems like a bad idea, who would want everyone to know where they are? -amy
[2009-06-12 10:01:32] - haha, I like paul's random quote there - vinnie
[2009-06-12 10:01:12] - a: I didn't use an exclamation point. - vinnie
[2009-06-11 18:50:59] - that's even funnier because i had a mental image of you yelling "joke ruined!" ~a
[2009-06-11 17:45:55] - joke ruined. make metaweather EXCEPT allow users - vinnie
[2009-06-11 17:45:10] - a: maybe I should make metaweather accept allow users to pick english. seems like there is a niche for that - vinnie
[2009-06-11 15:50:27] - "Just returning from lunch - passed Al Roker getting into a cab on 49th Street and Sixth Avenue (sorry - no picture, I don’t bring my camera with me to lunch). Anyway, Al was carrying an umbrella. ‘Nuff said. UPDATE: We just had thirty minutes of intense downpours. ALL HAIL THE GREAT AND POWERFUL AL!!"
~a[2009-06-11 15:49:28] - i found metaweather (I can't seem to get it to use english even though it lists english as an option) and weather aggregator on google. not exactly what you're looking for since they probably don't weight the sites, so maybe you should create your idea. ~a
[2009-06-11 15:43:18] - more. each interpretation can give vastly differing results and some websites probably misinterpret the data more often than others. ~a
[2009-06-11 15:29:23] - I'm pretty much just copying 538's model - vinnie
[2009-06-11 15:28:42] - a: oh, yeah I guess the interpretations of the data then. I've checked a few different weather sites for data on a specific future day before and gotten different forecasts so I figured they were using different data. do you think that a site like what I'm suggesting would be more accurate than the leading site or less? - vinnie
[2009-06-11 15:21:27] - vinnie: i think most weather sites get their raw data (not sure if it's raw forcast data they get or current raw weather data) from the same place so they're all basically the site you're talking about. i guess maybe you're looking for an average of the interpretations of the data. ~a
[2009-06-11 14:52:52] - and it would would be awesome if it weighted based on accuracy of high temperature, low temperature, chance of precipitation, etc. because I'm sure different sites get more accurate results for different categories - vinnie
[2009-06-11 14:50:58] - tell me if this site exists: a site that compiles weather forecast data from multiple weather sites and gives you a weighted average for forecast based on those sites past accuracies. and if this site doesn't exist, it should - vinnie
[2009-06-11 11:57:10] - yay! i'm the 69th hit. happy 69 indeed. -amy
[2009-06-10 14:46:08] - aaron: Should have the Groucho eye glasses, eyebrows and nose bit on too. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-10 13:48:17] - http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/transformers-mustache.jpg robots in disguise - aaron
[2009-06-09 23:18:40] - a: i figured ^_^ -amy
[2009-06-09 23:15:07] - amy: that wasn't my intended meaning. i love it when the message board is bustling. ~a
[2009-06-09 23:09:07] - yessss! my goal has been achieved! ...i mean, sorry, i can keep quiet .x -amy
[2009-06-09 22:45:24] - excessively talkative? no kidding. today alone you jumped over three people in the 1k rankings (dee, dewey, and aba). ~a
[2009-06-09 22:10:11] - ...and having it reach the audience that will become our fanbase? just another factor for us to consider in our decision. i guess not totally relevant to the discussion but thought i'd share since i seem to be excessively talkative on mboard at moment anyway. -amy
[2009-06-09 22:08:20] - actually the thought i had earlier but didn't get to finish is that we're not really in this to make a big profit, though we'd like to make some money back for all our time and effort. (after all the equipment etc. it's undeniably a huge loss for us to make music like this.) but how much do we care about getting paid vs. just getting our music out there... -amy
[2009-06-09 22:05:46] - a: i guess my thought was that because we're so unknown, not many people would be making our songs illegally avail, or more than that, *looking* for illegal copies of our songs. of course it's still a possibility and some people may be doing it but i guess there's no way to know what the impact is. -amy
[2009-06-09 17:15:30] - vinnie: won't piracy always be an issue? in fact, couldn't piracy hurt (OR help) small bands more because their profit margin is lower? ~a
[2009-06-09 16:25:01] - we'd be grateful to be well-known enough to have piracy as a problem
- vinnie[2009-06-09 14:57:13] - xpovos: yeah i don't know if it necessarily follows that "ppl who pirate buy more music than ppl who don't" --> "piracy leads to more sales." but like you said, we're indie and i don't think piracy will be a big issue for us. also we're not exactly in this expecting big profits, but that's a whole other thought and i really do have to go to work x_x -amy
[2009-06-09 14:47:06] - xpovos: well, online sales have been going up, though I think I read overall music sales are down. so some people must still be buying stuff online. I do feel like the trend is becoming that people are less willing to pay for songs though - vinnie
[2009-06-09 14:40:12] - ...going to look into getting it onto Pandora as well. But I need to get ready and go to work plus i think I've been flooding the mboard enough (sorry!) but if anyone has more thoughts/advice on this, it would be greatly appreciated, thanks everyone! <3 -amy
[2009-06-09 14:39:28] - ...great venue since it's such a popular site. The question is how many full-length tracks, because we only have 5 tracks + one bonus track, so we don't want to put too little but OTOH we don't want to put everything, well I still have to think about this more and discuss w/Vin. I should also mention that we are planning to sell our mp3s online at iTunes etc and are... -am
[2009-06-09 14:37:44] - We were already planning on putting some samples on fb, myspace, and our website, in such a way that it can't be (easily) downloaded, though I guess there's always ways to hack that. But the idea is to give a "sample." Based on this discussion, I think it makes sense to put at least a few full-length tracks, and am now thinking that YouTube would also be a... -amy
[2009-06-09 14:35:54] - First of all, I should mention that we will have a physical CD, in fact it's in the finishing stages right now as we tweak with the flow of the album and artwork and are entirely sick of listening to it over and over but really it's awesome, pls buy it. We will sell the CD online through our website and in person at live performances or whenever we have the chance. -amy
[2009-06-09 14:35:50] - amy: I used to have that view of piracy, that it lead to sales. And it still can, with stories like mine, or Aaron's, or with personalities like A's where we're inclined to pay for what we like, even if we already have it. But these days, my take on piracy is a little more grim. Stardockian, even. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-09 14:33:29] - ...(That is, if they are the sort of person who is inclined to buy music in general.) So here are my thoughts on what I think we should do (which may differ from Vinnie's), but I figure I'll put it up for discussion: -amy
[2009-06-09 14:32:21] - ...articles may have been from an anti-corporate or anti-recording-industry slant though.) But the thing is if you just make the mp3s avail for dl for free and you don't put a price on it, ppl won't feel obligated to pay for it. With piracy it's understood you're *supposed* to pay for the music, so people will feel more inclined to buy it if they like it... -amy
[2009-06-09 14:29:40] - Thanks for all your answers everyone. This sort of confirms my suspicion that clips online may not be sufficient to convince a fan to buy you album. I did some research the other day, and came across many articles that all said that ppl who pirate music are also more likely to buy it, since they using pirating as a way to sample and find what they like. (These... -amy
[2009-06-09 14:25:28] - a: That was me, I ran out of space for my sig, so I continued on my next line. But, I agree. I think most people do, but I also have to acknowledge that we're outside the maintstream of normal here. We all pay the cow, but that doesn't mean it's human nature. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-09 14:15:42] - plus i feel like paying the cow back for the free milk she's been giving me (or i've taken from her). i need to support the cow or she'll starve. ~a
[2009-06-09 14:14:28] - anon: read aaron's statement regarding your #2. i'll parrot aaron and say that i've very often paid for the milk when i've got the cow for free because some milk is free and some milk is for-pay. i'm probably not making any sense. ~a
[2009-06-09 14:13:17] - Also, ensure that digital downloads are DRM free, priced reasonably, and high quality. Generally if you give customers what they want, they pay. If they don't then, they weren't likely to pay ever. A certain percentage of the population are just assholes. Better to write them off from the start than to think you can change their nature. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-09 14:12:04] - amy: The biggest concerns with putting the music up for free on the internet are 1) Piracy, which as independents you don't really have to worry about to the same extent. and 2) Getting people to pay for the milk when they've got the cow, so to speak. For that, ensuring that a physical CD has bonus goodies (lyrics, full liner notes, photos, etc.) helps tremendously.
[2009-06-09 12:33:13] - xpovos: I'll second the random napster searches. I found out that I liked Devo when I was searching "Speed Racer" on Napster for some other reason... Now I own almost their entire collection - aaron
[2009-06-09 12:32:08] - I've discovered some bands (like the meccano twins) purely through full-length songs people posted on Youtube, and I've discovered some other bands (or caught up with their latest stuff) through full-length songs on myspace. On myspace, the download link is optional, some artists I like have gone that route too (which I don't personally appreciate, but whatev) - aaron
[2009-06-09 12:29:26] - amy: Typically I'll hear a song on Pandora and listen to the clips on amazon. I've never had a band that put too much free stuff on the internet to where I didn't buy their music - i'll just leave it at that - aaron
[2009-06-09 12:07:40] - amy: i know this doesn't help answer your question, but i usually only buy music i know that i like. usually i hear new music through the radio. i only buy music through used-cds or amazon's mp3 downloads. i'm very glad there's no drm in amazon's mp3 service, but it still irks me that it costs $1000 to get 1000 songs. ~a
[2009-06-09 11:48:10] - amy: for me pandora has been a good source. I tend to try to cherrypick things I like and avoid buying full albums. I primarily use iTunes and don't have many qualms with the service, but I've used amazon on occasion and found it to be pretty useful. - mig
[2009-06-09 09:18:26] - In terms of digital distribution: Amazon and eMusic are the only ones I have experience with. I guess I have experience with iTunes too, but the interface is clunky and it was mostly a negative for me. Amazon is great and eMusic was a good experience. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-09 09:17:12] - To follow up: I'd only notice a band on a social site if I was already a fan, or if I was linked to it for a reason. E.g. I found a myspace page for a band when I was thinking about attending one of their concerts. -- Xpovos
[2009-06-09 09:15:35] - In all of those cases I had access to the full song at no cost to myself. Sometimes legally, sometimes illegally. Clips are only enough if I know a little about the band already and am trying to decide if a new release is worth purchasing. Even then it's hard to tell. A 5 minute song can have a lot of changes, which 30 seconds best represents the whole? -- Xpovos
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