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[2009-07-23 11:39:20] - universal care. - mig
[2009-07-23 11:39:07] - and while spending less is good, that's not the end all be all of efficiency. Do the other countries ration health care to save on costs? Have waiting lists to see a doctor? In order to actually make it cost less over here, I am very certain we'd have to implement some sort of priority q to actually make it cost less, which ironically defeats the purpose of ...
[2009-07-23 11:37:48] - now I understand that there's fear that the government will just be a different level of indirection, not a better one. but I personally feel like, if I have a problem with my health care, voting for someone who says they'll fix it is about a thousand times more effective than anything I can do in the current system. - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:37:05] - Pierce: Insurers still have to sell their services to people who buy the insurance. They can't just keep jacking up their rates anymore than McDonalds could suddenly change their dollar menu into the $5 menu. -Paul
[2009-07-23 11:35:18] - mig: well as far as I know, you can't get the government insurance to cover your trip to the doctor's office to ask him what he thinks of your screenplay. I believe the nationalized health care systems do leave room in the open market for "elective" procedures. the worst they do is dictate the most a doctor can charge for those services. - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:32:18] - paul: there's no reason for the insurer to share the wealth. the large insurers' position in the marketplace is safe because insurance is a game of large numbers. they're the biggest because they're the biggest. that reduces the effects of any sort of competitive pressure to lower their rates, which is why insurance rates have been inflating so dramatically. - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:32:04] - pierce: then perhaps maybe we need to narrow the scope of what health insurance covers? do we really need insurance to cover literally everything we go to the doctor for? - mig
[2009-07-23 11:29:54] - and here's the core of the problem: if you've been burned by the level of indirection here, then there's a good chance that you're one of the "bad" insurance customers they'd rather not have. if you have private insurance, your rates skyrocket. if you have employer-provided insurance, their rates skyrocket unless they find a way to take you off their plan. - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:29:06] - Pierce: Sounds like we have the perfect system for getting the cheapest health care.
-Paul[2009-07-23 11:28:33] - Pierce: I'm a bit confused by your logic, because assuming all this is true, and we'll all helpless to choose only the cheapest health care providers... then shouldn't we all be paying some dirt cheap prices on health care? -Paul
[2009-07-23 11:26:13] - you might argue that people would switch their health care if it was prioritizing cost over value, but there's yet another layer of indirection: the buyer of the health insurance is still not the consumer since people typically get their health care through their employer. - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:25:05] - Pierce: Sounds like we should transfer gift giving responsibility over to the government too.
-Paul[2009-07-23 11:24:10] - capitalism is supposed to work because people who buy a crappy product won't buy it again in the future, driving competition and innovation, right? well if the person buying the product isn't the one using it, then that gets subverted. the person buying the product (in this case, insurers) cares only about raw cost. - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:23:26] - my vocab test stopped when I had donated 300 grains of rice... I guess I should start over? ~gurkie
[2009-07-23 11:22:00] - ...and also that I think health care, as a practice, fits the "contours" of government better than the contours of business. health insurance violates several of the basic assumptions of other capitalist enterprises. for example, the person using the product is not the person buying the product. - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:19:51] - Pierce: Although I will say that it's entirely possible (although unlikely) that the government could make it that we spend less per capita on health care than we do now, I am absolutely convinced that following such a strategy would result in decreased innovation, and increased restrictions, rationing and waiting lists. -Paul
[2009-07-23 11:17:56] - mig: I'm basing it on the fact that other countries with government health care spend less on their health care and get more value out of it, despite the fact that they include people who would be "uninsurable" in this country. - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:16:41] - Pierce: I just find it absolutely mind-boggling that anybody, even you, would think that the government taking complete control over anything would make it more efficient. -Paul
[2009-07-23 11:15:10] - Pierce: Sure, and in theory, putting ourselves trillions of dollars more in debt will save millions of jobs. I think it's pretty clear that we have different theories on what works and what doesn't.
-Paul[2009-07-23 11:10:30] - paul: in theory, we save enough by switching currently-insured people to a more efficient program to provide health care to the currently-uninsured. I know that sounds unrealistic, but again, the numbers are out there. those per capita numbers in my link include the uninsured. we pay more per capita even when you include the uninsured (who pay nothing). - pierce
[2009-07-23 11:10:05] - pierce: "I do firmly believe that government health care will be more efficient than private health care." - what exacltly are you basing this on? Maybe slightly more efficient than the clusterfuck that's going on now, but what we have now is hardly "private healthcare" more like a government/coroprate monstrosity. - mig
[2009-07-23 11:03:38] - Pierce: The people who don't have insurance don't pay for it, and I thought that was the entire point of this exercise. I find it hard to believe that we're going to be magically giving however many thousands (millions?) of people "free" health care and it's not going to cost anybody anything more. -Paul
[2009-07-23 10:58:47] - the argument against government spending versus private sector is about efficiency, not raw cost. I've become convinced that health care is a specific exception to the common assumption that the private market operates more efficiently than government spending. - pierce
[2009-07-23 10:56:58] - paul: "It's something that somebody is going to have to pay for" right, but we already pay for it. we just pay the private market. and we pay more for it than any other country, including those that provide government health care. (example) - pierce
[2009-07-23 10:56:55] - aaron: I'm on level 43 of the vocabulary. I missed the first question (level 1?) but went on a tear after that. I didn't miss anymore until level 42. But I've stalled out now. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-23 10:41:43] - Aaron: It's amusing how much of the geography is helped by my knowledge of the Diplomacy board.
-Paul[2009-07-23 10:36:07] - Gurkie: I don't know the specifics of the government health care program (it's hard to know them at all right now, since they're still debating it), but it's pretty likely that in the end, you're going to be paying more one way or the other (unless you suddenly take a pay cut
). -Paul[2009-07-23 10:22:33] - http://www.freerice.com/ win rice for the UN World Food Program by answering questions. the geography and multiplication questions are really hard! - aaron
[2009-07-23 10:18:46] - Also, that test sucks! The ones where I was like trick question I got right, but it slipped my mind that they were all trick questions... Also they could have made it better by having trickier answers... And my love life is Bitchin
(according to the test) ~gurkie[2009-07-23 10:17:57] - In terms of starting some businesses yes it may lessen the over head, but I didnt think companies were currently obligated to offer health insurance although yes its the standard. What would this to do the doctors who have independant businesses and to all the health insurance providers? ~gurkie
[2009-07-23 10:17:14] - oop. sorry i was talking about the liquor thing. ~a
[2009-07-23 10:16:52] - though prices will probably go up if they're increasing revenue. ~a
[2009-07-23 10:16:38] - but if our companies have to cover the cost for us and we have to pay taxes I am a little wary of how that will affect my end of the day take home salary. ~gurkie
[2009-07-23 10:15:57] - The whole idea of universal health care has issues, but the potential upside is great in my mind. While it doesnt mesh with what Dave said what I originally thought was that our salaries would increase due to the lessened overhead of health insurance for our companies to take on... ~gurkie
[2009-07-23 10:14:10] - a: me too ~gurkie
[2009-07-23 10:05:20] - paul: yay! privatization i can get behind. ~a
[2009-07-23 09:45:36] - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/22/mcdonnell-sees-revenue-in-privatized-liquor-stores/print/ Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert F. McDonnell on Tuesday proposed privatizing Virginia's liquor stores. -Paul
[2009-07-23 09:36:29] - Apparently failing to pass the health care plan will worsen the deficit. -Paul
[2009-07-23 09:35:03] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/23/AR2009072300360.html Obama says the country's economic recovery depends on implementing the $1 trillion plan health care plan. -Paul
[2009-07-23 09:22:58] - Pierce: And recently, it's seemed like the people most hurt by taxes on the "rich" are those people who make a pretty good salary and may live a good life, but who also still have to worrying about making ends meet, and I think a lot of those people are small business owners. -Paul
[2009-07-23 09:21:11] - Pierce: The reason being is that government health care isn't something that is just going to appear out of thin air. It's something that somebody is going to have to pay for, and most likely that's going to be the "rich". -Paul
[2009-07-23 09:20:18] - Pierce: However, taken as a whole, I think government run health care (as it is most likely to be implemented) will have an adverse affect on entrepreneurship and small businesses. -Paul
[2009-07-23 09:19:25] - Pierce: It depends on exactly what you're asking. Taken in a vacuum, it certainly seems reasonable that not having to worry about providing health care could increase in entrepreneurship. -Paul
[2009-07-23 09:18:23] - Pierce: You think that government health care will be more efficient? That's... interesting. -Paul
[2009-07-23 08:54:04] - the only other thing that i've really read that the bill does is extend healthcare to 46 mil people who don't have it currently -dave
[2009-07-23 08:46:40] - pierce: but requiring businesses to provide healthcare is rather anti-small business. I've seen a few articles talking about this in relation to the current bill -dave
[2009-07-23 08:45:31] - pierce: it probably depends on how the healthcare gets paid for. from what i've read (which hasn't been a massive amount) the bill requires that businesses provide healthcare. I'm not sure whether it provides for a national healthcare system, or what the extra taxes exactly go towards paying -dave
[2009-07-22 23:53:18] - my thought is that there's probably a good number of people who have the talent and motivation to start their own business, but are forced to be more risk-averse out of fear that they'll lose medical coverage for themselves or their families, or the burden of providing coverage for their employees drags them into failure when they would otherwise have succeeded. - pierce
[2009-07-22 23:50:40] - I'd like to propose a thought exercise for you advocates of private industry: if individuals no longer need to worry about receiving health care from their employer, and startup companies no longer need to worry about providing health care to their employees, do you think we'll see a significant uptick in entrepreneurship in this country? - pierce
[2009-07-22 23:46:28] - in the meantime, we get a slightly better system for the non-rich, and a much better basis for the more fundamental reforms. - pierce
[2009-07-22 23:46:00] - I do firmly believe that government health care will be more efficient than private health care. however, what they're currently pushing to enact is baby steps, so it'll get worse before it gets better. fortunately (in my opinion) the "worseness" can be shouldered by the rich, who will feel the effects less. - pierce
[2009-07-22 20:07:21] - paul: amazingly, that actually makes sense -dave
[2009-07-22 18:12:03] - gurkie: Here's the link so you don't have to do the work again: http://web.archive.org/web/20010223163806/http://www.mystcweb.net/Misc/Smart.htm -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 17:14:39] - gurkie: it's on web.archive.org and somehow the test still works! it's actually a cool test though i got a pretty miserable score. ~a
[2009-07-22 17:14:17] - Gurkie: Sorry. I don't even really remember the test in question. Too long ago. -Paul
[2009-07-22 17:13:52] - Dave: I believe the thinking is: Health Care is too expensive for the non-rich so let's tax the rich more so we (the government) can pay for health care for the non-rich. -Paul
[2009-07-22 17:06:23] - perhaps my perception was wrong, and the real problem was that we weren't giving healthcare to enough people -dave
[2009-07-22 17:05:54] - unfortunately i seriously doubt there is going to be any solution from congress that will cost the same or less money. I thought the entire reason the healthcare system needed change was because it cost too much money? -dave
[2009-07-22 17:04:36] - anyone support the health care bill? It appears to be the latest rally for "let's tax the rich" -dave
[2009-07-22 17:02:57] - paul: I wish I could have seen the test that the sub message is related to, I went back and the link is dead... ~gurkie
[2009-07-22 17:02:12] - pierce: ive looked a few times today havent seen anything interesting to me... ~gurkie
[2009-07-22 16:24:09] - Collusion! Obfuscation! -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 16:11:06] - Xpovos: Ah, don't worry. They are content to stay in Kiel and Munich (and hence, out of Berlin) for now. -Paul
[2009-07-22 16:02:35] - Paul: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikey -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 15:57:30] - Germany: Now I don't even know what you're talking about. -England
[2009-07-22 15:50:31] - don't know if any of you use woot, but they're currently having a woot-off (chaining one deal at a time as each one sells out). - pierce
[2009-07-22 15:40:26] - England: Need to get an early start with all your pikeys taking over. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 15:36:31] - Germany: Also, you're about 35 years early... -Paul
[2009-07-22 15:35:44] - Germany: I thought you were ok with the brownies, it was the gypsies you didn't like. -Paul
[2009-07-22 15:34:06] - sorry the OMG was me... but soo wrong but kinda amusing anyway ~gurkie
[2009-07-22 15:33:44] - OMG
[2009-07-22 15:33:04] - Too much?? -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 15:32:48] - Berlin does not allow brownies. We are undergoing a comprehensive program to rid ourselves of all brownies, and their worse cousins, the jewies. -- Germany
[2009-07-22 15:26:44] - austria: If you find any, though, you have to share. -Paul
[2009-07-22 15:26:21] - austria: Good luck. England is quite possibly the most heavily fortified group of home supply centers on the map right now. You're welcome to have the ocean, though. I hear there are brownies there. -Paul
[2009-07-22 15:25:22] - abdul wants brownies too?
[2009-07-22 15:24:17] - or, possibly, into the ocean... whichever is closer - austria
[2009-07-22 15:23:54] - paul: i already worked out my battle strategy with abdul; my scientists are researching an airship, and then we're going to air-drop his units into england - austria
[2009-07-22 15:14:05] - xpovos: good luck, feel free to ask questions ^_^ -dave
[2009-07-22 15:10:50] - dave: Step one, learn the lingo, flow, and get comfortable. Step two, work out some stradles and hedging techniques. Step three, move out of the play money. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 15:09:57] - Pretty much all of my trades are in the 'options portfolio' which you have to select after clicking the link -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 15:07:19] - xpovos: tis true, it will help you figure out what the actual options contracts do. Usually people use them more to test out strategies -dave
[2009-07-22 15:05:51] - a: Whoa. Links are unreadable without the hover color on that version. I like the grey. It's a nice compromise. It just means my traditional colors (grey or silver) seem invisible. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 15:04:03] - dave: If it gets me familiar and comfortable with the terms and the flow, it should benefit me in a real portfolio as well, even if the performance is never the same. I'd be upset with that first trade in a real portfoilio, even if it did make money. A misunderstanding like that can cost way too much. In this case, I was just out some 'play' money at worst. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 15:04:02] - dave: If it gets me familiar and comfortable with the terms and the flow, it should benefit me in a real portfolio as well, even if the performance is never the same. I'd be upset with that first trade in a real portfoilio, even if it did make money. A misunderstanding like that can cost way too much. In this case, I was just out some 'play' money at worst. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 15:03:21] - xpovos: we could always change the default background. . . . plus i don't read the message board using the default background anyways. ~a
[2009-07-22 14:59:44] - xpovos: well, if you thought it was going to be that much later, I wouldn't buy the put until around when you thought it'd drop, otherwise you lose all that time premium -dave
[2009-07-22 14:59:38] - a: I was noticing for the 10-year flashback that I was one of the few in my 'original' color. I think this was just kind of default. Unfortunately, most of the colors I'd like better don't mesh well with the background.
[2009-07-22 14:58:23] - So, for that, since I'm expecting the movement much later, I'd want a longer term option. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:58:21] - yikes . . . does one of you want to change colors?
~a[2009-07-22 14:58:06] - Hmm, yeah. I'm not sure I want to push it out that far, but I understand the strategy. On the specific, though, I think GE is OK for a bit because they're past earnings. It won't be pretty, but they're not going to move much until we get more rumors for next quarter. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:57:35] - xpovos: i'm a big fan of fake portfolios in theory, but it never seems to work in practice. Kinda like playing poker for fake money, it's never the same as with real money -dave
[2009-07-22 14:56:42] - xpovos: but you'd have to remember to sell the Puts in a month if it didn't drop like you thought -dave
[2009-07-22 14:56:25] - dave: Exactly. Better to be lucky than smart. Anyway, I also took the opportunity to buy up fake shares of LMT at the same time, because I figured it was getting hit too hard by the report. So, Lockheed has been very nice to my fake portfolio. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:55:54] - xpovos: that's true about you needing it to be there at expiration, but say you think GE will go down in the next month, you could buy puts that expire in OCT. That way, when it goes down next month, you're more buffered from the expiration date -dave
[2009-07-22 14:54:14] - xpovos: hehe, unfortunately it was only because you did almost exactly the opposite of what you wanted to do -dave
[2009-07-22 14:54:12] - dave: Makes sense. You buy a put to hdege risk, which decreases as the expiration date gets closer. I'm actually more interested in the underlying stock here though. At $0.40 per share premium, I need CIT to be at less than $0.60 (ignoring comission) to profit from this on expiration day. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:52:39] - Too bad it wasn't real money. I'll take beginner's luck. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:52:23] - dave: Right, so it allows me to do what I wanted without actually shorting. The other trade was a put on LM, but I think I thought I was buying a call. I wanted the opportunity to buy shares at $80, which was in the money, but I got opportunity to sell at 80, which was out. And then their report yesterday gave me a 200%+ return. I closed the position... -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:51:40] - ... to sell them after it drops -dave
[2009-07-22 14:51:30] - the tricky part is the time premium though. if your put option is out of the money, then your premium will decrease every day until expiration, when it will expire worthless, so if you're buying puts, you either want to make sure that they're going to be in the money, or make sure you're buying puts with expirations far enough out that they give you enough time... -dave
[2009-07-22 14:50:55] - dave: yeah, the multiplier is 100. I don't think I'd realized the premium was per underlying share, I thought it was per contract. That explains some of the difficulty I was having with the math. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:50:00] - but yes, buying Puts on the stock is somewhat like shorting - if the stock goes down, you will make money -dave
[2009-07-22 14:49:30] - if it cost you only 1k, then it sounds like the multiplier is 10, which seems really odd -dave
[2009-07-22 14:48:40] - that being said, some multipliers are different, especially for futures options, so you have to figure out what the multiplier is -dave
[2009-07-22 14:47:50] - options contracts are generally for 100x the amount of stock. so 1 put contract will is for 100 shares. So if you buy 1 put contract that is listed at 0.40 it will cost you $40 -dave
[2009-07-22 14:47:37] - Wow, this seems to be another quick diplomacy turn so far. I would think that the people in the Balkans at least would want to be talking to each other more... -Paul
[2009-07-22 14:41:50] - m) = $1000.00. But it cost me 10x that amount, and it's showing me market gains and losses that seem strange. Clearly until the option date, the value is in flux based on the newer premiums which tend to track the price movement somewhat. But the math doesn't seem to be making sense. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:40:31] - So, today I try again. I wanted to short CIT, but the rules don't allow shorting stocks currently under $3/share, so I bought a put option instead. My understanding was that I'd pay the premium for each contract to gain the option to sell the underlying stock at the strike price. By my books, it should have cost me 250 (# of contracts purchased) * $0.40 (contract premiu
[2009-07-22 14:39:06] - Anyway, since it got quiet, I'll ask my question, which dave can answer if he's still here, or ignore. I'm playing around with some options in a fake stock trading game which allows options. No better way to learn than by doing. I made a trade yesterday which went hugely profitable when the stock did the opposite of what I expected. I have a lot to learn. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:15:59] - Heh. ronpaulsingles is so much more interesting than my silly options question. That's an awesome site. Doomed to failure, but awesome. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 14:04:37] - dave: that should not be the question! dont you go being a bad influence on my boy!! ~gurkie
[2009-07-22 14:04:09] - vinnie: nice save... ~gurkie
[2009-07-22 14:02:39] - gurkie: I think it's pretty naive to think only singles use single sites. er, I mean, paul sucks - vinnie
[2009-07-22 14:02:33] - Paul: Shouldn't the question be, why wouldn't a guy be looking for megan fox? -dave
[2009-07-22 13:56:48] - Paul: I saw it on CNN and thought you and Mig would appreciate it. (NOT FOR YOU TO USE CAUSE U ARE NOT SINGLE) ~gurkie
[2009-07-22 13:55:42] - Gurkie: Why are you looking for a Ron Paul single? -Paul
[2009-07-22 13:54:23] - PAUL - WHY ARE YOU LOOKING FOR MEGAN FOX???? ~GURKIE
[2009-07-22 13:54:10] - http://www.ronpaulsingles.com/ ~gurkie
[2009-07-22 13:53:36] - Does Megan Fox read this board anymore?
-Paul[2009-07-22 13:50:46] - no, I don't really read this board anymore. But adrian emailed me saying someone was looking for me 00 -dave
[2009-07-22 13:43:37] - Xpovos: I don't think so, but he might. -Paul
[2009-07-22 12:44:18] - Does dave still read this, even if he doesn't post? I have questions about options. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 12:43:58] - wikipedia: Yeah, it's not a well sourced idiom, but definitely part of the vernacular now. Shark jumping by contrast is too unique. I guess everyone wants someone to get hit by a bus once in a while. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 12:40:32] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throw_under_the_bus
[2009-07-22 12:36:09] - i can only think of "helen" from the movie Speed, the scene where the bomb on the bus goes off and she gets sucked under the tires - aaron
[2009-07-22 12:03:37] - I know the orgin of jumping sharks... but I don't know the orgin of throwing under a bus. I'll have to look into that. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-22 11:37:50] - http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2009/07/22/2009-07-22_world_of_warcraft_jumps_from_computer_screen_to_big_screen_spidermans_sam_raimi_.html World of Warcraft movie? -Paul
[2009-07-22 11:32:08] - Vinnie: Exactly! Everytime I hear the phrase, I picture the person in question literally throwing somebody under a moving bus. It got pretty funny when I was picturing McCain doing it to Palin during the election.
-Paul[2009-07-22 11:23:47] - paul: "thrown under the bus" is a little overused now, but the imagery is still excellent - vinnie
[2009-07-22 11:17:58] - Vinnie: Hahaha! That's pretty good. I also hope it catches on and never gets old (of course, I still love phrases like "jumped the shark" and "thrown under the bus"). -Paul
[2009-07-22 11:13:58] - I was reading an article about yet another politician who had an affair and one of the comments was "looks like another Republican was caught 'hiking the Appalachian trail.'" I really hope this phrase catches on
- vinnie[2009-07-22 10:26:32] - desert bus sounds absolutely horrid! why would anyone ever want to play it... with an emulator I bet they figured out how to programattically send it the right place like veer to the left every three seconds or something... in order to get to 99 points. ~gurkie
[2009-07-22 09:55:18] - aaron: heh, you've never heard of "desert bus"? that's the only reason I am familiar with that game - vinnie
[2009-07-22 06:41:28] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller's_Smoke_and_Mirrors this game sounds really cool! particularly "desert bus" - aaron
[2009-07-22 04:47:46] - raise your hand if you're stabbing england in the spring!
[2009-07-21 23:40:44] - xpovos: it was waiting on me and i had no options. ~a
[2009-07-21 16:49:00] - well, in the online version you can still negotiate in the winter. i think it's a good decision that it forces you to say "next turn" - aaron
[2009-07-21 15:52:38] - I guess this has come up because we're stuck waiting on Adrian when he has no build orders to submit? -Paul
[2009-07-21 15:08:56] - so if you are at +0 in the winter, you literally cannot do anything. - mig
[2009-07-21 15:08:33] - you actually can't disband a unit unless you have to. at least the interface doesn't allow you and I believe it's in the rules too. - mig
[2009-07-21 15:08:00] - mig: I'm not sure. You can elect not to build if you can, maybe you can elect to disband if you don't need to? Seems silly, but I've seen some weird stuff. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-21 15:05:50] - speaking of which, it really should automatically change you to process orders if you have nothing you can build or disband. - mig
[2009-07-21 15:05:16] - Wow, talk about a quick build turn so far. -Paul
[2009-07-21 15:03:54] - anon: Sorry, I figured it would take longer. I'm not the last to act, though. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-21 14:54:40] - germany: figure out what you want to disband
[2009-07-21 13:17:44] - Germany: All part of our plan. -England
[2009-07-21 13:12:30] - England: I was fooled. -- Germany
[2009-07-21 13:05:12] - Aaron: It was our secret plan all along, to fool you all into thinking we were enemies. -Paul
[2009-07-21 12:52:08] - alright my orders are in. sorry no crazy stabbing action this time... but wow, surprised to see germany and england working together so soon - aaron
[2009-07-21 12:29:25] - paul: bah i must have clicked the button twice by accident, i'll fix it later... i'm at work now - aaron
[2009-07-21 11:19:53] - Paul: Stop letting cats out of bags! But yeah, no need to have another illegal order because of a geography misclick. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-21 11:10:51] - So I guess we need to apply our peer pressure on Aaron now to get his orders in? I don't want to pressure him too much, though, because I want his betrayal of Miguel to go off without a problem.
-Paul[2009-07-20 22:33:32] - re: mashup - i don't really understand why this keeps getting linked around. i don't think the melody fits the chords at all but that is just my music nerd perspective. iow, what aaron said, dissonant .p -amy
[2009-07-20 22:22:21] - (for a mashup, anyway) - pierce
[2009-07-20 21:35:38] - yeah, it's not flawless, but it's much better than I would have expected. I didn't think it was particularly dissonant. - pierce
[2009-07-20 21:30:30] - I agree with aaron. I 'hear' it, but more in the I hear the violin being played with a dead cat meaning. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-20 21:27:11] - mig: I understand some turns are going to take longer than others, but we've been moving along at a nice clip. ~2 days per turn. Even the first turn. This one is just our longest by far. Frustrating, I guess, because I'm no longer in a position to really do a lot of diplomacy or backstabbings. Everyone who's getting my stabbies is expecting them by now. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-20 19:21:36] - pierce: i didn't like that mashup at all - it sounded really dissonant to me. i didn't hear it. - aaron
[2009-07-20 17:42:26] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN75im_us4k - pierce
[2009-07-20 17:05:21] - mmm... this is some good soup. - pierce
[2009-07-20 16:58:13] - a: however, they don't rely on the licensing rights to their photos as an exclusive source of revenue. they're much less likely to be opposed to permissive licenses, since they'd be able to benefit from others' work too. the only situations that might continue to have restrictive licensing are where the photo is the story, like "wardrobe malfunctions". - pierce
[2009-07-20 16:53:19] -
- vinnie[2009-07-20 16:49:14] -
you're going to get me in trouble. ~a[2009-07-20 16:48:30] - a: i've already got all my orders entered last night, i'm waiting to double check them once i get home... i didn't want to rush my orders and screw them up like last time - aaron
[2009-07-20 16:37:16] - mig: I should be close to getting my orders in. Just a few more moves to finalize. I'm hoping something exciting happens to liven up what would at first appear to be a boring turn. -Paul
[2009-07-20 16:31:24] - however i do approve of this subtle ruse to prod people to get their move orders in. - mig
[2009-07-20 16:18:57] - xpovos: even without diplomacizing there's a lot to think about for this turn. - mig
[2009-07-20 16:01:27] - Xpovos: Hopefully none of the back-stabbing involves me. My delay has less to do with diplomacizing and more to do with tactical manuvers. -Paul
[2009-07-20 15:56:52] - diplomacy: This is a heady turn. Must be some serious back-stabbings going on. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-20 15:56:08] - pierce:
I recognize that amateurs, even good photographers will come away with unprofessional shots. They're candids. Candids never come out quite right. Like that one lady looking the wrong way at an autograph session. Brillant! -- Xpovos[2009-07-20 15:47:59] - pierce: photographers from normal news outlets and the outlets themselves usually have the same unpermissive licenses. the problem remains. no soup for you. ~a
[2009-07-20 15:47:59] - xpovos: well in fairness, random people with cameras tend to take really crappy photos no matter how high the resolution is. I do think there's a role for professional photographers, but I don't see why there has to be a role for professional celebrity photographers. - pierce
[2009-07-20 15:43:04] - Anyone with a camera who sees a person they recognize as a celbrity. Oh... yeah, they're doing that already. We just need higher megapixels, that's all.
-- Xpovos[2009-07-20 15:40:38] - a: photographers from normal news outlets? - pierce
[2009-07-20 15:31:16] - who would take the pictures if that job didn't exist? ~a
[2009-07-20 15:00:44] - a: well, it's just unfortunate that there is such a thing as a "professional celebrity photographer", whose job it is to go around suing people for using their photos... that job needs to not exist - aaron
[2009-07-20 14:59:07] - paul: I looked up George Gervin, it was pretty funny but not hilariously funny. I was already pretty familiar with the celebrity photo problem on wikipedia, John Linnell's picture is particularly terrifying - aaron
[2009-07-20 13:35:56] - i think this is the way it needs to be. we need crappy pictures of celebrities on wikipedia so that slowly but surely more pictures will be distributed under a permissive license. "To me the problem is the Wikipedia rule of public use," that's exactly right. you don't lose your copyright but you do lose the ability to tell me how i am to use your data. yay. ~a
[2009-07-20 13:27:23] - Aaron: How many of the people mentioned in the article did you look up in wikipedia? I stopped after Halle Berry and George Clooney, but was tempted to look up more. -Paul
[2009-07-20 13:16:28] - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/arts/20funny.html an article which talks about wikipedia's crappy celebrity photos - aaron
[2009-07-20 13:02:20] - amy: yay! i think it'll be really fun. -aaron
[2009-07-20 12:49:10] - paul: : - * ~a
[2009-07-20 12:43:18] - a: Well, based on the stats page, it looks like you can't blame the crappiness on me. There were months in 2003 where it looked like I was half the posts.
-Paul[2009-07-20 12:39:39] - i often wonder if it's a coincidence or not, but it lined up with other events occurring at that time. ~a
[2009-07-20 12:38:10] - i actually think 2003 was crappy because 2002 was crappy. i don't think it had anything to do with graduation. people come and go on the board and in late 2001 lots of people went. ~a
[2009-07-20 11:33:22] - aaron: whoa scribblenauts looks really fun. i'd never heard of it before, but *now* i'm anticipating it! ^_^ -amy
[2009-07-20 11:12:09] - 10,000 posts per year is a lot. And 2003 brutalizes your average. Man, what happened... other than everyone graduating. Trying to be really good at the first job and not goof off and post to the board? -- Xpovos
[2009-07-20 11:08:46] - a: NO! I like this version better, and I am guessing you do too, otherwise you never would have migrated away from the old version... ~gurkie
[2009-07-20 10:48:32] - pierce: yes, the message board will be 10 years old in october. . . . we might not make it to 100000 posts by then. ~a
[2009-07-20 10:34:35] - gurkie: you didn't like it?
~a[2009-07-20 09:58:16] - is there a way I can see the other version with a title, subtitle, random message, and a search box? ~gurkie
[2009-07-20 09:57:29] - also WHY is there a spring 2001 schedule on here, and was Pierce on hot or not??? ~gurkie
[2009-07-20 09:46:32] - If you want to join, look for me as a 'buddy', I'm Xpovos, of course. Also, if you mention I referred you, I get more loyalty points, but not enough to warrant referring me, really. Also, I'm not sure I really 'recommend' the place yet. I've only been playing around for about 24 hours. So, just buddy me, or something. I'll wager my $100K vs. yours. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-20 09:45:24] - Some folks here were looking at 'fantasy' stock trading platforms before? I read about this one in the Washington Post (Magazine section) yesterday and singed up. In addition to the fantasy trades competition, there are prizes, and 'loyalty' points redeemable for amazon gift cards. Looks like fun. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-19 22:28:18] - oh man, deja vu. there's an accent in there somewhere - vinnie
[2009-07-19 20:15:46] - why dont I get an emoticon or color... I post a lot more than many of these people ~gurkie
[2009-07-19 16:53:24] - WMATA public session to discuss bicyclists and the metro. thought some of you might be interested. - pierce
[2009-07-19 11:08:52] - lol why does travis get the border? - aaron
[2009-07-18 00:23:57] - a: 10? - pierce
[2009-07-17 19:28:50] - Wow. Version regression and a half. Welcome back, Mr. IOU. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-17 15:13:01] - a: fta: "lion", "tiger" and "leopard" while similar will behave differently and have different art assets, while the only difference in the game between "croissant" and "danish" is that the danish may be able to roll like a wheel.
- aaron[2009-07-17 15:10:04] - i'm guessing a lot of the nouns produce the same item? i can't immagine creating 10k items. ~a
[2009-07-17 15:07:17] - aaron: 10,000 nouns. That's a lot. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-17 15:05:46] - http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/05/scribblenauts-passes-our-ten-word-challenge-with-flying-colors/ here's a pretty funny article where they tried to stump the game by writing in stupid or obscure things - but it looks like the vocabulary's very broad - aaron
[2009-07-17 14:45:27] - a: yeah very much like fantastic contraption - except instead of putting together many simple objects, you're putting together a few complicated objects - aaron
[2009-07-17 14:44:53] - xpovos: ooooh i'll bet that'll be someone's challenge - what's the fewest amount of items you can use to solve all the puzzles in the game. duct tape is a good guess. supposedly someone also wrote down a bunch of monsters in escalating order of ferocity, just to make them fight eachother - aaron
[2009-07-17 14:43:53] - so it's like fantastic contraption? or what? ~a
[2009-07-17 14:43:35] - it's almost a throwback to those old text-based adventures, except this time all the stupid stuff you think up actually accomplishes something (other than an occasional snarky comeback from the software developers) - aaron
[2009-07-17 14:43:24] - aaron: Hah! I wonder why he thought of beaver before axe? I guess beaver is more bizarre in showing off the capabilities of the game. I wonder if someone will try to solve every single puzzle with only duct tape and high explosives. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-17 14:42:17] - xpovos: it looked really cool, i remember seeing a really simple puzzle - like getting an item out of a tree - and the guy showed three pretty clever ways of solving the puzzle. i think he came up with "ladder" first, and then "football" (which he threw into the tree, to knock the item down) and the last item he wrote was "beaver" - aaron
[2009-07-17 14:23:48] - aaron: I'd read good things about it, but won't go so far as to say I'm anticipating it. I'll need further convincing, I think. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-17 14:03:19] - is anyone else anticipating the DS game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribblenauts ? - aaron
[2009-07-17 10:19:34] - although, I only would have said that the move was planned not what the move was... Cause I dont know who moved where.. ~gurkie
[2009-07-17 10:19:03] - mig: I was not fooled, I heard you and Aar talking about it
~gurkie[2009-07-17 09:16:23] - mig: I was fooled, I think I even e-mailed you about it - vinnie
[2009-07-17 09:02:54] - mig: I was fooled, but I've been proved to be an incredibly credulous opponent. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-16 20:25:19] - mig: stop letting cats out of bags! - aaron
[2009-07-16 19:50:15] - aaron: so, it is confirmed. ~a
[2009-07-16 19:12:16] - since the cat is well out of the bag here, I am geniunely curious as to who was actually fooled by my movement into Triest in the first turn? - mig
[2009-07-16 17:47:18] - aaron: i can't tell if you're lying to me or yourself. ~a
[2009-07-16 16:28:42] - gurkie: hehe, good thing I left "you two" ambiguous - vinnie
[2009-07-16 16:22:10] - vinnie: yea him and adrian are sooo geeky and cute together... ~gurkie
[2009-07-16 16:21:53] - paul: NO WUBNUB!!! ~gurkie
[2009-07-16 16:17:25] - a: back-stab? you started it mister - aaron
[2009-07-16 16:08:02] - Vinnie: Haha, it was actually a term between Adrian and I, but thanks! -Paul
[2009-07-16 15:56:51] - paul: that sounds like a pet term for something. you two are so geeky and cute
- vinnie[2009-07-16 15:55:08] - Gurkie: My mistake. We'll start project wubnub tonight!
-Paul[2009-07-16 15:46:15] - well i guess i learned that if i see a move your opponent can do that is really, really, good, you should try to block it even if it's unlikely he'll go for it. - mig
[2009-07-16 15:28:55] - paul: I already offered to but you didnt seem to want to write it with me
~gurkie[2009-07-16 15:19:11] - a: I think your problem was that you didn't manage to get your fleet out into the Mediterranean Sea. That let Italy get too close for comfort. -Paul
[2009-07-16 15:17:34] - http://www.precentral.net/palm-releases-mojo-sdk So who wants to write the next million dollar app with me?
-Paul[2009-07-16 15:05:48] - in my offense (opposite of "in my defense") i was told in advance that aaron was going to back-stab me. ~a
[2009-07-16 14:37:49] - Xpovos: In your defense, your only mistake was completely and utterly trusting me and yet you are still only about as screwed as Adrian (sorry Adrian!) and once you stop averaging 5.5 interceptions a game, your Madden victories will come. -Paul
[2009-07-16 14:28:52] - I've played a pretty miserable game of Diplomacy, and I can't seem to beat Paul in Madden either, but at least I'm pretty darn good at Magic. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-16 14:26:21] - xpovos: so how is life?
~a[2009-07-16 14:25:12] - *** Xpovos *headdesk*
[2009-07-16 14:18:11] - Vinnie: Sweet. Thanks. Nice turn for you, btw. You didn't lose anything and in fact have gained a supply center. -Paul
[2009-07-16 14:14:23] - paul: done - vinnie
[2009-07-16 13:53:26] - Vinnie: Now get your orders in so we can move onto next turn.
-Paul[2009-07-16 13:51:24] - Vinnie: I guess I can see that. The half blood prince (and gaunt family) backstory was interesting, but not really critical to the story at all so I can see how they can cut most of it out. -Paul
[2009-07-16 13:33:50] - and book 6/movie 6 is the opposite - vinnie
[2009-07-16 13:33:22] - it ended up feeling like how I thought book 5 READ, not much story, just a bunch of stuff to set up for the next book. strangely, I thought movie 5 did a good job focusing on what story aspects were in book 5, and it ended up being a stronger story than the book - vinnie
[2009-07-16 13:31:57] - paul: *SPOILERS?* it cut out a lot of what drives the story, which was disappointing but probably necessary. the half-blood prince storyline was really glossed over, almost felt like an afterthought. I thought the dialogue and the visuals were very good though, possibly the best of the series - vinnie
[2009-07-16 13:11:09] - Wait... what? Movie 6, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince skips out on the Half Blood Prince plotline? Actually, I'm not sure if I want you to tell me. -- Xpovos
[2009-07-16 12:43:00] - Aaron: You're right, that would make a good ringtone. I'll see what I can do. -Paul
[2009-07-16 12:42:44] - Pierce: Yeah, I've heard they kinda skipped both of those. It sounds like they deviated a lot from the book, which is annoying, but I guess if the movie is still good I can't complain too much. -Paul
[2009-07-16 11:40:28] - the first 4 seconds of "dare to be stupid" on loop (the instrumental part...) I think it sounds urgent enough to be a cool ringtone. also it would loop well. - aaron
[2009-07-16 11:30:34] - paul: about that... - pierce
[2009-07-16 10:43:11] - Pierce: I've heard the same thing from other reviews, which seems odd to me. I read the book a while ago but I remember two clear subplots that I would've thought would translate well to the movie (Who is the Half-Blood Prince? and the Tom Riddle family tree). -Paul
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