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[2009-10-13 14:30:13] - amy: you were responding to this link that paul posted. history ~a
[2009-10-13 14:28:31] - augh all i want to do right now is have a nap but i have to get ready for work and go to it. why can't it be 30 minutes ago right now ;_; -amy
[2009-10-13 14:26:54] - i wonder what richard gere said that made me sad that he got booed for it. -amy
[2009-10-13 14:25:44] - for anyone who wants to check their answer, the 10 letter word in md5sum is f79b1d64a8d8b02b86d797765a6a1fe4. ~a
[2009-10-13 14:23:25] - i guess some disciplines have watermarks. i assume that's not what the fake streets are called. ~a
[2009-10-13 14:22:27] - aaron: wow, no! that sounds like a crazy idea that could be adapted to lots of other fields. wouldn't they cause a problem though? and if not, wouldn't they be easy to filter out? ~a
[2009-10-13 14:17:37] - does anybody know what those fake streets are called that mapmakers insert into maps, to detect when someone's copying their work? i can't remember if they still use those - but i know there's a word for them, and now i can't remember what that word is - aaron
[2009-10-13 13:50:40] - amy: if it's in a dictionary, then you're correct! umm. you could wait 'till aaron gives up. or you could pass your answer into md5sum (in webpage form) or some other checksum and post the sum here. or you could check with stephen since he has the answer too. ~a
[2009-10-13 13:44:41] - Paul: Heh, let the moaning and whining for a playoff system start. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 13:42:13] - God... you'd think I'd be able to spell fuel. Consistently. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 13:36:55] - a: Right. Because the automatic shut-off sensor for different pumps, even at the same station, could be different. Basically, it means the gas tank size is variable, even if the quantity of fuel put in is well known. The PV=nRT is actually more of a legitimate factor because the temperature affects the energetic value of the feul dispensed, even if gallons are constant.
[2009-10-13 13:11:49] - Amy: Me too! - Stephen
[2009-10-13 13:03:14] - http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=roadtobcs/0901 For the college football fans on the board, ESPN is estimating that Tech will be #3 in the first BCS standings. -Paul
[2009-10-13 12:58:56] - (both the 10 and the 12 letter one) -amy
[2009-10-13 12:58:24] - i think i got it (a real answer). how do i check with a without telling everyone? -amy
[2009-10-13 12:50:25] - aaron: you are correct on ility. ~a
[2009-10-13 12:49:42] - xpovos: environmental factors? environmental factors is PV=nRT and the automatic shut-off, right? because i have to believe the automatic shut-off would skew your numbers by almost a gallon. (which could affect your mpg by ~50 times your precision). ~a
[2009-10-13 12:45:12] - a: i'm guessing it ends in ility, or maybe ily. it's not in my scrabble dictionary, because it only goes up to 8 letters. i'll find your word! (assuming my guess was wrong) - aaron
[2009-10-13 12:43:37] - a: milivinily! - aaron
[2009-10-13 12:35:31] - a: Well, I'm pretty confident in the gas pump's measured dispensation, because it's subject to review by state weights and measures inspectors. I'm fairly confident that my trip odometer is accurate to the nearest mile, though not necessarily the nearsest tenth. Since the tenth is the least sig fig, that's pretty good anyway. So, it really is the environmental factors.
[2009-10-13 12:27:48] - xpovos: i'm not sure you're supposed to use all the sig-figs you get from your measuring device when your device is clearly not accurate or precise to the sig-figs that it's giving you. so, uh, is that false precision? "since precision is a limit to accuracy, this often leads to overconfidence in the accuracy as well." ~a
[2009-10-13 12:22:10] - a: I use the sig figs I've got from the measuring devices applicable. I recognize environmental factors will skew my numbers. If I were graphing them, I'd use error bars, but that's not the case here. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 12:00:47] - amy: also your word is 8 letters long.
~a[2009-10-13 11:59:43] - xpovos: i usually don't care if my calculations are a little off. in other words, i would never calculate my mpg down to the tenth of a mile. i'm just looking out for huge drops in my mpg hoping that i could catch a major problem before it is too late. ~a
[2009-10-13 11:55:48] - amy: not a word? ~a
[2009-10-13 11:48:05] - a: minipily -amy
[2009-10-13 11:40:58] - Xpovos: Even though I've gotten pretty good at guessing how many gallons of gas I've used based on my fuel gauge, I still think it's a lot more accurate to go ahead and fill up to see how many gallons the gas pump thinks I used. -Paul
[2009-10-13 11:33:40] - Xpovos: I'm not entirely sure I understand how you're calculating your "current" fill-up numbers, but I use the "previous" fill-up method because it's the only way that I figure I can get an accurate measure. -Paul
[2009-10-13 11:32:40] - a: hmm wait i miscounted the i's, sorry - aaron
[2009-10-13 11:32:16] - a: I think i know the word. Is it 18 points in scrabble? - aaron
[2009-10-13 11:27:27] - At the very least it smooths out the variance. But I don't think it's actually more accurate. Back to my first example, the difference between current and next is usually small for full fill-ups. 29.2 vs 28.0, but that's still a 4% discrepency. So... which do you use? Which do you think is more accurate? -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 11:25:40] - I got around this by adding a new calculation miles on next odometer reading over gas on current purchase, or the 'next' leg. On that, my 171+ goes to 19.8 and my 3 goes to 26.7, both much more reasonable for the driving I was doing at the time. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 11:24:25] - I have a 'feuling' where I got an apparent 171+ MPG followed by a fill-up where I got 3.3mpg. If I add the two together and average, it gets a better number of course, but strictly by the formula, it gets thrown off, which makes tools like my excel spreadsheet (or probably Paul's app) a little wonky. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 11:22:52] - But if the fuel consumption varies significantly from the norm. Say I need to buy gas quick, it throws the calculation a little, sometimes a lot. E.g.: I'm about to go E and I need to stop for gas, but elect to only put in $5 to get me to a cheaper station. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 11:19:59] - The trip odometer says I drove 455.2 miles on that 16.256 gal (28.0mpg). The previous trip (where I used 15.587) I drove 406.2 miles (26.1). That's the 'current' fill up for mileage scenario. It makes an obvious sense. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 11:18:04] - E.g. I just drove to Williamsburg and used up the bulk of a gas tank of feul in 24 hours. Right before I left, I filled up, and I filled up shortly after the return. (15.587 and 16.256 gal respectively) so basically a 0.75 gal difference between the two, due to my running it very low after the return (an extra trip to work on Saturday) -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 11:16:04] - My biggest question on methodology is current fill-up vs. previous fill-up calculations. Assuming you drive to the same level of the gas tank each time, you're filling up with approximately the same amount of feul each time, and your only difference is miles directly correlated to MPG. That's rarely actually the case, though, so the two measures differ. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 11:14:53] - a: Yes, the automatic cut-off discrepancies are a factor to consider in your methodology, as is the ambient temperature at fill-up time, since PV=nRT etc. But I basically have to assume that those factors are negligible over time, because otherwise the excercise is pretty meaningless. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 11:06:08] - xpovos: i've noticed that the cut-off for most gas-pumps are wildly unreliable to get an accurate reading of how much gas i've consumed. what's more, i can usually put 1.5 gallons extra in my tank if i top it off and i'm pretty sure that'll confound any gas mileage numbers i calculate unless i'm only trying to get a rough reading. ~a
[2009-10-13 11:00:20] - Xpovos: It's called mileage monitor. It's fairly bare-bones, but it does the job. You enter in your odometer reading, how many gallons you put it and how much you paid and it keep track of mpg for the previous fillup and lifetime and how much you paid per mile (fillup and lifetime). -Paul
[2009-10-13 10:58:56] - Paul: oooh, what app? But that's off-track. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 10:50:49] - Xpovos: Used to until about a month ago, now I use my palm pre app to keep track of it. -Paul
[2009-10-13 10:48:39] - xpovos: paul does, and he keeps a journal ~gurkie
[2009-10-13 10:47:47] - Xpovos: I do, roughly. I don't keep a journal of it, though. - Stephen
[2009-10-13 10:45:40] - Do any of you routinely verify MPG by taking trip odometer readings at fill-ups? If so I have follow-up questions on methodology. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-13 10:33:12] - a: I feel like I've noticed that about that word while writing it, but I can't remember what word that is off the top of my head - vinnie
[2009-10-13 10:26:19] - fill in the underscores to get a very common 10 letter word: _i_i_i_i_y.
there's a similar 12 letter word (only slightly less common) that still continues the pattern. ~a[2009-10-13 10:25:41] - I guess the only thing to wonder now is if E/R will last for the whole game, neither are in any real position to stab the other. Though the bounce in Holland was kind of funny, though it might have seemed pre-arranged. - mig
[2009-10-13 09:48:42] - Stephen: England doesn't threaten you because he doesn't need your supply centers to win. If your only goal is to not shrink, then congratulations, I think you're well on track.
-Paul[2009-10-13 09:20:11] - Xpovos: Your position is definitely better than Paul's or mine. But I agree, you're in a distant third right now, and it'll take skill or luck to get into a tied victory. - Stephen
[2009-10-13 09:19:06] - Paul: I realize that you are concerned about an English victory, but England doesn't threaten me. And I'm not sure why I should have voluntarily shrank so that you could mount a valiant defense against a country that is not my enemy. - Stephen
[2009-10-13 09:06:31] - Xpovos: I'm not sure anybody except me and Aaron properly understands the gravity of the situation here.
-Paul[2009-10-13 09:06:01] - Xpovos: Well, I figured our best bet for preventing a British victory was for an Italian/Turkish/French alliance which did not happen. Second best chance was for Turkey not to stab me in the back while saving the Mediterranean territories from Aaron... which also didn't happen. -Paul
[2009-10-12 22:05:51] - Paul: Yeah, Diplomacy is getting ... interesting/bizarre. And not necessarily in a good way. Though I like my own position better now, I think the world is worse off, which actually makes it harder for me to get into a tied victory. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-12 22:04:49] - a: I doubt it unless they're pulling their Christmas culture from our media, the way Japan has. Ours is a mish-mash of most of Europe anyway. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-12 17:20:54] - a: The Australians I met said they celebrated Christmas on the beach with some beer and plenty of sunscreen. They thought it sounded better than wearing heavy coats. - Stephen
[2009-10-12 16:31:52] - do christmas-ians in the southern hemisphere celebrate with a tree? do they sing the same songs as we do? . . . it seems like at least half of the holiday wouldn't make any sense in the middle of summer. do they have their own set of independent winter solstice celebrations? ~a
[2009-10-12 15:14:34] - Stephen: Ok... except now you certainly lose Naples. Having a navy in Tunis instead of the Ionian Sea means you might as well have lost the unit. I guess at least you made it a hell of a lot more difficult for me to keep Aaron out of the Medit now. -Paul
[2009-10-12 14:55:14] - a: I wish this game were over. - Stephen
[2009-10-12 14:55:06] - Paul: I had to assume I was going to guess wrong in Turkey. Which I did. If I had gone with your suggestion, I would have ended up disbanding the fleet. - Stephen
[2009-10-12 14:32:54] - ok i'm surprised this game hasn't ended yet. ~a
[2009-10-12 14:27:00] - a: Not that I know of. -Paul
[2009-10-12 14:19:11] - have you guys started a new game? ~a
[2009-10-12 14:10:45] - Stephen: I don't know what it is with you and Tunis... -Paul
[2009-10-12 13:36:23] - vinnie: No I was confused by her asking since I didnt think she wanted that type of job... So I was asking if she was looking for it. Then was going on to explain that I really doubt my company is going to hire anyone outside for that sort of role, they are definately all about working your way up. ~gurkie
[2009-10-12 13:29:24] - gurkie: that first sentence seemed to suggest it was, I guess I was mistaken. unless you were trying to be funny - vinnie
[2009-10-12 13:19:06] - vinnie: I didnt assume its for her! the first part was "urm are you looking for that role?" the rest applied to anyone who wanted the role, in fact I even referred to the potential hiree as the person... ~gurkie
[2009-10-12 12:57:01] - Damn, I guessed Ankara/Constantinople incorrectly. - Stephen
[2009-10-12 11:51:30] - gurkie: OK thanks for the info. everyone else: is your company looking for a program manager of IT? ,) i have a friend who's looking for a job. -amy
[2009-10-12 11:49:05] - xpovos: i will definitely be going to work. whether i end up working or not depends on if the kids confuse today for a real holiday just because they don't have to go to school .p -amy
[2009-10-12 11:17:56] - gurkie: why assume it's for her?
I think it's for her friend - vinnie[2009-10-12 11:03:03] - amy: urm are you looking for that role? I am fairly certain that Amentra will not hire from outside for a Program Manager position. The person would have to have ridiculous amounts of experience before they would even consider it. Primarily that role is reserved for people who are managing multiple Amentra projects which they really require people to work up to. ~Gurkie
[2009-10-12 10:55:46] - fairly biased but interesting article. ~a
[2009-10-12 10:13:49] - good point. i am at work on most holidays. ~a
[2009-10-12 10:09:13] - I am at work. Whether I am working remains to be seen. - Stephen
[2009-10-12 08:43:23] - i work most holidays. ~a
[2009-10-12 08:29:48] - Happy Columbus Day to everyone. I assume most of us are working? -- Xpovos
[2009-10-10 00:57:36] - huh. i was gonna hang out here, but then a started playing with himself. -amy
[2009-10-09 23:44:48] - sweet, now i can just play with myself. pew pew pew! ~a
[2009-10-09 20:20:07] - is everybody gone? ~a
[2009-10-09 15:28:22] - apparently in today's edition on page A6 there's a headline: "Obama War Council weighs troop request" - mig
[2009-10-09 15:20:39] - does anybody here get the WSJ in print form? - mig
[2009-10-09 14:49:28] - gurkie: does amentra have any openings for a "program manager of information technology"? -amy
[2009-10-09 14:28:27] - thank you, stephen! ~a
[2009-10-09 14:24:15] - a: I remember Giuliani o_O - Stephen
[2009-10-09 14:23:20] - i said DON'T FORGET ABOUT GIULIANI!
~a[2009-10-09 11:35:38] - mig: don't forget giuliani. ~a
[2009-10-09 11:14:06] - http://mojo.codehaus.org/shitty-maven-plugin/usage.html - mig
[2009-10-09 10:41:09] - mig: I guess either Obama is truly amazing or those extra three days are mighty important. -Paul
[2009-10-09 10:40:33] - mig: Haha, that snopes page about Bush mentioned that it would be a truly amazing feat for somebody to predict such great things from Bush after only 11 days in office. -Paul
[2009-10-09 10:31:40] - on a pretty liberal online board I read, even people there were saying how Obama's win was completely undeserved, he is escalating the war in Afghanistan, etc. so this seems like a wtf across the board - vinnie
[2009-10-09 10:20:07] - jeez, they nominated Blair too. - mig
[2009-10-09 10:19:23] - paul: http://www.snopes.com/rumors/nobel.asp apprently it was in 2002. - mig
[2009-10-09 10:17:45] - an interesting note from reading the wikipedia article is that gandhi apparently never won the award. - mig
[2009-10-09 10:15:56] - mig: Which in his case makes it more ridiculous. I feel like the longer Bush was in office, the less his case for a peace prize. Obama might well deserve one in a couple of years, but I don't recall what ground breaking thing he did in his first two weeks in office. -Paul
[2009-10-09 10:08:56] - paul: perhaps. the bush thing I think was after he was in office for a while though. - mig
[2009-10-09 10:08:25] - mig: By the way, that was a joke, in case it wasn't obvious.
-Paul[2009-10-09 10:08:05] - mig: Maybe the president of the United States gets an automatic nomination? You did say Bush was nominated at one point too... -Paul
[2009-10-09 10:04:56] - Ok, reading the article he apparently was submitted for a nomination on Feb 1, after being in office for 2 weeks. what. the. fuck. - mig
[2009-10-09 09:55:39] - Stephen: Hey! Don't go mocking Palin. Hasn't she "written" a book just recently? That's even better than reading one.
-Paul[2009-10-09 09:52:30] - Paul: And she's a liberal! I also liked Cohen's parody awarding Palin the Pulitzer for her desire to read a book someday, and giving Britney Spears a humanitarian award for her desire to save a whale. - Stephen
[2009-10-09 09:50:57] - Stephen: I like this line from washingtonpost.com: Ana Marie Cox: "Apparently Nobel prizes now being awarded to anyone who is not George Bush." -Paul
[2009-10-09 09:49:14] - paul: WAR IS PEACE! - mig
[2009-10-09 09:45:05] - mig: Even if what Al Gore did for climate change wasn't that earth-shattering, at least his prize was for something. I'm not entirely clear what Obama had actually done at the time of the nominations. - Stephen
[2009-10-09 09:44:43] - mig: Perhaps, I think it's pretty ridiculous though. Since when has overseeing two wars (and considering a troop surge in one) been grounds for a PEACE prize? -Paul
[2009-10-09 09:43:29] - in their defense, that's somewhat less ludicrous than giving it to Al Gore, and nominating George W Bush. - mig
[2009-10-09 09:41:52] - mig: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/09/AR2009100900914.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009100http://www.http://www.washingtonpost.com:80/ac2/w -Paul
[2009-10-09 09:40:19] - paul: he actually won it? I thought he just nominated. - mig
[2009-10-09 09:32:47] - Stephen: You think Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize is a little ridiculous too? -Paul
[2009-10-09 09:30:04] - and we have simulation and modeling! (which we call modeling and simulation) ~a
[2009-10-09 09:24:33] - I want an international prize, too. I will be somebody special, I promise! - Stephen
[2009-10-09 09:22:16] - aaron: also, I think I'd like to see Devo after all. would prefer the Freedom of Choice concert, if it's all the same to you. that's on a Monday. also TMBG coming around once more in late November. I'd be into seeing them, I think they've become a tradition - vinnie
[2009-10-09 09:21:12] - aaron: there used to be a Sales and Marketing division here. now it's a Marketing and Sales division - vinnie
[2009-10-09 07:54:37] - also, whether or not they giggle at the acronyms we use when referring to "Shipping + Movement" software - aaron
[2009-10-09 07:41:03] - a: i'm the same way during interviews, except i don't think i'm hard on interviewees. but yeah, education i mostly ignore - certifications are often a minus in my book. i care more about a person's actual knowledge, their personality, and their ability to communicate ideas fluently - aaron
[2009-10-09 07:11:28] - vinnie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Peters this "peters and superman" section continues the whole story about Superman 5, it sounds hilariously horrible - aaron
[2009-10-08 18:21:04] - Wow, I'd forgotten about that movie. It was bad, but not awful. Funny about the spiders... -- Xpovos
[2009-10-08 17:35:46] - don't ask why I was reading the wikipedia article on Wild Wild West (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Wild_West) but the last section "Smith on Peters" is amusing - vinnie
[2009-10-08 17:02:03] - Stephen: I actually dont think I would... a now you want to work there dont you? ~gurkie
[2009-10-08 16:36:39] - Gurkie: It totally does. If it weren't totally sexist, you would absolutely win an Amentra "sexiest employee" contest. - Stephen
[2009-10-08 16:27:42] - a: I said I knew C++, not that I knew it well. I know enough to be dangerous. I can generally recognize bad code, and I recognize that I often wrote it. I'm comfortable in FAQs and will always get a product that works, it's just usually inefficient, and sometimes unmanageable. Since I'm always solo, that doesn't matter much. But group code environment is very diff.
[2009-10-08 16:24:27] - gurkie: i can't talk about that here since paul could be reading! (but yes, yes it does) ~a
[2009-10-08 16:23:42] - xpovos: cpp is a good language to know. if i talk to anybody who knows cpp or java well i usually tell my company to hire them. ~a
[2009-10-08 16:23:01] - a: does me working here make it super sexy? ~gurkie
[2009-10-08 16:22:18] - gurkie: i did not switch companies recently. i've been at the same place for the past 6-7 years. i'm not currently interested in changing jobs, but i like to keep my ears open for interesting (super-sexy?) positions. ~a
[2009-10-08 16:15:39] - also, I bombed the technical portion of the interview! so bad, but I managed to convince them to hire me anyway. At the time I had been coding in VB6 for 2+ years and had no current knowledge, but assured them I was confident I could get it and do well. ~gurkie
[2009-10-08 16:14:25] - a: I don't have a bs in CS. And I do a good job
Did you switch companies recently? I was thinking of emailing you just cause I think my company might adore you... But I don't think I did cause I wasn't sure if you would be interested. ~Gurkie[2009-10-08 16:12:28] - a: I think it would help if I knew more than C++, PHP and SQL. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-08 16:01:50] - more often than not, the ms grads don't know shit. ~a
[2009-10-08 16:01:19] - i think to a certain extent, gurkie is right. cs from freshman year of hs is not enough. but i don't think a bs is necessary to do our jobs. i've met tons of people without degrees that kick the ass of the average vt cs grad. i am very hard on interviewees and i expect tons. but i really don't give a fuck if they have completed a bs or an ms or whatever. ~a
[2009-10-08 14:55:41] - Just because it's impressive doesn't mean it's sufficient. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-08 14:55:31] - gurkie: It's unlikely I'd get past the interview either. I think Intwine phrased it along the lines of, "it's impressive how much you were able to answer given lack of expertise/degree in the field, but--no, sorry." -- Xpovos
[2009-10-08 13:30:03] - Stephen: ah yea, I shoudl have known that... I forgot. Good Luck! ~ gurkie
[2009-10-08 13:09:44] - Gurkie: Oh god no...or at least, not yet. Foreign service exam. - Stephen
[2009-10-08 13:05:12] - Stephen: VA Bar? ~Gurkie
[2009-10-08 13:04:58] - "This is our busiest time of the year. It will grow busier as the holiday season approaches closer and closer. " Gotta love best buy's customer service. Right. ~Gurkie
[2009-10-08 12:54:34] - Gurkie: Oh well, it was worth asking. I guess I will have to hope that Saturday's exam goes well. - Stephen
[2009-10-08 12:31:42] - ~gurkie
[2009-10-08 12:31:37] - Stephen: Amentra is not in charge of hiring for Red Hat's legal team. However I could submit your resume to them I am sure. If you want a coding job of CS from freshman year of HS, I have to tell you its unlikely you will pass the interview... Sorry.
[2009-10-08 12:14:14] - first 2 google ad sense i saw in my email today: "Teach English in Italy" and "Turkey Tour Locations", and finally the most amusing one - "Block Spam with Google". - mig
[2009-10-08 10:35:58] - pierce: actually office space is definitely no, 10/17 is my sister's birthday. - mig
[2009-10-08 10:23:26] - Gurkie: Do they want to hire me? I have mad skillz. - Stephen
[2009-10-08 09:57:42] - xpovos: my company is hiring, I dont know if they pay a lot more than you are making now... ~gurkie
[2009-10-08 09:00:59] - a: i don't remember the first 1.5 seconds but i didn't think the episode was very good. same easy targets they've already picked 100 times before, and not much new to say. the chipotle bit was OK - aaron
[2009-10-07 23:18:50] - i've watched the first 1.5 seconds of the new southpark this week and i already love it. ~a
[2009-10-07 18:39:22] - gurkie: keep me informed of anyone super-sexy too. ~a
[2009-10-07 17:49:13] - gurkie: Only if the new job paid a lot more than I'm making now. So, probably not. But keep me informed of anything super-sexy. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-07 17:24:37] - Pierce: I was super confused I read office space but was thinking the office... Anywho, nope Im not interested sorry~gurkie
[2009-10-07 16:16:30] - pierce: probably leaning more towards no. - mig
[2009-10-07 16:05:14] - Pierce: Hopefully going to be having a yard sale that day, so I don't think I can make it. Sorry. -Paul
[2009-10-07 15:50:56] - vinnie: Damn, that sounds like tons of fun. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-07 15:37:47] - pierce: if you need to get tickets ahead of time, then I'll have to pass. if I do well in the tournament, I wouldn't be done till around 10 - vinnie
[2009-10-07 15:36:36] - xpovos/aaron: yeah I was gonna e-mail you about that. there's a sealed deck pro tour qualifier in rockville on the 17th. there are only a couple of those a year so I'm excited. a lot more competitive than a prerelease but the prizes are usually very good. it takes the whole day, 9:00 to around 6 or 7 - vinnie
[2009-10-07 15:17:51] - well I'm sure we'll need to get tickets soonish, so if those maybes could become yeses or noes I would appreciate it. - pierce
[2009-10-07 14:13:53] - pierce: i'm a maybe! i like office space, it could be fun. silver spring is kind of far. - aaron
[2009-10-07 14:01:53] - vinnie: What tournament? I'm busy too (in Philly) but I'm curious. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-07 13:50:11] - pierce: I'll actually be up in that area for a magic tournament that day, so the timing might work out well. I'll think about it. I've seen office space a lot already - vinnie
[2009-10-07 13:19:42] - i can hear my coworkers talking about me in the next room. ~a
[2009-10-07 13:12:15] - pierce: i'm busy ~a
[2009-10-07 12:14:40] - urm, doing development that is? ~gurkie
[2009-10-07 12:14:27] - anyone looking for a new job? That I dont already know about? ~gurkie
[2009-10-07 12:00:56] - - pierce
[2009-10-07 12:00:53] - is that a "no" about office space?
[2009-10-07 09:35:58] - we would have also accepted "hypocritamus" - vinnie
[2009-10-07 07:49:31] - a: a HIPPO-crite! - aaron
[2009-10-07 02:23:07] - anyone want to see office space at the AFI theater in silver spring next saturday (10/17)? special appearances by milton and lumbergh. http://www.afi.com/silver/new/nowplaying/2009/v6i5/dclabor09.aspx#offic - pierce
[2009-10-06 22:28:23] - sorry amy, i did get your email. the evite bounced because evite was categorized as a spamming organization. ~a
[2009-10-06 21:10:24] - a: i sent you an evite and got an email from evite that the evite bounced, then i sent you an email about said evite bouncing, but wasn't sure if you received it since the evite had bounced, though i didn't get a message about the email bouncing. uh. in conclusion: did you get the evite? .p -amy
[2009-10-06 17:12:50] - aaron: Apparently you call a Hippopotamus Punjab. I have no idea if that's funny. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-06 17:09:54] - aaron: yep! what do you call a hippopotamus that doesn't practice what he preaches?
~a[2009-10-06 16:46:08] - unfortunately that's a really bad choice because none of the answers are jokes! i guess it's too common of a word. but "what do you call a hippopotamus" probably works - aaron
[2009-10-06 16:45:24] - vinnie: don't do more than one word, just stop at "what do you call a person" and then it fills in the rest - aaron
[2009-10-06 16:07:14] - Vinnie: I did something really similar! And also came up with nothing
- Stephen[2009-10-06 16:03:28] - I googled "what do you call a person who makes too many puns?" and got no results
even I can come up with answers to that - vinnie[2009-10-06 15:28:01] - - vinnie
[2009-10-06 15:27:58] - aaron: did you just pick that joke randomly or were you expecting that punchline?
[2009-10-06 15:18:52] - yes you are right. and we don't like them because we hate puns
~a[2009-10-06 15:08:28] - what do you call a carrot cut diagonally? a wedgetable! cmon nobody likes my awesome google joke trick - aaron
[2009-10-06 15:02:44] - *in. ~a
[2009-10-06 15:02:35] - i think we need to add all of the countries is europe to the message board's spam filter.
~a[2009-10-06 15:00:52] - Mig: Agreed. But I figured I would lose Con in the fall if I didn't do the convoy. Now I have a 50/50 shot at it. - Stephen
[2009-10-06 14:55:03] - stephen: well the move into smyrna was good, i'm just not sure him being in Con now was worth the trade. - mig
[2009-10-06 14:27:03] - Stephen: Well, I thought you and Italy might work together... and instead there seems to be no working together at all. I mean, Russia still has Budapest somehow.
-Paul[2009-10-06 14:11:55] - Xpovos: No, we don't coordinate that well. But I thought my moves would be more of a surprise to Bryan. - Stephen
[2009-10-06 14:10:27] - xpovos/gurkie: yeah you're doing it right. the jokes are in the results. that is assuming i'm understanding aaron correctly. ~a
[2009-10-06 14:10:14] - Paul: Well Bryan and I are pretty obviously at war right now. I think we all saw Italy's move against Budapest coming, so I'm not sure what stab there was. - Stephen
[2009-10-06 14:09:47] - Xpovos: Actually, yeah, you also worked together to deny me Tunis, although that was mostly just Stephen. -Paul
[2009-10-06 14:05:56] - Stephen: Except for against Austria, have we successfully moved together yet? Ah, but no worries, Russia will make that a moot point soon. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-06 14:04:16] - Stephen: In the Balkans? I guess a little less fighting/stabbing. Maybe I was being a little too hopeful, though. -Paul
[2009-10-06 14:01:26] - Paul: What'd you expect? - Stephen
[2009-10-06 13:54:25] - Xpovos: Definitely a more interesting turn in the Balkans than I expected. Luckily (?) my side of the board went about as expected. -Paul
[2009-10-06 13:40:51] - aaron: me too... well I saw jokes come up in the search responses but it didnt seem like google was telling me jokes so much as there were jokes involving my noun... ~gurkie
[2009-10-06 13:40:24] - Diplomacy: Hmmm.... -- Xpovos
[2009-10-06 13:27:21] - aaron: I must not be using it right. I can't get Google to tell me jokes. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-06 13:11:34] - a: "What do you call a mailman who lost his job? A man!"
they're all hilarious! it's all in the delivery - aaron[2009-10-06 13:09:44] - aaron: "Q: What do you call a grape that kind of tastes like a raisin? A: Graduate-student-budget food." that is not hilarious. ~a
[2009-10-06 11:50:52] - aaron: 'wine', cause wine is tannin? -- Xpovos
[2009-10-06 11:49:48] - I don't know if I hate Italy, or love it. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-06 11:47:51] - like what do you call a grape with a suntan? - aaron
[2009-10-06 11:47:24] - coolest thing ever - you can google "what do you call a ______" for any noun you can think of, and it comes back with a hilarious joke - aaron
[2009-10-06 10:25:35] - Pierce:personally I end up using the projected stats plus looking at the news reports. I also have the benefit of asking paul which teams have really good defenses so I know if my player is starting against a great defense I might want to switch who is starting. ~gurkie
[2009-10-06 09:22:18] - Pierce: For instance, you can probably figure out that offensive players have down days against the Jets (in general), running backs have good days against the Chargers, etc -Paul
[2009-10-06 09:21:36] - Pierce: It's hard to hone the "skill" (if there even is such a thing) any more without knowing the teams more. The good thing is that by this point, you can start basing decisions on how teams/players have performed so far this year since the sample size is getting big enough. -Paul
[2009-10-06 09:20:20] - mig: True, but other than the one great game for Gore and one great game from Gates, haven't they all been underperforming? -Paul
[2009-10-06 09:19:32] - Pierce: I guess that's been the key, he's had at least one person overperform a lot each week without suffering from a lot of his players underperforming. I think I've had problems with the previous things happen to me during each of my losses. -Paul
[2009-10-06 05:44:18] - Today's groupon deal is for laser tag... Could be a fun outing ... I'm gonna buy a pass for David and I -Dee
[2009-10-05 19:57:44] - Brady's been a disappointment, but even then I can't complain, it's not like he's been awful. None of my players have really performed at peak level yet, except Steve Smith who has just absolutely rocked. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-05 18:52:34] - pennington is also usually consistent but well that's been a fucking disaster. - mig
[2009-10-05 18:49:57] - paul: mmm, i'd consider gore, fitzgerald and gates to be superstarish. As for Flacco, it was kind of a homer pick, but I'd figured he'd be fairly consistent if nothing else. - mig
[2009-10-05 18:46:29] - so since I don't know much about the players or the teams, I've been basically trusting the projections with a little "nudge" factor based on news reports or whether the player in question is at home or away or a really rough assessment of the team they're facing. is that a skill I should hone? what else should I be looking for? - pierce
[2009-10-05 18:40:17] - you all are very fortunate that travis snapped up Matt Ryan just as I was about to pick him. - mig
[2009-10-05 18:34:01] - but it's not the same player each week... W1 it was Flacco, W2 it was Frank Gore, W3 it was Pierre Thomas, and this week it was Antonio Gates (with one player playing tonight). so it's not necessarily a failure of the projections on the part of one player. miguel is either lucky or he's really keenly able to identify underrated players and snap them up. - pierce
[2009-10-05 18:15:39] - paul: looking at his stats: his eleven most underperforming players have (on average) exceeded their projected scores every week except week 3 (and even then they only underperformed by about 2 points total), and he's had one MVP each week who exceeded the projection by more than 14 points. mig basically has an extra star player on top of a good team. - pierce
[2009-10-05 17:04:42] - mig: I'm surprised too because I look at your team and you don't seem to have any of the normal superstar players. I'm not sure where all of your points are coming from. Has Flacco really been that good? -Paul
[2009-10-05 16:53:22] - speaking of fantasy football i'm surprised how well i've done given my very huge problems with getting a stable 2nd quarterback. - mig
[2009-10-05 16:52:37] - hey folks, any bluetooth headset recommendations? I accidentally broke my Plantronics Voyager 520 and have had enough trouble with it that I'd prefer to replace it with a different brand or model. - pierce
[2009-10-05 13:31:56] - Stephen: I'm not sure luxurious is the right word. But certainly modern. I rather like the row-houses. Not going to pay $700K for one, though. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-05 12:55:33] - I didnt see the Obama quote about it being the most American of American... I agree with you Stephen thats lame. ~gurkie
[2009-10-05 12:23:37] - Stephen: Improvement! -Paul
[2009-10-05 12:06:08] - Paul: It looked terrible. The neighborhood has improved, inasmuch as rundown abandoned buildings have been replaced by luxurious abandoned buildings. - Stephen
[2009-10-05 12:01:03] - paul: I don't recall actually. I think there definitely was a signficant segment of sports fans who wanted to see baseball in DC or NoVA, but I don't recall about whether the DC population as a whole were for it. - mig
[2009-10-05 11:57:17] - Stephen: Yeah, I don't know what that area of the city looked like before the stadium was built, but I have to imagine that the revitalization hasn't gone as planned. -Paul
[2009-10-05 11:54:15] - Stephen: I know, isn't it wonderful?! I used to work about a baseball throw away from the stadium, so I got to watch it being built, with all the traffic joys that entailed. Anytime work got boring I'd take a walk and look at the construction process. Amazing. Ill-concieved and amazing. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-05 11:47:02] - Paul: I don't remember. My memory is that it was the latter, and now we have a terrible team and a "revitalized" neighborhood with empty luxury commercial and residential buildings to show for it. - Stephen
[2009-10-05 11:40:35] - a: Could be. But I watched the video, and while it could easily have been a stunt, it could also pretty easily be idiocy on camera. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-05 11:38:14] - a: I had to look up Jonestown, I didn't know what you were referring to. -Paul
[2009-10-05 11:37:23] - Stephen: Did the nats get popular support among the DC population or was it a situation where the government and a bunch of rich people decided to override the will of the people? -Paul
[2009-10-05 11:33:05] - Paul: Well Washington somehow decided that the Nats were a good idea... - Stephen
[2009-10-05 11:28:51] - xpovos: no i had not heard. it seems like google results are implying that he didn't actually kill a frog and that it was a stunt to get attention. ~a
[2009-10-05 11:26:12] - hah, why did i think jonestown was in america? ~a
[2009-10-05 11:26:11] - Another fun topic: Anyone heard about the Glenn Beck frog incident? Hehee. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-05 11:25:11] - mig: Only for convictions. I think Chicago wins for unconvicted. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-05 11:24:53] - paul: is jonestown #1 on your list? ~a
[2009-10-05 11:22:44] - xpovos: oh yeah, forgot NJ. that is probably the worst. - mig
[2009-10-05 11:22:06] - mig: Nah, NYC has cleaned up, it's NJ now... -- Xpovos
[2009-10-05 11:21:43] - Paul: That's kind of in line with one of my points below, how I'd prefer government to be wasting time. But I don't think that's necessarily in keeping with the founder's ideas. I certainly can't speak for them, but while they did combine the foreign social policy and legislative ministirial roles into one office, I doubt they'd have been in favor of this. -- Xpovos
[2009-10-05 11:20:08] - paul: well it might be the most american in terms of political corruption, though NY might be worse. - mig
[2009-10-05 11:17:52] - Stephen: Also agree on the "most American of American cities" remark. Even if there were such a thing, Chicago certainly wouldn't be #1 on my list.
-Paul[2009-10-05 11:14:58] - Stephen: Definitely, why would the native Chicagoans want big tax increases, almost certain eminent domain seizures and weeks of horrible crowds for a few weeks of booming business? -Paul
[2009-10-05 11:09:22] - Gurkie: It's not unusual for other countries' leaders to go, but all of them don't go every time an Olympic site is chosen. - Stephen
[2009-10-05 11:06:39] - Also do all the other countries leaders really go every year? If so then I think its appropriate for Obama to go, otherwise its like the US saying hey we are better than you we want this to happen in our country but you arent worth our time... ~gurkie
[2009-10-05 11:06:02] - Also, a majority of Chicagoans polled said they didn't want to host the Olympics. But who cares about the actual citizens when you've got a super corrupt city government and a President backing a bid? - Stephen
[2009-10-05 11:05:54] - Mig: I agree that its weird if it sounds like such a horrible travesty, but honestly I hadnt heard anything about it except for here... Which makes me wonder if people really think its that big of a deal. ~gurkie
[2009-10-05 11:04:46] - Is anyone else annoyed by Obama's statement that Chicago is the most American of American cities? I don't like it when conservatives refer to places as real America, or real Virginia, and I don't like it when liberals rank places in terms of their Americanness, either. - Stephen
[2009-10-05 11:04:23] - Bryan: Sorry that sucks. Yea I am surprised that despite the showing my WRs had I am still in the running. In my other league my team is even worse... I have a grand total of about 48 points, with a kicker left... and my apponent has at least 90 some dont know if they have anyone left though ~gurkie
[2009-10-05 11:03:36] - Gurkie: And apparently the International Olympic Committee has been fighting with the U.S. Olympic Committee over a number of issues. - Stephen
[2009-10-05 10:42:06] - Gurkie: I don't know who votes on it, but I have to imagine it's representatives from a variety of countries one way or the other. -Paul
[2009-10-05 10:40:54] - mig: Exactly. I feel sorry for Tokyo. All these quotes are implying that there had to have been some sort of evil conspiracy against Chicago for Tokyo to have beaten it. Even if it was true, it seems odd for the Olympic officials to be voicing that opinion out loud. -Paul
[2009-10-05 10:28:26] - people would be saying that anyways. - mig
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