prev <-> next
[2010-01-05 18:09:37] - a lot has changed since 03. google maps kind of changed what i thought could be done in webpages. hell, now we have FPSs in pure javascript. check out chrome experiments some time.
~a[2010-01-05 18:04:09] - daniel: Hi welcome to the msg board! ~gurkie
[2010-01-05 18:01:15] - a: realistically (in my experience) web page design hasnt been design for any browser, I am sure it has changed but back in 03 when I was doing govt work it was make sure it works in IE then test Netscape v.... whatever and you are good. It didnt have to work in anything else cause govt only supported IE and Netscape. ~gurkie
[2010-01-05 17:58:46] - ah yes. i think paul was doing the same thing. sorry for being so unclear. ~a
[2010-01-05 17:55:18] - a: i was also looking at the overall border not the buttons, those are rounded - Daniel
[2010-01-05 17:44:52] - hdmi, component, composite, svideo, vga, those ARE standards. if microsoft wants to make zhtml, then they should feel free! i'd prefer they make it an open standard, but at least making a closed standard is better than no standard at all (or worse yet ignoring the standard). ~a
[2010-01-05 17:43:30] - your video connection for televisions standard is a great analogy. without a standard, we wouldn't always be able to plug component cables into all our devices that support the component interface. and when somebody decides to make their own standard, that's perfect and the way things should be. not taking somebody else's standard and bastardizing it. ~a
[2010-01-05 17:41:22] - a: Sadly, I have to leave now (at the worst time, I know). I'll try to respond tonight or tomorrow, though. -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:40:02] - a: Ok, what's the standard for video connections? HDMI? Component? Composite? S-Video? VGA? -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:39:30] - a: Oh, haha, yes, those look rounded. I thought you meant the border around the whole thing. -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:34:27] - paul: yes there is. ~a
[2010-01-05 17:34:14] - paul: it doesn't look like this? ~a
[2010-01-05 17:33:47] - a: "you seem to be arguing that there shouldn't BE a standard". Depends on what you mean by a standard. Is there a standard video connection for televisions? -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:32:17] - paul: hmmm. bitmaps don't bother me nearly as much as many of their javascript and css related incompatibilities. so i'll say, "no" there are far more egregious mistakes they've made that bother me much more. ~a
[2010-01-05 17:30:27] - a: I do run firefox and am looking at the page in firefox as I type. -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:29:58] - a: Let me ask you this, so we're clear: Do you think Microsoft was wrong to add support for bitmaps in IE? -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:28:59] - in this context, "forcing conformity" translates to "achieving interoperability". without a standard, we can't have interoperability. it's become pretty clear you don't have a counterpoint to this statement. arguing that w3c shouldn't be the standard would be one thing, but you seem to be arguing that there shouldn't BE a standard. that just seems weird. ~a
[2010-01-05 17:28:55] - daniel: i assume you run ie? ~a
[2010-01-05 17:28:47] - paul: i always thought you ran firefox. ~a
[2010-01-05 17:26:40] - a: I also see square edges. -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:25:44] - i see square edges - Daniel
[2010-01-05 17:24:00] - paul: introducing new features isn't bad of course! changing the html standard in a way that it's not obvious that you're using a non-standard feature that's bad. that's why we see "-moz-border-radius, -khtml-border-radius, -webkit-border-radius" this is a great example of a html addition done in a safe way. it's how you see rounded edges on the message board. ~a
[2010-01-05 17:19:19] - a: I don't think that's what you're saying, but it seems to be the inevitable result of your perfect world where every webpage works on every browser. Introducing new features would be meaningless because nobody could use them for fear of their webpage not working on older browsers. -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:15:31] - a: Are you saying that all web browsers should have the same set of features, no more and no less? -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:14:11] - a: I guess my answer would be that in my world, forcing conformity isn't an ideal? I don't see why it's a "problem" that things progress and change and get better and new features are added. -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:12:07] - paul: so back to my original question, in your world how do we make interoperability work? how can we make a webpage that works in all browsers without a standard? ~a
[2010-01-05 17:10:25] - paul: yeah see, that's retarded because in your scenario #2 might take weeks since you might have to rewrite. here is a better scenario (assume interoperability isn't broken by microsoft so most browsers meet most of the standards): (1) make sure it works in one browser (2) just for kicks, try it in some other browsers but likely you won't have to change anything. ~a
[2010-01-05 17:08:53] - a: A standard isn't really a standard if the majority of people use web browsers which don't follow it. -Paul
[2010-01-05 17:07:56] - a: Actually, that was going to be one of my points. I've never heard a web designer say that they had to make sure their site meets w3c standards. It's almost always been (1) make sure it works in IE and then (2) try to get it to work in firefox/safari/etc. -Paul
[2010-01-05 16:59:41] - "the internet somehow didn't break" i deny the premise. the internet did break. all over the place. what's mare, you've obviously never had to write a webpage. if you ignore the web designers and web programmers who have to create two designs (one standard and one non-standard), then maybe the internet doesn't break. ~a
[2010-01-05 16:56:50] - paul: no, not unless they have 100% of the market share. ~a
[2010-01-05 16:56:18] - a: As for how we achieve interoperability... I'm not entirely sure I understand the question. Assuming IE didn't follow the w3c standards, yet the internet somehow didn't break, it would seem like we don't need councils like the w3c establishing standards. -Paul
[2010-01-05 16:54:12] - a: How can the w3c be the marketplace standards if IE, the most popular web browser at the time, apparently didn't comply with them? Wouldn't that make IE the de facto standard instead? -Paul
[2010-01-05 16:49:21] - paul: w3c are the marketplace standards. they decide their standards based on what the browser makers want. ~a
[2010-01-05 16:49:05] - paul: so how do we achieve interoperability your way? ~a
[2010-01-05 16:40:52] - aaron: i have not! - mig
[2010-01-05 16:36:17] - Aaron: I've been insisting on a drinking contest. I think Germany would come in second in that contest. - Stephen
[2010-01-05 16:36:03] - also, nobody's suggested a draw proposal yet? i will vote for the GIRAFE proposal, but only because it almost spells "giraffe" - aaron
[2010-01-05 16:31:08] - paul: technically i've only been insisting on grave harm. miguel's been insisting on your death - aaron
[2010-01-05 16:28:29] - Daniel (Russia) - You've done really well for yourself so far. I can only hope that you continue to ignore the voices of Miguel and Aaron that are insisting on my death.
-Paul[2010-01-05 16:27:37] - daniel: welcome to the board! - aaron
[2010-01-05 16:27:15] - a: And I still think that the marketplace standards (in this case, it turned out to be IE) realistically trumps whatever standards some group in an ivory tower comes up with. -Paul
[2010-01-05 16:26:03] - a: I still think that supporting bitmaps (as IE apparently did and netscape did not) is not some horrible thing that should be discouraged. -Paul
[2010-01-05 16:24:23] - xpovos: yeah i'm not terribly unhappy with my position, I'm just kicking myself for not obliterating england when I had the opportunity back in 1902. - mig
[2010-01-05 16:24:04] - Go Ruskies! I was pretty worried about trying to contend in the north and south but it seems to have gone ok so far. Here's hoping I can continue the good luck. -Daniel (Russia)
[2010-01-05 16:23:28] - mig: I figured you had England on the ropes about two years ago, yeah. Still, you're doing OK considering. You've made landfall and haven't lost home territory. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-05 16:23:23] - paul: so you do still think that breaking interoperability on the internet is a good thing? ~a
[2010-01-05 16:22:14] - Mig: Tell me about it. I was hoping to pick sides in the E/F conflict but I think a side picked me instead. And now we don't even really share a border. - Stephen
[2010-01-05 16:21:42] - Stephen: Gesundheit. -Paul
[2010-01-05 16:20:35] - I don't think Russia is going to be exposed to anybody after building two more units this turn. -Paul
[2010-01-05 16:19:56] - Paul: I have faith in my deutschsprachigem Kolleg. So don't let me down. - Stephen
[2010-01-05 16:19:26] - aaron: Also Italy, but significantly less so, yes. A hair to Germany, but since Russia took Munich that got ugly. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-05 16:18:33] - the E/F conflict should have had a clear victor by this point, but some pretty bad blunders by both of us have kept it pretty deadlocked. - mig
[2010-01-05 16:17:47] - xpovos: who is russia exposed to? austria? - aaron
[2010-01-05 16:16:56] - Man, no faith in the Austrian Empire on the board here. Are we so quick to forget their performance in the first World War? Oh, wait... -Paul
[2010-01-05 16:13:52] - Stephen: Since you're not Austria or Italy, I think you're up against the not-quite-so-exposed Russian front. And, therefore, as part of the F/R/G/E cluster, I think you honestly have more pressing issues to worry about. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-05 16:12:29] - Mig: I agree about Italy. I'm curious to see if Aaron is able to make the most of this year. - stephen
[2010-01-05 16:03:16] - paul: tsk i thought you were getting back at me for what i did to you as england last game!
- aaron[2010-01-05 16:02:45] - paul: italian army in syria in '05 baby! - aaron
[2010-01-05 16:02:03] - Xpovos: Aaron is just getting back at me for what I did to him as France last game.
-Paul[2010-01-05 16:01:37] - amig: I think I still stand by most of the arguments I read myself making back then. -Paul
[2010-01-05 15:59:07] - Xpovos: If you have any ideas on how to take advantage of Russia's exposure, I'm all ears. - Stephen
[2010-01-05 15:58:34] - Aaron: I want to participate in wacky ideas, as long as they don't involve carving me up unwillingly. - Stephen
[2010-01-05 15:55:16] - Aaron: I've brought up some wacky ideas? -Paul
[2010-01-05 15:45:28] - The game is a bit of a cluster. I'm impressed by Italy, though, I figured Austria had him in a strangle-hold. Russia looks to be doing well, but is a tad exposed. F/R/G/E = OMGWTGBBQ! -- Xpovos
[2010-01-05 15:12:32] - mig: heh, heh, I'm interested to see what happens with the I/R/A/F quadrangle this year. paul's brought up some pretty wacky ideas for 1905, the battle lines might not be as clear as you think - aaron
[2010-01-05 14:41:29] - diplomacy: the game has certainly taken a very interesting turn. The battle lines look to be very clearly drawn (E/G vs. R/F and A vs. I) and Italy at this point could be poised to do well despite being pinned down for most of the game. - mig
[2010-01-05 14:12:32] - i think the issues with supporting bmp was more of bandwidth, since they usually are uncompressed and get very huge very quickly. - mig
[2010-01-05 13:41:08] - paul: yeah i'm not entirely sure what i was trying to say either. i've since checked the specs, and the "img" tag doesn't specifically require png/jpg/gif (though it does suggest them). ~a
[2010-01-05 13:37:33] - amy: cool! yeah i won't be at poker this week since i'll be in colorado. but maybe next week. (i'm assuming you don't mind holding onto it that long. if you do, i can come by and pick it up) ~a
[2010-01-05 12:05:07] - a: wanted to let you know that your cello is safe with me! if you don't need it back urgently then i can return it whenever we next get together or stop by paul's sometime if you go to poker there. otherwise if you do want it back soon let me know. our swedish friend sebastian was very grateful!! -amy
[2010-01-04 22:23:40] - a: In rereading that discussion, I think I was saying that integrating aim into netscape violates w3c standards the same way that displaying bitmaps does. I admit, though, that I'm not entirely sure what I was trying to say there. -Paul
[2010-01-04 17:12:51] - paul: how exactly does integrating aim into netscape go against w3c standards? i.e. how does putting aim into netscape fail the html/css/javascript specs? ~a
[2010-01-04 15:43:22] - a: Given that we apparently procreate at a rate greater than our death rate, even with modernity, I'd say probably not a wash. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 15:39:32] - that last post was supposed to be to aaron+xpovos. ~a
[2010-01-04 15:35:28] - xpovos: but alcohol also kills people (liver disease and DUI). maybe it's a wash? ~a
[2010-01-04 15:28:34] - aaron: I misread that last statement for a bit. I thought you were implying the birth rate would go up if alcohol were made illegal. I was about to counter that I would expect pretty much the opposite relationship to be true. Ah, the joys of misinterpretation. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 15:21:44] - a: if alcohol is made illegal maybe it will be 6.762 billion - aaron
[2010-01-04 15:21:28] - a: right, presumably 6.76 billion people agree with you that iraq is not the awesomest place to live right now - aaron
[2010-01-04 15:21:26] - As far as egoist anarchism goes, this is my favorite flavor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarchist It probably also best describes me. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 15:16:07] - aaron: i don't think i agree with any of them. the closest one i come to agreeing with is C. but even that one i don't agree with totally. if somebody wants to create a country that is driven by their religion, i guess that's not necessarily bad. i just won't want to live there. ~a
[2010-01-04 15:16:06] - mig: Except with 97% of the population Muslim, that is democracy. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 15:15:16] - Mig: That's the whole problem with the last administration's goals of fostering democracy in the Arab world. Nobody seemed to realize that the democracies wouldn't support policies we liked. So don't worry, we're back to supporting autocracies now. - Stephen
[2010-01-04 15:15:09] - mig: well i think there's an important difference between a religious lifestyle policing democracy and a religious lifestyle policing dictatorship. i think bush was only promising "democracy", not that he was going to somehow like... change their religion or their ideals - aaron
[2010-01-04 15:14:18] - It's a classic form of anarchist vs. statist rhetoric. It tends to result in some variant of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egoist_anarchism -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 15:00:59] - aaron: a very big deal was made about how the US was going to make Iraq a wonderful democratic government that's going to be about freedom, and it's a little ironic that it's starting to turn into the religious lifestyle policing government after the US "liberated" them. - mig
[2010-01-04 14:59:03] - personally i think b and c are true, and hopefully a majority of iraqis are of sound mind and won't vote for the uber-conservative parties - aaron
[2010-01-04 14:58:11] - mig: presumably you think either a. iraq shouldn't have the freedom to make alcohol illegal, or b. iraqis shouldn't want to make alcohol illegal, or c. iraqis shouldn't be letting religion drive their government, or d. iraq's policies shouldn't deviate from america's or something along those lines yes? - aaron
[2010-01-04 14:57:06] - mig: i think you have an objection to some aspect of this article but i don't understand what it is - aaron
[2010-01-04 14:51:38] - a: The owner of a business faces a dilemma because on the one hand, he considers the rule to be blatantly unfair (not to mention a bad idea in general) but on the other hand, he agreed to follow whatever rules the majority passed. -Paul
[2010-01-04 14:49:46] - a: That reminds me of a section of Atlas Shrugged which I have just gotten around to reading. There is a business association where each member agrees to abide by the rules passed by the majority. At some point, the majority passes a rule whose sole purpose is basically to bankrupt one of the businesses. -Paul
[2010-01-04 14:32:23] - a: i'm sure the people who are not voting for that government would probably say no. - mig
[2010-01-04 14:13:21] - mig: should people have the freedom to vote for a government that takes away some of their liberties? ~a
[2010-01-04 13:38:56] - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010302228.html?hpid=topnews behold the wondrous freedom we've given the Iraqis. - mig
[2010-01-04 13:37:04] - a: So, 1) Yes. 2) They don't care. 3) Contemplated and decided that it either wouldn't happen, or would blow over. Given the addiction scale of their WoW base, I think that's a reasonable assumption. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 13:36:08] - Stephen: The irony value of that is off the charts. Given the subpoena, they were certainly in legally safe territory. In terms of backlash, it's only a backlash if it gets out and turns into a boycott against WoW, or Blizz in general. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 13:30:08] - a: It's definitely wrong, and definitely gives Blizz bad press (anecdotally, I'd say gamers are likelier to be aware of privacy issues). It's not always illegal to disclose private information, though. I remember the ACLU selling my address to other progressive organizations a few years ago, prompting me to drop membership. - Stephen
[2010-01-04 13:24:27] - "harm of providing the data was nil (to them)" are you sure? 1. is it illegal to disclose private information? 2. is it wrong to disclose private information? 3. public backlash and/or bad press? ~a
[2010-01-04 13:05:38] - My guess is the lawyers over at Blizz looked at the subpoena and chatted amongst themselves for a while before deciding that the harm of providing the data was nil (to them) whereas the harm of not complying, though completely justifiable, was potentially non-zero. So they went with the easy answer. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 13:02:32] - Stephen: The article I read indicated that the Canadian police obtained the location of the individual and then deported him to the U.S. where he was on the lamb, as it were. So, no real evidence was obtained except a location, passed along to a friendly country with extradition, "Hey, there's a guy in your territory that we want, thanks". -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 12:54:01] - Mig: Yeah, my guess is that the police were surprised a company like Blizzard, that presumably knows how the law works, would comply with their request. I'm not sure how the information acquired by the police could be used as evidence, either. - Stephen
[2010-01-04 12:32:44] - it said in the article that there was a subpoena. it seems like the subpoena didn't hold any weight, however, since it was probably written in indiana and sent to california which would probably make it out of jurisdiction. ~a
[2010-01-04 12:00:43] - well, i guess the police didn't technically do anything wrong, since they simply asked for the information, and surprisingly just got it, so really this is just on blizzard. - mig
[2010-01-04 11:57:05] - xpovos: it's also just as disturbing that I don't see any of the coverage do anything but sing praises for blizzard and the police, despite the obvious violations of due process here. - mig
[2010-01-04 11:06:21] - mig: Yeah, if the cops had managed to get a full subpoena for the desired data, that's totally different. I'd be upset with the judge in that case, I think, but here it really is Blizz just deciding that they don't want to go to bat for their customers. At all. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-04 10:59:40] - xpovos: i actually didn't think there was anything terribly wrong with what Blizzard did (aside from the fact that what he's being arrested for shouldn't be a crime) until pierce pointed out there didn't seem to be a proper subpoena for the information. That's quite disturbing. - mig
[2010-01-04 08:24:55] - aaron: Max 300 autofail is legit. It is a bonus song, and it's a long and hard song. Most players, particularly on the first few tries, are going to stop after 30 seconds max and just jaw drop. No sense in having the game go on for another minute or two while they're stunned. Never heard of the song, so I'm guessing the latter as well. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-03 23:04:37] - it doesn't have a wikipedia page so i'm guessing the latter - aaron
[2010-01-03 23:03:58] - also has anybody else heard the song "smell yo dick"? i heard it for the first time today and it cracked me up. is it a popular song? or is it just one of those internet things - aaron
[2010-01-03 23:03:14] - xpovos: yeah exactly, there are very few cases where i think autofail improves the experience. one special case is for like, a bonus song - like Max 300 back in the DDR Max days. having autofail for that song is cool, because then it's like - whoa can he make it to the end! it's such a hard song! but, yeah for the most part autofail is just sucky to have - aaron
[2010-01-03 16:39:28] - aaron: That last part is good, even on the second song, I hated DDR just telling me, "no, you suck at life too much for me to bear your weight any longer. Beat it." Let me at least finish the song. I'll take my double F. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-03 10:58:21] - xpovos: they did some really smart stuff though: all the songs were written for the game, with gameplay in mind. and, you can pick any difficulty you want. and, there's no auto-fail or life bar, so you always play to the end of the song. if you do a shitty job, you get a shitty score. - aaron
[2010-01-03 10:56:29] - xpovos: it's about the same curve as like, Elite Beat Agents or Frequency or Amplitude - there's a lot of stuff available, so you'll have a lot to do... but at first, even the normal difficulty is probably like "whoaa wtf too much going on" - aaron
[2010-01-02 23:19:14] - xpovos: not really "selling out" since they didn't technically sell the information. not that giving it away without a proper subpoena is any better. - pierce
[2010-01-02 14:05:58] - http://kokomoperspective.com/news/local_news/article_15a0a546-f574-11de-ab22-001cc4c03286.html Blizzard sells out a customer. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-02 14:05:41] - aaron: How steep a learning curve for someone named Andrew? The game looked interesting, but I'm definitely not willing to plunk down that much money yet. -- Xpovos
[2010-01-02 13:55:16] - nina: actually i think it has a two player mode if you have two turntables, but i only have one - aaron
[2010-01-02 13:54:03] - but if you and pierce want to come over and try it some time that would be fun - aaron
[2010-01-02 13:53:45] - nina: heh! heh! it's a one player game and it's probably got a steep learning curve unless your name is aaron or vinnie. so it might not be a super-great "let's get together and do this thing" thing, - aaron
[2009-12-31 19:10:37] - happy fucking new year, everybody!
~a[2009-12-30 17:28:29] - aaron: when are you inviting us over to play DJ Hero? -nina
[2009-12-30 10:33:33] - For the grammarians out there: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling - Stephen
[2009-12-30 07:37:24] - Stephen: Thanks! 30 on 30 ain't so bad. -nina
[2009-12-30 07:20:33] - Nina: Happy birthday! - Stephen
[2009-12-28 16:40:31] - nina: I know. It's horrible and prurient and 21st century voyeurism, and if I did anything with Twitter I'd probably be watching. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-28 16:22:59] - Xpovos: that is just wrong. And, I think I might follow them anyway. -nina
[2009-12-28 15:02:18] - Oi. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/13/AR2009121300007.html?waporef=ak -- Xpovos
[2009-12-28 13:15:18] - Ugh. Someone said something about Casey Jones and my brain got tied up for about an hour trying to remember another railroad folk hero. (Finally got it. John Henry. It really shouldn't have taken so long, given TMBG). -- Xpovos
[2009-12-28 12:35:03] - I was on vacation 12/3-12/11, had three days for Christmas, get 1/1 off as well. I'm definitely coming in this week. I don't want my days off to outnumber my days on for December. My wife is taking some extra time off, though. She's off Wed, Thurs and Fri. By my count that makes 12 days off to 9 days worked for her. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-28 11:22:23] - Stephen: I know quite a few places that are closed through January 4th. And, I'm sure a lot of people are just taking time off anyway for the holidays. It should be a good commuting week this week. -nina
[2009-12-28 10:57:39] - I forget how much memory they each had but they had at least 512mb each for the 9600s and the 8600 was either 256 or 512mb. - mig
[2009-12-28 10:33:30] - does anyone have any need for nvidia video cards? I'm mulling doing some hardware upgrades and if that's the case I would have 2 GT 9600 PCIe cards to give (well, practically give) away. I also have an old 8600 PCIe card that's been collecting dust for a while. - mig
[2009-12-28 09:35:23] - xpovos: i guess it's a very minor victory since very few people have the technical know-how to copy DVDs, even without the DRM... the ones and zeroes are too small compared to VHS - aaron
[2009-12-28 09:30:28] - xpovos: but yeah, i guess by "DRM success story" i meant that, everybody hacked them anyway /but/, the technology didn't eventually invalidate legitimate customers' DVD collections - aaron
[2009-12-28 09:29:26] - xpovos: price + convenience. fumbling around a disk the size of a vinyl lp was not a very compelling feature. - mig
[2009-12-28 09:29:23] - xpovos: mhm, price - aaron
[2009-12-28 09:29:16] - Anyway, on topic of the e-reader, the solution is to not buy the DRM'd data for the reader. Even if it makes the 10 year mark, the nice thing about this version is that it will play open files too. The old reader would as well, but not as easily. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-28 09:27:59] - aaron: Mostly because they got hacked immediately, I'd say. Although, there was also a huge technological push at that point. VHS was a clearly inferior technology. But the same could be said of laserdisk vs. VHS, but laserdisk never caught on here. Price? -- Xpovos
[2009-12-28 09:05:47] - actually, have DVDs passed the 10 year mark? i know there's been some pretty funny DRM-related stories from Walmart and Microsoft but, maybe DVDs are a true DRM success story - aaron
[2009-12-28 09:04:54] - xpovos: and i'm guessing the "sick back door" is that, like 100% of all DRMed functionality, it will be useless 10 years from now - aaron
[2009-12-28 09:02:17] - stephen: traffic was nice! i liked it - aaron
[2009-12-28 09:01:09] - So, is Sony actually listening to our desires for what we want in a reader, or is there some sick back door to this thing? http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/sony-announces-daily-edition-reader/ -- Xpovos
[2009-12-28 09:00:28] - Stephen: Present. I love this week, I get so much work done. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-28 08:52:56] - Who all is at work today? Traffic was insanely light. - Stephen
[2009-12-27 18:44:19] - nina: that's my jacket! ~a
[2009-12-27 08:50:17] - a: nice! does it look like this? http://www.pophangover.com/images/ugly-jean-jacket-5.jpg -nina
[2009-12-26 17:06:53] - nina: i got a new jacket. ~a
[2009-12-25 19:13:01] - nina: I got a copy of This Time is Different. Feeds the inner economics geek in me. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-25 19:11:28] - a: I have no problem losing to the computers, I just wish I understood how to play better. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-25 18:45:57] - did anyone getting anything cool for christmas this year? -nina
[2009-12-25 13:18:12] - anon: gesundheit. - pierce
[2009-12-24 22:06:52] - 9888/7/532po\\\\\\\n +000000000000000000000000007op*/7
[2009-12-24 16:57:27] - xpovos: it's just too easy to make the computer own at othello. the tree isn't very wide. ~a
[2009-12-24 16:56:01] - aaron: yes you can have the computer play as knights, but not in the javascript version yet (i'm working on that) ~a
[2009-12-24 13:53:46] - I hate how much I suck at Reversi/Othello. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-24 12:32:02] - a: ahhh rooks versus knights is hard! have you tried switching it so the computer plays the knights? i guess in both cases, it seems like a stalemate scenario is just too easy to acheive - aaron
[2009-12-24 11:56:49] - aaron: i broke it. i'm not sure what i was thinking but i deleted the directory it was running in! anyways, it is fixed now. ~a
[2009-12-23 16:17:38] - Stephen: You're right. cis/trans I know from my degree, we use them all the time. You need all kinds of funky prefixes to describe some of the things we build. Applying it to gender didn't make sense to me, and I didn't go to the opposite fast enough, so I googled it. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-23 16:05:24] - Xpovos: I think it means "someone who identifies with their sex and gender of birth". Cisgender is to transgender what heterosexual is to homosexual, I guess. But like I said, it was new to me. - Stephen
[2009-12-23 16:03:32] - Stephen: Even knowing what the prefix meant I couldn't figure that word out. I am just not LGBTA enough. -- Xpovos
[2009-12-23 15:33:14] - Amy: Totally different. Consular officer vs. lawyer. - Stephen
[2009-12-23 15:25:03] - aaron: the other issue is wind resistance, which doesn't apply on treadmills. it's not a big deal, but once you get down to a few seconds' difference it might be a factor. from my understanding, increasing the incline to the first or second level offsets it in difficulty but isn't an exact parallel because uphill running shifts muscle usage. - pierce
[2009-12-23 14:53:59] - mig: mmm interesting... - aaron
[2009-12-23 14:44:40] - aaron: I've found the treadmills to be incredibly inaccurate in terms of tracking your actual distance. They're good for pacing, but I'm willing to bet you're closer to the 6 minute mark than you think. - mig
[2009-12-23 14:14:48] - amy: last week i ran 7:40 on a treadmill... running on a path is trickier because you have to worry about pacing yourself (and sometimes, terrain) - aaron
[2009-12-23 14:10:00] - ...to reach the goal is unappealing to do? and stuff like that. i've long been interested in goals, and what motivates people to make decisions to work towards goals or not, etc. -amy
[2009-12-23 14:09:14] - my friend wrote a blog post yest about goals (specifically music goals but i think it can be applied to goals in general) and how to go about working towards them. i was wondering how others approach goals. like making lists with specific steps, or just winging it and working on it when you feel like it. and how do you motivate yourself when the task necessary... -amy
[2009-12-23 14:07:20] - stephen: changing to something totally different or staying within the field? -amy
[2009-12-23 14:05:26] - aaron: cool, what's your current mile time? .) i had a goal of running the mile in 10 minutes, which i think i achieved back when i was running and it wasn't snowing. but i can't be sure bc i didn't know exactly how much a mile was on the path i was running. -amy
[2009-12-23 13:29:00] - Amy: I'm actively working towards changing my career. More specifically, trying to make one specific career change. I'm also trying to eat more produce, but that one comes and goes as it's convenient. - Stephen
[2009-12-23 13:18:20] - amy: i'm content, i want to run a mile in 6:30 that's my current goal. also i'm working on some software projects in my spare time which have clear goals - aaron
[2009-12-23 12:22:57] - (i realize that doesn't totally parse but i didn't know exactly how to phrase it) -amy
[2009-12-23 12:22:32] - continuing my thought from yesterday... what kind of goals, if any, do you have that you are actively working towards? or not actively working towards? or do you feel generally content with your life, or with going with the flow and letting things come? and i guess the last option would be, not content, but no goals? -amy
[2009-12-23 11:16:14] - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/23/amazon_kindle_hacked/ kindle format successfully reverse engineered. - mig
[2009-12-23 09:24:19] - stephen: sounds like a pierce word to me - vinnie
[2009-12-23 07:29:23] - Ha, I just learned what cisgender means a couple weeks ago. Not sure what the cis- prefix means, though, and I'm too lazy to look it up. - Stephen
[2009-12-23 00:52:15] - blech. I feel like today's xkcd needs a kazoo going "wah wah waaaaaaaah" at the end. - pierce
[2009-12-22 18:40:54] - http://gamesolver.w.aporter.org/ what's going on with this page? a couple days ago it worked OK but now i can't see the pieces - aaron
[2009-12-22 15:15:45] - Aaron: I definitely do that. It used to be a list I would write on a piece of paper but I've taken to writing it down on my phone now. -Paul
[2009-12-22 14:59:32] - aaron: i do that too, esp in the past year somehow have become innundated/overwhelmed with so much stuff to do i couldn't possibly remember it all in my head. i started carrying around a little notebook to write stuff down in my pocket, but then i have to remember to check it. -amy
[2009-12-22 14:51:46] - amy: i do that for work, but have yet to do that for my personal life. -nina
[2009-12-22 14:46:39] - amy: usually it's like, when i get home, and there's three or four (or more things) i have to do, and i'm really worried i'll forget one of them - aaron
[2009-12-22 14:45:48] - amy: the closest thing i do, is sometimes if i have a lot of things to do that are stressing me out, i write them all down - aaron
[2009-12-22 14:37:27] - pierce: that's part of what i was wondering. -amy
[2009-12-22 14:37:16] - if so i'd also be interested to hear what your goals are. the last time i did this led to my career change. am currently thinking present goals, would have to think on this before stating what they are. -amy
[2009-12-22 14:35:33] - amy: that would require me to have either. - pierce
[2009-12-22 14:34:08] - do you write down your long-term and short-term goals and break them down into steps? it's something that i do but have not done in a while and need to do soon. but i was wondering if anyone else here does that. -amy
[2009-12-22 14:04:37] - Xpovos: I think part of the insult is that yes, avatars are gods. but, one of the most famous was Krishna, who also happens to be blue. the coincidence is uncanny, and therefore slightly insulting. -nina
[2009-12-22 14:03:28] - by that vein, i guess Office is off the market too since it's bundled with word. - mig
[2009-12-22 14:01:59] - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091222/ap_on_bi_ge/us_microsoft_patent apparently MS word is officially off the market. - mig
[2009-12-22 14:01:06] - http://theoatmeal.com/comics/computers - nina
[2009-12-22 13:56:31] - Stephen: I'm a little surprised I didn't hear anything about native americans being upset about the film. Maybe it's my cultural bias, but I felt like the na'vi were even more blatantly native american stereotypes than Jar Jar was an african american one. -Paul
[2009-12-22 13:55:14] - I may be late to the party, I havent been on the msg board in a few days... But I really liked the movie and I thought it was very well done. The 3D didnt bother me I enjoyed the experience dont know if I would want to see every movie like that though. ~Gurkie
[2009-12-22 13:52:40] - - Stephen
[2009-12-22 13:52:37] - Xpovos: And because the Navi have blue skin and look humanoid but not human, as many Hindu avatars do.
[2009-12-22 13:50:04] - axpovos: My guess is because it is using a Hindu term (avatar) for gods taking human form (I believe) and turning it into a case of humans taking alien form. -Paul
[2009-12-22 13:48:44] - aaron: yeah i had to stop reading that article very quickly after that. hmph indeed. - mig
[2009-12-22 13:48:10] - i was wondering the same thing. ~a
[2009-12-22 13:44:34] - I don't plan to see it in the theatres... can you tell me why a Hindu would be upset with the movie without providing a spoiler? -- Xpovos
[2009-12-22 13:37:47] - Stephen: don't really know. I just saw my friend's status update, and thought it was hilarious. I could see how some traditional aunties and uncles could get riled up about it, though. -nina
[2009-12-22 13:33:29] - Nina: Are a lot of Hindus upset about Avatar, or just talking about it? - stephen
[2009-12-22 13:25:17] - heh, there's one pretty nsfw image on page 4. that's not like wired to do that. hmph - aaron
[2009-12-22 13:21:26] - http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobleSavage - pierce
[2009-12-22 13:19:35] - http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/ learn to let go: how success killed duke nukem - aaron
[2009-12-22 13:00:10] - a: Oh, no, I understand why people would see that in the movie (although I saw it more as all humanity, not just white men), I just wasn't sure I saw that reflected in reviews I had read. -Paul
[2009-12-22 12:52:29] - Aaron: I think I know where you're going with that, and I somewhat agree, but I also think it played a lot smaller role than I expected at first. We'll just have to talk about it later. -Paul
[2009-12-22 12:17:28] - paul: and again, it's much in the way that "being in a moving vehicle" played a huge role for speed. obviously you could tell the same "story" as speed and have them be, like, defusing a bomb in an office building, but the movie would be fundamentally different - aaron
[2009-12-22 12:16:50] - paul: are you kidding? the "remotely controlling bodies" gimmick played a huge role in the movie, the entire plot basically revolved around it in ways that, again, i don't want to go into without spoiling the movie for others - aaron
[2009-12-22 12:15:39] - paul: the "white man bad" comes from the analogy to navi = native americans and humans = white men? ~a
[2009-12-22 12:14:50] - Aaron: Sure, I suppose it's all a matter of how much you want to boil it down. I thought it was interesting, though, that the whole aspect of controlling alien bodies didn't really play a big role in the movie since they natives all knew it wasn't real. -Paul.
[2009-12-22 12:12:06] - heh, sorry, the short story i was trying to allude to was call me joe. not "my name is joe" - aaron
[2009-12-22 12:11:17] - paul: if you boil the plot down as far as "natives versus technology", then fine, it's been done. but as far as the lower-level plot elements like, humans controlling alien bodies remotely - that whole aspect - that was pretty original imho - aaron
[2009-12-22 12:09:14] - paul: well, it depends on how much you're willing to boil the plot down - aaron
[2009-12-22 12:09:01] - to answer my own question, i think aaron won the poll: vinnie=$1, paul=5cm, adrian=8cm, aaron=10cm. ~a
[2009-12-22 12:08:18] - Aaron: I'll grant you that Groundhog Day was fairly simple and possibly predictable (although I didn't think the ending was that predictable), but it wasn't a plot that had been done a lot of times before. -Paul
[2009-12-22 12:06:21] - mig: well, the first 30 minutes kind of plot twist yes. but after they set the stage for the "main plot" it was all pretty obvious (and again, i don't think it's bad, i'm just trying to say that "cliched" is kind of a cliched term in itself) - aaron - aaron
[2009-12-22 12:06:16] - Aaron: I can't tell if you're kidding or not. Total Recall and The Matrix had very simple plots and predictable endings? Maybe if you knew what happens in the first 80% of the movie.. but the beginning and middle of both movies were filled with unexpected twists and turns. -Paul
[2009-12-22 12:04:53] - paul: and i think we briefly discussed avatar's ending when we were leaving the theater - i don't want to talk about it here because it'll spoil the movie for others - aaron
[2009-12-22 12:03:59] - aaron: give the matrix a little credit, it did have a rather unexpected plot twist if you hadn't seen or heard about the movie before. - mig
[2009-12-22 12:03:14] - paul: groundhog day - i mean a lot of the details were, "oh that's pretty clever" but as far as the beginning, middle and end kind of story points go - it's all very predictable as well - aaron
[2009-12-22 12:02:05] - paul: total recall and the matrix had very simple plots and very predictable endings - aaron
[2009-12-22 11:57:42] - a: I don't know about the "white man bad" aspect, but I have read some reviews which took exception to the apparent glorification of mysticism and nature worship of the movie. -Paul
[2009-12-22 11:55:45] - oh who won stephen's poll? ~a
[2009-12-22 11:45:06] - i think some people are bothered by a "white man bad!" plot-line so they have an easy time finding criticism. ~a
[2009-12-22 11:36:31] - Aaron: Not that I am complaining, I actually have very little problem with cliched stories. I just found that particular criticism of the movie to be pretty spot on. -Paul
[2009-12-22 11:32:14] - Aaron: If I had told you a movie was about humans strip mining on an alien moon and they send a disguised marine to infiltrate the less technologically advanced but deeply spiritual and nature-loving indigenous people to convince them to relocate or less be killed off... you could probably tell me exactly how it ends. -Paul
[2009-12-22 11:30:22] - Aaron: I thought the plot was a lot more cliched than something like Total Recall, Groundhog Day or The Matrix. I feel like I've seen the "evil technology vs innocent and peaceful nature" plot in tons of movies before. -Paul
[2009-12-22 11:17:39] - Stephen: thanks! it's a nice distraction from work. pierce set me up with a nice colored name over the weekend. so, now i feel i can post appropriately. -nina
[2009-12-22 11:04:41] - Nina: Welcome to the message board! Unless you are not new to it, in which case...hi. - Stephen
[2009-12-22 11:04:13] - i hear a lot of people say the plot was cliched, i suppose much in the way the plot of "total recall" or "groundhog day" or "the matrix" was cliched. it reused a lot of themes/plot devices from older movies/books, but it combined them in original ways, so it felt fresh to me - aaron
[2009-12-22 10:59:35] - a: it really blew me away, definitely my 2nd favorite movie of the year, if not my favorite. i want to see it a second time, there's a lot of depth and some details i missed. i thought the 3d served its purpose and while it was long, it was purposefully long. - aaron
[2009-12-22 10:37:05] - Aaron: It's a small enough program that apparently uses mostly volunteers that it doesn't make me angry. There are plenty of more worthy targets of my wrath.
-Paul[2009-12-22 09:57:52] - Nina: Ah, I actually didn't notice a problem with it. In fact, I actually didn't seem to notice the 3D much during the movie. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. -Paul
[2009-12-22 09:50:52] - Paul: Too long for 3D in the sense that your eyes get a bit overworked by the end of it. If they had shaved off 50 minutes, I wouldn't have felt so bleary-eyed after. -nina
[2009-12-22 08:59:06] - Pierce: What do you mean by too long for 3D? -Paul
[2009-12-22 08:58:56] - a: I liked it. Beyond the visuals, I didn't feel like it was anything revolutionary but I did feel like it was a pretty solid movie overall. -Paul
[2009-12-22 07:24:22] - Pierce: I'd definitely go see it, even in 2D. I'm still annoyed that Metro was only half-running on Sunday. - Stephen
[2009-12-21 22:39:49] - a: visually spectacular, too long for 3D imo, plot was pretty simple but not in a bad way. I actually would kinda want to see it again in 2D if people who missed it this time would be interested. Amy/Vinnie/Stephen/a/mig? - pierce
[2009-12-21 22:05:12] - what did you guys think of the movie? i haven't seen it and i've heard mixed reviews. ~a
[2009-12-21 19:42:46] - http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10418101-52.html?tag=newsLatestHeadlinesArea.0 this seems like the kind of thing that would make paul and miguel angry - aaron
[2009-12-21 17:11:36] - hey! i just realized, wasn't the actor who played the other somewhat-geeky guy in Avatar also in Grandma's Boy? I feel like I know him from somewhere - aaron
[2009-12-21 16:21:45] - For gaining a supply center? Maybe. It might be the only way to guarantee that Sam dies. -Paul
[2009-12-21 15:36:05] - paul: does that mean you're throwing me a party next year? - aaron
[2009-12-21 15:25:12] - aaron: My territories aren't so small. I've completely stayed out of Albania, for instance. They are just all bunched together to fight you.
-Paul[2009-12-21 13:34:31] - Aaron: Paul had me fooled. I looked at the board and couldn't figure out where all his units had gone. - Stephen
[2009-12-21 12:49:41] - paul: well you're not fooling me >
- aaron[2009-12-21 12:49:25] - paul: lol, i like how all your units are huddled together on the smallest territories on the board. i keep expecting you to defend yourself like, "look, i'm not menacing! my units only take up this much space on the board!" - aaron
[2009-12-20 01:57:47] - a: it was pretty bad, i got stuck coming out of my driveway, but paul and vinnie picked me up. i think paul got stuck 3 times too, but passers by always helped out. one guy even hooked up his truck to paul's bumper to yank him out of a snowbank - aaron
[2009-12-19 18:55:59] - yeah me neither. it's still coming down like crazy and i've heard some horror stories from people that were out driving today. i went out when it was early and things weren't too bad, but yeah, i've heard that it's gotten worse. ~a
[2009-12-19 13:36:40] - we saw a car flipped over on 495 on the way back from poker. hope everyone made it home OK. doesn't look likely I'll be attending Vinnie's party tonight.
-ninaprev <-> next