8/25    Somalia's runners provide inspiration - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports:
        http://www.csua.org/u/m67

8/24    Could installing Nomachine possibly be more annoying?  jesus christ

8/24    what is iSCSI ?  thanks
        \_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iscsi

8/23    I was deeply disappointed Obama didn't pick Wesley Snipes as his
        running mate.  There's still time for McCain to do the right thing.

8/23    Where the heck did they get so many Chinamen for the closing
        ceremony? It is so fucking
        amazing!   \-^Chinamen^People of China^^^People of Chinaman descent
                     \_ Also, Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.
                                                      nopersonclature-/
        \_ Same for open ceremony.  It's a communist country.  The govt just
           give them orders to come.  It doesn't need to pay them.
        \_ Goodbye to the Potemkin games.

8/25    Greens against clean tech
        http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121901822110148233.html
        \_ A sizeable (or at least very vocal) part of the green movement is
           against any increase in power generation.

8/25    ALL politicians are liars. Jackie Johnson is HOT HOT HOT!
        \_ All men like ham sandwiches. Jackie Johnson likes ham sandwiches.
           Jackie Johnson is a MAN!
           \_ She looks like a drag. I don't know what people see in her.
              \_ Stop insulting the great dim. Also, ALL Prius drivers are
                 stupid and superficial. Anyone disagreeing with this fact
                 is also stupid and superficial.
        \_ Matt Gonzelez seems to be a pretty honest fellow.

8/25    Pajamas Media sent Zombie to Denver, and it's already hilarious
        http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/live-from-dnc-its-zombietime-day-1
        Apparently there will at least be daily updates
        \_ This is hilarious? Not really. Good coverage of stuff the MSM
           is sure to ignore though.
           \_ should the mainstream media really report on nutjobs with
              al-Sadr banners?
           \_ Dude, if a bunch of pampered white kids marching behind an Al-
              Sadr banner isn't funny, I don't know what is.
              \_ How do you know they are pampered? If he interviewed one and
                 found out he was a Trustafarian that might be funny, but for
                 all you know they are poor kids.
                 \_ Hahaha.  Take a look at those guys.  They are NOT poor.
                    They are rich kids trying to dress how they think angry
                    poor people might dress.
                    \_ You don't know that. I protested after the Rodney King
                       verdict and I was a poor-ass redneck kid in college.
                       \_ A) These ain't the Rodney King protests. B) LOOK AT
                          THEM.  Seriously, have you honestly never met
                          people like this?
                          \_ You are probably right, but you can't tell if
                             someone in jeans and a t-shirt is poor just by
                             looking at them. Everyone I know like this lives
                             pretty cheaply, but they all come from middle-class
                             backgrounds.
                             pretty cheaply, but they all come from middle-
                             class backgrounds.
        \_ Fox New's take:
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoDsQ2VNArI
          Fuck Fox "News" indeed.

8/25    My family has been using a particular real estate agent for everything,
        including home purchases, rental home purchases, and rental home
        leasing services. She's a very sweet old lady, a close family friend
        (well, more of my mom's friend) and only takes 1/2 of the commission
        that all the other agents take. She has been trying to help me sell my
        home for a while but with the current down-market I'm thinking of
        turning it into a rental property. My place is at an area that she's
        not familiar with and that she's too far (+50 miles) to show to
        prospective clients. I'm thinking of switch to a more local agent.
        I feel awfully bad for "ditching" her since she's a family friend.
        What can I do to minimize any potential misunderstanding while
        keeping our family relationship good?
        \_ so you're kicking a sweet old lady to the curb?  good job.
           survival of the fittest.  Stop by at the Salvation Army and pick
           up a used copy of Atlas Shrugged for her.
        \_ Ignore troll above and just tell her why.
           \_ #f, above advice promotes free market competition which
              is good for everyone in the long run
           \_ Actually, you might even ask her for a recommendation.
              \_ Not a bad idea, because she can still collect a referral
                 fee from the other broker.
                 free from the other broker.

8/25    You too can have 250 sq feet for only $280K
        http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/08/24/BUTM12GQMI.DTL
        \_ Totally, utterly ridiculous. It didn't work for the tiny little
           Japanese many years ago, it's not going to work for Amerikanjins.
           \_ What do you mean it didn't work for the Japanese? I thought
              that this was a normal size for a Tokyo studio.
              \_ They tried in 1970-1972. Look up the Nakagin capsule. It's
                 a tiny little studio capsule project that failed miserably:
                 http://www.flickr.com/photos/esthet/3753156
                 http://ereview.com/pix/places/Japan_Nakagin
                 \_ Those rooms are less than half of the size of the SF
                    project.  -tom
                    \_ Yes but 1970 Japanese men were less than 1/2 the
                       size of 2008 American men.
                 \_ Your information is interesting but irrelevant to the
                    apartments being listed above. There are tons of these
                    1DKs in Japan. I have friends who live in them. They're
                    the only apartments that starving students can afford.
           \_ It's called a 1DK (one bedroom, one dining room/kitchen), and
              there are plenty of them in Tokyo and Osaka, not to mention many
              other smaller cities. They're generally meant to be apartments,
              not condos, but hey, to each their own. You can get a bigger
              condo in Oakland for ~$300k according to http://Zillow.com.
        \_ They aren't supposed to be full time residences.
           \_ rabu hoteru!
        \_ Ever seen a Parisian apartment? That is on the big side.
        \_ Totally, utterly ridiculous. It didn't work for the tiny little
           Japanese many years ago, it's not going to work for Amerikanjins.

8/25    A guy wants to buy my domain name using http://escrow.com. Are they
        shady or are they decent, compared to PayPal?
        \_ http://escrow.com is legit. I would not use any other escrow site.
           \_ I just used it, and it's REALLY FAST and simple to use
              unlike (#**$(# PayPal. So far so good, will let you know --op
           \_ I wish my escorts take e-escrow services. "I will pay
              you via PayPal full price for a BBFS job."

8/25    I don't understand this subprime thing. Why can't people
        just refi to get a new teaser rate? It's still historically low.
        \_ you probably don't have negative equity, e.g., bought at $500K with
           zero down, the place is now worth $350K and you paid interest-only
           for two years?
           \_ Why can't you just do interest-only until home prices go
              back up? Why is there a "Oh shit I need to declare bankruptcy"
              \_ interest-only lasts for only 2-3 years
                 \_ My parents have interest-only rental properties, and
                    they last for 5 years. They keep extending for decades
                    and decades. Nothing bad has ever happened.
                    \_ Which is fine until the property appraises for less
                       than the loan amount.  At that point you can't get
                       a new loan because there isn't enough collateral.
                    \_ they probably have equity, and they're probably not
                       subprime loans.  subprime means no doc, low/no down.
                       if you can prove sufficient income, have equity /
                       reasonable down, it's not subprime, and you can refi
                       like your parents.
                       \_ Yes you're right they have "leverage", a term
                          my mom uses a lot, and yes they bought properties
                          long long long time ago so it's not such a big
                          deal when the market goes down for only 5 years. -pp
                          \_ fyi, "leverage" in real estate means when you
                             buy one house, mortgage it to get cash out, use
                             that cash as down for one or more other houses,
                             etc.  You multiply your gains as long as the
                             growth in value of your homes exceeds interest
                             payments.  if home prices fall across the board,
                             yer fucked.
                             people also use leverage for stock market trading
                             and currency trading in addition to real estate.
                             investment banks and hedge funds are almost
                             always highly levered.
                             fundamentally, leverage is borrowing money to
                             multiply a gain (or loss).
                       \_ No, the loan isn't subprime, the borrower is.
                          \_ it can be both
                             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_lending

8/25    Office politics+bickering+unwanted changes = CHAOS + LOTS OF ANGER,
        frustrations etc etc. Is there a drug out there that can
        suppress all of my emotions so that I can be calm and
        intelligent while looking for another job without showing any
        signs of anger and frustration? In another word, if the drug
        helps me play poker, it will probably help with my personal
        and professional life. Thanks.
        \_ How does office politics affect you when you are unemployed, paolo?
        \_ How does office politics affect you when you are unemployed?
           \_ No employment = No job = No office = No office politics
        \_ It's called quitting time.
           \_ One should not quit until he/she finds a second job.
            \_ I've heard than many times, but you know what, I've never
               seen anyone actually get dinged for not having a job when
               they apply (as long as they don't look desperate.)  Plus
               in this field there are 100s of ways to make it look like
               you were self employed.  If you can't game the system you
               deserve to be angry and bitter.
               \_ Note to employers: never hire aspolito
        \_ Daily blowjobs help. You can also probably get your doctor to
           prescribe an anti-depressant or Xanax, though I find that a
           nightly scotch on the rocks works just as well.

8/25    I hadn't realized it was Joe Biden who was responsible for the Anita
        Hill tragedy in the Thomas confirmation hearings.  What a dirtbag.
        \_ what tragedy?  thomas still got confirmed.  what are you whining
           about.
           \_ ^tragedy^travesty
        \_ You are right, Thomas getting confirmed was a tragedy for America.