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2008/10/27-29 [Uncategorized] UID:51688 Activity:nil |
10/27 "Humans made fire 790,000 years ago: study" http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081026/sc_nm/us_science_fire Wow! \_ Impossible. The earth is only 6000 years old. - spalin |
2008/10/27-30 [Uncategorized] UID:51689 Activity:nil |
10/26 I am invited to a Halloween costume party. I hate costumes, but I like parties, so I'd like to go. Does anyone have any costume ideas that I can put together with basically no effort or expense? I don't have much time to deal with this next week. Maybe one evening and $50 max. I never dress up so I have zero ideas. I have some nice suits, but not sure how to translate that into gangster/president/similar. Maybe Winston Churchill for the cost of a polka dot tie and a cigar? \_ Just go there as a Child Molester. Costume will be cheap. \_ Get some face paint and a wig and go as The Joker by Heath Ledger. \- tell people you are William Kristol \_ Dress up as a male stripper at the end of the show. \_ Dress up as a male stripper at the end of his show. \_ Go on Flikr and look up Halloween costumes others have done...I'm sure you can figure out something. |
2008/10/27-29 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:51690 Activity:high |
10/26 Hi-res scans show Obama was indeed a *member* of the New Party http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2008/10/obama-file-41-obama-was-new-party.html \_ Having serious difficulty mustering enough energy to care. \_ Excellent. The most liberal member of the Senate is looking to win in a landslide. \_ I'm far more interested in who the candidates really are than in who's going to win. who's going to win. -op \_ Do you honestly believe that Obama was a member of the New Party, or are you just spreading FUD? \_ Yes, I honestly believe that, and it appears pretty well documented. -op \_ Those links you posted are not good documentation, in fact they are contradictory themselves. Do you honestly believe that the Democratic Party would run as a candidate in the general election a member of another party? If you really believe this, you are pretty clueless. Keep grasping at straws though. \_ The New Party docs aren't good? huh? \_ If you would read your own excrement before posting to the motd, you would see that one of the paragraphs says he is a New Party member, while the other one says he is a NP endorsed candidate, not a NP member. Did you read it? "Winners! NP-endorsed candidates Martin, Davis and Obama celebrate with Chicago New Party Members Ted Thomas and Ruth Schools..., " \_ Uh, being called 'endorsed' doesn't mean he *wasn't* a member. \_ In the English language there is only one way to interpret that statement. way to interpret that statement. You never explained how the Democratic Party could have as their candidate a member of another party. \_ The "New Party" was a fusion party. Look it up, and what it means. \_ Frankly, I have better things to do, like pack for the week I am going to spend in Miami helping GOTV for Obama. I don't think the assassination plot is going to bring over too many undecided voters, but good luck with your wing nuttery. \_ Cryptocommunist eh? \_ It's depressing really. The tinfoil hattery common amongst the right during the Clinton years is going to be nothing compared to what's coming during the Obama years. Can we call it NeoBirchism? \_ ODS |
2008/10/27-29 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China] UID:51691 Activity:moderate |
10/27 I'd like to go to China one day but I heard that people are assholes there. For example, everything has a 3-tier pricing. If you're a Caucasian, you get a special bi-ren price. If you're an outsider like Taiwanese, Singaporean, Mayasian, etc, you get a special hua-chiaw price. If you're a mainlander, you get the original price. There are exceptions of course (e.g. Caucasian who speaks fluent Mandarin gets the hua-chiaw price). Does anyone have actual experience with this? \_ None of the three prices above are the actual price anyway. I heard that if you're a tourist, bargin it down to 10% of the (i.e. your) "original" price and it'll be about right. On the other hand, Chinese can also call people here assholes, because when you go to restaurants, the waiters expect something called a tip on top of the listed price plus tax. \_ Um, tips is customary in civilized countries. Having to haggle is the most uncivilized thing I have to do. It's no better than going to used car dealership and to spend 1-2 hours haggling about the price only to get something that is subpar in nature. \_ No tip in Japan which is a highly civilized country. \_ No tip in Japan, a highly civilized country. \_ Tips are customary where tips are customary. Waiters in the U.S. expect a tip because the custom is to pay them below minimum wage and expect them to make it up in tips. In countries where they pay the waitstaff, tips are not customary. In some places where tips are not customary, they are welcomed; in others, leaving a tip can be considered insulting. You don't have to like or understand the rules, you just have to know them. -tom \_ They don't tip in France. -Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey \_ I think not having to tip is definitely more civilized. Dealing with tips is vulgar. Dealing with raw cash at all is vulgar. Tips are a needless burden of obligation with no real benefit to the customer. At least, there shouldn't be a benefit if the society is civilized and people do the jobs for which they agree to be paid. \_ Thank you. We need to tip people because we underpay waitor/waitresses. You can thank your FREE MARKET pay employees as low as you can mentality for this. \_ Stop squishing my changes kchang. \_ Stop squishing my changes ausman. \_ I once haggled over 7 cents in Thailand not because it mattered but because it was expected. It can take a while to get used to haggling over everything, and I was immensely relieved to get back to a non-haggling society, even though the prices were much higher. \_ Americans don't seem to have good haggling genes. That's why foreigners love it when Americans shop at their street booth. Love Americans. FIE DOLLAH! \_ It's more like Americans aren't used to it. If you lived there long enough, you'd get used to it, and then it would be second nature. For a vacation, however, it's simply not worth the agita. Unless, of course, you don't want to be rude, in which case, haggling is a necessary evil. Cf. "bu yao" as reflex in China. \_ It is like this everywhere in the 3rd world. I definitely got this experience in Cairo, too and my friend who lived there and spoke fluent Arabic confirmed it. \- for a somewhat intereting historical episode, if you can read russian, see here: http://www.yale.edu/annals/Steinberg/Images/Steinberg05.JPG also discussed in John Reed's "Ten Days that Shook the World". |
2008/10/27-29 [Reference/RealEstate, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:51692 Activity:kinda low |
10/27 Sales of new homes up 2.7%. Really disappointed. I really wanted a doomsday scenario. Still pissed about how home prices rose 50% in less than 4 years. Life is so fucking unfair. I want SOCIALISM NOW!!! Fuck Capitalism. \_ What do you think got us here? \_ France? Socialism? \_ Poorly regulated markets and an easy money policy promulgated by an Ayn Rand flunky. What do you think got us here? \_ They need a 1-year chart of this overlaying 2006 to 2008. The "no jumbo" crash happened September 2007 I think. The "no jumbo" crash happened September 2007 I think, which would make 2007/2008 Sep yoy easily positive. make 2007/2008 Sep yoy easily positive, which is what happened with the existing home sales numbers. |
2008/10/27-30 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:51693 Activity:nil |
10/27 Esquire has a decent summary of why I am voting for Obama: http://esquire.com/features/esquire-endorsements-2008/esquire-endorses-barack-obama "Bushism must be ripped out, root and branch, everywhere it has been established, or else the presidential election of 2008 is a worthless exercise in futility. Barack Obama may not be the man to do it, but John McCain, for all his laudable qualities, clearly is neither willing nor able to do so." \_ Young people of American DEMAND Socialism. http://www.google.com/trends?q=socialism \_ Obviously referring to Ayers. \_ That actually looks like it is popular in Stockholm. Try this one on for size, you commie: http://tinyurl.com/622vum \_ I'm voting for Obama not because he's my most favorite, but because my most favorite is not running and my second most favorite lost in the primary. I don't really want to vote for Obama, but I still will because he's better than the alternative. |
2008/10/27-31 [Consumer/Audio] UID:51694 Activity:nil |
10/27 http://market-ticker.denninger.net Angry sysadmin: "investing for the long haul" (as opposed to trading this market) is, at this juncture, idiotic link:tinyurl.com/5rbrof (bloomberg.com MP3) Hedge fund manager says coming rally will be "surprisingly robust" (btw, I recommend listening since he offers some backup) \_ Why did you delete all the replies to this post? |
2008/10/27 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic] UID:51695 Activity:nil |
10/27 Tech layoffs http://news.cnet.com/tech-layoffs/?tag=nl.e501 |
2008/10/27-29 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany] UID:51696 Activity:kinda low |
10/27 I just went to my Oath of Ceremony. I'm a US Citizen now! By the way, why do they keep asking if I've ever been a member of the Communist Party? What if I'm a socialist at heart, does that count as communism? It's none of the government's godamn business what party I'm affiliated with. Fucking McCarthiesm still exists or what? P.S. Go Obama! \_ Care to join the National Socialist German Workers' Party? \_ I hate Illinois Nazis \_ Did they ask if you were a Nazi? They used to ask that, too. \_ ACORN!!!!11!!1!!11!1111one \_ They ask this a lot when you apply for a government clearance as well. Most of it's legacy from the McCarthy/Hoover days. \_ It ain't 1950 anymore. What if I tell them I'm a communist? Is the government going to lock me up for it even though it's the 21st century? Come on... \_ Presumably not. However, change comes slowly in govt. They're _required_ to ask you, even if there are no consequences. \_ Wouldn't it be funny if you applied for a government job and told them that you're a communist openly? Sounds like a cool Punked TV episode. \_ I am pretty sure that your security clearance would be denied if you told the interviewer that you were currently a Communist. It would certainly require you to go through more thorough screening, especially for TS clearance. |
2008/10/27-31 [Finance/Investment] UID:51697 Activity:nil |
10/27 In housing markets, why is high prices associated with high number of transactions, and low prices associated with low number of transactions? From my simplistic view using supply and demand curves, the prices and the number of transactions should be independent. Thx. \_ Doesn't that indicate that more people buy houses as investments, rather than as a place to live in? Sad sad world. \_ Gee, "supply and demand curves" are not as gospel as the little Invisible Hand is Everything brains believe. Here's a hint, simple rules for complex systems are never right. \_ simple rules often are correct for statics or equillibrium conditions, e.g. conservations rules, but often you are interested in dynamics or out of equillbirum situations. analogous to the great conservation rules in physics are the "great" accounting identities in econ. "great" accounting identities in econ. the simp;est explanation of higher prices being postiives correlated with higher transactions is liqudiy preference, but there are some subtler issues that are difficult to summarize here. it involves modeling some asymmetries between the buyers and sellers, modelling the growth of the housing stock in an area and the change in demand in that area etc. \_ The economy is *not* an equilibrium system, despite what traditional econ teaches you (and then attempts to un-teach you at the graduate level). Check out "The Origin of Wealth" for a good overview. \- yes, and the same is true of "real world physics". but the point is that you first learn simple normative stuff [PV=nRT, F=ma, GDP=C+I+X-M], and than add increasingly complicated boundary conditions and complicating factors. these simple rules are often quite powerful when thinking about problems, e.g. the parition of energy, energy conservation etc. it cant answer all questions ... like the positive effect on trade vs loss of purchasing power when your currency goes down, but it's a necessary starting point. BTW, you want wish to see the "new growth theory" whichs seems to try an account for some of the stuff in the book you mention. the "king" of new growth theory is PROMER, formerly of ucb dept econ, currently at the 'Fraud, not related to DROMER and CROMER currently still at UCB Econ. (whoa, according to wikipedia PROMER is the son of RROMER. "i did not know that."). \_ Agreed, but at least in Physics the simplifying assumptions and abstractions allow you to make predictions which are still borne out when you introduce complicating factors. The issue with the assumptions made in traditional econ is that they often don't hold up in the real world. Thanks for the pointers, btw. \- there are some areas where "economics" most definitey is in equillibirum: cross-currency arbitrage for example. now you are right, long term currency rates are uncertain. and yes that is why in advanced econ classes you study stuff like dornbusch overshooting, CIP, UIP, PPP etc. and the other thing is some of these "simple normaitve statements" do lauch research agendas, like the efficient markets hypothesis ... you dont have to believe in that has a description of the mkt but it is a starting point just like "rational economic man" is a point of departure from normative to behavioral economics. OK TNX. |
2008/10/27-30 [Politics/Domestic/California, Industry/Jobs] UID:51698 Activity:nil |
10/27 Tech layoff list http://news.cnet.com/tech-layoffs/?tag=nl.e501 \_ Qimonda is laying off 3000 people? I have never even heard of these guys before. The funniest thing is that two different companies have contacted me via LinkedIn to see if I wanted to interview for a VP job at their startup just in the last week or so. \_ Qimonda is a German company. Is this supposed to be a world-wide list of layoffs or something? |
2008/10/27-29 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:51699 Activity:kinda low |
10/27 Is anyone here undecided on Obama vs. McCain? If not, can we dispense with all the motd entries on the topic? Dot here if you're undecided: \_ Ron Paul: .... \_ BIGGS: Wait! \_ No, you're not funny. No, you're not clever. Yes, you are extremely annoying. \_ (all true, I admit, but nevertheless:) Biggs' cockpit explodes around him, lighting him in red. \_ Hans: Sure hope the old man got that tractor beam out of commission, or this is gonna be a real short trip. Okay, hit it! \_ what does that have to do with today's rally? \_ Cause we are going to find out really soon if that old man took out the tractor beam or not... |
2008/10/27-31 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:51700 Activity:nil |
10/27 What's a good RAID-1 SATA card to get for the PC? |
11/22 |