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

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.

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

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".

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.

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.

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?

10/27   Tech layoffs
        http://news.cnet.com/tech-layoffs/?tag=nl.e501

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.

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.

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?

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...

10/27   What's a good RAID-1 SATA card to get for the PC?