Messages

1066

Politics / Re: What does this mean to the economy?

« on: October 05, 2008, 03:21:57 PM »

Citi only agreed after the regulators told them they'd guarantee the deal. They have no case, a better offer came along and Wachovia has to look out for "shareholder interests". If it's worth $2.1 Billion with federal guarantees, it's worth $14.8 Billion without them. Whether we are going to be bailing out Wells Fargo later this year remains to be seen.

I can't imagine why New York State Supreme court would have any authority or jurisdiction since they are all Federally regulated and the jusrisdiction ought to be U.S. Circuit court to start, but that was probably the only judge they could find fast enough to stop the deal from going through until the federal guys step in.

Nice game, huh?

My only problem with all these games is they are playing with MY money and MY retirement and I never asked to buy into this casino-roll. Gimme my 401(k) balances back and let me cash out because this has zero reward and maximum risk for no other reason than the people who were supposed to be looking out for my funds were insane.

1067

Politics / Re: another terrorist attack

« on: October 05, 2008, 03:09:07 PM »

The extremists are at it again!

Police arrested three men on Saturday in connection with a fire at the offices of the publisher of a book about the Prophet Mohammed and his child bride Aisha

Gibson Square is responsible for the publication of "The Jewel of Medina" a fictional account of the Prophet's relationship with his youngest bride Aisha, she was engaged to Muhammad at the age of six, she married Mohammed at the age of nine 

Will a religious fatwa be placed calling for the death of author Sherry Jones, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious fatwa for the death of Salman Rushdie in 1988 for his novel The Satanic Verses, the fatwa resulted in at least one attempt on the life of Salman Rushdie


Update 10-3-2008

The three men have been charged   

The three men will face Westminster Magistrates, they are accused of “conspiring without lawful excuse to damage the premises -- intending to destroy or damage property and with intent to endanger life and conspiring without lawful excuse to damage the premises -- intending to destroy or damage property and being reckless as to whether the life of another would thereby be endangered.”

One of the men was also charged with “possessing a weapon designed or adapted for the discharge of a noxious liquid or gas.”

The sentence when they are convicted should be 20 years in prison, listening to a continuous loop in their cells of the charges being read aloud. That alone should be sufficient to drive them absolutely bat-shit.

1068

Politics / Re: The Official Obama Bashing Thread

« on: October 04, 2008, 11:31:41 AM »

Inexperienced Illinois Senator, indeed.
He was never a Senator.
He was elected to the House but failed in his bid for the Senate.
He was a Republican. The first Republican president.
The Republican party was an abolishonist party.

As President he presided over a civil war that killed more Americans than any war before or since.
A war that was instigated in response to his promise in his presidential campaign to ensure that no new states would be admitted to the union as slave states. He wanted to Change America.

If he had had more experience the war might have been much shorter, instead he went through a long series of unsuccessful generals in command of Union forces until appointing Ulyses S. Grant who undertook a war of attrition costing many lives on both sides.

He suspended habeas corpus.

He signed the death warrants for 38 Sioux who were hanged in 1862 after the Minnesota uprising.
The largest single mass execution in American history.

He signed the Emancipation Proclamation for very pragmatic reasons.
1. To discourage England from joining the war on the Confederate side.
2. To allow the negros in the north to fight in the Union army.
3. To abolish slavery in the occupied territories of the secessionist states.
4. To promote general unrest in the slave populations of the secessionist states.
5. To fulfill his stated goal of ensuring no more slave states would be created and to abolish slavery on his own terms.

Inexperience may lead to greatness, but at what cost?

1069

Politics / Re: What does this mean to the economy?

« on: October 03, 2008, 08:04:32 PM »

If Americans can't see the real problem is the system and the rules the Senators and Representatives have designed for themselves to keep themselves in office and to make it as hard as possible for new candidates to be elected and for real reforms to be implemented then we shall continue to get the government we deserve.

On a related note, I read an interesting hypothesis with regard to gerrymandering the other day.

I had previously regarded gerrymandering ("To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections") as more or less just an annoying collusion between members of opposing parties to help keep themselves being re-elected, by ensuring a majority of partisan constituents in their respective districts.

However, the hypothesis linked gerrymandering to the increasing polarization and divisive extreme partisan leanings of elected officials.

The idea is, that when districts are drawn to include more of a balance of constituents from multiple political parties, then candidates must campaign more as centrists.  Those who are elected will have campaigned in a way that reached out to not just members of a single party.

By contrast, when we now often have gerrymandered districts, such that democrats can run on an extreme liberal platform to appease a mostly democratic district, and repuclicans can likewise run on an extreme conservative platform to appease a mostly republican district, we end up essentially electing extremists who believe they have a mandate to govern or legislate based on these extreme platforms.

This explanation makes sense to me.  Previously gerrymandering seemed more like just annoying political hackery to me.  In light of the above, it seems closer to bordering on a threat to our being able to function as a democracy.


Regards,

Agreed! But it goes way beyond mere gerrymandy, that's just the political parties keeping the maverics out and the incumbents in. That's what keeps anyone from running up against someone of their own party. Then we have the messing around at the general election to keep it a two party race to keep the independents in disarray.

But the real game is played up in DC where the big bucks are and where all the lobbies with a stake in the game make all those nice "contributions" to campaign funds to buy this or that vote on some issue concerning the special interests behind the lobby. And we all know it's a payoff always was, always will be but Senate or House "rules" allow it to be done. Just because there's no "promise" from the politico to vote one way or the other doesn't diminish the quid pro quo nature of the transaction. Certainly, if they can't get them on tape about it, it's not a crime. But "Senator, we'd like you to consider our position on this bill, blah blah..." and here's a nice contribution to your re-election slush fund while we're here....

And don't doubt for an instant that there isn't some executive assistant to the Senator who is responsible for telling him who's account is current and who's not. Or an assistant to the House representative who makes sure that the bigger contributing lobby gets "priority access" to the Honorable Congressman. But if you or I offered to sell our vote at the polls we'd be arrested!

It's corrupt at its face but "the rules" dictate what is acceptable and what isn't. But the piggies are writing the rules. And if the lobby can't actually write the check, well, here's a fundraiser in your name Senator, let's have a party and you get up, show a little face time, talk to all the nice people with fat checkbooks and smile pretty for the pictures *wet your lips* and whatever we take in goes in that nice re-election fund so you can outspend any upstarts that come along.

Meanwhile the Committee Chairmen (usually a nice Senior Senator) or in the case of Junior Senator Obama, a minor subcommittee of some subcommittee get to call hearings (but Obama never called one), lord it over witnesses or petitioners (did you make a contribution?), posture and make comments and generally obstruct any meaningful discussion of what might be important to We the People. If a member introduces a bill, it's the chairman's job to make sure that if it doesn't make bread for his party, the bill will die a silent death and never see a vote.

Anyone remember when the Senate Committee (or was it the House?) was grilling the CEO's of Chase, Citigroup and BofA about their credit card practices and their interest rates and fees? Did anything change? Were any laws written/re-written? When your bank is paying you 1% on your savings, WTF are you doing paying 23% on cash advances or 12% on your balances for? In truth, the difference is directly related to the "risk" the banks took by flinging credit cards to all those "Consumers". We have ceased being "productive" and we now have "consumption". In the old days, you died from "consumption". There is no penicillin for this disease. This country has been buried under its own debt by those who think that watching bottom lines is "managing" a company and guarding your parachute and cooking the books is "commensurate with shareholder interests".

Remember when companies paid dividends to shareholders? How come a CEO gets 100+ megabucks and the shareholders get a 20% loss in equity? Performance... yeah right.

The game is played and it's fixed in favor of the House. It's not even a gambler's game anymore. It's called buy buy buy until you get so big that if you fail the taxpayers will HAVE to bail you out to save themselves.

And the pundits score the games like sports events.

1070

Politics / Re: What does this mean to the economy?

« on: October 03, 2008, 11:34:33 AM »

Real reform in Washington can never happen as long as the Pigs at the Trough have power.
The American people will always continue to take it up the ass until they wise up and get these pork-swine off the public tit.
The only way to do that is for American voters to vote the piggies out of office as fast as they possibly can.

Voters must:
Insist candidates for House and Senate state their promise to vote true reform: Like a no-pork, no earmarks spending rule in the Senate.
Identify "INCUMBENT" candidates and vote for any other candidate who is running for that incumbent's office.
Do this for the next 12 years in every election, possibly even beyond 12 years.
12 years is needed to get rid of our piggy Senators and posturing pandering porkers.
There is no need for a term limit law, give every candidate a shot at making good on his promises and vote him out if he/she doesn't.
Vote every incumbent out of office after, at most, 2 terms. (4 years for House members, 12 years for Senators)

For most Americans this is your only opportunity to righteously fire your grasping, pandering, power sucking, pork-spending idiots in Congress.

The power in the Senate belongs to the "senior" senators they are the ones who have played the game the longest and have been gaming the system the longest and have all the lobbyist and collegial backing. Those are the ones who are screwing with us the most and they are also the hardest to defeat.

Some will say this is indiscriminate voting. They will ask, "What if the new guy is worse than the old one?" The fact is, the new guys will be new in the job and won't be pigging out for at least a term so the potential for abuse of the system is lower. They have 1 term to get it right and the point is rapid turnover of our representatives so they learn to realize they are TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES of the PEOPLE. Guys like Joe Biden who has been in the Senate for 32 years have no business pulling big fat contributions and big fat salaries at the public expense.

Example: They vote themselves big fat pay raises and retirement benefits and health care, but they gain public acceptance of those measures by deferring them to the next session, then they do everything they can to be re-elected so they can participate in those benefits. DUH! Are we so stupid that we can accept that? Do you have the right to give yourself a raise?

If Americans can't see the real problem is the system and the rules the Senators and Representatives have designed for themselves to keep themselves in office and to make it as hard as possible for new candidates to be elected and for real reforms to be implemented then we shall continue to get the government we deserve.

1071

Tech Junkie Lounge / Re: Math geek clock

« on: September 30, 2008, 10:23:53 AM »

Pi is transcendental and no number except pi itself, can be subtracted from pi to yield a whole number.

The transcendence has nothing to do with that.
Let n in Z := {...-2, -1, 0, 1, 2, ...}. pi - (pi - n) = n
 

It has everything to do with it.

Associative law reveals:

pi - (pi - n) = (pi - pi) - n =  0 - n and is not equal to n except when n = 0 so your equation is flawed.

But you have effectively subtracted pi from itself. My assertion is correct.
 
However, the the flaw of my original statement is one of not being more formal with regard to precision and significant figures.

9, the integer is exact. pi, the symbol is exact. C = pi * D is exact.
3.14159265358 as an approximation of pi is precise but inexact. C = 3.14159265358 * D is precise but inexact.

Subtracting 0.14 from pi to approximate 3 is inexact and imprecise in comparison with 9, the integer.

Doing something like 3^2 (1 + pi - pi) would have been exact but mostly useless obfuscation but of course, the whole clock is useless obfuscation. I was merely pointing out the nature of the lack of mathematical rigor in the equation for 9 o'clock.

1072

Tech Junkie Lounge / Re: Math geek clock

« on: September 29, 2008, 03:19:27 PM »

Replacing 3 (pi-0.14) for 9 is unacceptably inexact.

Pi is transcendental and no number except pi itself, can be subtracted from pi to yield a whole number.

3(pi - .14) is approximately 9.0047779607693797153879301498385 and is significantly different from the integer 9.

As a geek clock, this device is severely deficient.

 

1073

Jokes / Re: Puzzle

« on: September 19, 2008, 10:14:55 PM »

Using just visual technique at first examination I found seven. I didn't spot the 8th difference until I left the task and came back later. I am not sure the ninth isn't unintentional, seeing as how it's so small and doesn't really make sense in the context of the picture. I am ankshious to see the solution.

1074

Religion, and the Changing Moral Zeitgeist / Re: Ye Religion Thread

« on: September 16, 2008, 09:38:58 PM »

And God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac on the altar, and Abraham being the obedient servant took Isaac to the appointed place and prepared the sacrifice. So this man became the father of a great nation as a result of his obedience to the voices in his head.

Today, Abraham would be in an institution for the criminally insane for hearing voices and attempting murder. Probably being defamed and indicted by Nancy Grace on CNN-HN. Females who hear voices and kill their children are "suffering from post-partem depression".

Abraham hears voices and they are God. Other people hear voices and are called possessed. Still others hear voices and they are voices of "the Devil". Others confess to hearing voices and are "diagnosed" as schizophrenic. The consistency of the observations, actions and conclusions speak for themselves.

Muhammad claimed he heard the same voices.

QED

1075

Jokes / Re: JOKES

« on: September 16, 2008, 09:03:03 PM »

[snip]
3. Your mama!  (...had a mammalian relationship with yo' daddy!)

Sexual reproduction is not exclusive to mammals. All vertebrates reproduce sexually, not just mammals. Aquatic species do it in proximity but not necessarily in physical contact. Insects usually do it back-to-back, or more accurately, tail-to-tail, often in flight - therefore leading to the inevitable "I don't give a flying fuck." usually enunciated by the vertebrate mammal, homo sapiens who cannot fly (unassisted) when he/she fucks.

The correct vernacular for "Yo' mamma" should be "Yo'mamma had a heterozygous relationship with yo'daddy and you are the product." Headline news: "Natural selection proven false, film at eleven."

 

1076

/dev/random / Re: I know there's a lot of Texan's 'round here

« on: September 15, 2008, 09:42:33 PM »

Downtown Houston got it bad. Galveston real bad.
My hotel at IAH was without electricity from 1am Sat. to 8pm Sunday, 43 hours.
I am one of the lucky ones. Many, many more are still without power that lost it before we did.
Some customers may be without power for as long as 4 more weeks.
The eye passed just to the east of this location. Peak winds exceeded 75MPH.
Apartment about 1 mile away caught fire during the storm. Unknown casualties.
This is a bad one, more extensive than Katrina. Texans deal with it, they don't whine.
FEMA has also bypassed state government in Houston and adjoining counties because the state was getting in the way.
This FEMA is not standing on protocol and posing for photo ops for CNN and FOX.
Houston's mayor is also not posing for cameras and telling everone the flavor of his city at the end of the day.
From what I am seeing the POD's are manned and working for those hit hardest.
One of these days we might actually have disaster plans that work.

1077

Trouble Shooting / Re: AVG found win32 virus in anticheat.dll

« on: September 12, 2008, 01:01:05 PM »

They're using the MD5 hash to shield it from the heuristic scanner. Every time you release a new version it will take another hash to shield it. Perhaps they have a code signing mechanism you can use to make the process more automatic. If they can verify your signature on the new releases it would make your DLL uniquely identifiable as coming from you.

1078

/dev/random / Re: we're all gonna dieeeee.

« on: September 10, 2008, 04:19:47 AM »

The protons point is correct. They are accelerating protons, stripped of electron shells and separated from any neutrons they were assocated with. (Hydrogen is 1 proton and one electron, Deuterium is a proton and neutron surrounded by an electron for instance.)

Collisions, however don't occur in keyboards or atmospheres. Atoms repel each other at the electron shells. It's actually electrical field repulsion between the electrons of the material that you "feel" on your feet when you walk and fingers when you type or touch.

The only time nucleons (protons and neutrons) collide is when they are stripped of their electrons and are moving fast enough (heat) that the can get close enough to "touch" and overcome the electric repulsion between them and then they either break into their constituent particles (pions, muons, neutrinos) or give up some energy (photons) and merge to become a heavier atomic nucleus (fusion). This happens in stars and in thermonuclear bombs. In stars, the heating and compression is from gravity. On Earth, we have to do it with electric arcs, magnets and magnetrons to heat them and keep them moving at speeds close to the speed of light.

There is some particle collision in the atmosphere due to cosmic rays (protons) from space that collide with air molecules and this is what Hawking was talking about.

LHC is nothing more than a very sophisticated oven with lots of room for spinning protons in a storage ring before sending them to the mixing bowl inside.

Other than that, when they start the reaction... We're all gonna dieeeee!

1079

Discussion / Re: ERROR: Local map version differs from server

« on: September 07, 2008, 10:00:28 PM »

Quake2 loads and caches files. If the client is running, deleting the map on disk won't fix it.

Best way: quit Quake2, delete the map, make sure it's not in moddir/maps or in baseq2/maps, you have to look in both places sometimes, re-launch Q2 and let the map download. This will place it in the mod directory of your client for whatever mod is running on that server.

1080

Discussion / Re: THE 1ST PLACE BUG

« on: September 07, 2008, 11:51:05 AM »

Good news. Loh asked for some advice on how to do the sounds other than the way it was done in that mod. I gave him some tips on how to create a unicast sound message and get past the engine limitation, glad to hear it worked.