Im still sick. I went to Costco yesterday for the first time leaving my house and I bough no meat no booze and no cook books. I spent 90 bucks on things to get over this cold. Entertain my feeble brain.
From my hiatus.. Im surprised that these weren’t linked.
Also… hipster ponies
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They need headbands.
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It’s rude to provide the peak of the day this early on.
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Im sorry, i have forgotten my manners.
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It’s okay. You’ve been sick.
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… shall be eaten by hipster tiger.
Vin Diesel has really let himself go.
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I was thinking Vladimir Putin.
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FK that guy in the pooper with a shattered vodka bottle. He is the enemy of all freaks, queers, and nonconformists worldwide.
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So you can see how I thought that Jeter picture was Putin, then.
CostCo for a cold? So I guess you’re set for your next 1,000 doses of cold medicine.
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Luckily the generic costco cold medicine is a day night combo pack rather than having to buy one of each. 96 capsules each. At 2 per dose thats 48 days of continuous cold and flu relief. If only they had the good stuff you could make meth with.
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My wife has severe allergies and takes that kind year ’round.
Sometimes, when I go into the local megamart, the night janitor is an ex-tweeker and talks shop about the cold pills while I wait in line. She’s 40 or so and looks like an 85yr old grizzled prospector from the 1890′s. I totally expect her to say “Consarnit”
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You should ask her to, just ’cause.
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LOL
3. Good. I was getting sick of using my stupid ears for hearing.
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today is your work from home day right?
ENTERTAIN MY FEVERED BRAIN
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Usually yes (good memory), but I’m in the office today since I’m taking tomorrow off
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Also, I was/have been feeling a bit sick too. Why is everyone everywhere falling ill?
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They’re just getting down with the sickness.
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OOH WAH AH AH AH!
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My human sexuality class is interesting. I sit next to an African-American woman who’s only in the class because she needs 3 psych credits and the teacher’s a softie for deep waitlist adds. It’s almost funny hearing her mumble under her breath. Her binarist worldview is getting SHATTERED every day, and it must be hurting her emotionally because she’s arguing back with the teacher under her breath.
How delirious do you have to be to find buzzfeed interesting?
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Here are 25 gifs that explain just how delirious.
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Win
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I like Ben Smith who use to work for politico who does their politics. Also lots of shit on buzzfeed is amusing.
I had no idea I was so ahead of my time… all the years I had my hair cut exactly like that, until I started growing out the bangs a couple of years ago because I realized that no I didn’t actually hate my forehead as much as I hated having bangs. Also because bangs just go so wrong after you’ve had a baseball cap on them for several hours.
I don’t get “fashion.”
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That’s a lot like my ‘do, actually. Except without the hair.
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[Nods.]
Heh. That’s some quality SB research
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Crazy. Time for Harbaugh’s revenge!
The hunt for peak crazy continues.
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For the love of sanity, this just fking disgusting. And from a woman no less. I’m sure there’s other methods of using it’s DNA for evidence without putting the poor woman through even more crap. Unlike Obama, I’m all for destroying the Republican party. Let something new (and hopefully full of sanity) rise from the ashes.
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Amazing.
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Cathrynn Brown should really consider tattooing “I am a horrible person.” on her forehead. I mean, what the fuck.
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Just for my own information, couldn’t a paternity test be done on an aborted fetus? So doesn’t her bill actually not do even what it claims?
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That’s basically what I’d think too.
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I’d assume so.
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1. Everyone knows that only live babies can be used as evidence. Once something dies, it loses all its DNA.
2. I don’t see the big deal. This is just like how we don’t let people move back into their homes after they’ve been robbed until we convict the thief. Or how we don’t let abuse and assault victims get medical attention before we’ve convicted the perpetrator. We do those things right?
3. Since women’s bodies can shut down that sort of thing after “legitimate” rape, then there wouldn’t be any babies if they were actually raped, so all the preggos are just liars. QEDumbfuck
4. What in the actual fuck? I mean, just, come on. Stop giving humanity a bad name.
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I love this whole comment, but especially “QEDumbfuck.”
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That one word, or whatever it is, is amazing.
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Agreed. I think line 3 might actually qualify as a tagline on it’s own too.
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As horrible as this is-your comment still is pure WIN.
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I want to buy this comment a drink.
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Should you really be drinking right now given your current sick status?
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She didn’t say she’d be drinking, she’d just be buying the drink for the comment.
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One doesn’t simply order a single drink and not one for themselves.
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Whiskey is a nice little add-in with my cold meds. Gives it a nice kick.
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i love you
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Earl Grey. Southern Comfort. Lemon. Honey. Sugar.
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I’m not a big fan of SoCo, but this sounds pretty great.
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If you take cold medicine before, maybe some Vicodin, after a bit you forget what you’re drinking.
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I think the only meds I have that start with V at the moment is valium.
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So Co is the definition of disgusting
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God, that sounds amazing. I had that last night, but with whiskey instead of SoCo, but I think I’ve still got a little SoCo floating around for tonight…
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and since i’m too sick to go to curling, which obviously means i’m patient zero with humanity-destroying plague, i totally have time to drink this tonight. sob.
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No curling??? NOOooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
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i really want to lay down on the ice right now, so it was tempting to still go.
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Will you be at FanFest?
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I am focusing my healing energies on being able to be well enough to. So, optimistically yes.
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I’ll send some your way as well, although I fear the hills of Crocket may deflect and steal the beam.
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Dude, OT but the Carquinez straight is really pretty, spent an afternoon in Benicia, nice little town w/ beautiful old sun-beaten shacks, tons of vintage rackety-boom pickups.
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Thank you. <3
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wonder what she would think if she was raped and then became pregnant.
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Obviously she’d just wrap herself in crime scene tape and hold perfectly still for the next nine months.
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Sadly, a lot of righties will accept her bullshit. I’m getting so sick of Republican extremism and sheer stupidity. And then they accuse Dems of partisanship. Hint: it’s not partisanship when one side is consistently stupid and wrong.
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Am I the only person who followed nevermoor’s link and then immediately got distracted by “Rough Day For Alleged Violent Naked Pooping Masturbator“?
Naturally, this story is from Florida #bloombait
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Are there ever pleasant days for violent naked pooping masturbators?
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alleged violent naked pooping masturbators
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Thank you
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When they tried shooting the guy and that didn’t work (and was shooting him really necessary?), why didn’t they try tackling him, instead of standing around waiting for the cops while he crapped and jacked off and generally ran amok in their home?
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I’m sure he was flinging feces. And semen.
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The thing about shitting in other people’s homes: you may go to jail, but they have to clean it up.
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Damn straight.
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Florida is a standyour ground state. You don’t have to wait for the other guy before you start flinging poo
FSU: Puppy Bowl rosters are in!!!! Obviously Jenny is the player to watch.
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I disagree Aurora and Shaddow are the pick of the litter
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Whoooooooosh (still waiting, NM).
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?
Willis is likely to prove unstoppable, unless they use a particularly bizarre application of the Tuck rule.
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I got it but talking about the dogs was more interesting.
You really assume im a dolt a lot more often than I am.
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I think all three of your picks are good, and I’m going to put Juniper out there too.
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Blitz looks like he could be trouble. And I love Elias’ patchy eye.
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Sally’s ears will be a sensation in the water bowl cam.
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Agreed on Aurora.
I hope Harry meets Sally and they have puppies of their own someday.
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Only if they Forget Paris.
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I’m Team Aurora this year, I think.
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Watch out for Lenny. Sounds like he might pull some Ndamukong Suh maneuvers out there.
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Aw, Jenny has those big sad puppy dog eyes. But I like Juniper’s insouciant smirk.
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Behind the scenes with Brian Williams!
ASVD. ASV-fkin-D.
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Brilliant
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[Stands and applauses]
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How can we fill right field though? (NSFW)
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Yum.
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I like that the caption for #2 is about who designed the necklace and bracelet.
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I’m at work it’s NS. But I saw the link.
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She was wearing jewelry? Huh.
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For you guys:
NSFW?
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I’d totally let her watch me wash my car.
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Me too. You can wash your car while I fondle her… um… her.
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Ok. And then, when she gets angry, I come over and punch you, and then flash her my winning smile. Sounds like a good plan!
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Oh where these hands go, there will be no anger.
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You need to teach me, then. Every time I feel up a strange woman, I get arrested. And usually slapped. Or kicked in the balls. Or both.
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Are you sure you’re not mistaking women who are strangers for strange women?
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Women are strange when you’re a stranger.
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Have you considered, I don’t know, introducing yourself first?
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Nothing says “hello” like a long, lingering boob squeeze.
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Absolutely.
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That ad seems well below the standards of a brand like Mercedes Benz.
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When you consider what it’s actually for, it’s quite odd. But I really don’t care what they’re trying to sell. Kate Upton needs more airtime.
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I’m not complaining.
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Apparently the new Super Bowl ad strategy is to put up your ad as a viral video 10 days ahead of time to get people talking about your brand (and then maybe pull that ad at the last minute “due to its controversial nature”.)
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This one is just boring, and it barely shows the car. Weird choice.
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Unless German scientists have perfected their cloning technique, and you can now get your very own Kate Upton at the local Mercedes dealership?
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Best.
36 minutes until the Warriors probably get their first (and maybe second) All Star selection in 16 years. I’m way more excited about this than I ought to be.
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And it’s David Lee! Bummer for Curry though.
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All-Star guard slots in the Western Conference are hard to come by. Also, fan voters are stupid.
Of course, letting more people walk around with guns will reduce shootings. There’s no way it could turn minor scuffles into shootouts where innocent bystanders get hurt, right?
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Guns don’t shoot people, people WITH guns shoot people.
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Only overmedicated or unmedicated MENTALLY ILL people with guns or access to guns shoot people. Don’t you pay attention? (There’s medication for that.)
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Ironically, better mental health laws would likely keep guns away from the most vocal “You ain’t takin’ mah gun” crowd.
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I really wonder how much of a difference mental health laws would make. It seems like we still have so much to learn about mental health. I’m also concerned that we’re asking for science-related laws from a group of people who have shown amazing ignorance of, and an unwillingness to learn about, science.
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Oh, they won’t make a lick of a difference. You can’t predict the perfect storm of a rational, healthy person snapping. They call it the last straw for a reason. It’s usually something so small and insignificant that on it’s own, no one would pay it any mind. That being said, that shouldn’t stop us from trying, just not for the sake of weapon use.
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I think we need to first remove the stigma associated with mental health issues and seeking help for them. Then, we need to educate people on symptoms and warning signs. And then we hope that more people seek professional help. But mental health screenings as a method of preventing gun violence just doesn’t seem like it would do much good.
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Yup.
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Recent example of the benefits of looking for symptoms and warning signs.
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Yup2… in case my comment above about “only mentally ill people” fell into the sarchasm, where it lies broken and out of reach (sorry).
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Oh, we picked up on it.
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Okay, lately I’ve been doing a lot more gibberish than usual and getting a lot of blank stares…
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Huh?
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:P~~~~~~~
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I’ll have the orderlies bring you a new droolie cup, pronto.
So… Abrams to direct Episode 7.
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I heard that Joss Whedon was offered it first, but turned it down because of a prior commitment. But I heard it from a friend who I’m fairly certain intends to go all Talented Mr. Ripley on Mr. Whedon, so it may not be true.
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I heard that too.
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I hadnt, but suggested to my friend that Star Trek should fire back by getting him for the third film.
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Directing both Star Trek and Star Wars is an impressive geek achievement.
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Truth. Not terribly excited about the prospect of seeing the old actors pick it up like they seem to be planning. But of all the hands to put it in, those aren’t bad hands for the job.
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I agree. You really can’t make this film without Billy Dee Williams.
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Billy Dee guest starred (as himself) in an episode of Modern Family a couple weeks ago. He’s looking his age, and then some. In the Han versus Lando throwdown Han will be a prohibitive favorite.
On the plus side, Mark Hamill will finally get more work.
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Mark Hamill has been very busy doing voice work.
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Ive been waiting half my life for the Corvette Summer sequel..guess I will wait longer now.
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And I learned something as I went to wikipedia to see when Hamill’s car crash was. Is it common knowledge that he is from Oakland?
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I did not know that.
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Yes.
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Actually, if I’m remembering correctly, I think he was a Navy brat and lived in a lot of places… so I don’t remember if he was born in Oakland, or just lived there, or was born somewhere else but lived in Oakland long enough to say that’s where he was from (regardless of where he was born).
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Born there, grew up in Virginia.
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Bullshit. Oakland is not on Tatooine.
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Oakland may be part of the Anoat system.
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You guys are getting your nerd on me.
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If anything, I reckon that most of the Bay Area would be somewhere on Endor.
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Wasn’t it Gertrude Stein who said, of Oakland, “If there’s a bright center of the universe, you’re on the planet it’s furthest from”?
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asvd
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Yeah, I was going for that but didn’t do it as well.
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No, yours was better. I had to google it to get it, but when I did, LOL.
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Leia’s comment? Yes, that was excellent. I also had to google it.
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Very nice.
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“Oakland airport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany.”
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Haha!
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but i hear that you can pick up a quality smuggler at the Red Lion cantina.
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I beg your pardon, lol.
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But can he make the Coliseum run in under 12 parsecs?
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Don’t you mean the Oaksterdam run? And it’s the Oakland Coliseum that has the most wretched hive of scum and villiay. Pfft. And you call yourself a nerd.
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A nerd who’s never been to a Raiders game. And God willing, never will.
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And actually, I’m not nearly smart enough to be a nerd.
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Just saw that. I actually was able to catch my movie freind before he saw it. He said “Abrams already did a Star Wars movie in 2009-he’ll probably end up turning Ep 7 into Star Trek just to bring balance..”
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yeah i wasn’t a fan of the last star trek affair.
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I think that JJ Abrams is overrated across the board.
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I was looking at his data in wikipedia and was surprised with how unimpressive it is.
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Kinda like Ron Moore. Lots of meh and one big hit.
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His Data may be unimpressive, but what about his Lore?
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Leave it to you to Soong his praises.
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My friend shares the thought.
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If only they could’ve gotten Scorsese.
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I’d go see it if David Lynch directed.
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How about Tim Burton?
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Woody Allen
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Judd Apatow.
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Ben Affleck.
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Lena Dunham.
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Wes Anderson.
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Wes Anderson Star Wars would be amazing.
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Holy shit, yeah! LOL!
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Soffia Coppola
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Can you imagine Luke Han and Leia slow mo walking off the death star?
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Please no.
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so want
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alex cox
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Sam Raimi
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Alfred Hitchcock
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Cecil B DeMille
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Orson Wells
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The Mitchell Brothers
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andeux wins.
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Does that mean Han’s going to murder Luke in a drunken cocaine-fueled rage?
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Gaspar Noe
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I think Super 8 is the one JJ Abrams movie that I liked.
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I thought so too until Super8, sure its pretty much a Spielberg film/ homage but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
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See my comment directly above you…
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Whoops, the perils of stacked comments.
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I’ve seen that line before.
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Well now Im going to have to insult said friend all nught for using a line on me.
I liked ST 2009 but most of the things that seemed to be “Abrams” were my least favorite parts.
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the plot was awful
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I don’t know. It was a clever way to give it a “soft boot” without actually destroying or re-writing everything that had already happened. The original stuff and can now stand on it’s own and be expanded on without conflict. And before it’s release, the series had publicly stagnated (geekdom notwithstanding).
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Time travel plots are almost always stupid. This one was extra bad.
Most of the Trek movies have been awful.
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almost.
Time bandits was great though
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Best Trek time travel plot
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oh are you guys talking about Star Track only?
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That is actually a good one.
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While it isnt time travel, I think they should have gone foe A Piece of the Action for the new movie. Of course I also would have loved The Squire of Gothos or The Naked Time, so Im a dork with questionable taste..
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If you don’t like time travel plots then I find you stupid and I don’t like you.
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Villain from future tries to mess with time line is so over done and rarely original
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There’s no such thing as original. You basically need to get over that in anything you watch. The real interest has to occur AFTER that happens. Forget the method of how an altered time line occurs and focus more on how the ST universe gets effected by that single ripple in time instead.
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It has been done multiple times within the serries.
Its basically the same plot as Generations
Its basically the same plot as first contact
Its basically the Suliban plot from Enterprise
Im fine with time travel if you use something different than the last movie.
Further, the idea of using time travel to change the time line to not have to deal with cannon is used constantly when rebooting series.
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It’s not really the same plot as Generations at all. Generations was mostly forward. Yeah, they go back, but they go back as a key element of the plot itself. First Contact, true but that was more restorative than it was alteration. I’m not at all familiar with the Suliban plot. I can’t think of any other series that has used time travel to reboot (not saying it hasn’t been done, just that I can’t think of any) and while I’m not claiming that it’s use was cleaver or original, but simply a necessary evil. If they don’t do that, they’re basically tied to the same time line and same characterization which grossly limits story telling, makes it horribly predictable/boring, and it adheres to the biggest of your complaint, namely it’s all been done before.
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Generations used the time travel evil man altering the time line plot whether it was forward or backwards doesn’t really matter.
There are three plots that are very similar.
I would be fine changing cannon to retell the story. I think the basic premise of the Enterpirse’s launch was ripe, but the time travel component just ruined the rest of it.
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They’re my favs.
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Mine too.
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Bull shit. This one was extra cool.
I adore this reboot, and I’ve watched this series from the start.
The only false step was with Spock. That had to happen to give continuity to the rest of the series. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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It includes Benedict Cumberbatch. Benedict Cumberbatch! Seriously!
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Agreed. I really liked what they did with the first movie
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Unforgettable, Twelve Monkeys, Dark City, The Nines.
There are so many amazing time traveling films.
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Yeah no, Spock prime would never ruin the timeline by giving advice to present spock.
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His Vulcan side, no. His human side on the other hand… no.
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o.O
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Yay!
Fucking people, man. I hate them.
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Yeah, I saw that yesterday. Just… dumb. Inconceivably dumb.
I don’t want to detract from the season ticket thread, but it’s inconceivable that nm wouldn’t have been contacted by the A’s about renewal. The only explanation I can think of is that nm got tired of getting junk e-mail from the team and filtered it out. Check your filters nm! I’m sometimes surprised when I look in there and see what I decided to dispose of.
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Well, I did get some blasts, but never a direct email/call like last year.
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These are the AL West champs! They don’t have time to talk to all the people throwing $$ at them to get tickets.
Is this Captain Picard’s voice?
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unfortunately
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I was so hoping it would just be a good imitator.
DFWAS
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I was actually surprised by how not awful that was.
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I mean its not like homophobic or racist or anything, but stupid? yes.
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some of them do seem fake, though
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agreed. Also, a bunch of misspellings and lack of world knowledge. Not much that’s really high-end stupid (like “What is obama’s last name?”)
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Probably. its the internet.
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Just outhale, you’ll feel better.
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I want that stuffed uterus at #13…
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I think Anthony Bourdain ate a stuffed uterus once, right?
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I watched his new show and found it to be super annoying.
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Me too.
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and i really like him. If i was older drunker a chef and more successful, i would like to think that i would be like him
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I like what he’s trying to do, but I’ve always found his personality to be off-putting.
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soooo kinda like me?
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I’ll plead the 5th. :)
They actually all seem to fit.
http://www.totalfilm.com/features/django-unchained-50-best-moments
Go see:
http://curiouseggs.com/extremely-rare-color-photography-of-early-1900s-paris/
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Older processes fascinate me. I really want to try making carbon prints. I wonder if it would be possible to do this as well. I suspect making the film wouldn’t be too difficult, I’m just not sure about the processing chemicals. Autochrome Lumiere is an additive process that produces positives, probably very similar to Kodachrome. Kodachrome chemicals are highly toxic and are banned in the US. The same may be true of Autochrome Lumiere chemicals.
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Hmm, Wikipedia says that Kodachrome was a subtractive process. I could’ve sworn it was additive.
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I’m curious how long the camera had to be held on the subject for the exposure to be taken. You can see some motion blur in a few shots.
I’ve got a Kodak Jiffy Six-20 (like this) that my grandparents bought during the Great Depression era. It ended up mine after she’d passed a few years ago and I got a couple rolls of film to try in it. It probably hadn’t even been out of its box in 20-30 years, if not longer, and I tried some sample shots of the houses she had.
What I noticed with the documentation was a little chart about how long the shutter would need to be open for photos under certain conditions. At least for things outside with good light, the shot could be taken fairly quickly.
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Apparently, the film/plates were very slow. Also, at the time these images were taken, they were producing plates only. So these would’ve been taken with view cameras. A tripod is pretty much a must with those.
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Makes sense. The stuff I shot with this, I could do hand-held. There’s an interesting ghost-like quality to the photos in a way but they came out very well, I thought.
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I would love to be able to experiment with such a process. But then, I love analog.
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I ought to see if I can still find some rolls of film for it, but these had to be sent out to NY for developing.
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B&H carries some 620 film.
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I think that’s where I ordered mine from before. You can also use re-rolled 120 film.
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The problem is that of the 7 kinds they carry, 5 types are Kodak products; three of those are black and white; and the other 2 are Fujichrome. There’s only 1 C-41 film in the bunch. And yeah, I can’t imagine that very many labs have the necessary adapters to run 620 through their machines.
I wonder if you can find reels to process the B&W by hand.
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Hmm, 620 film might be loadable on 120 reels. If that’s the case, I already have those. If you want to shoot B&W, you’re welcome to borrow my reels and tank once I move back, or I’ll process them for you.
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I’ve printed out instructions on loading the 620 on the 120 reels but never tried it. I read someone used a camera bag of some kind to change it without needing a dark room.
B&W or color would be fine for this camera but it’s not really on my list at the moment. Hopefully someday, again.
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Ok, well I’ve also got a 120/220 camera (3 film holders for each type) if you ever want to play with it. I so love medium format. I have a changing bag too, but 3 rolls of 120 is 45 shots and 3 rolls of 220 is 90. Can’t imagine you’d need more than that.
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I’m jealous of you both, but probably not enough to actually try doing anything creative
with the 1920s(?) 620 camera that I “inherited” in a similar manner…(historically speaking, how did so many artists of any medium manage to create their shit while grappling with depression? why was it a bonus for them? was it because they didn’t have TVs to just stare at while stuffing their faces?)up
That’s a good question. I guess they sought refuge in the one thing that made them feel better.
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or at least something that externalized their internal pain in some way…
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Another good possibility.
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I’ll definitely keep it in mind. I’ve just got some other things I need to get in order first. One of my goals is to take it out to places – Yosemite, etc. – and take some photos that have an authentically vintage feel to them.
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When I had access to a large format camera, I liked to shoot with Adox CHS Art 25, which is a beautiful, slow, silver-rich film. I printed it on Oriental-Seagull GF 3 paper, and selenium-toned the images. The results were amazing, even if the composition was a bit lacking. Unfortunately, that film has been discontinued.
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I have to admit, almost my entire experience with photography so far has been digital only, so I can’t follow this part too well. ;-) It’s interesting stuff, though.
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Sorry, I thought you had darkroom experience. Now I just feel like a horse’s ass.
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It’s okay… in my eavesdropping, I understood (except for the brands) and was appropriately moved to tears…
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I feel less horse-assish now.
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Ozz:
Not a problem. When I was in college I signed up for a photography course but I didn’t have access to my own manual camera. My father’s was automatic and not allowed, and since I didn’t want to be stuck having to rely on borrowing someone else’s I dropped the course.
I don’t remember if there would have been darkroom stuff as part of it, but everything I’ve done that’s been serious has been digital only.
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This is a question for Jarrod Parker: what training regimen do you use to protect your obliques? How do you expect to wind up on the DL?
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Is your alarm clock at a safe distance?
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Have you hired someone to wash your truck?
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Do you have codine cough syrup for your cough?
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Do you wear boots and do you have someone to help you put them on?
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Do you protect your eyes from the sun by wearing sunglasses, or by rubbing sunscreen in them?
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ahaha
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Do you remove your shirt before ironing?
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What is your preferred method for eating grapes?
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Liquid form. Always liquid.
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“I saw a wino eating grapes. I was like, ‘Dude, you have to wait.’”
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I was eating grapes the other day at work, and I bit one in half, chewed that half, then popped the other half in my mouth. Then I inhaled for some reason, and the half grape went right down my gullet. And I could just feel it sitting there, and I was deciding whether to panic or vomit or whatever, and then I just forgot about it. So I guess it turned out OK.
That’s how I eat grapes apparently.
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I’d just choke that fker back up about 4 or 5 hours later while I was driving home.
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Individually peeled and placed into my mouth one by one from the hands of scantily clad women.
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Do you check the depth of the water before diving into a pool?
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Is there a door-to-door venison delivery service in your area?
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Do you intend to play second base while Bobby Crosby is manning short?
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Wait, what? There are going to be beer league players for Q&A at this event?
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How often do you play Guitar Hero?
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Top questions I would have for David Forst
How does the team expects the CBA changes will affect the A’s drafting strategy.
Can he broadly talk about how the A’s integrate medical data into their player acquisition strategy, specifically with regard to the draft.
The team has had a lot of success teaching the cutter to pitchers as of late, is there a desire to seek pitchers that the team believes could improve by learning the cutter.
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What CBA changes do you speak of? I am truly ignorant and need clarification so I understand your (good) question.
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They created a pool of money based on where your picks are for each team to spend in the draft. Additional spending is punished by up to losing future picks.
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There is a pretty comprehensible run-down here: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/news/2012/2612723.html
To expand on dfa’s explanation, they assign dollar values to each slot in the draft. You add up those values for your first ten picks and that gives you a pool of money that can be used for bonuses. This doesn’t mean that they have strict slotting for bonuses — you could go after a cheap player in the first round and give him a small bonus, and then drop a big bonus in the third round to try to pry someone away from a college commitment. Also, there are real penalties for teams that pay out too much bonus money — financial penalties but also losing picks in future drafts.
There is one argument that says this change will help out the small market teams, because it prevents rich team from inflating bonus demands for high school players who might be difficult signs. The example that comes to mind is Detroit, which was probably the most aggressive team in spending big money in the later rounds. Overall, I think it hurts the small market teams, though, because even though some of these bonuses were getting pretty big, it is still a way cheaper way to acquire talent than through free agency.
There is also a major change in how compensation draft picks work (also covered in the BA article). It’s harder now to get extra draft picks when players leave.
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I plan on going with DFA’s 2 questions if/when I get a chance to query Mr. Forst.
If anyone has something to add, or a rephrasing that’s likely to get a better or more useful answer, please chime in here.
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I mean the top 2 questions. I doubt Forst would answer the one about targeting certain pitchers for to teach the cutter.
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This makes sense
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I thought the cutter question was a really good one. The A’s clearly have developed a lot of pitching talent over the years. Maybe it’s because they are really good at identifying good pitchers in the draft, but I’m sure that at least some of it is because their minor league instructors are good at developing pitchers. The cutter is just a part of that, of course…
Tag line depends on your take on the issue, either SF PUC sells out to the rich evil suburbs, or 2/3 of Hetch Hetchy water users finally get a say.
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How would they provide water to the Bay Area if Hetch Hetchy is drained?
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I’d be OK with setting up a nuclear-powered desalination plant right off of Ocean Beach to take up the slack.
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Rain Dances.
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they wouldn’t and thats the point.
There was an incredibly dumb ballot measure in sf to drain hetch hetchy. this would basically prevent draining the resovior if there was a public vote that supported draining it but only in sf.
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The way I feel about it is (1) I wouldn’t support destroying the valley now; (2) the valley is already destroyed; and (3) its a good source of water, which is a scarce resource in CA.
Anything that makes draining harder now is something I support.
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Yeah, once the damage is done, you might as well continue to reap the benefits as long as they’re there. That doesn’t mean you have to like or support how you got there in the first place. A better focus is to keep it from happening again elsewhere.
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“sunk” costs…get it?
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Heh.
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I agree with this for the most part, with the caveat that I don’t have a horse in #1. I am not concerned with dams per se, I don’t see damming a river as destroying a valley.
that being said, If there were no new dams i would be ok too
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I agree 100% with this.
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What a dumb thing to say.
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Indeed. Water is a public good and should be treated as such.
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Um don’t you know that we are the only ones who live in real cities and are real people and therefore should make all the decisions. Duh
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I mean this
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I was thinking more along the lines of, “Two-thirds of the people using Hetch Hetchy water should have a say.” But I guess having room for giant TV’s AND having to power to outvote the city-dwellers is just too much.
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Snark aside, technically I think the guy is right though: SF owns Hetch Hetchy, and the other cities are its customers.
Of course, as others have said, draining the reservoir now doesn’t make much sense regardless.
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His example of Apple customers not having input on products is ludicrous. Does he think manufacturers ignore consumer trends?
And yes, SF owns Hetch Hetchy, as well as Crystal Springs Reservoir, where at least a portion of Hetch Hetchy water currently flows. But part of the deal to get San Mateo County to give up land and water to SF is that SF needs to provide some of that water to San Mateo County. They can’t just unilaterally back out of that now.
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In fairness, SF owns the infrastructure so it is generally a pretty weak argument that they are somehow obligated to keep running it just because they sell some output.
That said, water is not a normal good, and the fact SF can share its costs (not water. water in CA is free.) AND ensure the city has really really good water is the kind of infrastructure win we should applaud, not dismantle.
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From a serious perspective:
We own it.
It is ours.
We should get to decide what happens to it.
Its like saying well the other 2/3 of the people that use my car should get a vote on where it goes or what radio station we listen to.
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You also made a deal with San Mateo County to provide them with water. Are you saying you don’t care about fulfilling your contractual obligations?
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Which is fine. They have a right to deal with the legal ramifications of said contract (which i don’t know)
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Nevermind the legal ramifications of said contract. I am fully in favor of telling SF that their unilateral authority over Hetch Hetchy ended once it became the water source for millions of other people.
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Hopefully this is all moot — as dfa pointed out, the SF ballot measure was dumb and it failed.
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Meh, personally i favor cities ransoming critical services to suburbs, since suburbanites use what we pay for and rarely contribute their cost.
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LOL
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This one is actually generally true. (and even true of major suburbs v. minor suburbs). An easy examples is commuters using the city’s sewer system during the day, without any obligation to pay to support it.
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Meh. Those same people pump cash into local stores and what have you along with parking costs. And the reverse is true too, city folk come on out to the ‘burbs to do shit too. You go through Marin to visit Wine Country and you use highway additions we get taxed for while getting zero economic benefit since you basically bypass us. The relationship is what it should be, like two friends going out together. Over time it may not be equatable, but both sides pay their share here and there and the money is simply an aside to what’s really going on.
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I’m not saying it’s a big deal, and fully agree about shopping/parking money. All I read DFA is saying is “Over time it may not be equatable” (with a little DFAian bombast), so it sounds like we are all on the same page.
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exactly…
Real argument with DFA rhetorical flair.
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Suburbanites who work in the city are also adding value through their productivity. Since the business they work for is paying taxes in that city, the suburbanite worker has contributed to the city’s coffers.
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Please show me one study that shows that suburbs pay for themselves and Ill change my position.
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My solution – I live in one suburb, work in another, do things for entertainment in several, and stay the FK out of SF as much as possible.
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Doc, you and I have similar life philosophies.
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and yet you work in san francisco often
#fail
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Uh, no, I don’t. Not for the last few years, and hopefully the future. Most of my work is East/South/North Bay. I put in maybe 40 hours in SF in 2012, unless I’m forgetting something.
If they just put a Fluevog store in the East Bay I’d be set.
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that isn’t what you described last summer but whatever, if you want to complain about us you can just stay the fuck out.
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It’s hard for me to remember where the fuck I worked until my 1099s/W2s rolled in. I used to work there more, I expected to this fall, and it didn’t happen since SF’s tightening a little more on out-of-house hiring than the East Bay right now. But keep being so pleasant.
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Just because you don’t like getting called out for you I want my cake and to eat it too doesn’t mean Im being unpleasant. Im sure there are plenty of people who like SF that are willing to work here.
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Ive seen you hanging out with hipsters in Delores Park. You cant fool me
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Once, or maybe twice :). Mainly at the insistence of daughter #1, who had the good sense to leave there for Austin.
edit: Also, I spent more time in Oakland than SF last year, and hope to do the same this year.
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You stuck us with your progeny and paid no taxes for it.
my point exactly
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I don’t have a source off-hand, but part of the deal when San Mateo County sold San Francisco County the land to build Crystal Springs Dam and the accompanying reservoirs was that SF would sell water to SMC. Most of the water in CS actually comes from Hetch Hetchy. Now, I don’t know if the deal had any expiration date or not, so it actually may not be a factor anymore. Still, if it weren’t a factor, I doubt they would really care what SMC residents think.
Kay-bait (except probably going to make you see red)
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I’m only seeing the link and it’s making me see red. Just… fking shit dude.
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Utterly outrageous. And when Miami-Dade County defaults on these bonds, then I guess good ole’ Uncle Sam will come to the rescue, sticking all of us with the bill.
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So much for fiscal responsibility.
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Historically munis don’t default on bonds pretty much ever, which is why they’re considered one of the safest investments around.
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Seems like there ought to be a way to refinance that bond. If not, then holy shitballs are Miami’s elected officials stupid.
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yup. dumb as fuck.
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same guy that bought a fleet a priuses that sat in a parking gargage, no?
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And were completely forgotten about for years, yeah.
I’m curious about what some of you FK’ers think of this.
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I agree that taxing work creates perverse incentives, and if I was starting from scratch, then I would favor a consumption tax instead. But I also think that the improvement in going from a well designed income tax to a well designed consumption tax is smaller than the improvement in going from a poorly designed income tax to a well designed income tax (i.e. the details of the tax are more important than the broad category that it belongs to).
I don’t know much about the tax loophole discussed in that article — financing your lifestyle by borrowing against the appreciation of capital assests — but that seems like something that should be fixed.
Also, while these sentences are not technically incorrect, they are very misleading:
Anyone who suggests that US tax policy is the main reason that manufacturing jobs have shifted to China is full of shit.
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Manufacturing jobs are due to labor costs, obviously. I think the author was referring to the practice of moving headquarters, management, etc, off-shore to avoid US corporate taxes. Kinda like Apple setting up business in Nevada to avoid CA taxes.
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Yeah, it wasn’t a major part of his argument either, since the article was really about personal taxes, not corporate taxes. I just thought it was dumb.
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Sure, but a lot of REALLY REALLY rich people live in NYC when they would pay substantially less by just moving outside the city limits.
My understanding of the research is that essentially noone moves to avoid tax burden (though some companies do)
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Also,
In other words “I want more money for myself, but also like living in CA”.
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He needs anothter accountant
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this.
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It’s not like he can’t have another house somewhere as his primary residence, right? I mean, he’s on tour long enough during the year that he’s spending a ton of time outside the state to begin with. I doubt it’d be that hard to spend time in the state at a secondary residence and take advantage of some loophole.
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But then he wouldn’t get to whine about it.
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You have to live 50%+1 days in your primary residence. No idea how that applies to frequent travelers, but then I also think (perhaps incorrectly!) that you have to pay tax based on where you win a tournament because you were employed there.
Note: not a tax lawyer, could be totally off base.
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Yeah, and who’s checking to count the days? That’s what I mean.
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There was actually a really interesting article in the New Yorker about this. It was about the lengths the super rich go trying to prove that they were only in New York City 49% of the days and the govt trying to prove otherwise.
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The IRS. They take that shit seriously when you’re in that high an income bracket.
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Well, yeah. But short of having someone monitoring residences every day, I don’t know what all can be done to prove it. Electricity/utility usage, probably.
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And credit card usage.
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Mmm, yeah. For sure.
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#richpeopleproblems
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At least they always have room for their 85 inch tv.
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I mean, you get audited, show them what you’ve got, and they decide whether you’ve committed fraud.
I know one person who keeps a daily journal, and the first entry every day is where they are. Of course, his tax benefit is MUCH more significant, because his primary residence is the USVI.
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Found it (though it’s behind the subscriber wall.)
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#iglewbait
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Didn’t Bush the First spend 1 night a year in Texas and claim Texas residency when he was president?
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Wouldn’t surprise me if there are special rules for public officials (like there are for military, etc.)
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I guess that makes sense.
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If you work for congress you get some of those benefitts as well
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At one point his legal residency for tax purposes was a hotel room in Texas.
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(link)
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Thanks, that’s what I recalled.
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I think the second part is true of other sports also; baseball players from non-CA teams have to pay CA taxes on the portion of their income derived from their visits here.
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In my last year of grad school, I was being paid by University of Chicago, but I lived part of the time in California and part of the time in Massachusetts. I filed state tax returns for IL, CA, and MA.
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When I lived in Ohio, I worked in Cleveland but resided in Shaker Heights. I had to file returns for both cities.
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Uggh, I’ve never had to file a city tax return. That sounds painful.
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It was. Shaker Heights’ form seriously looked like someone produced it on a typewriter and then made photocopies. Also, the city of Cleveland withheld more from my checks than the state of Ohio.
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When I moved into a job once the bank screwed up my state of residence for like a month. For the effort it would have taken to try to fix it (since I never realized the witholding was wrong until after year end) I hd to file an AZ return even though I never worked there or lived there.
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On the “income tax design” issue, I think one current problem is that the rates (and caps thereon) on certain investment income, specifically dividends and capital gains, are so out-of-proportion low relative to the rates on wage income, which is the worst type of income you can have.
On relocation, taxes are part of the overall cost of living in a particular location. I don’t think tax avoidance is an end in itself, but certainly cost of living relative to the pleasure you derive from living in a place is a huge factor in your location decision. Phil can afford to live anywhere he wants, and whether he thinks the additional annual tax cost and the additional portion of his assets being tied up in real estate by reason of living in California is worth the cost of not having to live in no-income-tax Texas or Florida or Nevada is a matter of his personal preference.
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Agree with all of this. I don’t know of any good reason to tax different types of income differently, or at least as dramatically differently as we currently do. That, in and of itself, would help a lot with the issue.
I’m not sure why the article thinks saving is so beneficial to society, when what we are currently low on is spending.
Finally, a VAT standing alone is likely to be somewhat regressive because low-income people need to spend more (as a percentage) than high-income people. While there are certainly ways to change that, you end up in a similarly messy system that isn’t dramatically better than a messy income-based system.
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This.
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Which gets back to my claim that it’s more important that your tax laws are well designed. A flat VAT with no provisions to help out poor people who spend their entire income on necessities would be bad.
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In a world where banks lend money, saving allows banks to finance long term capital investment, rather than individuals at lower income levels who just consume in the short term and don’t make buying decisions that increase long term aggregate supply.
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In today’s world, though, our economy would be better if demand was up (i.e. spending). We have plenty of supply, as proven by near-zero interest rates.
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The problem is that the banks aren’t actually lending the capital. The theory works.
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This is false. The problem is that there is an oversupply of capital and undersupply of demand. It would be really cheap for most businesses to finance an expansion, but they don’t have the customer demand to want to.
That’s part of why this recession is so bad. Normal rules (like the one you correctly describe) don’t apply.
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And why tax cuts for “job creators” won’t work. It’s not that they aren’t hiring due to a lack of available funds. They’re not hiring because there would be no ROI. And if you cut their taxes, they wouldn’t spend that money. Which brings us back to the whole concept of stimulus and government spending to drive growth until private sector spending is strong enough to take over.
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yes
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Sort of I would argue that small business borrowing is restricted while large business is hording their cash creating the liquidity trap.
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If I can get a secured loan under 4%, I doubt it’s too extortionate for small businesses.
Large business is “hoarding” cash because there isn’t enough demand to do anything with it. If iProduct demand increased, Apple would spend that cash on more stores/staff/devices.
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You are also super well educated, have high earning potential, and Im assuming just by your demeanor, have outstanding credit.
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DFA is right. You are more likely to pay back a loan than like 90% of small businesses.
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Sure. I’m not expecting small businesses to get secured lending rates. I’m saying that the increase over that is a risk adjustment, and that the baseline rates are very low.
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Also, car loans from non dealerships seem to be under 2% right now. They wouldn’t be if lenders were “hoarding” their cash.
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If you have super good credit.
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But it doesn’t go up much from there. I mean, these guys are offering 0-cost refinances under 5% if your credit is far from excellent.
And, the larger point is that the default interest rates are low (though they adjust upwards based on risk). Which is not what you would see if lenders were reluctant to lend.
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I always assumed they were a scam.
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Growth can only grow so far.
Infinite growth models are folly.
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I disagree with this.
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What’s your estimate as to the maximum sustainable human population on Earth?
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I said nothing about population growth. Economic and technical growth could be infinite.
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Consumption taxes are super regressive.
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Like I replied to ozz above, you would need a well designed consumption tax. Part of “well designed” would be to make it not terrible for low income people. Now maybe there is no practical way to do this, in which case I would happily give it up.
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I guess if you had taxes collected on certain purchases (say, clothing items over $100 or cars over $30,000, for example), it could work. It would be more of a luxury tax, in that case.
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Yeah, I was completely vague about the details, but the idea would be that you somehow exempt necessities of life and apply the tax to non-necessities. Or you could tax everything but then give money to low income people. In either case, the details would matter.
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In either case, whether you tax income our spending, the tax system inevitably becomes a method to encourage certain types of behavior.
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This has been tried before, and failed badly.
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But in this case, consumers were paying both income tax and sales tax. If they were paying sales tax only, the results may not be the same.
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I think the important thing is that you have a consumption tax targeting one specific item, so it’s totally distortionary. I feel bad for bringing up the consumption tax at all, because my main point was that in the end I don’t really care about *what* is being taxed, so long as you do a good job of balancing the tax burden (by which I mean making the tax sufficiently progressive) and avoiding loopholes.
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I think this is a good goal.
However, i think it is easier to design a progressive income rather than consumption tax.
For example the 100 dollar clothing. What if i need a suit to interview for jobs? is that the same as spending the money on jordans?
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Agreed, a progressive income tax would be easier.
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Consumption tax is a lot easier for the government (or someone else) to fk with too. We’re not making enough money, so we’ll take something everyone needs, say water (just as an example), we’ll do something to destroy the supply so that the price of it goes sky high, but everyone will still need to buy it.
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I do’t worry about this at all.
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I would suggest that the functionality of a income tax is far more likely to be able to be designed in a progressive way than a consumption tax
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I agree with you.
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yay
Look. If you have to take a shit inches from someone’s face, it really doesn’t matter if that person is a man or a woman. They’re the ones suffering, not you. And if it hasn’t affected unit cohesion in single-gender units, it won’t be a problem in multi-gender units either.
And don’t worry, clicking that link won’t lead you to photos of people defecating.
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Somehow I think being dirty and naked or having to drop a load will be the last thing on any of their minds when they’re fking lives are on the line. And if they somehow are, they shouldn’t be there themselves.
I think it’s time for me to officially begin stalking Cory Booker.
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You have a pregnant dog and you don’t know how the fk it got outside? Really? Reallllly? What an ass.
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No kidding–particularly with weather like they’ve got. And I would have been freaking the FK out.
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yeah, if a dog can get out, cold air can come in.
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The asshole probably realized she was about to have the puppies and yelled “Not in my house you bitch!”
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Dude Cory Booker is a campaign managers dream
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Certainly sounds like it.
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Its probably the safest thing you can do since hed probably save you from a burning building.
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THIS.
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Totally true. There were about 20 better things you could do than just tweeting. And this is why I love Cory Booker. He took matters into his own hands and got things done.
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As for Newark’s other problems…
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He’s done a great job with them and has a crazy high popularity rating in newark
It still is New Jersey tho
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And Toni Yates was just bitchy in her replies to that person. Therefore, if I ever move to Newark, NJ, I will never watch the news on channel 7. In fact, maybe I’ll steal Toni’s job and see how she likes being left out in the cold.
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I’d watch that!
I have a feeling Brandon will not fit in there
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Oh. My. God. Billy, if you’re lurking, please make many, many more trades with these idiots.
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They have a pitcher we could use. I’d even trade Blevins for him if the DBacks insist on a body-type similarity.
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Blevins isn’t gritty enough. Send them Rosales.
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Sign-and-trade Eckstein?
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So how does McCarty fit in? Dude took a line drive to the head and stopped playing.
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Quitter.
This sucks. I hope he got PAID on that first contract.
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Luckily he was before the new CBA.
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Good call. Looks like he got $7.1 million guaranteed after the draft, plus some roster bonuses and incentives he may have hit.
Oops. Next stop is across the street from the Capitol.
Steamer projections for 2013 are available at razzball.com
Yoenis: 576 PA, 24 HR, 283/349/490 — yay!
Spiderman: 653 PA, 27 HR, 237/298/434 — boo!
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That’s a lot of HRs for no OBP.
I like that they think Yoennis is for real.
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To be fair, a lot of HRs for no OBP is more or less what Reddick did last year. They are projecting a worse season for him, but not by as much as I initially thought.
Reddick 2012: 673 PA, 32 HR, 242/305/463
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This. Reddicks value is going to be tied into maintaining his crazy good uzr
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I chose to believe that his 2013 value will come from putting up a 400 OBP out of nowhere, while also maintaining a 220 ISO. 8 WAR, here we come!
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I kind of think he’s a head case. Not in the Milton Bradley about to blow up sense, but over thinks and gets in his own head sense.
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You’re probably right. I see no reason not to believe this will happen.
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I heard that Steamer projections grossly overrate players with Cleveland.
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Young: 279 PA, 9 HR 233/319/408 – Blech
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Not much different from his 2012 numbers, except fewer PA. Lower SLG is pretty much inevitable, since he is moving from Arizona to Oakland.
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considering his CF defense that would be great if pro rated over 600 PA
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I assume that projection does not take into account the fact that he will probably face very few RHPs this year. Platooning should bump his rate stats up a bit.
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But with just 279 PA, doesn’t that seem like they are assuming he will platoon?
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I think its more assuming he is going to be hurt
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Does Young have an injury history? I don’t pay attention to the National League, so I really have no idea.
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Mostly just last year, shoulder issues IIRC.
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yes
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I mean the A’s acquired him do you even have to ask?
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gp
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It’d be interesting to see what they do with Young this year. On one hand, a healthy Young is too good of a player to only play 1/4 of the time. Young is also making too much money to be on the short shift of a platoon. On the other hand, Oakland’s best lineup against righties should have Theth in it so there wouldn’t be room for Young unless you want to bench Coco. Of course, an injury would probably resolve this conundrum.
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There’s enough games and ABs (including DH) to give 5 guys 120+ games. Given everyone’s injury history and the need for rest, I suspect that can work itself out.
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Maybe, but 2012 was already a pretty bad injury year for Oakland outfielders and Gomes still only played 99 games with 330 PAs, which is basically the role Young will fill this year.
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I suspect that had more to do with Gomes defense abilities more than anything. That and they really didn’t want him in there against righties. It’s definitely a concern, but it’s something that with planning could be worked out.
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I don’t think the best lineup has Theth when you consider that you are likely improving the defense by 10 runs a season by playing Young in CF CoCo in LF and DH Cespedes.
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Against righties, Theth has a career 122 wRC+ (>1500 PAs) while Young is at 84 wRC+ (>2300 PAs). That more than outweighs the defensive difference.
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I hadn’t looked up the splits.
To paraphrase my tagline
blah blah blah you have a valid point
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Damn, these projections have every single hitter on the A’s except Cespedes sucking. To me, it just seems unlikely that everybody is going to regress significantly at the same time. What this looks like to me is an example of where the most likely (>50%?) scenario for each of these players individually might be to regress towards such suckage, but the chances of all of them sucking is super unlikely. That’s my optimistic argument.
It also says all the A’s pitchers are going to suck.
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I agree with this. Some will completely fall off the map.
Some will not regress nearly as much and will exceed projections.
Rickey 1, Brett 0.
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seriously what a dick. you don’t get to be a dick and then complain about people calling you a dick.
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I hated George Brett, he completely destroyed the Brewers my entire youth and adolescence, he was a smirky ass to boot….
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Awesome.
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oh fuck that hella came from SF not the EB
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Got a citation on that?
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My youth.
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also
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hella
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Not sure I’d trust that citation. They were saying that in Marin when I was a kid.
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I can vouch for this (though I think I’m a little younger than dmoas).
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We were saying it in the EB during my youth.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was SF, but I’ve seen its origin pointed in a couple different directions around the Bay so I’d be cautious about awarding it to any particular city.
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Yup. I know it was being said in the late 80s/early 90s in the Nbay as well as in central CA. Trying to pin it on any one individual or one location is a waste of time.
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And regardless of where it started, it can be argued that East Bay made it rise from a word to an art form.
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All I know is it pisses me off when I hear people in SC saying it.
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It annoys the shit out of me when people wuss out and say hecka instead. I’m over hella in general, but hecka has been bugging the shit out of me for 20+ years.
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But how do you feel about cray-cray?
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not familiar with that one.
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Basically ‘crazy’.
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I’ve always hated that one.
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Well its died pretty much if that’s any consolation.
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“Pretty much” isn’t good enough.
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I stab people who say this.
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Heh! It always bugged me too.
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totes also earns my ire
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Agreed.
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If you are over the age of 10, there is no reason to use ‘hecka’ instead of ‘hella’.
Except maybe while drunk, I guess, since shit happens.
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We may not agree on occasion, but every comment you make is fucking awesome. When I grow up, I wanna be like you. Teach me.
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Oh Ozz, there is way, way too much NKOTB-listening and glitter-using involved in order to become like me.
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She subscribes to the herpes of the craft world. automatic disqualification from awesometown.
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Jennifer will cut you.
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Oh, ok. Never mind. Carry on with whatever you were doing.
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I would have picked Bolinas/Stinson if I had to guess.
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Yeah, that’d be tough to nail down, I’m calling bay area.
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And to be honest I think its safe to say Oakland has coined the majority of ‘Bay’ slang in the past 25 years ( not saying ‘Hella’/ ‘Hecka’ is from Oakland.).
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I don’t buy that.
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Really, think hip hop/ rap music, no contest.
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Pretty much.
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The tech industy has probably created more slang than EB rap
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Hard to say that. I get what you’re going for, but a lot of the “slang” they’ve produced have been a result of invention that had no real words/terminology whereas the hip hop/rap world basically created new phrases/words for things that had perfectly good words for them already. I still kind of lean on your (DFA’s) side of the equation, but I’m not sure it’s so obvious.
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think about alll the words related to twitter alone
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Meh, I don’t count the platform something gets created on to the area in the world that platform was developed.
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i meat slang wise
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I know, but I don’t attribute say, tweet, as slang. I view that as a new word with a new meaning so much as a new word for an old word. I might be wrong semantically speaking, but I view slang as a dialect to language and a lot of invention created through new tech/software like naming a child.
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what about Twitteratti?
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I don’t attribute it to SV so much as the web as a whole (which is the greatest slang creator). That and we’re talking about “slang” (if it really is slang and simply not a new term) for an already made up word. It’s like trying to make separate attribution for “hecka” and “hella”.
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Reaching.
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Jargon or tech slang, yeah sure.
Internet/ tech memes aren’t really what I was thinking off, would not put it in the same camp as ‘ghost riding’ per say.
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I would argue that slang is just informal but commonly accepted usage of language.
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Ok sure, lets say you’re correct- do you really mean to attribute all ‘slang product’ of silicon valley and cutesy internet lulz to San Francisco?
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I think he’s attributing it all to SV. The former maybe, the latter being a stretch. But given something like “tweet” is a formal name given to the action by the people who created it, I wouldn’t consider it slang.
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Im attributing it to Not Oakland
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How did this start from the city of S.F. vs The Town, then turn into SF bay vs Oakland?
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You posited:
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Fair.
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Ben and Nate said it’s from Oakland. I don’t really think it can be argued after that.
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Trufax.
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They said Mac Dre was from Oakland too, though (he was from Vallejo).
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Well, he was hella not from Fremont.
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Read Vallejo as “vuh-ley-oh” for added effect.
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Its not “valley-jo”?
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The more important argument:
I think “sketchy”, which I didn’t hear until I went east for college, is a more important/useful word.
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do people even use that rather than sketch?
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Those aren’t the same.
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That person is hella sketch.
That person is hella sketchy.
That dude following me home from the bar was sketchy.
That dude following me home from the bar was hella sketch.
Seems the same to me.
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I’ve never heard someone try to use sketch in place of sketchy in that circumstance. It’s kind of dumb.
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I have but I dont think its as common, I’ve even heard sketch-balls.
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Sounds more like an enunciation issue than new slang.
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Back in my day they did.
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old man
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Fuck Santa Clara County. I’m sick of it bleeding silicon into my county.
Hey, is anybody else seeing oddball posts about shopping, microloans, etc? They have closed comments and random authors. (one was devo, forgot the other.)
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No…
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Was just going to bring this up, wtf?
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They’re spammed/hacked post. I just trashed them.
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Yes, we appear to have had some kind of hackbot infiltration. Gone now.
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Returned.
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Not yet. Just killed #3.
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Yeah, they seem to have exploited some vulnerability allowing them to post as from registered users’ accounts…oblique, devo, and LAxile, the latter two of whom haven’t posted here in a long time. I wonder if they all have simple passwords that a bot could hit by trial and error.
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If what soaker say is true (and it certainly fits/makes sense) it’s a little more annoying than that. Too bad I can’t delete users.
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After posting, it occurs to me there’s a very good reason for me not to be able to delete users.
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Changed the latter two’s rights to prevent making posts. Oblique should change his password.
Thanks for fighting the spambots guys.
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I suspect password theft is not the problem. oblique, devo and LAxile were probably just the random winners of the drawing for which existing user’s name should be shown as the poster.
I know nothing about WordPress, but when I tried admining a phpBB forum a few years ago I learned a little about security issues. It looks like you’re running WordPress 3.3.1, and versions prior to 3.4.2 appear to contain a vulnerability which would result in what we saw last night.
The spam-hacker posts from last night are still in Trash if you want to do an autopsy.
Add: If you disable AtomPub then it looks like only Authors would be able to make front-page posts, i.e. none by Contributors? That isn’t very desirable here, but if the site is vulnerable to hacking, you have to consider the risk you’re leaving out there.
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If the only vulnerability is to make front page posts, we have enough people with deleting power to combat that. At least until it’s worth the time and effort to update software.
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Agreed. If it’s only a matter of having to see spamposts, then that’s just an annoyance more than it is an actual threat. Even if something “reputation-damaging” gets posted that isn’t obvious spam — like a bigoted screed or some bad stats — so what? If the targeted user name is someone we don’t know well because they’ve rarely posted either here or at AN, they’d get some “wtf?” or “hmm, maybe it’s that spammer” response and then (ideally) just be ignored. And if the targeted user name is someone we DO know well, then we’ll (ideally) be able to tell that the post didn’t actually come from them… or we’ll at least be inclined to believe them when they say “Hey, I didn’t write that shit.”
If the existing vulnerability allows that user to do other things, though… like, oh I don’t know, take the site down altogether like certain disgruntled former members… then that’s obviously a bigger concern.
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We have a fairly robust backup system in place for that.
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In former FK, robust backup system has place for YOU!
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In all the cases last night, the comments section was closed making it a dead giveaway beyond the spammyness of it all that it was a hack.
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I just thought oblique was really up on a soapbox about financial planning and didn’t want to encourage discussion. As usual, that narrow-minded bastard.
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I got 2 microloans, planned a russian vacation, and bought some new purses for the Mrs. THANKS FK spammer!
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You mean I’d be the only one who could make front page posts?
Muahahahahah!
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Yeah. Unfortunately updating versions is a tricky process since I’m relying on so many hacks for the functionality I created. I’ll sandbox it at some point and see, but it’s a full-day process.
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Well, if it’s a sandbox, just put nmette in there for a while and see what she comes up with. (As long as there are no cats or heroin addicts in the neighborhood.)
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That bit about spending extensive time dealing with knotty technical issues when you’re not just running a site on a volunteer basis but you’re actually funding the damned thing out of your own pocket is pretty much why I realized I was in over my head and energy level and punted the phpBB forum to one of my tech-smart posters. The thing is still plugging along in a sleepy corner of the Internet, getting about a dozen posts a day, and my assistant admin role is mostly about getting rid of the Pakistani spammers who sign up in the middle of the night.
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Yeah, I enjoy it when I have time. It’s less fun when it’s a shitty time personally and there’s something that NEEDS to be resolved (like, for example, a petulant site-deleting)
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This is the type of sh!t I was worried about when I signed up for the BlogFest.
I fear this confirms my suspicions. Shields up. Decks 6-9 to Battle stations.
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If someone signs up after hearing you at fanfest, and sticks around, its a good thing. I don’t think people that would otherwise post on the yahoo boards will stay considering the cliquy nature of the bunch.
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I agree with this.
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Yup.
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I don’t know what it’s like this year, but last year AFAIK BlogFest wasn’t a public event, just the bloggers and interviewees in a room somewhere. So the only people who might be inspired to join us are other bloggers, which would be fine with the obvious exception, or players, coaches, etc.
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Think we can get Amanda McCarthy?
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Please?
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I think the team would probably publicize it a bit.
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Yes.
Okay, what the HELL? Did I just hallucinate some weird FKing spam-like posts allegedly from oblique and devo?
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Internweb space herpes?
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See above.
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We must be under attack. And just days after Kay gets invited to the fanfest blog thing. Im not saying its a conspiracy…
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Coincidentally (or is it?) the newballpark.org site has been completely down since mid-afternoon.
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Yeah, but he said he botched something and was away from home when he did it.
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It was user #273, “donnajansen”. They made those posts, then came back and edited them to change the alleged “identity” of the author to oblique in one case and devo in the other. We’ve seen this a few times before; the software requires that a new user have their first comment approved, but if they make a top-level post before commenting, that will appear right away.
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Oh, okay. Well, go fuck yourself, donnajansen.
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Whether you are Donna Jansen or Don Najansen or Donna and Jan Sen, yes, go fuck yourself.
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Deleted.
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NM sold us out to Vox media
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I guess that means now it’s time for freekraut.xxx.
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freekraut.tv. All posts & comments must be video.
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Can’t we do both? It’s DFA vs MikeV, City versus suburbs, an argument waged entirely through the medium of homemade porn.
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do you really want to see my home made porn????
i think this is illconcieved
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You scoff, but it may be that homemade porn is the medium through which City triumphs over suburbs once and for all.
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actually I think the suburbs would win this. People in the city can go to a bar and find someone to fuck. Plus ever girl who has ever sent me home made porn has been from the suburbs.
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Videos or it doesn’t count.
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Burb chicks have tv’s big enough to really enjoy those movies.
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Not yet they don’t. Not until 8k. On their 90 inch TVs in 1080 they’d show big blobs instead of people.
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I like big blobs. I cannot lie.
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Yeah, I believe a fair amount of DFA’s claims to promiscuity, but this is heading for Lennay territory.
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Wait? People think Im lying about my hook ups?
grumph
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No, he’s not saying you’re lying, just that you’re hooking up with dudes pretending to be women.
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One is my ex who I was going to marry, so no you don’t get that.
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Oh. Then you’re lying.
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Because I won’t show you one theyre all fake?
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Joke.
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this makes more sense
oooops it appears that i have fallen into a sarchasm
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Also a great word. A better one, actually.
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Absolutely.
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He’s just FKing with you. It’s ok. Inhale. Outhale.
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I don’t know; it may be time to bring in Katie Couric.
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She doesn’t seem like DFA’s type, but ok.
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Shes a little short on eyebrows but she can read my news every night at five if she wants
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Outhale is becoming a great word.
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It really is.
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and by transvestites
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EVERYTHING IS THE SAME!!! THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME WITH BLOGS!! WRITERS GO AND THE NEXT GENERATION STEPS UP!!!
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Email me.
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Skype me.
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Slap me on the ass and call me Wanda.
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That’s within my limits.
Wanna upgrade from slapping to tire tread paddling for an extra $25
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Nah, I’m good, thanks. But if you want to do the slapping, I’m okay with that as long as you give a girlish giggle after each.
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Skype? It’s all about Facetime, my friend.
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Whatever. Go Tout yourself.
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Maybe I WILL Tout myself! And you can’t watch!
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will you go Klout yourself?
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I lack clout. And Klout.
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At least you have Kraut.
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What else do I really need?
There are no words…
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If only we actually were reaping what our colleges have sown. We’d be better for it. Also what happened to all that “Judge not” business? Seems like it’s the first thing to go when ubergoddies spout off.
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The only power I have is to judge you.
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Oh you are quoting me… a great way to start the morning.
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You’re who I want to be when I grow up.
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smiles.
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::hopes that day never comes::
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Upgrade Pan?
I have a sense of childlike wonder every time I used an insulated thermos. When we moved into our house, one of our cupboards had two green Stanley thermoses hidden in the back. On our recent snow trip, we brought two thermoses full of hot apple cider. 5 hours later, it was still so hot that we couldn’t drink it without letting it cool. That night, about 12 hours from when we heated it up, the remainder of the cider was still very hot. I’ve since used the thermos for hot lunches, like Japanese curry.
As someone who doesn’t drink coffee or tea, I went a long time without the knowledge of how awesome a good thermos can be.
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Hee! I love this one.
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I have the problem that mine keeps my tea too hot for too long.
The power of the almighty dollar in effect:
http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20130121/APC0101/301210217/Exotic-dancers-spar-over-1
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Cray-cray strippers are cray-cray.
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Totes. HECKA cray-cray.
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All over the FK world, heads are exploding. Good work!
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I am going to go curl up in the fetal position and cry in the corner if you need me.
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I… think I might go join DFA. Perhaps cuddle with him in ambiguously straight sort of way.
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As an ambiguous queer, I want to assure the American public that I am a safe no-touchie-zone-honoring snuggler.
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Where’s the fun in that?
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Respecting limits is just the same in snuggling as it is in BDSM. I have no interest in violating trust or having my trust violated.
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Heh
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bqhatevwr
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winner
I’m feeling the sickness a bit. I’m kinda nervous about tomorrow. I’ve got the butterflies, and want to make sure they turn into fuel for a dignified presence, not the yips.
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You’ll do great, and make us FKing proud. Just raise your hand, and once you get into the flow of your first question you’ll be fine.
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I would say, don’t talk just for the sake of talking, and avoid being flippant. If you have a smart question to ask then ask it, if you don’t then shut up and let N*** and whoever else is there do the babble for a few minutes.
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“How great is it, Bob, whether in spring training, or hours before the game, to have the opportunity to be out in the glorious sunshine on Clay Wood’s marvelously groomed baseball field, answering a three-part run on question from Ray Fosse?”
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I may actually ask this.
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I would think that would be amazing.
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As a follow-up: How many containers of Dibs do you send him?
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I so much hope tomorrow afternoon to be hearing you tell the story of how you asked this question, and the hilarity that ensued.
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This. Ask this.
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Woah Woah Woah… who said anything about dignified presence :-P
Youll do great.
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Have a shot or two of whiskey in the parking lot before you go in.
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My dear I have NO DOUBT that you will be fabulous.
Anyone else hear about the rumors that Alemys being younger than 23 and not older?
That’s quite a shift, unfortunately if it is upheld that he is indeed younger, I believe that means the new international FA contract caps dont apply.
Bummer.
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Oh crap, other way around, dont mind me!
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Youve got it reversed. If he is younger than 23 the IFA caps DO apply. That is why he would be faking it, though there is some thought that the discrepency comes from the revese of months and days in the US. The question is whether or not his bday is Jan 8 1990 or Aug 1 1990 1/8 or 8/1.
There apparently are also problems of him getting unblocked in addition to whether or not he can play SS.
Super cool looking deathtrap
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If the antlers were made out of soft foam (like extended handlebar grips) and the rider knew not to use them to lean forward, why not?
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They are made out of real antlers tho… also they would kinda serve as areal bars
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Hmm…
I like the idea of animorphizing bicycles, but antlers have to be made safe with new materials. The above example is a museum/gallery piece, unfortunately.
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If you lived in the South and rode that bike, someone would shoot you, eat you, and mount your handlebars on the wall.
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Perty.
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It would look super sweet on hermes
Hillary doesn’t have time for bullshit.
Amanda left her heart in Oakland.
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FK. Posting tweets just doesn’t work for me.
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just copy and paste the entire URL. Don’t bother with the embed code.
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How do I get a url that’s for that one particular tweet, though?
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click “details”
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AHHH! You’re my hero.
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Damn it. Come back!!!
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Just because Brandon left for AZ doesn’t mean Amanda had to follow.
Have any of you globetrotting FKers ever used this for jet lag? Or do you just, you know, not get jet lag?
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I haven’t tried it and I certainly get jet-lag (awake since 4am in Madrid).
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There were some “preset your body clock” suggestions on the Mayo Clinic site (I think): One month before traveling east, start doing your daily routines (like meals and bedtime) an hour earlier than normal… then after a week of that, set it back another hour… then the next week, set it back another hour… etc. Which sounds reasonable, I guess, but my evening life is much too full of other people’s needs, there’s no way I can do that (not to mention that I have to work until 11:00 two nights a week). I’m sure the A’s won’t rearrange their start times for me, either.
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Yeah – not very practical, and not much use if you travel every month.
The biggest difference for me comes with how much I drink on the flight.
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The only things I have found useful:
When you arrive at your destination, you are in that time zone. If you have a watch, change it to the local time, don’t keep it at your home zone. Forget about trying to figure out what time would it be if you were at home, and it doesn’t matter if you’re only there for two days. Just live in the local time.
Get outside and be in daylight as much as you can after you arrive. Your body will respond to the daylight and help you get with the local time.
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This is more or less what I do. Just force yourself to stay up until 11pm local time, or whatever you want your bedtime to be. Even if it means staying awake for like 24 hours straight, just force yourself onto the right schedule. Plus, when you’re super super tired, it will be easier to get to sleep.
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Yup – though it was tough staying up for 16 hours after arriving in Sydney at 7am off a 14 hour flight.
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All sounds like good, doable advice… thanks, guys! I’ve also read to avoid caffeine & alcohol the day before flight, during flight, and the first day or two afterward — since both of those are dehydrating and will also mess with your already-disturbed sleep patterns. So much for getting Mr. Poppy loaded up on Xanax & booze to knock him out on the way over…
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Who are you flying with in the end?
Also it’s a trade off, and sometimes drinking on the flight is worth the extra discomfort. Just make sure to drink lots of water.
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I have yet to take the plane flight anywhere, ever, where drinking on the flight was not worth the discomfort.
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As someone who once drank a cross-country flight dry of it’s gin (with a little help from mrs ptbnl), I have to agree.
We ended up with enough empty miniatures to make a great set of beefeater fairy lights.
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I don’t really drink much, but I have 2 friends who hit a bar to wait out a 2 hour delay before take-off, and were subsequently cut off by the flight attendant upon boarding.
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I hate drinking on the plane I get suuuuuuuuuuuuuper hung over.
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Bleh me too. Never as good of a decision as it seems at the time.
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We’re flying BA because between them and Virgin, BA had the most doable departure time: 6-something pm vs. I think 3-something pm. I have to work in the morning and really didn’t want to have to race around like a maniac trying to get my shit together in just an hour or so between getting home from work and having to leave for the airport. Also (regardless of my work schedule) the later the flight, the easier it will be for us to sleep on board.
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Oh, and on my only other transAtlantic flight — from Vancouver to Amsterdam with a couple of hours’ layover in Calgary (way, way back in my young(er) robust days) — I was working hard at staying awake because it had been a midafternoon departure and someone had told me “don’t sleep until it’s nighttime in Holland.” So my means of staying awake was an almost constant stream of coffee… laced with Grand Marnier. I was a completely incoherent spazzed-out basket case by the time my plane landed, but managed to stay awake until about 10 pm. And then slept until almost 4:00 in the afternoon, then couldn’t get to sleep again until about 5 am the next morning, forced myself to get up before noon so I could try to establish some normalcy. Between the jet lag (with bonus dehydration!) and the fact that there was a bizarre (to me) amount of daylight pretty late into the evening, it took about 2 weeks for me to be able to sort out what day it was, or what time of day it was, or where I was, or my own name…
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I’m so glad I don’t have to fly often.
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This. Acting like there is no jet lag and I’ve been in this time zone forever is what works for me.
Sagh. I miss them.
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If I were on the twitter, I’d reply to BM “Who’s your momma?”
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As opposed to confronting BM with “Who does Number Two work for?!”
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Ha! Well played.
Good lord!
https://twitter.com/JaneMLB/status/295594492390674433/photo/1
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I just hope that motivates the return of Brawndon
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Jesus Reddick.
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See also:
https://twitter.com/susanslusser/status/295596642441256961/photo/1
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Eeeeew!!!
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I just…there are no words for a look that fugly.
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I think he must do facial hair because he has a really delicate-looking face… he needs to scrounge it up so he doesn’t look 12. Except that now he just looks like a 12-year-old wearing a costume beard.
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He’s preparing his wizard costume for Halloween.
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He’s hoping the A’s sign Brian Wilson.
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I think the slicked back hair is possibly worse.
Sadly, Landon Powell’s 5 month old daughter has passed away. If you’re on Facebook, you can go here to leave a message for Landon and his family.
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I read about that a couple of days ago… so sad… :(
IIRC, doesn’t Landon have an autoimmune disorder of some kind?
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I think so, but I can’t remember for sure. I feel so bad for that guy. It’s just been one thing after another for him.
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Yeah, I read about that this morning. Almost posted it myself but it was too depressing.
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Ugh, yes… and must have passed it along. Poor Landon. Heartbreaking to lose a child from any cause… and now here’s a way he might hold himself “responsible”… :(
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:(
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Very sad.
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One of my not-so-close friends just lost a 5-week-old to SIDS. I feel so bad and just want to give them a big hug, but I don’t want to make things weird.
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That is so horrible. I think of all babies in terms of my god daughter, and how heart-broken I would be if something happened to her. For a parent to lose a child, especially a baby, would probably take that grief to levels I can’t even imagine.
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I very much don’t let my mind explore that fear…it’s a dark place.
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I checked Poppy Jr. to make sure he was breathing in his sleep until he was… well… 23, whenever I happen to see him while he’s sleeping.
Noted:
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I love this story.
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And they’re staying.
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Love it!
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Holy FK, that article is just loaded with tagliney potential.
From a Deadspin review of a 2003 Forbes review of the sports blogosphere:
Hmmm …
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IIRC (back when I was lurking on Elephants in Oakland), there was some MLB corporate strong arming to crush fan blogs based on “copyright infringement” or some other stupid grounds. I imagine that other sports leagues did the same back then, no?
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Oof.
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That would never work, since a sizable percentage of your labor would chafe at the prospect of being a product for some company and would flee once you started treating them as such.
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So? Just partner with the internet’s premier portal and get hits that way!
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People come and go. It’s normal. Nothing will change.
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And if there are ever issues, with the beauty of electronic mail you can just communicate instantly-letting people resolve their differences in a civilized manner.
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Bwaha!
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right, like say you had one guy who would write detailed explanations of the latest advanced metric (albeit on the weekend), or a guy who wrote funny songs and other funny comments, and then you asked them to write radio friendly headlines. They would leave and you would have nothing…wouldn’t work at all.
Help me quick! I have half an hour to decide which phone I want for the next 2-3 years.
I’m leaning LG Optimus G, but I’ve spent the last 6 years in Apple land. Is the learning curve too steep? Should I get an Iphone 4S or 5 even though they’re 1/2 as powerful?
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or a Samsung Galaxy S III maybe?
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I’m most likely getting the Galaxy next month when it is time. Mrs. Aces has the G-S II and loves it.
I’ve never had an Iphone so I can’t say for certain on learning curve, but I would imagine they are pretty close. Get apps, touch screen, yell about bad reception, etc..
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Alright… I’ve decided on an Optimus G over an SIII, because I’m stuck with AT&T and it’s cheaper and more powerful for multitasking.
I think I want an Optimus G over a refurbished Iphone5. My wife can’t decide between a 4S and a refurbished 5, but she’s gonna stay iPhone.
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Note 2, if you don’t mind the size (TWSS)
dat battery life
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but I guarantee I’d lose the stylus.
Is it still better than an Optimus G if I don’t use or often lose the stylus?
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Even without the stylus I’d recommend it.
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I ended up going with the Optimus G, significantly because it was $200 cheaper than the Note.
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I am literally intimidated by all the shit this thing can do, and I haven’t even gotten into any apps yet. I guess a lot of you folks had this day a year or three back when getting your first smartphone. This is the first time I’ve had a piece of technology this close to cutting edge since my family got our Commodore 64 in 1982.
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My advice as someone who isnt as techie as he’d like to be..figure out a place to plant your flag and start with that. I find if I consider everything I COULD do with my phone/tablet, etc I end up just sitting there not being able to actually do ANY of it. Figure out the first 1-2 things you know you want to do with it, and then when you have a down minute pick something and play around with it a little.
Also, once you do start getting into apps, make sure to get the Amazon App store. Every day they offer an app for free that normally you have to pay for. Many times you wont want it, but I have been able to get a few things there that I really wanted to try out.
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What “first smartphone” would that be?
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I was 2/3 through writing a reply before I got it. Nice one.
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Just ask Poppy how much of a luddite I am. I just got a smart phone at Christmas and only “chose” the Galaxy Nexus because it was free. I do like it though.
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That’s actually a really good phone, aside from the subpar battery life :)
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I was reading that the Optimus G’s battery life sucks ass, but I found you can turn it to a half-power mode, which doesn’t slow it down noticably for texting/web browsing. I’m sure this mode isn’t for watching videos, but I have little interest in doing that on my phone anyway.
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There are a lot of little tricks you can do to extend battery life.
Stuff like turning off Wifi if you aren’t using it helps a lot, but alternatively using wifi instead of the actual cell connection if it’s available ALSO uses less battery. Long story short, “searching” for a cell signal uses a significant amount of battery, but for the most part the biggest culprit is nearly always the screen being on. I recommend lowering the screen brightness as much as possible while you are still comfortable with it.
I have also started using an app that’s called “Deep Sleep Battery Saver” that basically turns off everything when the screen is off, and it seems to be helping.
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Turning off all the bs feeds that people have also helps. The twatter, the booking, the rss feeds, email, etc. Or at least turning them off when it goes dark and only do a search when you turn the screen back on. I’ve gotten my old Droid 2 to last several days doing all that.
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The DS Battery Saver app does exactly that, but it turns on for 1min each hour to update feeds like that.
However, it will wake immediately for a phone call or text message. Pretty slick really.
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Hmm… I thought was a native setting you can apply (or I did apply). I might have just done that manually.
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Twatter.
LOLZ
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Wait, what? I could actually text you now?! (I have a note attached to your entry in my phone’s roster: “Use HOME phone unless she’s expecting a cell call”)
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No it’s a *new* number! I’ll send it to you!! and then you can text me!!
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Woohoo! More ways for me to fail at keeping in touch with people! ;)
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I’m not going to send you my old number. I’m looking for new ways to not keep in touch with people.
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win.
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You should get an iPhone, because that one time Oaklandish gave away green and gold iPhone cases.
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blinks.
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Optimus G for sure
Because it’s been too long since we’ve fought about anything around here…
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No it hasn’t.
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Yes it has! Anyone who says otherwise is a nidiot and an ucklehead.
Many obligatory stories before major sporting events are tired acts, especially those in which officials on either side make a bet about which local products will be sent to the loser by the winner.
Except this one.