Y2HH

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 30, 2009 -> 11:22 AM) Politicians don't run polls except internally for campaigning purposes. And in those cases it's not in their interest to lie because they're lying only to themselves, and won't have accurate information to help them decide how to run their campaign, which would be pretty stupid. You see...you're a politician at heart.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 30, 2009 -> 11:13 AM) It really isn't very hard to tell what a poll is saying or what its angle is. Really, it isn't. Anyone who follows politics can tell and the questions asked are always there to make judgments from. Saying otherwise is just doubting for the sake of doubt. Anyone that follows politics realizes that these people are, for lack of better words, professional liars for a living.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 30, 2009 -> 11:01 AM) Which is why you should be skeptical of any poll that doesn't publish their methodology, the questions they asked, the wording they used, and the order in which the questions were asked. You're wrong though, there's lots of orgs willing to fund unbiased polls because if the unbiased poll results come down on their side it's much more meaningful and useful. And if they don't end up supporting their cause, they simply never publish it, which is just as underhanded.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 30, 2009 -> 10:53 AM) I get the impression they won't be doing an extension on the credit. If they do one, I'd be its at a lower dollar amount. That would be smart in any case. Rates climbing a little is OK anyway, they probably should, and a small climb won't materially hurt the market. They will not extend this. There are already over 600,000 counts of fraud on this, that we will end up paying for... Anytime you give money away for free, people will skim it. I know this because I just closed on my house sale yesterday and I was discussing this with my lawyer, and he was telling me the multitude of scams people have been pulling on this. The two biggest examples he said: 1) People are selling their homes to their children (who are first time buyers) for a nominal sale price. That's 8 grand...for free. 2) People are scamming fake loans to buy non existent property as first time buyers...since they didn't actually buy anything, there is no loan...but they still get 8k tax credit. People are obviously going to get caught doing these things...but still, he said there are over 600,000 active cases of this, so he doubts they will extend it as it is now. He said he expects this to get shot down, and they'll return to the way they once did it by extending the credit up front, but you pay it back over the years...which means the money is no longer free and clear...it's merely borrowing against the future.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 30, 2009 -> 10:48 AM) we just came off an election where Nate Silver used polls to nail, almost to a tee, what the election would look like. This argument is ridiculously stupid. Anyone that took a basic level stats class can learn to understand an effective poll. So what you are saying is that there ARE legit polls. Um, I think we all know that. But there are just as many, if not more, skewed and illegitimate polls, which is our point. Just because I'm not lying this time, doesn't mean I don't lie sometimes.

QUOTE (Tex @ Oct 30, 2009 -> 10:40 AM) There are also those people that like to just f*** with the pollsters. You know, it's funny you mentioned this because it's something I didn't even consider. I guess I don't quite understand why a person would waste their time lying about something...it's time you will never get back for something most people don't care about.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 30, 2009 -> 10:40 AM) Careful there buddy. I'm half Polish. I see what you did thar.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 30, 2009 -> 10:13 AM) Only if you are incapable of understanding neutral poll questions and are too lazy to read the language/results of the poll. Have you ever seen the people who take polls or the people who answer them?! I have to say, I haven't. I'll be honest, I have NEVER once been polled for ANYTHING, but I see polls all the time that were supposedly "taken in my area". Not only that, but I don't know anyone else that has taken these polls "in my area", who just happen to also live "in my area", and they don't know anyone either. I'll venture to say most of you have never been polled, either. So who exactly are these people who are being "polled"?! I hate polls, I hate when people cite polls, on either side of the bulls*** separation fence (that's the fence that seperates democrats from republicans), because anyone on either side of it are full of it.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 28, 2009 -> 01:32 PM) The primary medication to address altitude illness, Diamox, was originally created to treat cataracts. I once went to a doctor to ask for a prescription for it (spending 2 weeks at high altitude), and she looked at me like I was nuts, before asking if I have eye problems. Fortunately, I brought with me some write-ups from NOLS and the Wilderness Medical Institute, then she grabbed another doc and did some interwebbing, and then came back to OK it. I actually taught the docs something that day (admittedly, these were doctors in Memphis, TN, so I doubt they got many patients who were concerned about altitude illness). I brought my friends out to Colorado for a trip a few years ago and some got sick because of this altitude myth you speak of -- I call it a myth, because I did not experience it. I'm a seasoned hiker/camper/fisherman, however, and when we arrived in Colorado and drove up into the mountains, we parked and proceeded to walk a switchback 2 miles deep/up the mountain, which ended up being 2100 feet of climb. I was careless and I'm glad nothing bad happened, because I forgot those unaccustomed to it are not supposed to ascend more than 500 feet PER DAY on foot. Here I am having them go 2200. :/

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Oct 28, 2009 -> 12:19 PM) OK, but why is the Governator mad at him? Because at some democratic function, in which Arnold was invited, that guy yelled out things like "you lie" during his speech. So this is how Arnold thanked him, whilst vetoing 5 of his bills.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 28, 2009 -> 12:42 PM) You're just mad cuz 80% of the time it's being applied to you No, I'm mad because I like building towering strawmen and you've all made them taboo. I plan on opening a strawman farm someday, where people from all over the world can come show off their strawmen, big or small -- and you won't be admitted.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 28, 2009 -> 12:34 PM) "strawman" in other words he's saying he never said/doesn't believe that. The term strawman is overused on Soxtalk and has become a crutch. That is all.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 28, 2009 -> 10:50 AM) Believing that the system we have set up is no where near as effective as it could be does not equal believing that the system we have set up hasn't done any good. Kap's avatar. What is Kap's avatar?

Lot's of good advice here... Since this is for an IT internship, you have to basically show them you want to learn on the job, but that you are going into this with some standard knowledge of the field. For the technicals, they won't get too crazy, but they'll probably ask you a few questions such as: What port is http? What port is https? What's one difference between TCP and UDP? (this may be a little advanced, but it's something they may ask) Regardless of what they ask, show them that you are willing to learn...this is the only important trait you need to display to them since it's for an internship. If you don't know something, admit you do not know it but that you will research it. This is basically what they will want to hear. Tell them that you've found the best way to learn in the IT field is to actually do it, hands on. Reading is great for knowledge, but say you've found that actually getting in there is a different story than reading text (because it is). Tell them a story of replacing a power supply in a home PC or something similar, and though you had never done it before that despite being simple, it was fun. Show them that you love working on computers. Things like this sell interns...at least, to me they do.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 28, 2009 -> 08:30 AM) An even more profound example - its been illustrated scientifically that the extinction of large predators in Colorado due to overhunting probably caused the Big Thompson flood that killed dozens of people, sometime in maybe the 60's (I don't recall the date off hand). Wolves are doing quite well, but in some areas, people are freaking the f*** out about it. They seem convinced that wolves will carry away their children in the night. Nevermind that the total number of wolf attacks on humans in recorded history on this continent is either zero or maybe one (a questionable case). You are more likely to be killed by a meteor than a wolf. Yea, people don't realize that attacks more often occur via animals they don't expect. For example, a Moose is one of the most dangerous animals in the US when it comes to attacking people. They're big. They're strong. And they'll kill you. And people don't realize that.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 04:55 PM) Sorry, I like to ignore. PM me. I am sure if either you sent me blank Dvd's or if I purchased some from bullk that we could work something out. Problem is that I have switched from my PC to a new Mac and im not sure how to copy encrypted DVD's with this yet. Since I'm a MAC guy, I'll help you out there. First, install a free program called VLC (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/5758), it's an all-encompassing media player that will play Windows WMV, etc. We aren't actually using this to watch videos, but for it's codecs and it's ability to on the fly encrypt/decrypt DVD's. Next, install Handbreak, (http://handbrake.fr/) which is another free app for decoding movies, DVD's, etc. Handbreak will automagically use the decrypt features of VLC on the fly when decoding/encoding. This will create your decrypted DVD image. Next you use DVD authoring software to burn this created image to disc. I use and old version of VisualHub for this, but the project was switched over to something free called FilmRedux, which I have not used yet. Handbreak may be able to burn DVD's, but I'm not sure...but it sure as hell can decode them with ease.

Also, you have to keep in mind that since humans have been added to the mix as part of the food chain we can't just mindlessly meddle in natural affairs without thinking things through, no matter how hard the decision is to make. For example, I forget the years it occurred, but deer hunting was banned in IL...and it resulted in deer starving to death because suddenly there wasn't enough food to go around. Wolves were once their main predator, but wolves were gone due to hunting, expansion of urban areas, etc...and humans were their last predator...when humans were removed from the equation "out of love for the poor defenseless animals", they wen't from dying from a gunshot wound to starving to death slowly over a sub zero freezing winter. Good job. Wolves have suddenly flourished, BTW, and are re-emerging as far south as southern Wisconsin and northern IL.

And for the record, many drug companies are ACTIVELY working on AIDS vaccines, amongst others, which someone above claimed they'd never do, simply because they're not profitable. Because they read some report claiming this, no doubt. Bristol Myers is working on one. Glaxo is working on one. Bionor is working on one. GeoVax is working on one. I don't feel like looking further, but I'm sure Merck, Schering and many others are working on them, too. And because someone invented a drug that helps you grow thicker eyelashes, let's disregard the multitude of other very helpful drugs they've invented. Many of which I guarantee you, your family and your friends have used MANY times over the years to get better when very ill. Ridiculous. Do me a favor, next time you get really sick, and I'm not talking a flu, I'm talking REALLY sick, don't take the drugs from these evil bastard companies, see if the US govt has an alternative of their own and use that instead, or even better, see if you can get a foreign Indian or Chinese made drug and use that. I ask this of you because then you've be walking the walk...standing up and fighting the good fight, this would show us how committed you are to destroying the "evil drug companies" instead of filling their coffers. When you do that, I'll say you have a leg to stand on when arguing against these evil bastard profiteering companies.

I got it.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 27, 2009 -> 01:30 PM) Yeah, I always thought it was silly when people used phrases like "we are destrying the earth!". No, the earth will be fine. We, however, won't be, because the earth (mother nature or ecosystems or whatever) is waaaaaaay stronger and smarter than we are. This is why conservationism is so important - reducing our impact on our environment means reducing the equal and opposite negative reaction. You stolded my thunder!

Jokes aside, I believe this because nature itself is on of the worst polluters there is, with or without us. The difference is that nature doesn't tend to care what damage it causes. While we only have

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 27, 2009 -> 01:13 PM) News is reported by people, and therefore, will always have various levels of bias. Which I think is what you are getting at. However, two important notes here. One, Fox is far more biased in their coverage than the other major networks. Two, regardless of that, the major problem with ALL these news outlets is that they are shallow and trashy, doing very little actual reporting on actual news. Its all opinion and flash-and-dash garbage. That is actually a much larger problem here, than any inherent bias. Real journalism is expensive, sometimes boring to most people, and usually presents the true complexity of things. People don't like that - they want simple, black and white, someone to blame. That's your opinion. I find the other networks just as biased as I find Fox. And IMO, real journalism is rare these days, or even dead...because it's boring...and boring doesn't get ratings.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 27, 2009 -> 01:16 PM) What exactly do you base this belief on? God told me.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 27, 2009 -> 10:22 AM) Certainly, the surface of the earth effects temperature that way. I got the impression that when they were talking about ground sources versus satellite, they didn't mean temps on the ground versus in space, because obviously they would be wildly different. I think it was satellite data of "surface" temperatures, meaning "near" the surface. The causes are up for debate, most specifically, the extent of human effect. I don't see how anyone could doubt that human activity and industry must have at least some effect - just look around you. But the extent of it is certainly up for debate. I believe we do have an effect on the environment, I just think it's far less than we'd like to believe. After all, that'd be a blow to our huge egos as a people. Regardless, I think the effect that we have yet to feel will be even worse on our egos... When we realize that despite all of our knowledge, power, and money...to put this into slang for proper effect, "There ain't dick we're gonna be able to do about it...at the hands of mother nature, we're gonna bow down and pray, cuz there ain't no stopping this now." I think the ironic part of all of this is that mother earth herself gave us the ingredients we'd use to destroy ourselves. Not only that, but we'd LOVE using these ingredients along the way, and after learning they're really bad...we will continue to use them because it's convenient to do so. Look, f*** rice...we need 1 minute instant rice...5 minutes is too f***ing long!#@$ I mean, Earth HAS to find this funny...I do...and I kinda feel like my sense of humor is in line with that of some external force of awesome like the Earth itself.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Oct 27, 2009 -> 11:31 AM) CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS News are all just as biased. They are just pro-Democrat, FOX is pro-GOP. Wow, someone actually noticed that! Honestly, the fact that democrats and liberal leaning folks keep leaning on this Fox "NEWS" thing is as ridiculous as republicans asking for Obama's birth certificate over and over. It's not a big surprise the "news" is biased one way or the other, and that goes for all news organizations, not just Fox...so please, let's stop pretending it's just Fox. It's ignorance personified to do so.