-=SKArface=-

Being in a country where we can criticize, agree with, and discuss what we thing is right or wrong with this country and the world.

Even though I disagree with a bunch, I still think that this country is a pretty decent place to live compared to others in the world. Not the best, but in the top 10 at least.

Happy thanksgiving all

Are you one of those people that don't call black people black? It humors me to no end to sit in meetings and listen to people struggle trying to be politically correct.

 

People spend more time trying so hard not to offend people that they don't realize that they're actually treating them differently by working so hard tiptoeing through the eggshells in circles. My golf partner and fellow teacher is black. He doesn't call me German American and I don't call him African American. I don't call him a person of color and he doesn't call me a person without color.

 

I think we know what he meant when he said Indians, right?

 

As soon as we stop giving certain words so much power, we'll feel much more free.

 

I'm thankful for honesty, and truth, and things that are good.

 

We can be Thankful for such a diverse nation, and celebrate our nation which is rich in so many ways.

 

I like our American holiday. It's a day that people find their family and spend time together, and any day that does that in this nation is worth it because the American family suffers.

 

 

 

We are a very generous nation. We do lots of outreach.

here here fatty!

Anyway, back to the assignment.

I'm thankful for:

My new baby girl!

my family

my friends

my cats

my job

4 days off!

and that I haven't gone 0-10 in quite some time on mayhem.

Happy thanksgiving all!

A guy I work with brought his WII in on wednesday. We just played through the nintendo sports disc, and I gotta tell you, the controller is fantastic. The tennis game and the bowling game were incredibly fun. I wasn't really planning on buying a console until my girl is old enough to play one, but I'm really tempted to get a WII now.

So how far are you guys? I just got to turn 60 on England and have so far taken three provinces in the holy land, been excommunicated by the Pope and am close to destroying Milan and France.

I've gone through about turn 25 as england. I had an unfortunate turn of events then when William died, and rufus got killed on the way south by pirates. I just called it a mulligan and re-started.

Love the game though.

dude, you can't resist a direct order from an officer and call foul. the kid got what he deserved.

 

and it's incredibly funny how quickly you can go from being a tough guy screaming "here's your patriot act" to crying like a little baby.

 

...and fatty, people in california will demonstrate if their starbucks isn't served at the right temperature. give em any excuse.

Yah, if you get belligerent with a cop you are a fool. That said, just because you are being a fool doesn't mean that you need to be dropped. . . . anyway. . . . This particular peace officer appears to have had some violence issues in the past.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/19/10734/370

Getting tasered for not carrying your papers on you in a publicly funded building seems a bit, well, Orwellian.

All this said, I have a general distrust for imposed authority anyway. i.e. If GC ran the only CS servers in the world, I'd have a huge problem with the server rules. However, since I can voluntarily choose to play under the rules I really like them.

I'm confused...does it do it over a network connection somehow? What is better about this than a KVM Switch? Also Zest, you can get a perfectly good KVM for about $30.

I just can't figure out how this synergy does what it says it does...it's got to be over a network or internet right?

Yup, it works over the network. It's similar to a KVM, but different. A KVM physically switches a keyboard, mouse, and monitor from one computer to another. Like unplugging the stuff and plugging it into another machine.

Synergy is software that watches your mouse movements and detects when you mouse off of one of your computer's screen. You tell synergy where each monitor is in relation to the other. So, if you have the following:

[A]

[C]

A, B, and C are all monitors/computers (assuming one display per machine). B is where your keyboard and mouse is plugged in.

You would run synergy on all three computers, Computer B would know that A is above and C is to the right. A would know that B is below. C would know that B is to the left. (it's part of the synergy config)

When you move your mouse from monitor B, to monitor C (which is on a different computer remember) synergy will transfer control of the pointer, and keyboard from B to C. i.e. you can drive computer C from the mouse and keyboard on computer A. It's like using dual displays but it works across computers not just monitors.

It doesn't really take the place of a KVM (at least not in the computer room environment), but for having multiple computers on your desk, it's really fantastic.

I run this at home. It works fine with all of the games I've tried it with. I had to turn off an option that dealt with bringing synergy to the foreground on monitor shifts. (so games wouldn't minimize when I moved from display to display) You can also lock the mouse/keyboard to the current display by turning on scroll lock.

#include <stdio.h>

int main()

{

printf("I am learning C in university right now.");

return 0;

}

 

That should most likely be...

 

int main(int argc, char **argv)

{

...

}

 

 

or

 

int main(void)

{

...

}

 

depending on compiler.

 

 

Just remember, unbounded buffer manipulation is the root of all evil. gets, puts, etc should be banned.

 

Call me crazy, but I'd guess you learned your C on *nix.

Yup. The prototypes (at least the first one) are right out of the K&R book though, not really *nix specific.

Maverick' date='Nov 21 2006, 01:01 PM' post='378104']

I agree with giving to less fortunate, I do it whenever I can...and volunteer for things like Habitat for Humanity...

Great! I used to work for habitat when I was in highschool. I really enjoyed it. I don't have the free time anymore though. I tend to give money/things rather than time now.

I've always seen my motives to help people as part of my morals. It's just something I do. Others may or may not have the same moral code that I do, which is fine by me. I don't think the government should force it's morals on the people it governs. Is forcing people to subsidize entitlement program x any different than forcing people to pay for the invasion of Iraq? I'm morally against the war (and against wars of aggression in general) but I am forced to pay for it. If someone else is morally against drug rehab programs should they be forced to pay for it? Just because I agree with one and disagree with the other doesn't make one right or one wrong.

As far as the rich getting hit a little heavier with taxes, no it's not a penalty for making more money

 

They still have more money than they need, they can still buy a Ferrari custom made for them if they want it, but I'm saying incentive when they put their money to work for the overall society would be good.

Who says they have more money than they need? I have more money than I need. I have tons of stuff to fill my leisure time. The amount of money I have left after paying for food/clothing/shelter is enough that I can afford cable, GC subscription, going on vacations, buying movies, etc. So, what should be done with my extra money?

In other words, I don't want them to get a tax break on their new custom made Hummer because it's a little more fuel efficient than the original, I want them to get a tax break for investing in new technology that they release into the market at a reasonable price. That way prices can be kept down a bit.

The "tax break" on a more fuel efficent car is actually just not paying the extra tax.

This is basically reiterating what I've said before, I just want it clear that taking a little bit more money from people that can afford the loss without really noticing it isn't exactly a punishment.

the GC member rates are 50/year. If I'm charged 55/year I'd ask what I did wrong. Yeah, I can afford the 55, but I'd wonder why I did wrong to be singled out. Replace the words "people that can afford the loss without noticing it" with the minority of your choice and see how that sentence reads. It's descrimination, which is wrong no matter who is on the receiving end.

I'm not saying take 50% of their estates or anything

 

Oh, and yes, the government should spend WAY less in certain areas and not commit to silly ventures like they've been doing

The projected 2007 budget is around 2.8trillion dollars. There are currently 300million people in the US.

That's over 9,300.00 per person. Yah, I'd agree with you that the gov should spend WAY less. That's about what I'm paying for my house per year. My fed tax rate is actually substantially higher than that, someone is slacking

I have two computers (one linux, one windows) sitting on my desk. I really didn't want to have to switch keyboard and mouse to switch machines. Enter synergy (url below). Synergy lets you move your mouse from one computer's display to another computer's display and the keyboard is now focused on the other computer.

i.e. I can drag my mouse to my linux box (running X) and work on that computer with the mouse and keyboard that is attached to my windows box. (I keep the linux box's mouse and keyboard sitting behind my monitors in case I ever do need them.

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

This works between windows, linux, and OSX. Best of all, it's free!

#include <stdio.h>

int main()

{

printf("I am learning C in university right now.");

return 0;

}

That should most likely be...

int main(int argc, char **argv)

{

...

}

or

int main(void)

{

...

}

depending on compiler.

Just remember, unbounded buffer manipulation is the root of all evil. gets, puts, etc should be banned.

I do .Net development. Been doing VB.Net Windows development for the last 2 years. Everything from the database (SQL) up to the UI.

I make bank software...and yes...my life IS like Office Space and I COULD do what they did of Office Space with the virus. No I haven't and won't.

I don't think I've ever done windows development. (unless you count stuff under cygwin) Some of the stuff I've read about seems really interesting though. I'd have to get my C/C++ chops back though, I haven't touched either language in years.

The easy way out is a little of everything (yes, even some country, just Johnny Cash really)

I spent my highschool years listening to mostly punk (Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, etc.) with a little rap and what would be called alternative on the side.

Recently I've been listening to some old electronica/industrial (orbital, Front 242, Front Line Assembly, Juno Reactor, etc)

Some bands I've found I like to listen to over the years... in no particular order

Pink Floyd (yes, a ton of floyd actually)

The Beatles

Sonic Youth

The Dismemberment Plan

Hepcat

The Pietasters

The Skatalites

Green Day (yes, I'm a little ashamed of this one, but I'm a sucker for a good pop hook)

Eminem

50Cent

Snoop

Charlie Hunter

Miles Davis

Ella Fitzgerald

Lady Day

Firehose (really any mike watt project)

Rev. Horton Heat

X

Stubborn All-Stars

That's what comes to mind. . .

I think I have that EXACT desk!

There is an ikea 5 minutes from our house. It couldn't be helped.

Is there anyone out there who writes software? I've been doing development for a bunch of years now (writing the UI for a network security appliance) and am just curious.

I'm currently working on a perl based image gallery generator (in my spare time). Anyone else working on anything interesting?

i can't claim this one. my bud aaron boodman over @ youngpup shared them with me. if you're into jazz, especially experimental/acid (think: medeski, martin, & wood), give these guys a listen.

 

i think "these are the vistas" is the most melodic and easiest to listen to album.

 

http://www.myspace.com/badplus

http://www.thebadplus.com

You know Aaron? awsome! I have used a bunch of his JS code over the years. Even submitted some WCH patches to transmenu. . . anyway, tell him his work is appreciated.

Oh yeah, and greasemonkey kicks rear. . . .

sorry for the OT post, just had to give props where props are due.

Figured I'd post a pic of my rig.

 

The two monitors that are on are my primary system. The third monitor sitting up top is attached to my linux box under my desk. I use synergy to share my main computers mouse and keyboard with the third monitor. If you have two machines synergy is a fantastic little program. I have a Sparc5 in the closet (no monitor) that I keep running, but almost never use. (specs on my main machine are the same as I posted earlier)

 

I just built the monitor stand for the third display, so I wanted to show it off.

 

 

 

i really like the colour of the walls in that room.

Two colors of blue paint. One lighter than the other. Paint the darker one on the wall. Let it dry. (few hours dry, doesn't have to be overnight dry) Cut the lighter color with water (I used latex paint) and apply with cheesecloth. Sorta blot/smear. Play with it, figure out what works.

We have good color on most of our walls. Orange kitchen, yellow bathroom, dark purple in the living room (on two walls anyway)

Here's a book I read by author Brad Metzler. It was an interesting read. I myself enjoyed it.

 

THE ZERO GAME

 

Matthew Mercer and Harris Sandler are playing a mysterious game. It's a game almost no one knows aboutâ€â€not their friends, not their co-workers, and certainly not their bosses, who are some of the most powerful Senators and Congressmen on Capitol Hill.

 

It's a game that has everything: risk, reward, mystery, and the thrill of knowing thatâ€â€just by being invited to playâ€â€you’ve confirmed your status as a true power broker in Washington.

 

But as Matthew and Harris quickly discover, the Zero Game is hiding a secret so explosive, it will shake Washington to its core. And when one player turns up dead, a dedicated young staffer will find himself relying on a tough, idealistic seventeen-year-old Senate page to help keep him alive...as he plays the Zero Game to its heart-pounding end.

I just picked this up off of audible. Started listening to it on my drive to work. Interesting so far, thanks for the recommendation.

Some comments on the entire thread. . . (if some ground has been covered already, I apologize, just trying to catch up)

(Sorry for my typing and spelling, I've been trying to calm down a screaming infant while writing this)

NOFX said Post # 11

 

1. Taxes. first off I want to say that you all aren't upper class people. Lust and greed has taken over americans. People want to feel like they are upper class and when politicians cut your taxes, you feel as if that $3,000 dollars you saved was for YOU. When in reality they want you to feel they way and vote for them because their buddies who own huge corporations and make 10+ mill a year, save oh.... $500,000-1,000,000. In the end our government's deficet grows higher and higher all because you support the tax breaks.

 

you who support these breaks, claim its not fair. As I've always said, Then we should tax the poor the same amount as the upper class. Because its very hard for our government and economy to function without this revenue. Our Doctors and majority of lawyers, anyone who makes less than 500,000 a year you are the middle class(upper middle) and you need to get over yourselves.

First. . .

I whole heartedly agree that I'm not in the upper class. I'm not even close enough to smell the upper class's rear end. There was a survey done during the Bush/Gore race (I believe) when the Gore campain was saying stuff about bush favoring the top 1% of earners. Something like 30% of the US thinks they are in the top 1% of earners. Quite funny. If you have to think before your purchase a small country, you aren't close to the top 1%.

Secondly...

Yes, any money I don't have to spend on taxes is for me. I earned it. Any money the huge corporations save is for them. They earned it. If the government's deficit is getting higher and higher each year, then it should spend less. It's pretty simple. AND a ton better than taking more of my money at gunpoint.

Lastly...

No, we can't tax the poor as much as we tax the rich (I'm assuming you're talking about a flat tax) 10% of 10,000 hurts, while 10% of 100,000 doesn't.

I have been puked on, peed on, and pooped on today. I've been over myself for ages.

Not really a quote. . . but much discussion about the poor

I think that society has a moral responsibility to help those less fortunate. My wife and I give time, goods, and cash to various organizations that help people who need it in our local community. I cook dinners for a local shelter several times a year, my wife and I deliever christmas (gifts, full meals, tolietries, personal hygene stuff etc) to families with kids who can't really afford to do so on their own. Last year the group we work with helped 600 families (that's about 2.5 tons of turkey for those counting) Yeah, it's a pain in the butt sometimes, yeah, there's stuff I cant buy because of it, but I feel it's the right thing to do.

This is my choice, and my beliefs. What about people who don't think they are morally responsible for helping? Should they be forced to? If so, what about people who don't think abortion is moral? should their views be forced on you?

I think people have just gotten lazy and expect that the government will solve all of society's problems so they don't have to. The federal govt can't even count votes accruately, what makes you think they can solve a problem as complicated as poverty?

Also, there are poor people who make decent decisions, and who aren't lazy. It really aggrivates me when I read comments that infer that all poor people are poor because they are dumb or lazy. Come on people. . . . think about it a bit. Some are, some arent. Most are probabbly in the middle. Hell, I'm not poor, and I am quite a lazy man.

VERY much out of context, but I'm dealing with the quote itself, not the context around it.

 

MAV said. . .

 

You may say "oh, the steel worker needs to find a better job to support his family." I say, who the devil is going to process our steel?

Whoever can make a profit doing it. I don't think we're in danger of not needing steel anymore. If you can't make a living doing something, do something else.

First, before I respond to the above - I agree that flat is not ideal - it should be a flat and consumption tax (i.e. national sales tax).

This idea has always intruiged me.

Some reading on the topic (I don't agree with all of this, just some interesting points of view)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/tax.html

http://www.fairtax.org/

and finally...my thoughts on the election...

the government won again. But, I do look forward to at least two years of total gridlock. (keeping my fingers crossed)

Figured I'd post a pic of my rig.

The two monitors that are on are my primary system. The third monitor sitting up top is attached to my linux box under my desk. I use synergy to share my main computers mouse and keyboard with the third monitor. If you have two machines synergy is a fantastic little program. I have a Sparc5 in the closet (no monitor) that I keep running, but almost never use. (specs on my main machine are the same as I posted earlier)

I just built the monitor stand for the third display, so I wanted to show it off.

Duke for President.

 

Why sling mud when there are more effective materials lying around?

You got my vote.

The thing that ends up frustrating me more than anything else (and what I believe leads to the mudslinging) is the locked two party system. Or at least the locked two choice system. I'd love to see the end of primary elections and let people choose from more than two choices in a general election. The last two presidential elections I have really liked candidates that didn't make it through the primary. If we used an instant runoff type system (with some restrictions on who could be on the ballot, I think hundreds of choices is as bad as two) we'd possibly end up with better choices. We'd most likely still elect the same schmucks year after year, but at least I'd be able to vote _FOR_ someone rather than against someone.

Random link for thought. . . .

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul331.html

Congrats man! Was she born on Oct. 28?

26th

Again, congrats Skar...you're probably one of the only people in the world who at the end of the days thinks "heh...spent all day at the hospital, baby girl was born, wife is ok...time for CS"

 

 

Having the hour or so to turn my brain off at the end of the night has been fantastic. My wife actually encouraged me to go home, get some sleep, and "Play that gun thing you like". Baby and mom come home tommorrow!

 

 

And for whudats. . . .

 

Her name is Elizabeth Michelle (her two grandmothers' middle names)

 

Let the lack of sleep begin.

 

Huge congratulations to you both and hope that she's settling well in at home.

 

Now begins the ongoing debate my wife and I have with our littlest, is she a Liz, Lizzie, Beth, Elizabeth, Libby etc. etc. so more often than not we just call her Grace (her middle name).

My wife has been using libby and liz. I've been using lizardbreath. My wife will probably win.

Everything is going great. I may even make customs tonight (because my wife rocks).

- andrew

The accusation stems from MJF saying that he stopped taking his meds several days prior to testifying before congress and the fact that he has done several appearances recently where he was showing out a whole lot less. Did he do the same thing he did for that commercial as he did before congress? I don't know and neither did Rush. I am a large fan of RL but this statement sounds like Jerry Falwell. Just let his mouth run faster than his brain.

Definitely not the first time he's done it.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/10/02/limbaugh/

I find him to be about as obnoxious, one sided, and annoying as most of what I hear on NPR (at least as far as political commentary) The reason I listen to NPR though, is they don't have nearly as much name calling.

EDIT: I re-read the above line, and thought it came across a little confrontational. The point I was trying to make is that I find his show to be as lopsided as the political commentary on NPR. (not comparing news to RL, the commentary aspects of NPR. NPR's straight news is also lopsided, but rush doesn't do news)

I just always envision him in a cheerleaders outfit with a giant red R on the chest. It helps me put his show in context. (Just like I envision NPR's logo having a huge Che Guevara banner behind it)

The problem here in Missouri is that the stem cell bill has been pushed as an anti-cloning initiative but what it does is ask for a redefining of what human cloning is. To date there are over 200 cures or treatments that have been developed from Adult Stem cell research. To date there isn't even one cure or promise of a cure from embryonic stem cell research. Also don't let the politicians fool you, there is no ban on embryo/stem cell research. What they're doing is trying to get federal and state monies for the research grants instead of the already heavy saturation of private dollars in the research field.

 

These bills are about money, not cures. A friend of mine at Washington University School of Medicine told me that the research on embryonic stem cells hasn't advanced past the point of conjecture even though the research field is actually 11 years old (at Wash U)

True, the whole thing is about money. More importantly, how to spend MY money. I'd personally rather see MY money go towards researching possible cures for diseases than much of the garbage it's spent on now. Now, if not funding stem cell research would reduce the government's budget, I'm all for it. Sadly, I think that the budget will continue to increase at an alarming rate regardless of whether or not we fund some specific disease research.

Make up your own mind, but do the research, don't let politicians (on either side tell you what stuff means)

 

As far as MJF, who cares? Did he invite you to dinner last week? The guy has jokes told about him in poor taste, but so does the president and Michael Jackson (who hasn't been convicted) or O. J.

 

How many of you guys delighted in Rush getting arrested for having Viagra that was in his Psychiatrists name? Poor guy can't get it up and we all had laughs at his expense. The Liberal media has a field day when someone Conservative screws up or does something inappropriate but let one person talk about a guy who admittedly has pulled stuff like this in the past and we're all villains.

I wasn't laughing about the Viagra. I was laughing about the doctor shopping involving opiates. Actually, I wasn't really laughing at that, I was kinda crying because it's ridiculous to arrest someone for voluntarily ingesting something. Did he address his drug abuse on the show (beyond the I'm sorry, I've let you and myself down, I'll get better etc. . . .)

Again, congrats Skar...you're probably one of the only people in the world who at the end of the days thinks "heh...spent all day at the hospital, baby girl was born, wife is ok...time for CS"

Having the hour or so to turn my brain off at the end of the night has been fantastic. My wife actually encouraged me to go home, get some sleep, and "Play that gun thing you like". Baby and mom come home tommorrow!

And for whudats. . . .

Her name is Elizabeth Michelle (her two grandmothers' middle names)

Let the lack of sleep begin.

We had a baby girl!!!

Mom and baby are doing great. Thanks for all your prayers.