Useless Conversation

[ghost]

I've done some teaching as well.  You can always do those sorts of things with subtlety, as I'm sure you know. 

[LK]

Facebook went down right when someone posted an anti-Facebook article about Zuckerberg getting Time's Man of the Year over Julian Assange.

Hmmm.

[ghost]

Fuck general dentists that claim to be "specialists in orthodontics" on their websites.  Fucking sleazeballs. 

[Lantyssa]

Nebu's too nice to be up in someone's face.  He apologizes if we give him the slightest bit of friendly teasing.

What I came to this thread to post about though, was we need to get Ironwood this shirt.

[ghost]

I've seen that face enough that I imagine that is what Ironwood actually looks like in person. 

[Sir T]

I finally have internet and TV, so I am officially moved into my new place.

And tomorrow I sink 200 euro into a new heater as I am so fucking NOT gonna be cold inside this winter.

Btw I can recommend a US army surplus coat for the cold weather. I love mine in near artic conditions

[Yegolev]

Tangential to the BMI chart, what I'm really suspicious of is statistics as a mathematical discipline.  The entire thing is even more made-up than the next-most-esoteric discipline.  Besides this, it's misused by anyone who doesn't understand it.  It does have uses but many people use it to avoid actually understanding a given system.

[Oban]

I want to play Hellgate London.
 

[ghost]

My favorite quote regarding statistics:  Statistics is like a bikini.  What it shows you is nice, but it is what is covered up that is most interesting.  

[Murgos]

It does have uses but many people use it to avoid actually understanding a given system.

That's actually the point of statistics.  To gleen some level of understanding from a system that is too complicated to allow complete understanding.

However, the basic premise of statistics is, "This is a guess" and should always be thought of in that way.  In limited cases that 'best guess' can be really good (If we increase machining tolerance by x% how many more usable parts will we be able to make?) but then people take that confidence in statistical analysis and lend it to MUCH more complicated and FAR less understood systems and expect it to hold it's relevancy.  BMI charts are a great example of that, if you have a healthy weight to height ratio it is likely that you will live longer than someone who does not.

The KEY word in there is LIKELY, it is a guess.  Nothing more.

[rattran]

Statistics are a guess in the same way the Theory of Evolution is a guess.

But after years of studying Actuarial Science and Statistics, I now make and sell art for a living.

[Nebu]

Statistics are a guess in the same way the Theory of Evolution is a guess.

But after years of studying Actuarial Science and Statistics, I now make and sell art for a living.

What did you think about being an actuary?  I'm interested in your opinion. 

[Polysorbate80]

My favorite quote regarding statistics:  

Tangentially related, the best thing I've heard this week:  "Speed is a slow process."

(You may have to work at a University to really get that one.  Or possibly some large corporation.)

[Minvaren]

Just finished giving 22 bottles of mead away as gifts for the holidays.  Hooray for hobbies that allow for inexpensive mass gift-giving.   

[Oban]

Just finished giving 22 bottles of mead away as gifts for the holidays.  Hooray for hobbies that allow for inexpensive mass gift-giving.   

You made your own mead?  Too funny, I was just at the local liquor store looking to buy mead.  Unfortunately, the local union members had no clue what I was asking for since apparently the inventory computers do not have a mead category. 

So how long did it take and how did it turn out?

[ghost]

Why the fuck did god create people as irritating as creationist? 

[Nebu]

Why the fuck did god create people as irritating as creationist? 

It's an easier way to test your faith than asking you to kill your children? 

[Paelos]

Just fried the power supply on my home computer. 

[Yegolev]

Just fried the power supply on my home computer. 

In other news, tomorrow I board a cruise ship headed to Grand Turk.  See you fuckers after Xmas.

[WayAbvPar]

Watch out for Barbary pirates!



and yes, I know they never operated in El Mar Caribe. Just a stupid Turk joke....

[rattran]

Statistics are a guess in the same way the Theory of Evolution is a guess.

But after years of studying Actuarial Science and Statistics, I now make and sell art for a living.

What did you think about being an actuary?  I'm interested in your opinion. 

I loved the math, but every job I applied for looked only at how many of the Society tests you'd passed to determine how much you got paid, and was generic upper/middle management.  They wanted actuaries on staff, but not for actuarial work.

That said, 20 years on I still get the occasional piece of free gear (laptop bags, dayplanners, that sort of thing) from the ASA.

[Mrbloodworth]

NOOO! They took my snow!

[Minvaren]

You made your own mead?  Too funny, I was just at the local liquor store looking to buy mead.  Unfortunately, the local union members had no clue what I was asking for since apparently the inventory computers do not have a mead category. 

So how long did it take and how did it turn out?

It's generally under wine - ask for "honey wine" if they get confused.  You should be able to get at least Chaucer's at most decently-stocked places.

Started it last xmas day, filtered it Tuesday, bottled Thursday.  Used clover honey and a milder yeast this time, came out quite balanced between sweet and dry.  Doing the same for honey and yeast again this year, but will likely make a metheglin (spiced mead) this go-around for novelty.

[Lantyssa]

Just finished giving 22 bottles of mead away as gifts for the holidays.  Hooray for hobbies that allow for inexpensive mass gift-giving.   

I didn't get any.

[Oban]

I didn't get any.

He must like you then.

[Sjofn]

I had a 10am dental appointment today. I got out at 11am. The visit was seriously extended by like a half hour because the dentist likes to TALK MY EAR OFF. We have a lot in common, which is nice and all, but makes it so he is Mr. Chatterbox during my appointments.

At least I get complimented on my awesome teeth every time I go. 

[ghost]

I just had to eat dinner at a wedding next to a retired US Army major.  He was very insistent that gays in the military are the reason we are "losing Afghanistan". 

This isn't to start a political debate, it was just a very  topic for a wedding, particularly with someone you don't really know. 

[Engels]

You think you had an awkward moment at a wedding? That's nothing. At my cousin's wedding in Germany, I was seated with a nice fellow who politely inquired how I'm 'coping with the Jewish problem'.

[ghost]

You think you had an awkward moment at a wedding? That's nothing. At my cousin's wedding in Germany, I was seated with a nice fellow who politely inquired how I'm 'coping with the Jewish problem'.

And how did you answer? 

It's tough dealing with these assholes.  To be fair, most of the military folk I know in San Antonio are very reasonable, rational people.  This guy was just a dick.

[Engels]

At the time I was sort of stunned beyond belief. This wasn't some old codger, but some yuppy 30 something. He may have just been trolling me, laughing at the 'stupid american' or something, but hey, it was a wedding. Didn't want to make a scene, so I think I said,"Not as badly as the German problem.", left the table and didn't come back. I was being snippy, since for the most part, I love Germans. You just get the random arschloch.

[Paelos]

Akward moment at the wedding this weekend: Trying to avoid the chick you hooked up with who is a cousin of the guy getting married, while also trying to avoid having your friends spill it to your date.

[RhyssaFireheart]

And did you manage to avoid having your friends spill it to your date?

So I got my new comp about a month ago and had turned my old computer off.  Turned it back on to get some stuff off it and it boots up fine except for a warning that the system battery is low.  Finishes booting up, I get the info and it goes through all the missing patches it needs.  Reboot.  Now I'm getting a disk error.  Dammit.  I still need some of the stuff on there eventually, but it's been so long since I've had to do hardware troubleshooting that I really don't feel like trying to figure this out.

[Lantyssa]

Desktop or laptop?  If the former, can you put the drive in the new machine and still read it?

[Sky]

Every geek needs an IDE to USB doohickey. They're wicked handy.

[Engels]

First thing I'd do is see if you can run a dskchk on the hard drive, Rhyssa. Do you have a Windows CD of some sort that lets you boot to it and then get to a DOS prompt? In Vista and Windows 7, you'd select 'repair my computer' and then select the last option for a command prompt. It doesn't have to be a Windows Vista or 7 OS that you're repairing. Just run the dskchk utility to see if you have either a simple file system corruption or you are indeed working wwith a failing hard drive.

If all you have is a Windows XP cd, the steps are a bit more fiddly and unclear, but fairly easy nontheless.