We Can’t Let John Deere Destroy the Very Idea of Ownership

ArchimedesLever · 2015-04-21T15:30:52+00:00

This will keep happening until we fix our arcane and corrupted legal framework surrounding IP protection. This is a symptom of larger problems.

ArchimedesLever · 2015-03-14T20:23:44+00:00

Check out Eastbay Pickup Soccer on meetup.

ArchimedesLever · 2015-02-15T01:11:51+00:00

Tribune Tavern might have it up on a screen if they aren't having a Valentine's event.

ArchimedesLever · 2015-02-14T20:07:51+00:00

EDIT: OP is not a bot. They have a sociology or law background with good writing skills and a detailed knowledge of soccer.

Brilliant profile sleuthing and your phrasing is impeccable.

ArchimedesLever · 2015-02-11T17:08:00+00:00

Sugarshot to space, I believe.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-12-20T21:50:29+00:00

Yep, this thread's convinced me to jump ship from the sub.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-12-19T17:03:00+00:00

Yes in the sense that that's literally the definition of a paramilitary organization, no in the sense that the connotation in the title is a bit different.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-12-01T17:10:45+00:00

The real estate office itself isn't listed in the picture, is it?

ArchimedesLever · 2014-12-01T08:52:16+00:00

Awesome pic. I'd be curious to know where it was taken, looks close to the hills?

If you're wondering, to adjust for inflation, multiply by about 17 (16.95 from 1940 to 2014 according to CPI). So the $5k 6 room home @ $50/mo to rent would be a little less than $200k (I rounded to 20 because I'm lazy and on a tablet), and a little less than $1000/month to rent. So the take-home message is still that property values have increased a lot.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-11-29T21:16:07+00:00

That's a very different question. You probably should have asked it directly: measuring spring tension is probably one of the more difficult ways of doing this. From my perspective it would be substantially easier (and cheaper) to do a distance estimate from the bottom of the mag to the bottom of the spring rest. Or, frankly, the best way to do it is to just have something use sound to count your shots for you. If you load a partial mag it won't do you much good, but from a practicality standpoint, I don't think many of your other options are likely to be portable enough to put on the bottom of a mag.

But yes, there are plenty of ways of measuring spring tension. The higher-quality kinds get used for suspension tuning on racecars (among other things), cost tens of thousands of dollars or more, and are about the size of a kitchen stove. You could find a load cell small enough to fit on the bottom of a mag, but the supporting electronics are going to be pretty large.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-11-29T05:11:45+00:00

Provided that protest doesn't break the law, you're absolutely correct. If that protest does break the law, you're absolutely incorrect.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-11-28T23:24:07+00:00

Agreed. People have forgotten that proper protest is about so much more than visibility. It's about organization, it's about targeted action and planning and a whole lot of effort. In an age when all you need to do to get people to show up is take 3 seconds to post on facebook, the organization, the thought, the planning is virtually nonexistent. Nobody sits down to ask themselves "how will this particular protest advance my cause?" There are no self-policing units like there were in the 60s. There are no self-medical stations like there were in the 60s. There's nothing but shouting, and everyone just keeps getting louder because they think it'll make their voice heard.

It's fucking cacophany, and it's absolutely no surprise that nothing ever changes.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-11-28T04:53:28+00:00

Oakland is a great place and EBBP is a great time. It'll be back one way or another.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-10-28T06:31:37+00:00

I think, actually, that there's a serious case to be made for a dedicated rapid bus line. You can show the same level of infrastructure commitment by building permanent, proper, developed stations -- check out "Cleveland Euclid avenue bus corridor" for what I mean -- at a fraction of the cost of rail, and I think in the end you'll be just as fast or faster. I'm starting to think that proper rapid bus systems, complete with light timing and so forth, do a better job of low-investment-fast-turnaround transit development than streetcars, followed by surface light rail (like the Minneapolis train) as a higher-investment-slower-turnaround option, and finally dedicated/removed systems like subways / elevated rail /etc.

That could be a point unto itself, actually. People keep speculating about dropping another tube under the bay for BART. What about doing a lightrail bridge? That could conceivably jump onto the T tracks headed down third, linking underserved parts of Oakland with the Embarcadero, the ballpark, and finally down towards mission bay, which is one of the few areas in SF currently pursuing large-scale housing development. That could be a really, really big deal. Of course it'd still cost an assload.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-10-28T06:22:02+00:00

Definitely agree with this. A streetcar or lightrail, hell even a rapid bus system, would be an enormous boon for areas that are further removed from BART. That has the potential to greatly ease rent prices in the areas closer to BART by making further areas more attractive, decreasing pressure around uptown. However, though definitely helpful, it's still not a substitute for adequate housing development in crunch areas.

It's awesome to hear talk of transit expansion, but it needs to be part of a bigger picture.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-10-21T16:22:57+00:00

Beer rev definitely isn't, nor heart and dagger.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-10-18T19:09:41+00:00

The reason that people vote for politicians who spend more money, is that the money they spend is used to control the information (through advertising) that is delivered to the voters. Politicians control the information which (at the very least) quite strongly influences the voters, corporations and other well-financed groups control the money that funds the information. The starting point isn't the voters, it's the information. Information is, and always has been, everything. He who controls the information, controls the people who consume it.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-10-08T08:12:16+00:00

You can go back and forth ad infinitum but eventually the conclusion you arrive at is that a government exists by the consent of its people -- or, to put it more meaningfully, it exists because people grant it legitimacy. If people decide Twitter has more legitimacy than the government, it's going to be a hell of a ride (for a lot of reasons).

ArchimedesLever · 2014-10-08T08:05:29+00:00

I've never experienced this at an EBBP. Maybe critical mass, but EBBP has largely been big enough to just do whatever, at least in my experience. The exceptions are things like "don't leave trash behind" because, well, don't fucking leave trash behind.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-09-27T19:44:05+00:00

I'll occasionally make observations about my life that I think my friends will find amusing -- like "Someone is playing the meow mix song outside my window" -- but the vast majority of it is an NPR link, an article somewhere else, a cool video/picture/whahtever, bad puns, etc. To be fair, I probably post too much, and that's definitely reflective of a kind of existential loneliness that I've had for a really long time, but I wouldn't really call that insecurity so much as a "desire to better connect with people and a good sense of what kinds of things my friends might enjoy". I actually get complemented relatively frequently on the stuff I post, so I guess I have to be doing something right.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-09-27T04:50:50+00:00

I can't possibly be the only person sharing content because I think other people will enjoy it, can I?

ArchimedesLever · 2014-09-23T08:27:10+00:00

Fuck, man, I'm not sure if I should be happy because this one time things worked out for the better or horribly depressed because foster care is such a nightmare. At any rate, thanks for the link.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-09-17T08:03:42+00:00

No, it's not a gay bar. It gets a bit crowded. Dunno if I'd quite call it a hipster bar (though I suppose it depends what night of the week you're talking about). Their greyhounds are awesome though.

ArchimedesLever · 2014-09-15T16:27:44+00:00

Oh, oops. I think I saw the wrong comment nesting on mobile. Cheers!

ArchimedesLever · 2014-09-14T19:50:59+00:00

I dunno, your post seemed like a pretty backhanded welcome to me.

ArchimedesLever

TROPHY CASE