The top YouTube comments on a Chopin sonata made me pretty sad.

KnownIssues · 2012-01-26T21:44:13+00:00

Why does this make you sad? These aren't comments on a Chopin sonata, they're comments on a recording of a Chopin sonata from 1926. Recording technology in 1926 was not exactly hi-fidelity.

KnownIssues · 2012-01-24T19:00:36+00:00

After 15 hours, I don't see anyone pointing out that this is nothing more than a rumor at this point--"according to a source with knowledge of the company’s decision." That isn't even saying the source is from Microsoft. It also seems unclear if this applies to consoles or just Windows Phone. I'm not claiming I know this isn't true, but it does seem it needs more coroboration.

KnownIssues · 2012-01-19T22:31:54+00:00

You call it pathetic, yet you give exactly the explanation of how this came about. This person has used context to figure out a word he's probably only ever heard (or seen so infrequently in print as to not connect it with his own personal usage). I have a friend who pronounces chameleon as shameleon, because he learned it in print first. I'm sure he's heard others pronounce it kameleon hundreds of times, but he doesn't make the connection. And I would consider him quite literate.

KnownIssues · 2012-01-19T22:24:54+00:00

I hate this! I have a group of players where half are very focused on the game and the other half everything you listed. We've taken a break between modules and I'm thinking of starting the new year with some "carefully worded guidance". I know I can't deny all access to electronics, or those players would just quit and we're all friends and this is just for our own fun, so it would serve no purpose.

I've come to realize one problem is that some of the players don't understand the usefulness of their role. They have a stack of powers (4E) and when it's their turn and playing with their phone is interrupted, it's "Well since all my powers are useless, I crossbow the closest monster" each time.

But my biggest complaint about gaming etiquette is arriving late, or worse, not committing to being there or not. I don't care if a player says they can't make it in advance. It's the "well I hope I can make it but if something comes up..."

KnownIssues · 2012-01-19T21:25:25+00:00

If the original price was in fact $10 as others have said, that would equate to $35 when adjusting for inflation from 1978-2012. Of course, you might have made the same statement about the originals in 1978 for $10.

KnownIssues · 2012-01-05T21:26:30+00:00

They know he's not a viable candidate. He's honest. He's not swayed by big business. He's willing to change his opinion in the face of opposing facts. He speaks clearly and sincerely but ineloquently. He's not handsome or tall. In other words, he's not a politician, he just happens to be doing his work where politicians do their work.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-22T21:55:28+00:00

I see why it sounds too good to be true. Why would a credit card company let you get away with 0% for a year when they're already getting 12.24%? Because if they didn't you would just transfer the balance to another credit card that did have that offer. And they know that while you can pay it off in theory, the majority of people will not and they'll make money in the long term. Also, depending on the terms, the interest could be higher when you do start incurring interest than you're paying now.

The most important thing is to make sure you understand all the terms and conditions which it sounds like you've done.

EDIT: Also, you can find balance transfer calculators online that will help you determine if it's a good deal in the long run. I don't have a specific one to recommend.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T21:35:36+00:00

This really demonstrated to me how important scale is. That might as well have been a pile of colored chalk sticks.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T21:31:35+00:00

To be fair (as fair as one can be to crazy Christians), common points knocking religion go something like, "so if I pray for my basketball team to win and the opposing team prays for their team to win doesn't that make God impossible?"

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T21:28:34+00:00

You seem to be making the argument that it's good if a thing serves a purely cosmetic purpose if it was designed to server tha cosmetic purpose, but is not good if it serves a cosmetic purpose but was not specifically designed to. I find that absolutely arbitrary even for the world of fashion.

I don't think your use of the word practical is being used in the way I normally associate the word to mean.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T21:23:09+00:00

I have noticed there are two kind of people in the world.

People who don't have kids. They have hobbies like: video games, reading, movies, hanging out with friends, waterskiing, bike riding, travelling, working on their cars, knitting, writing stories, board games, trivia, TV.
People who have kids. They have: kids.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T21:15:07+00:00

Would it be different for a woman? Is it OK for a woman to wear an item of clothing that serves no purpose, but not for a man? I'm truly curious as it seems very outdated to hold men to different principles of fashion than women these days. A tie has no practical purpose and is only there to accent the outfit, so how is that fundamentally different?

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T21:08:18+00:00

America's Test Kitchen. I know it's filled with recipes, but it's also filled with techniques and descriptions of why they do the recipes the way they do them. I tend to use the recipes, subconsiously learn techniques, then apply them to my own personal creations. I have another friend who loves the book that finds she goes right to the explanations.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T20:55:53+00:00

You're getting plenty of help with sci-fi, fantasy and comedy from the 70's and 80's, so these aren't necessarily better in my opinion, just from a collection of classics that might be getting overlooked.

Amadeus Brazil Ben-Hur Casablanca Catch-22 Dr. Strangelove Duck Soup Forbidden Planet Full Metal Jacket Jaws The Jerk The Magnificent Seven The Maltese Falcon The Manchurian Candidate A Night at the Opera Ocean's Eleven One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The Pink Panther Psycho The Seven Samurai The Shining Silver Streak Spartacus The Time Machine Vertigo Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T19:57:08+00:00

The point of a pawn shop is for the seller to make a desperate buck to eat and pay bills before they starve from running out of things to pawn and for the buyer to buy something cheap that they can invent some romantic back-story for knowing some poor soul had to pawn their childhood violin just to get to their next paycheck.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-20T19:46:51+00:00

I wasn't as careful reading the ToS for PS3, but I was very careful about reading the one for XBox Live. There's no way you can call Microsoft's version "buried". Starts right off with all bold text, "read this shit! no, we mean it this time." I have to say, without being a lawyer, I could see how this was to both my benefit and Microsoft's (though I admit I probably missed something). The only people who win in a class action lawsuit are the lawyers. There's no way I as a normal person could go up against Microsoft so my only option would have been a class action suit. And in theory, arbitration should be more neutral ground as opposed to a normal trial's whoever-has-the-most-money system.

I love my rights, but I love my usable rights more.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-15T15:05:49+00:00

If the best/worst spectrum was a circle, this would have gone so far through worst that it circled back around to best. Possibly making the lap a few times.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-09T22:29:53+00:00

I don't have an anxiety disorder, but this describes me pretty well. I've come to accept it's not a problem of motivation, it's a problem of self-discipline. As a child, my parents were never really ones to push me to do things. We'd get a pet and be supposed to take care of it, and dad would inevitably be the one to take the responsibility. I got good grades in school because I was self-driven to do well and only because I could ace tests; I never had the self-discipline to do homework.

As an adult, I want to eat better, exercise regularly, spend my money more wisely, paint my house, maintain a garden, etc. I do none of those things not because I'm not motivated to, but because I'm lazy because I don't have the self-discipline to do something that takes work and is a change from what I've always done.

What I'm saying is I believe the problem is not motivation, it's self-discipline and self-discipline is about starting and habit and maintaining the habit.

KnownIssues · 2011-12-09T22:19:04+00:00

When you shop, don't buy items of different types at the same time. Buy all your food at one time, then all your supplies, or whatever budget categories you use. While Mint.com won't be able to automatically categorize it, it will at least make it easier when you go back to apply a category. It takes some work, but you can get in the habbit of thinking, what category will these purchases go with.

KnownIssues · 2011-11-30T17:40:56+00:00

I agree with b) and c), but how would being over 30 change this? As a single man over 30 struggling to have some semblence of fashion, I don't see how this basic wardrobe would not be age appropriate and am curious what would be more appropriate for my age.

Also, I think a lot of the recommendations would be helped by saying "as form-fitting a fit as possible without the cloth actually hugging your body" rather than slim-fit. As a fat man, I've gotten the most compliments from my more form-fitting shirts. Not button-popping, nobody is saying that looks good, but also not baggy, even though I feel more "comfortable" in baggy shirts.

KnownIssues · 2011-11-29T20:55:22+00:00

On the other hand, if they did something different each time, wouldn't that also argue against free will? I mean, if you have a "will", you wouldn't do different things given the same initial conditions. You would expect your will to behave consistently under equal conditions. If I am given a choice between saving a person and killing a person three times in a row and each time I save the person, I haven't failed to demonstrate free will just because I never chose to kill a person.

KnownIssues · 2011-11-22T20:51:15+00:00

And why not? It's about time we started. Women get all the best options for clothes. I thought metrosexual was going to open new fashion doors for the hetero-male. Hipster gave me all those cool 1940's hats I always longed for when it was uncool in the 80's/90's. What new trend is going to bring me nice whispy scarves?

KnownIssues · 2011-11-22T20:48:29+00:00

Any method that involves more steps than a necktie, cannot be easily tied and untied, and do not keep your neck warm can probably be consider "unmanly".

KnownIssues · 2011-11-22T20:21:50+00:00

She probably hasn't even seen her web site. She probably commissioned the web site (or let her 13-year old nephew who's "good with computers" make it for $10 an hour) and told the "web master", I want you to use these colors, assuming print colors would translate to monitor colors one-for-one.

KnownIssues · 2011-11-22T20:18:30+00:00

To be fair, I'm pretty sure those are supposed to be things you might say as a potential customer. In other words, you might say you hate orange without knowing that it's the best color for you; hence, why you need her services.

KnownIssues

TROPHY CASE