Desipio Message Board

Quote from: Eli on November 21, 2008, 03:47:25 PM

Quote from: Andre Dawson's Creek on November 21, 2008, 03:29:00 PM
Generally though, plasmas display blacks better

And with our new President, that'll definitely help.

Thread: won.

Quote from: Andre Dawson's Creek on November 20, 2008, 11:05:44 AM

Quote from: 5laky on November 20, 2008, 10:21:56 AM

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 10:01:39 AM

Quote from: 5laky on November 20, 2008, 09:54:43 AM
Taylor, what are you doing man?

Just trying to have some fun. I wanted to see how fast and furious the response would be.

Furious George?

Un-FAIL'd

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 10:01:39 AM

Quote from: 5laky on November 20, 2008, 09:54:43 AM
Taylor, what are you doing man?

Just trying to have some fun. I wanted to see how fast and furious the response would be.

2 Fast 2 Furious.

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 09:55:22 AM

Quote from: TJ on November 20, 2008, 09:48:15 AM

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 09:15:51 AM

Quote from: Furious George on November 20, 2008, 08:41:02 AM

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 08:04:35 AM

Don't worry about it TJ or anything else for that matter. The house negro is going to take care of us forever.

And if he doesn't, I bet a racist strawman could come through in a pinch.

If he doesn't? Heresy!!!!! He's bringing real change to Washington. If he doesn't? Do you doubt for any second his ability to bring hope to all of us? It's racist to even think that he is not the most sucessful president-elect in our history.

Taylor, it's funny. I have been able to suggest that Obama won't be especially successful as President, yet no one beyond the most idiotic would suggest this as evidence I am racist.

I'm not doing cartwheels since Obama won, but he deserves the respect the Office of the President commands.

TJ, I'm giving our president-elect all of the respect that the left gave George Bush when he stoled won the election 8 years ago. Remember now dissent is the highest form of patriotism, but not after November 4, 2008.

Dissent is one thing—a noble thing.

Flapping your arms like a retard, and being tragically unfunny to boot, is something else entirely.

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 09:49:33 AM
As for educated voters. I couldn't agree more. These educated people would never vote Republican.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8

OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!

The guy behind that is a real winner:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/interview-with-john-ziegler-on-zogby.html

Quote from: Gil Gunderson on November 20, 2008, 09:32:56 AM

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 09:15:51 AM

Quote from: Furious George on November 20, 2008, 08:41:02 AM

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 08:04:35 AM

Quote from: TJ on November 20, 2008, 07:45:49 AM
Do we have an unlimited supply of medical care? How do we increase the supply? What is the baseline level of care a government should guarantee for someone?  Would others be allowed to purchase insurance above and beyond that?

Will we have to sharply regulate everyone's activity level to keep health care costs down? At what level will the government use the "YOU'RE COSTING US TAXPAYER MONEY" to regulate your choices regarding diet, beverages, exercise activity, tobacco use.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with the health care program in this country is your lack of choice over your insurance provider (and your inability to hold said insurer accountable) and in turn, your limited choice over health care provider (and your inability, except through malpractice suits, to hold said provider accountable).  The thought of decoupling your health insurance from your employer is intriguing for three reasons:

1. You wouldn't have to stay at an otherwise shitty job out of fear of losing your health care benefits.
2. Losing your job wouldn't be as catastrophic if you are buying health insurance out of pocket. Do any of you know how much your COBRA payment would be if you lost your job?
3. You would be able to shop around for the best coverage for you.

Now, I understand the whole problem with pre-existing conditions, but I think this problem is better served through the private market than through government. Who among you would want a Bush Administration appointee administering your health care? Me neither.

Don't worry about it TJ or anything else for that matter. The house negro is going to take care of us forever.

And if he doesn't, I bet a racist strawman could come through in a pinch.

If he doesn't? Heresy!!!!! He's bringing real change to Washington. If he doesn't? Do you doubt for any second his ability to bring hope to all of us? It's racist to even think that he is not the most sucessful president-elect in our history.

No, it's racist to cite a racist's racist comment in an effort to make an absurd political argument that has no apparent grounding in facts or truth.  The man has been president-elect for about two weeks, how about waiting until he's actually empowered to propose and sign legislation before criticizing the man.

Or do you believe that this is "The Obama Recession?"

The market is just pricing in the tragedy to come.

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 08:04:35 AM

Quote from: TJ on November 20, 2008, 07:45:49 AM
Do we have an unlimited supply of medical care? How do we increase the supply? What is the baseline level of care a government should guarantee for someone?  Would others be allowed to purchase insurance above and beyond that?

Will we have to sharply regulate everyone's activity level to keep health care costs down? At what level will the government use the "YOU'RE COSTING US TAXPAYER MONEY" to regulate your choices regarding diet, beverages, exercise activity, tobacco use.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with the health care program in this country is your lack of choice over your insurance provider (and your inability to hold said insurer accountable) and in turn, your limited choice over health care provider (and your inability, except through malpractice suits, to hold said provider accountable).  The thought of decoupling your health insurance from your employer is intriguing for three reasons:

1. You wouldn't have to stay at an otherwise shitty job out of fear of losing your health care benefits.
2. Losing your job wouldn't be as catastrophic if you are buying health insurance out of pocket. Do any of you know how much your COBRA payment would be if you lost your job?
3. You would be able to shop around for the best coverage for you.

Now, I understand the whole problem with pre-existing conditions, but I think this problem is better served through the private market than through government. Who among you would want a Bush Administration appointee administering your health care? Me neither.

Don't worry about it TJ or anything else for that matter. The house negro is going to take care of us forever.

And if he doesn't, I bet a racist strawman could come through in a pinch.

Quote from: RD on November 19, 2008, 08:24:03 PM
Can I ask what the big hate for nationalised health care is?  The last 2 years I lived in the US, I didn't have any health cover because I worked at one of those college-graduate-transitional jobs that pay a middling amount and you ditch as soon as something better comes along.  Health cover for a foreigner in Australia was expensive, but no more expensive that what normal people with pretty good health insurance in the US pay.  Now that I'm a permanent resident, my wife and I together pay about $100 a month and get outstanding private cover, in addition to the basic Medicare cover.  In fact the only reason we have to pay anything is because we make over the $60,000 threshhold of low-income. 

I had to get an MRI recently and the doctor's visit cost nothing and the MRI cost me $36.  And I was scheduled in the same day.  I'm not sure what the comparative tax rates in AU and US are, but considering health bills can absolutely destroy people and even the worry about health insurance drives people mad, I am more than happy to pay a bit extra to ensure I'm not going to spend the rest of my life paying off the ramifications of a car accident.  Or god forbid, get dropped off at Michael Reese hospital.

The main issues I see with nationalised health care in the US is that it would be harder to implement with 10 times the number of people and there are probably proportionally more welfare/poverty cases in the US than here.  But it's not like when those people go to the E.R. the cost doesn't get passed on to everyone else anyway.

Hope you've enjoyed your time on the government work farm, comrade.

Quote from: ~Apex on November 19, 2008, 08:53:05 PM
I think it's apples and oranges when you compare a country with the population of the US to some horseshit communist hell hole like Canada. I just don't see how it could possibly mean an improvement in health coverage for me personally. Maybe cheaper. Maybe not. I have one hell of a health plan right now and i don't pay anything for it. I'm lucky I know, but also spent a year without coverage so I know what it means to be a piece of shit.

Apex got his.

Nothing left to worry about?

(Sorry... that was glib.)

Quote from: Wheezer on November 19, 2008, 06:19:46 PM

Quote from: flannj on November 19, 2008, 09:46:41 AM
I'm not quite as happy with the AA battery feature, my experience is that it eats them pretty fast.

True enough, but my reasoning was that, in a pinch, being able to toss in easily available batteries could come in handy.  Once the Energizer lithiums I now have in the camera give up the ghost, I'm going to see how the Sanyo Eneloops play out--at $10 for four, an alleged 1000 charges available, and only 15% self-discharge over a year, on paper they seem like a pretty inexpensive option.

With AAs, you're going to want to go with rechargeables, and to have a second set charging while you use the first. Camera LCDs drain these things like nobody's business, so you'll find yourself swapping often if you use the camera a lot on a trip.

If your camera comes with a proprietary battery, hopefully it also comes with an external charger for it. If so, buy yourself a spare to have charging as a backup. Finding these can sometimes be hit or miss, with the wide variety of batteries used even by cameras from the same manufacturer. Order one online, or check out Best Buy (when I was hunting around for a spare Nikon D80 battery this summer, I found they had the best selection by far).

Quote from: IrishYeti on November 19, 2008, 10:21:41 AM
Alright. Thank you for the help. Thrill, the only tough thing about keeping with a lower megapixel is that they don't seam to sell them as much. Best Buy and Circuit City's websites both have 7 and up, for the most part.

I wouldn't sweat a difference of 1 or 2 megapixels.

The difference between 6.0 MP and 7.1 MP is the difference between around 2121x2828- and 2308x3077-pixel sensors. That's a difference of around 8% in each direction.

This is another reason megapixel counts can be misleading. To double the linear, pixels-per-inch resolution, you need to quadruple the megapixels: say, from 6 to 24.

A bigger concern than resolution is color. And this is why I said to avoid HP: as far as I've seen it, their color blows.

Quote from: IrishYeti on November 18, 2008, 10:17:13 PM
Alright, on Monday I am heading out to Arizona and I hope to buy a camera before the trip. I'm looking for something that's less than $100 because I don't try to take pictures too often. Any suggestions on a brand that is best? I prefer it to be compatible with SD Cards because I have a 4gb microSD card for my phone along with the appropriate adapter. That compatibility is not necessarily required because I'm sure a 1gb card is cheap these days.

You can't go wrong with Canon. The compact PowerShot Digital Elphs you see hawked by Sharapova are sweet. Price-wise, older models seem to bottom out in the low $100 range.

Generally speaking, as a rule of thumb, restrict yourself to cameras made by camera or photo equipment makers (Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Kodak, Olympus) and avoid those from computer companies (avoid HP like the plague). One exception to this is Sony, who do make some well-regarded cameras.

Check out older models and don't get too terribly hung up on resolution. Try to find something offering at least 3 or 4 megapixels. Anything above and beyond 6 is more or less a waste, though. The optics in these tiny devices are such that, not only are compact cameras not able to take advantage of much more real detail than this, they actually see image quality decline inverse to the pixel count due to the an increase in noise. (More on this phenomenon here.)

As far as card formats go, SD is probably what you will end up with if you don't go with Sony (Memory Stick—proprietary), or Olympus or Fuji (xD). The latter two are less common and tend to be more expensive.