Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 817
MeFi post:
Decision on FISA delayed
"... He's not just moderated his position, but he's flipped on a critical issue for no discernable political advantage, and he's lying about why he's doing it and the effects it will have on all of us. I'm still voting for him, in case you haven't been reading the rest of what I said, but I can't buy his bullshit anymore. ..."
posted by krinklyfig at 3:42 PM on July 4
“You know, somehow, 'I told you so' just doesn't quite cut it.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 2:00 PM on July 4, 2008
"So... which thing actually happened? Did McGovern falsely co-opt your political hopes, or did he stake the high ground?"
posted by namespan at 6:37 PM on July 4
Actually, both things happened in that campaign, in different arenas. McGovern handled the Eagleton affair badly, so that Eagleton's withdrawal from the ticket not only looked like pandering to centrists, but called into question McGovern's executive judgement, and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 5:42 PM on July 4, 2008
MeFi post:
Everything should be subject to critical analysis.
"Everything should be subject to critical analysis."
Not according to Robert Pirsig. Many people dismiss Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality as just another attempt to balance experience against reason, and to use the tools of rational analysis in areas where they have no application. Pirsig himself tries to deal with this conundrum by refusing to define his "Quality" and by insisting that a direct, pre-rational experience of "Quality" is the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 3:30 PM on June 17, 2008
MeFi post:
Life before ProTools
I heard the 2007 incarnation of Chicago in Memphis early last summer, and sadly, they really could have used ProTools help. Granted it was early in the summer tour season, but they were painfully out of tune, and off rhythm most of the evening, as if their monitors weren't working at all. 25 or 6 to 4 was just....tragically bad.
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 2:13 PM on June 15, 2008
MeFi post:
Loudness war
"Radio stations have done this forever. ..."
posted by uncleozzy at 3:29 PM on June 9
Where "forever" means "about 35 years." That Orban article you linked is solid gold, for those interested in the current state of radio signal processing.
I put one of the first Orban Optimod FM systems in use in the U.S. on air in 1974, on a little 3000 watt Class B 90 miles south of Nashville.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 1:47 PM on June 9, 2008
MeFi post:
A moment in history; Obama Wins Presidential Nomination.
So the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee fails to decisively win his party's popular vote, loses another state primary election (South Dakota) on the final primary date, still can't close his party ranks, gets stiffed on national television by the supposed runner up in this inelegant game of musical chairs at what should be his moment of triumph in a staged appearance in the hall the Republicans will rent in a few months, and somehow looks like Presidential timber?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 9:22 PM on June 3, 2008
"Romney beat McCain in Montana. What's that say about him as "Presidential timber"?"
posted by RavinDave at 12:25 AM on June 4
Since that occurred back on Feb. 5, I take it as solid evidence McCain can run a national primary campaign, and exit with the gracious endorsement of his defeated competitor. Something, I think, Obama would have greatly wished to have, tonight.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 9:32 PM on June 3, 2008
"Hillary Clinton is a Liar. Her metrics don't include several caucus states, including my own."
posted by delmoi at 12:37 AM on June 4
What a lame point. Because if Obama had actually won, massively, by, say, mid-April, there wouldn't be any argument about this, period. The fact that there are, still, arguments about it just prove he's without real political mandate.
He didn't win... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 9:55 PM on June 3, 2008
"Well, I don't want to ruin this thread with too much vitriol, really, so I'll just point out that its kind of weird for to someone to say it's a "lame point" that Hillary didn't actually win the popular vote when her whole argument (and yours) is that she actually won. "
posted by delmoi at 1:04 AM on June 4
delmoi, you frequently make no sense. Where did I mention Hillary, by name, in this thread (up until now), much... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 10:37 PM on June 3, 2008
"... But money doesn't matter in the American political system, right?"
posted by mr_roboto at 1:43 AM on June 4
It will let you rent a hall in St. Paul from which you can proclaim, vaingloriously, that you're king of the Democratic hill, while others demure.
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 10:52 PM on June 3, 2008
"If Obama is weak, he must be weaker then someone. ..."
posted by delmoi at 1:57 AM on June 4
See, it's when you get stuck in logical fallacies of your own creation, and then attribute them to someone else's point of view, that you go badly wrong. It's not necessary for Obama to be weaker than anyone else, for him to just be weak. He can even, paradoxically, be stronger than some others,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 11:10 PM on June 3, 2008
"Hmm, looks like paulsc owes asavage $1,000."
posted by delmoi at 2:10 AM on June 4
Heh. Actually, I never got a single dollar bet against me. Zippo. Zero. Not a single MeFi mail. No takers. Not one. Not one Barcalounger pilot in that thread took me up, straight or side bet, at any odds.
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 11:39 PM on June 3, 2008
"And just to prove it, watch him duck this one: paulsc, Obama's half of the Democratic primary votes is about twice the votes McCain got in the Republican primaries."
posted by nicwolff at 2:28 AM on June 4
What's to "duck?" I can't see that McCain getting to his party's nomination months ahead of Obama limping lamely across the final date in the Democratic primary calendar is much of a basis for comparing the two.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 11:48 PM on June 3, 2008
"Gosh, I guess that means you're still right about the airplane-conveyor belt question. ..."
posted by five fresh fish at 2:50 AM on June 4
It's just what actually happened, in another instance of a lot of opinion being thrown around.
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 11:54 PM on June 3, 2008
"... Americans really hate and resent being told they have to vote for someone. If Obama's supporters position him as "the only candidate for non-racists", even subliminally, you're not making people want to vote for him, you're telling people they have to vote for him, or else they're a racist. That's dangerous, because in the privacy of the voting booth people may lash out at the perceived box they're being put in. "
posted by Kadin2048 at... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 12:40 AM on June 4, 2008
"... You've stated a few things, and supported them very poorly, and, when others have responded with honest rebuttles, have either ignored them them or ducked the question. ..."
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:28 AM on June 4
I think it's OK to let someone's comment or rebuttal stand as a clear statement of their opinion of a matter, and sometimes, indeed, no better indictment of a point can be made, than what someone makes,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 12:53 AM on June 4, 2008
"McCain can run a national primary campaign, and exit with the gracious endorsement of his defeated competitor."
How likely is it do you think that Romney's exit would have been as forthcoming or timely if he'd been able to keep within 200 delegates of McCain?
And you do remember that the Republican primaries were winner-take-all, right?"
posted by namespan at 3:50 AM on June... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 1:54 AM on June 4, 2008
"... You mean the shenanigans where they voted to increase the value of the votes from zero to one-half?
I hope Florida and Michgan don't forget that."
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 4:39 AM on June 4
In one diner in North Florida, at breakfast Monday, I heard some disgruntled Floridians wondering why they were 1/2, and not 3/5 of a vote. I don't want to tell 'em it was because... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 2:17 AM on June 4, 2008
"The rules stated that states could be penalized for breaking the rules. This makes sense: rules are pointless if there's no penalty for breaking them. ..."
posted by punishinglemur at 5:12 AM on June 4
Considering that Florida's Republican controlled legislature actually set the date for the Democratic primary, more than 7 months in advance, one would think practical considerations might have come to bear much earlier, and in a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 2:30 AM on June 4, 2008
"... But what are you suggesting Obama do now, given that he has secured a majority of delegates?"
posted by orthogonality at 5:37 AM on June 4
I think he should run for President, as the Chicago ward pol he is. What is so darned shameful about being a politician, that you'd position yourself as being committed to fundamental "change," above all else? Politicians craft consensus, and get compromise for action. Obama... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 3:42 AM on June 4, 2008
"... Unfortunately for your point, Democrats in the legislature voted for that date. And by "Democrats," I don't mean one or two. I mean all but one or two. Better yet, they did so in the Spring of 2007, several months after rules regarding the timing of primaries were set by the Democratic Party."
posted by punishinglemur at 6:42 AM on June 4
Which may be just what Charlie Crist had in mind...... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 4:05 AM on June 4, 2008
MeFi post:
The plague is over, lets party.
The continued sub-cultural resistance to contact tracking is a disheartening failure of AIDS activism. When you politicize one of the best epidemiological techniques of disease control, and offer nothing of scientific equivalence to replace it, you've done everyone on the planet a disservice in helping an infectious disease to spread, regardless of what that disease is.
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 7:41 AM on June 2, 2008
MeFi post:
Carrie Bradshaw knows good sex*
For every hen pecked Y chromosome bearer who needs one, here's your "Get out of watching 'Sex and the City' free card." And Carrie Bradshaw doesn't know jack sh*t, including how to avoid getting splattered by a bus. I always thought that was a bit of tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation for the benefit of the show's detractors, spliced in up front in the header roll. I loved rooting for Big to screw her over, again and again. Such a complete cop out to have him show up in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 12:35 AM on June 1, 2008
MeFi post:
"Crude is passé"
I knew this FPP was ControversyFilter when I saw it was datelined San Fransisco. What? Like SF isn't the WHQ of ControversyFilter?
In Bentonville, AR, they're already thinking different about high energy prices."... "When our grocery suppliers bring price increases, we don't just accept them," says Pamela Kohn, Wal-Mart's general merchandise manager for perishables. To be sure, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) isn't the only retailer... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 12:21 AM on June 1, 2008
MeFi post:
Iron Lung Patient Dies
The last link in the FPP is several years out of date, and we missed, again, eradicating polio in 2005, as we have, every year, for 19 years, when the WHO first estimated in 1988, that eradication was possible "within the year." The current status of the Global Polio Eradication project is here, and as you can see, there are more cases year-to-date in 2008, than there were in 2007, with new cases this year in 12 countries. Nigeria, in particular, remains a virulent reservoir of wild... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 8:30 PM on May 28, 2008
MeFi post:
More idiocy from the British Home Office
I'm with DecemberBoy on this, for two reasons. One, I know a lot of U.S. cops, if no British ones, and they are, as a class, among the last people on earth to be "embarrassed" by their professional activities. In fact, they're pretty used to being wrong, quite publicly on occasion, and have the whole judiciary mechanism tell them that they are. So, a newspaper report charging that a main reason for a fast track on a deportation hearing is due the desire of police to avoid embarrassment... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 2:14 PM on May 26, 2008
"... Are you fucking kidding?"
posted by delmoi at 5:39 PM on May 26
Not anymore than you are.
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 2:55 PM on May 26, 2008
"... Cops are never wrong in their own eyes, and the judiciary system is usually there to protect them at all costs. ..."
posted by king walnut at 5:56 PM on May 26
Where I live, prosecutors drop charges on 1/2 the cases they get. Flat out of the gates, the DAs are telling the cops they're wrong, 50% of time. For cases that are adjudicated, including plea bargains, the county conviction rate on murder prosecutions is only about... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 3:40 PM on May 26, 2008
"... "The radicals I used to argue with, the ones who said we were six months away from being marched into death camps ... maybe they have a point after all." And other moderate Muslims will be thinking the same thing. And they will be right."
posted by aeschenkarnos at 7:17 PM on May 26
Would those be the radicals whose ideological brethren are abducting teenage boys to brainwash into becoming suicide bombers?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 4:30 PM on May 26, 2008
"paulsc, how is putting pressure on moderates going to help in combatting radicals? ..."
posted by russilwvong at 7:48 PM on May 26
I haven't the foggiest notion that it would. I believe it was aeschenkarnos who was trying to make that dubious linkage. I think reasonable people understand that Yezza is in deportation hearings on unrelated immigration charges. The schedule may have been advanced on those hearings as a result of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 5:16 PM on May 26, 2008
"paulsc, you seem to be having some reading comprehension problems with aeschenkarnos' comment, as he was suggesting the opposite: that putting pressure on moderates might very well turn them into radicals. ..."
I don't think I'm having any comprehension issues at all. I think aeschenkarnos is flat wrong in trying to establish some linkage between moderates and radicals, or to suggest that moderates will be so easily radicalized. I don't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 6:06 PM on May 26, 2008
"... And finally, nowhere was it suggested that intelligence-sharing is occurring ..."
posted by mek at 9:22 PM on May 26
Really? I think its not an unfair reading to see the following as exactly that suggestion. Otherwise, how could any mere former Ph.D. student, hanging around his school in some kind of staff position, be of "immense" value?
"... He is a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 6:42 PM on May 26, 2008
"... The thing that needs to be done is, moderatize radicals. ..."
So you think Mohamed Atta could have been talked out of 9/11? You think that the people that planted bombs on the London Tube in 2005, killing 52 people and wounding 700, were reacting rationally to continued slights against their religion? You really think the people who drove a Jeep into the Glasgow airport in 2007 were just trying to further some public dialog?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 3:21 AM on May 27, 2008
"Are you saying that the risk of being deported (or having your deportation fast-tracked) for doing legitimate academic research won't feel like pressure? ..."
posted by delmoi at 3:03 AM on May 27
I'm saying that downloading supposed al-Qaeda material from a U.S. honeypot, and passing it along to another person, supposedly for free printing, is a set of actions so dubious as to be unreasonable to be seen as "academic... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 3:46 AM on May 27, 2008
"Really?? I think you need to recalibrate that detector because it is not functioning according to specifications. ..."
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 6:28 AM on May 27
I read your link, and grepped the page, and the word "embarrassment" does not appear at all. Whatever motivations anybody in Australia had for deporting Dr. Haneef, nobody in your link is citing "embarrassment" as one of them.
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 3:53 AM on May 27, 2008
"I haven't seen any mention of "honeypot" ..."
posted by vivelame at 7:07 AM on May 27
Honeypot is my term for the U.S. Department of Justice Web server from which this material was apparently downloaded. I think it is apt, because I feel sure that the U.S. government is logging connections to their Web servers, and would cooperate with British authorities in verifying connections made for the purpose of retrieving... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 4:16 AM on May 27, 2008
"... There's more information on the Wikipedia page about Haneef."
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 7:19 AM on May 27
The word "embarrassment" doesn't appear in your Wikipedia link, either, ATBH. Nobody in Australia appears to be embarrassed about the Haneef affair, although many public officials appear to acknowledge mistakes were made in his arrest and deportation, and actions have been taken to restore his visa.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 4:34 AM on May 27, 2008
"... And in any event, you've now gone way beyond the facts presented in the story and are flat out making shit up in order to make the people involved look worse then they are. ..."
posted by delmoi at 7:34 AM on May 27
You know, delmoi, in a thread that starts out with a report suggesting that police are acting on motives of "embarrassment," I think exploring other motives that could be suggested by the same facts is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 4:51 AM on May 27, 2008
"... He is a radical who has become moderate, therefore such a transformation is possible. ..."
posted by leibniz at 7:44 AM on May 27
Whether Butt is now truly a moderate, or not, is hardly, yet, evident, and police who have investigated him, and who may be involved in his subsequent prosecution, seem unconvinced. He might be more credible to many if he withdrew from further public activity on the issues, stopped trying to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 5:05 AM on May 27, 2008
"... . The point is that it is a independent issue that has been exploited for political reasons."
posted by leibniz at 7:44 AM on May 27
You're entitled to your opinion on this leibniz, but I don't know that anyone can yet know, for sure, from publicly available information, that this conjecture is true. If Yezza has not maintained his qualifying status for his visa, deportation on those independent grounds is not exploitation... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 5:19 AM on May 27, 2008
"... And that's where it helps to make sure no community "hates" you - for your freedoms if you want to look at it that way, or more likely for bombing the shit out of them because your leaders lied to you."
posted by DreamerFi at 8:17 AM on May 27
I agree with you, DreamerFi, and whoever is bombing Nottingham University, or is perhaps inciting others to do so, ought to stop immediately. Let us stand together in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 5:28 AM on May 27, 2008
MeFi post:
Remembering Ricky
Despite repeated attempts at viewing this, the site feed dies in Firefox with the young woman finishing packing her box to send to her husband. No problem in IE (.asp site). I'm sorry for the young woman's loss, but these kind of pieces increasingly leave me cold, partly because in trying to humanize one American casualty, they're so easily pulled into clumsy political discussions about the larger conflicts in which the service person died.
The intention of the families... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 2:43 AM on May 25, 2008
MeFi post:
The Future Without IPv6
IPv6 in Japan has been the coming thing since, oh, about 1997, if memory serves me. It's still coming, despite government money being thrown at it there, and a fair amount of private money, in the form of mobile telephone network development.
If they figure out how to use IPv6 to make something, the rest of the world will follow. If they don't, eventually, China or India will. But I doubt it will be due to exhaustion of IPv4 address space considerations. More likely, it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 12:48 AM on May 24, 2008
"... just to keep the routing situation simpler (like if none of your IPs were contiguous)."
posted by blasdelf at 4:00 AM on May 24
That was what CIDR was supposed to do, but frankly, supernetting never really caught on, as widely as many expected. Still, I think all the backbone routers and ISP class equipment in the commercial Internet are CIDR ready, should that need come to pass.
What's really... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 1:09 AM on May 24, 2008
MeFi post:
15 bits of crypto should be enough for anybody
"... Have you ever actually read a software license? You aren't going to get JACK from Microsoft or anyone if thre's a bug in their OS that causes you to lose critical data. This is pure hysterical handwaving with no basis in reality whatsoever. ..."
posted by Malor at 2:20 AM on May 17
Um, are you aware that Microsoft, among other software vendors, sells under terms other than the EULA you mentioned?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 11:56 PM on May 16, 2008
"Isn't that what the commercial Linux vendors are selling to corporate clients?"
posted by ghost of a past number at 5:05 AM on May 17
Sure. And that may be the source of some bitterness to the OpenSSL volunteers. Who, perhaps, in saying "I welcome any suggestions to improve this situation." may be saying "Pay us if you expect us to read every post to our dev mailing list. Otherwise, we're best effort volunteers.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 2:27 AM on May 17, 2008
"... As far as I can tell, you're substituting imagination of what you think SHOULD happen with the actual world as it is. Microsoft has no more liability to you than the OpenSSL guys do, even though you paid Microsoft a lot more money."
posted by Malor at 11:50 AM on May 17
As far as I can tell, you're substituting what you think Microsoft EULAs and terms mean, for what Microsoft actually does, which is to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc
at 1:26 PM on May 17, 2008
