MattPie

Some heavy stuff in here, I have nothing remotely comparable to complain about.In an effort to cheer people up, here's me playing a snippit of "Iron Man" on a toy piano that makes cat noises (It's a long story as to why this exists). I'm thinking about recording the opening to Metallica's "One" tonight.

Yep, but every few minutes. Often enough that instead of having my phone next to me while I'm working late or something, I just skip it.

Same, it pops up a message or something (it's been awhile since I've watched a game on it, mostly due to the annoyance) asking if you're still there. It's possible that it's watching the accelerometer and wouldn't ask if the phone was subtly moving (as if I was holding it), but I'm not sure the NFL is that smart. I may have to dig out my Construx and build a wobbler if that were the case. :)

If I'm really free to watch, I'll have the Sabres on the TV via the PS3 and the Bills on my phone via the NFL app. With no cable, the phone is the only option for football. Unfortunately, it sucks. You have to poke it every few minutes or it thinks you're not watching. It's impossible that I'd want to put the game on, prop the phone up and just watch, right? Or listen as I do something else and watch when something important happens.

Probably covered in their new line of gigantic pads. :)

That I can agree with, I thought you were somehow tying Rex to EJ. I'd say Rex has been all sizzle, very little steak.

I mean Buckley. We're gonna get sued. There's lots of reasons to doubt Rex, but the decisions of the front office before he was part of the organ-i-zation isn't really one of them.

You're thinking of Rugger.

The flat tax seems to make sense and I was almost going to say I like it, but let's be honest: the reason the IRS is complex isn't flat vs. progressive. I haven't seen them in awhile, but there used to be a big chart in the tax paperwork that said, "if your taxable income falls into this range, this is your tax burden". Flat vs. progressive doesn't change that too much, all they'd have to do is create a table (or calculator app) that does the same, you look up how much you make and send in whatever the difference is between what you've already paid and that number. The reason the IRS is complex is the US tries to use taxes to reduce the burden for people for doing certain things. For instance, I get a tax break for having a dependent (my daughter) because the government realizes that having a kid is expensive and generally positive for the country. The US has decided that home ownership is a good thing, so I get a break on the interest that I pay on my mortgage. The list goes on; donating to charities, solar panels, energy efficient appliances, etc. I'm not saying that's an ideal thing, but that's why the system is the way it is. If you go to a flat tax or straight progressive tax (no deductions), some positive things the IRS brings goes away. I'd consider a straight progressive tax on one condition: since companies can have religious beliefs now (apparently), they can pay that same straight tax as me. No writing off depreciation, no writing off anything. They get taxed on their gross income just like me.

Some mild advice: I kept most of my text books, and never looked at them again. And that was mostly before having access to a fair bit of the world's knowledge in a computer in my pocket. I donated them a few years ago hoping someone would get some use out of them.

A two-pack of pixie sticks a day habit.

Top right corner: man these "seat" costumes we rented look great, you can't even tell we're here!

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, way better call than Yeichel, Rick! :ph34r:

Maybe this was covered, but perhaps he should describe how he's going to make up the 46% of the taxes that come from personal income.

SAMSON HART WILL BE REIN.

Confirmation bias is real, and I'm susceptible to it as anyone else. I see it most of the time when I'm shopping for something. If I start out with "I think I want *this*" but want to do research to make sure, I often end up comparing other items to the first and then finding reasons that I like the first better. Or when there is a flaw, "well, that doesn't matter that much to me". Realtors know all about this and have a "formula" on how to show the houses they think you'll like (or they want to sell) at the right time in the process so you get attached to it.

I'd be shocked if Sanders wasn't ahead of Clinton in NH, considering where he's from. I'm surprised the gap is that close unless there's a serious VT/NH rivalry that I don't know about. Eastside, you bring a lot of information to the discussion, but you come off (to me, at least) as a "True Believer". You tend to spin anything that's even mildly negative about Sanders with either "that's not true" or "but that means it doesn't matter". Sanders has flaws, everyone does. I think he'd be great for this country, I'm a fan. But you really "need" (as much as anyone needs to listen to me on an internet politics discussion) to at least try to accept other facts before you argue them.

So we're just going to refer to Eichel as "The Pick" now? I can't believe you wouldn't want to know where he is.

Can we start calling the goal light a Jack-o-lantern yet?

Duff does a long, gutteral "SCOOOORRRREEEEESSSSSS!"

That's cliché, paint on the hood of that VW.

Well, that sucks. I wish her a speedy recovery with no lasting effects.

On the radio call, I think he was mentioned as part of a great PK in the 1st (the NBC guys were probably talking about player sock rituals), but I don't recall anything later. I wasn't paying that much attention though.

Maybe one of our Swedish friends will pipe up, but this is what (I think) we're talking about: http://www.food.com/recipe/oven-baked-swedish-bacon-pancake-flaskpannkaka-504569 I've been meaning to try it since I read the books last year. Looks relatively easy to make...

Knee. :) Essentially, net neutrality centers around ISPs charging companies for not so much access, but at least being in the "fast lane". Essentially, give us money and we'll prioritize your traffic. So if you're Headline News Network, you can pay big money. If you're the new Neo News Network, you're in the "slow lane" and your pages are slower than HNN's. How long before people get tired of "NNN's slow website" and move on? I'm in the IT biz, so I somewhat understand where the network people are coming from. There are legitimate reasons to shape traffic and prioritize certain protocols over others. They get upset because they see companies like Netflix and NHL Gamecenter :) taking up huge amounts of their bandwidth without them getting a cut of the action. But, I think priotization has to stop at the protocol level. I think you can prioritize voice traffic over http or ftp, but I don't think you should be able to prioritize Comcast Streaming Service over Netflix. Not too long ago, Netflix was terrible on certain ISPs. This article is interesting: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/netflix-performance-on-verizon-and-comcast-has-been-dropping-for-months/ Essentially, I want my internet connection to give equal access (from a network perspective) to any website or service I choose to view. In this case, capitalism falls down because it's easy to say, "well, if there's a demand someone will provide it" but in my area even though I'm lucky enough to have a choice in Broadband ISPs (Verizon FIOS and Comcast Cable), both are trying to overturn Net Neutrality rules so I don't actually have a choice in the matter. Most people don't have a choice of ISP so in effect, their ISP can determine what services work well for them and which don't. In an extreme case (and I'm not sure this would happen), they could block a service entirely.