EvilMonkey

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 04:20 PM) Place is ridiculous. Survives off legacies like this, nobody wants to deal with switching venues and learning what set-up is needed in the 48 hours they have access before convention. Do you have some insight? I only have second hand complaints from several customers that have had booths there for various things.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 04:03 PM) That's what I'm thinking. I'm certain they didn't push dates because they wanted the place to be empty then. I believe there is a pretty good chance that a bigger convention wants those the dates a smaller convention has. Plus y'all are looking at September and October dates which are great for Chicago weatherwise. And I will agree with Alpha, it is much more expensive to hold a convention in Chicago than Orlando. For a national convention Chicago wins for cheaper travel for most people, middle of the country, major airport, etc. Rosh Hashanah moves in the calendar all over the place. I wonder how you would have had a conflict in September one year and October another year? Here is a clue, this year you have one building assuming it is the Graph Expo, the Process Expo has three buildings. Any bets they want to go to four or five buildings? You are assuming that Graph Expo is a small convention. It is not. Quite large, and has visitors and exhibitors from all over the world. I likened it to banks, cable companies, etc that give awesome giveaways and deals to lure new customers, and completely forget about their current customers. As for how busy McCormick Place is, I recall about 5 or 6 years ago they were complaining that they were losing gigs all over the place and were blaming the excessive set up fees and union charges even back then. I don't know how busy their schedule is now, but still seems silly to piss off someone who has been with you for 20 years.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 03:32 PM) You keep confusing "some" and "literally every single one" in this thread. When Balta pointed out that if you remove guns from the equation of a lot of gun deaths, there would be a lot fewer deaths, you jumped right to "Exaggerate much? No other reason? Got it." When I tried pointing out the difference between necessary and sufficient causes, you jumped right to "so anytime a person dies and a gun is present, they would be alive if the gun wasn't there. Got it.". You can't know who is the "good guy with a gun" and who is the "bad guy with a gun" for now and all points in the future. The "good guy with a gun" could get pissed off while waiting in line for pizza and shoot someone. They could get pissed off at the guy talking in the theater in front of them and shoot someone. They could have depressive issues and shoot themselves. They could leave the gun out where its accessible and a child ends up hurting or killing themselves or someone else. The more guns there are out there, the more the chances of these things happening increases. Absolutely nowhere in there am I saying that "nobody but the so-called professionals can handle a gun without going psycho." You are completely missing the point. thousands of people die every year for no other reason than a gun is present. That was the quote from Balta. NO OTHER REASON. I didn't make those words up, he did. If he meant something else, he should have typed something else. You are the first to jump on whatever fits your narrative, the exact word or the meaning. Well, his exact words are very damn clear there. NO OTHER REASON. In some but not all cases of deaths caused by guns, the person would still be alive if a gun had not been present. - StrangeSox OK, how many? 10%? 50? You have no clue. You can guess, but other than some suicide studies, you have no clue. As for not knowing the good guy vs the bad guy, in most cases you are right, you don't know. You also don't know who is going to have a heart attack while behind the wheel of a car. Want to ban those as well? Your method of dealing with that is denying everyone their right to bear arms and protect themselves the way THEY see fit. Absolutely nowhere in there am I saying that "nobody but the so-called professionals can handle a gun without going psycho." Yeah, but like Tex said, you are assuming that the inner demon is there in everyone, just waiting to snap by doing "something stupid, irresponsible or malicious."

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 03:22 PM) "Do something stupid, irresponsible or malicious" does not immediately lead to "stand up in a movie theater and start shooting people at random." You keep jumping right to the bad-faith extreme in this thread. Your #2 wasn't bath faith? You think nobody but the so-called professionals can handle a gun without going psycho.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 03:18 PM) that's an impressive takedown of a straw man, well done! 2) for the "good guy" with a gun to screw up and do something stupid, irresponsible or malicious. You just said it there yourself, the good guy will screw up and act like a criminal. No straw man needed, you provided the proof right there.

I am sure this will be political so just going to start it here. I am in the printing business, and I get tons of industry magazines and newsletters. I was reading one today where the editor, who is also on the board for a trade show called Graph Expo, is calling out Chicago for almost chasing them out of town. Graph Expo is a huge printing convention that for the last 20 years has been in McCormick Place. They had previously turned down bids to relocate to Las Vegas and to LA. However, they now feel that they are being taken for granted by both the City and McCormick Place. First, McCormick Place has severely limited the dates they can be there to dates that conflict with Rosh Hashanah. They did this the last 2 years and both times the Expo committee has complained but was notified too late to make other arrangements. This year once again, the city doesn't care for the potential repeat customer who has been there for 20 years. Then there are the huge booth set up fees, as well as all the otherfees and restrictions on what the exhibitors can and can't do in the exhibit hall. (Want an extension cord with a power strip for your booth? $250, per day!) They tend to have lots of very technical digital and offset equipment there, that of course, the union wants to move and not move, and get paid lots of money for. They don't have problems with the general labor part of it, but the union has, in his words, 'become very overbearing in what they insist we can't do to our our million dollar presses'. Then there is the hotels in the area that even with guaranteed bookings and blocks of rooms, still average over $225 per night. So this year, when Chicago once again refused to give them dates that don't conflict with Rosh Hashanah, as well as no concessions on the labor contract, they said fine, you got us again this year, but just so you know, we just signed a deal with Orlando for 2016. I wonder what other conventions they are pricing themselves out of?

Good lunch read.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 05:27 PM) http://nbc4i.com/2015/07/23/armed-citizens...ruiting-center/ http://www.people.com/people/mobile/articl...0902537,00.html The don't just 'go off' without someone, or something, pulling the trigger. The old movie cliche where someone drops a gun and it goes off is very wrong. Doesn't happen. People claim it 'just went off' because they are too embarrassed to say they tried to grab the gun when they dropped it and grabbed it in the wrong place. Or pulled it from the holster and put there finger on the trigger before clearing the holster. "Reed said he attempted to clear the ammunition from the gun, and accidentally fired it into the pavement" "She was looking down at it and accidentally discharged the weapon." The guns just didn't decide to go on killing sprees. Nice try.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 03:56 PM) Necessary vs. sufficient causes. Would the person still be alive if a gun had not been present? so anytime a person dies and a gun is present, they would be alive if the gun wasn't there. Got it.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 03:50 PM) I love how you think that's so outlandish. If you remove the item that makes killing hundreds of times easier, how many of those would still be deaths. We have a hint, and its other countries without as many guns. They don't die just because a gun is present. A human action is required. Guns are inanimate objects and do not just go off and hunt people down.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 03:38 PM) thousands of people die every year for no other reason than a gun is present. Exaggerate much? No other reason? Got it.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 23, 2015 -> 10:08 AM) Left-liberals generally have no love for Cuomo. eta: see his feud with De Blasio, for example, who's definitely to Cuomo's left. I believe he is to almost EVERYONE's left.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 23, 2015 -> 10:04 AM) Lots of liberal/labor/left reaction has been skeptical of this, wondering if it was done intentionally for one industry in order to create a divide within the broader movement for a livable wage. There's already national, state and city differences in minimum wage, and now you throw industry differences as well. Not exactly a good model going forward if you want a universal minimum wage increase. edit: new minimum wages should also be indexed in some way, not static, otherwise you have to have these same battles forever. Except that is was done BY the liberal/labor/left.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 23, 2015 -> 09:57 AM) McDonalds owns/operates a number of locations, but yeah, the vast majority are franchised out. It would be up to the individual owner/operator to close if the costs aren't worth it. McDonalds does have some control over how the franchise is run though, so if the owner is skimping on costs in certain areas to the point that they're not fulfilling their franchise obligations, conceivably McDonalds could take over the location and then close it down. Yeah, not sure on the specifics for McD's, but most do contain provisions where if you are not following the minimum corporate guidelines, you can be fined and in some cases forced to turn over operations. In most cases however, I was told they just opt for revoking the franchise and removing anything branded, leaving them free to operate as an independent if they so choose. When I had my printshop, the franchisor did that to one shop, came in and removed the sign, all logoed boxes and forms, training manuals, etc. They tried removing the customer list as well, but the agreement read the program is corporate but the information it generates belongs to the franchisee. Was an interesting fight.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 23, 2015 -> 09:48 AM) Aren't most of the fast food places owned by franchisees? I'm not certain McDonalds can close a franchise operation. You are correct, however most franchisees have more than one location. Some would certainly have to entertain the idea of closing the less profitable ones. Some might just close altogether. Some will thrive.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 23, 2015 -> 07:27 AM) So basically every fast food place in the state is going to close about 10% of its least profitable stores and put a whole bunch of people out of work. Automated order entry, coming to NYC soon! Next, the automatic burger makers!

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 17, 2015 -> 03:14 PM) The Super PACs that Walker allegedly coordinated with also spent $8 million to get the four justices who voted in favor of killing the investigation elected. The justices just recently voted along party lines to change the rules so that they do not have to recuse themselves if a case involving their campaign donors comes to the court. Walker's people weren't even denying that he coordinated with the groups, just arguing that he wasn't technically a candidate. While it's being called a partisan witch hunt, the lead prosecutor is a Republican who endorsed Walker in 2012. I don't know every in and out of the investigation, but something doesn't smell right with the way it is ending given all the substantive evidence and the conflicts of interest for those who had the ultimate say in the matter. I don't have much confidence for any state's ability to enforce campaign finance laws, even as lax as they are today. Chilsholm WAS partisan. And a Democrat. The guy in charge of it all has a teacher, and union operative, for a wife and was acting because she felt slighted at the union busting. He was quoted as saying "“he felt that it was his personal duty to stop Walker from treating people like this.” Late night Swat raids at non violent peoples houses for political reasons is a sure fire way to get someone hurt and/or killed. Over a political argument. read about the raids. They busted in on one lady while she was in the shower and had several guns pointed at her as she got dressed. if I was that husband, I would be meeting a few of those cops in the off hours in a dark alley somewhere. There is doing your job, and being an asshole while doing your job. Really surprised that no dogs got shot, since these paramilitary police seem to have a very itchy trigger when it comes to canines.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 17, 2015 -> 12:06 PM) 1. I'd like to say that most scientists do. I can't verify that everyone does, but "large scale ice sheet collapses within the next century" are totally reasonable. 2. Go bike home in the rain as much as I do and then tell me that again. 2a. big part of the problem? one person doing that does very, very little. The real setup should be that people have to pay for what they're actually emitting, and thus people get to choose whether it's worth it to them. 3. That's why there are international efforts to set up agreements. Unfortunately, getting the U.S. on board has been one of the biggest problems. 4. I wish you'd apply those same standards of "stop falsifying data" to people who deny climate change, because the 2000 page IPCC reports blow those away. 4a. Virtually all models do get published and made public. There's just a learning curve to figure out the code and most people can't be bothered to learn how those work. Love how you completely missed or ignored the "not you personally' part of what I wrote so you can appear to be personally offended. Oh, and as for 2a, bravo for what you do. but seeing a millionaire politician tell me I have to do X or Y when he refuses to do it himself, doesn't make it seem like such a priority. Lead by example. Oh, and the US wont' sign those because they usually hold US to a higher standard, and there is inadequate ways to catch and/or punish the offenders, other than the US. Tell China to stop using so much coal. Have fun with that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 16, 2015 -> 03:48 PM) The sad things? 1. The people pushing that "Ice age coming" article were mostly climate change deniers, because they're the ones who want you to believe that the sun is a bigger influence on climate than what's happening to the atmosphere. The people who know the climate science all sighed loudly and said "really, I have to f***ing deal with this again?" 2. "Climate Change" was a term popularized by a Republican pollster. It's actually more accurate, IMO, than Global Warming (Since some areas of the planet do actually get colder) but anyway. 3. We're already feeling the effects of climate change in a number of powerful ways that are costing people and governments a whole lot of money. If you want people to take you (not you personally) seriously: 1) stop the hyperbole. The world isn't going to be underwater next year. tell the truth. When you lie, outrageously, it makes you look bad. 2) Act like you believe what you say. Stop driving when you don't have to, stop flying when you don't have to. You don't need people flying private jets to exotic locations to scheme how you can get more money out of the US and say its because of 'climate change'. Teleconference anyone? 3) If everyone isn't going to do it (China, Russia, Indoa, etc.), just the US screwing up their economy isn't going to solve anything. Except screwing up the US economy. 4) Stop falsifying data. There may be truth to the data, but messing it up to make it seem more extreme makes you look like liars. Also stop cherry-picking data. Present it all. Make you models open for people to see how you get there instead of just saying 'trust us'. because nobody does.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 15, 2015 -> 10:15 PM) The article I read said it'd be so cold rivers would freeze immediately and no human life could survive the bitter cold. Glad it's not true. That's how all the global warming, I mean climate change, proponents talk. WHile it is possible NYC may be under water in 100 years, it doesn't have the same urgency as saying NYC UNDERWATER BEFORE THE DECADE IS OVER IF YOU DON'T ACT NOW! It did say that you would have a lot of waterways that normally dont' freeze get some ice cover, but nothing as dire as you first saw.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jul 16, 2015 -> 01:13 PM) http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/07/wisco...-conservatives/ FINALLY!!!!! Now a nice civil judgement against this ass clown will end things....And maybe a disbarment More than one person needs to fry for those. And there are supposedly links to Lois Lerner as well. Just one big clusterf*** of illegal s*** they do in the name of the Party, because in their minds, the ends justify the means.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 15, 2015 -> 02:38 PM) I'd link to it if I could find it, but there is a report that the sun will be in an inoperable stage in about 20 years and it will be winter all the time, so cold that rivers will freeze. There will be no baseball; there will be no football; life as we know it will end with such cold temps. Look, it's pretty obvious we people of this earth are ruining our own planet and that will be our ultimate demise (as well as the possibility of some nut lobbing a nuke at us and other countries). It's time to make the environment No. 1 priority with economy 1.a. Greg, first it didn't say the sun was gonna die, just be at a low point in its heat that comes to us. It didn't say it would get so cold life would end. PLus, your second paragraph there seems to imply that the sun being 'inoperable' is somehow mans fault? WTF are you smoking sometime? If the SUN is changing temps, no amount of AC or coal burning is the cause.

Next we'll have laws mandating the use of preferred pronouns, punishable by fines and/or jail.

OK, may be a stupid question, but here goes. WHy do players take BP with a pitcher throwing like 50 mph or so instead of someone throwing game speed?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 05:59 PM) The problem with white privilege is that it does not mean you or your family haven't worked hard to get where you are. Saying that it exists and asking people to acknowledge how it effects people willing to work equally hard from the same situations is part of the point of highlighting it. Which accomplishes what?