Y2HH

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:15 AM) City of Chicago, not really. I'm thinking of suburban stations, with a bunch of guys sitting around playing cards or cutting the grass until a call comes in. Same in City stations. Only in city stations they BBQ. You just seem to think they run these places like an actual business, where one person can do multiple jobs. But with most city/union jobs, that's not how it works. You have perfectly able bodied individuals that don't do certain tasks...because it's not their task. It's like road workers...where 3 stand around talking, 1 works with the machine, and 1 holds a sign telling cars to watch out. Yes, the 3 standing there could be doing something else... But they won't.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:03 AM) How do you unlock spells without proceeding through the story though and leveling up? Run around killing mobs? I need to get online and find the "best" mix of talents/skills to be using. I mean "unlock" elective mode. Elective mode forces you into choosing spells in "EZ mode". Meaning, for this slot you have to have this type of spell, for this slot you have to have that type of spell... If you shut off elective mode, you can have nothing but offensive spells if that's what you want...you aren't forced into choosing a certain "class" of spell/skill.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:10 AM) Firefighters have an awful lot of downtime. If you're keeping (forcing) that 64 year old dude to sit around and do paperwork, you're taking a job away from the younger guy who'd be doing that AND going out on calls. Do you even know how public jobs work? Because it doesn't sound like it. Desk workers do NOT go out on calls...not in the police department, and not on the fire department. Never have.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:09 AM) ??? The pension funds were bailed out and taken over by the unions because the private corporations could not meet their contractual obligations to fund them for their retired workers whose labor made executives very wealthy over the decades. We're talking about GM here, not public sector pensions. I'm talking about the public pensions...GM and these pensions are NOTHING in comparison. GM's pension issues are minuscule in comparison to the state/city pensions you are now paying into, since the politicians robbed it.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:07 AM) Do you want a bunch of 65 year olds trying to pull you and your family from a burning building after doing a lifetime of exhausting physical labor? People always try to use this bulls*** line on me...and it's just that...bulls***. And easily discarded, too. Watch me do it now. Why do the 65 year olds have to be the ones doing that? Can't they be the ones...you know, doing the paper work? See how easy that was? There are PLENTY of jobs that the older workers can be performing, ASIDE from running into burning buildings.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:01 AM) UAW retirement age is not 51. No local unions that I'm aware of have retirement that low. These retirement benefits were contractually agreed to and earned by the workers. I agree...and they should be paid every dime they are owed...BUT, leaning on the private citizen to cover for them was NOT in the contract *I* and other private workers agreed too FOR them. They have oversight committees, and the union workers didn't give a f*** who they 'elected' into these roles...and watched them, year after year, steal their money. It wasn't until they wanted to retire that they suddenly cared...they all magically thought the money was going to reappear. So the entire time this was happening, none of them "banded together" and did anything about it. Instead, they just watched it on the sidelines until it was too late to do anything about it. Now enter the private citizen to bail them out...the private citizen who DID NOT AGREE to any such contracts.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:01 AM) UAW retirement age is not 51. No local unions that I'm aware of have retirement that low. These retirement benefits were contractually agreed to and earned by the workers. Police and Fire are both 51...20 years of service, right?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 09:58 AM) I'm on nightmare act 3 with a demon hunter. I get killed by any mob bigger than 4-5 guys, so I end up dying a lot. I nearly threw my mouse through the monitor I was so tired of it. I haven't been playing since. They really need to tweak the settings. Demon Hunters are the strongest class right now. Sounds like you need to unlock your spells so you can use more defensive cooldowns...rather than the way they, by default, force you into certain spell choices for your abilities bar. Edit: Disable "elective mode" in your settings so you can choose whatever spells you want, rather than being forced into "offensive" "defensive", etc.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 09:48 AM) Monk on Inferno Act 2. I think I need to make a new character. Monk/Barb is too difficult in Inferno right now unless you put in monster hours to farm gold and get the best gear from the Auction House. I'm a Wizard...and my numbers still aren't high enough, but I'm getting there... I have close to 6000 armor and 500-600 on all of my resistances (w/prismatic energy shield up), and 1400 health regen per sec. My 2 hander is a 1200 dps sword. Even with all that, I need MORE damage mitigation on Inferno act 2. I agree...I don't play enough to farm gold/gear to make enough money to gear myself for these later acts on Inferno...and I don't really want too. Despite what I have now, it's still not good enough. Edit: Friend me in game if you want -- [email protected] is my battle.net ID.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 09:45 AM) Government-funded bond payments are much more preferable than government-funded health care for retired workers. That depends. My issue with government funded healthcare for retired workers is we live by two vastly different standards... 1) The union standard, where you are of retirement age at 51 and eligible for healthcare benefits/pension funds. 2) The private standard, where you are of retirement age at 65 and eligible for healthcare benefits/social security funds. So no, I don't want to be on the hook for paying their pensions/healthcare contracts because the unions made sweet deals with the corrupted politicians, then blamed the politicians for spending their money when they were the ones overseeing it...that's on them...they should fix it with their own workers, who get to retire as early as 51...maybe they should retire at 65, too.

So is anyone playing Diablo 3, other than me? Game has a pretty serious 'insanity' leap later in the game, going from easy to somewhat challenging to off the charts impossible. I'm now on Inferno Act 2.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 07:46 AM) That's just it, I think people are catching on that they are paying for other people's retirement, especially when you see the fraud and the games being played in Illinois. You mean because of people like Daley collecting 3 pensions at once by using loopholes? The problem was the Unions oversight of these pensions didn't exist...while their employees were putting money into the pensions, the states/cities weren't matching on their end, if at all, not to mention they were being allowed to borrow pension funds and never paying them back. ALL of that was ALLOWED by the unions...otherwise it couldn't have happened. So...so it all collapsed around them, and the politicians couldn't pay back the money they borrowed, not to mention pay in the money they promised, the Unions tried to turn to the people and blame the politicians for it...problem is, they were involved, too...and everyone involved should be in put in jail. Now, what we have is the private citizen paying for these pensions we have nothing to do with. I'm absolutely on the side of the union WORKER that paid their pension without a 401k or Social Security to fall back on, all they had were these pensions...but the union chiefs, and the politicians that gutted these pensions are now leaning on private citizens to fix it.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 12:53 PM) I didn't respond by saying Obama didn't take credit for the bailout. I said he did but I'm unaware of him or his campaign claiming credit for Bush's loans to the auto industry. I notice and highlight the slight tweak you made here by changing the key word of "rescue" to "Obama didn't claim credit for Bush's loans to the auto industry". Underlined for the subtle change of how we perceive this. Ok, so Bush didn't "rescue" the auto-industry, he just lent them money. So it must have been Obama that rescued them then? Is that what your minor change is claiming here? This is again, highlights what I spoke of earlier...having your cake and eating it too. This way you can credit Bush for lending out money to rich people that didn't deserve it...and credit Obama for their eventual rescue. Obama said this in his State of the Union Address: "On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs." "We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back." --- That, right there, is Obama and his administration staking credit for the auto rescue. There was a good article written about this: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-preside...-auto-industry/

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 12:20 PM) You have a bizarre definition of "double-speak." Semantics. I call it double speak because, for example, someone will say Obama took credit for the auto bailout...and you'll respond with, no Obama didn't...his campaign did. It's all some form of bulls***...call it what you will, political double speak, having your cake and eating it too...whatever you want. Point is, it's all bulls***...and it's a game you love to play.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 11:36 AM) You're right, if you include January 2009 for Obama, unemployment has gotten "worse" under his Presidency. If you use February 2009, it's improved ever-so-slightly. Do you think there's anything that anyone could have done starting on 1/2/09 to prevent U3 from reaching 10% in late 2009? This is a perfect highlight of political double speak. If/when/else. IF we exclude this, THEN his numbers are awesome. IF we start at 2008. IF we don't do X, Y or Z. Like I said, political double speak. So...seriously, are you asking where I'm finding the political double speak? All the f*** over the place.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 10:26 AM) You used December 2007 as your starting point. Unemployment has gotten better under Obama even if you look at rates other than the typical U3. http://www.factcheck.org/2012/02/whats-the...l-jobless-rate/ s***ty job market and global financial collapse in 2007 & 2008 = "not Obama's fault" at the very least. Bush provided emergency loans to the automakers and Obama's administration ran through the managed bankruptcy process. I don't know that Obama's claimed "I did it all" as most of his campaign rhetoric in this area has been contrasting him against Romney's private-equity stance, not Bush. But if you're going to be critical of Obama for taking too much of the credit there, how about Romney taking "a great deal of credit" for the auto bailouts? Sounds like a lot of regurgitated political double speak.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 09:32 AM) Which means what, four years? No, it means whatever you want to mean for the convenience of whichever side you happen to be arguing for. That means it would be anywhere between Immediately and 40 years.

I've always found it easier to just sell it to Carmax...you may be able to get a better deal doing it on your own, but the process seems iffy to me...and the small amount of extra cash isn't worth any possible headaches, IMO. For example, they buy your car, despite having bought it "as is", and proceed to get into an accident and serious hurt themselves...they'll find out who you were and sue you it, for blaming the car even though it had nothing to do with anything...because that's what people do. No thanks. Carmax will give you a better deal than a tradein or dealership will, but not quite as good of a deal of selling it yourself, but without any possibility of something going wrong and biting you. Our litigate happy society ruined a lot of this for me...it's why I never sell things like cars "by owner" anymore. Just not worth it.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 11:09 AM) Crede helped us win a world series and earned the nickname Joe "Clutch" Crede, or "Rally" Crede... Beckham has done nothing, and lost the nickname "Bacon Slayer", because they only thing he slays is rallys. I was only kidding about Beckham...

Crede helped us win a world series and earned the nickname Joe "Clutch" Crede, or "Rally" Crede... Beckham has done nothing, and lost the nickname "Bacon Slayer", because they only thing he slays is rallys.

What the Green Lantern was...was a terrible f***ing movie.

QUOTE (MuckFinnesota @ May 30, 2012 -> 10:04 PM) Life isn't the worst thing in the world, I have many friends, a college degree, a good family and recently have begun dating a wonderful girl. What is missing is fulfillment and being paid for the work I do. The entire source of the problem is the fear of going down the wrong path which is why I haven't picked anything. But I'll quit worrying and just try to pull a 180 and be more positive. It's going to be tough but it's necessary to have joy in all parts of life. That said, maybe it's time to play to my strengths and start talking to people to figure out if the jobs I am thinking of or an advanced degree is necessary. Take it from a person that's seen crazy ups and down throughout my career. Pick something, see what happens and if it doesn't work out, shift gears and pick something else. I went from graduating as a computer programmer, to getting a job as tech support, to becoming a system administrator (something I had no experience in doing), to network security (something I also had no experience in doing), during that time. While all IT based jobs, they are completely different sectors of IT. It's not like you have to pick one thing and you can't change it in the future...but you'll never find out what works or what doesn't work unless you try something. I went from making almost nothing, to making tons of money during the .com boom, to losing that and making a modest amount (this wasn't an easy transition), to now being able to raise a family on a single income over the span of 15 years. I never would have done any of that if I hadn't said, ok...despite the fact that I graduated with a degree in computer programming...I'm going to take a job that will never utilize those skills and see what happens. For the record, I've never once been paid for computer programming, but that didn't stop me from making it.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 30, 2012 -> 03:15 PM) Yeah, but it doesn't happen. I've often made less than minimum wage when I used to be a busser, and they never comped me. Hell, for the first 6 months I worked there, they were paying me a server wage ($2.13) instead of the busser wage ($3.50), and even though I brought it up, nothing was done. Eh, yes it happens... Maybe not for bussers that aren't being paid properly, but waiters often make way more than minimum wage due to their tips. I don't know why you accepted a server wage when you weren't a server. And waiters at really nice places make far more than minimum wage.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 29, 2012 -> 10:27 PM) Reminds me of some of the stories I've heard from the guy at our shop that traded for Enron for awhile... What those guys were doing was pure evil.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 29, 2012 -> 10:06 PM) $40k a month?? Wowsas! Yea, it was a pretty crazy time...it was literally like going from the minors to the majors (albeit at the minimum salary) for a year or so...and then the team going bankrupt very VERY suddenly. Some of the stuff that occurred when it happened was eye opening, funny, and sad all at the same time. I can look back at it and laugh now, but I know quite a few people that really buried themselves so deeply in debt because of it they had to declare bankruptcy to get out of it. It only lasted from Late 98 to early 2000...and when the bubble burst...that was it. Thankfully I had actually continued to care about my career and made some good decisions for lining up future jobs. If I learned anything, I learned this. Never take for granted how good things may be at a specific time...because in an instant it can all change, and always remember that when dealing with people. As bad as it was that I spent almost all of that money, it would have been far worse if I did what a lot of people did...who suddenly felt entitled to treat people like crap because they suddenly had money.