Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 1, 2012 -> 08:35 AM) I read a pretty in-depth review and test of some HDMI cables a few months ago but I can't find the link now. If you have a long run, say 50+ feet, it can make a difference. It's a digital signal, but you can still get bit errors if you have poor connectors or long lengths. But for most cases, where you've got a 1-2m cable going from your cable box to your TV all on the same stand, the $1 cable on Amazon will work just fine. As bad as the video cables are, nothing will ever come close to the lunacy of "audiophile" cables. I saved an old woman 100 bucks one time at Best Buy explaining this. She wanted to buy the bulls*** $100 Monster cable because it was gold plated and blah blah. I said, go ask your grandson/daughter to go to monoprice.com, get the cheapest coax digital cable you can find, and save yourself $90 bucks. The Best Buy employee admitted (to her even) that it was all bulls***. Another cheap solution for audiophiles: never buy speaker wire. Go buy outdoor rated electric wire in the gauge you want. Same exact product, probably 1/8th the cost.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 11:46 AM) Probably related to the deeper causes of the poverty-violence cycle: Chicago Is Still America's Most Segregated City You can get out of those neighborhoods if you want to. Difficult, sure. But possible. The problem, obviously, is the parents. Young people having kids out of wedlock = cycle of poverty and violence. Goes for any race in any crappy neighborhood.

Pretty f'n sad right here: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/09/27/kil...alter-jacobson/

I'm not specifically pointing at Obama here. It's the nanny state federal government we have that I'm complaining about. And let's not pretend this is some cheap program either: http://washingtonexaminer.com/where-do-oba...03#.UGW-bJjA-b4

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:44 AM) What's the difference between a cheap cell phone or a cheap land line? Nothing, and neither should be provided for free from a "tax" or a tax collected by the government.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:43 AM) Well, part of PPACA was cracking down on Medicare fraud. They've increased funding for fraud investigation teams and a big part of that $712B "cut" comes from reducing over-payment. The fraud rate is about 2% iirc, and I'd be interested to see what the private insurance rate is for comparison. I know their overhead rates are much, much lower than private insurance companies. You'd also be reducing the workload at doctors' offices by having one program to comply with instead of dozens or hundreds. Job killer! Think of all the last tax revenue now that doctors don't have to hire as much administrative staff! Seriously though I don't think that's an issue. Doctor's offices don't accept 100 forms of insurance. It's usually a handful of private insurance companies (at most) and medicare. It's not really that difficult and it's already pretty streamlined.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) This is likely why they add "GOVERNMENT" to the sign. Most people would see a big sign with "free cellphone" and assume there's some sort of long-term contract or something else you have to sign up for. By implying that it's a government program (which it is, but not tax-funded), it adds legitimacy. It is amazing that we live in a country that can provide the least privileged among us with access to basic, modern communications tools. God, not this argument again. Cell phones = luxury item, not necessary item.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:37 AM) Compared to the dreamy world of private insurance companies where millions are left without coverage? A big part of the PITA with Medicare and Medicaid is eligibility. If that were changed to "every citizen," things become a lot clearer. But you realize Medicare is just as f***ed up as private insurance companies with regard to payment and treatment right? You get both sides with medicare - refusal to pay and/or pay for everything without even thinking about it (i've seen both happen). And the amount of fraud that already exists and extend that to the entire country? That eats up most of your cost savings right there I would bet.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:25 AM) Assuming that the global economy itself doesn't collapse, I'm willing to wager that we'll have a single-payer system in this country within our lifetimes. Have you ever had to deal with Medicare? I just don't understand how people think that's a good idea. Medicare times 100 is a nightmare waiting to happen.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:24 AM) temper your rage, bro Why would it say government cell phone if the government isn't involved?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:22 AM) Those days still exist, you just have to know where to look. Well sure, but without the legal ramifications of getting caught. Near the end of my freshman year we had a frat house that was visited by the FBI (in f***ing bloomington, IL) because they were basically one of the world leaders in distributing bootleg movies. Needless to say the T1 lines became heavily restricted after that.

I'm 30, went to college from 2000-2004. I'll never forget my freshman year, my school (Illinois Wesleyan) had a bunch of T1 lines newly installed. Everyone and their mother was downloading everything possible on their computers. The good old days of Napster and Limewire. How I miss thee.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 06:31 AM) Anyone know where I can get my OBAMA phone? That program is 100% real. They have it here in Chicago. A buddy of mine is a cop and texted me a picture of the tent they set up on the West side. You don't even have to bring ID, you just have to bring proof that you're a welfare/SS/whatever recipient. The sign on the tent was "FREE GOVERNMENT CELL PHONES." And it was crowded. f***ing pathetic.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 06:23 AM) Insurance companies are a separate problem from the actual bottom line medical costs, but they are still an enormous problem and, in my view, serve no real social purpose. But I'd be fine with nationalizing the entire system. This is idiotic. My first kid "cost" $36,000. My family insurance is less than $300 bucks a month. With insurance, I was able to have a kid without having $36k in the bank to pay for his delivery. If you never, ever have an issue in life, yes, insurance is a waste. But nearly everyone will have a surgery in their life, everyone will have routine medical care later in life. The amount you pay in premiums is dwarfed by the actual medical cost. And that'll only get worse thanks to the government bestowing the responsibility of payment onto the rest of society for those that can't afford it.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 01:54 PM) Didn't expect anything different. Not bad to come to the wire with a coach that has an 0-0 record here so far. It could mean some good things down the road. But man, would have been huge. Have fun playing at a school where no one gives a crap about basketball I guess. The hometown thing appears to be just too much here. I wonder if he'll regret his decision after watching his announcement show. A Notre Dame football recruit was the lead story.

Jackson to ND. Dave Telep posts a video 4 hours before the announcement to scoop his own scoop. What an asshole.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 05:20 PM) On IllinoisLoyalty, they have a few posters with inside sources and most believe he is picking Illinois but it isn't clear cut like they were with Nunn. If Weber was still the head coach I'd just assume the kid was going to ND but now I'm optimistic and going to be disappointed if the kid doesn't put on the Illini hat. Yep, agree with all of this. Klee's article this morning said that DJ has kept the decision to himself and that neither set of coaches knows which way he is leaning. Both sides were recruiting even last night. I think his NBA exposure would be greater at Illinois. He'll get minutes right away and Illinois is a bigger/better program than ND. But who knows, maybe he wants to play the role of local hero.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 09:23 AM) Didn't he recently give a speech at the UN and some big international conference Clinton was putting on? Also why is this in the OBAMACARE (thanks y2hh!) thread? Ha, I didn't read the thread. I saw Obama and thought it was the re-election thread. My bad!

So, no discussion about Obama's decision to ignore world leaders in town for an appearance on The View?

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 08:57 AM) I was there this summer, that city is a complete s***hole. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency, which was nice, but were surrounded by slum. During the conference, we had some city official talk about the city and he started rattling off a bunch of number rankings and we barely kept the laughter inside of us. Denver has a nice downtown area, but everything else is pretty meh. The dog food factory in the middle of town on the interstate is awful. But it's all about the location. Being so close to the various parks in the Rockies would be awesome. I'm jealous of my friends that live there. San Fran is a fun city, but I'm a little surprised that they weren't docked for their homeless problem. They're everywhere. And yeah, you can't really deny that Chicago has a huge gang/violence problem. It's a third world in some parts of the city. The violence gets reported but it's all white noise at this point. "14 kids died in shootings last night? That sucks.... hey there's this new bar I want to go check out..."

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 09:15 PM) 2 episodes of Revolution and I'm tapping out. Vegas has been pretty dull thus far. I'm close to tapping out, but I think i'll give it another episode or two. It's not terrible, but i'm just not engaged either. I do appreciate the effort to tell a story like Lost, using flashbacks and last-minute-of-the-episode reveals. But as others have said, Charlie is pretty terrible as a lead. Caught up on Boardwalk last night. I love the new character Rosetti. "I've got a gun, you've got a gun, he's got a gun...we've all got guns!" I thought the series would suffer without Jimmy, but so far so good.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 01:24 PM) I started this here because I can see it turning political but this is scary. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stophospital...1.html?page=all We have a neighbor that just settled a lawsuit because her husband had brain surgery but they messed him up good because they were looking at another patient's information while they were doing the surgery. They literally cut into his brain in the wrong spot. I hope they paid out the ass for that mistake. I've found the vast majority of med mal cases are due to administrative screw ups and laziness, not necessarily the skill of the doctor.

I hate the 49ers, but I just bought my tickets for the 49ers/Bears game in November. Pretty excited. I've never been to an NFL game in a non NFC North stadium (chicago, detroit, minn)

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 05:18 PM) Some bad drops but otherwise I didn't think it was all that brutal. Bears kicked the Rams ass. Should have had some more points but line was improved (not good, but improved). They did really struggle to open up some holes in the 2nd half, but I'll be happy when Forte is back against the Boys. It really sickens me to watch the Pats play and protect Brady. Some of his throws last night you could have driven a truck through his passing lane. Cutler gets none of that. But really, f*** Jay Cutler. I'm so tired of him b****ing and whining even when he f***s up just as much as his O-line. Yes, they suck. But you're not a golden god either so just f***ing play.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 21, 2012 -> 04:09 PM) Yeah, I am, it just makes no sense at all. Because schools aren't children, these bans aren't put in place as "punishment" for anyone, and they are put in place to protect against actual medical situations versus because other schools have them. It doesn't even come close to being coherent. They'll stop teaching anatomy based on your misunderstanding of sociological discussions of gender and sex? I am skeptical. It does in the context I was making the analogy - you're making unreasonable decision that effects the vast majority for the sake of a small minority, whether or not the actual threat of harm is considerable or not. You're creating a blanket ban as opposed to an individualized response to deal with the problem. It's the same idea. AN OVERREACTION.