Jenksismyhero

Sorry, I misread what you wrote. I thought you were saying this all happened a decade ago (the move back).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 12:21 PM) How does that impact things? NYC is still Wall Street's home, and Wall Street has, um, weathered the storm fairly nicely...(sure, with a small bit of government help, but we don't pay attention to that) You don't think there are more qualified people looking for work today than a decade ago?

And where exactly does this policy leave us here in this great state of Illinois? Essentially "big" companies have the state by the balls - they can merely threaten to leave and they'll be thrown tax breaks left and right. They've managed the storm of the recession, and now get an even bigger break just for being a big employer. Meanwhile, if you're a "small" business in Illinois, you get doubly f***ed. Your business is probably already gone to s*** and then your taxes got increased, so you get to shoulder the brunt of the "historic budget deficit." Makes perfect sense right?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 12:02 PM) Read a great story about a bank, might have been UBS or someone like them, moving their main offices out of NYC a decade ago to somewhere in Connecticut, a few hours away, to avoid NYC City Taxes. This week, they decided to give up and move back to NYC. They couldn't recruit people to work there because people actually find benefits to living in and working in those type of cities. Anyway...if the quality of route 20 when I was driving on it last month is any guide, they'll take a drive to Indiana, come home with a concussion, and realize "F*** this" we're staying in the city. H. Christ. Remember that 9-10% unemployment thing...

Yay, a billion or more will be spent on this stupid and pointless "war" from that war-mongering, empire-expanding, foreign policy-ruining Obama http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/11d5624c-920f-11...l#axzz1OnW8AWox

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 09:24 AM) You guys really need to read "The Book of Basketball"... it was the fastest 700 pages I've ever read. I also recommend "Now I Can Die in Peace", even though it's Red Sox-centric, it's still many, many pages of BS. I've been waiting for them to launch Grantland since he and Klosterman (another great writer) started plugging it almost a year ago. Klosterman's article that went up today on why DVR'd sports are a fail is quite good as well. My only issue with Simmons, both in his book and now grantland, is the excessive use of footnotes. I get that occasionally a footnote is a useful tool to provide a quick background on a topic that doesn't really fit with the article you're writing. But frankly, if it's not worth being in the article, it's not worth reading 99% of the time, and more often than not it really messes up the flow of the material. I thought the Lebron piece was great. It's nice to see a national writer who's not annoying (see: Doyel) write what he thinks without having to worry about whether the star player will get upset [though how funny is it that Doyel basically formed the narrative that would follow after game 4). Hopefully Simmons and grantland.com will be a good source for this. It's basically a corporate and more serious version of deadspin, which i'm a huge fan of.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 01:37 PM) So if I am interpreting this correctly, you are saying these students need more attention than they are currently receiving, and that requires more funding, but you are not sure as to what kind of program you would recommend? On top of the fact that even if you were to create and adequately fund such a program, the kids we're talking about won't show up anyway.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 11:49 AM) What have they flamed out on lately though? Touch screen from the DS has been adopted from it's competitor as it's major control scheme. Everyone is ripping their glasses-less 3D technology. You have Microsoft who refuses to jump into next gen because they believe that gen is already here with their Kinect system. Now today you have Sony coming out and saying they will essentially copy the Wii U with some PS Vita modifications. This is a big debate within my circle of friends (who run a blog at www.nowloadin.com if anyone is interested in a lowkey gaming site). I distinguish commercial success with achieving something meaningful for gaming experiences. IMO w/ the exception of the initial "zomg! i can fake bowl with this controller," I'd argue the motion control has been a pretty big flame out. What has that really added to REAL games? Think of the Wii's best games and none of them use the motion control for anything meaningful. See also, sixaxis/move. Same with Kinect. It sold like hotcakes because it's fun to stand there and move your hands about and interact with little mini games. And the technology is pretty amazing to watch. But it won't translate to "real" video games. Kinect showed Knights of the Old Republic on Kinect. Who wants to stand and waive their arm around like an idiot for hours and hours? Like the Wii games, it's fun to try, but in the end you sit down and fake the motions. Despite their marketing attempts, I just don't see that stuff translating beyond party games, which for them makes good business sense because it gets the casual gamers' money. But for "actual gamers," it's all a big gimmick that doesn't add anything.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 7, 2011 -> 06:28 PM) We have giant deficits across the nation, but trying to repair those by coming up with measures that create even more bureaucracy and waste even more money to enforce existing tax code is EVIL! Agreed.

So that thing I said about the US government being pretty lax on student loans....not so much I guess: http://www.news10.net/news/article/141072/...ckton-mans-door

Pretty late to the party on this, but I watched True Grit last night (not having seen the original either). Pretty solid for 95% of it. The ending kinda left me with a "meh" feeling, but a bunch of great performances. Also really enjoyed the writing style. Kind of a Deadwood pace to it.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 11:03 AM) Yeah, I don't know how anyone could watch Nintendo's conference and think that they are not focused on the "core". 3rd party/Core games announced for Wii U Batman: Arkham City Metro: Last Night Darksider's II Tekken Ghost Recon Online Ninja Gaiden 3 New Dirt Aliens: Colonial Marines Some sort of Assasin's Creed (Which we'll hear about today) 1st party games ???? (well, we saw a Zelda HD trailer, but wasn't announced as an actual game) Pikmin 3 and Super Smash Brother's were announced but not shown The tech in there is obviously superior to anything on PS360, so I'm not sure on the complaints. I will never understand those who consider a touch screen gimmicky, especially what we've seen from the Playstation Vita and Nintendo DS, but to each his own. It's here to stay and will likely be the future of gaming controls. Even so, it seems the Wii U has all the regular part of a controller. I will dispute this. Nintendo is the king of gimmick-y add-ons that flame out, from the power glove to the virtual boy. It could very well be copied, ala the Playstation Move, but I don't think it's going to replace the stand alone controller as the go-to choice for gamers.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 08:54 AM) Blago himself finished up a week of testifying today. I dunno if anyone else is following this, but from what i'm hearing/reading, he's basically making himself out to be a slimeball politician that was just doing his job. With a jury comprised of almost all females, I don't think that's the best tactic.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 11:10 AM) they are, that's why I don't like the "kick them out if they don't want to be there." So what's your solution in Tex' scenario? Where everything is already in place to give the kid a chance at an education, even more so than the average student. But at the end of the day the student doesn't want to be there. Throwing more money into the school system isn't gonna change that. So what's your solution? And how can you honestly think that other distractions don't play a part in this?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 09:40 AM) Compared to the time it would take to actively do the stuff Shack was describing...yes. Time? Or money? And when I was in school these various programs cost like 50 bucks for the year. Even in today's prices that's less than the ongoing commitment cost of the "cheap" entertainment we're talking about. Kids don't have to go to $1000/hr private music lessons to do something more productive with their time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 09:35 AM) But wasn't the whole point of bringing that study up to argue that the poor performance of minority children was directly caused by the fact that they're spending all their time watching TV or using cell phones/computers? I brought it up to show that kids in general these days spend a LOT of time on entertainment in a day, which might be a reason why our education system isn't as good as it could be.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 09:22 AM) Sigh. This crap again? lol, yes this "crap." Seriously, what world do you live in where this stuff is cheap? If you're poor, can you really afford spending an extra 20 bucks a month for that HBO subcription? Can you really afford that 60 dollar video game? Or a smartphone? Come on...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 09:13 AM) Absolutely. Those things are cheap these days, no matter how much you want to lecture people on the fact that they're not. That's what you do with your kids when you have to work 2 jobs to afford the rent, you can't spend the time with them yourself. So, 3-400 dollar video game consoles, 60 bucks a game, 100+ a month smartphone (plus the cost of the phone) and 20-50+ in premium cable a month, extra tv's for the kids, etc? For people that are in poverty? That's cheap? Really?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 09:04 AM) Of course, the question that data makes one ask is why...is it that minorities are inherently not as good as white people, or is it perhaps a question of already existing biases imposing lifestyle changes, for example, due to the much heavier concentrations of poverty already in those communities? At least in my view, just about every bit of data like that which you could cite about how inferior the African population is winds up coming back to the fact that the population is inherently disadvantaged through the much heavier concentration of poverty. It leads to worse nutrition, worse development, worse health care, worse education, and keeps the cycle going. Does the poverty angle work in a study which is based on entertainment usage from TV, premium cable, smartphones, etc?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 03:39 AM) Looks like I'm gonna end up getting one using some graduation money, because my current PC is on its last legs. So, since its only 4GB, is it even worth getting games like Mass Effect (since I can't play the original on PS3), Gears, or Fable 2 & 3? I would think 4gb's is plenty for that. You won't be able to install the game on the 360, but you should be able to play it.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 08:19 AM) you know, I know what you are saying probably feels great, but it isn't really constructive at all, nor proven. And while it's probably annoying seeing kids play with video games, their familiarity with technology will be a big asset to them. Our problems are structural. Anyway feel free to suggest repealing 50 years of standard of living so kids can be educated better and achieve a great standard of living. Or it's a huge, huge part of their lives these days, more so for minorities apparently: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...599ce21237e0650

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 12:38 AM) No 8???? Lebron still the GOAT!!! But he's the King remember?

Did lebron touch the ball the last 6 min?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 7, 2011 -> 04:40 PM) Hey remember how I said exactly that and compared it to people abusing Christianity/the Bible in the same manner and you said it was "such bulls***?" She did make it up. Sure, she tangentially hit on some things that actually happened, but her story was wrong. It didn't make sense, many individual parts were wrong and taken as a whole it was completely wrong. Liberals are supposed to be above ridiculing idiots who have the audacity to lecture others about "understanding history" while being a poster child for Dunning-Kruger? Also love that the equivalent of "what you did on your summer vacation" is now a "GOTCHA!" question instead of another softball. I can't imagine what would happen if someone were to actually conduct a somewhat-hostile interview with her. You expanding what one person does to what an entire party allegedly does is not the same as what I'm suggesting. That was why your comment was bulls***. If you'd all just ignore her instead of buying in to this circle-jerk liberal fantasy that she's the epitome of conservatism the country would be better off. You of all people should be supporting such a view since a strong Republican candidate forces the democrats to offer an equally strong candidate and the result would be LEGITIMATE candidates and politicians.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 7, 2011 -> 01:39 PM) To say touch screens are a "gimmick" is stupid. What? No. Go watch the video montage of the controller in action and the whole thing is a gimmick. Oh! I can set the controller down on the ground and pretend like there's a golf ball there for my swing. GIMMICK. Oh! I can put the controller up to the screen and it displays the same thing the console displays! GIMMICK. I saw two actual applications for such a device - 1) to be able to play the same game but not on a big screen (i.e., combining the ps3 with the psp...something i was hoping sony would announce) and presumably away from the console (that wasn't clarified in the part of the presentation I saw....can you take it to work and continue playing the same game? Or is it limited to a certain range/network with the console?), and 2) the limited DS component of giving you the extra screen for menus (though in the case of the DS you still couldn't USE the 2nd screen. You could look at it, but still had to push a button to move it to the "main" screen you're playing on). I mean, don't get me wrong, i'll go buy this thing and be excited like everyone else. But i've hated the whole motion control craze the last few years. It's nothing but a gimmick to get old people and little kids to play games. For real games it serves little to no purpose, despite what they say (i'm looking at you Kinect). This controller feels like the same thing - remove the focus from actual games and actual gameplay to peripheral items like controllers.