Bliz

http://uproxx.com/webculture/2014/09/people-are-incredibly-pissed-off-at-olive-garden-over-the-100-pasta-pass/

 

 

 

Un-dirty word-believable is the only way I can describe this.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/11/04/pkg-man-eats-95-olive-garden-meals-pasta-pass.wghp.html

'Merica!

*edit*

Gawker article on that horribly depressing video.

http://gawker.com/idiot-to-be-released-from-olive-garden-pasta-pass-priso-1654443054

 

Alan Martin, a church minister and father of two, has sentenced himself to seven weeks in Never Ending Pasta Pass prison at Olive Garden. He invited the Fox affiliate in Burlington, NC to visit him as he slurps down another bowl of limp noodles swimming in room temperature pond water. It is the saddest two minutes I have ever watched.

 

Martin welcomes each successive plate of pasta, with a "Hello, friend," his face despondent as a waitresses grates a waterfall of cheese on top of his food.

 

He tells WGHP that the waitstaff at this Olive Garden treats him "like a celebrity."

 

An expert might diagnose Martin with Stockholm Syndrome. "I can't believe I get to eat like this every day!" Martin exclaims on camera, his eyes betraying the sentiment. "This is great..."

 

So...this is a real thing.  Coming to a theater near you (maybe) in about a week.

Saw someone rocking this shirt at the OutKast concert last saturday in Atl.

there are more at this site http://rapshirtsforwhitepeople.com/ though have some NSFW words.  I like this one too

I don't think everyone will like the 6+ because of the size, I've gotten used to it.  

iPhone thread

Unscrew the head of the faucet you will find a small screen

It is clogged with debris. Rinse it out and put it back. Very common problem

 

Thanks for the suggestion.  I tried that last night and did notice some improvement, but still not where I think it should be.  Wondering at this point if it's just the faucet.

Even that may not do the trick...where is your kitchen in location to your water heater? If downstairs, even cold water can come slowly. (I'm learning now in a multi-level house...I could run washer, shower, and dish with no probs in my ranch, lol)

Don't think that's it.  Bathrooms on all 3 levels have no problem.  House is only 15 years old.

See if the shutoff valves are partially closed? (It's stupid, but quick.)

I wish it were so stupid and quick, but nope. Not it.

Question re water pressure in the kitchen faucet.

Everywhere else my house has noticeably good water pressure.  The showers are great, and faucets in bathrooms have a strong flow as well.  The one exception is the kitchen sink, where the water pressure is fair at best.  It has a separate sprayer, and water pressure through that is poor.  Is there anything I can do to improve it, short of replacing the kitchen faucet entirely? 

Traditionally the deference to Congress and the rules of statutory interpretation that we are not going to read something in a way that makes other parts of the statute superfluous or nonsensical would rule the day.  There is a measure of common sense in the application of the law, though some may find that hard to believe.

Anyway, it's like I always say.  Everyone loves a judicial activist, as long as it's activism for their side.  'Course there's an argument here about which panel are the activists.  Maybe the answer is both.

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/the-government-may-have-lost-in-d-c-but-it-just-won-in-the-fourth-circuit/

It’s a busy day. Just hours after the D.C. Circuit invalidated an IRS rule extending tax credits to federally established exchanges, the Fourth Circuit issued an opinion upholding the very same rule.

 

The Fourth Circuit’s decision in King v. Burwell basically adopts the theory laid out in Judge Edwards’s dissent in Halbig. In the Fourth Circuit’s view, the relevant ACA language—the language that pins the calculation of tax credits to the cost of a plan purchased on an exchange that was “established by the State under 1311”—is “ambiguous and subject to multiple interpretations.”

 

The court started its analysis by agreeing that it’s possible to read the ACA to withdraw tax credits from those purchasing health plans on federally established exchanges. “There can be no question that there is a certain sense to the plaintiffs’ position,” the court acknowledges. But the court refused to get bogged down by a “particular statutory provision in isolation.” Context matters for statutory interpretation.

 

And the context here, the court held, cuts against the challengers’ interpretation. The ACA also provides, in §1321, that, when a state fails to establish an exchange, the Secretary “shall . . . establish and operate such Exchange within the State.” In the court’s view, “it makes sense to read § 1321©’s directive that HHS establish ‘such Exchange’ to mean that the federal government acts on behalf of the state when it establishes its own Exchange.”

 

The court also looked to the broader context of the statute, where several provisions would make no sense under the challengers’ interpretation. The ACA requires federally established exchanges to report to the IRS about tax credits offered on their exchanges. But that would be a senseless requirement if tax credits weren’t available. “It is therefore possible to infer from the reporting requirements that Congress intended the tax credits to be available on both state- and federally-facilitated exchanges.”

 

Similarly, the court noted that the ACA allows “qualified individuals” to buy health insurance on exchanges, but defines a “qualified individual” to mean someone who “resides in the State that established the Exchange.” In states with federally established exchanges, accepting the plaintiffs’ argument would “leave the federal Exchanges with no eligible customers, a result Congress could not possibly have intended.”

 

At the end of the day, the court said that it could not definitively “discern whether Congress intended one way or another to make the tax credits available on HHS-facilitated exchanges.” As such, the court reasoned, under basic principles of Chevron deference, the IRS’s interpretation of the ambiguous statute was owed deference. That’s especially so, the court reasoned, since “the plaintiffs do not dispute that the premium tax credits are an essential component of the Act’s viability.”

 

my brain hurts

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/big-bang-may-not-have-spawned-universe-after-all

According to a new paper posted on Arxiv, the Big Bang may not have been what we think it is. In fact, there may have been no Big Bang at all--our universe may have come from an entirely different source.

 

...

 

This new explanation suggests that the universe might actually be the result of the collapse of a four-dimensional star--a crazy black hole the likes of which we can't even imagine. Some explanation:

 

In that model, our three-dimensional (3D) Universe is a membrane, or brane, that floats through a 'bulk universe' that has four spatial dimensions. [The] team realized that if the bulk universe contained its own four-dimensional (4D) stars, some of them could collapse, forming 4D black holes in the same way that massive stars in our Universe do: they explode as supernovae, violently ejecting their outer layers, while their inner layers collapse into a black hole.

 

The idea is that black holes as we know them--3-D black holes, in our known universe--have as a boundary a 2-D membrane, which is called an "event horizon." But in the event of a 4-D black hole, the event horizon would be a 3-D event horizon--and according to models run by the team, a collapse of a 4-D star would spew material into the 3-D event horizon, slowly expanding over time. That event horizon could be, well, our universe.

 

Awesome poster.  And a long-awaited return

https://vine.co/v/Md0iHEZmQhq

I love how bold he is.  Didn't try the fake cough or anything.  Really emphasized it.

out of likes.

 

hahahahaha!  right?!  first thing the wife said after seeing a preview:  "so basically, futuristic ground hog day, with aliens?"

 

 

and Source Code already did the Groundhog Day with our military hero getting closer and closer to finishing the mission thing.

But, I have to say, the tagline "Live.  Die.  Repeat." is pretty awesome

Actually, I'm pretty sure "Mineral" is the code name being used for the sequel to Divergent (called Insurgent in the books).

 

You should go and be a star, Bliz.

My wife's 12 yo cousin will FLIP THE EFF OUT.  She's way into those books and the 1st movie.

whereabouts do you live, Bliz?

 

I live in Marietta, GA.  Work in downtown Atlanta. 

There has been a lot of work going on right outside my window the last few days, building some small structures, and loading about a mile of cable.  Co-workers and I had been were wondering if they are getting ready to do some filing.  Now they just started putting some lights up there.  Here's a pic I just took from my chair (using maybe half the iPhone's zoom capability)

 

...and on cue a memo from my building about them filming the movie "Mineral" here.  There's a casting call out too:

http://www.claimfame.com/casting-call/new-lionsgate-film-mineral-casting-now/

"SEEKING MEN AND WOMEN- with the following background(s): Police Force, Security, Trained Military (ALL BRANCHES, including foreign military), ROTC, Trained Fighters, Trained Martial Artists, Extreme Cross Fit Types, Current & Former Athletes, Gym Rats, and anyone whose body could be considered a weapon. EVERYONE APPLYING MUST BE EXTREMELY PHYSICALLY FIT. "

 

And it references Hunger Games, Twilight and Divergent.  So, pretty clear what kind of movie this is going to be.

I can kick almost as high as my waist.  So...pretty sure that means my body could be considered a weapon.

There has been a lot of work going on right outside my window the last few days, building some small structures, and loading about a mile of cable.  Co-workers and I had been were wondering if they are getting ready to do some filing.  Now they just started putting some lights up there.  Here's a pic I just took from my chair (using maybe half the iPhone's zoom capability)

Whatever it is that they're filming, I will have a great view of it. 

cool

Or maybe a great Spidey movie finally instead off all the meh and disappointment movies.

Spiderman 2 was good

no other spidey movies need be spoken of

 

 

On to Nolan. I had a lot typed but realised our posts would likely derail this thread, so I'm cutting back a lot lol. I do think it would be a fun and intense discussion though Basically, his films are outstanding about 80% of the way but then lose steam. The endings never seem to match the effort, intensity or mood (The Prestige, TDKR, TDK). It's like the movie tells me to have my brain on for 90 minutes but then fully expects me to shut it off for the home stretch.

 

The Nolan thread could definitely have some legs.

What about Memento? 

Inception?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGJp5qlradc

I love almost any science fiction film thrown my way, from hard sci-fi to camp, but Interstellar just isn't doing anything for me yet. The heavy-handed drama and plot makes it feel like a sequel to Sunshine or similar to the objective of the generational ship in Pandorum.

 

So...are they going to attempt to return to Earth after finding food in space? The trailer really emphasises returning home. That undercuts the exploration/human destiny aspect a bit, doesn't it? I really hope it's more complicated than that because the story feels old and used up.

Nolan has earned the benefit of the doubt.  When was the last time he wrote/directed a movie with a story that was old and used up?  Never.  That's when.

(and before anyone says Man of Steel, I believe he was only a producer.  Some input on the overarching story, maybe, but he didn't write it)

How on earth (pun intended) did I beat youngchew to the punch on the new expanded Interstellar trailer?

Man it looks good.  It looks really, really good.

I just got into Dexter - through season 2 and its pretty addicting. Disturbing as hell sometimes but very entertaining.

I agree with f_trizzy.  Those early seasons are great, and S4 is the best one.  Then you should probably stop.  It goes downhill, gets frustrating, and the ending is not satisfying. 

apparently a real political ad...

I think that instead of giving you the answer, it gave you a different way of writing the equation?

yeah, instead of giving the answer that 1408 divided by 5 = 281.6, it said the answer is 1408/5.  Not very helpful, calculator.  Was how I took it, anyway.