Gamer, home theater enthusiast, IT Security professional with CISSP, lover of cats, engaged to the always wonderful and compassionate (and passionate) Cassie.
About 10 posts per day
#UnseenPrequels Buckaroo Bonzai And His Adventures In The Down Town Mall
Irregardless ... much like supposably!
- Rene Wirtz
My English teacher used to whack me around the head whenever I said 'aint' in class. Then he would remind me "there aint no such word as aint!"
- Jim Connolly
If they don't stop adding these silly words soon, dictionaries are going to be ginormous.
- Bruce Lewis
"How may times do I have to tell you, Kirk? One does not 'boldly go'. 100 lines for you, boy, to be on my desk in the morning"
- Andrew Terry
So can you give an example of where you would use the word irregardless instead of regardless?
- Kenton
Wherever you can use the word "regardless" you can use the word "irregardless"
- Alex Scoble
from IM
As in "Irregardless of what you may think, "irregardless" is a perfectly acceptable word belonging to the English language.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
I'ma keep capping on it. and YOU CAN'T STOP ME. neener neener. also, PLASMA TV'S RULE. ok just kidding on that last one.
- Sarah is Novembery
My dictionary says "Irregardless is avoided by careful users of English. Use regardless to mean 'without regard or consideration for' or 'nevertheless'"
- LogEx
My current English pet-peeve: It's AROUND the world and ACROSS the country. It's never ACROSS the world. Ever. Haven't you heard? The Earth is a globe, not a flat surface.
- Jason Huebel
It's in my dictionary http://dictionary.reference.com/browse... so irregardless of your opinions of the word and its usage, it will stay as a totally cromulent word in the vernacular and all who pooh pooh it shall be punished severely by being forbidden from saying the word regardless.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Everyone across the world, get ready for a brand new beat!
- Alex Scoble
from IM
So Alex, yours says "Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers..." If we hear you say it too often we might start to think less of you.
- Kenton
wait... it's in an internet dictionary? That ain't right.
- Jim Hearts FF
Yeah, because heaven forbid that Webster's be put on the web. ;)
- Alex Scoble
Jim, it's the Internet, not the internet!!! ;)
- directeur
Your both wrong...its teh intarwebthingy!
- Alex Scoble
from IM
I use "irregardless" when I want to appear to be less intelligent than I am.
- Dave Roth
the one that gets me 'I could care less' It's COULDN'T folks. Still, I couldn't care less really.
- Ian May
@Alex, irregardless of what you're intelligence is, I'm write! EDIT:fixed some errors
- directeur
My mother-in-law has a habit of saying "de-thaw" as in: "We needed to de-thaw the car this morning" or "We need to de-thaw the freezer." In 14 years I've never corrected her.
- Mark H
Alex you seem all wired up about this. Maybe you should plug-out.
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
If irregardless is in the dictionary then I've completely lost respect for the dictionary.
- vicster
Webster's puts a lot of stupid shit in their dictionary every year. It's why I refuse to use Webster's because they're now catering to the lowest common denominator.
- tinypants - Hagitha of FF
As long as you don't confuse "specific" and "pacific", we'll get along just fine...
- Andrew Terry
from iPod
Oh, add "tack" and "tact" to that list, too
- Andrew Terry
from iPod
You probably use an OED edition from 1970, don't you...Guess you can't use Google then.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
@Ian: you are now my new best friend. The "I could care less" phenomenon has been my #1 pet peeve since grade school. It's embarrassing how widely-used it is now.
- tinypants - Hagitha of FF
That's right...I said it...if you can't google for something then you can't use Google!
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Ever noticed the subtitle on Webster's - it includes words in "common usage" - so Alex irregardless of your intelligence - your use of the word just makes you common! ;-p
- Robyn Hawk
Calling me common is about the worst insult I've gotten in a while. ;)
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Anyone know of a laptop bag or backpack that will securely hold an 18.4" laptop?
I had that problem as well... ended up having one made on Etsy.
- Her Lindsay-ness
Do you have a Sherpa or mule lined up to carry it for you? I can't imagine lugging one of those things on my back.
- Kenton
Alex, I hope this is for a standard aspect ratio screen, if it's a widescreen you're going to have some trouble.
- Michael R. Bernstein
Yep, this is for an HP laptop with a 16:9 ratio widescreen.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Unfortunately, it looks like my case only goes up to a 17" monitor, too. I love my case, though. http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc... I didn't even realize HP made laptops with >17" screens.
- Curtiss Grymala
somebody got a bitchin' Camaro of a laptop from what I can guess.....
- Morgan Haley
Those monster sized HP laptops are not meant for travel. I mean seriously, who in their right mind would want to lug a 10 lb laptop around? They are meant as desktop replacements for people with small desks. Incidentally, my daughter has same problem with her 17" widescreen HP nx9600 and I will probably end up making a custom bag for her at some point. Yes, I know I have been saying...
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- April Russo (app103)
Just exactly how big is your lap, Alex?
- Glen Campbell
Hehe, I don't own this laptop yet...this question was put forth to help out a friend.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
April - I lug my 17" HP 8730W around quite a bit. It's a heavy beast, but it's still nice to be able to lug it around. No, I don't carry it around as much as I would a Netbook, but I certainly carry it a lot more than I would a desktop computer. That's why I have a bag with wheels. Seriously, though, if you're looking for a case for your daughter's lappie, check out the bag I linked above. It's really nice, it's got room for everything, and it's got wheels.
- Curtiss Grymala
English words where the same single vowel are pronounced differently:
Alex, I think you'd be hard pressed to find an English word where the vowels are pronounced differently and they ARE stand alone.
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
This reminds me of a book by a poet friend of mine: "Eunoia" One chapter for each vowel, and all words in that chapter contain only that vowel e.g. 'e' has only words with 'e' in it. A fun read! http://www.chbooks.com/catalog...
- T. Brent, technopeasant
Awesome. Heard of it, but never read/seen it... and it sounds well-written, too. Thanks, Micah. :)
- T. Brent, technopeasant
You are most welcome. Reading it is like walking in an unfamiliar room and something seems really off; it doesn't seem like any one thing - just everything. Anyway, enjoy :)
- Micah Wittman
I feel ranty, but don't have anything really to rant about at the moment...Probably not a good combination.
i'd like to rant - the fact that cameras and video cameras should have the same video formats so it would be easier to chuck on a dvd without having to buy another software package! *grumblegrumble* ;)
- Terry O'Fee
the flying car? they have till 2015. that's when i start to rant ;)
- Terry O'Fee
Yeah, that's what we want...A bunch of idiots that can't drive a car getting behind the wheel of a car that can fly...No thanks. 50,000 9/11s a year is not a good idea.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
ROFL, Chris, I'm talking about the tragic events that happened on September 11th 2001...not about the Porsche 911.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Wow, I was going to post a 911 comment but promptly slapped myself but okay "If you think we'll ever get flying cars I have two 110-story buildings in lower manhattan to sell you.
- teh Dork Knight
The question is, will these flying cars be air-cooled?
- Cristo
See, I don't want *everyone* to get a flying car. Just me and a small elite set of my friends whom I trust.
- Joe Pierce
Ate dinner at Tokyo in Tanasbourne area of Hillsboro...I got the sushi charashi (charachi?) as always...tonight I was served, among other things, uni and salmon roe
I've had uni before and it remains as mysterious as ever (it looks like baby food, it feels like baby food, BUT BROTHER it ain't baby food!). It's usually the kind of thing you rarely order until you trust your sushi chef, because I've heard that when it's bad, it's really bad, but the uni at Tokyo is pretty good. And I've never had salmon roe before and probably won't again...it's just too fishy for me...I'm not a big fan of eating bait. :)
- Alex Scoble
from email
i don't like fishy either... i like the little tiny orange ones. they're crunchy and they don't taste fishy at all.
- Trish Haley
Yeah flying fish roe and smelt roe are tasty
- Alex Scoble
from IM
My daughter LOVES salmon roe. Odd since neither my husband, nor I order it. But she lives for her handrolls.
- Anika
Dear Ameritrade...why the heck would I want a CD even if it's insured by the FDIC if the rate is only %1.5? I could invest in just about any stock right now and get a lot more than that...No thanks.
You might as well and spend it all on hookers and blow, because at 1.5% you'll end up with virtually nothing anyhow. #SuckersBet
- Alex Scoble
That strategy has risks of addiction and poverty.
- LogEx
We will likely not see a situation like this for a long time, where putting money in to a savings account is just not a good play
- Alex Scoble
The strategy of putting your money in to a 1.5% CD will get you in the same place, just a lot slower. Basically you are paying the bank to store your money at that rate.
- Alex Scoble
Not a good idea for most people to put any significant sums into the stock market for monies they need in the near-term.
- LogEx
You might as well spend it then, because there's no reason to put it in to savings at these rates either...And I think that's the point.
- Alex Scoble
Even cash in a mattress is better than a drop in the market if you need the money in a month, or six, or whatever. Diversification and time horizon, dude.
- LogEx
What do you think is a diversified basket of 5 stocks that will generate a better return over 6 months?
- Steve
Yep, and when the market keeps going up, you look like a fool. You gotta be in the game to play the game. Seriously, a CD of 1.5% is nonsense.
- Alex Scoble
I'm still getting 4.44% APY no-fee checking at First Arkansas Bank, but they've closed signups now to non-Arkansas residents and are reducing the APY to 3.5% in a month :(. My local credit union (Alliant) offers a 2% APY Savings account, and I've seen a lot of 2% CDs around. I'm confused, though. The economy is getting better; why are interest rates *declining*?
- Adam Lasnik
AMZN, GOOG, AAPL, BAC, BA are 5 stocks likely to get you far more than 1.5% in 6 months :)
- Alex Scoble
The point though Alex, is that you can never predict drops in the market, and if you ned a chunk of money to buy a car or house or eucation within some short interval of time, it is very risky to put it in stocks. Speculate on the market with monies you don't need for a long time, because time is your friend when dealing with volatility within a generally upward trend.
- LogEx
The point is, though, LogEx, that 1.5% is a slap in the face rate for a CD...and seriously, if you pick good stocks, they'll hold their value just as well as a savings account and will likely make you much more in return...This market is not the usual market and the usual rules don't apply. The savings rates are pretty much designed to push people out of saving money and in to investing in the markets or spending it on durable goods.
- Alex Scoble
I have no use for a 1.5% CD either, but the market WILL have some big drops. Telling folks to put it all on 5 numbers when they have to make a down payment in exactly 3.5 months or whatever is not helpful. Any responsible investment professional will tell you that you HAVE to consider your time horizon when investing. If you need 10% of your money within a year, keep that chunk safe. If...
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- LogEx
How many stocks held their value from October of last year until, say, May of this year?
- Kevin Pedraja
Every market is unlike prior markets, and NO ONE can predict what will happen with the market as a whole, let alone individual stocks. Sure, you can choose stocks of good companies that *should* do well in the long run, but that does not in any way insulate them from shorter-term volatility.
- LogEx
I'm not telling people not to save money or to save money, I'm saying that putting money in to a 1.5% CD is completely worthless and also totally makes it unusable for the term of the CD. You should be able to get near or the same rate from any good savings institution. If you aren't, I highly suggest you switch out where your money is kept. Also, Kevin, buy and hold is a horrible...
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- Alex Scoble
You keep believing that, LE, and you'll get 1.5% a year. :)
- Alex Scoble
from IM
You are (deliberately?) misunderstanding what I am saying.
- LogEx
Because there are people out there who can predict with a signficant statistical difference stocks that will do well in the short term. You don't have to be 100% right to make money...just 60% and be disciplined.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Buy and Hold is bad IMO. I know some people who have had success in a 10 year time BUT THEY ARE STILL HOLDING. I'll argue that I have done better by staying true to my BUY/SELL formulas. Formulas keep disciple and take emotion out of the game. But always have a percent of cash/gold/whatever in that formula.
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
To answer Adam's question from above, the banks can't pay you more interest because the investment vehicles in which they can invest your short term holdings are not paying them much interest.
- Steve
That's just not true Alex. Timing is the issue. You don't make money until you both buy and sell. NO ONE can predict the volatility. If they could, we'd have seen it happen. There would be a lot more super-wealthy people who have quit their day jobs and retired. If you think you can make such big gains with no risk, go all in, get a huge loan and do it under leverage. Then we'll see....
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- LogEx
Volatility CAN be your friend. But it can also be your worst nightmare.
- LogEx
Only if you're not disciplined in how to protect yourself. Which admittedly is most people...
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
That's stupid, LE, unless you can get a super cheap loan, which is how big investment houses are making money hand over fist btw. So yes, it can be done and is being done every day by traders. Which is why they make so much money. Because you can't do it, doesn't mean that no one else can. And because someone can do it, doesn't mean they should risk everything either. You have to be disciplined to be an investor and part of that is knowing how to limit your risk when getting in to an equity.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about the advice that virtually any seasoned and responsible professional would give to virtually anyone about overall investment objectives and strategies. And I'm not really talking about long-term monies either. I'm simply saying that short time horizons do not lend themselves well to stocks without significant risks.
- LogEx
That advice is great if you never want to grow your wealth and never want to take any risks...and even those people should avoid a 1.5% CD, which is the point of the whole thread.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
The OP compared a 1.5% CD to "just about any stock right now". There are so many strategies between those extremes.
- LogEx
I would seriously fire any professional investment advisor who thought it was a good idea to get in to a long term CD at 1.5%, particularly when the market is where it is now.
- Alex Scoble
Yeah, you can buy gold and see where that gets you...yawn. Sorry that you didn't get the point of the thread.
- Alex Scoble
Agree that 1.5% CD is much more worthless than simply leaving in a Money Market account. The biggest trick in the market though is not to get greedy and to put floors on your downside. Today I sold my MOT. Do I think it's going higher? Hell yeah with the new Droid but it hit my "Sell" point and now I can diversify that money into multiple places while limiting my risk even more. Don't...
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- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
ROFL. Yah, now that inflation is 3.5% a year again then you can lose only 2% a year in that great little CD,
- Chris Greene
And the point is that you could do just about anything with that money and you'd be better off then putting it in to a CD at that rate...and money you put in to a CD is by definition not going to be needed near term, so why the heck would you stuff it there instead of in to the equities market where you'll have a hard time NOT making more than 1.5% right now, but to each their own...if you see it as a fine investment vehicle, by all means, be my guest and take part. :)
- Alex Scoble
How many times do I have to say the CD is useless? But to propose that "just about any stock right now" is the right strategy for short-term monies ignores many other strategies.
- LogEx
And again, putting money in to a CD automatically moves it out of the short term monies category, so yes, investing in stocks would be much better.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
And at this point we'll just have to agree to disagree on this, because we are now in a circular argument.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
I'm curious what you consider short-term? CDs are available in a range of maturities. BTW, I've never needed, wanted, or bought a CD. Not that that matters to this discussion.
- LogEx
Short term...less than 6 months.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
I was listening to Bloomberg last night and they were talking about some bonds that were issued starting in (paraphrasing) 1999 where they were a 30 year at a fixed at like 3.5% and had a component where they also paid out whatever the inflation rate was annually. This component could not go below zero so if we went negative like last year you just made nothing on top of the 3.5%....
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- Chris Greene
Fwd: Having trouble streaming media to my xbox360 and Helios from Windows 7. The video's appear to be getting transcoded or compressed at the host pc. Unfortunately the MCE's have the capability to play these files natively and are instead subject to this horrible transcode quality degradation. (via http://friendfeed.com/gamjee)
Curious Geoff, did you use VMC before Win7? If so, was this an issue then? I don't own an XBox but have been thinking about getting one with the super cheap holiday sales.
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
We did use media extenders, orb, and other softwares prior to Win 7. It simply either worked or it didnt then. When it worked it worked perfectly and when it didnt, it simply didn't get streamed. The few times I used my 360 pre 7 it seemed fine. Same with my PS3.
- Geoff Schultz
As a workaround for now, setup WMP 12 to share with your 360. In WMP 12, Click on the arrow of Stream and click "More Streaming Options", Find your xbox 360 and make sure it says "Allowed" next to it. Then you needa to make sure you have your movies folder in your WMP, so Goto --> Organize -> Manage Libraries -> Videos. Click "Add" and browse to the folder containing your movies. I'm interested to know if this works much better.
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)