So we kick off the week tonight with a game which looked like crap at the beginning of the year and now...looks slightly less like crap with the Bills and Browns going at it. Seattle meets Indy, the Niners and Texans square off on Sunday Night, the Raiders and Chargers play a LATER Sunday Night game no one outside California will watch, Pats/Bengals, Lions/Packers, and so on...so, once again, we ask you to...PICK 'EM!

We'll starting cutting the budget here...No more Dept of "Education"

http://www.cato.org/blog/should-americas-ceos-listen-ed-sec-arne-duncan?utm_content=buffer44265&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

I enjoyed both the School of War and Dojo of War experiences this summer. Doing both at the same time was idiocy on my part, and I still owe an EoG for Dojo. However, the amount of learning was good, and humbling. I am proposing another learning game.

So there's a bunch of money I'm not planning to spend for at least 2 years. Can I best keep it on a bank account as usual or are there more lucrative options that have about the same risk level as a bank account (practically none, since in this case the government returns the money if the bank goes boom)?

Figure there must be some expertise on this forum...

I stopped watching basketball altogether after the LeBron James "Decision" and strike-shortened season turned the NBA into a soap opera telenovela. Is the nonsense over yet? Are people playing basketball again? Like they mean business? Is there a new Bill Laimbeer out there fouling out and taking a bow before a booing crowd?

What would happen if during an election between two candidates for a political office a poll was held, where instead of preference for either candidate, people could "mix" the candidates, assigning percentages to each..? That should yield interesting and data on your electorate distribution..

I thought this was a very interesting interview. I'm sure many here hate the man, but irrespective of that, he's always interesting. So I thought I'd post this for y'all.

http://nymag.com/news/features/antonin-scalia-2013-10/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24424933
"I think it's a credit to the Assad regime, frankly. It's a good beginning and we welcome a good beginning."

If you post in this thread, you will be automatically disqualified from participating, you must PM me your interest. More info within.

I was looking for a fair paced standard diplomacy game to enter, but there were none, so here it is. Come one come all
gameID=127129

i think you can get along fine until you pass a certain threshold of douchebaggery, then you get a reputation, and a flood of stories get brought up in everyday gossip and your cause is lost.

so does anybody have strategies for maximizing douchebaggery without losing reputation? i think the only hope is to conform. if you are a nonconformist, then any small thing will seem big because people will constantly hear of it because you are often talked about.

for those responsible

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/21/world/africa/kenya-mall-gunbattle/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

http://www.dw.de/search-postponed-for-migrant-shipwreck-victims-in-lampedusa/a-17135414

I'm 46. What am I thinking?

My wife, who's learning agent based modeling --> which makes my brain hurts<--, found these videos that just made my day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rjbtsX7twc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtItBX1l1VY

http://washingtonexaminer.com/wheres-sense-of-crisis-in-a-17-percent-government-shutdown/article/2536862

That's right, 83% of Federal Spending is still flowing. Time to take the 17% that is "non-essential" and give it to the states where it belongs, or let private industry perform the same functions.

What happened to it? Did I mistakenly mute it or something?

For those of us who may not get as much from the Bible, but still like reading something every day.

This day makes me wonder: what's better for the animals? Buy biological meat instead of standard meat or donate the money you would otherwise pay extra to an organisation supporting animals? Discuss.

The threads that I've posted on no longer have stars next to them. Did I miss a discussion about this? Did I even comment on said discussion and just can't find it because the star is gone?

Who fired the shots at the capital?

http://nesn.com/2013/10/smus-garrett-gilbert-completes-unbelievable-two-point-conversion-to-force-overtime-video/

Politicians keep paid to do a job. If they stop doing that job why not stop paying them ........ there won't so many tea parties then if they have no money.

… or get paid?

Give 1 pop culture thing you liked 10 years ago you now like less/dislike, and then 1 pop culture thing you disliked/liked less 10 years ago that you now like.
Give 1 religious/political thought/stance you agreed with 10 years ago that you now disagree with, and 1 religious/political thought/stance you disagreed with that you now agree with.
And to cap it off--1 book that's risen in your estimation over the last 10 years, and 1 that's fallen.

I don't know all that much about American history (self evident some might say), but I found this piece in the New York Review of Books challanged some of my preconceptions. The piece is a review of a recently published book on the New Deal. I found this section on isolationism as a function of US sectionalism particularly thought provoking -

We have far more important things to worry about--I'll just leave the government shutdown talk for you all...you can probably guess who I back anyway--but for now, let's take a minute and unite in rooting the Pittsburgh Pirates on tonight! After *21 YEARS* of futility, they've FINALLY made it back to the postseason for this Wild Card Playoff against the Reds! The Mets were out of this before the season began...so let's all root for the Buccos (and their long-suffering fans!)

THIS IS AWESOME.

http://news.yahoo.com/silk-road-website-dealt-drugs-guns-assassins-bitcoins-190640637--abc-news-topstories.html

Legendary.