@Robusto the real smart is how he makes them take credit for his blood money. After they took credit for the company. They pretty much deserve it.

@RegDwighт Yeah. That was genius. And so it seemed like just a casual flourish the way he dispatched Lydia.

That's too many levels of smart for my reptile brain.

I was glad he got the phone call on Todd's cell: "Is it done?" "It's done." "Is he dead" "He's dead." And then: "You feeling a little under the weather, Lydia?"

@Robusto yeah I took that as a middle finger to all the speculations that it couldn't be Lydia because it was way too obvious and besides he already almost tried it, blah blah.

Up till she was fishing in the basket for her Stevia I thought the ricin was going to be for himself.

I was firmly in the "no way" camp on that. Too long and painful.

He wants to kill himself, he can run in front of a semi. Or just, I dunno, use the gun.

Well, yeah. But Gus had taken poison once on purpose. This show has so many rhyming gestures.

True, true.

And this episode was no exception to say the least.

Tru dat.

The final shot is like a callback to two separate things. Jesse trying heroin, and Walt in the crawl space in S4E11.

All in all, I can safely say this was the Best Show Ever. Up till Sunday night I put it on the same level with The Wire, but fuck that.

Hah, I was going to ask.

@RegDwighт Yes! My wife and I were talking about that right afterwards.

Except did you notice that in the crawl space he was all boxed in, his world getting smaller and smaller. And at the end of this one he is spread-eagled, off on his free-wheeling journey Across The Universe.

Because I keep reading comments left and right that The Wire is much better. I have to say, I watched that one supposedly genious scene where they keep saying "fuck" for three minutes on end, and that sort of spoiled the show for me forever. I just can't take it seriously. That was really, really, really bad.

A lot of people don't want to say Walt achieved some redemption at the end, but I think he did. He did what he could for the people who mattered to him, and accepted all the blame and all his punishment.

@RegDwighт Now, there's nothing wrong with The Wire. It's real, real good shit. But Breaking Bad is a madman.

Yeah I'm just saying if I'm watching it, I'm not watching it anytime soon.

Walt died like a man. I can't say it any plainer than that.

Also, some of those folks also liked Lost, so...

BTW, it was only last week that I finally figured out what it is about Lost that makes me physically uncomfortable watching it.

In case you needed the reference underscored.

Walter White people who know the difference, this is the show they come to.

@RegDwighт Nobody I respect still admits to liking Lost.

@JasperLoy not currently.

By now I have probably zapped into easily thirty different episodes of Lost, from all seasons. And at all times, they all had one thing in common. The sets look like sets. The costumes look like costumes. Makeup is clearly makeup. The actors are clearly actors. And the camera work is clearly camera work.

That's network TV for you.

Mass appeal and such.

waves hand outwardly

@RegDwighт And the writing is absent.

I never stayed long enough for the writing.

Time for Hobby Blobby.

As I said, a physical impossibility.

@RegDwighт You would have waited a long time. It just wasn't there.

But people keep saying it was da bomb. Even people who do admit, and not at gunpoint, that Dexter Season 8 was crap.

I mean. Like. I dunno.

Vince Gilligan has to feel like a conquering fucking hero. The balls on that motherfucker to make such a show—and on that channel!

@RegDwighт Dexter has been crap for a while. It had possibilities, even in Season 8, but it would have had to go dark and sick. Fucking Boy Scout serial killer. Get the fuck outta here, Dexter.

From what I've read or heard on his ideas that didn't make it into the show, he's actually one sick fuck. But in a good way. Not like Tarantino. Or perhaps he is. Hard to tell.

@Robusto I dropped out right after Season 4, and I couldn't have been happier, and every single person who watched on keeps telling me how happy I am.

@RegDwighт Here's what I say to Lost and Dexter and all them:

Right around 1:20

YouTube is permabroken now.

"I offered you a chance when we could have done something and you blew it! You blew it!"

I have to watch 1:32 worth of commercials before that video, and then the video doesn't run.

Fuck. Why don't you get AdBlocker?

Try looking for Cop Land "You blew it"

I dunno, not visiting YouTube seems like a better solution.

@Robusto I was just going to ask if this was Cop Land.

It's been a while since I last watched it. Like, twelve years.

Great De Niro moment.

So anyway. Just to finish that thought. Vince actually pitched a whole bunch of Saddamesque ideas. Thank god his writers, and sometimes actually the executives, overruled him.

You really ought to get a hold of the New Yorker article on Bryan Cranston. It is very revealing.

I'm currently catching up on the Rolling Stone interviews with the various cast members.

@RegDwighт Yes. And sometimes the network even overruled some shit he wanted to do. And they were right.

Yeah no shit.

Cranston is probably the real reason the show was so good. He actually overruled the ending they were planning, you know.

I mean yeah, some of it you can try to excuse by saying he didn't know if he'd be getting more than two seasons, but yeah. No.

@Robusto I am curious about that "alternative ending" that's supposedly to go on the Blu Ray.

I don't want an "alternative" ending. I want this ending.

Last I heard, from Vince no less, it was actually pretty much the same but with a couple scenes they left out.

@Robusto word.

That's what keeps me wondering.

Let's have an alternative ending to Hamlet while we're at it.

Well. Hamlet goes to Belize to cook meth.

I'd watch it.

Now what I'm planning to do in the next few days or likely weeks is catch up on the official podcast. I have yet to listen to a single episode.

There was one quote in the article where Gilligan talks about Cranston, how he wants to do a scene, and Gilligan is arguing with him for a while and then he gets hold of himself and has the good sense to shut the fuck up. He says, "Here I am, trying to tell Walter White what he feels, and he tells me I'm full of shit and he's right. I'm trying to fuck up my own show." Or something like that.

People keep saying how good it was. And I certainly can't wait to hear what Dave Porter had to say.

@Robusto oh that I read alright.

@RegDwighт I don't need any of that other shit. I had the best of what they had to offer. I don't need any mindless prattle to kill my buzz.

Whatever works for you.

I certainly am not stopping watching Bryan or listening to Vince.

Well, I have a very personal relationship with this show. It's just been amazing.

Yeah, I will too. But not for a while.

When I was in Albuquerque last year I stopped in at the Sandia Bar, where they filmed some episodes. Remember where Hank went and beat up the bikers just to prove he still had it?

I'm not saying I will make it through the podcast start to finish. I'm just saying I heard good things about it, and that good people showed up, like Dave Porter, so yeah.

@Robusto fcourse.

In fact there was an article on Spiegel Online earlier today, on how ABQ copes with all the sudden fame and tourists and souvenir business. Except I didn't read it of course as I was careful about spoilers.

Gotta catch up.

My brother lives there and drinks at that bar, so it wasn't like we were going out of our way. But he's never watched the show.

Hah.

Swine bro.

Speaking of swine, why is it so late already. I must be up in like soon.

There it is.

Classy.

So yo bros, I'm like getting sleep.

laters.

CU around, now that I can surf the Internet again.

Just got a notice that How I Met Your Mother season 8 is on Netflix. Squee!

What the heck? Apparently it's my day to be the target of cryptic downvotes.

Aww.

Not mine!

I'm guessing they're out of spite, as I'm pretty sure the downvoted posts are entirely correct and uncontroversial.

Very annoying.

It happens sometimes.

Yeah, I see it occasionally.

These are particular vexing as they're my first posts with a net negative score.

Yikes.

I try not to look at the bottom of my list of answers.

It's stuff I've just posted that hadn't acquired any upvotes yet.

One of them picked up the downvote almost immediately.

Evening.

Howdy!

By the way, Cerberus, I'm pleased as punch with my phone.

Hi!

I don't want to hear it! Shoo!

@BraddSzonye That's nasty, it will deter up-votes.

types a text message happily

Typing, pah. Why not use Swype?

Oh, wait, you can't use Swype...

You can only use Apple's silly little keyboard! And little it is.

I could go on for hours, but I'll stop now.

It works very well for me!

You know not to taunt me with Apple stuff!

types on Macbook

Can't wait to upgrade mine to a 5S. ;)

Seeing with one eye also works well for...some person having only one eye.

@Cerberus You're surrounded!

I have the 5C. It's awesome!

@BraddSzonye Silence!!

Especially if tchrist comes back.

@Cerberus so superior… so complex

He's also anti-Apple.

Nah, he uses a Macbook. He's not fooling anyone.

@Mahnax Sure, one eye is super and more complex than two eyes!

Exactly, Mahnax.

@Mahnax Only out of necessity. He is no Fapple.

@Cerberus Ew.

Fandroids hoooo! points Android LED at clouds, just like the Thundercats

Anyway, I like the tech I have. It works very well.

@Cerberus Dork.

@Mahnax Indeed.

@Mahnax Apple.

One eye also works very well.

And you can also sort of estimate distances.

And you get used to it.

It honestly bothers me a little bit that you won't let me have my fun. I like what I've got. It works great.

Especially if that is how you were born into smartphone land.

@Mahnax Well, then why taunt me?

I've used Android. Not really a fan.

@Cerberus It's fun!

Most anti-Apple screeds I've heard go more like, “Two eyes work very well, but you're locked into not having a hypothetical THIRD EYE like me!”

You can't "not...have fun" and say "it's fun!" at the same time!

@BraddSzonye Hey, you're not allowed to steal and rape my metaphors!!

Or were they similia?

Yeah, I used a Droid too, when I worked for Google. There were a few things I liked about it, but overall it was never as fun or easy to use as my iPhone.

@Mahnax Then you haven't used a modern Android, or you had your eyepatch on.

@BraddSzonye Like how?

What's “modern”?

@Cerberus I used one of the newest ones out. I gave it an honest shot. Played with it for a few hours. Wasn't really blown away.

Android 4+?

I had a Nexus S.

@Mahnax What didn't you like?

Was the latest and greatest at the time.

That probably didn't have Android 4+...

@Cerberus It wasn't that I disliked anything. I just… wasn't a fan? It was kind of boring. Sure, worked well.

I'm not comparing an HTC One with an Iphone 3.

According to Wikipedia, the Nexus S had 2.3 Gingerbread.

@Mahnax Uhuh, very rational...

@BraddSzonye Okay, so you used an old, relatively cheap phone with Android 2.3.

Yeah, was not impressed.

Mine wasn't cheap, it was free!

@Cerberus Who cares?!

Nothing rational about being dissatisfied.

I have mixed feelings about iOS 7 so far. There are a few things about it that I quite like, a few others that I haven't gotten used to yet, and a couple of missteps.

@BraddSzonye Okay, well, I'm not comparing a cheap Android from 2010 with a new Iphone...

I don't regret upgrading, but I'm not excited about it either.

@BraddSzonye I'm really digging it.

@Cerberus Neither am I.

I like the ease of getting rid of, and switching between, open applications.

I'm comparing an Android from 2010 with the iPhone from 2010 that I used at the same time.

@Mahnax Very well, if that's how it has to be. I like my phone because of its functionality, which I consider rational.

I carried the Nexus S in my pocket along with my iPhone 3GS.

@Mahnax IOS actually took that from Android 4 and Windows Phone, you know.

@Cerberus Sure. I like my phone because it does what I want and it does it very well, and it looks good while doing it. There is nothing rational, however, about claiming superiority (and you are claiming superiority) because you like a "better" mobile phone. To each their own—this is my own.

Some of my coworkers ended up using the Droid as their full-time phones, others (like me) only used the work phone for work and kept their personal whatever-phones.

@BraddSzonye Okay, well, I am not talking about old phones from three years ago. It is possible that the Iphone 3GS was better than the Nexus S, why not?

@Mahnax Umm I have a very long and rational list of things that don't work as well or not at all in IOS.

@Cerberus Because a rational consumer considers retraining and adjustment costs when considering a switch to a different product.

@Cerberus Let's have three.

Your three favourite things to hate.

Well, Swype was one. You can't swap keyboards in IOS, right?

“Swap” how?

Sharing stuff is two. You can't share any thingy (image/link/location/file/etc.) from any application to any other application in IOS: you can only share stuff in very limited ways.

@Cerberus So for someone who cares about that, that would be an issue. Understandable.

Widgets is three: you can't get useful info immediately available on your homescreens in IOS, like a rain graph, Whatsapp messages, appointments, etc. etc.

@BraddSzonye Swap the standard IOS keyboard for Swype, so you always use Swype where you used to use the standard keyboard.

That might be an issue if I wanted a different keyboard.

@Cerberus I don't want my homescreen cluttered with that. One finger motion and I can see that stuff.

(And I believe the IOS keyboard still doesn't have any kind of word-swiping at all. The standard Android keyboard does, but it's still not as good as Swype's.)

@Mahnax How? What motion?

@Cerberus Place your finger at the top of the screen and swipe down. It opens up a little notification center with stocks, weather, etc.

@BraddSzonye Most people agree that swiping words on a good keyboard, mainly on Swype, is usually faster than typing, after having tried it for a while and gotten used to it.

@Mahnax But only Apple's weather. Not any widget you want, so not the excellent two-hour rain graph.

I remember that one of the few things I preferred about Droid was the predictive typing method, but then the iPhone got a lot better, and I got more accustomed to it.

Besides, you have to swipe down first. That is an extra action.

@BraddSzonye It is much better than predictive typing.

@Cerberus Like I said, I don't want my homescreen cluttered with that. I'd rather have more space for all my apps.

An extra action isn't necessarily a disadvantage.

It's just Yahoo weather. Nothing wrong with that.

And this is actually getting into the third-eye metaphor that I mentioned.

A lot of objections to Apple come down to, “But what if you don't want what they give you?” and a lot of us are like, “But what if we do?”

I'm not paying for freedom in a gadget, I'm paying for cool stuff that I want.

And I'm definitely not paying for hypothetical cool stuff that may not even exist.

Yeah. On the other hand, Cerberus wants the best stuff. Customizability, and so on. We're all looking for different things, and it comes down to what you want. So this is pointless.

Heck, there are advantages to not having choices.

Especially when you're prone to decision paralysis.

I honestly don't care much for restaurants with huge menus, for example. I can never find what I want to eat in there.

Anyway, it's been fun, old doggy. Bye folks!

Later!

Bye!

@Mahnax But you have an app drawer, and as many home screens as you want. A widget can be extremely useful. A combination of widgets and application shortcuts is the most efficient. And you can make the graph as small as you want, even the space of only one application button. And you launch the application if you press it.

@BraddSzonye Why not?

Information management. Basically what Mahnax was saying. Sometimes you want information within easy reach, but not necessarily in your face.

Same sort of thing as the menu problem, really.

Information hiding is often as important as display.

@Mahnax But Yahoo weather is not as good as other weather widgets. The rain graph I mentioned is better. Wouldn't it be a huge coincidence if every single stock application in IOS were better than all other applications with a similar function? It's not: usually there is a better one, sometimes a much better one, as in this case.

Depends on what you value for “better.”

@BraddSzonye Sometimes, yes; at other times, no. And in IOS, you can never have that at all.

I don't care much about weather on my phone, so the app that I don't have to track down and configure is better than the one I do, no matter who cool the former is.

@BraddSzonye Accuracy, precision, and presentation.

You're assuming that I value that.

@BraddSzonye You can always use the default application, of course.

@BraddSzonye If you don't value "better x", then all phones are equal?

It's not an all-or-nothing thing.

I personally could care less about the weather app.

I don't actually use the notifications page myself, because there isn't anything I care about in it.

But I'm sure there are y and z that you do care about.

Yep.

And choice allows you to get the best y if you want to, but you can always use the default y if you can't be bothered.

Freedom to do stuff that I don't care about is just noise.

You don't notice this choice if you don't use it.

And most of the stuff I care about is related to compatibility, interoperability, and muscle memory.

If you have only one keyboard installed, then that's what Android will use, and you won't have to make a choice.

That'd be fine if Android was the choice I made years ago, but it wasn't.

If I started out on Droid, I'd probably be accustomed to that and happy with it.

@BraddSzonye Sure, I use Windowx XP for that reason. But I don't claim it's better than Ubuntu or even Windows 8.

@BraddSzonye All right, that sounds reasonable.

There's no overall “better” or “best,” just suitability for a purpose.

Of course all smartphones will do the most important stuff, so it's not like a huge problem if you don't have the best one.

And a lot of brand loyalty is because you really need to do a LOT better to overcome the advantages of familiarity.

@BraddSzonye And that is what I cannot believe.

@BraddSzonye That is true.

Like, this year I started using a Macbook Pro for work.

I have used Macs on & off over the years, but I never liked them enough to switch away from using Windows for my personal computer.

> compatibility, interoperability, and muscle memory

But now they're finally enough to my liking, enough more so than my Windows box, that I might consider getting a Macbook for my next home computer, instead of a new Windows box.

That's why I wouldn't switch to Mac (smaller platform, I'm not used to it), and the price.

I've switched platforms in the past. For a long time, I used Linux at home instead of Windows.

And maybe you'll switch to Android some day!

I would love to use Linux. But I need my programs.

It could happen, although it would really have to get a lot better than the iPhone to lure me away, and I'd also have to have an opportunity to experiment with one for cheap long enough for it to sink in.

Yeah, I never entirely got rid of Windows because I needed it to play my favorite video games.

@BraddSzonye Oh, I totally understand that.

I used Windows Mobile up until a year ago.

And eventually the pain in the ass of managing a Linux system became not worth the effort, for what I used it for

It did what I needed it to do, and I was used to it, and I didn't want to spend hundreds of euros on a new phone.

Because it really wasn't better than Windows for the few things I did every day.

The only reason I have for switching to Linux is that it's open source. Are there other reasons I should consider?

Perhaps it's more secure?

I personally don't see open source/free as an advantage for something you use as an everyday tool.

Why not?

Support the cause?

Because I can't afford to fix (or pay somebody to fix) something open source any more than I can afford to get Microsoft, Apple, etc. to fix it for me.

I've done it a handful of times, and it just wasn't worth it.

It is about ideals to me.

Not being under the wings of Microsoft.

To be a bit harsh about it, I don't consider being beholden to poorly-organized and -funded libertarian nutjobs a step up from Microsoft

Why not?

I do.

Because I don't really agree with their worldview any more than I agree with Microsoft's.

No?

Disagree strongly with it, in many ways.

In what way?

No freedom? No openness?

@Cerberus Legolas’s daddy.

No independence from commercial incentives?

I don't necessarily agree with the free/open software crowd's notions of freedom.

@tchrist Daddy, or kid?

free/open software is definitely not independent from commercial incentives.

As I said.

@BraddSzonye That is one of the things it can be, and one that I value. Not all of it is that, of course.

@tchrist So it's not a hobbit?

It’s not a Hobbit.

Was Legolas' father really in the Hobbit?

No.

Legolas’s father was, though.

Yes.

Really? What is his name?

Sir.

Anyway, it's possible to object to both Microsoft and the free/open crowd in much the same way it's possible to object both to fascists and anarcho-capitalists.

The Elf-king.

Thranduil.

Not Thranduil?

Jinx.

And put an ’s on there.

I totally didn't remember.

@tchrist I am of the Old Ways.

the wrong way’s

@BraddSzonye I'm still not sure how or why you "strongly disagree" with the world view behind free and open-source software.

Via recta, via sola.

It's partly the development model, partly the sponsors.

I don't think those are central to free and open source.

Certainly not part of the "world view".

They're all mixed up together.

But not the same thing.

Doesn't matter, they're still all mixed up together, and a lot of it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

But anyway, it's bed time.

I really don't understand how you can be against "it's good if software is free and open source" on ideological grounds (as opposed to practical). But so be it.

More importantly, most of the great free/open software I've used ended up being profoundly disappointing when I actually tried using some of its non-free competitors.

The practical argument is more important for me. Used GIMP for years, for example, was kinda fun but kinda frustrating. Photoshop, on the other hand, just gets the job done.

Well, that’s a better trailer than the last few.

@tchrist Hmm it looks a bit...cutesy and pompous at the same time, especially Thranduil.

Sure.

The ideology stuff – I realize I'm dancing around that a bit, but it's partly because I don't want to speak ill of the folks behind the ideology.

@BraddSzonye Still not an idealogical reason...

Haha OK then.

But to be frank, I find a lot of them creepy and very opposed to my ideology.

Thus my remark about libertarian nutjobs.

How very mysterious, if you won't tell us how...

But I really have to go, bye, gents!

Nighty night!

poof

sleeeeeeep

I actually find it really difficult to explain to folks why I don't find free/open all that compelling. And it's hard to articulate why I find it disturbing without resorting to genitive fallacies.

sheeeeeeeeep

I really don't mean to be a serial downvoter or to attack specifically, but there's a guy whose every question - and most answers - simply deserve a downvote.

I'm watching this for fun.

Most of videos like this says "India has bright future!" "China will face some serious challenges such as old population and negative effect on 1 child policy!"

@AvnerShahar-Kashtan such people typically accumulate flags and might ultimately get suspended for low-quality contributions. If you see a low-quality post, you can flag it as such. Do try to edit it into shape first, if you can, but if that simply ain't possible without completely changing the intent of the post, flag away.

Downvoting every single post of a user, on the other hand, might ultimately bring you to mod attention. If you cast them in rapid succession, they'll also automatically get reversed anyway. And if you cast them like one downvote a week, that requires quite some determination and while they might not get reversed automatically, your name still ends up in all kinds of stats you'd rather not show up in.

@RegDwighт Exactly, which is why I don't downvote too much. Even though I think they deserve it. Plenty of other people to do my dirty work for me. :)

Yeah. Like myself. 52% of my votes are downvotes now. At times it's like I'm downvoting everyone on everyone's behalf. So yeah, do downvote sometimes. Like, at least once in a leap year would be nice. Kthx.

I'll walk the knife's edge of downvoting, but not too much. Living dangerously!

Oh yeah. Just make sure when you stumble and fall that you fall off to one side, not sit on it. That'd be like very painful and all.

Guys I have a question about indicating duration of time.

Can you use in and within in same way in almost any situations?

nvm I know it now

You just defined the words using themselves, so it's a bit hard to follow.

Regardless, your first example sounds wrong to me. "The bus will arrive in two hours" is fine. "From now" is redundant.

But generally speaking, I think you got it right. "in two hours" means that something will happen two hours from now. "within two hours" means it will happen at some point between now and two hours from now.

@KitFox thankfully no.

This is hilarious!

That inbuilt question should have never existed in the first place.

Its premise is, "I read the answer on this very site, can you repeat it back at me?"

There is that.

But he seems to have taken grave offence over his own insularity. :)

I'm not sure what Strangerbird's agenda is. I'm not sure he is sure.

This is the guy with the chip about “British”, and how it should only be called “English” if it is an Englishman speaking it.

Looks like he really despises people calling the language... anything at all.

It's not like he is pushing for it to be called X. By the looks of it he doesn't want it to be called, period.

His agenda is that he is a retired old coot all bent out of shape from a lifetime of fiddling with figures, and now he wants to take it out on his oppressors.