MattPie Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Now that 'all' the games are on national TV, Center Ice is comepletely useless if you don't have cable. I may have to weigh that as to whether I buy it next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 There was some sort of bus accident or break down near the massive intersection that my office is right next to. The traffic was backed up badly. It took about 5 light cycles to actually make it through the intersection... then I had to do the same exact thing at another light. The really confusing part? I still got to work at the same time I always do. I didn't think I made it out the door any earlier than normal today, but I must have. Now that 'all' the games are on national TV, Center Ice is comepletely useless if you don't have cable. I may have to weigh that as to whether I buy it next year. Don't you need cable/dish to buy it? Or do you get it online? Does that mean they're not available there either? Too many questions in this short post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattPie Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Don't you need cable/dish to buy it? Or do you get it online? Does that mean they're not available there either? Too many questions in this short post. Oops, gamecenter not center ice. I've been watching this year via Gamecenter on my PS3, and ditched cable. The games are in much better quality that Comcast was providing, but during the season I couldn't watch games on VS/NBCSN, NHL Network, or Comcast Network (Flyers). Not that big a deal until the playoffs, where the entire schedule went blank because NBC is showing all the games (apparently) on their hench-networks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biodork Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) If you were vindictive, such as myself, you would go after that former collaborator HARD in your next paper. But hey, not everybody is like me. Missed responding to this before, but I'm right there with you. I convinced my former boss we needed to write a letter to the journal editor addressing the gross misrepresentation, and while she agreed, it's taking forever going back and forth to agree on a final version of the letter, mostly because she doesn't even know enough about what we published to defend it. I like her as a person, but that's just one of many, many reasons why I'm glad she's no longer my boss. I'm in the process of relocating back to upstate NY, and as was anticipated, the sale of my old house in Cincinnati is taking forever. What was not anticipated, was that my Realtor would come back to me 45 days after the initial listing and say she overestimate the market value of my home and I will likely need to take a $20-$30k short sale to unload the house. On top of that, the temporary home I had found for my Beagle bailed on me (the third time this has happened) and I finally had to surrender the Family Dog to a shelter for adoption. Breaking the hearts of a Mother and 4 year old boy. :( I guess you can't bring the pup along to WNY? Now that 'all' the games are on national TV, Center Ice is comepletely useless if you don't have cable. I may have to weigh that as to whether I buy it next year. This x1000. It used to be a selling point for Center Ice that you got the first two rounds of the playoffs included. Last year you kind of did, but Versus took so many of the games that for the Sabres series it was essentially irrelevant, and this year CI didn't have any playoff games. "National" coverage is a great idea in theory, but I don't get NBC Sports (formerly Versus) or CNBC, NHL Network only took a few boring games (Devils/Panthers) in round 1, and NBC only covers the daytime weekend games. Hopefully now that we're going into the conference finals I'll actually be able to watch again. And for my official complaint: effing electronics. I don't know if there's a solar flare or something crazy going on, but Monday morning my home internet was fine, and Monday evening stuff just stopped working. The modem is fine because I can get internet if I connect directly via ethernet cable, and all my devices can connect to my wireless router, but can't get to the internet via the router. I wasted my entire evening last night screwing around with it, downloaded a firmware update, etc, and it's still boogered up. At one point I managed to get my laptop connected to the internet via the wireless router, but the iPad and smartphone still wouldn't work. Then something went really screwy and my router's IP address started directing me to a page for the modem. I finally gave up around 1am but it's seriously annoying. On top of that, the battery for my laptop suddenly started doing this whole "plugged in, not charging" thing and none of the fixes I've tried have solved it, and the updated OS for my smartphone is causing intermittent inability to establish a data connection. Ugh. Edited May 10, 2012 by biodork Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 This topic comes up on TSW all the time and I'm so sick of reading it. Someone today once again put up this argument that the NFL needs to go to a soft cushioning on the outside of the helmet to deal with the concussion issues. He said "picture two marshmallows colliding". You know, maybe that would reduce concussions, but then how would the league deal with that pesky little broken neck issue that would follow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dEnnis the Menace Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 This topic comes up on TSW all the time and I'm so sick of reading it. Someone today once again put up this argument that the NFL needs to go to a soft cushioning on the outside of the helmet to deal with the concussion issues. He said "picture two marshmallows colliding". You know, maybe that would reduce concussions, but then how would the league deal with that pesky little broken neck issue that would follow? I spent one too many days over there arguing about that. I brought physics and engineering into the argument, I believe here as well, and it just drives me up a wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 I spent one too many days over there arguing about that. I brought physics and engineering into the argument, I believe here as well, and it just drives me up a wall. The one guy who constantly championed it has finally changed his tune though. That guy's still a real piece of work though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) This topic comes up on TSW all the time and I'm so sick of reading it. Someone today once again put up this argument that the NFL needs to go to a soft cushioning on the outside of the helmet to deal with the concussion issues. He said "picture two marshmallows colliding". You know, maybe that would reduce concussions, but then how would the league deal with that pesky little broken neck issue that would follow? I spent one too many days over there arguing about that. I brought physics and engineering into the argument, I believe here as well, and it just drives me up a wall. It is damn near impossible to use engineering and physics principles to explain something to someone who has no aptitude for it. You are better off walking away shaking your head. Edited May 10, 2012 by weave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dEnnis the Menace Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 It is damn near impossible to use engineering and physics principles to explain something to someone who has no aptitude for it. You are better off walking away shaking your head. I learned that the hard way :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frissonic Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 And for my official complaint: effing electronics. I don't know if there's a solar flare or something crazy going on, but Monday morning my home internet was fine, and Monday evening stuff just stopped working. The modem is fine because I can get internet if I connect directly via ethernet cable, and all my devices can connect to my wireless router, but can't get to the internet via the router. I wasted my entire evening last night screwing around with it, downloaded a firmware update, etc, and it's still boogered up. At one point I managed to get my laptop connected to the internet via the wireless router, but the iPad and smartphone still wouldn't work. Then something went really screwy and my router's IP address started directing me to a page for the modem. I finally gave up around 1am but it's seriously annoying. On top of that, the battery for my laptop suddenly started doing this whole "plugged in, not charging" thing and none of the fixes I've tried have solved it, and the updated OS for my smartphone is causing intermittent inability to establish a data connection. Ugh. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7408060n definitely some HUGE spots. my daughter and i were test driving our solar glasses for the eclipse coming up, and we both so a spot, so i ran in to grab my camera. sure enough, massive black dot on the top part. incredible that sun spot can be so big that you can see it from here ... with the right solar filter, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biodork Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7408060n definitely some HUGE spots. my daughter and i were test driving our solar glasses for the eclipse coming up, and we both so a spot, so i ran in to grab my camera. sure enough, massive black dot on the top part. incredible that sun spot can be so big that you can see it from here ... with the right solar filter, of course. Huh. And here I was thinking I was being sarcastic, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 I need to stop sitting down at my computer. Every time I do, I get distracted, and I'm not getting any work done. Get away from me, internet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlueGED Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Stupid undergraduates. Giving an optional final today, and a student shows up about 90 minutes late (3 hours for the exam, so they showed up halfway through) and wants to take it. Professor asks why they are so late, "Oh I just decided to take it now." So I'm thinking to myself, yea okay, I'm sure this student was just sitting around and completely randomly decided to show up for the optional final. So the professor asks her point blank why she just decided to take it now, and if she talked to anybody who had finished it already....and she ADMITS to having talked to a friend who finished it. In other words, her friend told her it was easy and that made her want to take it. Are undergrads really this stupid? The professor wasn't going to let her take it anyway, but seriously, to not even attempt to have a good reason/excuse/lie about why you were an hour and a half late, and to admit talking to your friend about the exam's contents? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5th line wingnutt Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Huh. And here I was thinking I was being sarcastic, lol. We are having a similar problem but it started about a week ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Stupid undergraduates. Giving an optional final today, and a student shows up about 90 minutes late (3 hours for the exam, so they showed up halfway through) and wants to take it. Professor asks why they are so late, "Oh I just decided to take it now." So I'm thinking to myself, yea okay, I'm sure this student was just sitting around and completely randomly decided to show up for the optional final. So the professor asks her point blank why she just decided to take it now, and if she talked to anybody who had finished it already....and she ADMITS to having talked to a friend who finished it. In other words, her friend told her it was easy and that made her want to take it. Are undergrads really this stupid? The professor wasn't going to let her take it anyway, but seriously, to not even attempt to have a good reason/excuse/lie about why you were an hour and a half late, and to admit talking to your friend about the exam's contents? If you can't go to college go to state *clap clap* :nana: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spndnchz Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Funerals. Closure but still SUCK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of Dwight Drane Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Stupid undergraduates. Giving an optional final today, and a student shows up about 90 minutes late (3 hours for the exam, so they showed up halfway through) and wants to take it. Professor asks why they are so late, "Oh I just decided to take it now." So I'm thinking to myself, yea okay, I'm sure this student was just sitting around and completely randomly decided to show up for the optional final. So the professor asks her point blank why she just decided to take it now, and if she talked to anybody who had finished it already....and she ADMITS to having talked to a friend who finished it. In other words, her friend told her it was easy and that made her want to take it. Are undergrads really this stupid? The professor wasn't going to let her take it anyway, but seriously, to not even attempt to have a good reason/excuse/lie about why you were an hour and a half late, and to admit talking to your friend about the exam's contents? Why do they have 3 hours to take it? Is there a written rule saying you have to be there at the start? At least you speak English. The only reason I don't embrace UB is their use of grad assistants who have command of about 20% of the language and culture. I felt ripped off. There were some very good ones, but there is no excuse for some of the people they put out there. Parents paying their kids' way would crap a brick if they were in some of those classes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlueGED Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Why do they have 3 hours to take it? Is there a written rule saying you have to be there at the start? At least you speak English. The only reason I don't embrace UB is their use of grad assistants who have command of about 20% of the language and culture. I felt ripped off. There were some very good ones, but there is no excuse for some of the people they put out there. Parents paying their kids' way would crap a brick if they were in some of those classes As a rule, students have 3 hours for final exams when they are centrally scheduled by the university during exam week. This can be bypassed by professors if they simply give their final on the last day of classes, but again, this was an optional final and really only existed for students who had bombed one of the others so they had a chance to raise their grade. There's technically no University rule saying students have to be there at the start, however, a lot of professors will only allow latecomers to the point where the first person finishes their exam, to prevent possible cheating. Plus this particular exam started at noon, so barring catastrophe (which would of course be accommodated with the requisite proof), there's really no excuse to walk in an hour and a half late. As to the second point, if you think some of the grad assistants were bad, some of the professors were equally as terrible. But that's just the way it is for a lot of physical sciences and mathematics. So some of it really is supply and demand, but there's also a lot of politics behind it. Attracting quality graduate students is a very competitive enterprise, and one that's necessary to improve the school. If you don't offer funding to your better applicants, they're going to go elsewhere. A lot of these higher-quality graduate students happen to be international students. And having high quality graduate students who are research-oriented also helps attract higher quality faculty who produce prestigious research, which in turn attracts endowments. Student diversity and amount of international students may also serve to increase school prestige. So between supply and demand, and desire of the University to rise in certain rankings, you end up with a lot of international graduate students (particularly in the hard sciences). But the biggest thing, above all else, is that UB is a research institution--faculty are hired and graduate students funded based on their potential for producing research. About 5% of getting tenure is based on teaching, the rest is all based on how much research faculty produce and get published. There are absolutely some faculty that take teaching very seriously (some even too seriously, from a self-interested perspective, since it really does nothing to further their own career), but a side effect of the system is that professors rely heavily on graduate assistants, who get no training at all as to how to become competent teachers. Faculty are hired and retained on the basis of research, graduate students are trained from day 1 to produce research, and everything else is secondary. One of my professors once told me "at a research institution such as UB, as long as you can stumble your way in front of a classroom and talk for a few minutes, that's all that matters". It's kind of ironic really. University rankings are based largely on the quality of faculty and how many degrees get awarded, and UB gets ranked quite well nationally (especially considering tuition costs), so a lot of students go expecting great professors and to have awesome classes. Unfortunately, the quality of the faculty is ranked on their research, not on their teaching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted May 11, 2012 Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 Work jail. I haven't even watched a game since the weekend. Hopefully this ends soon. Please forgive the LAMP. I just got home from work. It's 1115. I haven't had time to read anyone else's complaints, much less the thirty-odd unread threads. FFS, this is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted May 11, 2012 Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 Too much coffee today. Gonna need a stiff nightcap whenever the heck I finally get home from the library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dEnnis the Menace Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 Oh hey there complaint thread! Last night, my girlfriend went out with some of her friends to a bar down in Wilkes, PA for her senior week. Some girl stole her phone and gave it to her boyfriend. My g/f got the bouncer and he searched the kid, but the phone didn't turn up. Then some other guys sat there and intimidated this kid until he "went outside for a smoke". The bouncer watched this kid drop my g/f's phone on the way out, so she got it back. All of this goes down, and I'm 3 hours away. She called me crying afterwards about how this is why she doesn't drink. I hate not being able to do anything in situations like this. I feel so helpless :( and on top of that, I'm supposed to drive down there tomorrow for her graduation, but I've been VERY sick to my stomach since about 4AM this morning :sick: ...I need to get over this ASAP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampD Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 Receiving political emails from people I like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 I don't know if this is just a Boston thing or not, but I don't remember ever seeing it back in Buffalo. Out here, when cars are waiting to turn left, they angle to the left into the oncoming lane of traffic. It's ridiculous. I'm sick of having to swerve to avoid cars who are blocking my lane. It's even worse when I'm in a 4 lane road and I have to worry about a car to my right as I'm avoiding the other guy. And cancer sucks. My girlfriend's father has been in and out of the hospital multiple times since his surgery a month or two back (so many hospital visits that I've completely lost track of the time frame). I guess it's not even the cancer right now, it's a bunch of different infections after the surgery. They can't start up with chemo until he's all healed up, so while he's waiting, that cancer gets the chance to grow. I realize the chemo doesn't guarantee anything, but it's the best shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Crotch Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 I seriously dislike air travel these days. Pre-911 it was fine. But now, with the poor state of the airline industry (long lines, baggage fees, packed flights, flight cancellations, no food served on most flights, etc.) and with the heightened security (basically have to undress and then redress at the security checkpoint) it just isn't much fun. (I write this as I sit in Dulles waiting on a flight that was supposed to have left hours ago...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 I don't know if this is just a Boston thing or not, but I don't remember ever seeing it back in Buffalo. Out here, when cars are waiting to turn left, they angle to the left into the oncoming lane of traffic. It's ridiculous. I'm sick of having to swerve to avoid cars who are blocking my lane. It's even worse when I'm in a 4 lane road and I have to worry about a car to my right as I'm avoiding the other guy. And cancer sucks. My girlfriend's father has been in and out of the hospital multiple times since his surgery a month or two back (so many hospital visits that I've completely lost track of the time frame). I guess it's not even the cancer right now, it's a bunch of different infections after the surgery. They can't start up with chemo until he's all healed up, so while he's waiting, that cancer gets the chance to grow. I realize the chemo doesn't guarantee anything, but it's the best shot. I see new drivers do that all the time. I live with a girl who is still on her permit (at 22 years old or whatever) and she does that constantly. It's like they decide they're going left but they can't just sit and wait for a break in traffic, they have to keep inching. It's just as bad as the people who are turning left who just inch straight forward until people turning left opposite them have no where to go. That one drives me nuts. If everyone drove stick this wouldn't happen. Or you know...paid attention in driver's ed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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