Lurker > Polycosm

What happened in 2002?

Edit: first contest?

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

They have primaries in a few states but these are just an expression of the will of the voters-- not actually binding in any way. The candidate is chosen by registered delegates (i.e. card-carrying party members) at a single convention, which changes locations each election. The convention works somewhat like a caucus, with separate votes for President and VP.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Steyer: "I am scared"

Yeah me too buddy.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

I see a lot of risk and potential downside in Biden, but I suspect that for many voters, Biden represents a return to normalcy (never mind that "normal" wasn't working too great for most Americans 4 years ago). Also, as much as I roll my eyes at the so-called "electability" argument, I have to admit that Biden's Super Tuesday performance finally lent some credibility to it. While Democratic turnout was up across all demographics, Biden's older voters came out in numbers that put my generation to shame.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Biden is in the early stages of senility, while Trump is rapidly spiraling into late-stage dementia. Biden's heart is in the right place, while Trump is a sadistic narcissist.

I'm extremely disappointed in the decision the Democratic party is making, but forced to make a choice between Biden and Trump, I'll vote for Biden without any hesitation.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

The way most people rest their hands on a controller, X is under the bulk of your thumb while O requires you to shift / roll. Primary functions are more often mapped to the bottom button in the X position.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Leonhart4 posted...

Oh hey, we have a notification at the top now.

Thank Allen for that. I had no idea this was going on until I saw the banner.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

The PT has some great things going for it. Under the veneer of awful dialog and craptastic directing, there's some amazing worldbuilding and a pretty good plot arc. It's mainly the delivery that makes it borderline unwatchable.

The ST is the exact opposite in many ways-- it features haphazard worldbuilding and an aimless plot, yet the minute-to-minute dialog and acting makes me care about the characters. The ST is definitely easier for me to rewatch.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

The tone of this show is so dark and dystopian, it's a real downer. No character is allowed to be happy; every single one of them has a tragic backstory. The actors are all selling it way beyond my expectations, so at least it's believable... but it's still depressing.

Not gonna stop watching though. They got me.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Perfect Dark is the most well-rounded in story, co-op and multiplayer. Turok 2 has the best single-player campaign though, imo.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Trump has half-a-Cosby's worth of accusers.
Biden's got a touching problem; almost certainly no malintent but it still makes girls visibly uncomfortable.
Bernie wrote an essay about rape 48 years ago.

BOTH SIDES, GUYS

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

There are a lot of caveats that go along with that estimate but Trump is full of shit and the final count could be off in either direction.

For some perspective, a 3.4% death rate means that a family of 5 has a 16% chance of at least one family member dying if the disease hits their household. I don't feel extremely comfortable with those odds, personally. We'd better hope that the WHO adjusts that number down in the weeks to come, or that they have better news to deliver on the transmission rate.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

*shrug*

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Master_Bass posted...

I got Security+ after taking a week long boot camp for it. I also did a bit of reading at work for a couple weeks, though. I passed it on my first try, but I heard the test was harder than it was from one of my coworkers that accidentally let his lapse a year or two ago. Maybe he's just a bad test taker, though.

It's hard to estimate because life circumstances play a huge role. If you're a student or between jobs and have nothing else to do, you're going to knock it out quicker than someone else with a job and a family.

Sec+ comes down to how fast you can memorize, like, 300 acronyms? I dunno about that number exactly but it's basically alphabet soup. Half the battle is decoding needless abbreviations, and there's enough that they start to overlap. I don't mean to come across as totally derisive though... I mean, Sec+ (like the rest of the CompTIA trifecta) covers material that everybody in IT ought to know, imho.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Solid Sonic posted...

I've always been kind of lax about certs because every IT job I've held never asked me to get one (I did get a Net+ between jobs but only after I was already hired).

Always thought about pursuing a Cisco cert because I wanted to be more adept at working with Cisco IOS. How easy is it to learn that interface?

That's pretty much my story too-- I always neglected certs because I wasn't job-hopping and didn't think I needed them. Then I finally took the CCNA last year and realized I've got serious holes in my knowledge and I let myself coast for way too long.

Like any CLI, IOS takes some getting used to. I'll tell you what though... the hierarchical organization is much, much, much friendlier than other vendors I've worked with who use a completely flat command structure, where a single question mark generates a thousand possibilities.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Outbreak

https://youtu.be/Wy-w1-g7OvY?t=6

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

It doesn't look good for Bernie. Biden has a decent chance of earning a majority of pledged delegates, a great chance of earning the plurality, and I'd say there's pretty much zero chance he loses a contested convention.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Biden is still early in his mental decline while Trump looks to be nearing the end of his. I'm more interested in who the veeps are going to be.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

The prequels do make me wonder if they put any effort into the lightsaber choreography in the sequel trilogy. Setting aside some of the hyperactive CGI fights and dance moves... there are some legitimately great lightsaber sequences in the PT. ST looks so slow and hesitant by comparison, like they didn't practice the timing enough and everyone is waiting for their cues.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

If you live near your assigned polling place in CA, you can go there in person, surrender your mail-in ballot and request a non-provisional cross-over Democratic ballot.

If you don't live near the place where you're registered, then you can go to any polling place and cast a cross-over ballot provisionally.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Pete and Amy dropping out has every appearance of being coordinated by the establishment, but it ain't rigging. Duplicitous maybe, but not anti-democratic. CNN drove a wedge between Warren and Sanders while donors were able to apply pressure on their candidates to consolidate. Meanwhile, Bloomberg is just looking out for Bloomberg. That's the story of this primary, imho, and it looks to be working for the establishment unless something changes.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

I'm trying to think of a platformer with an overworld map as good as SMW's...

Nope can't think of any.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

cawmaster5 posted...

could someone give me recommendations on certs besides the CompTIA trifecta? all i've got is a degree with no experience and finding it hard to land an IT job, let alone an interview. i want to eventually get into cybersecurity

I'd say the thing that will help you most is getting that work experience... but of course that's a catch-22 when you're looking for your very first job (or switching fields). If you aren't getting interviews, then it's possible you're getting screened. The most common certs I see listed on job postings are the CompTIA trifecta, CCNA and MCSA.

Out of those, I've taken A+, Sec+ and CCNA, and I'm studying for the CCNP. A+ is mostly foundational knowledge that every IT person should know, imo, whether you pay for the cert or not. Sec+ is a vocab test but it opens the door for a range of government / defense contractor positions, which can be a good path to take if you want to eventually get into cybersecurity. The CCNA gave me skills I actually use at my job and I believe that you need a strong understanding of networking if you want to be good at security. I steered away from the MCSA because it's three exams and I feel like I'm getting way more out of the Cisco track. MCSA / MCSE are retiring soon anyway, and if you need an intermediate-level Microsoft cert at this point it's probably better to look at the Azure exams.

I'd maybe watch some videos on ITIL as well, to get an idea of how IT managers might think of you and your answers once you do start landing interviews. Knowing the difference between Incident Management and Problem Management will help you navigate questions about your troubleshooting process. Just don't stop looking for work even as you study for certs. At this stage, a job is the single most valuable thing that you're missing.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

I'm not sure if there are any sims on the new CCNA (word is that people taking the new CCNP ENCOR have seen multiple choice and drag-and-drop only). But... labbing is always a good idea. imo, that's the best way to retain knowledge. Good luck on the MTA too!

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Round-teen

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Corporate Dems are fighting hard but not unfairly. The DNC made one biased decision (changing debate rules for Bloomberg), but that was probably helpful to Bernie if anything. Wait until the convention to see if Bernie gets fucked.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

It certainly has the appearance of establishment donors pulling the strings, coordinating behind closed doors. It's contemptible in its own way but I wouldn't put it in the same category as what the DNC did to Bernie in 2016, which was an actual rigging / subversion of democracy. This move-- consolidating support ahead of Super Tuesday-- is well within the rules of the game, and if it had been Warren who dropped out instead then Sanders supporters would be thanking her and calling it an honorable decision.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

I wouldn't assume that Pete's supporters are going to Biden, despite the endorsement. Pete changed lanes hard in the middle of the primary, so it's hard to say how much of his support is rooted in policy, versus charisma and good messaging. Pete wasn't a moderate when this contest started.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

kinetika_ posted...

Now with this sudden Biden surge, it's likely he isn't going to win. I feel his 2016 run was his best and only chance he had.

Biden gets one primary win in 30 years and suddenly he's unstoppable? I'm skeptical. 538 still has Bernie as the favorite to win a plurality of pledged delegates. Granted, a contested convention looks likely and that might be bad news for Bernie in the end. Still, if you have to bet on anyone prior to knowing the Super Tuesday results, Bernie is the frontrunner.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

It's baseless speculation, but it's also not hard to imagine Trump doing something like this.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

BusyGettingLaid posted...

what's even the point in getting tested for it, it's not like there's a specific medicine or treatment for it. If the hospital wants to know for their own reasons to be like "oh shit the virus has spread here we need to alert whoever", they should pay for the tests.

I've gotta agree: our healthcare system has provided a huge disincentive for people to get tested. If you have a respiratory infection, you're better off just trying to kick it with antibiotics first, and if that doesn't work... wait it out and infect everyone at work I guess.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

He's up there. Still, next to Biden's sundowning and Trump's full-blown dementia, Bernie's heart condition doesn't seem so bad. Similar to McCain in 2008, I'm not worried about Bernie's mental faculties... I'm worried about who his VP might be in the very possible event that he dies in office.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

The combination of wet market practices and sheer population numbers make China the most likely region for coronaviruses to originate from. Yet, China isn't the only country whose way of living presents a vulnerability. Here in the US, our unhealthy work culture and hygiene habits also make it easier for disease to spread.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

show ip interface brief

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Wutobliteration posted...

don't we already know, based on how huge the stats are in China? It certainly can't be higher than the fatality rate posted there, since they're basing it off those who were admitted to hospitals, those who died there and those who were discharged.
Even a small baby can recover from the virus. If anything, young people are the least to be concerned about it

Transmission rates can vary wildly by country depending on government response, and as Paragon points out, early numbers don't give a complete picture. You can't truly measure the case-fatality ratio until a pandemic is over and all the cases are resolved. Furthermore, some patients in China have tested positive for the virus twice, after initially being released; this raises concerns (but certainly doesn't yet confirm) that the virus could be biphasic (which would mean that it goes dormant and activates again).

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

We don't know what the transmission rate or death rate will be. What we know is that we've probably failed to contain it and it's likely to become a pandemic. Could be more harmless than the flu, could be much worse. Too late now, we're rolling the dice.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

I've never heard of this guy but he is pure talent. Wow.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

LostForest posted...

I'm not a Trump fan by any fucking stretch. But what exactly do you want the government to do that or isn't doing? Do you want it to shut down all schools for 3 weeks like Japan?

The problems started some time ago, when Trump made staffing and budget cuts at the CDC, chose to surround himself with sycophants instead of experts, and retaliated against whistleblowers. You can draw a straight line between those observations and the recent CDC whistleblower account summarized here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/coronavirus-us-whistleblower.html

It's a lack of preparedness that got us to this point, and that can't be fixed now.

As for what steps the Trump administration can take today... Trump could stop branding Covid-19 as a "Democrat hoax," to start. He could appoint a competent expert to lead the response effort, rather than Mike Pence. He could request more funding from Congress (he began with a tepid $2.5B). He could act like he cares instead of saying, "It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear... maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows."

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

https://imgur.com/I7bBAmn

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Yep... this virus is getting out. Such a stupid, needless risk that our government is taking. Fingers crossed that it's less lethal than the flu, I guess.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Tyranthraxus posted...

Yang already endorsed Sanders

Yang hasn't endorsed any of the candidates. You might be thinking of some comments Yang made close to the Iowa caucus, where he said that he expected many of his supporters to go to Bernie after realignment.

I suspect that he mostly likely will endorse Sanders in the end, though.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

berlyman101 posted...

this is weird, aren't they used everywhere?

They're the biggest player in the market and have been for like 30 years. Anecdotally speaking, though... I've seen an increasing amount of Aerohive (and even Ubiquiti) equipment being rolled out at businesses with tight budget constraints, even for legit campus networks at schools for example.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Ah... this explains why they can't afford a $30/mo Grammarly subscription to proofread their exam questions.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Delightful game. It can be a little obtuse at times and I'd argue that the minute-to-minute menu-switching mechanics of the original are a significant problem, but the remake mostly repairs those flaws.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Time for an episode about Disney, tbh.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

This is how I imagine a zombie apocalypse would sound.

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)

Holy shit. Microsoft is retiring all their MCSA, MCSE and MCSD certifications:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/community-blog-post.aspx?BlogId=8&Id=375282

(MTA escaped for now though)

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I bow before my emperor, Advokaiser-- winner of the 2018 guru contest. (thengamer.com/guru)