Open Thread: Monday, February 8, 2016

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 7:00am

Today's number is eight

8 is 2 cubed

Base 8 math is Octal, which is a computer thing, at least on older machines

There are 8 bits in a byte, at least on older machines

8 is a fibonacci number (3 + 5)

An 8 sided polygon is an ~~octopus~~

A polyhedron with 8 faces is an octahedron

A cube has 8 corners

8 is Oxygen

spiders and other arachnids have 8 legs

An octopus has 8 tentacles

An 8 can be a motor vehicle, further specified as a V-8 or a straight 8

An 8 or racing 8 is a sweep propelled crew shell with 8 rowers and a coxswain

A figure 8 is an ice skating figure

A figure 8 knot is a type of stopper knot

A Lazy 8 is slang for the infinity symbol

8 the hard way, in craps, is 2 fours

8 ball is a type of pocket billiards

There are 8 furlongs in a mile

There are 8 tablespoons in a gill.

There are 8 fluid ounces in a cup

There are 8 pints ounces in a gallon

8 BCE was the Year of the Consulship of Censorinus and Gallus

Empress Wang was born

The Roman poet Horace died

Empress Xu died

8 CE was the Year of the Consulship of Camillus and Quinctilianus

The Roman poet Ovid was banished from Rome and exiled to the Black Sea

On this date in
1575	Leiden University was founded
1587	Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed based on suspicion
1856	Barbu Dimitrie Stirbei abolished slavery in Wallachia
1865	Delaware voters rejected the Thirteenth Amendment and voted to continue the practice of slavery.
1887	The Dawes Act authorized the President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments
1904	A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China, started the Russo-Japanese War. The war presented numerous lessons about how the face of warfare had changed that went unlearned until they arose again during WW I
1915	D. W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation premiered in Los Angeles.
1950	The Stasi, was established.
1952	Elizabeth II was proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom
1963	The Cuba embargo was enacted by the Kennedy administration
1963	The government of Prime Minister Qasim of Iraq, was overthrown by the Ba'ath Party
1996	Congress passed the Communications Decency Act

Born this day in
412	Proclus, a Greek mathematician and Neoplatonist philosopher
1700	Daniel Bernoulli, a Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist
1819	John Ruskin, an English author, critic, and academic
1828	Jules Verne, a French author, poet, and playwright
1834	Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist and academic
1878	Martin Buber, an Austrian-Israeli philosopher and academic
1899	Lonnie Johnson, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1926	Neal Cassady, an American author and poet; a beat legend and holy goof, who was written up by his buddy Keroac
1931	James Dean, an American actor and role model
1932	John Williams, an American pianist, composer, and conductor
1941	Tom Rush an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1948	Ron Tyson, an American singer-songwriter (The Temptations)
1960	Stuart Hamm, an American bass player

Died this day in
1725	Peter the Great, a Russian emperor. Instituted what were then modern, scientific and western reforms.
1957	John von Neumann, a Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist
1960	J. L. Austin, an English philosopher who favored "ordinary language" philosophy. You can guess how that worked out. If you can't, read his "Sense & Sensibilia", but maybe read A.J. Ayer's "Language, Truth & Logic" first.
1990	Del Shannon, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1999	Iris Murdoch, an Irish-English philosopher and author
2005	Keith Knudsen, an American singer-songwriter and drummer (The Doobie Brothers and Southern Pacific)
2006	Elton Dean, an English saxophonist (Soft Machine)

for Neal Cassady, Beat legend and holy goof

Holidays, Holy Days, Feasts, Observances and such

Christian Feast Days of 6 different people and today's date, I shit you not. The (holy?) feast of February 8.

It's Nirvana Day. No, not the band, stupid, think perpetual samadhi

It's "Propose Day", folks are supposed to propose marriage to their enamorata, really. I mean, what a toss-up, nirvana or betrothal. Who's got a coin?

Lonnie Johnson

Tom Rush

The Temptations

Stuart Hamm

Del Shannon

Doobie Brothers

The Soft Machine

unavoidable association, sorry

John Williams

Ennio Morricone it ain't, but that's neither here nor there, I guess

OK, it is an open thread, so go for it

Tags:

Open Thread

John Von Neumann

Peter the Great

Vote

Comments

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 9:33am

I have to hop out from about 8:30 to noonish pst.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 9:39am

Good Morning!

I learn something new every time I read one of your Open Thread topics. But this has to be the most earth shattering thing I have learned in a long time.

An 8 sided polygon is an octopus

Who would have thunk it?

Have a great day EL.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:13pm

I often throw in a singer or two just to see who is awake.

After ~~octopus~~ I intended to put [insert octagon], but forgot.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 10:56am

Another bad day on Wall Street

But the real pain is coming from European banks. If this keeps up we could have another Lehman Brothers, but in Europe.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 11:01am

A European Lehman Brothers?

This is scary

Deutsche Bank AG may struggle to pay coupons on its riskiest bonds next year if operating results disappoint or litigation costs are higher than expected, according to analysts at CreditSights Inc.
Bonds and stock of Germany’s largest bank have plunged this year, with the shares shedding 39 percent of their value and its contingent convertible bonds -- known as CoCos, or additional Tier 1 securities -- turning in a similar performance. The cost of protecting the company’s subordinated debt from default for five years using credit-default swaps has more than doubled since the end of 2015, rising to 438 basis points, a four-year high, from 187.

“While we are confident about 2016 coupons, we are less so about coupon payments in 2017,” CreditSights analyst Simon Adamson wrote in a note to clients today. Deutsche Bank will do “everything in its power to pay them” because it will need to issue such bonds in the future, he said.

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 11:23am

If I just could understand the ramifications

that it will have, for example, on life insurance policies that are designed to give you a lifelong retirement monthly income. (Allianz's Life Insurance in Germany for example).

I hate it if I can't understand that stuff. How should I know how the Allianz Insurance Co. invests the money, people paid into their retirement life insurance policies (I guess that's annuities in English). Is it possible that they can't pay out their insured people what they promised to do and stated in their contracts, either as lump sums or their declared monthly guaranteed life-long retirement payments?

My father invested back in the days in Lehman Brothers and I remember how they were all upset about the losses they endured. I had the thankless task to inherit the worthless stuff and then declare them in my US tax returns. I have already forgotten how I or my accountant did it. My siblings in Germany didn't even want to deal with it at all. But that's all history now.

I am too old to understand this stuff. Or too tired and disgusted to try to learn it. I guess I have to. Because wtf it's my livelihood.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 11:52am

The problem

DB GDP_0.jpg

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 1:22pm

so, that means, I need to get out my money as soon as possible,

wtf. I need to learn what this derivative exposure means and understand it. I apologize I have always made a big detour to avoid trying to understand it. Sigh. Lazy butt. I hate all of it. I hate people making things complicated, shady and not transparent.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 1:31pm

We aren't there yet

It only means that there is danger, and that if this blows up there won't be many safe places to go.

But for now, it's still only theoretical danger.

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:07pm

thanks, and in the end there are no safe places to go ...

we'll end up in heaven or hell no matter what.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by dkmich on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:13pm

My theory mimi is that the safest place is

where it is. There is no way in hell the .001% are going to let their casino stay blown up. They just blow it up from time to time so they can make even more money.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 11:21am

This looks suspiciously like a tech bubble popping

link

And while many see it as a continuation of Friday's rout sparked by LinkedIn's (LNKD) weak outlook for the rest of the year, the damage has been piling up for weeks. Investors are fleeing almost all tech names over concerns about the slowing global economy in general and a reassessment of the potential growth of online and "cloud" markets more specifically.
The widespread tech crash is all the more surprising because almost everyone thought there was no bubble in the tech sector. Last year's market for initial public offerings of tech companies was the slowest since 2009 (and performed poorly throughout the year), slightly more seasoned public tech companies appeared to have already crashed last spring and most of the big tech companies, such as Apple (AAPL), IBM (IBM) and Cisco Systems (CSCO), trailed the market and appared undervalued by historical measures. Only the so-called FANG stocks -- Facebook, Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google's Alphabet (GOOGL) -- did well, with an average return of 83% each in 2015.
But, it turns out, there was still plenty more downside risk to go around. LinkedIn is still off by more than 40% since it reported earnings after the market closed on Feb 4. Although fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of 94 cents and revenue of $862 million beat the average Wall Street analyst estimate, the professional social networking company said it would earn only 55 cents on revenue of $820 million in the next quarter.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 11:38am

Pointing out the obvious

yep

Here’s my twenty-first-century rule of thumb about this country: if you have to say it over and over, it probably ain’t so. Which is why I’d think twice every time we’re told how “exceptional” or “indispensable” the United States is. For someone like me who can still remember a moment when Americans assumed that was so, but no sitting president, presidential candidate, or politician felt you had to say the obvious, such lines reverberate with defensiveness. They seem to incorporate other voices you can almost hear whispering that we’re ever less exceptional, more dispensable, no longer (to quote the greatest of them all by his own estimate) “the greatest.” In this vein, consider a commonplace line running around Washington (as it has for years): the U.S. military is “the finest fighting force in the history of the world.” Uh, folks, if that’s so, then why the hell can’t it win a damn thing 14-plus years later?

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 12:04pm

This is bad

new surge of refugees

Turkey has come under mounting pressure to open its border to assist the fleeing Syrians, many of whom have been sleeping in cold weather in open fields near the Bab al-Salameh border crossing.
The Turkish deputy premier said Sunday that Turkey has reached the end of its "capacity to absorb" refugees. The governor of the Turkish border province of Kilis said that Turkey would provide aid to the displaced within Syria, but would only open the gates in the event of an "extraordinary crisis."

Submitted by Shahryar on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 12:58pm

has this already been posted? Have you all seen this Hillary thi

thanks to mahakali overdrive over there for spotting this.

http://www.salon.com/2008/04/14/obama_supporters/

Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!
Young women are growing increasingly frustrated with the fanatical support of Barack and gleeful bashing of Hillary.

fascinating. It didn't work then and it won't work now.

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:06pm

may be I don't understand the article ...

for me it's pretty simple.

You expected Obama to be by default (due to his race) a stronger defender and protector of human and civil rights of the black population, at least within the US. Some Africans seemed to have believed that too and of course people tend always to count on voters' tendency to be loyal to their "own kind or own cause". We think we have brother and sisters and the rest are just not brothers and not sisters. Obama had his charming ways to make you believe in it. So, we fell for that. And to his defense, he always said he is the President of ALL Americans, which actually is a legal requirement of his position. So, now, the expectations of the "brothers and sisters" was a bit of wishful thinking. Too bad. Shit happens. I don't envy Obama's position today. Too many people are against him for all the wrong reasons. And those who criticize him for the right reasons are bullied as racists. That ain't going to work. And it shouldn't work that way either.

And now you expect Hillary to be by default (due to her gender) a stronger defender and protector of human, civil and women's rights, at least withing the US, and she works hard to make women all over the world believe that as well, ie that she is their defender within the US super power. Hmm. Too many women don't believe that. Too bad. What their reasons are, are all diverse and no generalization I think should be made. I am against HRC's political goals the way she states them. And it has absolutely nothing to do with her being a woman. So, if someone would tell me I am sexist against her, I just try to find another conversation partner to socialize with. It's a stupid accusation.

These expectations voters bring with them are just part of a general human fallacy so many people fall into. It's equal rights , right? No matter what race or gender you have, right? Neither candidate's race or gender guarantees any of the political goals and the capabilities to be implemented. Hence, frustrations and feelings of being betrayed, if you happen to believe in that kind of stuff.

May be we just look at their ideological and political intentions and goals and try to evaluate how they will implement them in the future and stop this -ism stuff.

end of rant.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:19pm

It should be equal rights -

the power vested in all of the people We still haven't caught up to Jeremy Bentham.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:24pm

Maybe its real simple

...and that class trumps racial and gender identity.

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 10:20pm

of course it does. Before you become a racist or sexist,

you have some reasons to be mad. That's usually the feeling of being treated unfairly in your capacity to earn a dignified living and accumulate modest wealth. When your fellow neighbor isn't as poor or underprivileged as you are, you start to get angry. I haven't seen anybody, who doesn't get pissed off, when he or she is the one who gets less and is exploited and feels victimized. Because of colonialism and technological developments invented mostly in the white world, underclasses have no privileges and class privileges go hand in hand with your race and ethnicity identification. But it's still class, who causes that racism and not the other way around. Racism doesn't cause the classes. In my not so humble opinion. I guess I am sufficiently mad tonight. Sorry for ranting.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by dkmich on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:18pm

It was posted in the BNR today.

I'm not happy Sanders bought in. 1) Hillarybros are all over the internet too - just check out dailykos. 2) Bernie is not responsible for the behavior of others on the internet. 3) The biggest Hillarybros are Bubba, Shaheen, Albright, and Steinem. They are attacking Bernie and his supporters non-stop. Pot meet kettle. Bernie got bamboozled.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 3:00pm

I was talking to a friend yesterday

and we were discussing who Bernie would pick as a running mate if he was to win.
It would have to be someone with foreign policy chops. Someone more conservative and establishment. Someone who would reach out to disappointing Hillary supporters, almost certainly a woman.

Hillary would be it....if she would accept being the first woman vice president. Probably not, but it would be interesting.

My friend floated the idea of Rand Paul, to make a big political statement.

Unrelated note, when does someone bring up Markos' post about the Inevitable Candidate?

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 10:07pm

I would chop the foreign policy chops of HRC very

quickly and never choose her as Sanders running mate. Sorry, really can't follow, someone more conservative and establishment to reach out to disappointed Hillary supporters? Jeez, why? Why even vote then, because it's all for nothing. No voter mandate ever is taken seriously. Are there no Americans who don't vote for HRC BECAUSE of her foreign policy intentions? Rand Paul? Why? What big political statement? We don't need a foggy libertarian who weasels with words and has no clue or any compassion for human beings that are not "in his turf and thinking mode".

Gosh. That comment gave me the rest. Good Night, gjohnsit. I need some sleep to recover from that. If Sanders takes HRC as VP I would never vote for him. I hope Sanders has no such ideas.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:22pm