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[Kuildeous]

Dear bulletin board system (not f.ds):

You are not a bank. I should not need to change my password every 180 days. Nobody is interested in hacking my account to read my thoughts on a video game. Also, I doubt your method will stop hackers anyway, especially since I'm just going to reuse the same password because your site is not important enough for me to generate a unique password.

[2.71828.....]

Does your password have to be 12 characters long, 2 caps, 2 lowercase, 2 numbers, 2 special characters, and can't include a word?  Because I hate those passwords. 

(although the simple asdfASDF1234!@#$ usually works.  Then when they make you change is just move over one spot to sdfgSDFG2345@#$%.)

[pacovf]

What I started doing when these sites started requiring ridiculous passwords was to divide my passwords in two parts: a constant 8 character part that includes numbers, special characters and caps, and a variable 4 lowercase part related to the site. Not supersecure if someone finds out one of my passwords, but at least separately they are ok, and they are not too difficult to remember.

I use something else for the bank accounts, though.

[Seprix]

Seattle's OC needs to be fired. You obviously run the ball in that scenario, and the Patriots can't stop you. They haven't stopped the run all game. You waste time on the clock too if you miss, with 2 timeouts left on Seattle's part and 2 more plays to go. There's just so much going for that run play. In the throw play, if you miss, the clock stops. You could get picked off. Even if they scored the touchdown, I would have called that decisionmaking dumb. Man.

[eHalcyon]

WHAT.

If you are currently following Darths and Droids: what in the world just happened? I completely did not expect this, but after reading some analysis it's plausible and brilliant.

If you are not following Darths and Droids: start it. But, skip directly to http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0001.html and bypass the homepage for at least a week (possibly 2 or 3) while the current twist gets resolved.

What analysis did you read?  I'm following the comic but the plot is twisty enough that some things don't make sense to me (the mirror-world robots thing still confuses me).

[Kuildeous]

Does your password have to be 12 characters long, 2 caps, 2 lowercase, 2 numbers, 2 special characters, and can't include a word?  Because I hate those passwords. 

(although the simple asdfASDF1234!@#$ usually works.  Then when they make you change is just move over one spot to sdfgSDFG2345@#$%.)

Not as bad. Only nine characters, but that's still more than my generic password (also not to be used for e-mail, banks, or anything that has a credit card attached [like Facebook]).

I suppose I could up my generic password. But then there are the really dumb sites that have a maximum limit on password length. Like we're back in the '80s where password storage hogged too many resources and it took 500000000 years to crack a 10-character password.

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

Seattle's OC needs to be fired. You obviously run the ball in that scenario, and the Patriots can't stop you. They haven't stopped the run all game. You waste time on the clock too if you miss, with 2 timeouts left on Seattle's part and 2 more plays to go. There's just so much going for that run play. In the throw play, if you miss, the clock stops. You could get picked off. Even if they scored the touchdown, I would have called that decisionmaking dumb. Man.

I agree on all counts.  Though running at Wilfork, which they tried way too much, isn't always a good plan.

Given that the DC is about to leave, to become head coach of the Falcons, it will be a long time before we see Seattle in this position again.

Wonder if they throw money at Lynch to make it up to him.

[2.71828.....]

Seattle's OC needs to be fired. You obviously run the ball in that scenario, and the Patriots can't stop you. They haven't stopped the run all game. You waste time on the clock too if you miss, with 2 timeouts left on Seattle's part and 2 more plays to go. There's just so much going for that run play. In the throw play, if you miss, the clock stops. You could get picked off. Even if they scored the touchdown, I would have called that decisionmaking dumb. Man.

I agree on all counts.  Though running at Wilfork, which they tried way too much, isn't always a good plan.

Given that the DC is about to leave, to become head coach of the Falcons, it will be a long time before we see Seattle in this position again.

Wonder if they throw money at Lynch to make it up to him.

Ok, I have thought about this play a lot (living here in the Seattle area and all).  I think calling a passing play there is a fine decision.  Why?  Catch the pats off guard.  As SfS mentioned, running through Wilfork isn't always going to work.  In order to intercept the ball you have to jump the route.  Which is usually very dangerous.  That being said, I think they called the wrong passing play.  You have to do play action there if you are going to pass.  Setting up in the shot-gun is just advertising a pass play.  Before the play started I was yelling at the TV because I saw the formation that they were in.  Russell Wilson has to line up under center.  But now we see one weakness in Wilson's game: his height (which isn't really a weakness, but is just something that needs to be taken into account when calling plays).  Because he is so short, he can't line up under center, two step drop, and throw that slant.  He has to line up in the shotgun.  Which advertised to the defense pass play.  Which allowed Malcolm Butler to read the play and jump the route.  Watching the replay, you can clearly see the point where he makes the decision to jump in front.  As a rookie, this was an incredible play.  And it takes incredible plays to win a Super Bowl.  I mean, an incomplete pass there and the Seahawks would probably have won.  On a pass play I would have liked to see something that played more to Wilson's strengths.  Play action roll-out with Wilson starting under center or something where he can scramble into the end-zone, pass, or just lob something over everyone's head.

So as disappointed as I am that the Seahawks lost, I don't know which would have been worse.  The annoying, complaining Seahawks fans that we have now; or the gloating, superficial Seahawks fans that I would have been around.  It's really a tough call.

[theory]

Meh.  I think the decision is suboptimal but not as obviously wrong as everyone makes it out to be.  A failed run on 2nd down is disastrous: you have to take your TO immediately, and now it's 3rd down and you have no choice but to pass (and NE is well aware of that).  With that in mind, and NE lining up in a formation that looks like it's selling out against the run, and seeing exactly the matchup you want in exactly the coverage you want, a pick play is reasonable.

Look at this picture.  If Wilson throws back-shoulder that's likely a TD, or at worst an incompletion.  What happened in this game was a freak 5% occurrence, showcasing the Patriots' extreme defensive preparation (Butler recognized the play and started cutting inside even before Lockette did), Butler making an incredible play (Browner as well, for jamming the receiver to stop the pick in the first place), and Wilson's inexperience.



I still don't really like the call, but I understand the logic. 

[theory]

Is it me or did Seagawks come out to Bittersweet Symphony by the verve?!

Great song but not the right choice I feel...

Seahawks obviously misunderstood the meaning of the "coming-out" song.

[Titandrake]

WHAT.

If you are currently following Darths and Droids: what in the world just happened? I completely did not expect this, but after reading some analysis it's plausible and brilliant.

If you are not following Darths and Droids: start it. But, skip directly to http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0001.html and bypass the homepage for at least a week (possibly 2 or 3) while the current twist gets resolved.

What analysis did you read?  I'm following the comic but the plot is twisty enough that some things don't make sense to me (the mirror-world robots thing still confuses me).

I'm not sure what you mean.

[Seprix]

Seattle's OC needs to be fired. You obviously run the ball in that scenario, and the Patriots can't stop you. They haven't stopped the run all game. You waste time on the clock too if you miss, with 2 timeouts left on Seattle's part and 2 more plays to go. There's just so much going for that run play. In the throw play, if you miss, the clock stops. You could get picked off. Even if they scored the touchdown, I would have called that decisionmaking dumb. Man.

I agree on all counts.  Though running at Wilfork, which they tried way too much, isn't always a good plan.

Given that the DC is about to leave, to become head coach of the Falcons, it will be a long time before we see Seattle in this position again.

Wonder if they throw money at Lynch to make it up to him.

Seahwaks are going to fall apart. They want to pay tons of money to Wilson, AND Lynch? When the cheap contracts of the LoB run out of time, Seattle is going to have to let go a lot of people. This was their last realistic shot at the Super Bowl, with the Cardinals getting screwed hard with injuries over and over (despite getting 11 wins), and the DC leaving. Now the Rams and Cardinals are likely going to compete for the top. We shall see what transpires.

My favorite team is Arizona, so man I hope they win it all this year. All those injuries piling up was almost certainly a fluke. Man. I'm so bummed out.

[Kirian]

Does your password have to be 12 characters long, 2 caps, 2 lowercase, 2 numbers, 2 special characters, and can't include a word?  Because I hate those passwords. 

(although the simple asdfASDF1234!@#$ usually works.  Then when they make you change is just move over one spot to sdfgSDFG2345@#$%.)

Or just use a service like LastPass and don't worry about these problems.

[eHalcyon]

WHAT.

If you are currently following Darths and Droids: what in the world just happened? I completely did not expect this, but after reading some analysis it's plausible and brilliant.

If you are not following Darths and Droids: start it. But, skip directly to http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0001.html and bypass the homepage for at least a week (possibly 2 or 3) while the current twist gets resolved.

What analysis did you read?  I'm following the comic but the plot is twisty enough that some things don't make sense to me (the mirror-world robots thing still confuses me).

I'm not sure what you mean.

There were a bunch of comics where the droids were speaking with flipped Ls and Rs, like they were being controlled or something.  You can see it most clearly in 1147, where R2 seems to have a split personality (exemplified by mirrored images) with some control by the player and some by the GM.  I am still confused by what exactly happened there and in several of the preceding pages.  You said you read some analysis, so I was hoping that the source of that analysis (some blog or fan site?) might have clarifications on those events that I could peruse.

[Ozle]

Amazing Super Bowl, managed to record it and not watch it till this evening!

What game!
I feel Brady really earned that title, always under pressure and even after making a couple of mistakes went on to make some great decisions.

And yeah, great read by the rookie on the interception!

[ConMan]

There were a bunch of comics where the droids were speaking with flipped Ls and Rs, like they were being controlled or something.  You can see it most clearly in 1147, where R2 seems to have a split personality (exemplified by mirrored images) with some control by the player and some by the GM.  I am still confused by what exactly happened there and in several of the preceding pages.  You said you read some analysis, so I was hoping that the source of that analysis (some blog or fan site?) might have clarifications on those events that I could peruse.

Cloud City was taken over by the Trade Federation, complete with stereotypical Asian accents. All the spiky speech bubbles are their announcements over the PA system, mostly involving random marketing slogans. R2 was trying to hack the Cloud City network at the time of the takeover, and he got hit with some feedback that installed a GM-controlled alternate personality in him for a while that also swapped Rs and Ls and was trying to destroy the party but got thwarted by R2's lack of any offensive capability (in terms of weapons at least). It was being played a little like Gollum/Smeagol but seems to be over for now.

But the big spoiler that just got revealed is that Vader isn't Anakin, it's Padmé. Which probably means I'm going to have to go back and read from Revelation of the Sith again to see how they managed to plant that without anyone picking up on it.

[2.71828.....]

I agree with theory, and seeing this shot really just confirms it.  See the distance between receiver and cornerback?  A good 4 yards.  If I saw what Russell Wilson saw here, I would have thrown the ball.  Not a bad play, just great read.  You can see Butler beginning to make a move on the ball, but to close that ground in the half second that he did and then make the INT?  Great play by him.

[GeoLib]

Being from Seattle, I am also inclined to be all bent out of shape about the play call, but I think this is a classic case of 20/20 hindsight. Any schmuck can say that this was obviously the wrong call, but they have the advantage of seeing exactly what actually happened.

[Joseph2302]

Being from Seattle, I am also inclined to be all bent out of shape about the play call, but I think this is a classic case of 20/20 hindsight. Any schmuck can say that this was obviously the wrong call, but they have the advantage of seeing exactly what actually happened.

They had to pass on either 2nd or 3rd down, so it doesn't seem like the worst call. I agree that when he threw it, it looks like a TD. Could Wilson have run with it though, and scrambled for the goalline?

[eHalcyon]

There were a bunch of comics where the droids were speaking with flipped Ls and Rs, like they were being controlled or something.  You can see it most clearly in 1147, where R2 seems to have a split personality (exemplified by mirrored images) with some control by the player and some by the GM.  I am still confused by what exactly happened there and in several of the preceding pages.  You said you read some analysis, so I was hoping that the source of that analysis (some blog or fan site?) might have clarifications on those events that I could peruse.

Cloud City was taken over by the Trade Federation, complete with stereotypical Asian accents. All the spiky speech bubbles are their announcements over the PA system, mostly involving random marketing slogans. R2 was trying to hack the Cloud City network at the time of the takeover, and he got hit with some feedback that installed a GM-controlled alternate personality in him for a while that also swapped Rs and Ls and was trying to destroy the party but got thwarted by R2's lack of any offensive capability (in terms of weapons at least). It was being played a little like Gollum/Smeagol but seems to be over for now.

But the big spoiler that just got revealed is that Vader isn't Anakin, it's Padmé. Which probably means I'm going to have to go back and read from Revelation of the Sith again to see how they managed to plant that without anyone picking up on it.

Ahh, OK, that helps.

I have no problem with the new development.  It seems like a standard twist for Darths and Droids.  I was only mildly surprised because they pulled two reversals.  I was expecting the "I am your son" twist, but not the follow-up "I am your mother" twist.

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

Being from Seattle, I am also inclined to be all bent out of shape about the play call, but I think this is a classic case of 20/20 hindsight. Any schmuck can say that this was obviously the wrong call, but they have the advantage of seeing exactly what actually happened.

And to be fair, I bitched about the Hawks not kicking a field goal with about 6 seconds left in the first half, figuring that in typical Hawks fashion, they'd screw something up and run out the whole 6 seconds with no FG attempt at all.  Instead, they threw a touchdown.  Was that was a good call?  Based on the result, and 20/20 hindsight, sure.

Hey, they can't all be the best Super Bowl result.

Plus, as a long-time Seahawk fan, I'm thrilled that the team finally has a real quarterback (instead of Hassel-blech and Mr. Fumble).  Now at least every game will be watchable/interesting, win or lose.

[Seprix]

Well, I played my first Dominion League match today. While I played really clumsily (and dropped 2 as a result) once I got 3-1 to eventually get 3-3, I thought I overall did well enough to pat myself on the back.

All games are watchable on my channel, but I didn't really try to give amazing commentary, so it's kind of boring.

[GeoLib]

Being from Seattle, I am also inclined to be all bent out of shape about the play call, but I think this is a classic case of 20/20 hindsight. Any schmuck can say that this was obviously the wrong call, but they have the advantage of seeing exactly what actually happened.

And to be fair, I bitched about the Hawks not kicking a field goal with about 6 seconds left in the first half, figuring that in typical Hawks fashion, they'd screw something up and run out the whole 6 seconds with no FG attempt at all.  Instead, they threw a touchdown.  Was that was a good call?  Based on the result, and 20/20 hindsight, sure.

Hey, they can't all be the best Super Bowl result.

Plus, as a long-time Seahawk fan, I'm thrilled that the team finally has a real quarterback (instead of Hassel-blech and Mr. Fumble).  Now at least every game will be watchable/interesting, win or lose.

Exactly. The 6-sec TD attempt or the fake FG in the NFC championship were both way riskier calls that no one complained about because they worked.

[scott_pilgrim]

Okay, can someone help me out with this physics problem:

You have a marble moving in a hemispherical (frictionless) "bowl".  The vertical distance from the marble to the bottom of the bowl is y, and the radius of the hemisphere is R.  What is the minimum angular velocity, in terms of R, y, and g (acceleration of gravity), at which the marble will continue to move in a circle (rather than sliding down to the bottom of the bowl)?

For context, this is the second part of a three-part problem.  The first part asked for an expression for the angular velocity, and I got sqrt(g/(R-y)), which was correct.

I want to set the y-component of the Normal force greater than or equal to mg, because that would make the net acceleration vector point downward (and toward the center of the circle).  But whenever I do that, I just end up with the same thing that I got for the first part (sqrt(g/(R-y))), which is wrong.

[pacovf]

Are you supposed to know the formula of the centrifugal force for a circular motion?

EDIT: or equivalently, basic non Galilean frame transformations?