Diggnation Episode 78 [Discussion]

[Lupin]

Im downloading it now and I will want to discuss what happens in real time... Look another post by Lupin that is not negative... :P

[abatrour]

"I got that game where you pump your hand and you shoot your stuff all over peoples faces" LMFAO

[Yashar]

I will now send them my PS3 box with a brick inside just to hear about how they reacted.

[magunwarrior]

Downloading now, I see that Alex is wearing a Tenacious D hoodie, nice.

[tangerine]

Alex is talking about "hybrid" cars...

ANY diesel engine can run on biodiesel.
The original designer of the diesel engine made it to work with corn based fuel.
Today, it is still the same engine.


WHY do we need to design "hybrid" cars?
There are available anywhere. Diesel engines are hybrid.
Watch this video with Daryl Hannah's 1983 El Camino:
http://amandacongdon.com/roadblog/2006/11/17/daryl-hannah-ca/

WalMart claims to make this biodiesel "corn fuel" available at ALL of their gas stations in the next few months. I agree it is just a start.

[magunwarrior]

Was an OK show, I knew it wasn't going to be the best when I saw coffee in Kevin's hand. But oh well there were some funny moments still.

[Ninjin]

The deal with hybrids (as I understand it):

Hybrids have two power sources, an internal combustion engine (usually gasoline powered) and one or more electric motors. I believe this is the reason that most hybrids are rated at lower horsepower than their conventional counterparts. The hp rating only takes the power output of the combustion engine into account. The Honda Civic hybrid that they mentioned on the show has a 1339cc displacement 4 cylinder engine rated at 110hp @ 6000rpm, the standard Civic has a 1799cc displacement 4 cylinder rated at 140hp @ 6300rpm. Looking at these ratings (and those for the Accord) I do not think the extra power form the electric motor is counted.

As for the actual performance differences that Alex noticed in the hybrid, the tricky part about making a hybrid car is the coordination of the two power sources. They can either be geared towards fuel efficiency or towards power output. For example the hybrid Civic is geared towards fuel efficiency, it gets about 50mpg and 0-60 in a few minutes or so. The hybrid Accord, on the other hand has been designed for performance, it gets about 30mpg and 0-60 in 7 seconds (a half second faster than the conventional Accord).

Anyways, I had just bought a new car myself, so my brains been a bit overflowing with car information.

Oh and I loved the "satellite" bit with Martin Sargent where he would move his hand too far to the left and hit Alex!

[amal8301]

Yeah good episode overall. I still roll my eyes when ever I hear Alex talk about how cool the Zune is.

[magunwarrior]

I know, we should get him and Leo in a room and make them fight to the death.

[Lupin]

I like my Zune, I like it a lot. But I wish they would stop saying it supports all these different formats, because it really doesnt. The converter within the Zune Player supports those formats to be reconverted to WMV...

Also, please try to refrain from cross promoting it is annoying. Especially since Kevin always seems to be nervous around Martin for whatever reason (was that way on TechTV too).

[mothersuncle]

this is my first post, so greetings. have watched kevin and alex since tss, and was stoked when they started diggnation.

so, i really just wanted to clarify some things about global warming. i think that most people that are aware of global warming know that the debate of whether global warming is a product of human activity is over. there is no debate within the scientific community about the causes of the relatively recent increase of green house gases that produce warmer global temps. any "debate" serves a purely political agenda. using someone like michael crichton as you source for global warming is kind of like asking a pastry chef about thermodynamics. i mean, seriously. i am familiar with crichton's fiction/non-fiction and very familiar with this issues of environmental sustainability, and the two should not be mixed. some of crichton's statements should be taken as pseudoscience at best. i just don't want anyone watching to actually think that what was said about global warming was accurate.

oh, and, something was said about a hybrid going from 0 to 60 in four seconds not being believable, that it must be the combustion engine. well, electric motors are able to go from 0 to 60 in a fraction the time it takes an internal combustion engine. i am not going to go into the specifics because i don't think it is appropriate here, but there is lots of info about it. HERE (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/21/AR2006072101515.html?nav=hcmodule) is an example of a 0 to 60 in four seconds car.

ok. well, that's about it. don't mean to be preachy, but i think that these issues are of no small consequence to people in general. love the shows.

[zenian]

kevin...oh kevin
Doesnt he seem a tad..sell out ish in these past episodes? Ever since the zune sponsored them, they kept saying how good xbox live is, how vistas all good...blah blah blah. Well...it was still a great episode, I loved the bee story.

[yourestillmycaesar]

So seeing Marty... was cool, but Kevin didn't seem too comfortable with it...

The bee story was grand.

[Gillette]

I was somewhat disappointed that they didn't cover the "lol, internet war" story that jumped up to one of the most dugg stories in a matter on hours and then mysteriously disappeared from Top Stories :O

[kurt]

kevin...oh kevin
Doesnt he seem a tad..sell out ish in these past episodes? Ever since the zune sponsored them, they kept saying how good xbox live is, how vistas all good...blah blah blah. Well...it was still a great episode, I loved the bee story.

No, not really. Alex is the one that likes the Zune and Xbox Live. Kevin said he doesn't like the Xbox Live interface. Alex even said "You just don't like it because it's Microsoft" and Kevin said "You're right, you're absolutely right." As for Vista, he said "it's a step in the right direction for Microsoft" and he would install it on his parent's computers because it seems more user friendly.

[magunwarrior]

Just because Kevin semi-likes a product that is made by a company that is sponsoring them does not in any way mean he is selling out. He didn't even say he liked it, he said it was a step in the right direction for Microsoft and that it's easier to use so he'd install it on his parents computer. Plus Kevin's not a very good actor to begin with.

[sugarsickness]

kevin...oh kevin
Doesnt he seem a tad..sell out ish in these past episodes? Ever since the zune sponsored them, they kept saying how good xbox live is, how vistas all good...blah blah blah. Well...it was still a great episode, I loved the bee story.They are sell outs simply because they happen to enjoy the people that sponsor them. Bcause, as we all know, there is no reason that peole would ever want to be sponsored by products/companies that they might like.




Oh no you are just a douche.

[jnagel]

for clarification, under '50 things we didn't know',

greenhouse gases and the ozone hole are two completely different problems. the hole in the ozone is caused by chloroflorocarbons, from things like aerosol cans. the hole is closing in part because governments around the world enacted laws against aerosol cans some years ago.

greenhouse gases are created largely by automobile exhaust, and have nothing to do with the ozone. they are responsible for global warming. (if you choose to believe that, anyway, as i do)

[greekgoat91]

the thing with sarge was so cheesy, I loved it. Kevin was acting weird though, must not have been crazy about the whole "satellite connection" thing.

[MD2389]

They are sell outs simply because they happen to enjoy the people that sponsor them. Bcause, as we all know, there is no reason that peole would ever want to be sponsored by products/companies that they might like.




Oh no you are just a douche.

Not to mention a few episodes back when the Zune was announced, BOTH of them were rather excited about the news. Sellouts? I think not. (Although I do disagree with Kevin about Vista, but thats for another thread.)

[jubo]

My brother came home for Christmas this year, and he had bought a new Zune(total MS fanboy). I own an Iriver 899, and i use the heck out of it. I don't own an ipod, and refuse to buy one, because of the DRM. I played with the zune, and it's actually a good player. I didn't load any songs or video on it. I've read that it's not that great to do, doesn't work with Windows Media Player, uses points instead of dollars, etc. But all things considered, the screen is great, the sound is great, the navigation is really good. He did a slideshow with the cable out to TV and it looked and sounded really good. If it ever drops to about $175 or so, I'm probably going to get one as well.

Justin

[magunwarrior]

The Zune has DRM too...

[magunwarrior]

Not to mention a few episodes back when the Zune was announced, BOTH of them were rather excited about the news. Sellouts? I think not. (Although I do disagree with Kevin about Vista, but thats for another thread.)

Well he said it was a step in the right direction for Microsoft, He never said he was in love with it. He said that because of it's ease of use he would install it on his parent's computer. He never said anything like,"I'm going to stop using OS X and use Vista from now on."

[zenian]

well, I guess you guys are right. BUT he did say he would get it for 2 people, and stepped down his hate for windows a notch. And remeber when alex talked about the 4 gig dowloads in the previous episode, he said it was a waste of bandwith, now he thinks it's cool. Well whatever...Let this flame war die.

[magunwarrior]

Opinions can change...

[°Daines]

And remeber when alex talked about the 4 gig dowloads in the previous episode, he said it was a waste of bandwith, now he thinks it's cool. Well whatever...Let this flame war die.

If I remember correctly he said that be bandwidth required to download the movies cost more than the price of the movies, not that it was a waste.

[Klitzy]

My brother came home for Christmas this year, and he had bought a new Zune(total MS fanboy). I own an Iriver 899, and i use the heck out of it. I don't own an ipod, and refuse to buy one, because of the DRM. I played with the zune, and it's actually a good player. I didn't load any songs or video on it. I've read that it's not that great to do, doesn't work with Windows Media Player, uses points instead of dollars, etc. But all things considered, the screen is great, the sound is great, the navigation is really good. He did a slideshow with the cable out to TV and it looked and sounded really good. If it ever drops to about $175 or so, I'm probably going to get one as well.

Justin

Doesnt want to use the iPod because of the DRM but likes the Zune..........Right.

[Julian1221]

Long time listener, first time poster.

Good show guys, keep up the good work. Couple of great laughs in here.

[darknessgp]

Doesnt want to use the iPod because of the DRM but likes the Zune..........Right.

Does no one realize that the DRM is from the online music stores? If you have ripped your own cd to mp3 there will not be any DRM. That's a major misconception people have, they just assume that the online music store is DRM so the whole player is. Which it isn't. The DRM is actually allowing you to use that player to play your music, it isn't the player that is limiting you.

Which actually has me wondering. The Zune has the wireless to share music with other people with Zunes. I've read reviews, but all they say is the stupid, I bought DRM music over the music store and when I share it with someone else they only get the 3 days or 3 plays or whatever. I'm wondering if you can just share non-DRM music and it won't have the 3 play/day limit stuff... as it seems no review has touched that yet.

[Klitzy]

Does no one realize that the DRM is from the online music stores? If you have ripped your own cd to mp3 there will not be any DRM. That's a major misconception people have, they just assume that the online music store is DRM so the whole player is. Which it isn't. The DRM is actually allowing you to you that player to play your music, it isn't the player that is limiting you.

Which actually has me wondering. The Zune has the wireless to share music with other people with Zunes. I've read reviews, but all they say is the stupid, I bought DRM music over the music store and when I share it with someone else they only get the 3 days or 3 plays or whatever. I'm wondering if you can just share non-DRM music and it won't have the 3 play/day limit stuff...

Good point....I did know that but we were all unclear about that. I am wondering the same thing as you with the wi-fi thing. Basically, I doubt it.

[DRagonRage]

what a retardo (the dude with the bees) all he had to do is to approach the swarm and move the freaking queen away BE AWEARE ALEX & KEVIN - peta will come on oyu.. BTW I HATE ANIMAL RIGHT's movments and peta suck ass!

[gavilan1010]

Why isnt it out yet? I mean its been 2 or 3 days already, why is it members only still?

[jagtar]

Good point....I did know that but we were all unclear about that. I am wondering the same thing as you with the wi-fi thing. Basically, I doubt it.

no,,it adds DRM to any mp3 you send over wireless. Cos anyone can rip a cd and convert to mp3. But apparently there is a rename hack to jpeg. Theres no time limit for that.

[chuckles]

Why isnt it out yet? I mean its been 2 or 3 days already, why is it members only still?

It comes out on Tuesday for the general public. We're almost there.

-chuckles-

[darknessgp]

no,,it adds DRM to any mp3 you send over wireless. Cos anyone can rip a cd and convert to mp3. But apparently there is a rename hack to jpeg. Theres no time limit for that.

yea, I googled some stuff around. I really hadn't looked too much into the zune, but now see that the wifi stuff is next to worthless, as the ONLY thing you can connect to with the wifi is other Zune. A wireless syncing/going onto the zune marketplace would have been cool.

Out of all the portable media players I've seen/played with I have yet to see one that is really awesome and a must have.

[StandAloneMatt]

Plus - and I thought this would be a bigger deal considering its a podcast - but the Zune doesn't support podcasts. Microsoft doesn't seem to be with the idea of podcasts. When will MS support podcasts on the 360 - when will they support them on the Zune or in Windows Media Player. I do have an iPod nano - and 95% of what I use it for is podcasts. iTunes does this rather well and syncs the new podcasts automatically.

[hive]

Zune is a waste of money i can't believe they're actually selling units

[cwerdna]

Plus - and I thought this would be a bigger deal considering its a podcast - but the Zune doesn't support podcasts.
...
iTunes does this rather well and syncs the new podcasts automatically.
Exactly. I find it ironic that the MS Zune folks would use the diggnation podcast as a place to advertise when the Zune doesn't support podcasts.

I too use iTunes to subscribe to and sync podcasts to my 4th gen b/w iPod. Works great. Before iTunes added the support, I was like "What? Podcats? Whatever..."

[lunchbox170]

Good episode but the whole having another person on the show is not working real well. It was really akward I think for kevin having martin on there.

[darknessgp]

Zune is a waste of money i can't believe they're actually selling units

I have the same opinion about iPods, atleast with the video ones. And then I walk around campus and see these kids with them and see them driving an expensive car only because there parents are rich enough to afford it...

[rasterbator]

Yeah good episode overall. I still roll my eyes when ever I hear Alex talk about how cool the Zune is.

I am totally with you on this. Here in the Bay Area, I listen to LIVE105's (the alternative music channel in town) morning show, and had to listen to them suck on Microsoft Zune for a couple of weeks. You could almost hear the laughter in the background during the discussions.

Leo Laporte even ripped the thing, and he sucks on Dell and Microsoft daily, so the product must suck for Leo to stop sucking. ;)

STOP the sucking, ALex.

[Klitzy]

Look something like this?

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q246/Klitzy712/ralphy.jpg

[greggrac]

Re: 50 things...

I think the reason women gain weight after moving in with their boyfriends is because they just want fast food all the time and don't feel like eating healthy meals because it's expensive and takes more time.

At least, that's what I've noticed.

And I agree with Kevin. Why shave your legs when your boyfriend doesn't care? Why watch your weight when your boyfriend loves you anyway?


Oh and ditto on the 360 interface. I also am strangely confused by it.

[Lupin]

Look something like this?

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q246/Klitzy712/ralphy.jpg

Thats a real bad Photoshop job. Not that I can do better but I dont do it because of that fact :P

[miniK]

After playing the Xbox 360 for 9 months, I still think the interface is the downside and the 'blade' isn't good looking in the beginning. The HD-DVD add-on is cool tho.

[Codplay]

That "satellite" interview thing was amusing to say the least.
The least they could have done is put him on a different couch. ;)

Anyways, that bees story was awesome (Today's special, flambed bees...) as is the fact that HD-DVD is now cracked. Yay!

[amal8301]

Look something like this?

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q246/Klitzy712/ralphy.jpg
Dude that is awesome! :D I know everybody says LOL on the internet, but they probably never really laugh out loud. I really did LOL at that though. That's freaking hilarious. :cool:

[darknessgp]

...

And I agree with Kevin. Why shave your legs when your boyfriend doesn't care? Why watch your weight when your boyfriend loves you anyway? ...

And the bad part is that most girls actually assume their boyfriend doesn't care and will love them anyways...

[NoxDineen]

Re: 50 things...

I think the reason women gain weight after moving in with their boyfriends is because they just want fast food all the time and don't feel like eating healthy meals because it's expensive and takes more time.

At least, that's what I've noticed.

And I agree with Kevin. Why shave your legs when your boyfriend doesn't care? Why watch your weight when your boyfriend loves you anyway?
I suspect it's a combination of what both Alex and Kevin suggested. Eating some crappy salad when the guy next to you is eating a kickass burger takes a shit-ton of discipline.

I have to admit, I laughed my ass off when Kevin was talking about the guy who dumped his girlfriend for reasons other than the fact that she got fat. I hope he got her a treadmill as a parting gift.

[moe29]

Those pictures were taken a few years a go in Florida. Someone dug (ha) them up and put them on the net. The way the media presented it was that she was out partying recently and was whoring it up.

So it was her past coming back to nip her on the (lovely) behind. ; )

[psylion]

And I agree with Kevin. Why shave your legs when your boyfriend doesn't care? Why watch your weight when your boyfriend loves you anyway?



This logic totally confuses me. Women nearly always care more about fat and hair than men do. I am gong to feel all fat and terrible about myself long before any guys are going to see me as too fat to shag. The only people who have appeared to lose interest in me after spying my hairy legs have been women.
If women gain weight after moving in with their sweeties I am have to guess it comes from the junk food and beer that also lives with the guy.

[darknessgp]

This logic totally confuses me. Women nearly always care more about fat and hair than men do. I am gong to feel all fat and terrible about myself long before any guys are going to see me as too fat to shag. The only people who have appeared to lose interest in me after spying my hairy legs have been women.
If women gain weight after moving in with their sweeties I am have to guess it comes from the junk food and beer that also lives with the guy.

Actually, most girls will obsess about their body if left to themselves. They judge themselves extremely harsh, i.e. they gain 2 pounds and then think they are a fat cow that no one will ever love. But when they are put into a situation with a bf they may gain 2 pounds and then notice that the bf doesn't care/notice. So, the start judging themselves the way they think the guy is judging them, which in many cases the guy just didn't notice and isn't judging.

[sythan_2000]

yeah the show was good but i felt a little disappointed when they showed the video of the dude burning the bee's. I know there just bee's but dude, burning something alive and smiling/laughing while doing it as well. The dude looks like hes 25+. I just don't get it and I cannot not help it. Yeah there are more important thing to think about a just venting thats all. Otherwise good show.

[logant]

yeah the show was good but i felt a little disappointed when they showed the video of the dude burning the bee's. I know there just bee's but dude, burning something alive and smiling/laughing while doing it as well. The dude looks like hes 25+. I just don't get it and I cannot not help it. Yeah there are more important thing to think about a just venting thats all. Otherwise good show.

They're bees. Bees, hornets, and wasps all deserved to be burned alive.

[bman]

umm am I missing something, why is 78 discussion still up, aren't we at 80 or something now?...

[mcsurvey]

umm am I missing something, why is 78 discussion still up, aren't we at 80 or something now?...

Umm....

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/2691/rev3dw0.th.jpg (http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rev3dw0.jpg)

[KlipschFan]

Alex,

I know you are a very smart man, because you have the degree in Computer Science that I could not finish.

But here's the deal...

The ozone depletion occurred because of the CFC's that we were using in the refrigerators and air conditioning. (and somewhat in computer manufacturing/maintenance)

Global climate change occurs because of the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. (yes, including your farts - methane)

Both of these problems were born out of man's shortsidedness or its disregard of the consequences. I was therefore happy that you balanced the discussion by including it with the discussion of hybrid vehicles.

As for Michael Crichton... He has an MD from Harvard with associations with Cambridge and MIT. (Impressive) None of Mr. Crichton's academic study is in the field of Climatology. Ironically part of his claim against Climate Scientists can be applied to him.

Crichton himself is making a good amount of money on his book by accusing scientists of manufacturing the scenario to get federal funding.

If you ever spoke to someone trying to get federal funding for something other than war, they would tell you that there are much better ways to make money.

Also, I find it impossible to believe that thousands of science geeks are even capable of a conspiracy on a global scale.

[lindqvist]

The ozone depletion occurred because of the CFC's that we were using in the refrigerators and air conditioning. (and somewhat in computer manufacturing/maintenance)

Global climate change occurs because of the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. (yes, including your farts - methane)


That's what I was thinking too when Alex started talking about the ozone hole closing despite the massive emissions of green house gases...



Also, Alex's statement prior to the HD-DVD encryption story made me shudder.

Why did you guys go out of your way in episode 74 to make "clear" that you do not treat your sponsors (or ex-sponsors) differently when it comes to stories about them if you don't even try to keep that impression up in the following episodes?! (I really wanted to believe you guys!)

To me it's just a terrible idea saying things like "good thing they're not sponsoring this episode" and "it makes me feel a little bad" after having made a point of not giving going easier on the sponsors.

I don't really care that much if Diggnation is biased towards its sponsors (to me Diggnation is mostly entertainment, anyway), just don't *bleep*ing lie about it!!

[cwerdna]

I have the same opinion about iPods, atleast with the video ones. And then I walk around campus and see these kids with them and see them driving an expensive car only because there parents are rich enough to afford it...
So, you're saying that everyone else should buy iPod Shuffles or iPod Nanos?

(These prices are MSRPs) The 8 gig iPod Nano is $249 whereas the 30 gig video iPod is also $249. You can't buy a new hard drive based iPod that ISN'T a video iPod and haven't been able for over a year. The only way is to buy a refurb 4th gen that's been discontinued for >1 year.

The aforementioned current (5.5 gen) 30 gig video iPod can be had for $219 after rebate. You can frequently get refurb 5th gen 30 gig video iPods from store.apple.com for $179 (I see a bunch up now).