PC Board OT thread

[Texas Chuck]

One thing I've always been curious of is how people came up with the idea for their screen name.

I am terrible with remembering people's names so I just call everyone Chuck so I don't feel bad when I don't know someone's name. Plus I'm a big Barkley fan(more the commentator than the player tho I liked him as a player too).

And I'm from Texas.


And yes I'm fully aware I'm severely lacking in creativity.

[drza]

Haha nice, you're better off for it. You going the Law route? History is such an underrated minor, I love the way historians think.

Was it Financial/Managerial accounting that stopped you? It's so ridiculous that those two classes aren't just 1 class.

My guidance counselor was pushing for me to do Law School, but I have yet to meet a lawyer who likes what they do so I chickened out, went to grad school at UNC, and work as an auditor in the Triangle. What stopped me was OM 22 (Operations Management, I think)...I just couldn't figure the class out (I later found out it is a weed-out class for people like me).

Lived in the triangle from 06 - 11 while I did my postdoc. Since you're a UNC guy I won't mention which other school that wears blue in the Triangle was my employer during this time...

[drza]

Guys what do you think of starting a PC board fantasy basketball league? Maybe make things interesting and make it two owners per team to help us all get to know each other more and work together! Thoughts?

That'd be pretty sweet. I just got into fantasy basketball last season and loved it. My Isaiah Thomas pickup made me look like a mastermind.

I work for a fantasy sports advice company called Rotowire, and I'm one of their lead basketball writers. I'm always down for fantasy sports

[D Nice]

One thing I've always been curious of is how people came up with the idea for their screen name.

Used to attend UConn's basketball camps over the summer and the 2 older age groups were typically coached by Huskies, either guys who were fresh out of school or players still on the roster (it was mostly JV guys though some varsity guys like Josh Boone coached too, obviously the big name guys like Emeka or Ben Gordon or even Khalid El Amin weren't coaches but coach still made them come out and give speeches plus they scrimmaged against staff at night). I have a very common first name (not John or William but it's up there) and my last name begins with a D. I was a point guard with good handles (best in my age group IMO ) and finishing ability so coach just started calling me D-Nice. It caught on with other counselors and it just stuck, but I never had anywhere to actually use it until I started posting on internet basketball message boards.

I am terrible with remembering people's names so I just call everyone Chuck so I don't feel bad when I don't know someone's name. Plus I'm a big Barkley fan(more the commentator than the player tho I liked him as a player too).

And I'm from Texas.

And yes I'm fully aware I'm severely lacking in creativity.

Awesome

Haha nice, you're better off for it. You going the Law route? History is such an underrated minor, I love the way historians think.

Was it Financial/Managerial accounting that stopped you? It's so ridiculous that those two classes aren't just 1 class.

My guidance counselor was pushing for me to do Law School, but I have yet to meet a lawyer who likes what they do so I chickened out, went to grad school at UNC, and work as an auditor in the Triangle. What stopped me was OM 22 (Operations Management, I think)...I just couldn't figure the class out (I later found out it is a weed-out class for people like me).

Lived in the triangle from 06 - 11 while I did my postdoc. Since you're a UNC guy I won't mention which other school that wears blue in the Triangle was my employer during this time...

[drza]

One thing I've always been curious of is how people came up with the idea for their screen name.

Used to attend UConn's basketball camps over the summer and the 2 older age groups were typically coached by Huskies, either guys who were fresh out of school or players still on the roster (it was mostly JV guys though some varsity guys like Josh Boone coached too, obviously the big name guys like Emeka or Ben Gordon or even Khalid El Amin weren't coaches but coach still made them come out and give speeches plus they scrimmaged against staff at night). I have a very common first name (not John or William but it's up there) and my last name begins with a D. I was a point guard with good handles (best in my age group IMO ) and finishing ability so coach just started calling me D-Nice. It caught on with other counselors and it just stuck, but I never had anywhere to actually use it until I started posting on internet basketball message boards.

There was a rapper back in the 80s named D-Nice. He had one of my favorite songs at the time, that starts and repeats "My name is D-nice, although I hate to admit it. Taking out you suckas and you don't know how I did it". Until this very minute, I thought that's where you got your name. Maybe it indirectly is, if your coach was a rap fan.

My guidance counselor was pushing for me to do Law School, but I have yet to meet a lawyer who likes what they do so I chickened out, went to grad school at UNC, and work as an auditor in the Triangle. What stopped me was OM 22 (Operations Management, I think)...I just couldn't figure the class out (I later found out it is a weed-out class for people like me).

Lived in the triangle from 06 - 11 while I did my postdoc. Since you're a UNC guy I won't mention which other school that wears blue in the Triangle was my employer during this time...

Lol. If it makes you feel any better I HATED Duke before I went there. Still not my favorite squad, but the hate has dissipated

[D Nice]

Hah that's entirely possible actually I had no idea (pretty much all of them were rap-heads).

And yeah, you were working with them in a professional capacity, so you're slightly excused

[GSP]

This probably belongs in here...

Who are your top five NFL QBs of all time?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using RealGM Forums mobile app

Peyton (yes im a Pats fan who likes Peyton more than Brady)
Brady
Young
Rodgers

i dunno about number 5.

Edit: Whoops i thought u were asking for fave Qbs not the greatest lol

[GSP]

Anyone here listen to basketball podcasts? Which ones?

[PaulieWal]

Anyone here listen to basketball podcasts? Which ones?

Love them for my workouts.

Listen to:

BS Report (Not for Simmons but his guests, he usually has good guests on)
Lowe Report (This one for Zach Lowe)
Jalen Rose Report (He can come off as dumb sometimes but him and the host of the podcast have good chemistry)
Real Talk with Jason Whitlock and Windhorst's podcasts only when they have guests I am interested in listening to (very occasionally, not that often)
The Starters as well some days

[ThaRegul8r]

One thing I've always been curious of is how people came up with the idea for their screen name.

Used to attend UConn's basketball camps over the summer and the 2 older age groups were typically coached by Huskies, either guys who were fresh out of school or players still on the roster (it was mostly JV guys though some varsity guys like Josh Boone coached too, obviously the big name guys like Emeka or Ben Gordon or even Khalid El Amin weren't coaches but coach still made them come out and give speeches plus they scrimmaged against staff at night). I have a very common first name (not John or William but it's up there) and my last name begins with a D. I was a point guard with good handles (best in my age group IMO ) and finishing ability so coach just started calling me D-Nice. It caught on with other counselors and it just stuck, but I never had anywhere to actually use it until I started posting on internet basketball message boards.

There was a rapper back in the 80s named D-Nice. He had one of my favorite songs at the time, that starts and repeats "My name is D-nice, although I hate to admit it. Taking out you suckas and you don't know how I did it". Until this very minute, I thought that's where you got your name.

That's what I had thought as well.

[john248]

Anyone excited for NBA 2K15?

[LoboGuerrero]

Anyone here listen to basketball podcasts? Which ones?

Yes! Listen to them a lot during the work day.

I like:

The BS Report- I actually like Bill Simmons, and he does have a lot of great guests on there.
The Lowe Post- Very possibly my favorite, and probably the best in terms of breaking down the game. But it's not all x's and o's, there's a lot of contextual discussion too.
The Jalen Rose Report- These guys are entertaining, usually good for a few laughs, but not as insightful as the other two Grantland BB podcasts in my opinion.
R Squared- more analytic focused, lot of interesting concepts and ideas, and there have been some great guests. Not sure if there will be any more episodes though, there hasn't been one since April. Which is a shame, because it was probably my second favorite behind only the Lowe Post.
NBA Lockdown- Similar to the Jalen Rose report, Bruce Bowen and Israel Gutierrez host this one, and it's pretty decent. A notch below the others in my opinion, but still listenable.

[Reservoirdawgs]

I haven't been as big a fan of the Lowe Post recently...I think some of it is because I just haven't cared for the guests that he's had on. Lowe clearly knows what he's talking about, but the past couple of podcasts he's had I've skipped over because it turned into more of an interview-session with him and the guest instead of really delving into basketball.

As terrible of a writer and analyst that Simmons is, I do listen to him when Zach Lowe, Bill Barnwell, or Jonah Keri are on. He gets them pretty loose on the program and they always come off well on his podcasts (particularly Lowe, as Simmons is essentially only a basketball talking head now).

[drza]

Anyone here listen to basketball podcasts? Which ones?

Yes! Listen to them a lot during the work day.

I like:

The BS Report- I actually like Bill Simmons, and he does have a lot of great guests on there.
The Lowe Post- Very possibly my favorite, and probably the best in terms of breaking down the game. But it's not all x's and o's, there's a lot of contextual discussion too.
The Jalen Rose Report- These guys are entertaining, usually good for a few laughs, but not as insightful as the other two Grantland BB podcasts in my opinion.
R Squared- more analytic focused, lot of interesting concepts and ideas, and there have been some great guests. Not sure if there will be any more episodes though, there hasn't been one since April. Which is a shame, because it was probably my second favorite behind only the Lowe Post.
NBA Lockdown- Similar to the Jalen Rose report, Bruce Bowen and Israel Gutierrez host this one, and it's pretty decent. A notch below the others in my opinion, but still listenable.

FWIW, I co-host a basketball podcast called Celtics Beat (the address is in my sig). Obviously the show is Celtics based, but it's also of general basketball interest. The show runs every Saturday afternoon, and I generally host once or twice a month. I last hosted about 10 days ago, when we had Peter Vecsey on and he talked a lot about Kevin Love's (then) speculated trade and the ramifications. Also talked a lot about the Lakers, as well as Kevin Durant. On that show I also recapped my trip out to the Vegas Summer league, and we even got into the RealGM top 100 rankings. So there was a lot of non-Celtic talk.

Of course I'm biased, but I think it's worth a listen.

[drza]

Podcast follow-up:

Here are the links for our last two shows.

Here's the last one I hosted where we interviewed Vecsey: http://bit.ly/1AICNos

This is the one from this week, where they interviewed Jerry Zgoda, who covers the Timberwolves, about the ramifications of the postulated Love for Wiggins/Bennett swap: http://bit.ly/1oyj0OK

[PCProductions]

This board is closer to my age than I thought (I thought I would be young).

I'm 24 years old and got a BS in Math/Computer Science. Currently a software engineer in the bay area, where I was raised.

I got into NBA during the Shaq/Kobe days like most people here I guess, though now I fiercely root against the Lakers in spite of that. Lebron James reinvigorated my interest in the NBA and I root for him whenever he doesn't play against the Warriors.

Beyond talking NBA, I like making beats. I'm deeply into hip hop production if you couldn't tell from having Dilla as my avatar.

That's my summary. Nice to learn about various posters' backgrounds and it shows how diverse this "internet" place really is.

[D Nice]

Anyone here listen to basketball podcasts? Which ones?

Grantland: The BS Report
Grantland: The Jalen Rose Report

Religiously

[D Nice]

Beyond talking NBA, I like making beats. I'm deeply into hip hop production if you couldn't tell from having Dilla as my avatar.

That's my summary. Nice to learn about various posters' backgrounds and it shows how diverse this "internet" place really is.

What Program do you use in beat production? Trying to learn more about the different stuff out there, I'm a hip-hop head too and it's something I plan on toying around with in my spare time a couple years down the road.

Also, what's your software specialization? You a coder, or more UI/UX design stuff? Ever worked on an Indie Game project before?

[PCProductions]

What Program do you use in beat production? Trying to learn more about the different stuff out there, I'm a hip-hop head too and it's something I plan on toying around with in my spare time a couple years down the road.

I started with FL Studio (fruityloops) around 2007. It got me familiarized with song structure, drum programming and sample chopping. I then bought an MPC 1000 and a portable turntable (Numark PT01) and worked with that combination for most of my years. I slowed down around 2011 and didn't dig as much as I used to. In 2012 I bought a Korg Electribe ESX-1.

My recommendation is either to use FL Studio or Reason. I bought those hardware samplers because that's how my heroes (Pete Rock, Dilla, Madlib, etc) made their beats, but it is by no means any better. In fact, compared to the software I mentioned, they are basically strict downgrades in terms of capability. I like the "touch and feel" aspect to using them, especially when cutting up samples, but you can do that with Reason or FL with a maschine or Korg MIDI controller anyway.

Try them both and see which one makes more sense to you. FL is cheaper, but doesn't have that "limitless capabilities" feel that Reason does.

Also, if you're gonna sample like I did, you better get used to digging on youtube and figure out how to rip from there. If not, then that's not an issue for you. You can also buy records like I did, but who has the space or money for that any more?

Also, what's your software specialization? You a coder, or more UI/UX design stuff? Ever worked on an Indie Game project before?

I'm still early on in my career, but my specialization has been scientific computing with scripting languages. I worked in the flash memory business, specifically NAND flash and optimizing its performance and endurance. At first it was Perl and now it is mostly Python. C and C++ are also a regular occurrence. Linux has typically been the OS that I work under.

I am also a gamer at heart, but have never worked on game development professionally. I've goofed around on Android remaking Pong or minesweeper or whatever, but never anything more sophisticated. Why do you ask?

[D Nice]

What Program do you use in beat production? Trying to learn more about the different stuff out there, I'm a hip-hop head too and it's something I plan on toying around with in my spare time a couple years down the road.

I started with FL Studio (fruityloops) around 2007. It got me familiarized with song structure, drum programming and sample chopping. I then bought an MPC 1000 and a portable turntable (Numark PT01) and worked with that combination for most of my years. I slowed down around 2011 and didn't dig as much as I used to. In 2012 I bought a Korg Electribe ESX-1.

My recommendation is either to use FL Studio or Reason. I bought those hardware samplers because that's how my heroes (Pete Rock, Dilla, Madlib, etc) made their beats, but it is by no means any better. In fact, compared to the software I mentioned, they are basically strict downgrades in terms of capability. I like the "touch and feel" aspect to using them, especially when cutting up samples, but you can do that with Reason or FL with a maschine or Korg MIDI controller anyway.

Try them both and see which one makes more sense to you. FL is cheaper, but doesn't have that "limitless capabilities" feel that Reason does.

Also, if you're gonna sample like I did, you better get used to digging on youtube and figure out how to rip from there. If not, then that's not an issue for you. You can also buy records like I did, but who has the space or money for that any more?

Appreciate it, thanks. I'll DEFINITELY keep this in mind. And definitely intend on experimenting with samples when I get more serious about it.

Also, what's your software specialization? You a coder, or more UI/UX design stuff? Ever worked on an Indie Game project before?

I'm still early on in my career, but my specialization has been scientific computing with scripting languages. I worked in the flash memory business, specifically NAND flash and optimizing its performance and endurance. At first it was Perl and now it is mostly Python. C and C++ are also a regular occurrence. Linux has typically been the OS that I work under.

Cool. Sounds like you're building up a technical base. That's awesome. I'm more of a designer myself. I feel like the super-nerds have been coding since they were 12 so it's too late in the game to try and catch them there, but design stuff comes really easy to me. I'm good at taking complex stuff and creating intuitive solutions, and can write Java (some), C and C++, but don't consider myself to be especially good in that area. I kill UI/UX though. I spec'd out most of the API we use at work, which I'm pretty proud of.

I am also a gamer at heart, but have never worked on game development professionally. I've goofed around on Android remaking Pong or minesweeper or whatever, but never anything more sophisticated. Why do you ask?

TBH I'm much more of an opportunist than a gamer.

I played as much as anyone growing up I guess, but the absurd amount of $$ app games that are fairly easy to produce generate these days has me laying out (early stage) game projects myself. Haven't seriously collaborated with developers or artists yet though and am curious how those projects tend to be handled in a professional setting (or even just freelance projects).