By the way, if we allowed payment for the sale of organs, there would be a lot more of them available and a lot fewer people dying due to lack of organs!
i wish we'd stop looking for silver bullet/panaceas
Exactly. That is why we should have a Pigouvian carbon tax. If you want less of something, you tax it. That way, ingenious people can develop thousands of different ways to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions using the power of the market, the same thing that put that laptop in front of you. In fact the market could come up with different solutions for people living in different places and with different requirements. No silver bullet needed, set up the tax and let the invisible hand work it out. Not enough carbon reduction? Increase the tax.
It looks like FLO Card is still going. I wonder whether their operation at certain airports depended on the Clear system being functional though. There are a few other small providers of the Registered Traveler Program besides FLO and Clear. Supposedy the Registered Traveler system is interoperable at these airports.
I was very close to signing up for Clear, but it always seemed too expensive for the value. I fly on a monthly basis, I suppose if I flew on a weekly basis I would have signed up already.
If we're talking sexy IT companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Sun, then you won't find much outside cites in California.
And the sexiest are in Los Angeles. I mean, companies with good-looking people who work out, know how to dress, and can party:) I'm no fashion snob, but even I get tired of the "SF plaid and sweats" scene...
Sure, west side of LA has a lot of vacuous people and nutty entertainment politics, but if you know what you are doing out here you are in demand. Plus the LA weather is perfect year-round, and there is plenty of hiking in the urban mountains, outside dining at restaurants, and such.
Just get used to the valet parking and wear your sunscreen...
The difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi is on economic policy not foreign policy.
An Iran whose economic regulations and corruption keep it poor is more dangerous than a prosperous Iran, because if they are prosperous they have more to lose from hurting their trading partners, and there is less need for the government to do "wag the dog" things to distract the populace from the poor economic situation.
At the same time, I don't suspect that Iranian support for Hezbollah, etc., is going away any time soon.
A couple owns the sperm, owns the egg, and owns the womb. Property rights say you should be able to do anything you want this property unless you are actively hurting someone. Having one eye color or another is not hurting anyone.
What's wrong with trying to get the eye color or hair color you want? What is the difference with that and picking the sex?
Sex selection is actually a good idea for several diseases - a friend of mine produced too much amniotic fluid carrying boys, which lead to a miscarriage with her first baby. So she sex selected for girls, and had two to term.
ESPECIALLY CANADA *chest thump* has done, while ignoring that we've failed epicly. Suppose to have a 6% reduction, instead we have a 20% increase. Whoops. So now we're moving the goal posts.
And it is really sad because Canada has endless hydropower and invented the CANDU nuclear fission system!
I'm not totally against funding for the poor to get medical service, but I suggest we first de-regulate the existing private system before we expand the 50% of medical costs paid by the US public sector.
One of the issues with the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is that work must be done in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, where the U.S. Department of Labor determines the "prevailing wage" in a given area for a particular type of construction (e.g., building, heavy, highway, or residential). This may not reflect the lowest market wage, and can be much higher than the Federal or State minimum wage. Thus the high cost of repaving, despite 10% unemployment.
It's a lot like the current insurance-industry controlled health care system we have in the US
Actually governments (Federal and State) pay for 50% of US health care expenditures, so I'd say they have a lot of control as well. Otherwise they couldn't push Medicare reimbursements to doctors lower than the private health insurers.
How could it ever be a "free market" since the consumer/patient (us) have our relationship with our employer
Which is only due to WWII era tax rules to allow businesses to expense health care so they could get around wartime wage controls.
Often, they won't even know that they're paying more for ESPN, so how could they make an informed decision even if they wanted to?
Most consumers are typically unaware of the full mesh of producers and value add chains in the products they purchase - in fact you'd be hard pressed as a PC manufacturer to figure out where the oil came from that made the plastic that the computer case is made from.
All you can know is the end price, and if it is higher or lower than your personal utility for the product, you buy it or you don't.
I think there will be limits to how many content providers can effectively pursue this policy and how much they can really demand from broadband providers. Certainly the broadband providers could argue that if you want $1/sub for high quality web video, why are we also paying you $1/sub for real-time video as well if your viewers are switching modality? So much of this is probably already priced in to cable/FIOS, but it would allow more VOD (enhancing diversity / accessibility of content) to occur, and end user costs will probably only rise to the extent that total viewership hours increase.
If you are in LA, feel free to drop by Machine Project on Friday June 12th at 10pm for a talk by Jason Torchinsky about mechanical televisions, to be followed by a midnight countdown to the demise of analog TV. In memoriam of the TVs we all have known and loved/hated, we'll be gathering a pyramid of old TVs together for a countdown as they go to static. Please join us, and if you promise to bring it home with you afterwards, bring a TV for the pyramid.
The other issue is that sports often pre-empted Futurama (and many other shows), or in some timezones, extended over it.
In 2008, FOX's Sunday National NFL Game (4:15 PM ET) was the most-watched weekly program on TV with an average of 22.3 million viewers. (source).
According to Wikipedia, "When Futurama was effectively cancelled in 2003, it had averaged 6.4 million viewers for the first half of its fourth broadcast season".
The best American coders were busy working and making money, while Russian and Chinese coders had nothing better to do and were looking for better paying work due to the limits of economic freedom in both countries.
(Russia's economic freedom score is 50.8, China's is 53.2, US is 80.7).
Unfortunately, Ballmer knows full well that the regulatory climate in Europe is much less favorable to Microsoft than the US, so he won't follow through on his threat.
That's only because Microsoft is an American company. When was the last time you heard European regulators worrying about how Airbus is a monopoly?
Here is the bottom line...
US corporate tax rate: 35% Finland 26% Canada 22 % Ireland 12.5%
I am reminded of the Pan Am Flight 214 crash of a Boeing 707 in Elkton, MD, in December, 1963.
The CAB found the probable cause as "Lightning-induced ignition of the fuel/air mixture in the no. 1 reserve fuel tank with resultant explosive disintegration of the left outer wing and loss of control."
Slashdot Mirror
By the way, if we allowed payment for the sale of organs, there would be a lot more of them available and a lot fewer people dying due to lack of organs!
Here is a link to the case for selling human organs.
i wish we'd stop looking for silver bullet/panaceas
Exactly. That is why we should have a Pigouvian carbon tax. If you want less of something, you tax it. That way, ingenious people can develop thousands of different ways to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions using the power of the market, the same thing that put that laptop in front of you. In fact the market could come up with different solutions for people living in different places and with different requirements. No silver bullet needed, set up the tax and let the invisible hand work it out. Not enough carbon reduction? Increase the tax.
It looks like FLO Card is still going. I wonder whether their operation at certain airports depended on the Clear system being functional though. There are a few other small providers of the Registered Traveler Program besides FLO and Clear. Supposedy the Registered Traveler system is interoperable at these airports.
I was very close to signing up for Clear, but it always seemed too expensive for the value. I fly on a monthly basis, I suppose if I flew on a weekly basis I would have signed up already.
If we're talking sexy IT companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Sun, then you won't find much outside cites in California.
And the sexiest are in Los Angeles. I mean, companies with good-looking people who work out, know how to dress, and can party :) I'm no fashion snob, but even I get tired of the "SF plaid and sweats" scene...
Sure, west side of LA has a lot of vacuous people and nutty entertainment politics, but if you know what you are doing out here you are in demand. Plus the LA weather is perfect year-round, and there is plenty of hiking in the urban mountains, outside dining at restaurants, and such.
Just get used to the valet parking and wear your sunscreen...
I recommend Dorkbot, the global technological art organization. There is likely a chapter near you. Go, watch, then ask to present your tech project!
The difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi is on economic policy not foreign policy.
An Iran whose economic regulations and corruption keep it poor is more dangerous than a prosperous Iran, because if they are prosperous they have more to lose from hurting their trading partners, and there is less need for the government to do "wag the dog" things to distract the populace from the poor economic situation.
At the same time, I don't suspect that Iranian support for Hezbollah, etc., is going away any time soon.
A couple owns the sperm, owns the egg, and owns the womb. Property rights say you should be able to do anything you want this property unless you are actively hurting someone. Having one eye color or another is not hurting anyone.
What's wrong with trying to get the eye color or hair color you want? What is the difference with that and picking the sex?
Sex selection is actually a good idea for several diseases - a friend of mine produced too much amniotic fluid carrying boys, which lead to a miscarriage with her first baby. So she sex selected for girls, and had two to term.
ESPECIALLY CANADA *chest thump* has done, while ignoring that we've failed epicly. Suppose to have a 6% reduction, instead we have a 20% increase. Whoops. So now we're moving the goal posts.
And it is really sad because Canada has endless hydropower and invented the CANDU nuclear fission system!
If there was more competition...
Indeed, here is a report which describes the regulation of HMOs and another which describes the the cost of state regulations on health insurance premiums.
I'm not totally against funding for the poor to get medical service, but I suggest we first de-regulate the existing private system before we expand the 50% of medical costs paid by the US public sector.
nyone have anecdotes for green technology IP that originates in the U.S.?
Efficient polymer solar cells UCLA
Angle-independent anti-reflective coating for solar cells RPI
Printed solar cells Semiprius
Concentrating photovoltaic technology Greenvolts
Shallow drilling geothermal GroundSource Geothermal
One of the issues with the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is that work must be done in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, where the U.S. Department of Labor determines the "prevailing wage" in a given area for a particular type of construction (e.g., building, heavy, highway, or residential). This may not reflect the lowest market wage, and can be much higher than the Federal or State minimum wage. Thus the high cost of repaving, despite 10% unemployment.
It's a lot like the current insurance-industry controlled health care system we have in the US
Actually governments (Federal and State) pay for 50% of US health care expenditures, so I'd say they have a lot of control as well. Otherwise they couldn't push Medicare reimbursements to doctors lower than the private health insurers.
How could it ever be a "free market" since the consumer/patient (us) have our relationship with our employer
Which is only due to WWII era tax rules to allow businesses to expense health care so they could get around wartime wage controls.
Often, they won't even know that they're paying more for ESPN, so how could they make an informed decision even if they wanted to?
Most consumers are typically unaware of the full mesh of producers and value add chains in the products they purchase - in fact you'd be hard pressed as a PC manufacturer to figure out where the oil came from that made the plastic that the computer case is made from.
All you can know is the end price, and if it is higher or lower than your personal utility for the product, you buy it or you don't.
I think there will be limits to how many content providers can effectively pursue this policy and how much they can really demand from broadband providers. Certainly the broadband providers could argue that if you want $1/sub for high quality web video, why are we also paying you $1/sub for real-time video as well if your viewers are switching modality? So much of this is probably already priced in to cable/FIOS, but it would allow more VOD (enhancing diversity / accessibility of content) to occur, and end user costs will probably only rise to the extent that total viewership hours increase.
These companies seem to be stuck in the TV mindset, and view web sites sort-of like internet channels.
That is probably because TV makes money for them, and free Internet web sites do not make any money for video content producers right now.
I really wish companies would learn to adapt instead of trying to shoehorn everything into their existing business models
Losing money is not really a great business model...
Economic Freedom of the World Index
But is that really true if the rural cable operator is taking the analog OTA feed and sending it through the cable?
It is generally true, because local stations are working with the cable MSOs to have DTV receivers in the head ends.
Chances are good that you are already seeing the downconvert of a local DTV signal even on analog cable.
If you are in LA, feel free to drop by Machine Project on Friday June 12th at 10pm for a talk by Jason Torchinsky about mechanical televisions, to be followed by a midnight countdown to the demise of analog TV. In memoriam of the TVs we all have known and loved/hated, we'll be gathering a pyramid of old TVs together for a countdown as they go to static. Please join us, and if you promise to bring it home with you afterwards, bring a TV for the pyramid.
Farewell to Analog TV at Machine Project, Echo Park.
Just FYI, US total R&D spending is about $300 billion per year. About $200 billion is private, and $100 billion is public.
GM got $50 billion, Chrysler got at least $12 billion, that represents ~60% of all government R&D spending.
If I hear one more person on television say "We're tweeting at..." I'm going to go mad!
I do, however, believe that Twitter is the IRC of the Web 2.0 generation.
The other issue is that sports often pre-empted Futurama (and many other shows), or in some timezones, extended over it.
In 2008, FOX's Sunday National NFL Game (4:15 PM ET) was the most-watched weekly program on TV with an average of 22.3 million viewers. (source).
According to Wikipedia, "When Futurama was effectively cancelled in 2003, it had averaged 6.4 million viewers for the first half of its fourth broadcast season".
The best American coders were busy working and making money, while Russian and Chinese coders had nothing better to do and were looking for better paying work due to the limits of economic freedom in both countries.
(Russia's economic freedom score is 50.8, China's is 53.2, US is 80.7).
This reminds me a bit of JP Aerospace's airship-to-orbit concept.
Unfortunately, Ballmer knows full well that the regulatory climate in Europe is much less favorable to Microsoft than the US, so he won't follow through on his threat.
That's only because Microsoft is an American company. When was the last time you heard European regulators worrying about how Airbus is a monopoly?
Here is the bottom line...
US corporate tax rate: 35%
Finland 26%
Canada 22 %
Ireland 12.5%
I am reminded of the Pan Am Flight 214 crash of a Boeing 707 in Elkton, MD, in December, 1963.
The CAB found the probable cause as "Lightning-induced ignition of the fuel/air mixture in the no. 1 reserve fuel tank with resultant explosive disintegration of the left outer wing and loss of control."
There was a similar lightning-induced fuel tank explosion of a Iranian 747 near Madrid in
Here is a report on airplane fuel tank explosions.